David Braben on Gas Giant plans for Elite Dangerous [Lave Radio Excerpt]

[VR Golgot]

Source: https://youtu.be/ypIq3fg9nMM


Thought it was worth uploading this little excerpt as a lot of people won't have delved through all of the original interview. (Which you should do coz it's great. Hear the whole thing here: Lave Radio Episode 100)


You can find a summary of the full thing here.


Love this bit in particular because it gives a nod to science, vibe and gameplay simultaneously

 

[Ziljan]

When Braben talks about realism based gameplay depth, I get actual chills of excitement.

Thank you very much for snipping this!

 

[VR Golgot]

When Braben talks about realism based gameplay depth, I get actual chills of excitement.

Thank you very much for snipping this!

Yep absolutely, that mix is proper hype juice to me too

 

[JesusRocks1988]

This really captures my imagination... When did Our Glorious Leader do this interview?

 

[The Wallet Inspector]

COMBAT IN GEOGRAPHY

Yet after ALL this time we have none on planet surfaces, no CZ's or hunting locations worth going to. No air ground war component to the combat zones. He is selling these ideas, and his company are NOT delivering :/ I've waited forever for this kind of stuff, I really thought it would arrive in Horizons, which i thought would be all about planets. I wish they would just for once be honest about their roadmap..

 

[VR Golgot]

This really captures my imagination... When did Our Glorious Leader do this interview?

It was with Lave Radio back in March 2016.

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COMBAT IN GEOGRAPHY

Yet after ALL this time we have none on planet surfaces, no CZ's or hunting locations worth going to. No air ground war component to the combat zones. He is selling these ideas, and his company are NOT delivering :/ I've waited forever for this kind of stuff, I really thought it would arrive in Horizons, which i thought would be all about planets. I wish they would just for once be honest about their roadmap..

True, but they did provide 'geography' flying in CQC, which delivered that in spades. (Seriously love that mode, even if it was almost certainly deployed too soon in the game's lifespan, and with not enough player motivation beyond fun)

I too am aggrieved that we don't have planetary CGs, reasons to use dangerous low flight, reasons to buzz big cities. And that's without mentioning pursuing convoys down valleys as shown in past trailers etc....

But bear in mind, CQC architecture has been added to the game and they say gameplay will follow, new missions are coming in some form with 2.3, and hell, probably a ton of other surprise layerings up that may bring that type of gameplay. They doubtless have intent in these areas...

(And I don't think you can accuse them of being dishonest in that respect, with Horizons not having had its run, and none of what you describe being actively promised. Beyond the valley convoys that is... :/)

 

[The Wallet Inspector]

It was with Lave Radio back in March 2016.

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True, but they did provide 'geography' flying in CQC, which delivered that in spades. (Seriously love that mode, even if it was almost certainly deployed too soon in the game's lifespan, and with not enough player motivation beyond fun)

I too am aggrieved that we don't have planetary CGs, reasons to use dangerous low flight, reasons to buzz big cities. And that's without mentioning pursuing convoys down valleys as shown in past trailers etc....

But bear in mind, CQC architecture has been added to the game and they say gameplay will follow, new missions are coming in some form with 2.3, and hell, probably a ton of other surprise layerings up that may bring that type of gameplay. They doubtless have intent in these areas.

It's a shame CQC is dead, hopefully there will be some way to integrate it into the main game and breathe new life into it.. I liked the idea of having to turn up at the tournaments in game, which would be held like CZ's over a few days or so.

 

[Winterwalker]

This really captures my imagination... When did Our Glorious Leader do this interview?

Lave Radio 100 was March 1, last year.

I'd like to know how the OP managed to go spacewalking obviously, but that's a nice post. Grounding, after all the high-hype of 2.3's reveals, speculations, fears, hopes .. and then a story about what it might be like inside a gas giant!

Great reminder. o7

 

[X-Terminator]

Do we really believe any of this will ever emerge? I only hear hot air and I get the same vibe that the interviewer feels. In these situations it can be too easy to just say things to try and impress knowing that you would be asking too much that is even practical. If this is how he talks to his DEVs then I am not surprized in the least that so little content ever emerges if only because there is way too much expected and is simply not plausible to happen, i.e. DEVs will block it out and only focus on simple things for a given deadline. People have a life to lead as well as work!

*Interview was on March 2016

 

[Blackcompany]

COMBAT IN GEOGRAPHY

Yet after ALL this time we have none on planet surfaces, no CZ's or hunting locations worth going to. No air ground war component to the combat zones. He is selling these ideas, and his company are NOT delivering :/ I've waited forever for this kind of stuff, I really thought it would arrive in Horizons, which i thought would be all about planets. I wish they would just for once be honest about their roadmap..

There's a serious disconnect somewhere. The game Braben is selling, isn't the one his company is making. Whether that's intentional or otherwise I don't know, but...It is a fact.

 

[Fishy]

Do we really believe any of this will ever emerge?

