Elite / Frontier Braben Reveals Elite's Future... Interview Nov 17th, 06

[chihiro]

To be honest that's my view too - ie the single player is the more exciting experience. Tight co-op can also work well (eg Halo), whereas MMOs can be as much about managing antisocial or intolerant behaviour of some players, as about gameplay.

That's very true, a lot of MMO gameplay has to be limited simply to try and avoid abuse. If your gameplay not only impacts the the gaming experience but also the game economy (which sadly also means real money these days) then its safer not to try anything new or risky.

One of the things about Elite which is fun was the exploration aspect, and if you go somewhere new in a MMO, the chances are there are hundreds or players already there - and that does diminish the joy of discovery.

However the trading aspect of elite can and does work in MMOs and it can be very interesting watching how the economy works (or fails to work) given that they tend to be player led rather than designed.

c;y

 

[summon_libre]

/me necros a thread

.

i would play a singleplayer version of Elite4 for a few months

i would play an MMO of Elite4 for a few years

it all boils down to the fact that no matter how expansive a game world is, it means nothing if you're playing it by yourself and nothing is really changing over time. That was my main problem with the X series - It could have been great fun had it a multiplayer/MMO aspect, but for the most part it just felt empty, compounded by the fact the combat/physics model wern't that amazing and you couldn't even land on planets.

EVE is probably the closest MMO to date to try and replicate the concept what I would want from an Elite MMO, but only really the PVP and economic aspects. You can't land on planets, there arn't any real physics, much of it is based on dice-rolls, etc. It does have an amazing character design system, though, which should definately be an aspect of Elite4 IMO
it should however try to avoid the GRIND as much as humanly possible.

 

[Steve O B Have]

/me necros a thread

.

i would play a singleplayer version of Elite4 for a few months

i would play an MMO of Elite4 for a few years

it all boils down to the fact that no matter how expansive a game world is, it means nothing if you're playing it by yourself and nothing is really changing over time. That was my main problem with the X series - It could have been great fun had it a multiplayer/MMO aspect, but for the most part it just felt empty, compounded by the fact the combat/physics model wern't that amazing and you couldn't even land on planets.

EVE is probably the closest MMO to date to try and replicate the concept what I would want from an Elite MMO, but only really the PVP and economic aspects. You can't land on planets, there arn't any real physics, much of it is based on dice-rolls, etc. It does have an amazing character design system, though, which should definately be an aspect of Elite4 IMO
it should however try to avoid the GRIND as much as humanly possible.

To be honest the only thing that I would like to come over from EVE is the feeling of space - the game engine, the economics, the game pace I can happily leave. EVE is a slug of a game that is massively overcomplicated.

 

[DraQ]

I don't see how can mechanics and scale of Frontier be combined with multiplayer aspect. Coop mode allowing two or more players man single ship would work, and might be wothwile. Same with deathmatch mode that 'd spawn combatants in selected location, say, some 10km apart, but you can't make this MMO without cutting out scale and mechanics that made Frontier stand out.

Edit:
"Spawn", standard word associated with online gaming is censored here too? What's wrong with this forum?

Ah, actually it's the word "pawn" that is censored messing up other words and hindering meaningful exchange of information, which still sucks.

 

[Michael Brookes]

Edit:
"Spawn", standard word associated with online gaming is censored here too? What's wrong with this forum?

Ah, actually it's the word "pawn" that is censored messing up other words and hindering meaningful exchange of information, which still sucks.

Thanks for spotting that, the censored word list has been updated.

Michael

 

[VictorT]

hmm.. well tossing in my two pennies,

I don't think it'd be terrible if E4 was an MMO. Especially given the scale we're used to from the game. most of the time you'd be alone in vast space anyway.. to sacrifice scale for the sake of interaction would take away as much as one would be trying to add, imho..

I really really look forward to running my own dedicated universe server, however. I hope there's a command-line or ncurses [or web?] based dedicated server..

in the spirit of tightly coupled co-op.. would it be outlandish to hope that multiplayers could fly as crew in the same ship?

..that'd be hot.
-m

 

[caol]

...

in the spirit of tightly coupled co-op.. would it be outlandish to hope that multiplayers could fly as crew in the same ship?

That would be pretty cool. You could have different roles like Pilot (obviously), Captain (guy in charge, deals with trade, comms, dishing out orders to the crew etc), one or more Gunners (sometimes in turrets), people in charge of specialist machinery (mining etc). Each position would have it's own unique screen and controls. Players could specialize in one role or s_w_a_p around every-so-often (if the Captain allowed it).

