“A soundtrack to infinity” sounds like the sort of thing a hairy bunch of proggers might say about their new album, but Sheffield post-rock outfit 65daysofstatic can actually lay claim to making one, or at least something very close. The band have been chosen to write the soundtrack for the much-anticipated PlayStation 4 game No Man’s Sky, where the player flies by spacecraft through a galaxy that, in playable terms, will be neverending: it comprises more than 18 quintillion planets, each with its own flora, fauna and, of course, lethal robotic drones, and each needs a soundscape to fit. Manic Miner it ain’t.

The difference between an ordinary video game soundtrack and this project is that No Man’s Sky’s universe is procedurally generated. Rather than designers manually building each of its myriad worlds – which would take several lifetimes – the planets are created randomly through complex algorithms. The music needs to follow a similar approach.

To do this, 65days – along with writing a collection of songs that will form a more discernible official soundtrack – have been busy assembling a vast library of loops, textures and melodies. These components will be fed into what guitarist Paul Wolinski describes as a “frankly insane audio system”, devised by the game’s musical director Paul Weir. The audio system will randomly create music to accompany the gameplay, reacting to the changeable terrain and becoming more or less menacing depending on whether a character is in danger – a form of composition widely known as “generative music”.

The problem with generative music in video games is that, because it has to respond to sudden shifts in gameplay, it tends towards the minimalist, meaning that it often ends up sounding beige. It’s a fate that 65daysofstatic and Weir were keen to avoid. “An awful lot of generative music is ambient, soundscapey stuff,” says Wolinski. “We wanted to write music that didn’t sound like that, but at the same time, because the game is so big, make music that is essentially infinite.”

The game’s complex construction means that the band have thus far only been able to work with screenshots and trailers. How well it all comes together won’t be known until No Man’s Sky’s release later this year.

“We’re massive control freaks: we never release music that we’re not happy with,” says Wolinski. “But this? This is unknowable.”

Yet, for the band, the risks attached to No Man’s Sky are vastly outweighed by the thrill of the game’s potential. Wolinski himself can’t wait to experience the game. “The idea that people could visit these planets that no one in the world has ever been to before [and hear] a version of the song that no one else will hear – and we haven’t heard before – is so exciting.” The sky is the limit.

See screenshots at no-mans-sky.com