Gamescom 2015 - What will FD Unveil?

Your intuition

  • Colossal

    Votes: 82 12.8%
  • Major

    Votes: 96 15.0%
  • Fundamental

    Votes: 80 12.5%
  • Cheese souffle

    Votes: 382 59.7%

  • Total voters
    640
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Screenshot_2015-07-07-00-50-12.jpg

this.. this is all I want
 
Well, to be honest, no game has what everyone wants.

But based on what I've read there's a good portion of the playerbase that would like the ongoing development to build up what they have rather than spread the world thinner.
Basically build "up", not "out".

Why not both?

The expansion packs (mentioned since the KS) are coming, like it or not. People have already paid for them and they seem to be integral to the business plan. However, I reckon there will be an Alpha/Beta period for those which will probably be months away anyway. I can't see how it detracts from the continued development of the main game.
 
Because they have limited resources. If you're working on adding B, then you're not working on fixing A (or at least not as much as you could be).

In this case "fixing A" is still an ambiguous target. As a studio they seem to be able to put out another game (Planet coaster) because they feel it will make a good return. Given the expansion of the team earlier this year I don't see why the ED guys can't work on A & B as any studio would be expected to.
 
look at the very bottom file in the screenshot :D
There is other stuff in the files too, like BobbleHeads(use to be in the game but got removed), Different Cockpit Chairs, a Cockpit Chair collapsed state(hinting that once you leave the chair, the chair collapses by itself to possibly make more room in the cockpit). and a greeble for your ship(which means "fine details" like pipes and bumps and stuff). Now there is other stuff in other file locations but all of them pretty much have something to do with you being able to walk around your ship and/ or having more options on your Cockpit UI screen and/ or having someone else travel with you on your ship. But, some of these files have been in here for awhile now and they haven't been implemented yet. So, I don't think this is what they'll be showcasing at that Gamescom thing, it's most likely gonna be just a "cqc is coming to pc" and "patch 1.4 is coming out" and etc. Nothing really "groundbreaking" to say the least.

Oh and for clarity's sake here is a screen-cap of that file directory I was just talking about.

8aN5qaz.png
 
I wonder, if they announce walking around inside your ship, how will it be handle, and if it will change the super cruise system.

What I mean is currently, while is not hard, traveling in space requires constant attention, and there is no time to actually walk around relaxing in your ship. So to give the feature a purpose, it should be accompanied with some kind of auto pilot that automatically jumps and approaches objectives when you are away from your chair.

Being able to manually repair modules would also be nice.
 
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In this case "fixing A" is still an ambiguous target. As a studio they seem to be able to put out another game (Planet coaster) because they feel it will make a good return. Given the expansion of the team earlier this year I don't see why the ED guys can't work on A & B as any studio would be expected to.
Because to me, "fixing A" entails adding content and depth to the game. IMHO, they've added virtually zero depth to the game since release.
So either they are happy with the state of the core game, or they can't (or don't want to) do both at the same time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-ED of FD. I'm just keeping my expectations low. I would love to be proven wrong in this case.
 
so to give the feature a purpose, it should be accompanied with some kind of auto pilot that automatically jumps and approaches objectives when you are away from your chair.
they already have a autopilot for docking, which comes in handy when you are either to lazy to dock or you just suck at it. But the speed is rather slow which doesn't come in handy when you are smuggling stuff into a station. So, in order for a autopilot system like that to come in handy for a trader like me, it will need to be going alot faster than what is demonstrated with the docking counterpart to even be worth using while in super-cruise. But, If it does have a better speed then traders like me will most likely be using that supercruise autopilot system most of the time.
 
Was it? I think it was a result of backer votes.

Definitely not. FD always have and always will decide what they will implement. The backers in particular and the players in general have an influence, but they do not decide in any which way what will be in the game.
Thank god for that, although my ideas are of course the best ever :).


Not bitter, not even disliking the game actuallly. I'm just disappointed about the direction that development took - if anything, NMS seems more in keeping with the spirit of the origial Elite to me. The two more po-faced sequels, however, that seems to be where this game got it's inspiration from with all the astronomical "keeping it real" stuff. Still, at least they didn't also replicate the Frontier: Tokyo Drift flight model, because the one in the original game was far more accessible for combat purposes.

For me Frontier Elite II was the most influential Elite game. When ED gets planetary landings we will have almost everything and more than was in FE2 and infinitely more beautiful.
At the same time a few mechanism need fleshing out . I believe that will happen, given time. I am already very impressed by the beautiful space sim FD has delivered so far. And it will only get better.