That way you could get a bunch of friends together on a LAN/the Internet and have some fun with some of the bigger ships. Of course there would still always be the smaller one crew ships that you could play one player games, but if you needed more crew for bigger ships you would either have the choice of getting other people to join you (real people, over a network) or buy robots to fill the positions.

Another option for tight co-op style gameplay would be to have multiple players each with their own ship (or as part of a crew) where all ships are part of a fleet (in other words each ship can go where it wants within a system but the fleet has to all hyper-space together if they want to go to a new system).

 

[VictorT]

all of that post kicks donkey..

I'd like to see walking around one's ship, as well. Shuttles, Fighters, Turrets (mannable, and/or software driven) too, on large enough ships..

It'd also be awesome if (multi)players could have the option of hiring on to AI run ships as crew, and/or picking up jobs as couriers and picking a ship to passenger on (say, because the player doesn't own a ship yet/anymore). Some ol' first-person action trying to get the package to it's destination.

Also, multiplayer crews ought to -all- be able to trade once they reach a destination. Maybe the ship's captain can give each crew member a cargo space quota as part of the hiring package or some fancy nonsense..

yeaaaaaaa buddy. this game -could- rock!!! DEAR GOD (and by "GOD" I mean David Braben, tho I think it'll take an act of God, =(... ) PLEASE let there be a Linux version! ^_^

When X3: Reunion comes out for linux it's only gonna make it hurt worse inside

hehe

 

[whizz812]

balony

So after all this time he still has not even started the game yet. phewww im going postal. News is it will be ready as a beta test version in 2011. With the much anticipated release in 2014..... Maybe. If i am still able to see and not being fed baby food in the old age home, ill be in line waiting in my tent for the release in 2014. CAN'T WAIT.

 

[Marcus_UK]

I've been a regular visitor to this site and the prior frontier site before this new fangled update.

Back in 2000, 2001 or 2002, I was keen to find out about what the franchise had to offer and where it would go and the site advised me that I would have new information regularly.

.. . . . . ..

While the lack of information has let many of us down we are still here posting within a forum dedicated to the game that no doubt all of us want to be playing.

TBH I would be more than happy to be able to play an updated version of Frontier Elite on my PC and would probably pay money for this. Even the orginal FE2 without the need for emulators etc would get me to part with me cash.



I've waited 7 years + for the next one. Please let me know how much longer I need to wait.

Ta

M

 

[Linwig]

<encases himself in Carbonite until 2014>

But in all seriousness, however long it takes (I think I've been keeping an eye out for about 10 years!) I have a hunch its going to be worth the wait in the end. BTW, that idea about being able to walk around ships.........is an excellent one. Something similar to the ship from 'Silent Running' with the large domes and gardens inside would be very cool to walk around

 

[MisterHalt]

Heh, at least I would still be young enough. I'm only 20 now. Althought when I'm 27 I probably won't be gaming as much as I will be now.

 

[nathey]

I think the next elite 4 should come with a few bonus discs of a fully compatable windows Frontier and FFE discs to boot

 

[Steve O B Have]

I think the next elite 4 should come with a few bonus discs of a fully compatable windows Frontier and FFE discs to boot

Meh - if E4 is going to anything like Elite and Frontier in terms of being immersing then I'm not sure there is any point and if it pushes the price of production and then the game itself then I think I'd rather not.

 

[syndrome]

pov

Well, I just don't know...

I played E1 (C64), E2F & EFE (Amiga), E1plus (PC), Wing Commander(s), X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Privateer, Freespace 2, Freelancer, Eve-online and finally X3.

I mean, just by looking at this list I get the feeling that the space games are desirable by the gaming population. Just look at Eve!

All of these games influenced many of the overall game mechanics and principles. I especially liked Tie Fighter for its combat mechanics and HUD, Freespace 2 for the sense of teamwork, coordination, and real piloting, and X series & Eve for the ambiance, beautiful graphics, management, diplomacy & trade. Every game added a particular flavor to it, but noone had the guts to make the uberspacefaring game.

Elite is the mother of them all, and the paintaking process of developing the game mechanics is already done by others.

Eve is probably the best game ever, with the most believable universe, although I don't like the pace, I don't like the stargates, and I don't like the idea that me and my character don't share anything in common. In such an environment, the best are the ones that have no life (very similar to WoW).

In that sense, I don't like MMO. It's unfair, and IMO a government law should be proposed so everyone can earn the fixed same amount of XP per day. (That's why I'm playing Battlefield; you have much better, if not direct, control of your character's skills and you are NEVER newb in terms of in-game posessions.)

