This post is going to address overarching choices in the game design of Elite Dangerous. If you do not want the game’s illusion to be spoiled for you, get out you fools.
Dear Frontier,
I would like to preface this by saying that I am a big fan of the game. I really do love it, I never really played the older games, but at some point here I’ll download the one on the store, it’s free, so what the heck right? But I picked the game on the advice of the internet and I was not disappointed. However, that doesn’t mean the game is perfect, nor that it cannot be critiqued. So, Frontier, we need to talk.
I am not going to natter on and on about all the minutia, the bull little details about this subsystem or that, I know that this is very much a living game and these can and likely will change. This letter is going focus on the big picture and where the game is going. Hopefully someone will read this and give some of the suggestions I put forward thought.
The first thing I would like to talk about is the way this game really succeeds. Elite is visually breathtaking, every minute of looking at this game is just amazing, it is abundantly clear just how much work has been put into the art direction and graphical design and the art team absolutely has my kudos. The flight mechanics are an absolute joy, so far every ship I have flown in has behaved differently and I cannot wait to get into the pilots seat of one of those big boats so I can experiment and see how those feel to pilot and master flying with my flight assist on and off, drifting in and out of the enemy’s firing arcs, maneuvering around to get onto their subsystems, sure it’s a little arcady, but it’s fun, I love it. But by far, the greatest triumph of design this game has on offer is the game world itself. I have touched on this elsewhere, but I’ll go over it again here. Elite is a small game, not in terms of a game, in fact, for a game it is extremely large. But for space the game is actually quite small, traveling thousands of light-years is a matter of hours, even in a ant little viper. It wouldn’t even really be that hard to make an enter circuit around the galaxy in a matter of weeks, maybe a couple months. Traveling thousands of light second is a matter of minutes. The speed at which you travel is astounding in this game and the result is that the game's world, as far as space is concerned, is tiny. Yet, the game world feels large. It feels like space, the vastness that should be there but isn’t comes across anyway. There are a lot of reasons for that, the changed view in super cruise, the flashy graphic for jumping makes it feel like a lot of power is being used, the vistas you’re treated to as you come out of super cruise are amazing.
A lot of work has been put into making the game, a game that is already quite large mind you, feel much larger than it actually is and that feat is astounding. The sheer perceived size of the world compared to its actual size is an amazing feat of game design and I would like to give each and every member of the Frontier team a hearty handshake. I mean that, if I ever get the chance to meet the Frontier team I would be delighted to shake your hands.
However, there are certainly areas where the game falls flat. Despite the fact that the universe is so large and the game’s sense of scale so big, there is not a lot to do. There really isn’t a way to truly interact with the game world. This has improved somewhat with the new bounty hunting mechanics allowing successful bounty hunters to alter the level of security in a system, but it isn’t enough. There need to be ways to interact meaningfully with the game’s economy and political landscape. The commodities market needs to be opened up to player inputs and the ability to alter supplies, and start businesses. As for the politics… this has always existed to an extent with the missions altering the influence of a faction and yet it seems so shallow and without real feedback. Power Play has recently been added but honestly? It has the same problems. Sure you can help this or that imaginary faction leader take over this or that system. But is that really so different from helping this or that faction take over their home system?
There are plenty of complaints about PP, arguments that the rewards are too good, or that they don’t mater, or how you get them is broken in one way or another and the reply I see pop up most consistently is that PP isn’t about the rewards, it’s about seeing the horse you backed, your favorite character win. My reply to this is twofold; first, that doesn’t address the complaint, and second, if this is so, why do all these characters have as much character as a plank of wood? The thing is, I actually buy that argument, I believe, on reflection, that PP was an attempt to involve players in the story, and I approve of that, however, reading most of the posts on the matter, this attempt seems to have largely failed. So, if that was your aim Frontier, I am going to give you some advice. There is no game mechanical incentive you can give to truly involve players in the plot of the game. It doesn’t exist, do yourselves a favor and stop looking. Of course these mechanics can help hold a player’s interest in the story, but it can’t create it, a mechanic can only create interest in the mechanics of a game. So, then, what do I believe to be the real problem?
