Game News Starfield: will it be possible to take off from a planet into space without transition?
Published on 06/16/2022 at 07:42
Starfield is a damn ambitious game, to say the least: the demo broadcast during the Xbox Showcase, as part of the Summer Game Fest will have seduced more than one… but will also have raised more than one question. An answer is given to us today, for one of them.
Not so No Man’s Sky
Starfield will focus on space exploration with dizzying figures: hundreds and hundreds of planets will be explored and to do this, vyour trusty ship will act as an interplanetary steed. The latter will even be entirely modular according to the will of the player, adopting many different shapes and sizes.
The demo unveiled during the Xbox + Bethesda Showcase last Sunday (to be found in our video player above) will therefore have presented space navigation: we can wander in orbit and even tackle some deadly fights, in weightlessness. However, we didn’t see a possibility much requested by some: the fact of being able to take off from a planet to reach space without transition, in real time (and vice versa). And there’s a good reason for that: It is not possible.
“It’s just not important”
It is Todd Howard, eminent figure of Bethesda, who allowed himself to make the precision with IGN: the man declared that if the will of the developers was to offer a very permissive experience to the players, they also had to know how to say “no” to some mechanics that they did not consider useful.
People asked, “can we fly the ship directly to the planet?” No. We decided at the start of the game that on the surface it’s a reality, and then when you’re in space it’s another reality.
If you’re trying to spend a lot of time designing the in-between elements, like those transitions, you’re just spending a lot of time on something that’s not that important to the player. Let’s make sure it’s great on the surface and great in space, and that those two realities play out as well and look as good as possible.
We therefore imagine thata small loading time will be introduced, certainly manifested by a cut or an animation. Well, you have been warned.
Starfield will be released in 2023 on PC and Xbox only.
