News Development Update - 15th Jan

[Terkoz]

Firstly love the game, enjoying it immensely.

Secondly I am floored by your plan to charge the player base to help you do your job. I don't care that it is optional but it is a concept I find offensive and greedy. I have no problems paying for expansions but this is one step too far. And I have no interest in getting into a debate with the fanboys over this. This post is purely for the company.

 

[DarthLuca]

I guess that makes sense.

In the year 3000+ I'm sure they wouldn't have anything as complicated as autopilot in space ships.. Considering they have it in airplanes currently.

Very few pirates looking for airplanes flying that dead straight line on Autopilot too!

 

[Marc Alexander]

This post is purely for the company.

You're welcome

http://www.frontier.co.uk/contact/

 

[Hellhawk666]

Thanks for the update, Michael - the ongoing communications from the developers is much appreciated.

Extending the route planner range sounds great. Hopefully this will be a slightly different mechanic to the current system, and will be based on selecting a specific target rather than having the game calculate a web of all possible jumps, which is time consuming and frankly not much use.

The perfect system (for me anyway) would be this:

1) Select a destination system and request a calculated fastest or most efficient course route to be calculated.
2) Be able to click on systems not on that calculated course to force them to be included as waypoints, and the course is recalculated to include them.
2) The course-route is persistent, remaining on my map across login sessions.

This would be awesome.

 

[majogl]

Haaaaang on... PAID expansions? I hope planetary landings will not be one of those expansions that you pay for (at least no more than 10 bucks after already paying for the game)

 

[HybridLogic]

Weighing in

nice..hopefully Autopilot would be added for 1.1 - could really use it

We aren't planning an autopilot.

Michael

For whatever my vote is worth - I fully support Frontier in NOT adding an autopilot.


The thing that I LOVE about Elite Dangerous (perhaps even above my love for space ships and lasers) is that you can and have to actually PLAY it. Anyone who has played EVE Online should immediately understand what I mean. Even though you're often punished for AFKing, you spend a lot of time in games like EVE NOT playing (which encourages AFKing, and is generally an unrewarding feedback loop for me). There's a lot of time spent floating through space, quietly justifying to yourself why this is fun (when perhaps it isn't).

Elite Dangerous puts you RIGHT THERE. Out of the gates - lasers up - pilot your ship. Everything is very tactile and direct. Your decisions matter because you control everything about your direct motion through the game. I don't want it to become something that involves a lot of bot-like play from humans, or that makes it fade it something you leave up behind a YouTube video. Elite's magic is its arcade-like heraldry, that still shows in the very way you interact with the game.



P.S. - Flying between far apart stars in the same system is extra boring. I have never flown a distance greater than 5,000 LS between stars in the same system - Why would I? Best just to leave that 20 minute-do-nothing-commute and go find some fun.

P.P.S. - Thanks for the all the updates. We all really appreciate it : )

 

[Marc Alexander]

Haaaaang on... PAID expansions? I hope planetary landings will not be one of those expansions that you pay for (at least no more than 10 bucks after already paying for the game)

I'm surprised people aren't aware of this - its always been happening. Since the Kickstarter.

 

[sqzbox1]

Oh come on man! Paid expansions has been the way forward, in place of a monthly subscription plan, since the get-go. We all know that! Well, plainly, not all. You have to acknowledge the inevitable - a business needs a cash flow to remain in business. This is the Frontier business model and it makes a lot of sense actually. I, for one, will never pay a monthly fee to play a game. So I'm afraid that the bad news for you, my friend, is that planetary landings WILL be a paid expansion.

 

[Lord_Crazy]

Haaaaang on... PAID expansions? I hope planetary landings will not be one of those expansions that you pay for (at least no more than 10 bucks after already paying for the game)

Seriously? Planetary landing is almost a whole new game and will require an insane amount of work . If one expansion is for money that will definitely be this one trust me.
Now your second point is more interesting: how much will FD charge? Personally I paid for the life time access (can't remember the exact name but basically it includes all the future DLCs for free) but I am still curious.

 

[majogl]

I'm surprised people aren't aware of this - its always been happening. Since the Kickstarter.

Oh come on man! Paid expansions has been the way forward, in place of a monthly subscription plan, since the get-go. We all know that! Well, plainly, not all. You have to acknowledge the inevitable - a business needs a cash flow to remain in business. This is the Frontier business model and it makes a lot of sense actually. I, for one, will never pay a monthly fee to play a game. So I'm afraid that the bad news for you, my friend, is that planetary landings WILL be a paid expansion.

well i hope the price will be reasonable... If the paid expansion is anything like big game DLCs, (30-70 bucks) then a lot of people will be disappointed... Especially since planetary landings are the most anticipated ones.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Now your second point is more interesting: how much will FD charge? Personally I paid for the life time access (can't remember the exact name but basically it includes all the future DLCs for free) but I am still curious.

I think you mean this:

[h=5]Pledge £80 or more[/h] 485 backers
Digital Download Pack. This includes a single digital download of the game, and any expansions, and all the other rewards above except those requiring physical delivery.

So if 80 pounds is for all the future DLCs i hope to god they wont charge more than 20 for each...