Well, what you have to remember is, that a game’s world isn’t real, a shocking revelation I know but it’s true. It’s a simulacrum of a real world. A fake, and for as much effort that has been put into making the game world feel large, it almost seems like none has been made to make the game world feel real, feel alive. This is, in my opinion, the greatest failing of Elite.
Let me give an example. Anyone who’s played Fallout 3, think back to your first time though the game, you’re exploring the world, and eventually you start heading toward the capitol. You’re listening to the Radio because, well, what else is there? The game doesn’t have much in the way of background music otherwise when suddenly you hear THREEEEEEEEEEEE DOOOOOOOOGGGG! And the game world suddenly takes on a new layer of depth and charm.
The story of Elite Dangerous is brought to us though news articles on Galnet and these stories are actually very well composed. But they are still news stories. They lack charm, they feel sterile, and they don’t have the power to engage people on their own. At this point it would be impossible, really, to change the mode of the story’s conveyance completely, it would be too jarring so what needs to happen is that more depth and color needs to be added to Galnet itself. Adding an audiovisual element to the bulletin board and news section would be a good start, but what really needs to happen is that new kinds of stories need to be added, we need to hear more from Galnet, we need to hear the propaganda pieces from the station we’re in, we need to hear about the faux pas made by these political leaders we are ostensibly supposed to care about, we need the political pundits to be given some time, to hear the opinion pieces and advice columns. This would represent a lot of work, there would need to be a dedicated team working just on writing for Galnet. Hire a writing team, this isn’t something that would require any programing work, and it would greatly improve the quality of the game.
The ability to form large player organizations is also sorely lacking. Wings are a good start but we really need a player faction system. Clans or corporations, the big advantage of an MMO and that is what Elite is, is that people can gather into large groups. They can organize into their own factions, why is this not being taken advantage of? I have seen people doing this on their own, but a codified method to start and join player groups would be such a powerful tool for the players.
I’d just like to say again, that despite my complaints here, I love this game. I say these things because I care.
Stay frosty,
Cmnd Fulsom
EDIT: Adding a cliff notes version
Great game, with really well done core game design but lacking certain features such as player run businesses and the world reacting to player input meaningfully, and with weak story elements which could be improved with more diverse background writing.
Dear Frontier,
I would like to preface this by saying that I am a big fan of the game. I really do love it, I never really played the older games, but at some point here I’ll download the one on the store, it’s free, so what the heck right? But I picked the game on the advice of the internet and I was not disappointed. However, that doesn’t mean the game is perfect, nor that it cannot be critiqued. So, Frontier, we need to talk.
I am not going to natter on and on about all the minutia, the bull little details about this subsystem or that, I know that this is very much a living game and these can and likely will change. This letter is going focus on the big picture and where the game is going. Hopefully someone will read this and give some of the suggestions I put forward thought.
The first thing I would like to talk about is the way this game really succeeds. Elite is visually breathtaking, every minute of looking at this game is just amazing, it is abundantly clear just how much work has been put into the art direction and graphical design and the art team absolutely has my kudos. The flight mechanics are an absolute joy, so far every ship I have flown in has behaved differently and I cannot wait to get into the pilots seat of one of those big boats so I can experiment and see how those feel to pilot and master flying with my flight assist on and off, drifting in and out of the enemy’s firing arcs, maneuvering around to get onto their subsystems, sure it’s a little arcady, but it’s fun, I love it. But by far, the greatest triumph of design this game has on offer is the game world itself. I have touched on this elsewhere, but I’ll go over it again here. Elite is a small game, not in terms of a game, in fact, for a game it is extremely large. But for space the game is actually quite small, traveling thousands of light-years is a matter of hours, even in a ant little viper. It wouldn’t even really be that hard to make an enter circuit around the galaxy in a matter of weeks, maybe a couple months. Traveling thousands of light second is a matter of minutes. The speed at which you travel is astounding in this game and the result is that the game's world, as far as space is concerned, is tiny. Yet, the game world feels large. It feels like space, the vastness that should be there but isn’t comes across anyway. There are a lot of reasons for that, the changed view in super cruise, the flashy graphic for jumping makes it feel like a lot of power is being used, the vistas you’re treated to as you come out of super cruise are amazing.
