Adventures in No Man's Sky

It was the end of 2013 when I, like the rest of the planet, saw the first sign of No Man's Sky, a science-fiction exploratory adventure game being developed by Hello Games. I was caught by the strong visuals and aesthetic that seemed torn from the covers of the classic SF novels I'd read as kid. It recalled for me the artwork of Chris Foss, Angus McKie, Peter Elson, Jim Burns and David Hardy, all of it gateways to distant frontiers and strange alien worlds. I immediately knew I wanted to play it.

Fast-forward a year or so. I'm in Guildford visiting another games studio and I happen to pass by the office of Hello Games; I can't resist popping my head around the door (to be greeted by a life-size cutout of the hero of their first game, Joe Danger) just to tell them how cool No Man's Sky looks, and how much I'm looking forward to it.

Fast-forward another few months, and out of the blue I get a call, which goes something like this: "Hey, would you like to write some fiction for the No Man's Sky universe? Would you like to work with Angus McKie, the artist who drew the Terran Trade Authority books that influenced you so much as a kid? And also with Dave Gibbons, that guy who did Watchman and most of your favourite 2000AD comics? Would you like the opportunity to write a Heinlein-esque adventure story calling back to the golden age of 70's SF?"

Oh. Yeah.

So No Man's Sky is coming out in the summer (June 21 in North America, June 22nd in the Europe, and June 24th in the UK) and as well as regular-like edition for PC and Playstation 4, there's a Special Edition slipcase pack of the PS4 that includes a steelbook case, in-game extras, a book of concept art and Adventures in No Man's Sky, co-created by Gibbons, McKie and me!

Sometimes a project comes along that's like a Perfect Storm Of Awesome, and for me this is one of them. Not only am I getting to work with some of my artistic heroes, but I'm also helping shape the lore of a very cool gameworld and team up with an incredibly talented group of people at Hello Games.

Check out the news page Here over at the official No Man's Sky site for more info; the No Man's Sky PS4 Special Edition is available now for pre-order.