ANNOUNCEMENT Community Update (22/10)

[Havvk]

Hm, but what was that about the articulate wine posts?

iunno, you tell me

 

[AveCandido]

ED is modular code. You can bolt things on but not change the basic design code, imo. Eventually, the interaction between the modules causes chaos. First dicovered this when learning to program in Basic. Goto, if...then, lookup tables and so on. ED is full of 1990s programming, or at least the concept is. C++ always leads to spaghetti, eventually.

FD have just run out of modules to affix to the original. Hence the 'new era', which is presumably a new game entirely...though I hope they find a way to carry over the credit balances.

Maybe Mrs Enderby can help?

The graphic and physical engine COBRA, uses as base C # or simulate, at the moment officially only Frontier knows, in my way of thinking

 

[StuartGT]

The graphic and physical engine COBRA, uses as base C # or simulate, at the moment officially only Frontier knows, in my way of thinking

Cobra uses C++, although C# is regularly used for tools creation.
https://www.frontier.co.uk/careers/programmer-application-guidance

 

[BDelacroix]

Very good - Space cowboy romp If you can get you paws on the movie "Serenity" as well you'll have the complete collection!

You'll like it. Also, the newly release outer worlds is very reminiscent of that show.

 

[fu9ar]

I think that part of the problem is that the game can't quite decide what it is and stick to that.

• Is it a flight sim? It has great flight dynamics, but the ships are not very differentiated and their upgrade and maintenance still doesn't feel fully worked out.
• Is it a space sim? The galaxy is, frankly, a miracle of programming, but still lacks some obvious features or they are not fully realised.
• Is it a combat sim? A trade sim? An exploration sim? It does all these things reasonably well (especially combat), but none are worked out to their logical conclusion and feel a bit superficial and unfulfilling.

It doesn't need a lot of change to make the game a lot better. I mean, there are so many things that could be done right now, with minimal programming effort and with existing assets, that would improve the game considerably. It just needs some world building, some texture, some thought putting into the logic of the mechanisms and how they interact. And it needs to make some choices, rather than trying to be all things to everybody at all times.

I guess I am just used to filling in the gaps myself because I played a lot of video games as a kid when they were more abstracted and simplified and also played a lot of tabletop role playing games. Dungeons and Dragons is literally a game where you roll dice and do paperwork about it. Everything else comes from the power of imagination. All games are abstracted simulations.

People feel that trade and exploration are superficial and unfulfilling because they exploited past the content. It was straight up fun to stack 20 data courier missions in an Eagle when I first started up. I'm not talking about that old grindlord mission board exploiting garbage neither. I would be popping from station to station as fast and clean as possible, hitting 15 drops in a session, often with bogies on my tail. Sometimes I would turn and fight! I blazed my own trail through the galaxy! I did not slog through the easiest rut handed to me by the metagame. I flew without rebuy to get a leg up into the next ship, because the earning potential was worth the risk. If you don't feel fulfilled, I would bet money that you skipped that part.

 

[Balin]

Glad you're concentrating on bugfixes, that's good. Thank you.

Can I ask, is one of the bugfixes going to be the one where hostage rescue doesn't work? I remember giving up on those missions because you'd rescue four out of eight hostages, then the target would hyperspace away. So you chase him with the Wake Scanner, shoot him again and rescue the other four, but the mission never gave you credit for rescuing the eight. So hav that one been fixed?

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Firefly was openly stolen from Traveller, but Marc Miller was unable to sue (the show runners covered their tracks).

 

[fu9ar]

Firefly was openly stolen from Traveller, but Marc Miller was unable to sue (the show runners covered their tracks).

I doubt that.

 

[Jubb]

Greetings Commanders,

Following the launch of the September Update last month, we’d like to provide you all with an update on our plans for Elite Dangerous.

Firstly, thank you for all of your feedback on the September Update, which you've shared with us on the forums, across social media, on livestreams and through the Issue Tracker. There is no doubt that, in addition to the new features, the September Update introduced a number of issues and bugs which caused a lot of frustration. We are really sorry for these issues. We realise that some of the issues had an impact on your ability to enjoy Elite Dangerous. The team have been working hard to address the most critical issues and have already released a series of patches and updates to bring those fixes in as quickly as possible.

However, we know there's more to be done. You've asked for more focus on existing bug/fixes and issues, and for the community to be better integrated into the development process and testing for these upcoming updates.