A lot of work has been put into making the game, a game that is already quite large mind you, feel much larger than it actually is and that feat is astounding. The sheer perceived size of the world compared to its actual size is an amazing feat of game design and I would like to give each and every member of the Frontier team a hearty handshake. I mean that, if I ever get the chance to meet the Frontier team I would be delighted to shake your hands.
However, there are certainly areas where the game falls flat. Despite the fact that the universe is so large and the game’s sense of scale so big, there is not a lot to do. There really isn’t a way to truly interact with the game world. This has improved somewhat with the new bounty hunting mechanics allowing successful bounty hunters to alter the level of security in a system, but it isn’t enough. There need to be ways to interact meaningfully with the game’s economy and political landscape. The commodities market needs to be opened up to player inputs and the ability to alter supplies, and start businesses. As for the politics… this has always existed to an extent with the missions altering the influence of a faction and yet it seems so shallow and without real feedback. Power Play has recently been added but honestly? It has the same problems. Sure you can help this or that imaginary faction leader take over this or that system. But is that really so different from helping this or that faction take over their home system?
There are plenty of complaints about PP, arguments that the rewards are too good, or that they don’t mater, or how you get them is broken in one way or another and the reply I see pop up most consistently is that PP isn’t about the rewards, it’s about seeing the horse you backed, your favorite character win. My reply to this is twofold; first, that doesn’t address the complaint, and second, if this is so, why do all these characters have as much character as a plank of wood? The thing is, I actually buy that argument, I believe, on reflection, that PP was an attempt to involve players in the story, and I approve of that, however, reading most of the posts on the matter, this attempt seems to have largely failed. So, if that was your aim Frontier, I am going to give you some advice. There is no game mechanical incentive you can give to truly involve players in the plot of the game. It doesn’t exist, do yourselves a favor and stop looking. Of course these mechanics can help hold a player’s interest in the story, but it can’t create it, a mechanic can only create interest in the mechanics of a game. So, then, what do I believe to be the real problem?
Well, what you have to remember is, that a game’s world isn’t real, a shocking revelation I know but it’s true. It’s a simulacrum of a real world. A fake, and for as much effort that has been put into making the game world feel large, it almost seems like none has been made to make the game world feel real, feel alive. This is, in my opinion, the greatest failing of Elite.
Let me give an example. Anyone who’s played Fallout 3, think back to your first time though the game, you’re exploring the world, and eventually you start heading toward the capitol. You’re listening to the Radio because, well, what else is there? The game doesn’t have much in the way of background music otherwise when suddenly you hear THREEEEEEEEEEEE DOOOOOOOOGGGG! And the game world suddenly takes on a new layer of depth and charm.
The story of Elite Dangerous is brought to us though news articles on Galnet and these stories are actually very well composed. But they are still news stories. They lack charm, they feel sterile, and they don’t have the power to engage people on their own. At this point it would be impossible, really, to change the mode of the story’s conveyance completely, it would be too jarring so what needs to happen is that more depth and color needs to be added to Galnet itself. Adding an audiovisual element to the bulletin board and news section would be a good start, but what really needs to happen is that new kinds of stories need to be added, we need to hear more from Galnet, we need to hear the propaganda pieces from the station we’re in, we need to hear about the faux pas made by these political leaders we are ostensibly supposed to care about, we need the political pundits to be given some time, to hear the opinion pieces and advice columns. This would represent a lot of work, there would need to be a dedicated team working just on writing for Galnet. Hire a writing team, this isn’t something that would require any programing work, and it would greatly improve the quality of the game.
The ability to form large player organizations is also sorely lacking. Wings are a good start but we really need a player faction system. Clans or corporations, the big advantage of an MMO and that is what Elite is, is that people can gather into large groups. They can organize into their own factions, why is this not being taken advantage of? I have seen people doing this on their own, but a codified method to start and join player groups would be such a powerful tool for the players.
I’d just like to say again, that despite my complaints here, I love this game. I say these things because I care.
Stay frosty,
Cmnd Fulsom
EDIT: Adding a cliff notes version
Great game, with really well done core game design but lacking certain features such as player run businesses and the world reacting to player input meaningfully, and with weak story elements which could be improved with more diverse background writing.
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