Design decision forum member

[Dr Wookie]

Really? Cool! I might have tried to get into that line of work, had I been this interested in Astronomy at school. Hindsight is a wonderful thing...

Thanks! It's awesome, and I am at one of the best places in the World for it right now: the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; my money comes from NASA!

Back to the DDF though, it sounds like we could be making some pretty big decisions judging from Update #13. DB said that planetary landings and exiting the ship are both extensions... and I think he suggested that the DDF might decide which comes first!

 

[Commander Dave]

...
3. Can I ask if there are any ELITE players here from 1984/85 that are part of that tier.

Yep.
Been playing from day 1 on the BBC cassette version with the instant docking computers and no galactic hyperspace. Anyone else remember that ?

When I first saw the Kickstarter campaign it was instantly apparent to me that this was the most important thing ever to have happened in the world of computing since that first release of Elite. Not that that's overstating the case at all But this game was a huge part of my young life and has profoundly influenced me and still does so today. I've played all the space games and none of them give me what Elite gave and gives me still.
I went through the pledge levels umming and ahhing about this and that until I saw the Design Decision Forum membership level. That was it. This game is so important in general and so important to me personally that I could not allow myself to pass up this opportunity to potentially have some infinitesimal influence on its creation.

Like PhilHibbs I have no illusions about what this actually means, I have assumed that it means I can say whatever I like but there is obviously no requirement that I be paid any attention by the design team or my remarks be viewed with any credence by anyone at all. Simply to be a part of it is all I require. Anything over and above that passivity would be an unexpected and amazing bonus.

 

[Capt. Hook]

Played Elite on multiple platforms included BBC Micro, C64 and Amiga.

I've pledged over £200 to be a founder but the £300 price tag is a little too rich for me alas.

As an aside, I hope the £30 postage I have to pay to ship the premium boxset and artwork I want all 300 miles to Ireland from Cambridge is not all going to the Royal Mail/An Post and the majority is being ploughed into the game.

 

[Sir.Tj]

3. Can I ask if there are any ELITE players here from 1984/85 that are part of that tier.

Cheers in advance everyone.

Not part of that tier, but I am one of the originals

Still have Frontier running on my Amiga 1200. (one of many amigas in my collection.)

 

[Vagnluv]

I'm in the DDF tier and have been a fanboi since the C64 days. "Lost" a lot of hours of of my life playing Elite II: Frontier

 

[withnail]

Hello,
I was elite on the original BBC Micro at the age of 10 or 11. Although this was 1987 I am afraid. Did it without any help or forums though!
Quite pleased with that achievement!

 

[LordKee]

I'm also in the DDF and remember skipping school just to stay at home playing Elite on C64. I'm a professional test engineer (embedded software) and hope to contribute as much of my free time I can on both design discussions and alfa/beta testing in the future. Been a "gamer" my whole life and just thrilled to take part of this journey and see ED shape up into something very special.

//K

 

[Red Joe]

Hi there,

I've mostly played the 1984 version albeit not in that year because i was aged 1. I wanted ddf to ensure i could help keep the game to its original self, but i want to play the game with no advantage and i think the ddf gives too much away. I want to work towards being Elite i don't want to buy it. So i'm not doing this teir, i was going to. I'll trust FD and the other DDF members to hold true. I'll continue to support at Founder level and i fancy a few mugs through paypal. Maybe the DDF will be a reward that opens up again in the future and with more information it might become attractive.

 

[Mazhurg]

Retired CAF pilot who enjoyed Elite on the C-64 for many years. Since I now have much time on my hands, by getting a DDF level pledge I am hoping to (enable) leverage (of) my flying experience (mind you it's not space flying..) to better the game experience for all.

 

[Jedra7609]

I decided at the last minute to jump a tier to DDF - I have been waiting a long, long time for this game and it's an opportunity too good to miss.

I played the original Elite on the BBC (albeit at a friend's house) and later on the ZX Spectrum. My main concern and another reason for joining the DDF is that this isn't just a re-boot, but takes Elite forward as well. I would like to especially see the trading side of things given much more complexity. For instance as well as trading station to station I would like to see player to player trading and I would like these 'trades' to affect the market globally and accurately. If possible it should be able to affect prices globally if enough traders decided to shift the market.

It would also be good if people could specialise so much that they could set up trading posts and also make use of the advertising hoardings around the galaxy to advertise themselves, or perhaps sell on the advertising space to other traders.

Mainly I don't want this to be just a PvP first person space battle - I funded Star Citizen to give me that fix - I want it to be more than that!

Anyway, hopefully DDF will at least give me a platform to spew my ideas, even if no-one listens!!

 

[Robert Maynard]

There look to be 614 out of a potential 910 DDF members already - numbers alone should ensure that broad agreement would require to be reached amongst the members before putting a DDF POV on a topic to FD.

 

[withnail]

Sorry, forgot to add that I am also a DDF member.

 

[mrobbo]

I'm a DDF member, and I played Elite on the Beeb back in '83 or '84.

I have no delusions of grandeur regarding my membership. If they just share details and canvass general opinions and then make their own decisions, then that's fine. It's their game.

Likewise, I have no illusions about alpha or beta playability. I was in the Mists of Pandaria beta, and there were loads of "entitlement brats" whinging that they had been robbed because the game wouldn't run on their PC and that they therefore didn't have the "access" that they were promised. If it won't run on my PC then I will do everything I can to help diagnose and solve the problem, but I won't complain or about it, and I will have no sympathy with anyone who does not take a constructive attitude.