"We started modelling it in a realistic way, but we weren't quite satisfied with it gameplay-wise, so instead we replaced it by a kill multiplier making your combat vouchers worth more and a giant holo-projected announcer commenting the kills live."

 

[Ziljan]

Do we really believe any of this will ever emerge? I only hear hot air and I get the same vibe that the interviewer feels. In these situations it can be too easy to just say things to try and impress knowing that you would be asking too much that is even practical. If this is how he talks to his DEVs then I am not surprized in the least that so little content ever emerges if only because their is way too much expected and is simply not plausible to happen, i.e. DEVs will block it out and only focus on simple things for a given deadline. People have a life to lead as well as work!

This is a recent release, which means Braben has been talking about the same kind of realistic and amazing gas giant/atmospheric gameplay for years now. That's a strong indication that it's being worked on and will materialize in some form.

 

[VR Golgot]

I'd like to know how the OP managed to go spacewalking obviously,

I'm from the future, shhh

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Do we really believe any of this will ever emerge? I only hear hot air and I get the same vibe that the interviewer feels. In these situations it can be too easy to just say things to try and impress knowing that you would be asking too much that is even practical. If this is how he talks to his DEVs then I am not surprized in the least that so little content ever emerges if only because their is way too much expected and is simply not plausible to happen, i.e. DEVs will block it out and only focus on simple things for a given deadline. People have a life to lead as well as work!

Well, potentially, yes. Planetary work so far has been slow but pragmatic. That's probably the right approach for such thoroughly ambitious long-term aims. You talk about his concepts here as deeply impractical? He's essentially talking about a sexier RES in some sexy new layers of tech. Given we know they had proto cloud tech on the go many years ago, and that they're happy to have silo teams work on difficult flagship issues for years at a time (see the planetary surface team, and the Holo Me guys recently), it seems reasonable to believe they've had guys working on the bones of some of this for a while. As he mentions elsewhere in the stream, they have achieved very difficult aims (such as a the huge draw distances for the biggest craters). They've given us various reasons to believe this could be achievable, given enough time.

Of course it's all dependent on lots of factors. But what ain't?

 

[Crash_Happy]

I certainly hope it happens.

 

[eqinox]

True, but they did provide 'geography' flying in CQC, which delivered that in spades. (Seriously love that mode, even if it was almost certainly deployed too soon in the game's lifespan, and with not enough player motivation beyond fun)

But CQC doesn't still have bots, so I guess NPC AI doesn't yet know how to fly properly in geography. It took a while before we got NPC ships near planet surfaces, let alone around stations or CQC structures.

That said, I do wish we would get that in game..

 

[Winterwalker]

Do we really believe any of this will ever emerge?

.. if you listen to the full cast of the three interview segments with DBOBE (which I'm doing right now), at 1h:46m, and bearing in mind he was recorded no later than February of 2016 last year, he says there are/were people working already .. on Season 3 and Season 4, that Frontier already knew this time last year what those seasons are going to be. If we go on the logic, that was twelve months ago now, there might even be preliminary work going on for Season 5 as we speak.

 

[Werewolf13]

Gameplay?
Flying into even the upper atmosphere of a GAS GIANT?

PLEASE...

What could possibly be gained? WHAT?

How about working on flying into and onto normal terrestrial planets with atmosphere's? Landing at terrestrial spaceports? Doing business in a city?

How about doing something actually worthwhile FIRST?

 

[VR Golgot]

But CQC doesn't still have bots, so I guess NPC AI doesn't yet know how to fly properly in geography. It took a while before we got NPC ships near planet surfaces, let alone around stations or CQC structures.

That said, I do wish we would get that in game..

Yep, I've been deterred by the way they got ships down to the surface (and pretty much working) for 2.1, then didn't take it further in 2.2. I think there's decent reason to think we'll see something regarding the CQC architecture in 2.3, given the obvious desire to use them as active locations (IE 'Please note, there is future game play planned for these locations')

 

[ozrix84]

How about doing something actually worthwhile FIRST?

Don't pop a gasket, who said anything about gas giants having priority over other types of planets?

 

[VR Golgot]

Gameplay?
Flying into even the upper atmosphere of a GAS GIANT?

PLEASE...

What could possibly be gained? WHAT?

How about working on flying into and onto normal terrestrial planets with atmosphere's? Landing at terrestrial spaceports? Doing business in a city?

How about doing something actually worthwhile FIRST?

Well... there's the deeply atmospheric yet perilous and challenging environment to be savoured, the novel combat possibilities to be enjoyed, the novel scooping possibilities for those with mining skills and an eye for profit. And.... the Brabes says elsewhere that they'll be introducing planets in a pattern of increasing complexity. Modelling an 'atmosphere only' planet, nailing that aspect, before going for the full blown atmosphere / terrain (& life) ultimate end game seems eminently practical. If it can be done with gameplay along the way, why not do it that way?