In order to improve your overall experience, we have decided to refocus our efforts on addressing key issues and bugs. Since the launch of the September Update, we've been taking a deeper look at our internal development roadmap, the way in which we utilise public betas, and the content of our next updates.

Here is a summary of our plans:

• From now and into next year (2020), the updates will focus almost exclusively on addressing recent and longstanding issues, including those reported in the Issue Tracker, ultimately making the game better.
• We are expecting to have a series of these updates, which will be rolled out (approximately) every three to four months.
• Each update will also include a public beta that will run prior to the update's release, with a dedicated time to address major issues that appear.
• The first of these updates will have its public beta in December, with an expectation that the launch will be early in 2020.

As a result of our updated plans, we have made the difficult decision to defer the release of Fleet Carriers. We are now planning for Fleet Carriers to be released in an update in the second quarter of 2020, rather than in December 2019 as previously stated. This will grant us additional time to refine the feature as well as focusing time on addressing existing reported issues. It will also ensure the state of the game is in a better position to introduce Fleet Carriers, that will provide Commanders even more opportunities to interact with the Milky Way. We understand that this delay will be disappointing for some players, but do know that this decision is one that we do not take lightly, and is made with the best interests of the community and game at heart.

Ultimately, we are confident that this will improve the Elite Dangerous experience for all our players.

The team have been hard at work on the next major milestone, which you may remember we mentioned back in March as our next major paid addition to the game. They’re making fantastic progress and on schedule for release by the end of next year. We are very excited to show you what we’ve been working on. However, we can only announce the content when it’s at the right stage of development, we estimate this will be ready to talk about at some time in summer 2020, after the Fleet Carriers update. We appreciate there is a bit of a wait, but we want to make sure it is ready to be shown before making our full official announcement to the world.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing and continued support and for helping give us the feedback, steer and insight to make decisions that will benefit the entire community and for your continued passion and dedication.

OK, I am not a regular player and every time I do play it seems another update has changed the games parameters (or I'm just not fully aware of all its content which is prob more correct) but I accept that as part of my infrequent visits and the passage of time.

But I have to appreciate both the games progressive approach to its longevity and the problems inherent in keeping the game playing fraternity happy.

I hear a lot on these forums about the scarcity of updates/upgrades etc and the bug/gremilns that go hand in hand with each revision and to be fair as a paying gamer one has to expect a continued support from its developers, but I know that with each version, that vision for the games continual progression becomes harder to integrate. New editions can not be a total rewrite, so are bolted on and as such are in danger of becoming a Frankenstien monster. Balancing development with expanding the game engine comes at a cost to both gameplay and performance unless a huge amount of time is spent co-ordinating testing and bug fixing before the release of each update.

Its frustrating both to us and them but I think we as gamers have to exert a great deal of patience with Frontier, as ED is not your usual COD or FFxxxx franchised game, its a continually building program of features that expand the game into what I can only describe as uncharted territory for a space game simulation. The universe is our horizon and lets face it, to include everything we all want as fans of the genre would be impossible, something I see SC as trying to achieve but in reality a hopeless goal.

ED is not essentially a game, its a simulation that tries to augment that with total immersion in a gamers ideal of space exploration and what a career could be had in such a scenario. Thats a pretty high bar of expectation to deliver and at the present time I think Frontier have done a damn good job of providing a vehicle to experience that kind of sensation, flying a space craft around galaxies in order to make a fast or hard buck and trying to survive the universe and its denizens.
I personally think we ask too much from the developers, we are in danger of making them paint hemselves into a corner in trying to develop the game too quickly, I'd rather settle for a game that has solid gameplay with maybe one small update a year and one large every two. If that secures better performance and reliability then its something we should all support so that we as gamers can enjoy ED for all its worth.

There are not many games out there that fall into the same category as ED, that do not have the same level of support and development either but intriguingly have such an avid fan/user base as all its fellow commanders. We all grow with each iteration of the game as the game also grows with us, its not unique in the game world but I think we as a family should stick together and give the devs more appreciaition for what they do and a bit more space to grow the game in the right direction safely without endangering the ethos of ED and morphing it into something it can't be, COD in space with legs and Fortnite with SC graphics. OK, Fortnite was a bad example but hopefully you get what I mean.

