Bill Bailey Interview: No Man’s Sky, Star Trek, Video Games & Comedy
What does the art of comedy and No Man's Sky have in common?
I've been privy to all manner of press cycles over the years, but none quite so awesome as Hello Games asking beloved comedian and all-round legendary human being Bill Bailey to first play their game, and then offer his thoughts to any who'd listen.
Such was what happened on the afternoon of Friday the 5th of August though, as I had the pleasure of talking to (a relatively mind-blown) Bill about his hands-on time with the near-finished build of No Man's Sky, how much he plays games when away from the stage, where any Star Trek comparisons come in - and what he called his first custom planet (hint: It begins with 'Bill').
Let me know in the comments what you would have asked if given the opportunity to discuss all things sci-fi with one of the finest comedians in the cosmos, and you can see how I got on below.
No Man’s Sky™ on PlayStation 4 is available now from retailers across the UK, including from the PlayStation Store
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Scott Tailford: The idea of having someone like yourself representing a game is a pretty cool and novel idea - how did you get involved with the guys at Hello Games, or the project overall?
Bill Bailey: Well the thing is, because I'm into games and gaming - I take my son to game conventions and those sorts of things - I was aware of it already. So when they approached me about it, I thought "Of course!", because it's such an extraordinary game, it's almost got this 'next generational' thing, y'know?
Nothing like this, the scale or the ambition, has ever been attempted before, and it's the kind of thing that I would play, that we would both play. And so for that reason, I wanted to get involved. It's a game that will really change the whole way - or the perception of the way - these procedurally-generated games are made.
S.T.: In terms of the game's development, we've not seen too much of it outside some very controlled demos. You're actually one of the first people to get your hands on the final version - what did Hello Games let you do, and what were your first impressions playing?
B.B.: Well it [wasn't] fully done yet, but I got a sense of what you could do and what you couldn't in terms of gameplay, and what the opportunities are in terms of how you can travel, how you can explore this universe.
It's amazing, the idea that on each planet you can fly all around it, walk round it if you want! The planet's part of a star system, of which there are 18 quintillion planets in the universe, it's ridiculous , y'know? It's like a billion billion, a really big number, a mad number, you can barely get your head around.
The idea is that as you fly towards the planets, they generate, so it's not like a game with set areas where you walk into a new area and there's a bit of a wait where it loads up the next part of the game or the story or the mission, this is in real time as you're going around.
It generates in front of you, then you put the hyper-drive on and go to another planet. You can pretty much explore an entire universe, it's cool!
S.T.: A lot of people have been wondering on the survival aspects of the game. How long did you have to spend on the planet you began on, before you could take off and explore?
B.B.: You can spend as much time as you want! (laughs) What I find is, I mean it looks great - that's the other thing. It's a very, very pretty game, beautifully made, it looks fantastic.
There are all these random creatures that will appear on planets, that will only have existed on that planet, so when you arrive there, that's it - they're set! (laughs) It's sort of like you've discovered it.
S.T.: Yeah we've heard you can name things too, like creatures and planets?
B.B.: The planets, yeah!
S.T.: Was there anything that you named yourself?
B.B.: Oh yeah, I've got one - Billtopia! (laughs)
S.T.: Nice! So you said you've been to a few game conventions and played a lot of games in your time - was there anything that sprang to mind in terms of comparisons towards No Man's Sky?
B.B.: For me it's like, my son is a massive Minecraft fan, and that's in a similar vein as you're sort of creating your own world. That's very much like you're mining and creating, but it reminded me a little bit of that, because there's an infinite amount of possibilities and choices y'know? It's the same with this, you can pick any dot of light in this massive universe and you look at it, you zoom in on it and you get closer, and you realise it's a star system so there's loads of planets!
