Elite / Frontier Make it a day to remember!

JohannStrauss

JohannStrauss
Hello, developers, code-writers and PR-guys and girls!

I just wanted to say ONE thing that is really important to me:

As you may know there are some guys and girls, if not to say millions around the globe that are playing this game for 25 years now. That is a quarter century. And even if they don't play it: the heart of many people belongs to this game as a direct wormhole back to their childhood.

To us Elite is more then just a game, it was and is part of our life; maybe just a small part, but nevertheless a part, like the "white album" of the beatles is for many people.

You see: I was a little kid when I started playing ELITE. Now my life is half done since I am 35 - well: if I am lucky add some 20%!

When ELITE IV comes out you can bet that I will play that game to the end of my life.

I mean: ELITE is not only a GAME, it is STILL an cultural ICON much bigger than many people can imagine.

Let me tell you how I feel : I feel a bit like a father that awaits his long lost son after 25 years. I have no clue how he will look like, if he will be some bad guy or good guy, good looking or full of bad habits. I have no clue.

But I love him and I am awaiting him for nearly my entire life.

So guys: make the day of publish a GREAT DAY for us all. Make the world KNOW what this game means to so many people around the world!

And please make some theatrical trailer with the music of Jonhann Strauss as some promotion. I would watch ANY film just to see that.

I just wanted to say this!

THANKS!
 

Bungarus

Bungarus
I can see what you mean, I am no stranger to nostalgia. But I won't say I will play Elite IV whatever it will turn out to be, handing Frontier a carte blanche for producing a stinker! (-;
 

Geraldine

Geraldine
A Modern Day Wonder

I reckon Mr Braben and Frontier Developments will be well past the stage of being shocked at the expectation level by now. Every year that goes by, the bar is constantly being raised, on the one hand from the ever increasing demands from the fans, and on the other by the actions of other developers out there.

When you look at Infinity for example (although far from release), you can see just how much work would be involved in creating such a massive game. For Frontier Developments, their remit for Elite IV is a tough one; it simply must be the best space sim out there on so many different levels. Anything else would be met with howls of disapproval from the fans and the press. This is why I think it was an oversight not to have released Elite IV years ago when we lived in a much simpler gaming world. If they had, you might have been today looking at an Elite VI or VII, which would have been the result of small but steady improvements in it's design over these past years. An evolution if you like rather than a quantum leap, but what is done is done.

Today, with so much time having passed since Elite III was released and the massive improvements in computing power, Elite IV (if it has to stand out against whatever else is out there) will need to have the same (or even have a greater) impact on the games industry as the very first Elite did way back in the 1980s.

I have said this before on this forum, but I really feel sorry for Mr Braben. His task in creating Elite IV, in my mind at least, is as difficult as building the Pyramids were to the ancient Egyptians or even making a moon landing using 1960s technology. Both these achievements, although difficult in the extreme, were accomplished. It's my belief Mr Braben can create a modern day wonder too within the gaming world. I don't doubt his ability or that of this team but I do wonder though if there is enough time, especially so for us older Elite fans! :eek:
 

JohannStrauss

JohannStrauss
Well said. And I know I expect too much. But I have seen so many horrible outcomes lately. Like Siedler VII or he bug infected SIMS.

Let us all just pray to the Thargoids and wait. I have time. I have been waiting for 15 years. Why not 15 more?

:rolleyes:
 

Steve O B Have

Steve O B Have
I think the difficulty will come from convincing a publisher to back such a huge project and accept how complex it is going to be without requiring them to 'dumb it down' to what they consider to be an 'accessible' game.

Our idea of what E4 should be and what Frontier see it as is likely to be very different to what a publisher may consider it to be.
 

Schwarzwolf

Schwarzwolf
Well said. And I know I expect too much.
Click to expand...
Yes, indeed well said. Think all of us are expecting something epic gigantic, what is beyond all reality, what isn't simly realizable. So most peoples will be a bit disappointed, like by all long awaited games. Me included. ;)
 

JohannStrauss

JohannStrauss
Steve O B Have said:
I think the difficulty will come from convincing a publisher to back such a huge project and accept how complex it is going to be without requiring them to 'dumb it down' to what they consider to be an 'accessible' game.