Lets go with the possible and doable rather than the impossible and unrealistic, the game as it stands, albeit with some long needed bug fixing, is in a world of its own and there are contenders out there but as we have seen, many have had to go through a complete rewrite and change of direction to compete with the likes of ED, thats a pretty good CV and I think stands the game in good stead for the future. just a little more patience and little less expectation may allow us to enjoy ED, more for its alluring content rather than its expectant scope.

Be safe out there .... :¬)

 

[Nasty2015]

Greetings Commanders,

Following the launch of the September Update last month, we’d like to provide you all with an update on our plans for Elite Dangerous.

Ultimately, we are confident that this will improve the Elite Dangerous experience for all our players.

The team have been hard at work on the next major milestone, which you may remember we mentioned back in March as our next major paid addition to the game. They’re making fantastic progress and on schedule for release by the end of next year. We are very excited to show you what we’ve been working on. However, we can only announce the content when it’s at the right stage of development, we estimate this will be ready to talk about at some time in summer 2020, after the Fleet Carriers update. We appreciate there is a bit of a wait, but we want to make sure it is ready to be shown before making our full official announcement to the world.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing and continued support and for helping give us the feedback, steer and insight to make decisions that will benefit the entire community and for your continued passion and dedication.

Great! Adult Supervision in the Dev Pool! Yee Haw! Can't wait to see what transpires.......

 

[Ralph Vargr]

The September Update broke all my teeth, and took all my money.

Hard not to forget that.

 

[Eliza]

It's true.

ED. Also pretty much Traveller influenced.

And "Traveller" was inspired by Isaac Asimov's and Frank Herbert's stories. One has to be very carefully who stole from whom first.

 

[Phongsalt]

Greetings Commanders,

Following the launch of the September Update last month, we’d like to provide you all with an update on our plans for Elite Dangerous.

Firstly, thank you for all of your feedback on the September Update, which you've shared with us on the forums, across social media, on livestreams and through the Issue Tracker. There is no doubt that, in addition to the new features, the September Update introduced a number of issues and bugs which caused a lot of frustration. We are really sorry for these issues. We realise that some of the issues had an impact on your ability to enjoy Elite Dangerous. The team have been working hard to address the most critical issues and have already released a series of patches and updates to bring those fixes in as quickly as possible.

However, we know there's more to be done. You've asked for more focus on existing bug/fixes and issues, and for the community to be better integrated into the development process and testing for these upcoming updates.

In order to improve your overall experience, we have decided to refocus our efforts on addressing key issues and bugs. Since the launch of the September Update, we've been taking a deeper look at our internal development roadmap, the way in which we utilise public betas, and the content of our next updates.

Here is a summary of our plans:

• From now and into next year (2020), the updates will focus almost exclusively on addressing recent and longstanding issues, including those reported in the Issue Tracker, ultimately making the game better.
• We are expecting to have a series of these updates, which will be rolled out (approximately) every three to four months.
• Each update will also include a public beta that will run prior to the update's release, with a dedicated time to address major issues that appear.
• The first of these updates will have its public beta in December, with an expectation that the launch will be early in 2020.

As a result of our updated plans, we have made the difficult decision to defer the release of Fleet Carriers. We are now planning for Fleet Carriers to be released in an update in the second quarter of 2020, rather than in December 2019 as previously stated. This will grant us additional time to refine the feature as well as focusing time on addressing existing reported issues. It will also ensure the state of the game is in a better position to introduce Fleet Carriers, that will provide Commanders even more opportunities to interact with the Milky Way. We understand that this delay will be disappointing for some players, but do know that this decision is one that we do not take lightly, and is made with the best interests of the community and game at heart.

Ultimately, we are confident that this will improve the Elite Dangerous experience for all our players.

The team have been hard at work on the next major milestone, which you may remember we mentioned back in March as our next major paid addition to the game. They’re making fantastic progress and on schedule for release by the end of next year. We are very excited to show you what we’ve been working on. However, we can only announce the content when it’s at the right stage of development, we estimate this will be ready to talk about at some time in summer 2020, after the Fleet Carriers update. We appreciate there is a bit of a wait, but we want to make sure it is ready to be shown before making our full official announcement to the world.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your ongoing and continued support and for helping give us the feedback, steer and insight to make decisions that will benefit the entire community and for your continued passion and dedication.

Will the public beta carry across all platforms?

 

[Eliza]

Will the public beta carry across all platforms?

I think, it won't be. As far as I can remember, no beta ever made it to consoles. Has something to do with some kind of "clearance pass" on behalf of Sony/Microsoft.

