Elite / Frontier Do You Still Support Frontier? If So, Why?

[Alien]

Fifteen years, and still no Elite 4.
* No announcement re: The Outsider
* No announcement re: Elite 4
* No info re: Elite 4
* New (possibly space sim) game from Egosoft and even the guy behind Minecraft may do a space trading game
* Frontier cannot even be bothered to tell us what the point of reading and posting on these forums is

So it begs the question : Do you still support Frontier? What is the point in supporting Frontier? If you do still support them, why?

I ask because I fail to see any reasons.
Frontier, feel free to tell us if we should keep waiting.

 

[Henry Krinkle]

It's both interesting, and more than a little depressing that this forum has finally reached the stage I was at a few years back.

Do I support Frontier? No, is the simple answer. I've no interest in any of their games. The last game made by David Braben I bought was Frontier: First Encounters.

I'm going to quote myself from 19/11/2006, indulge me...

How long has it been now? 6? 7 years? The same worthless information fed to us, like giving sausage shaped plastic to a starving dog.

I simply see no reason for Mr Braben's reticence to give firm details to his fans, many of whom, like myself, have for over 20 years regarded him as one of the finest game programmers to have ever lived, who have given our pocket money, our wages to buy his games, even buying the same game on different platforms.

Why not tell us what stage of development Elite 4 is at? Why not give us a rough idea of when he hopes to release it? Whether it will ever be released! Why keep teasing us?

I hate the fact that I'm writing this rant, as I don't want to, I have incredible respect for what Mr Braben has achieved, but it's getting to the point of almost being a p*ss-take.

This "silence" policy is a farce, people have been left dangling for a hell of a long time.

Mr. Braben, you're insulting your fans, and your reputation is on the line, it really is time to finally open up.

 

[zmurf]

I don't really understand the question. What do you mean with "support"? I really like to see a new, advanced game in the spirit of the Elite Frontier games. But I don't care if it is a sequel to the original games or something completely else, as long as it's reach up to my expectations.

If it happens to be Elite IV, good for Frontier Developments. Else... who cares who did it?

I'm an old Amiga user. I've been waiting since -94 for new Amiga compatible hardware with AGA support and CPU power to match at least a MC68060 to replace my ageing Amiga1200 at home. Now, after 17 years, the first two is just about to reach the market.
( http://www.natami.net/ )
( http://www.fpgaarcade.com/ )

Non of them is created by any company that has anything to do with Amiga or Commodore. But I don't care... they are AGA Amiga compatible with greater then 060 speed... so I'm happy.

...

Things can still happen.

 

[tvrobyn]

Yes.
BUT........
Like waiting for a new chapter of the bible its taking forever.
And I'm wavering.

 

[Steve O B Have]

I honestly don't think that anything particularly constructive will come from this, we're just the few diehards that have hung around in hope.

I think we've seen that David won't be guilted into saying anything he's not ready to say.

 

[DrBaggy]

Hi Alien,
Having been on this forum for nearly 5 years, yes, sadly I've lost faith in Frontier. Elite 4 feels further away than it was then; I think the question is now "if" not "when", as the world has moved on. With the Outsider canned, it seems Frontier won't have the cash or courage to invest in a huge project as E4 would have to be, and will live hand to mouth on small fluffy animal games. Sadly I think this forum is pretty low down their priorities at the moment.
However I haven't lost faith in forum members! Several here have been consistently supportive, mature, humorous and knowledgable over the 5 years of the forum. It is now them, not the fading dream of E4, that keeps pulling me back

As I seem to have ended every post recently, Frontier please prove me wrong...they may yet feel the gamble on E4 is better than the alternative

 

[Alien]

I think we've seen that David won't be guilted into saying anything he's not ready to say.

It is true that we have no right to anything from David Braben or Frontier Developments, I understand that. However, I feel that we have been told that Elite 4 will be coming. Well, if you are actually making Elite 4, how about merely confirming to us in a post that you are? Yet that confirmation is strangely absent.

I'm not asking for them to hurry up with the game, I'm not asking for info on it, all I am asking for is a simple yes or no ... are you (Frontier) making Elite 4 or not? If you are (ie a "yes") then great, I'll happily be patient for another 15 years. If you are not (ie "no") then ok, thank you for being honest and I'll stop being a pest and go away.

I do not think a yes or no answer is too much to ask for.

I don't really understand the question. What do you mean with "support"?

By "support" I mean : Are you still living in hope that one day Elite 4 will be made?
Would you still defend Frontier when someone points out their reputation?
Would you still buy any of their games?
If Elite 4 came out tomorrow, would you buy it? What if you had to wait another 15 years?

A simple "yes" in answer to my question, and I'd do all of that.
At the moment, with nothing but silence from Frontier, I don't see any point in supporting them.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Honestly, I think E4 is dead.

It's a tough statement for me to make but there it is.

The only way that it could be possible is if the outsiders game engine was developed for E4 and they can use it with out too much more capital expenditure, but thats just wishfull thinking on my part.

What I am really hoping for is that FFE3D will keep going and be able to add missions, ships etc...