There's almost an infinite number of choices where you can travel around and explore. There's trading, and if there's a bit of a squabble going on [between ships] and you can decide to wade in or back off, or you can mine stuff and pick up resources and so on. That's quite similar to some other games where you're able to accumulate resources and so on as you progress through the game, but what I think is different about this is just the scale of it is so vast.
Theoretically you'd never meet anyone else in the game - you can just cruise around in this universe, and that appeals to me.
S.T.: In terms of yourself, being a huge Star Trek fan and with Hello Games also being big sci-fi geeks, were there any easter eggs and references you spotted as tribute?
B.B.: Well there's a sort of, a more 'magical', fantasy sort of look to it - almost like a retro feel to it.
A lot of games try to replicate what they think is like 'The Ultimately Most Realistic Experience', y'know like all those shooter games like Call of Duty where you've got blood on the lens, and you're crawling around in the mud - it's immersive and meant to be incredibly realistic, but what I like about this is that, it feels much more fantasy-based, artistic, beautifully made and it looks fantastic.
It reminds me of those early Star Trek episodes where they would just beam down onto a planet, they'd no idea what was there. It was always like, bold colours and strange-looking creatures, every planet's got its own habitat. Weather systems change; I had a really barren one, then there's a lush one, humid, colder - every permutation, and that's what I really noticed, the similarity in it.
S.T.: The visuals especially reminded me of the original Star Wars posters in spots - those old-school colour palettes and bold colours. Did you get much of a feel for the music in the game too? 65daysofstatic are scoring the game, what was that like?
B.B.: Oh, fantastic music, yeah it's great. They're completely embedded in the whole game - they're actually going on tour as part of being connected to the whole game. What I love about the music is it sort of generates as well, so the music is very much intrinsic to the whole game, so you sort of move around and it'll sort of swell during dramatic moments, the music tries to replicate [what you're doing].
It's absolutely intrinsic to the whole game, which I think again was unique.
S.T.: I actually saw you play Sonisphere back in 2011, do you think your time with No Man's Sky or sci-fi in general would influence any of your music going forward?
B.B.: Oh god yeah, I think so! Certainly, it's almost like there's a way to apply that in that sort of sense, to generate something as it happens, almost like a bit of improvising in a way. And that element of it, maybe - maybe there's a way of doing that.
The actual game is very much about algorithms and how that gets applied to all these different situations, but in a way there's the idea: If you have a great formula for something like say for example, in comedy you deconstruct something and then you reproduce it so people can understand.
That, I notice very much in comedy, you pick something like a formula or a way of breaking something down into component parts, then show it in a different light - that's something that happens in comedy all the time.
S.T.: Absolutely, the very idea of building a universe off the back of mathematical algorithms seems completely brilliant. Do you think you'd ever get involved with more games directly in the future? Possibly to contribute some of your own music?
B.B.: Sure! Totally yeah, absolutely, I mean I'm still touring (laughs) but if the opportunity arises, sure!
S.T.: Finally, as a gamer growing up over the years, what are your thoughts on how the industry has evolved? No Man's Sky does feel like this incredibly new project, but how does it reflect on how far we've come?
B.B.: Certainly the scale now is huge, and also the fact that it's become much more into the mainstream. You notice there's a huge amount of crossover now with the film world and y'know, you get actors, film actors, being incorporated into motion capture games.
And I think also, it's exploded in terms of popularity over the last few years; you have conventions and a real mixed bag of people going to these conventions. I've been to quite a few in the last few years and there's a huge variety of people - that's what's really changed, you see all age groups, all kinds of backgrounds, it's become much more acceptable and much more diversified over a huge amount of ages and interests.
There's something now for everyone, where gaming used to be very much a niche pastime, and now it's become more of a mainstream one.
S.T.: Almost like Star Trek, actually.
B.B.: Yeah (laughs), absolutely, yeah!
S.T.: Thank you very much for your time, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you!
B.B.: Cheers, bye!
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Let us know in the comments if you'll be picking up No Man's Sky, and what you'd call the first city on Billtopia!