To me, NMS actually looks to be the most Elite-like of the 3 thus far to me, apart from a lack of intelligent "wacky" races that inhabited each planet from the original Elite descriptions. SC seems more like a religious cult than a game at this point. ED has some good stuff, but needs a lot more. Maybe Level 2 NPCs (that DDA again) will flesh out your interactions with the galaxy a bit. Thus far, the solo player has been pretty shabbily treated IMO. Removal of offline mode meant that solo mode was the only game in town, yet most of the additional content has been pretty multiplayer-centric. Sure, you can do CGs and PP stuff in Solo, but it's more like drinking beer alone in your own house with a bag of dry-roasted peanuts and pretending you're at the pub. Exploration, a solo activity if ever there was one, is like doing the hoovering. If solo is made more entertaining, multiplayer will be made even more so as a by-product.


Agree with a lot of stuff, although not the wording.

NMS has a certain hyped appeal, but at the same time I see a lot I do not like at all. I do not mind the cartoony style, but at the same time every planet seem to be red, orange and yellow and almost identical to every other planet they show. Space flight seems very simplistic. Also the planetary landings are not an exciting experience. It is not an experience at all to be frank. There is nothing to it. Atmospheres seem to be 1 km thick if that. I have seen the video about the PG they use to create creatures and I loved it. I hope FD will have something just as cool.

SC.... well, agree with you on that. I don't trust what is going at all. I will just wait and see.

ED indeed needs a lot more to dress up the galaxy. We need a lot more assets to create the diversity that will make it feel alive. I also believe this should be a priority, because it is part of our direct experience of the game world. A richer environment will directly influence our perception of the game.

I am mostly a solo player myself and there have not yet been any big fundamental updates for a player like me.
Wings is a nice and needed update, but I cannot form wings with npc. Why not? This is a serious oversight.
PowerPlay is a very much needed political layer and I would not want to play the game without it, but it is too taxing with it's merit decay system. And it's biggest appeal is for open players who can use it as a means for interaction.
CQC is fine, but it will do little for me. I can't see myself partaking in it at all.

What I, being primarily a solo player, want above all is a richer more diverse universe. But this is not just for solo gamers. It will uplift the entire game for players of all kind.
We need more assets in the game, more diverse stations, more diverse traffic around stations with unique npc activity of tugs, maintenance and repair vehicles, more military npc-only ships like frigates, destroyers, military tankers, Corvettes etc. etc.
We need awe inspiring stations like gloomy prison installations, Military Fortresses, industrial complexes, unique imperial styled stations, etc etc.

It is time to flesh out the Elite universe by adding life and diversity and it should be a priority. It is quite easy to do, as there are no fundamental game systems that need to be changed for this. You need a few good concept artists and modelers. Existing mission systems can be easily tied in with these assets.
Perhaps this is mostly cosmetic, but nevertheless very fundamental for the entire experience and should therefore be prioritized.
 
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Optimistic expectation:

  • News on the first paid expansion encompassing EVA, planetary landings etc.. Personal guess for release under any circumstances: next year (anything earlier and I'd be very surprised).


Which means, that we might not hear much about that expansion before next year.

Therefore my probably more realistic expectations are:

  • News about the updates from the XBone port that they'll reintegrate into the (P|MA)C version. => Patch "1.4"
  • News about CQC. Pretty much guaranteed, as it'll be out for XBone in the not too distant feature. (BTW still curious if it'll eventually become a Free 2 Play mode. Seems to be a logical step for a competitive deathmatch module). I'm expecting them to reveal (some of) the available arenas, ship specifications, upgrade trees etc.. Details on whether or not there'll be a spectator mode, how CQC rewards will feed back into the PU etc.
  • Something else, unrelated to the paid expansion and EVA/planetary landings, that they've managed to keep under wraps. I'm guessing it might be something minor compared to the expansion. Clan/extended group play support? Something to extend the games feature list at least.
  • Minor XBone news in general. E.g. a release date at which the port leaves the early access status.
 
Planetary landings would not work if you can't leave your ship. That is from a game play perspective.

So first walk around then landings :)
 
Was it? I think it was a result of backer votes.

I disagree on that.. although you ARE right in that the DDF did seem to help with it - though from what i have seen that poster child seems to be all the DDF really seemed to shape so far.

What I think happened was FD heard a really good suggestion which is actually closer to the other games in some respects than their own solution and decided to put it in (time acceleration obviously not possible due to the MP aspect but elite has never been about microjumps, that imo has been the chris roberts solution, which is ok, but not elite imo). I like it, and think it is about the best they could do with it without making things smaller in terms of scale, and I get the feeling that modelling the milkyway as best as they can has always been vital to DB and possibly others.

NMS is just too small to be compared directly to elite imo. the speed at which you go from ground to space makes no sense to me, but that is just me. And if i came across as painting you with the wrong brush i can only apologise (I am meant to be working so possibly rushing my posts and not communicating well) for the most part I think we agree on a bunch of stuff - tho I have not given up on SC yet..... I just do not think it is the saviour that some think it is (although in truth I do actually hope the players who have no interest in elite and are just counting down the time to SC get what they want in that game because some of them are certainly not getting it in elite it seems).
 
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Planetary landings would not work if you can't leave your ship. That is from a game play perspective.