Our idea of what E4 should be and what Frontier see it as is likely to be very different to what a publisher may consider it to be.
Click to expand...

"I has a fear now"

COME ON, Frontier, there MUST be at least 30-40 Billionaires out there that were playing ELITE as kids that would be happy just to give you $100-200 millions to develop the greatest game of all times.

:cool:
 

Geraldine

Geraldine
More Crazy Thoughts

Steve O B Have said:
Our idea of what E4 should be and what Frontier see it as is likely to be very different to what a publisher may consider it to be.
Click to expand...

This is where (to quote Das Boot) it becomes psychological gentleman.

I alluded to that very point in my last post Steve, Elite IV MUST challenge this dumbing down we are all witnessing within the games industry. It is nothing less than a creeping cancer, that is robbing the latest generation of gamers of the sense of wonder and discovery that we older gamers enjoyed.

To say Frontier must dumb it down is saying publishers have the final say in whether a game gets released or not. That is simply not the case, in reality all it takes is for developers and fans to get together and tell the publishers the way things should be. If we don't speak out then we will only get the games "they" think we want.

Right now Frontier and us Elite fans have a unique opportunity to show the gaming industry we are not happy and are not gonna take it anymore!

The ultimate sanction that could be employed against intransigent publishers is to bypass them all together. For Frontier and Elite IV, they could set up a download server where you buy the game and download it direct from Mr Braben himself. This way his company get every bit of profit for themselves, handy when it comes to using this extra revenue for their own self created advertising.

Alternatively they could also go the original "Doom route", release a shareware Elite IV for free with limited functionality, a big demo if you like, to hook gamers who will then happily part with their cash for the full on Elite IV experience.

Now I know what some of you will think of this, "I want to hold the Elite IV disk and accompanying packaging in my hands" Yes, so would I, but only after the publishers had learned that it's the devs and gamers who rule this games industry. And finally folks, one last crazy thought, wouldn't it be great to hold that disk *knowing* you had a game that was the greatest space sim ever created up to that moment? For us older gamers, we remember what that felt like and it was good! :rolleyes:

Oh, and to Dr Baggy,..........shocking!
 
Last edited:

gunbladelad

gunbladelad
One thing I can't stand in modern games, is a heavy over-reliance on voice acting. Rather than dragging it into a text vs voice arguement (which could also be book-movie or game-movie comparisons), I have a simple biological reason - my hearing's never been the world's best, and often in games, the voice acting is extremely low in volume compared to the sound effects & music. This means that sometimes, for me to hear dialogue, the neighbours have to hear the game's music / sound effects. Not good.

For this reason, if there's any voice acting in elite 4, I'd like the option of having subtitles on screen.
 

Bungarus

Bungarus
I think most modern games have separate volume controls for music, voice and sound effects, and you could use headphones.

The thought of a reliance on acting (voice or whatever) I find disturbing though because that would mean a reliance on scripted content which is against my hopes for a nonlinear sandbox.

Exception: I played simulation games (I think a mech sim and a helicopter sim) which had a tutorial where an instructor was talking to you on the radio explaining the controls step by step - that was enormously comfortable, actually fun compared to the necessity of reading a manual.

This could also be a measure against the dumbing down of games. Nowaday gamers may not be willing to read a manual, but may take their time for an interactive tutorial.
 

deej

deej
I, for one, don't really have expectations that high and would be content with a new elite that was exactly the same as the old elite, but with:
* newer/sharper looking ship model & planetary bodies
* more items to trade with.
* the ability to land on planets/moons along stations in orbit
* more varied random space encounters
* maybe aliens?
* more varied missions/tasks/events.

Thats about it, the rest can stay the same. I'll still trade, fly around randomly, explore the further reaches, and enter combat or try to run just like the old one.

