Elite: Dangerous

[Scott Tortorice]

Wow...all of a sudden my favorite genre is sprouting like weeds in a garden! X: Rebirth, Star Citizen, 0x10c, Kinetic Void, Limit Theory...and who know what else still over the horizon? We space jocks are going to be a very busy lot in a year or two.

Anyway, this vid from Elite: Dangerous really got my attention for one reason: it shows a game where ships actually have some depth to them. That is, unlike Eve Online, X3, Evochron, et alia, ships in Elite: Dangerous will actually be something more than a collection of hit points. Damage will actually be modeled in full 3D, which should make for some epic battles...and logistical headaches (the dev has already mentioned that you will need insurance to repair larger ships ). Anyway, check it out here:

[video=youtube_share;Xg9k7E4ngFw]http://youtu.be/Xg9k7E4ngFw[/video]

You can read some more about what is planned here: http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/01/11/elite-dangerous-over-100-billion-star-systems/

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Another interesting dev diary:

[video=youtube_share;5uKD1ap5hsI]http://youtu.be/5uKD1ap5hsI[/video]

You know, if Elite, or any of the other games I mentioned in the first post, can pull this type of SP/MP rich content off, Eve Online might well find itself on the back-burner. Why do I see Eve Online F2P by 2015? :devious:

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Yup, Eve better watch out. Partial feature list (and a very exciting one!):

• A customizable avatar - walk around ship, stations and planets (Confirmed for game update)
• Landing on planets (Confirmed for game update)
• Price of goods reactive to player trading (Confirmed)
• Overhauled combat from Frontier (More like X-Wing/Freespace) (Confirmed)
• Open world PvP (Confirmed)
• Walk around inside ships (Confirmed for update)
• Original ships from Elite, Frontier, FFE (Confirmed)
• Procedural/dynamic ship damage/destruction (Confirmed)
• A new set of stories in novella form - written by professional sci-fi writers. (Confirmed)

 

[kawaiku]

In such a vast universe (almost said verse lol... didn't want to tarnish the term used by Malcom Reynolds ) I wonder how NPCs will act, interact, and essentially make the universe seem alive. I now there will definitely be a core area with main branches of travel used by players but...the rest of it??...

 

[prymus]

Wow, sounds like it would be extremely involved,and a heck of a lot of fun.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

In such a vast universe (almost said verse lol... didn't want to tarnish the term used by Malcom Reynolds ) I wonder how NPCs will act, interact, and essentially make the universe seem alive. I now there will definitely be a core area with main branches of travel used by players but...the rest of it??...

Yeah, that is the question. A lot of these games promise a "living & breathing" universe, but usually that gets boiled down to "if you attack A, A attacks you back". If that is the definition of a living and breathing universe, then Chess qualifies as well!

I keep saying it, but I'll say it again: more games need to be like Crusader Kings 2. Now THAT is a living, breathing universe. I would love to see a space game have that type of unpredictability. A game that hits the players will all sorts of unexpected results. So, say that after you save a convoy from pirate attack, you get a message to report for duty as the royal escort for Queen Padawamy. Soon you find yourself piloting a royal destroyer, or perhaps the royal space barge itself. But then a twist: later on you find out that there is a bounty placed on you because it turns out that one of the pirates you killed was the half-brother of the Queen, and she only asked you to be her royal escort so she could set you up for an ambush. See? Now what do you do? Attack the queen? Flee? Join the pirates? Stuff like that. THAT would be living and breathing, not just some sort of predictable reputation-based tit for tat.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Looks like Elite: Dangerous already has its own audio series:

http://laveradio.com/EscapeVelocity/

I just listened to a few minutes of it, but it sounds pretty good.

Latest dev diary:

[video=youtube;h-bEn2aLJ7U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h-bEn2aLJ7U[/video]

 

[Chris Netherton]

Good find!
Fingers crossed. I loved Elite as a kid and had fun playing oolite a while back. Let's hope they make a decent fist of the game, looking forward to it.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Good find!
Fingers crossed. I loved Elite as a kid and had fun playing oolite a while back. Let's hope they make a decent fist of the game, looking forward to it.

I am really curious to see how ED compares to Star Citizen. Both are fabulously daring games with huge funding.

The dev for SC recently posted an interesting vid where he describes how SC is going to act like an AI-driven game, but with MP elements. In other words, there are going to be tons of AI activity, from manufacturing, to pirates, traders, messengers, etc that will be populating the game universe alongside human players. This is a great idea because it should help blur the distinction of instanced AI missions vs true MP activities. That is what I never liked about Eve - all the NPC stuff was instanced and divorced from the human MP elements. SC seems to have found an innovative system that mixes the two in one sandbox.

 

[Chris Netherton]

Star Citizen certainly looks ambitious and hope they can pull it off, especially and they've raised nearly $10,000,000?!!?!
Certainly the AI side of things would be far more important to me than the graphics as I'm more likely to play these games on a stand-alone basis. The one thing that bothers me about Star Citizen is the threat of 'Newtonian Physics'. I could never really get into Frontier as I couldn't be bothered with the realistic movement models, I just wanted to play a game...

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Certainly the AI side of things would be far more important to me than the graphics as I'm more likely to play these games on a stand-alone basis.

Same here. Again, that is one of the things I don't care for in Eve: if you like to lone wolf it, you are really limited in your interactions with the game universe.

The one thing that bothers me about Star Citizen is the threat of 'Newtonian Physics'. I could never really get into Frontier as I couldn't be bothered with the realistic movement models, I just wanted to play a game...

