How procedurally generated planety landings might look like on Earth.

HeimdallofHavn · May 30, 2015

Some people in the beta forums are worried about planetary landings.

With procedural generation which Frontier uses you can get amazing results.

Please have a look at this video of an example by another team:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNgWwvSaTZ0¨

Seamless planet rendering from space down to the surface.

Frontier should be able to copy this fairly easily I would expect.

The main challenge would be to add points of interests that you can actually interact with.

But, just even these views? Viper dogfight over the grand canyon anyone?

On edit: sorry about the title: Too much lavian brandy.

Cheers,

Heim

Shear · May 30, 2015

The worrying is coming from the fact that there is nothing shown about it, if they are working on it all they have to do is show one screenshot and boom everyone would calm down.

I for one would be very interested in seeing what the coming paid expansion pack will offer.

I am super inpatient though so that's just me.

I know they are capable of doing some amazing work though I mean they have been in this game forever now so whatever is coming will be amazing.

HeimdallofHavn · May 30, 2015

Ahrkeyn said:
The worrying is coming from the fact that there is nothing shown about it, if they are working on it all they have to do is show one screenshot and boom everyone would calm down.

I for one would be very interested in seeing what the coming paid expansion pack will offer.

I am super inpatient though so that's just me.

I know they are capable of doing some amazing work though I mean they have been in this game forever now so whatever is coming will be amazing.

I agree 100 percent.

Say what you want about Chris Roberts and that "other game", but they know what their players want in terms of future info and promises. Whether is it all vapour ware is a different questions. NOTE: Please don't start any Star Citizen discussion here.

Frontier really should do teases/sneak peeks of what they are working with expansion wise.

Show us a rendered player avatar, show us a sample of their procedurally generated planets.

So I agree. Show us a screenshot, show us a small video.

Even if we have to wait 6 months for it to be ready, show us....

It would help alleviate many concerns..

- - - Updated - - -

Say a video like this Outerra one. Just for Elite, with a cobra flying. It would be so good I think for PR.

Darrett · May 30, 2015

Planetary landings are interesting, but not what they should be focusing on. It's a nice idea and would add some breadth to the game, but what is needed first is depth; we've got lots of area in the game and not enough to do in it.

Chaz · May 30, 2015

Will planetary landings come first, or first person walking around ships and stations? Personally I'm looking forward to both equally so I'm not to bothered which one will appear first, but I think the first person bits are more likely to come before the planetary landings.

Armour · May 30, 2015

My opinion is probably unpopular with the people who don't think beyond "wouldn't it be cool if", but I think planetary landings and surface access in general should be heavily restricted - no free-flying through cities or anything like that. Who is realistically going to allow random visitors from who-knows-where to buzz their buildings in a flying nuclear reactor? And what effete city-dweller is going to want to rub shoulders with dirty spacers with their unknown diseases and a diet of synthetic burgers and recycled urine? Quarantine them within approved areas and keep any interactions limited to the lower caste members of society, those who don't have a choice but to interact with them.

There should almost certainly be a requirement to own an enhanced docking computer for surface landings on planets with starports. They could have it so that you get an approach vector to the starport and have to follow the path laid out by the DC, a bit like an interdiction - or set the auto-docking mode on. Anyone who strays from their assigned flight path should have control immediately removed, be placed in auto-dock mode until landed, whereupon they get a hefty fine and have their craft impounded if they can't pay it off.

It would be funny to read the posts from people complaining that they only tried to hurtle into a crowded city square and should not therefore be forced to transport biowaste to the city dump or get a loan from the local shark to pay off their fine and get their ship back.

Deathwatch · May 30, 2015

Chaz said:
Will planetary landings come first, or first person walking around ships and stations? Personally I'm looking forward to both equally so I'm not to bothered which one will appear first, but I think the first person bits are more likely to come before the planetary landings.

ship and stations would be first as it gets down the base mechanics.

Alex Brentnall · May 30, 2015

Ahrkeyn said:
The worrying is coming from the fact that there is nothing shown about it, if they are working on it all they have to do is show one screenshot and boom everyone would calm down.

I for one would be very interested in seeing what the coming paid expansion pack will offer.

I am super inpatient though so that's just me.

I know they are capable of doing some amazing work though I mean they have been in this game forever now so whatever is coming will be amazing.

Yeah, try remembering that 10 year development schedule. If they release a screenshot suddenly there is expectation.
Look at what happened when that concept art pic for the Federal Corvette got released early. Everyone was suddenly like "Where is it, will it come in 1.3, I want it now" etc

Much better for them to keep quiet until they are ready like they did with Powerplay. A few teasers and hints of info then just dump a huge changelog right before the Beta and let the forum fight over it for a week

People can't be impatient for something they don't know is coming...

