Elite: Dangerous (PC game) - Successor to "Elite"

[Neil]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20165344 David Braben, one of the creators of the original, is seeking £1.25m ($2m) via Kickstarter to fund the updated version. Called Elite: Dangerous it will involve the same mix of interstellar travel, trading, piracy and spaceships as the original 8-bit game. Those who pledge cash to the project will also get a chance to shape the development of the updated version. "Elite is a game that I've wanted to come back to for a very, very long time," Mr Braben told the BBC. "It's the sort of game that I would very much like to play today."

[Cykotic]

Never played the original... to those who have: any good?

[Neil]

Never played the original... to those who have: any good? These days? Not really! 25yrs ago? It was an absolutely mind blower! Seriously! There had been nothing like it. Not only did it give 3D graphics with hidden surfaces, but somehow, it fitted the entire game code, 8 galaxies each with 256 planets (with names), each with their own economic models, in about 20K of memory!?!?!!?!?!? There were even some special missions hidden in there too! Think how big a 20K jpg is for example!? Most of our avatars are larger in size! Yet Elite fitted in there!!!!

[shootemindehead]

Took me a long time to get into 'Elite', but when I did, I was hooked. Such a fantastic, layered game. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out on this one. If done right, It could be one of those great games that stays on the HDD for years.

[krakenslayer]

These days? Not really! 25yrs ago? It was an absolutely mind blower! Seriously! There had been nothing like it. Not only did it give 3D graphics with hidden surfaces, but somehow, it fitted the entire game code, 8 galaxies each with 256 planets (with names), each with their own economic models, in about 20K of memory!?!?!!?!?!? There were even some special missions hidden in there too! Think how big a 20K jpg is for example!? Most of our avatars are larger in size! Yet Elite fitted in there!!!! Exactly. Today, it's easy to look at the wireframe graphics and bleepy sound (well, you can't "look" at the sound, but you get me) and see it as not so hot, but the technical achievement within the limitations of the technology was truly astounding. The vastness of the game was actually achieved using procedural generation: the Elite universe was not STORED on the floppy disc, instead, most of that 20kb was taken up by one small-ish but exquisitely-honed equation that always produced the required game elements with the same values and the same predictable states of existence (the planets/stars in certain locations with certain names, the different ships and factions), while reproducing other elements with varying degrees of realistic randomness (economies, starting locations and motives of NPC vessels, etc.). As a side note, I suppose it takes us back to the idea of the simulation hypothesis, that a "god" might set in place certain rules at the beginning of a simulation in the knowledge that it might eventually produce a particular desirable result, but I don't want to open that can of worms again :P It's basically the same tech that allowed the landmass in Daggerfall to be 341,608 km^2 within 200MBs in 1996, whereas Skyrim just about squeezes ~40km^2 into almost 7GBs in 2012. In Skyrim, all the towns, villages, caves, monsters, islands, mountains, rocks, trees, insects, eagles and dungeons are hand-placed and actually stored on disc. Obviously this has the benefit of making the game feel a lot more detailed and realistic, and locations are more unique and livelier, but it has the trade off of consuming masses of memory, not to mention the man-hours required to place everything manually. To put Elite in perspective, in comparison to the other games of its time, it was almost as impressive as if someone today made a game the size of Daggerfall with the detail and depth of Skyrim. It blew minds, ended marriages and failed students the world over.

[shootemindehead]

"It blew minds, ended marriages and failed students the world over." Ha ha...now there's a blurb! I'd buy that for dollar!

[Neil]

They've reached their Kickstarter target - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20897768

[Mr. Clean]

Reminds me of this game... Darkstar One: Broken Alliance You can be a bounty hunter, pirate, smuggler, trader.....seems like a few other things but don't remember....You collect these crystals in different solar systems(hundred or so solar systems give or take) and upgrade your ship. Pretty fun game....picked it up in a $10 bin once and was kinda surprised that it didn't get any attention really or seem to do so upon release.

[Neil]

Going to be VERY interesting to see how this compares to Star Citizen! Indeed some of it sounds quite similar! Game engine rendered sequence... David Braben explaining it... Development diary - How the galaxy works!

[shootemindehead]

Can't wait. Gonna get both. Loved 'Elite' as a kid.

[Neil]

I'm tempted to sign up to one of the Kickstarter options on this to enjoy the ride

[Neil]

Alpha is here... I signed up in the end to Beta Phase 2...

[AcesandEights]

I signed up in the end to Beta Phase 2... Let us know what you can (within ND limits, of course). I'm starting to get interested!

[Rancid Carcass]

Going to be VERY interesting to see how this compares to Star Citizen! I think this will be viewed as the plucky underdog next to the financial behemoth of the other one. The thing that worries me about Star Citizen is that it's in danger of becoming a victim of it's own success - it has like a bazillion stretch goals and they keep adding more and more all the time as its funding keeps going up. It seems to be more concerned with adding the next shiny new million dollar feature than it does with anything else - can't remember the last time I read an article about the core game and how that's progressing. With Elite being smaller and more focused on the basics, I think this could be the one to watch.

[Neil]

Let us know what you can (within ND limits, of course). I'm starting to get interested! There are as yet no ND limits. eg: There's already people actively broadcasting themselves playing the alpha for example - http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9172 I'd imagine I'll get phase 2 beta in about 5-7 months? - - - Updated - - - I think this will be viewed as the plucky underdog next to the financial behemoth of the other one. The thing that worries me about Star Citizen is that it's in danger of becoming a victim of it's own success - it has like a bazillion stretch goals and they keep adding more and more all the time as its funding keeps going up. It seems to be more concerned with adding the next shiny new million dollar feature than it does with anything else - can't remember the last time I read an article about the core game and how that's progressing. With Elite being smaller and more focused on the basics, I think this could be the one to watch. Hope you're right! My concern is to make the game interesting they need LOTS of interesting content, both in missions and just things to see/visit. SC clearly has that huge budget to do that... Elite Dangerous? Less sure...