how does ED compare to SC ?

Yep

I downloaded it when i backed the project over there. I loaded it up on release and thought yeah its nice to potter about in the hangar and sit in my ships. Then turned it off and ive loaded it up when they release a new version. So maybe 4 times in all.

It is what it is...a room with some ships that are there and a shooting range with paper targets thats buggy as hell.

Just re-read my comment a few posts back and it was a bit harsh really. Its clear they have a lot of work to do a whole lot of work and are at a different stage in development.
 
Yep

I downloaded it when i backed the project over there. I loaded it up on release and thought yeah its nice to potter about in the hangar and sit in my ships. Then turned it off and ive loaded it up when they release a new version. So maybe 4 times in all.

It is what it is...a room with some ships that are there and a shooting range with paper targets thats buggy as hell.

Just re-read my comment a few posts back and it was a bit harsh really. Its clear they have a lot of work to do a whole lot of work and are at a different stage in development.

I know, I've also tried all versions, it's just that I don't get your statement about a room with your ship that's "barely working as intended". We can talk about bugs with ships and equipment, but room? :)
 
well thats what the HM is :)

A box with 4 walls a floor and a roof with some ships and a fishtank and some glitchy things in it like elevators, holotables and such.

:)
 
What scares me is how glitchy everything is. I really hope outsourcing all that work will be worth it. There seems to be a serious level of inconsistency creeping into the SC project. I really hope Chris can juggle all that money and 10 various teams that never worked with each other and get something even remotely close to what David has shown already.
 
The hangar module has a complete server backend, they are building SC around - ya know.. "massive multiplayer". Several high profile ships and avatar basics including different clothing, hangar furniture, ship customization, trophy display, 10+ different high poly player ships available and 3 types of hangars.

All I saw from an ED alpha video is an offline single player cockpit demo with an invisible avatar, no seat and a bunch of scripted NPCs, so.. uhm, ok.
You appear to have ignored all the other videos that FD have released, including the many that show them taking part in multiplayer combat at various stages of development. The ED alpha as it is so far may not have the server / P2P backend in place, but I'd wager that it won't be long before we see it.

SC´s only "mistake" was not to go for some basic gameplay by releasing some scripted NPC pew-pew first to wow the easily impressed folks, on the other hand for that I can play countless other games from the recent Steamsale and wait a bit longer until someone delivers solid **multiplayer** dogfighting.
SC's mistake was to promise something they couldn't deliver. It's clear from the DFM video that some of the major components (flight model, HUD) are not yet complete. CIG's insistence that they didn't release it because they wanted to get the multiplayer backend in place doesn't hold water. It's simply because it isn't ready yet, and they know that releasing one of the major game elements in an incomplete state would lose them a lot of goodwill and garner them a lot of useless feedback.

Single player is useless to me unless it comes with a cinematic story and some drop in co-op.
But it isn't useless to FD -- the goal of the ED alpha was to gather opinions of the flight model, NPC AI (after all, NPCs should make up the majority of the ships you'll encounter outside of the core systems in ED), and to give the graphical engine a good workout. It's delivered all that in spades, and FD can now get to work on incorporating our feedback, fixing bugs and readying the next phase of the alpha.

Clearly if CIG had released the DFM in the state that was demonstrated, the majority of feedback would be to do with all the graphical bugs, non-functional HUD and incomplete flight model. That's not the kind of feedback that they need, so delaying was the right thing to do. Blaming it on the lack of the multiplayer backend was *not*.
 
Have to say it's hard to see how SC could put themselves under more pressure.

The runaway funding success and all the hype "best space sim ever" or whatever it is Chris says is really putting them on offer.

Apart from the technical challenges and delays they've just moved office on Friday so it will be at least the week after next before they're up and running again.

And they're apparently taking on loads of new people over there and here in Manchester.

And they're subbing to various other outfits.

It's obviously going to be a bumpy ride - but I reckon they'll get it together in the end...

Fingers crossed. :eek:
 
part of me...a very very small part of me thinks that maybe it was delayed because of Chris Roberts friendship with DB. Maybe releasing the DFM would have stolen some of the thunder from ED.

Like i say a small very very small part :)
 
I couldn't believe that for a second. I've seen the live streams of the DFM in action and can see why they never released that, and it wasn't goodwill. It was out of necessity. A couple more months work is needed there I think.
 
Yeah - it does seem fairly clear that if they had released that for peeps to play against AI it would have created a massive crapstorm with no real useful feedback other than "it's not ready".
 
I think it's sole purpose was to try and appease people thought. Granted, if I had has spent such and such on a great looking ship it would be nice to roam around inside it for a bit, but that feeling would wear off quite quickly I think. After that its just something to show off to your mates with, and perhaps try and monetise on YouTube.

Yep, it's part of the marketing strategy (or ploy:$) of offering pledges with ships and insurance policies. Whole 2013 CIG spent on working on ship models and juicy trailers. After each of new trailers fans salivate "oh this is how it's going to look in real game" without considering that even though the trail was rendered in CryEngine the actual game won't at this level of fidelity, maybe on some ridiculously high-end machines.

Also, without HM people wouldn't enjoy instant gratification of playing around their toys.