 

[wstephenson]

It doesn't need a lot of change to make the game a lot better. I mean, there are so many things that could be done right now, with minimal programming effort and with existing assets, that would improve the game considerably. It just needs some world building, some texture, some thought putting into the logic of the mechanisms and how they interact. And it needs to make some choices, rather than trying to be all things to everybody at all times.

This, 1000%.

I guess I am just used to filling in the gaps myself because I played a lot of video games as a kid when they were more abstracted and simplified and also played a lot of tabletop role playing games. Dungeons and Dragons is literally a game where you roll dice and do paperwork about it. Everything else comes from the power of imagination. All games are abstracted simulations.

It's when the skeleton that is there is so obviously inconsistent, that it blows away whatever gap-filling you have constructed in your mind. You are interdicted during a mission, reduce your attacker to 25% hull when he jumps away, but 15 seconds later in the next system the same named assassin is waiting for you in a differently named, unharmed FdL with the same loadout. When it was Just Another Anonymous Adder in 1984, we would have just told ourselves it was another pirate. Wanted NPCs who always belong to one of the corporations in the system - don't these people have hyperdrives and commit crimes outside of their home jurisdiction, like normal people? Why is there always a large NPC vessel doing a U-turn in front of every outpost's small and medium sized landing pads? Are they offloading cargo using invisible transfer limpets? Why are there always half a dozen liners and hauler taxis at every tourist beacon, even the ones hundreds of LY away from the bubble? Why, oh why, are there large stations at systems' secondary stars, hundreds of thousands of Ls and many minutes' travel time away from the primary, when there are equivalent resources in the primary system. There should only be hermitages, religious sanctuaries, pirate bases and corporate R&D labs out that far.

For anyone who's ever DMed a D&D game, it feels like half the encounter tables in ED are stuffed with every local entity, irrespective of context, and that is what feels half baked and creates cognitive dissonance. And it would be so easy to fix the logic that generates them. But these aren't bugs, per se, so I hold out little hope of getting them fixed. If I could just get a week with the source code...

Firefly was openly stolen from Traveller, but Marc Miller was unable to sue (the show runners covered their tracks).

Pretty sure Ian Bell was a Traveller player and styled OG Elite after it.

 

[fu9ar]

It's true.

ED. Also pretty much Traveller influenced.

"Influenced by" doesn't mean they "stole it." Marc Miller doesn't own a whole dang genre.

 

[fu9ar]

It's when the skeleton that is there is so obviously inconsistent, that it blows away whatever gap-filling you have constructed in your mind. You are interdicted during a mission, reduce your attacker to 25% hull when he jumps away, but 15 seconds later in the next system the same named assassin is waiting for you in a differently named, unharmed FdL with the same loadout. When it was Just Another Anonymous Adder in 1984, we would have just told ourselves it was another pirate. Wanted NPCs who always belong to one of the corporations in the system - don't these people have hyperdrives and commit crimes outside of their home jurisdiction, like normal people? Why is there always a large NPC vessel doing a U-turn in front of every outpost's small and medium sized landing pads? Are they offloading cargo using invisible transfer limpets? Why are there always half a dozen liners and hauler taxis at every tourist beacon, even the ones hundreds of LY away from the bubble? Why, oh why, are there large stations at systems' secondary stars, hundreds of thousands of Ls and many minutes' travel time away from the primary, when there are equivalent resources in the primary system. There should only be hermitages, religious sanctuaries, pirate bases and corporate R&D labs ...

Meh. Perth exists too. You choose to focus on the cracks in the simulation. I don't. It is that simple.

 

[Havvk]

"Influenced by" doesn't mean they "stole it." Marc Miller doesn't own a whole dang genre.

Nope you're wrong.

Galaxy Quest, starring Tim Allen, totes ripped off and stole from Star Trek (jk)

 

[Eliza]

Nope you're wrong.

Galaxy Quest, starring Tim Allen, totes ripped off and stole from Star Trek (jk)

And it was a dang cool "rip off". I still laugh tears, when I see this jewel.

 

[AvelCo]

I already wrote that it is difficult to disappoint me and that finally it was possible. I wrote that I responded to the kickstarter.
However, I did not write the main thing.

After all, I have been waiting for this game for many years. After I fell in love with Elite in 1985, I kept waiting for the continuation of the tale. And I got a sequel ... with the expectation of every little thing for half a year. A "wonderful" experience.