David Braben will answer your questions at 4PM GMT/UTC

[Steve 67]

Will there be any built in feature to change background audio/music? A group member discussion I had recently?

 

[David Braben]

Hi David; an 1984 here. First played ELITE on a Commodore 64 at the age of 18. For personal reasons this game means a lot to me; it offered me a way to cope with what were difficult circumstances for me at the time, and dream of stars.

Now I'm all grown up, happily married and with cat; a little star system to call my own. I don't play computer games much anymore, but occasionally I still think of this game as an old friend who helped me through tough times. And I dream of stars.

Ive got Elite Dangerous on preorder. For the memories. Thank you.

Nice to hear. We all dream of the stars... ;-)

 

[Voivod]

Community/modding content is an interesting point - something I'd like to embrace, but within the game itself. There is a danger of the game branching otherwise.

Please put some thought into modding.
Good mods make the game so much richer.

 

[Wreav]

Hi David, great work on the game so far.

I have to say that playing ED with an Oculus and X52 is basically a 20 year dream of mine come true. Will FD be making another pass at improving some quality-of-life issues with VR, such as the acceleration animation, body model clipping, etc? We are so close to ED being the PREMIER VR experience, I hope you guys can implement the latest SDKs soon!

Thanks for all you're doing, and your dedication to seeing your vision come to life with ED! Can't wait for gamma.

 

[Riktar]

As a Logitech G940 owner I must ask:
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How goes force feedback development?

 

[exioce]

Hi David,

I pirated the original Elite. I wasn't even a teenager but still, do you forgive me?

 

[David Braben]

I am often becoming wanted because of a player or NPC getting in my line of Fire (sometimes intentionally to attack me in the case of players)...
Is there any plans to incorporate a friendly ACCIDENTAL fire solution (such as small shield percentage but no hull or major dmg)?
I understand how a team could exploit it but a couple errant bullets or strafing laser shouldn't cause issues I would think?

Yes - this is a tuning issue we need to look at. Thanks.

 

[Falkenherz]

Oooh, forgot something: Can I have your autograph on my blog? You can write any place on the screen!

 

[Sir.Tj]

Good mods make the game so much richer.

Why thank you... oh err sorry....

 

[Titus Balls]

Hello David!

For all of the Machinima creators that enjoy filming in game, do you think a separate tool similar to what you use to make in house trailers could be implemented to allow more cinematic shots or angles? I know there was discussion about the possibility of a camera drone.

100% this, it pretty much refers to my question earlier (plus the Orary question to add to it to make finding events easier)

 

[Avetorian]

Will we ever be able to fly the federal fighter at some point? it looks like a fun ship to own.

 

[specialsymbol]

These are my feelings about offline mode, too.

There are three things about offline mode being important:
1. making the game moddable. Not every modder wants to cheat. Some want simply to enjoy the game in another way than intended.
2. being independent of server issues and even network availability. I have a rig powerful enough for gaming at my workplace and enough time at hand sometimes, yet I couldn't run anything over network. If there was network traffic from games I might be in trouble, so I unplug the cable.
3. it's an emotional thing. If I buy something I don't think about renting a license or such, I want to own the game! I love my shelf with old game boxes. In the recent light of content removals from, e.g. GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas: those games on my shelf still have the music, those on Steam have not.

An offline mode insures that, no matter what happens to Frontier or the servers, the game will still be playable.

It also allows for the game (in its offline version) to be modded. This enriches the community and the game with content beyond even that which the developers themselves can produce (just look at Betheda's games), and ensures a long life for the game.

Look at Freelancer for an example of a similar game whose servers closed years ago, but which is still kicking and keeping a loyal community thanks to private servers and modding.

An offline game also lets it be DRM free (no matter the intent always-online is, by its own nature, a form of DRM, and even if it's not perceived as such by the developers, it is by a lot of potential customers).

An offline game would probably allow you to pause, thus allowing people who sometimes need to take care of children or other urgent issues to play without risking a loss of progress.

An offline game means, thus, more sales for Frontier (both from people who don't support online-only games, people who don't support DRM, and people who simply don't have a constant or reliable connection), and a much longer life for the game.

As for your claim that an offline mode would need new story content... a lot of us would be perfectly fine with a barebones offline mode that we could mod.

The community would easily and happily provide the content.

This would even avoid possible "spoilers" from your online story.

Is this a possibility you could consider?

 

[David Braben]

Hi David,

I pirated the original Elite. I wasn't even a teenager but still, do you forgive me?

I think more pirated it than bought it!

But yes, I forgive you (but please buy Elite: Dangerous! ;-) )

 

[finkybot]

Hi David,
any Chance we can get physical models of the ships to throw money at?

 

[Sav112]

Hi David did you ever own a ZX81?

To the others please can we not answer a question not directed at David, the whole offline thing has been done to death and thats the end of it. It was answered by David himself and its obvious trying to add it would be detrimental to every ones online experience if resources had been switched to it. I personally thank David for looking after the online multiplayer community in taking this hard decision that we can all understand is the right one for the game at this time.

 

[Steve50]

Hi David,

I pirated the original Elite. I wasn't even a teenager but still, do you forgive me?

Have you no shame, you should be taken out and publicly flogged.

 

[Mobius]

hope im not to late to the party.
.
.
.
Question.
im currently the host for Elite largest private group and the group mechanics are rather basic at the moment with only allowing the group host to accept invites, when will group management feature be implemented and how much freedom would a host likely to have?

 

[Gommster]

Another BBC B floppy disc based Elite ex-teenager here, 30 years and many space sims later and this is the first one to feel like the original - THANKYOU

I'm concerned about the potential threat to OpenPlay from hardcore PVP players, Have Frontier considered this and whether any special measures may be necessary following release ?

(eg. ringfencing/limiting access to core systems/sectors or heavily policing certain sectors & trade routes in order to allow new/trade players to progress in OpenPlay)

 

[Everett Mcgill]

The thing I love most about E: D is the attempt to realistically depict our galaxy. Being able to visit star systems I can see in the sky and being able to explore places scientists have only just begun to explore with remote sensing techniques fills me with a sense of wonder. How will you (or will you) keep the E: D galaxy synced with our rapidly expanding knowledge of what real star systems are actually like? What if a star systems at release has not been studied and so has several procedurally generated planets but a few years later it is discovered that it has no detectable planets?

 

[Iain M Norman]

David,

How fast are all the little easy fixes and features going to pour, out once all the big nuts are cracked?