 

[turwhitt]

"Support" how?

This forum's more about rabbiting on about the great games of old than about a future masterpiece. I think we all know that E4 is unlikely at best.

I haven't bought a Frontier game since FFE - there hasn't been one produced for my demographic. So no financial support.

"Support" as in "thanks for your fantastic (if ancient) games, and bear in mind that there are still people who love them" - yeah, why not?

 

[Spacegamer]

Can’t say that I am too worried if we never see the game.
I just think It’s a business decision for them at the end of the day. And until some one proves there a market for this sort of game we unlikely to see anything Elite shaped from Frontier.

 

[Steve]

One of the reasons I'm around here is because I think David Braben/Frontier Developments are the only people who can do Elite IV.

Sure, other software developers may produce space sims, but none of them hit the spot like Elite and Frontier did. So I'm still hoping something may happen eventually, though that hope has dwindled considerably of late.

As for supporting them, like turwhitt I haven't bought one of their games since FFE

 

[zmurf]

Are you still living in hope that one day Elite 4 will be made?

I'm living in hope that a new, more advanced, "Frontier-spirited" game will be made... I don't really care if its Elite 4 or not. But I feel that Elite 4 is one plausible product that is worth to keep one half opened eye on IF there is any updates of it progress... If there is no updates about Elite 4 I focus on other, equal products.

Would you still defend Frontier when someone points out their reputation?

No... I don't even know anything about their reputation...

Would you still buy any of their games?

If they are good games I would... For me it doesn't matter who it was that made it.

If Elite 4 came out tomorrow, would you buy it? What if you had to wait another 15 years?

If it's a good game I will buy it... otherwise... why would I care. I only buy games I fell is good.

 

[rgmarett]

I do support Frontier - I get the impression that David Braben wants to make a new Elite game - in a few interviews he's said it'd be a shame if it wasn't still on the tables.

But, yep it's a business decision at the end of the day, I guess they aren't sure of the market (Frontier on XBox Live might help them find out if there's a market for this game).

I did buy Kinectimals and I've said before, what Frontier do, they do very well, but so far they haven't produced anything that's my cup of tea. But if they do, and it's not Elite, I'll still buy it.

 

[gunbladelad]

I'm another person that's not bought anything recent by Frontier developments (since sending in the shareware fee for FFE many years ago).

The Space trading / combat sim, at present seems to be largely dead (aside from the games mentioned above there's not been anything for years) which is a real pity.

I think the days of competent coding and programming may well be gone. In the time of FFE and FE2 they were able to compress an entire newtonian galaxy onto a single 1.44Mb Floppy disc. Nowadays, you're lucky to get a letter typed up in something like MS Office to squeeze onto the same amount of space. Many developers have forgotten how to do anything other than produce something for a "safe" market like JRPGs or FPS games that look "pretty" with 10 billion different shades of brown & green.

For me, Elite 4 is almost certainly dead, but I'm here for the possibility of "what if"

 

[Spacegamer]

The Space trading / combat sim, at present seems to be largely dead (aside from the games mentioned above there's not been anything for years) which is a real pity.

It’s a misnomer to say that space sim games are dead, theirs have been over 20 space trading game made in the last decade and an equal number of space combat games.
And that’s not counting all the internet only games, RTS, 4X4 or free games, the big problem is that none of them have been big hits.
Most of them have come from small or first time developers but because theirs no big name on the box, the perception is that it’s a dead genre.
And given that the modern commercial games industry is akin to a bunch of lemmings in search of a cliff we are unlikely to see anything until some one produces that hit.

 

[turwhitt]

I would say the enduring success of EVE, considering it's by a small studio, suggests there is a market for intelligent space games. OK so it may not sell in Mass Effect quantities, but how many games do?

 

[boringnick]

Fifteen years, and still no Elite 4.
* No announcement re: The Outsider

That's the real downer. Of course, I was more interested about Elite 4, but The Outsider was the glimmer of hope that hold it all together. Hm..

Speaking of lost space games - I miss the Starflight/Star Control 2 genre. At least with space trading, there are still developers working on them (Egosoft), but the space exploration/adventure genre is completely dead.

 

[Steve]

the space exploration/adventure genre is completely dead.

That's because, with the possible exception of Freelancer, all recent attempts have been rubbish.

There is still someone out there who knows how to make a space exploration game. Dave? DAVE??

 

[Spacegamer]

Speaking of lost space games - I miss the Starflight/Star Control 2 genre. At least with space trading, there are still developers working on them (Egosoft), but the space exploration/adventure genre is completely dead.

Same here found Mass Effect to be a bit of a disappointment more of a point and click adventure game with a D&D dungeon crawler added on to it.

 

[Alien]

That's because, with the possible exception of Freelancer, all recent attempts have been rubbish.

There is still someone out there who knows how to make a space exploration game. Dave? DAVE??

Well, I may be in a minority on this forum, but I am of the opinion that X3TC is the closest we will get to the game Elite 4 should be / have been.

I certainly would never make a sweeping statement that everything other than one game in particular is "rubbish".