Six years on, No Man’s Sky is still reaching for the stars

polygon.com:

No Man’s Sky is a limitless game filled with bizarre and beautiful planets, mysterious life forms, and varied quests. Six years after its release, the game continues to grow and change. While it has become synonymous with the concept of a development redemption arc, the truth is that No Man’s Sky has outgrown that tired narrative.

Hello Games’ commitment to constantly revisiting and revising old systems means that the galaxy of No Man’s Sky is one of the most cohesive and consistent experiences in all of online gaming — and this process could continue forever, as long as everyone keeps showing up to see how it turns out. It’s no longer a comeback; No Man’s Sky has secured its spot as a fantastic space simulator.

No Man’s Sky is heading to Nintendo Switch, and the upcoming update includes a host of changes to core systems and quality-of-life updates. Polygon spoke to Sean Murray, founder and managing director of Hello Games, about the game’s current success and if it can keep updating forever.

In the years since No Man’s Sky was released, developers at Hello Games have gained a reputation for excellent updates to the game. They pull inspiration from a gamut of sources — including fan discussions and feedback.

“When we make an update, we have these tools at our disposal, these paint brushes. What we do in an update is take these big paint brushes, and we create new parts of the picture with big, broad brushstrokes,” says Murray. “Then, we go back in every update, we go in with fine detail and shade it a little more, add a little more detail because we’ve seen how players interact with it or we need a little more nuance there.”

These ideas for updates come from different places. Mostly, they’re passion projects started by