However, if we could have Eve 1) with playable(!) Newtonian physics that allows the dynamics of the combat seen in Tie Fighter/FS2/X, 2) with the characters not fixed to their pilot seats (I don't imply FPS here, but some freedom would be great), 3) with a planetfall capability (a Frontier trademark, which is absolutely the greatest innovation ever implemented), 4) the fuel consumption and the arbitrary intersystem jumps made by the ship's commander, 5) as well as the piloting/managing/trading experience that surpasses any of the beforementioned games, then we'd have an Elite sequel that's worth of all these years of waiting.

Of course, I hope for varieties of cultures, factions, ships, and agendas as well.

And after reading this, it becomes apparent why Mr. Braben is never satisfied with the E4 development: it's never even close to that description!

And although I really (really) appreciate that, we're going nowhere that way.

I can't stand Elite clones no more.
Yes, they're fun, but I'm playing them only because of the resemblance.

For example, X3 is so unbelievable at its core, albeit the fancy graphics (and it is the one of the most advanced games out there). How can I imagine anything real in the universe that is mapped like rooms in some old fashioned text adventure? And what about that sector where three Earth-sized planets and several moons coexist in space less than 0.001 AU in diameter? Eve at least has a proper solar system model, but I'm sick of maxing out a velocity of 100 m/s without an explanation. (Although the interplanetary jump is really great, I must admit that.)

And I'm sick of "It's only a game" counter-rants. No, it's not only the game. If it was for the game, we'd all play Galaxian instead!

Frankly, I enjoy Galaxian, and that's a good game, but that doesn't mean I expect Galaxian features to pop at me in every other space game, especially from those that undeniably try to mimic reality at all costs.
Why not mimic it 100%?

Well, that's my pov. You can kill me now

 

[Caspius]

/me necros a thread
i would play a singleplayer version of Elite4 for a few months

i would play an MMO of Elite4 for a few years

Aye. Played Bioshock? Its a great game but once you've completed the main story line its finished!

An MMO (once the infrastucture is put in place) would create a good revenue stream for Frontier for further development of the game.

 

[Panserbjorn]

An MMO (once the infrastucture is put in place) would create a good revenue stream for Frontier for further development of the game.

I feel to the contrary - single player should come first. Why?

1) an MMO is best launched off a successful brand, e.g. WoW, Star Wars Galaxies. I know there are exceptions, but look where most people throw their money. MMO games are a fiercely competitive market now, so you need to show that you have a proven product. MMO games need massive market appeal.

2) Before you say "but Elite is a proven product", bear in mind that by the time any future instalment of Elite is released, the largest part of the gaming market probably weren'teven born when Frontier/FFE were released, never mind the original Elite. I might be new to the games myself, but I certainly remember the latter two when they were originally released.

3) MMO games are an insatiable money-eating monster. You have all the typical game development woes, but they never end. MMO games need regular maintenance and updates, constant work, "policing", patching and cheating/fraud prevention. A successful MMO may be a good source of income, but how much of that income needs to be reinvested to keep players interested?

 

[Steve O B Have]

I feel to the contrary - single player should come first. Why?


3) MMO games are an insatiable money-eating monster. You have all the typical game development woes, but they never end. MMO games need regular maintenance and updates, constant work, "policing", patching and cheating/fraud prevention. A successful MMO may be a good source of income, but how much of that income needs to be reinvested to keep players interested?

Money, Time, Life. The idea that some little adolecent can destroy my gaming experience at a whim is my main reasoning for not wanting E4 to be MMO - Co-op in an agreed method maybe but I sure don't want it to be MMO.

 

[Prycon]

I agree with Steve, I have never touch a MMO game and I probably never will. Except for maybe MS flightsim, but I haven't had the guts yet. I think Elite 3 universe have to radically change in order to make it work with space and time limitation. And no no no no NO! don't even suggest jumpgates, they are evil I tell you... EVIL! To make my point, I like the Frontier universe the way it is. If I didn't I would just go and play the X series, no landing on planes, jumpgates in a flat 2D universe, ugly aliens that look like lizards, planets floating in space with out purpose.

The thing that made Frontier work with me was freedom to go where you want, real physics, planets move in an orbital systems, spacestation orbits planets and are not stationary, spacestation rotates to create gravity, mostly human settlements, real stars, no nebular or gas clouds visible with the naked eye, land on planets and no jumpgates. Even the small things made a big difference in Frontier, it felt believable. Sorry my thoughts are wondering off...

 

[VictorT]

I wanna know what people have against newtonian combat.. I mean, given well thought out weapons, we can avoid completely illogical dogfights..

I for one would like to see a checkbox or a slider for "combat realism".. it was the biggest drawback of FFE..

i think it's been discussed before on this board. but here I am revisiting my $0.02 again. =/