Back in 2012, the team over at Hello Games had an idea. The studio had established itself on relatively simple, arcade-style titles, but this new game would be something different: a space exploration simulation where players could go anywhere and do whatever they want.

Under the working title of "Project Skyscraper," studio co-founder Sean Murray spent roughly a year developing a working engine — once it was done, the team expanded to four people, working in secret while the rest of the studio finished other projects.

It's been roughly four years since then, and Hello Games has gone through quite a lot. Game development is tough enough on its own — a flooded studio and thousands of dollars in damaged equipment certainly didn't help. Yet, despite everything the studio had going against it, Hello Games continued on.

No Man's Sky has quickly become one of the industry's most talked-about games. Its near-infinite scale and focus on player freedom sounds like the stuff of dreams, the sort of game that fans have been waiting decades for. The fact that the entire team only consists of roughly a dozen members only makes No Man's Sky's ridiculous scope that much more impressive.

Now, after everything the studio has been through, No Man's Sky has gone gold.

It's happened. No Man's Sky just went gold. I'm so incredibly proud of this tiny team. 4 years of emotions pic.twitter.com/YJoI6JVgxq

— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) July 7, 2016

It's hard not to crack a smile looking at that photo. Anyone who's been following the game's development over the past few years knows just how much Hello Games has had to deal with. A team of 15 people creating even a small game is a monumental task, much less pushing the boundaries of how big a single title can be.

For those who don't know, "going gold" is an industry term signifying that a game has completed pre-release development. Essentially, the launch day version of No Man's Sky is done, and the game is all but guaranteed to hit its Aug. 9 release date. From here, the game will enter final certification (aka Sony and Valve making sure that everything works properly) and the manufacturing of retail discs can begin.

Granted, just because the game is finished doesn't mean that Hello Games is done working — Day One patches and updates are likely already in the works — but even so, the fact that No Man's Sky has gone gold is a huge milestone for the team.

For gamers, all that's left to do is wait out the last month before release ...

No Man's Sky is scheduled to launch on Aug. 9 for both the PlayStation 4 and PC, and congratulations to the team over at Hello Games!