@Fromhell,

There's quite a long journey for CIG to implement the multiplayer PU.
 
Having had a really busy time I hadn't actually gotten to look at the live streams of the DFM module as it stands.

Wow...Ropey! I know someone here will say "yeah its pre-alpha" blah blah - the term pre-alpha is a f***ing mantra over on the SC forums.

If I had have been Roberts I dont think i would have even shown that in "action", even the man himself playing seemed very confused about many aspects of the live stream play.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
E: D is different from SC in that the Frontier is also the creator of the engine that has been used the development of Elite: Dangerous.
 
Wow...Ropey! I know someone here will say "yeah its pre-alpha" blah blah - the term pre-alpha is a f***ing mantra over on the SC forums.
The thing that worried me, even on a local network there was some pretty significant rubberbanding going on. It's clear their netcode is still very work in progress.

I personally wouldn't have shown it in that state, but the "fans" were clamouring and I don't think RSI had much of a choice.
 
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@ tooterfish

yeah i think in fairness they jimmied something together with sellotape and toilet paper using the cryengine's abilities rather than what they are ultimately going to be using to deliver the game in a final release.

The confusing thing is how they thought that they could still say they would deliver the DFM and build all that was required right into the month of december.

I feel there are some real sweaty palms over at CIG at the moment. So much to deliver on really.

I was a backer at SC before here, but im so impressed by how Frontier have handled their fund raising, community inclusion and in general the game itself as it stands. Measured, realistic, believable are the words I'd use for them and ultimately thats the main difference so far between SC and ED for me.
 
My Background regarding Elite and SC :-

From where I sit right now, I can see my original Elite (Electron), Frontier (Amiga) and Wing Commander (Amiga) boxed games.

When I first backed Elite, I then heard about the SC kickstarter and I considered backing SC as well but decided against it.

I didn't back it for two reasons :-
1) It didn't need my money to make the pledge requirement, whereas Elite Dangerous potentially did.

2) I never really liked Wing Commander anywhere near as much as Elite. My feeling has always been that neither Frontier nor Wing Commander took the primarily important dog fights forward to a better (more fun) place than the original Elite.


My Opinion from what I have seen produced so far from both camps :-

ED have produced a lovely looking, sounding and (apparently from the YouTube clips) playing Alpha dogfight release. I got a feeling of a solid product that played really well. Yes, they need to tone down the advantage of flying backwards and add more elements, but you can see already that dogfights in the game will be really good. The cooling, ship signature and power diverting options and strategies will lead to some very interesting and varied tactics.

I watched the equivalent dogfight achievements from SC in a recently released Youtube video where Chris Roberts' staff took each other on. I liked that bits of ship come off when damaged and I liked the light through dust, lighting effects around the asteroids, but the rest left me very underwhelmed. The ships jousted a little bit due to high top thrust/speeds and bumped into asteroids quite frequently. There was no radar, which would have meant the players would have seen each other's locations a bit more, leading to even more jousting (turn and face, now charge! Repeat repeat repeat), so I'm a bit concerned by that.

Then there's the Hanger Module. I actually like the idea and l think it unfair to attack the look of the ships. That is except where some of them have pneumatic tyres. Come on guys, I don't think we'll be seeing runways and tyres that far into the future. :p

As an application developer of many years, I worked in both Waterfall and Agile projects and in mashups of the two. Sure, you can demo a product with non-functioning and buggy parts (you simply don't click the button which brings the bugs to life), but never ever hand the buggy code over to the client to play with. It unnerves them to see something that falls over.


Conclusion :-

I'm very happy that they are coming out a year apart. I'll play Elite and continue to watch how SC develops. Early signs are that FD have done a lot more and in a shorter space of time and with a lot less cash than SC.
 
Early signs are that FD have done a lot more and in a shorter space of time and with a lot less cash than SC.

Think thats the key really myself. Ive seen lots of stuff being developed over at SC in the likes of Flashy adverts and cutscenes, aswell as expensive office moves and uptake of extra staff for very little actual "meat on the plate" with all this bling they show us.
 
Well, that's the "bling-bling" effect marketing, which Americans are well known for.
Overhyped people don't understand it's just business to them. The game is just one part of making money, then they have t-shirts, badges, hats, mouse pads, hoodies, etc.
Not to mention the micro-costs such as virtual items in the virtual store, luring people into accumulating more and more ships into their hangars, etc.
True pro-capitalism mentality and they're good at it. Although, you also need to have a suitable audience to buy into all that.

That aside, I have nothing against it. I still believe that patience will pay off. Both games are in early stages, it's unfair to judge them just yet, no matter what they promised. A month or two of delays is normal in projects this big.
People need to calm down, give them some time and come back later :)
 
...except where some of them have pneumatic tyres. Come on guys, I don't think we'll be seeing runways and tyres that far into the future... :p

BAH! Tyres and wheels are advanced technology! Think how difficult it would be for the ground crew to move a primitive ship that uses only old-fashioned landing pads on the ground. You'd need a crane or something similar. With wheels you can wheel it to where you want it using nothing more than a small tractor unit and a tow bar! :p
 
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