Edit: I too would like a loose development path (i.e. this is planned first, this is coming later) but would not like to see dates. I'd prefer them to do it right and have an open calender when it comes to releases instead of being forced to meet deadlines.

sonicology · May 30, 2015

HeimdallofHavn said:
Frontier really should do teases/sneak peeks of what they are working with expansion wise.

That can be a double edged sword though: they did that with the Federal Corvette, and every patch since has been met with rage and disappointment by those waiting to add it to their hanger.

edit: poster above beat me to it whilst I was typing

HeimdallofHavn · May 30, 2015

sonicology said:
That can be a double edged sword though: they did that with the Federal Corvette, and every patch since has been met with rage and disappointment by those waiting to add it to their hanger.

edit: poster above beat me to it whilst I was typing

As I have alluded to in a few posts, and did a lot of work as a strategic consultant for some of the major companies in the world in areas like marketing, IT, compensation etc.

I guess it is my marketing side which is talking in this thread.

Marketing and customer relations.

Never over promise.

But, if you are confident about a system, I see no problem, and only benefits from revealing some juicy tidbits of where the game is heading.

kreuzbichler · May 30, 2015

they said it's a "pie in the sky" feature somewhere in an interview a few weeks ago.

wouldn't expect to see anything walking/planet related in the next 2-3 years

finishing the space game alone will take 2 years probably

Armour · May 30, 2015

kreuzbichler said:
they said it's a "pie in the sky" feature somewhere in an interview a few weeks ago.

Where is that quote from? I am sceptical that a developer said that, to be frank.

Alex Brentnall · May 30, 2015

Key phrase: "This will happen". Before you rev up your hype engines, they said that the specific timing and content is up for discussion, and even if it does make it into the game, it will be a long time from now. Plus, they'd have to get around instancing issues that arise with players creating stuff from the ground up.

http://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDanger...future_of_elite_dangerous_planetary_landings/

kreuzbichler · May 30, 2015

Armour said:
Where is that quote from? I am sceptical that a developer said that, to be frank.

ars technica interview, DB himself

'When asked what "pie in the sky" feature he’d love to see in the game’s development, he described a tightly connected vision of multiple players on the same ship, communicating directly via voice, exploring the galaxy and seamlessly transitioning back and forth from planet surface to space—an entire simulated pocket galaxy, from the micro to the macro.'

Flavio · May 30, 2015

I think that FD are going to buy Nokia's Here maps and use that data to produce a realistic earth map with some modification to show that it has progressed. That way, they also get a second revenue stream from selling the map data to various companies who may require modern maps like the automotive industry for satnav but also to education institutions to show how the earth will be affected by global warming. Ok that is a bit far fetched.

HeimdallofHavn · May 30, 2015

kreuzbichler said:
ars technica interview, DB himself

'When asked what "pie in the sky" feature he’d love to see in the game’s development, he described a tightly connected vision of multiple players on the same ship, communicating directly via voice, exploring the galaxy and seamlessly transitioning back and forth from planet surface to space—an entire simulated pocket galaxy, from the micro to the macro.'

That was not my impression as a premium beta backer, nor the impression of the kickstarter backer who alerted me about the game.

Part of the reason I decided to use 120 quid on the premium beta was not to beta test. It was the promise of free expansions.

We need some word now half a year after release what if going on....

Alex Brentnall · May 30, 2015

HeimdallofHavn said:
That was not my impression as a premium beta backer, nor the impression of the kickstarter backer who alerted me about the game.

Part of the reason I decided to use 120 quid on the premium beta was not to beta test. It was the promise of free expansions.

We need some word now half a year after release what if going on....

I thought with some level of support (don't ask me what level, im a latecommer newb), the expansions were free anyway. Other lower levels and latecommers lime me have to buy the season pass.

Dorohedoro · May 30, 2015

FD need to figure out how to add interesting content first and tone down a bit the heavy grind part of this game...

After that, bring on the landings, yeah...

Armour · May 30, 2015

kreuzbichler said:
ars technica interview, DB himself

'When asked what "pie in the sky" feature he’d love to see in the game’s development, he described a tightly connected vision of multiple players on the same ship, communicating directly via voice, exploring the galaxy and seamlessly transitioning back and forth from planet surface to space—an entire simulated pocket galaxy, from the micro to the macro.'

Yeah...no. He said landing on planets would be a paid expansion in the previous paragraph. The whole "pie in the sky" thing was obviously more related to the whole Star Trek crew multiplayer thing than the landing bit.

Zephyriel · May 30, 2015

The one thing that worries me a fair bit is the heavily instanced nature of ED. Transitions look good most of the time, but they are far from seamless, so I don't see how we'll go smoothly from space to planet surface...