Totally agree with this.

Surely the point of kickstarter is to get the game funded and available to everyone. Some will be able to afford to donate more money than others. What we don't want to see is "I paid £300 I demand/entitled to XYZ". That's not the in spirit of things and is a bit distasteful. We all want the same goal.

 

[Michel]

Spectrum 48k over here....

Hey Styggron,

Yes, there is, have been playing Elite on the good ol' 48k spectrum (the rubber keys....) for years, after that in the 90's FE en FFE.
In the late 90's (97/98) I was quite active on the alt.fan.elite forum (and some of the names in this forum somehow seen familiar...)
Due to family/work etcetc I've been lurking around for years on end now on the forums, seems it finally paid off.

Anyway, reading through the thread I think 'we' are quite a reasonable audience, I do hope to add my 2 cents of ideas to the development by being an 'original' (Elite) founder (and a quite high-level pledger).

Regards from The Netherlands, Michel.

 

[Aewarin Jameson]

We all want the same goal.

Yes we do.

 

[breakpointUK]

The people on the DDF together with people from Frontier will have near god-like powers post-release. They will have access to live stats for the galaxy on rates of piracy, locations for player death, trade activity and so-on. They will decide how the galaxy will evolve. They will decide when famine (or plague) might arrive in a particular system. If, for example piracy is unusually high for a sustained period in a particular system how should the galaxy respond? Should an adjacent system send warships? Should it decay into anarchy and any government collapse? When we create a new ship type or variant How should we introduce it? How do we close down a particular game exploit - or do we? As you can see, the decisions will not stop at release.

here i go assuming again...

I assumed that when DB said in one of the videos that its the players that will be deciding how the galaxy will evolve, I didn't realise he meant the ones that can afford to be at the £300+ pledge level. I thought he mean't by the actions of the player base our dynamic galaxy will evolve by how we play.

Players may spend lots of time, effort, in-game money and possibly micro transactions to drive up/down the economy of a particular system only for a limited number of players (compared to how hopefully massive the player base becomes) to undo that work, at what a click of a button?

It could also go more far reaching than that, who knows where Elite Dangerous will be two years after release and what gameplay features will be added to enhance the galaxy in which we populate. Could that lead to exploitation?

It could also alienate DDF members as players might not believe that the status they have carefully and painstakingly built up was actually achieved by just playing the game? Rather than just setting themselves up?

As one post points out, just get friendly with a DDF... That can be taken as a joke, but hey it's true and where would it end?

As for closing or not closing down an exploit... seriously? Exploits unbalance the game, if an exploit is fair to all why not just make it a feature?

I don't wish to insult any member of DDF as I know they did before their pledge before this announcement and it was only because they wanted to see this game get made and have input into how the galaxy will be set up for the rest of us to explore, evolve and enjoy!

(this has also been posted in http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3334 as they are the same topic)

 

[Mentski]

As much as I love Elite I can't justify another 150 quid for the DDF.

Also, I'm kinda worried having those "God" powers post-release would ruin the enjoyment for me slightly.

 

[P4UL]

My only problem with this DDFM is that.. just because someone can afford to pledge more ££ doesn't mean their ideas are necessarily going to be better than someone who can't afford to pledge as much!

Example, some people with less money to spare can still come up with some very good, even better ideas..

It's not about how much money a person can afford to pledge, it's more about how good their ideas are that really count!

I really do hope that the DDF members know something about what makes a great game "great!" And not fill it full of "fanboy" type stuff...

I mean, i know a few things about games after playing them for over 25 years but... i can't spare £300 atm sorry.

 

[The Land]

I'm a DDF member, and I played Elite on the Beeb back in '83 or '84.

I have no delusions of grandeur regarding my membership. If they just share details and canvass general opinions and then make their own decisions, then that's fine. It's their game.

Likewise, I have no illusions about alpha or beta playability. I was in the Mists of Pandaria beta, and there were loads of "entitlement brats" whinging that they had been robbed because the game wouldn't run on their PC and that they therefore didn't have the "access" that they were promised. If it won't run on my PC then I will do everything I can to help diagnose and solve the problem, but I won't complain or about it, and I will have no sympathy with anyone who does not take a constructive attitude.

Ditto! I'm in the DDF tier; and chose that after having been in various closed betas and modding projects in the past, so I suspect I have fairly realistic expectations of how much fun the alpha build will be to play (not very!) as well as a bit of an idea of the dynamics of how a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs can work with a development team.

Basically, anyone who has "bought" any special access - be it DDF, alpha testing, beta testing - ought to appreciate that they are getting the opportunity to do something that is useful for Frontier, for the game and the community - not simply a shiny toy. Lots of people in this forum seem to basically get that, hopefully a good proportion of people in the DDF will.

(Oh, and I started playing some version of Elite on an 086 back in about 1990 - it was in fact the second space game I played, the first oddly enough being a knockoff of Elite with the trading element missing - I was 10 at the time and spent a great deal of my early teens playing Frontier and First Encounters).

 

[johnr]

If the AI has to be helped out by human decision making from time-to-time surely it's better done with a larger number of people than just FD staff - most of whom will be playing themselves?! I don't think being a DDFer will bestow any game play advantage nor detract from the experience.