Update:
The people of Genicap has returned to contact with us, this time without ask no comment, to tell us that the own are Murray contacted with them the last Sunday and that les has invited to a coffee for «clarify the things». We don’t know if the meeting will end with a friendly handshake or a pot of boiling coffee in someone’s face, but we will watch if the matter is still kicking.
Original text:
Still growing you them dwarf to not Man’s Sky, one of them developments more rough that is remember in the last years. When a Hello Games offices were flooded him at 2013 Christmas and shortly after announced its agreement with Sony to promote big their game of space exploration and launch it in PS4, many thought that outcome to offset the previous tragedy, as the happy ending of a fairy tale where the cosmos finds its balance and justice. But that was only the beginning.
Since then there have been delays in the release of the game one after the other, and the runrún on the poor performance of No Man completo Sky in console us has many uneasy, and as if this wasn’t enough it seems that they had a long strip and loosens legal and secret with the company BSkyB, owner of TV channel Sky TV that apparently has registered the word “sky”. They spoke of ‘agreement’ and explained that these same people got that Microsoft changed the name of SkyDrive for OneDrive, so it seems clear that not has been treated for a victory in the courts as a good juicy check by Sony to make them shut up.
Now, to only a month of that not Man’s Sky out finally to the sale and with the game already in phase gold, seems that is les comes over another stick between the wheels. It has been the Dutch newspaper Telegraaf, translated into English by a user of NeoGAF in a post which we reach by PC Gamer, which has given voice to the Dutch company Genicap, that by the mouth of his business Jeroen Sparrow director accuses Hello Games are using the Superformula, an equation that have patented and used to generate forms with a minimum performance expenditure.
While no one has seen the code source of No Man completo Sky or know exactly how it is able to create planets, atmospheres, terrain, vegetation, geography and fauna procedural to generate ridiculous amounts of combinations, and you could say that Genicap is pulling the rod to see if fishing something, there is a handle that the indictment may be held : in may 2015 developer Sean Murray gave an interview to the New Yorker, which he spoke about their problems to generate the optimum equation to realize his idea of the procedural universe. There explained that the point of inflection was when found the Superformula, an equation that consisted of 120 lines of code created by the geneticist botanical Belgian Johan Gielis and posted in 2003. By what explains Murray, seems that is supported in the solidity of the Superformula for mold it and limit them transformations random of terrain that was capable of do, that continue a luck of criteria and that not provocasen glitches.
Now is that the Professor Johan Gielis is the Chief of research of the laboratory Genicap and that, apparently, the miraculous Superformula is registered and patented, originally by Giellis and the Dr. Diego Caratelli (also member of the Board directive of the company) and currently in power of the own company, Genicap Beheer BV. Or said of another mode: that if Murray followed supporting is in the Superformula and form part of them guts of not Man’s Sky, would be violating a patent and, according to the lawyer specialized in property intellectual Arnoud Engelfriet, is you could demand to Sony a compensation and the suspension of the distribution of the game.
We’ve contacted Sony, Hello Games and Genicap, and currently only have received response from the latter. The e-mail claim that they themselves are working in a videogame based on the Superformula (which is in conceptual stage and will know of it in the fall) and I would love to ‘share knowledge with Hello Games’, whose game consider it «the beginning of a new generation of games».
In the same written, despite not know for certain if not Man’s Sky uses your equation, say that the founder of Genicap and discoverer of the code in question, the Professor Gielis, is «extremely proud of them impressive results that Hello Games has accomplished with its formula», so almost seems that it dan by made and crystallize his accusation with a species of attitude conciliatory slightly passive-aggressive that end of shore up saying it following : «If Hello Games have used our technology, sooner or later we will have to put it on the table. We have tried to talk to them, but we understand that they must be very busy. We are confident that we will be able to discuss this matter in a normal manner».
We are waiting that any of the other parties to clarify what is happening, but it does not seem unreasonable to confirm what many already suspected: the fucking game is more cursed than the yogulado.