It just needs to look better.
 

potsmoke66

potsmoke66
a cloud of me
first, all of us old elite/frontier commanders, we are addicted to this game, to many others it's still a riddle how it's fascinating us, BUT we are such a small community, i can say by now, i know you all by name (almost).

to many i'ts a boring game, no don't misunderstand me, i love it (and at this time i didn't , no i can't play anything else then frontier or pioneer, poor me), but others really can't get nothing out of it, might be they are not as fascinated of astronomy or exploring space as we are, or it's simply not their favorit genre.
i know this because i was the (almost) sole player within all my friends who liked and played the game well. and the one i ment playing it to, wasn't really good in it, he liked it, but certain things was to hard to handle for him.

yes, we should respect that there are people who can't hear at all, them are kind people if you ever met some, first of all they never get loud ;).

sidekick:
idea for something revolutionary, there are some blind and who has ever thought about creating a computer game for them? it could be made with the right attitude, i mean not elite specifically (personally i could imagine such), we would have to find something new. acoustically controlled of course. don't think they can't handle it they have computers and they have their own ways to use them. there might exist some rpg's? i don't know, but i know blind people are in a strong need for any kind of entertainment for them.

finally respect that elite will be never the most played game, like sci-fi is not everybodys thing (sadly).
e.g. my stepson never liked it, he likes GTA or other kindalike games, not only because of overaged graphics, no, we played many older together, he has also no affinity to any of the construction/simulation games, might be because he never liked lego to.

what can i say further?
i'm patiently waiting for E4 and hope it will ever be released.
oh, to the billons of credits some have, hm, if they would like to spend it for such things they would have done it allready, but to get billions needs some greed (usually, but maybe we just have to ask them? who will know if you never asked for). :D

and never forget to ride the blue sky!
 
Last edited:

potsmoke66

potsmoke66
addendum
to show you how i'm addicted to the genre in all, aged 9 long before i had any idea about computergames, i had made myself a control desk, of course with the help of my dear father, with lots of switches and flashing lamps, just to dream myself into space :rolleyes: i really had ridden the blue sky

yes it has started '75 i know, but respect that i grew up in a little village in switzerland, far from such new technology.
 
Last edited:

potsmoke66

potsmoke66
yes, yes, i have read his article to (not so long ago).

the dead sold more records than any other band in early 90's, still the're "unknown", to lot's.

maybe some of the really addicted ones (to elite), bought more than one copy, one for each system they owned (whatever). i don't wan't to know how many of them never played the game (as usual, i own some never played myself, of course). it's not easy sometimes to find a game you really like, likewise "you can't judge a book by it's cover" (don't ask me, i play the same games since i don't know, some they can't be replaced). so you will never find out if you don't play(ed) it, things fortunately have changed since the 80's or early 90's, when you had to buy it, if you found a copy at least in your nearest (even far) computer shop. nowadays you can read a review (many), which unfortunatly keeps some away from buying it.

gaming industry in all, keeps usually the expectations of their consumers high, i really was a big fan of SimCity.
but with their last solution and behave of EA in all i was very disappointed with, because they promised a priori, something like streets of SC or SimCopter implemented to the new release, something like "walk through your own city in real 3D". what we got it was deniable, little missions you could do with a police car, bus or heli in the same view the whole game was and stupid me was waiting unpatiantly for the add-on just to get disappointed.
i really still play old bug infected SimCopter, with it's (for today) low graphics, but you will hardly find me playing SC4. after all the behave of EA keeps me away from buying any game from them. i don't like people which doesn't fulfill their promises in general, better promise nothing instead (a big praise to frontier.dev now not to take their mouth to full, in case of E4), you'll get the respect for it. once it was a warranty for quality, classics like Sports Car (unbeaten to me), SC, also i'm one of the hard to find SimEarth players, but now....? i know you can't live from one game of course, but c'mon.

god, tell me what was happening to all them will's, sid's, and of course dave's? (don't take that personal i just took some common names) overestablished?

to strauss:
are you composing music, or are you just addicted to classical music? which i think is a stupid term, there are many different so called classical, but all different and covering different timespan in history, for further info, get a copy of bernsteins "music for young people", maybe it cost's you some investigation, it's back dated in the 50's.
i like the term "music for long hairs" :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom