the team members flying on the same ship.
Development Update 1 - June
- Thread starter Arthur Tolmie
- Start date
Yes, it's good that they finally decided to tell us everything as it is, and, I believe those words.
however, they definitely should have said that not a month and a half after the add-on's release, but right when it was first announced. if they had said back in 2018 "you know, we don't really have any structured plan for developing the add-on, and the development process is like a chaotic storm", yes, people would have been a bit angry at them, but they would not have expected any quality product from odyssey. and that would be a definite plus.
but we know how it went. the fronts were silent, the white knights shouted "we don't want to know anything about odyssey development!" the result we see, and now, when the situation can be described as a "disaster", they suddenly decide they can afford to be a little honest with the community. well, like i said, thank goodness for that.
Looks good! It certainly is a complex beast to herd in any general direction. I hope the terrain issues get solved, and that the repeated tiling at least get hidden better and subjected to more variability when closer to the ground surfaces.Greetings Commanders,
We would like to share with you our first monthly development update since the launch of Elite Dangerous Odyssey. The purpose of these monthly news articles is to give a regular, moment in time, updates on how development within Elite Dangerous is progressing. The aim is to a provide a factual look at community requested features, issues, and a look forward at what the team are working on next.
Please note: the nature of these updates will be ‘warts-and-all’; you will likely see work in progress screenshots and content taken from WIP builds. That means that all information and assets shared are subject to change.
We will be looking to share more information on development challenges as well as talking about progress that has been made in other areas. Making games requires a large number of people working closely and in sync. There will always be a need to prioritise and focus development efforts on specific features and content for the biggest benefit of our wider community. Despite an incredible team, we simply wouldn’t ever have enough time to add all the awesome things that are requested by the community. As such, we hope that by being open about these requests, we can avoid giving the wrong expectations and everyone can be informed and up to date with where development is at that time.
So let’s get started…
June Update
Since this launch we have had to adjust our focus and the development team have been working incredibly hard to review and address as many reports and issues as possible. We have done this through a number of early hotfixes and a subsequent series of five game updates, including the one that will be deployed tomorrow.
Throughout these five updates we have made over a thousand changes, fixes, and additions to Odyssey based on your feedback, including in key areas such as:
So, what is next for Odyssey?
- Lighting, brightness and gamma
- Character and Outfitting UI
- Galaxy Map navigation and found organic data tracking
- Performance – We know there is more to do here, but we are pleased to see some players reporting notable improvements for particular configurations
As previously stated, Update Five will be deployed tomorrow and will deliver on more key areas of focus and feedback that we have received. These include:
- Shared missions – allowing you to work together with other Commanders on the ground and share mission rewards
- Overhauled cockpit lighting
Issue Tracker
- Visual improvements for neutron stars
- Redesign of ship outfitting interface
- Rebalanced drop rates for rare items
Another area we like to keep an eye on is our Issue Tracker. This allows us to see and measure the key issues within the community, as voted for by you. We know that many of you are keen to have an update on the top issues. So we’ve listed out the top five items below and given some direct thoughts and feedback on each one of them.
Current Top Five:
Future Progress: The Longer Roadmap
- Improvements to lighting (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/33174)
- Many of the lighting issues have been improved across previous updates, the last major set relate to the update of ship cockpits which will be in Update 5. We will continue to monitor your feedback.
- Degraded terrain textures compared to Horizons (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/32854)
- Pathways have been identified to improve this and a team is actively working on this area.
- Planetary features that appear to repeat (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/34834)
- We understand this is an important topic within the community. As mentioned at the start of the article, we want to share the challenges as well as the positives. Investigations are still ongoing, however, it must be said that this is proving to be a very significant technical challenge. At the current time we do not have a workable solution. BUT, investigations will continue and we will keep you updated.
- Anarchy factions and the BGS (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/35479)
- After extensive investigation we found that missions against anarchy factions were too impactful and this has been addressed. We are making further tweaks with Update 5 and will continue to monitor this issue closely to see if further action is required.
- FPS performance in Odyssey
- Pathways have also been identified with performance and the team are actively working on this area.
As mentioned in our previous post, our aim was to focus on the initial set of updates and then turn our attention back onto console. There’s no doubt that the additional development work on these updates and community requests pose a challenge on our previous plans and timelines. We are actively investigating, reviewing, and remeasuring the further roadmap but these things will take a little time. We understand that this may not be as much information as people may have wished for, but we hope that the open and transparent nature of this update means that you’ll bear with us while we pull those together. What we can say, is that through these monthly updates, we will be able to share and keep you informed every step of the way.
Livestream
As you may have seen from the weekly schedule, I will be jumping into Elite Dangerous tomorrow and playing through the most recent update with Bruce. Please come along and join us where we can discuss today’s update.
o7
S
They could equally have arranged for a CM to work overtime...
Our very own mods here also noted that they were being told the content wasn't ready each time they asked about it.
And, in all fairness, why should an employee have to deal with the 'community' immediately when it is obvious that whatever they had posted today would be met with the promised toxicity? Post it at the end og the day, let the ranting happen, then come back in the morning and cherry pick whatever they wish to respond to.
There have been all kinds of 'players' ranting all day that this is the 'final straw' and similar tat...
Is it a critical time? A patch is due out tomorrow (which will 'fix' very little) - more 'players' will tell the forum how terrible things are, both before and after the patch, and more baying for the blood of Devs, Management and CMs is to be expected.
Personally, I think it should have been posted at 16:59:39 and at 16:59:59 a second post saying "Goodnight, see you all in the morning" made.
But, I will admit, my sense of humour is a little odd
Absolutely this. If FD had said something even vague and non committal about future plans ("we are considering introducing new ships at some point", "we would like to have new SRVs", "we are thinking about more engaging missions", "there may be interesting developments in the Salvation arc") it would have been a indication, however vague, about the direction of the game.
As it is, their vision seems to extend no further than tomorrow morning - and that's really disappointing.
Notice how the video cuts right before the teammate "enters" the vehicle. They actually had a dude run towards the ship to create the impression that he could share the ship when he could never have entered in the first place.
: Seriously. I have no respect for anyone who has any trust left in this game's developers.
Powerwhat?
- FDev designers.
On a more serious note, while we were indeed supposed to get some info about that, I wouldn't expect much. It's a 6 years old feature that has been abandoned by most of the player base, and knowing FDev they probably take that a a sign that working on it would be a waste of resources. It's also obvious to me that any change to Powerplay could very easily backfire, if I remember the forum posts correctly most of the player base couldn't even agree on what Powerplay should be. I don't expect FDev, which lacks any kind of direction regarding Elite's future, to know that answer.
Development Plans? You don't need to see our development plans.
Frontier should really roll the planetary tech back to Horizons and reimplement features one by one, otherwise they will have too much of a bite to chew.
Same goes to graphics engine... roll it back to Horizons and add Atmospherics... then we test it, FDev tune it and do the same for the next thing.
Same goes to graphics engine... roll it back to Horizons and add Atmospherics... then we test it, FDev tune it and do the same for the next thing.
"These are not the development plans you're looking for..."
No, they certainly weren't.
It's very difficult to assess the lighting "improvements" from a few screen shots. so I'll wait until after update before making comment. Honestly I don't really care very much how my commander looks in the vanity cam however I do care about how the galaxy I'm looking at looks but I'd rather they fixed things that are broken first. Adding the promised 'Modules' tab to the shipyard would be an excellent start.
Dear Frontier
I believe that it is time to accept the fact that you've made a total and unacceptable hash of this release. Your only reasonable and responsible course of action is to unwind it and set the game back to Horizons.
You need to go back to the drawing board on this and decide where you're going with this game and IF it is down the route of a half baked FPS then you must lean on the decades of experience preceding Odyssey. What you have released is not good enough by any measure.
Odyssey is an incongruous mess that is so painfully clearly ANOTHER license to grind in lieu of actual galaxy building content that I dispair over whether ANYONE actually has intent to continue building ED into a believable and living universe.
Unwind it, rethink, and re-release as something that the community actually wants. This is a blatant attempt to grab another segment of the gaming community but no attempt has been made to have it make sense in the broader ED context.
Odyssey is a developmental open wound and frankly you're bleeding out. Fix it before you no longer have the opportunity to do so.
I believe that it is time to accept the fact that you've made a total and unacceptable hash of this release. Your only reasonable and responsible course of action is to unwind it and set the game back to Horizons.
You need to go back to the drawing board on this and decide where you're going with this game and IF it is down the route of a half baked FPS then you must lean on the decades of experience preceding Odyssey. What you have released is not good enough by any measure.
Odyssey is an incongruous mess that is so painfully clearly ANOTHER license to grind in lieu of actual galaxy building content that I dispair over whether ANYONE actually has intent to continue building ED into a believable and living universe.
Unwind it, rethink, and re-release as something that the community actually wants. This is a blatant attempt to grab another segment of the gaming community but no attempt has been made to have it make sense in the broader ED context.
Odyssey is a developmental open wound and frankly you're bleeding out. Fix it before you no longer have the opportunity to do so.
If there were any future development plans for more content in the game currently in development, I'm sure that they would have posted some information in regards to this. They know it would have helped them reignite some enthusiasm from a fairly hostile community.
We were already on page 3 when you posted this, you've missed so much?!?!?!
pay 40 bucks to first unscrew the light bulb in the cockpit, and then screw it back in the 5th update.
And what about the TOP10 issues on issue tracker...on Horizons!Greetings Commanders,
We would like to share with you our first monthly development update since the launch of Elite Dangerous Odyssey. The purpose of these monthly news articles is to give a regular, moment in time, updates on how development within Elite Dangerous is progressing. The aim is to a provide a factual look at community requested features, issues, and a look forward at what the team are working on next.
Please note: the nature of these updates will be ‘warts-and-all’; you will likely see work in progress screenshots and content taken from WIP builds. That means that all information and assets shared are subject to change.
We will be looking to share more information on development challenges as well as talking about progress that has been made in other areas. Making games requires a large number of people working closely and in sync. There will always be a need to prioritise and focus development efforts on specific features and content for the biggest benefit of our wider community. Despite an incredible team, we simply wouldn’t ever have enough time to add all the awesome things that are requested by the community. As such, we hope that by being open about these requests, we can avoid giving the wrong expectations and everyone can be informed and up to date with where development is at that time.
So let’s get started…
June Update
Since this launch we have had to adjust our focus and the development team have been working incredibly hard to review and address as many reports and issues as possible. We have done this through a number of early hotfixes and a subsequent series of five game updates, including the one that will be deployed tomorrow.
Throughout these five updates we have made over a thousand changes, fixes, and additions to Odyssey based on your feedback, including in key areas such as:
So, what is next for Odyssey?
- Lighting, brightness and gamma
- Character and Outfitting UI
- Galaxy Map navigation and found organic data tracking
- Performance – We know there is more to do here, but we are pleased to see some players reporting notable improvements for particular configurations
As previously stated, Update Five will be deployed tomorrow and will deliver on more key areas of focus and feedback that we have received. These include:
- Shared missions – allowing you to work together with other Commanders on the ground and share mission rewards
- Overhauled cockpit lighting
Issue Tracker
- Visual improvements for neutron stars
- Redesign of ship outfitting interface
- Rebalanced drop rates for rare items
Another area we like to keep an eye on is our Issue Tracker. This allows us to see and measure the key issues within the community, as voted for by you. We know that many of you are keen to have an update on the top issues. So we’ve listed out the top five items below and given some direct thoughts and feedback on each one of them.
Current Top Five:
Future Progress: The Longer Roadmap
- Improvements to lighting (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/33174)
- Many of the lighting issues have been improved across previous updates, the last major set relate to the update of ship cockpits which will be in Update 5. We will continue to monitor your feedback.
- Degraded terrain textures compared to Horizons (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/32854)
- Pathways have been identified to improve this and a team is actively working on this area.
- Planetary features that appear to repeat (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/34834)
- We understand this is an important topic within the community. As mentioned at the start of the article, we want to share the challenges as well as the positives. Investigations are still ongoing, however, it must be said that this is proving to be a very significant technical challenge. At the current time we do not have a workable solution. BUT, investigations will continue and we will keep you updated.
- Anarchy factions and the BGS (https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/35479)
- After extensive investigation we found that missions against anarchy factions were too impactful and this has been addressed. We are making further tweaks with Update 5 and will continue to monitor this issue closely to see if further action is required.
- FPS performance in Odyssey
- Pathways have also been identified with performance and the team are actively working on this area.
As mentioned in our previous post, our aim was to focus on the initial set of updates and then turn our attention back onto console. There’s no doubt that the additional development work on these updates and community requests pose a challenge on our previous plans and timelines. We are actively investigating, reviewing, and remeasuring the further roadmap but these things will take a little time. We understand that this may not be as much information as people may have wished for, but we hope that the open and transparent nature of this update means that you’ll bear with us while we pull those together. What we can say, is that through these monthly updates, we will be able to share and keep you informed every step of the way.
Livestream
As you may have seen from the weekly schedule, I will be jumping into Elite Dangerous tomorrow and playing through the most recent update with Bruce. Please come along and join us where we can discuss today’s update.
o7
No info at all since at least 1 year.