I think I've realised what the problem with ED is.. Braben has lost interest and moved on?
- Thread starter Cosmos
- Start date
- Status
So after sticking with the vision/game for 30+ years, recently he just lost interest? What a bizarre conclusion.
Interesting discussion. I disagree somewhat with the premise of the thread title: "... the problem with ED...". I don't think ED really has a significant, threatening problem; I always have a good time when playing. It has many problems in the QoL category and those are being sorted out slowly. On the whole I think the trend is good so I don't see "the problem".
When you think about it and threads like this, Mr B spead his arms and said "I want this" the game makers allbit his own looked a bit sheepish and said "well we can give you this...the rest were try and tag on at a later date" the people holding the purse strings said " just get it out already we need ¤cough¤ want ¤cough¤ the cash".
When you look at FD on 2013 and where they are now I think its kinda clear what DB has been doing: his job.
The notion that space legs or atmo landings will come or not depending on DBs personal enthousiasm is childish beyond words. FD is a company. They will give us those features if they can do so in a way that earns them a profit, which they can use to start a 4th IP. Which they already stated is their intent.
The notion that space legs or atmo landings will come or not depending on DBs personal enthousiasm is childish beyond words. FD is a company. They will give us those features if they can do so in a way that earns them a profit, which they can use to start a 4th IP. Which they already stated is their intent.
I am convinced that DB is preparing a great video where he announces the planetary landings with the atmosphere, the fauna, the flora, the rain, the winds, the snowstorms, the hurricanes, the tornadoes, the aquatic monsters, the gigantic cities illuminated with the thousands of people walking in the streets and the ships flying in the city as in the fifth element
:S
:S
Last edited:
If you believe everything you hear in marketing soundbites, I don't need to tell you whose being childish!
David Braben didn't write E-D, Frontier Developments did. As such, whether he is involved on a daily basis or a yearly basis, makes little to no impact.
What matters more to a games company is sales revenue.
Fact is, E-D outside of the superb graphics is nothing more than a rehashed 1984 title.
You make it sound as if approximately 3 mil units sold merely covered expenses and didn't generate profit at all.
I have seen no figures to support that.
Also, you can't look at FD's games isolated. Without the revenue from ED, PC would perhaps not have been made.
And without the revenue from PC and ED, JWE might not have been made.
The sum of titles allows FD to grow and expand.
Besides all of that, future expansions are planned for ED (and i'm sure for PC and JWE too), there is more money to come...if they get it right of course.
As for DB, i'm not really concerned about what he does or doesn't do on a daily basis.
Last edited:
Ha! The only similarity is the shape of the space station
Sure. In that way that we wouldn't have game to play.
"Open development" LOL. Sure, really.
As opposed to the convoluted, over-grindy, buggy hacked-together, game we have now?
The game [sic] exists on it's graphics. Without them it would be a title dead in the water.
Everyone is of course entitled to their opinion, Speculation is again fine.
This however is a cold hard fact:
I know for a fact 100% as I've witnessed it first hand, when David is in the building he is more likely to be found working on ED with the guys and girls on the shop floor so to speak than in his office etc.
Frontier however is a multi game company and is in the process of relocating to new premises which of course takes up a lot of time planning and implementing. Frontier also employ a considerable amount of people and even if David is one of the creators of the original game it can't really be expected for him to have a constant "online" presence.
Frontier is a successful company creating in my opinion amazing games by a amazing group of people who are passionate and commited.
Honestly, give them and David a break.
This however is a cold hard fact:
I know for a fact 100% as I've witnessed it first hand, when David is in the building he is more likely to be found working on ED with the guys and girls on the shop floor so to speak than in his office etc.
Frontier however is a multi game company and is in the process of relocating to new premises which of course takes up a lot of time planning and implementing. Frontier also employ a considerable amount of people and even if David is one of the creators of the original game it can't really be expected for him to have a constant "online" presence.
Frontier is a successful company creating in my opinion amazing games by a amazing group of people who are passionate and commited.
Honestly, give them and David a break.
Last edited:
I must say, I think that it's not a case of "lost interest" but I do believe he his very busy, and may have withdrawn a bit, with that said, I want to see ED succeed and I hope that they will be able to live up to all the "Hipe" (hell even half of it would be good) but they have a long way to go.
That's a bit of a non-sequitur. I was talking only about the way they communicate with the community, which I think SC does a good job at.
I guess then David and other executive officers are delusional, because ED is one of biggest sellers mentioned in their shareholder reports - reports who are required to be factual *by law*.
Seriously, please, stop make stuff up. David is hugely interested in ED, anyone who have met him in real life knows it.
Don't mix up "game struggles to hold my interest or introduces rules I am not found of" with progress of lack of it. As for major new gameplay features - well, we will have to wait for information about that. FD has indicated they aren't gonna drop ED any time soon. Does it mean new features are possible - who knows. I expect FD to clarify all this in upcoming months this year.
Last edited:
I met DB over 20 years ago, I was at a meeting at his office regarding trying to sell him some 3D scanning kit -( I was also curious if I would be interested in working for his company 
Although I probably spent less than 2 hours with him and touring his company, I did get a sense of the guy.
As an '84 elite player, I was excited to meet him and thank him for my teenage fun playing his game, he appreciated the sentiments but I got the impression he'd heard it a million times already.
I got a sense that he's a smart guy but to be honest, not someone that I would choose to hang out with, he was too straight!
IMHO he's got ED's best intentions at heart (still) but his pragmatism means he relies on other people for 'modern day' gaming design choices which unfortunately haven't really panned out too well.
Two things which really have stuck in my heart about him, are
1) On lave radio (i think episode 100) he's discussing working on the next release and laughs about how hard his developers are working (eg: late nights and weekends) - to be honest, as a developer, I found this crass.
2) I can't remember the video, but there is one where he laughingly dismisses the idea of having npc avatars working on the outside of stations, because he says, players will just shoot them or knock them away. I found the solution of simply not having them completely unimaginative.
Anyway! I don't play much as I can't justify the time, but wish the game well, it's truly amazing in VR!
Although I probably spent less than 2 hours with him and touring his company, I did get a sense of the guy.
As an '84 elite player, I was excited to meet him and thank him for my teenage fun playing his game, he appreciated the sentiments but I got the impression he'd heard it a million times already.
I got a sense that he's a smart guy but to be honest, not someone that I would choose to hang out with, he was too straight!
IMHO he's got ED's best intentions at heart (still) but his pragmatism means he relies on other people for 'modern day' gaming design choices which unfortunately haven't really panned out too well.
Two things which really have stuck in my heart about him, are
1) On lave radio (i think episode 100) he's discussing working on the next release and laughs about how hard his developers are working (eg: late nights and weekends) - to be honest, as a developer, I found this crass.
2) I can't remember the video, but there is one where he laughingly dismisses the idea of having npc avatars working on the outside of stations, because he says, players will just shoot them or knock them away. I found the solution of simply not having them completely unimaginative.
Anyway! I don't play much as I can't justify the time, but wish the game well, it's truly amazing in VR!
Ye, "open" my rear. I have no idea why this is supposed to still fly with people. Must be serialised culled and bound logic.
- Status