Sean Murray On Making ‘No Man’s Sky,’ The Unexpected Stress Reliever

Throughout the creation of sandbox, space exploration game “No Man’s Sky,” “Hello Games” and director Sean Murray have encountered every obstacle imaginable. From floods, power outages and even outrageous legal actions, it seemed the universe simply did not want players to get on their spaceships to explore the vast universe. Now that the game is finished, Murray is free to express his thoughts when he was making “No Man’s Sky,” a game which turned out to be an effective stress reliever.

Speaking to VICE, Murray explained how the massive hype surrounding the game scared him.

“What's scarier than people's money, through pre-orders, is their time; the amount that they've invested in us, on a forum, talking about a game that isn't out for another three years,” Murray said. “You didn't mean that to happen, but when it is happening, you suddenly think, ‘What have I done’?”

Murray also shared that he started working on “No Man’s Sky” as far back as 2011 in his spare time. At the time, he was working on “Joe Danger,” and he could only devote some hours at night once he got home. Murray drove the point of what the sandbox game meant to him, explaining how it simply took over his thoughts.

After nearly five years, the game is done and it has meant something different to a lot of people. To some, it’s an exciting prospect that harkens back to those days when they get to explore and discover new things as children. For others, it can be the unexpected stress-reliever that simply removed all the tension in their bodies.

The title certainly offers similar experiences to its players, with how everyone gets a spaceship, a spacesuit, and planets to explore. However, how they choose to go about it, what they prioritize and how they approach the procedurally-generated universe ultimately results in a divergence of thoughts and feelings that are as distinct from each other as their own individual personalities.