General / Off-Topic Interesting piece of Elite history

[G.T]

http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/design/index.htm

 

[Sir.Tj]

Haven't seen that for years.

 

[Oss133]

Now that belongs in a museum for gaming posterity.

 

[G.T]

Haven't seen that for years.

Such humble beginnings... Did the Gnat become the Krait, or different ship altogether?

 

[Philip Coutts]

I have never seen that "Gnat" ship, I thought it was a Krait at first. Everyday is a school day!

 

[Sir.Tj]

Such humble beginnings... Did the Gnat become he Krait, or different ship altogether?

Not sure, but it was very early as you can see the early openbox scanner, the scanner we know and love was pretty much the last thing (they even delayed) put into the game..

I may get into trouble for that.

 

[Philip Coutts]

Brilliant photo. I did try to rep you but it turns out we need to get a room together.....

 

[Hamerstein]

Yeah I thought the Gnat looked like a Krait too, guess that's what it evolved into.

I'm glad we have the Adder rather than the Worm though...

 

[MikeSnos]

Yeah I thought the Gnat looked like a Krait too, guess that's what it involved into.

I'm glad we have the Adder rather than the Worm though...

Me too... I thought it was a Krait... maybe it's an early version... D'oh, what am I saying... It IS an early version... everything on there is an early version...

 

[Rog]

Great scans & photo.

I see DB was exhibiting decidedly jumperish tendancies even back then.

 

[Memnoch]

I'd never seen those before. Fascinating stuff. I have to wonder though, if the idea of Elite had never been invented until the last few years whether the ships designs would have been even close to what they were, given the limitations of computers at the time do not exist now.

 

[G.T]

I have to wonder though, if the idea of Elite had never been invented until the last few years whether the ships designs would have been even close to what they were, given the limitations of computers at the time do not exist now.

That's a really good point, I think they would not have been designed anything like that these days. But for me as a child those shapes were so evocative, I remember drawing them all the time in art class - I loved the Adder with its Beam Laser. The Cobra Mk III's shape was genius. Also the story of the Cobra Mk II's false start added a great deal of lore and believability.

 

[Evilroco]

Thanx for the link Gavthomas ,I'd never seen those before. And like many of you at first glance I thought the last ship was a Krait but released soon was another beast entirely

The date at the bottom says "jan 85":S, this is after the initial BBC release ,so it can't be an early Krait maybe it's a concept for one of the later C64 or Speccy versions?

 

[Cody]

The Gnat comes from a planned Elite 2 version.

I can't get the link past the damn auto-censor, so here's a pic from the Wayback Machine:

 

[Evilroco]

The Gnat comes from a planned Elite 2 version.

Thnx for the info , they must have been keen being just months after BBC release and probably before release on any other platform ,shame nothing came of it at the time .

 

[Zieman]

That's a really good point, I think they would not have been designed anything like that these days. But for me as a child those shapes were so evocative, I remember drawing them all the time in art class - I loved the Adder with its Beam Laser. The Cobra Mk III's shape was genius. Also the story of the Cobra Mk II's false start added a great deal of lore and believability.

Same here, and not only in the art class - in just about every notebook & most of the textbooks too . I even made a paper model of the Constrictor & had it hanging under my lampshade.