As for the prestige of Hello Games and what experience they have. Most are former Sumo Digital, Criterion and Kuju Entertainment Devs that worked on Burnout 3 and Geometry Wars.
Sean Murray was the technical lead of Burnout 3.
This goes in line why Ship controls are more on the arcadey side and less Sim.
Anyways moving on.
On each planet there is a Beacon. The large Black Cube with a red Core that is shown predominantly in the game artwork and cover of the game. This is like a central database server that you link to that records your discoveries (Animal species, resources gathered, and specific locations)
Planets are discovered by flying into their atmosphere. Like systems, they are credited to the first person to do so. Creatures can be discovered by scanning them which I believe is down on the d-pad. Which sends out a pulse in radius around you
You just upload your information at a beacon before you receive your reward. Rarer the object or more dangerous the creature the larger the reward.
You are given a form of currency called Units, which is used mainly at Space Stations for purchasing of ship upgrades, suit improvements (Jet Pack Module, Thermal Protection, Damage Resistance, and so forth)
The time of day on a planet depends on the position and rotation of the planet relative to any nearby suns. As a planet rotates, the time of day will change. The day/night cycle is not artificial. It is calculated as the game plays in relativity to the time that passes via axis rotation of the planet revolving around it's parent star.
When you die you will lose any un-uploaded discoveries you had made, as well as any resources you had on you at the time. You will not lose any Units or upgrades to your suit. If you die in a ship, you will lose it and any cargo it had. You will respawn in a basic life-pod, which is what you would have at the start of the game. If you die on the ground, you will respawn next to your ship.
A crafting system exists in game with ingredients used based on periodic table of the elements that contain both real and fictional elements.
In order to craft things, blueprints must be discovered. These can be found in many places on planets. They will get more advanced and more useful towards the center of the galaxy. Crafting is done using resources collected while mining, or by trading. To craft something, select an empty slot in the inventory screen, and pick a blueprint to craft. The material requirements will show. If you have all the required components then you will be able to craft it. Crafted components live in the same space as your cargo. This means you need to decide what is important to keep hold off and what items are to be dropped,
I think there is a bit more I could cover but some of the folks in here also answered some things I've covered.
