No Man’s Sky was released on PC this Friday. Since users usually have access to all the game files on PC, there is always the possibility to break the encryption for them and reveal details including source code of the game. This source code can also reveal cut features or other assets that don’t appear in the final game.
NeoGAF user dragonbane has shared some interesting information that he discovered after data mining No Man’s Sky along with his friend. He has also shared pictures of some of the assets that the developers have left hidden in the game code.
To no one’s surprise, we learn that the E3 2015 demo was scripted and had all the assets pre-made for it. This means that the creatures including the huge dinosaurs that we saw in the E3 2015 demo were not procedurally generated but rather crafted by the developers. You can find out screenshots of some of these assets below.
The game’s source code also includes a logo for Half Life 2 for some unexplained reason. There is also a character model of someone called the Astronaut, which is presumably the actual model of the main character. Since we can’t see other players and the game only runs in first person view, there is no way to see it in the actual game for now.
There might be more to discover among the source code and maybe it will also open the possibility to user created mods in the future. This is also another benefit of PC gaming. If you are experiencing issues related to crashes or low frame rate on PC, you can check out some of the tips and tricks listed here.
No Man’s Sky is available now for the PC and PS4.