So first walk around then landings :)


I disagree with that. They could add atmospheric entry and setting your ship down at planetary landing pads without the need of having to implement fpa first.
They can easily limit your freedom of movement when you are down on a planet. They could first use a Hub system (which I suspect need to be used at heavily populated planets anyway). True freedom and FPA could all come later. We land our ships at stations without FPA now after all.
So FPA can easily be added later to the mix.
 
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Planetary landings would not work if you can't leave your ship. That is from a game play perspective.

So first walk around then landings :)

I disagree with that. They could add atmospheric entry and setting your ship down at planetary landing pads without the need of having to implement fpa first.
They can easily limit your freedom of movement when you are down on a planet. They could first use a Hub system. True freedom and FPA could all come later. We land our ships at stations without FPA now after all.
So FPA can easily be added later to the mix.

I don't think we'll see either without the other. If Frontier's previous comments are anything to go by, that's probably expansion material. ;)
 
I disagree with that. They could add atmospheric entry and setting your ship down at planetary landing pads without the need of having to implement fpa first.
They can easily limit your freedom of movement when you are down on a planet. They could first use a Hub system (which I suspect need to be used at heavily populated planets anyway). True freedom and FPA could all come later. We land our ships at stations without FPA now after all.
So FPA can easily be added later to the mix.


I could be wrong (though on this i do not think i am) but havent FD said that EVA is likely to come before planetary landing, and even then, when planetary landings do come, the 1st pass will only be on ones devoid of atmosphere so small moons and what not. Again IIRC DB said full fat planetary landings will be the biggest hurdle in the game so will come later on.
 
I could be wrong (though on this i do not think i am) but havent FD said that EVA is likely to come before planetary landing, and even then, when planetary landings do come, the 1st pass will only be on ones devoid of atmosphere so small moons and what not. Again IIRC DB said full fat planetary landings will be the biggest hurdle in the game so will come later on.

I don't recall but Episode 67 of Lave radio may have a few insights. However most of it's from commander Kerrash so it's clearly not worth the Squeee it's prefixed by :-D

He said that DB had suggested that planetary landings would come first because he wanted to build the "larger universe" before focusing on the smaller details. However, for all we know Frontier are working on a pong game add on.
 
Walking in ships.

- Lately pilot models were added to seats.... i wonder why?.... :)
- They said ship models are made with consideration for interiors from the start. (I somewhat believe them.)
- It is bit more complicated to make planetary surfaces kids. It would be just too incredible in such a short time... they would slip out at least something.
- perhaps we could even get some kind of space "walks" (now that would be neat - repairs, or around wreckage missions)
 
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It'll be the first player created content. You can teraform a moon and start your own colony based in the same vein as powerplay it will have the game mechanics of a phone or facebook game. Elite:Farmville.
 
I disagree on that.. although you ARE right in that the DDF did seem to help with it - though from what i have seen that poster child seems to be all the DDF really seemed to shape so far.

What I think happened was FD heard a really good suggestion which is actually closer to the other games in some respects than their own solution (time acceleration obviously not possible due to the MP aspect) and decided to put it in. I like it, and think it is about the best they could do with it without making things smaller.

NMS is just too small to be compared directly to elite imo. the speed at which you go from ground to space makes no sense to me, but that is just me. And if i came across as painting you with the wrong brush i can only apologise (I am meant to be working so possibly rushing my posts and not communicating well) for the most part I think we agree on a bunch of stuff - tho I have not given up on SC yet..... I just do not think it is the saviour that some think it is (although in truth I do actually hope the players who have no interest in elite and are just counting down the time to SC get what they want in that game because some of them are certainly not getting it in elite it seems).
Personally I won't hold my breath on SC Mike. In June last year I lumped in for the starter ship package which I later upped to $140 of Freelancer. I received a ship that even now I can only keep in my hanger. Doesn't even have a flight model. I can race the lent ship in a race and lose or lump some more cash and buy a racing ship. I can take the loaner around the tiniest area you can imagine and either attempt to fly it in circles and pretend I am in space or shoot down a few Aliens which I used to be able to do. Then they changed the flight model and now my Saitek Rhino can't keep on the aliens mobs long enough to kill more than a wave, and the hotas is a total nightmare to set up. All I see coming from SC is a bigger stable of virtual ships that may never even be able to fly. TBH at least some game developers have been kept in work for a while with our KS.
Here in ED things are better than that, but again as a KS backer I have to admit to disappointment at the games general direction. I see posters saying why the DDF proposals are not binding, but the enthusiasm from DB when he was first describing ED's future and putting lots of good stuff forward in principle through the DDF led me to believe, while some may not make it into the game, most would. But all I am seeing atm is stuff that was never put forward being introduced which for me and I imagine for many others is quite disappointing. It makes me think that 5 years down the road if ED is popular it will look nothing like DB's inspiration and it will be a sad day.
Both SC and ED have certainly ensured one thing for me I will never back another indy developer in a KS campaign, feels to bait and switch to me. You can call me what you like for my words, that's sadly how I feel.
 
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