I am curious to see how they implement this, too. I didn't care for realistic physics either until I played Evochron Mercenary. That game makes it rather intuitive and I adapted rather quickly. If they keep it on the lite side of realism, I probably will be okay with it.

Next important question: whatever happened to X:Rebirth?!? That was announced two years ago! All I ever get from Egosoft is static screenshots of various stations and an occasional vid about how they are still working on it. Sheesh. I would normally fear that it has become vaporware, but supposedly Egosoft is doing better than ever since releasing all their games on Steam.

 

[Scott Tortorice]

I know everybody is doing handstands over Star Citizen, and I do hope that turns out to be a great game, too, but there is something about Elite: Dangerous that makes it just seem more interesting. Maybe it is because SC is all hype at this point - we really have little more to go on than concepts, promises of greatness, and mock commercials (amazing how many people are willing to throw money at such a shadow) - and Elite Dangerous has actually been showing in-engine material from time to time. Like now :

Our most recent Kickstarter update has just gone live and it contains things that we want to make sure none of our fans will miss. Chief amongst them being our first in-engine video since the Kickstarter campaign ended!

The creation of this video came about partially as an aid for recruiting a composer to the project and driving forward the development of key elements of the game, but we decided it was too awesome to keep to ourselves. We hope you enjoy!

[video=youtube_share;VE8B4KptyVI]http://youtu.be/VE8B4KptyVI[/video]

We are gathered here today to mark the passing of Eve Online....

But seriously. Assuming SC and ED can deliver on similarly deep economics and faction warfare, Eve really doesn't stand a chance. I would be very concerned if I was over at CCP. I've always believed the only reason they have remained the #1 MMO space game is because they are the only MMO space game.

EDIT: The official Elite Dangerous newlstter provides a link to a Facebook page for a launch party: https://www.facebook.com/events/127312480803617/?fref=ts

It lists March 1, 2014 as the launch date. I wonder if this is accurate?

 

[Scott Tortorice]

Public Alpha about to begin:

[video=youtube_share;a-ykj3-q40A]http://youtu.be/a-ykj3-q40A[/video]

Looks great! Here's hoping it isn't a X:Rebirth fiasco. For some reason, I trust this old school dev. He just has an honest face.

Anyway, if it plays as good as it looks, I would buy it even if it was pure MP deathmatch. I really don't see how Eve can compete with such a game going forward.

 

[Nexus6]

My gripe about this one (other than the evil Kickstarter is that it's a 'truck' game. I want human (or humanoid) avatars like STO. Anyway, who in his right mind would want to pay money to play a buggy, incomplete, and crash-prone alpha?

 

[Wodin]

Elite on the BBC B Micro 32k..the first game I really fell in love with..played it prob everyday for well over a year..and then my save tape got chewed by the machine.. you can imagine the rage!!

 

[Talon_XbmcX]

save tapes ... aaah the good old days =)

 

[Scott Tortorice]

My gripe about this one (other than the evil Kickstarter is that it's a 'truck' game. I want human (or humanoid) avatars like STO.

Sometimes a "truck game" is okay, too. Traditionally, most space games were truck games. However, I wouldn't be adverse to avatars, too. Even though the "truck gamer" enthusiasts love to bash the whole walking in stations thing, I think there is no reason why we can only have one at the expense of the other.

Anyway, who in his right mind would want to pay money to play a buggy, incomplete, and crash-prone alpha?

When it comes to these BIG Kickstarters like Elite and Star Citizen, I think people just want to be part of gaming history. They hope that these two titles will be the beginning of a new golden age of PC gaming, and want to be able to say that they helped make history. That's my dime store psychology theory anyway.

Elite on the BBC B Micro 32k..the first game I really fell in love with..played it prob everyday for well over a year..and then my save tape got chewed by the machine.. you can imagine the rage!!

I played Elite, but never really got into it. I think my favorite was Universe II on the Atari ST, and Sundog (also Atari ST). Universe II was very similar to what Eve offers today: very spreadsheet driven, with a strong industrialist angle. Loved that game. And Sundog was closer to what Nexus liked: you had an avatar (albeit, just a white dot! ) that you could use to walk around your ship, as well as cities! You go could into shops, and even get in gunfights in a top-down perspective. Very clever, very innovative game.

 

[Nexus6]

Scott, that is a good point about people wanting to get on the ground floor and be part of what they hope will be a new golden age of gaming. In fact that very mindset prompted me to purchase the Neverwinter Founder's pack for $60, a purchase I now very much regret. You might say I learned my lesson the hard way. That said, my attitude now is keep me apprised of the game's progress and let me know when you plan on releasing it, but don't expect me to play it, much less fork out any money, before official release.

Concerning 'truck' games vs. humanoid avatars, I think humanoid avatars add another dimension to a game; always a good thing.

 

[Chris Netherton]

Definitely looking forward to this one. Not enough to pay two hundred quid to get the alpha though.
I guess I haven't really played a space-sim since the original Elite (apart from it's various re-interpretations, Oolite etc.) so it should knock me out when I play it anyhow.
I like the use of the old power settings feature that was in X-Wing and the ideas about heat signatures look fun as well.

 

[Nexus6]

IMHO this game has two strikes against it. First of all it's a 'truck' game where you spend all your time inside your ship, and secondly, it's a Kickstarter. I just love being scrooge around the holidays, or as Lyndon Johnson would say, a "nattering nabob of negativity". lol