 

[Rotomon]

Anyone that complains about the price of a paid expansion in a non subscription game needs to get their head examined imo.

 

[QorbeQ]

Thanks

Thank you for the update Michael, keep them coming!

QQ

 

[Mkkt Bkkt]

Really great news! I can't wait to see how things progress in the next coming months. However I have two questions.

1. What exactly is the "wings" update? Obviously it will add wings to (some/most/all) ships, but is that it? I don't mean this in a negative way, I would just like to know what to expect in this big update.

2. Another question that probably can't be answered at this time is.. Is there any price range that was planned for the expansions? I would (and I think others would too) be very relived about the expansions once I can picture a general price.


Aside from that, I am very impressed with E - D so far, there's not much to say beside keep up this amazing work!

 

[JeffRyan]

Options for players currently without beta access to be able to purchase beta access will be available.

Please don't do this.

 

[Surfinjo]

Oh come on man! Paid expansions has been the way forward, in place of a monthly subscription plan, since the get-go. .

It's also a surprisingly clever business strategy.

 

[Harbinger]

I think you mean this:

Pledge £80 or more

485 backers
Digital Download Pack. This includes a single digital download of the game, and any expansions, and all the other rewards above except those requiring physical delivery.

So if 80 pounds is for all the future DLCs i hope to god they wont charge more than 20 for each...

All the rewards above that pledge level were also included so £80 wasn't the actual cost of the Lifetime Expansions. Up until July last year the Lifetime Expansions were being sold in the store as a separate entity for £35.

Nobody outside of FDEV knows how much the paid DLCs will cost. £20 does sound about right though.

 

[karakino]

Can we expect planetary landings on 1.3,or 2.0?

 

[Borgkube]

Hi everyone,

Following up on my post last week I will provide more information on our process moving forwards and dates for the next two major releases. As you’ve seen since the game’s initial release we have issued a number of point updates, the latest being 1.05 this morning. These are typically restricted to urgent and/or low risk changes and will continue on a regular basis as they allow us to respond as we need to. These aren’t scheduled in the same way as the major updates, but will be ongoing.

More significant updates allow us to add new features and content (as well as sweeping up a host of fixes and tweaks that haven’t been deemed suitable for the intermediate point releases).

Currently beta testing will be available for those who already have beta access for the main game. For players participating in the beta tests there will be a separate mechanism for playing so testing does not affect your game and that you can continue to play the retail version as well. Options for players currently without beta access to be able to purchase beta access will be available. Details will be made available nearer the time.

Depending on how the update Betas go in test, we expect them to be released to everyone a week or so after the Beta release.​

As you all know we’re also working on paid expansions for the game and these will have their own beta periods as well, we’ll again make details available of how this will work as we near their release.

The first planned significant update will be 1.1 and will enter beta in the first week of February. We’ll be talking next week about how 1.1 will introduce a new way to collaborate with other players in the galaxy in preparation for 1.2’s major Wings update. We have some some good news for planners of long journeys - V1.1 will also have a significant increase in the maximum distance for the route planner. We’re currently looking at extending this to 1,000 light years!

Looking further ahead there will be a 1.2 update which is planned to enter beta testing in the first week of March. The focus for this update will be Wings and other multiplayer goodness. I’ll provide more detail in future updates.

Thanks

Michael

This all looks promising. I am wondering when we will be able to name our ships? Thx.

 

[Galactic Midden]

What exactly is the "wings" update? Obviously it will add wings to (some/most/all) ships, but is that it? I don't mean this in a negative way, I would just like to know what to expect in this big update.

It's better than you think! Wings is the name being given to the forthcoming multiplayer feature where pilots will be able to get matched together, jump together and stay together. Effectively allowing successful and sustained team play.

 

[Tinman]

Can we expect planetary landings on 1.3,or 2.0?

Neither...it will come as optional paid expansions as the plan always have been. Unless you have the expansion pass that previously was available to buy which gives you free access to all future content of the game for without having to pay anymore beyond that sum. (This is no longer available and I don't expect to see it come back...)

I'll just copy&paste this:

Development of the core game will be ongoing in parallel with the future paid expansions. That is why the development team has been made bigger.

Taken from last weeks development update:

Our first commitment is supporting the game with regular updates. This won’t just be the fixes and tweaking we’ve provided since release but will also add new features and content. Examples of this are Wings and associated multiplayer features, as well as the additional ships mentioned in recent newsletters. We’re proud of the fantastic game that we released before Christmas but intend to keep growing and developing it. To make this happen we’re expanding the team working on the game so that we can maintain a regular schedule of updates as well as working on paid expansions.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=94899&highlight=

"DLC" as in major paid expansions was "announced" more than two years ago during the Kickstarter. This is major new features to the game like planetary landings, first person gameplay on planets/stations/ships/EVA, having NPCs and other players as crew aboard your ship, executive control of capital ships, boarding other ships and so on...

These paid expansions is not the same thing as improvements to the core game that will be added to the game going forward. Things like more ships, "wings", improved and expanded missions, new space environments and stations, further improvements to combat/trading/exploration/mining...basically more of the depth people are asking for...these will still be free.