Paige Harvey
Community Manager
Hello Commanders, and welcome to the twenty-third Featured Commanders thread of 2019! This week we're talking to veteran Elite Dangerous Commander, streamer and mad scientist, Malic_VR!
Hello Malic! Great to speak to you again. Tell us, how and when did you find out about Elite Dangerous?
I was looking for a VR space game as, at the time, the Oculus DK2 had just been released with the first generation of room tracking. I’d been playing Kerbal Space Program with a (now outdated) VR plugin alongside racing and flight sims, but there were no other dedicated space games that had VR support. I found out about Elite Dangerous and it had VR support! Little did I know that this game would change my life and lead me to where I am now.
So you’ve been with the game for quite a long time! What got you hooked on the game?
I love the lore and the ability to “live” in the Elite Dangerous universe. I find a lot of intrigue in the storylines, the mysterious developments of the Superpowers and the alien life that the community has found! In my life there have been events that have allowed me to be medically retired and live in the Elite universe and stream as my job, and I feel extremely lucky that I get to do what I do.
There was also the first Discovery Scanner with Edward Lewis and Kay Ross, who showed a development build of the game, showing how planets are rendered. I love seeing how the game is made, but this is one that sticks out to me. I had the pleasure of meeting them years later and it was amazing!
How long have you been creating content around Elite Dangerous?
I first started streaming around February 2015!
If you could give one piece of advice to every Commander, what would it be?
Don’t be in a rush to do and get everything, create your own story. Many times I‘ve seen people excited to play Elite Dangerous and decide to grind to get to their ultimate goal, and once they reach it they don’t take time to experience the rest of the game.
Good advice! Are there any other content creators you’d like to give a shout out to?
There’s a few! Lavangfan, HelloitsKolo, Bognogus, ObsidianAnt, DFLYOfficial, DeejayKnight, TheYamiks. Everyone on my list is an Elite Dangerous Commander and each of them has different kind of community, so you’re sure to find one you fit in with!
Do you have any cool projects on the horizon you’d like to tell us about?
I have a constantly evolving Voice Attack profile that began life as a way to for me to identify my landing pad before entering a station, because at the time I was flying the speedy Imperial Courier!
Over time it’s turned into a profile that I modify to make playing Elite Dangerous in VR a bit easier, for example: you don't have to take the headset off to type things into the game. It’s a project that I’ve developed alongside viewers of my streams and every time you start Voice Attack it auto-updates from the internet. At the time of writing, it has over 2,500 locations saved such as Thargoid sites, Guardian sites and Tourist beacons and also gives you distance figures and alerts you using audio cues when there’s something interesting in the system you’re in.
It’s set up using EDDI and other plugins and can be used with or without VR. Here’s a link if you’re interested in checking it out!
The second project I’m working on is the “GalNetpedia board”. I’ve been working to catalog all of the GalNet and Codex entries into a single place, which can then be used to search for references, similarities, people, places or… any particular thing! The project has expanded so much that coders in my community (Pareco SCIEnCE Institute or PSI) have started to create a web-based version, allowing others to use the search functions and to find more out about the stories and the links between them.
Because it’s a work in progress I don’t have a link to it at this time, but anyone that wants to join my Discord and help with coding is welcome to contribute.
Both of those projects sound fascinating, we can’t wait to learn more! Where can people find you online?
Check out my streams on Twitch.
Send me a message on Twitter.
Thank you for your insight, Malic. We look forward to watching more fancy flying and checking out your projects as they develop!
If you're reading this and would like to be interviewed as a Featured Commander, apply here.
Hello Malic! Great to speak to you again. Tell us, how and when did you find out about Elite Dangerous?
I was looking for a VR space game as, at the time, the Oculus DK2 had just been released with the first generation of room tracking. I’d been playing Kerbal Space Program with a (now outdated) VR plugin alongside racing and flight sims, but there were no other dedicated space games that had VR support. I found out about Elite Dangerous and it had VR support! Little did I know that this game would change my life and lead me to where I am now.
So you’ve been with the game for quite a long time! What got you hooked on the game?
I love the lore and the ability to “live” in the Elite Dangerous universe. I find a lot of intrigue in the storylines, the mysterious developments of the Superpowers and the alien life that the community has found! In my life there have been events that have allowed me to be medically retired and live in the Elite universe and stream as my job, and I feel extremely lucky that I get to do what I do.
There was also the first Discovery Scanner with Edward Lewis and Kay Ross, who showed a development build of the game, showing how planets are rendered. I love seeing how the game is made, but this is one that sticks out to me. I had the pleasure of meeting them years later and it was amazing!
How long have you been creating content around Elite Dangerous?
I first started streaming around February 2015!
If you could give one piece of advice to every Commander, what would it be?
Don’t be in a rush to do and get everything, create your own story. Many times I‘ve seen people excited to play Elite Dangerous and decide to grind to get to their ultimate goal, and once they reach it they don’t take time to experience the rest of the game.
Good advice! Are there any other content creators you’d like to give a shout out to?
There’s a few! Lavangfan, HelloitsKolo, Bognogus, ObsidianAnt, DFLYOfficial, DeejayKnight, TheYamiks. Everyone on my list is an Elite Dangerous Commander and each of them has different kind of community, so you’re sure to find one you fit in with!
Do you have any cool projects on the horizon you’d like to tell us about?
I have a constantly evolving Voice Attack profile that began life as a way to for me to identify my landing pad before entering a station, because at the time I was flying the speedy Imperial Courier!
Over time it’s turned into a profile that I modify to make playing Elite Dangerous in VR a bit easier, for example: you don't have to take the headset off to type things into the game. It’s a project that I’ve developed alongside viewers of my streams and every time you start Voice Attack it auto-updates from the internet. At the time of writing, it has over 2,500 locations saved such as Thargoid sites, Guardian sites and Tourist beacons and also gives you distance figures and alerts you using audio cues when there’s something interesting in the system you’re in.
It’s set up using EDDI and other plugins and can be used with or without VR. Here’s a link if you’re interested in checking it out!
The second project I’m working on is the “GalNetpedia board”. I’ve been working to catalog all of the GalNet and Codex entries into a single place, which can then be used to search for references, similarities, people, places or… any particular thing! The project has expanded so much that coders in my community (Pareco SCIEnCE Institute or PSI) have started to create a web-based version, allowing others to use the search functions and to find more out about the stories and the links between them.
Because it’s a work in progress I don’t have a link to it at this time, but anyone that wants to join my Discord and help with coding is welcome to contribute.
Both of those projects sound fascinating, we can’t wait to learn more! Where can people find you online?
Check out my streams on Twitch.
Send me a message on Twitter.
Thank you for your insight, Malic. We look forward to watching more fancy flying and checking out your projects as they develop!
If you're reading this and would like to be interviewed as a Featured Commander, apply here.
