News Meet the Team #3: Michael Brookes (Executive Producer)

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Alien

Alien
Michael Brookes said:
Yes, but I wasn't alone, there's been an appetite to make the next Elite for many years. Thankfully the Kickstarter presented an opportunity to develop it the way we wanted to.

Michael
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I'm sure Michael remembers some of the posts on this forum before the Kickstarter, constantly asking why Frontier were making "fluffly kids games when they should be making THE game everyone wants" (I was one of the loudest, most critical voices, something for which I recently apologised to Michael in person)

I would like to think that DB, Michael and Frontier always knew they should be making Elite IV (as it was before the Kickstarter) but had their reasons for delaying until now.
 

synchromesh

synchromesh
Alien said:
I'm sure Michael remembers some of the posts on this forum before the Kickstarter, constantly asking why Frontier were making "fluffly kids games when they should be making THE game everyone wants" (I was one of the loudest, most critical voices, something for which I recently apologised to Michael in person)

I would like to think that DB, Michael and Frontier always knew they should be making Elite IV (as it was before the Kickstarter) but had their reasons for delaying until now.
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Agreed but I would really like to know those reasons....Was it really because they didn't want developer intervention ?

I know now its funded and they can spend 24/7 on it but I know if I was DB and owned the company I would have had a skeleton crew working on it in their spare time ?

Maybe he did ??
 

Darren Grey

Darren Grey
They've said it was in skunkworks - stuff devs worked on between other games. But you can't seriously make much progress on a game in that manner. And more importantly you have to actually pay those developers. A skeleton crew for a year is still £300k+. Frontier can't afford to just throw that money away without a clear end goal.
 

Alien

Alien
synchromesh said:
Agreed but I would really like to know those reasons....Was it really because they didn't want developer intervention ?

I know now its funded and they can spend 24/7 on it but I know if I was DB and owned the company I would have had a skeleton crew working on it in their spare time ?

Maybe he did ??
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I think David mentioned at about the the end of the Kickstarter something like "Now we can give priority to this". To me that says, as Darren mentioned, they had people quietly working on it, but couldn't justify giving it priority, the Kickstarter proved its viability and justified the priority.

It could be that after what happened with First Encounters, DB didn't want to make the next Elite game unless he could do it exactly as he wanted it, and without the Kickstarter, that would have meant approaching a publisher, and that would have meant giving the publisher a degree creative control, which I think DB didn't want for his "baby". I've developed a number of projects myself, and I understand how you want things to be exactly how you want them, and someone else saying "No, I want it like this" is very annoying.

So why didn't Elite IV get made until now? I think it was a because DB wanted certain things, and he wasn't willing to make the game until he could do it his way, so it's been until now that a) technology has caught up with what DB wants for the game ... and b) a way to fund the game without direct involvement from a publisher.
 

Björn Robèrt

B
Alien said:
So why didn't Elite IV get made until now? I think it was a because DB wanted certain things, and he wasn't willing to make the game until he could do it his way, so it's been until now that a) technology has caught up with what DB wants for the game ... and b) a way to fund the game without direct involvement from a publisher.
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This would be my guess. Also, I don't think there's been a märket for "PC" type games untill now. Looking at the cRPG genre there was a draught for several years where all you could find was another Diablo clone. Now we have several games coming out that are proper cRPGs in the vein of Fallout, Planescape: Torment and the like. I'm guessing that those of us who grew up with more "involved" games like Elite and Fallout now have the financial means of supporting those type of games. In essence, my take is that the market has changed (for the better) and the PC is once again becoming a viable plattform for games.
 

synchromesh

synchromesh
Björn Robèrt said:
In essence, my take is that the market has changed (for the better) and the PC is once again becoming a viable plattform for games.
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Agreed .... I think the PC has always been the best platform to be honest its just that the console market has grown so much and one game fits all for the particular console making it easier for the developer...

But for me the game isn't so personal or appreciated as much on a console..
 

psykokow

psykokow
Heres a sneaky picture of Michael from the Elite Twilight thread..

brookevil_zpsf08aff5c.png
 

Cosmos

C
rofl.. that DrEvil picture of Michael is hilarious.

Thats something to have printed and hang up on the walls of the company. I laughed and I laughed.
 
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Cosmos

C
BTW... I think Michael's productivity would rise if he had another monitor.

Surely TWO isn't enough screen real estate for anyone?

And damn it, why is it such an effort to spell his name correctly? MEH!
 

PaoloMariani

P
So Michael is a fan of Iain Banks... I now have high hopes for his story.
After all, no one who likes Excession can possibly write less than steller fiction. :)
 

Alien

Alien
Rumour has it that in the sequel Michael is writing, a character called Kykowsow has lots of very unfortunate and unpleasant things that keep happening to him. :D

just a rumour that I may have possibly made up because it seems amusing to me
 

Susimetsa

Susimetsa
Alien said:
Rumour has it that in the sequel Michael is writing, a character called Kykowsow has lots of very unfortunate and unpleasant things that keep happening to him. :D

just a rumour that I may have possibly made up because it seems amusing to me
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Michael pretty much denied the possibility in the interview when asked (it was actually a question I submitted):

Will the sequel include psychotic cows being tortured to death or turned into sausages?

Probably not!
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But, I do hold some hope since Michael was careful enough to use the word "probably"... :)
 

Dull Bladerunner

Dull Bladerunner
Hi Michael,

Will creation of new concept art, design, sound and effects keep continuing through and after the initial ED release?

An example would be you already have the various spaceship manufacturers versions of the classic ships, will they keep on branching out into new designs/models with their individual aesthetics.

Looking forward to the alpha!

:)
 

Tinman

Tinman
Dull Bladerunner said:
Hi Michael,

Will creation of new concept art, design, sound and effects keep continuing through and after the initial ED release?

An example would be you already have the various spaceship manufacturers versions of the classic ships, will they keep on branching out into new designs/models with their individual aesthetics.

Looking forward to the alpha!

:)
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The plan has always been to keep on expanding the game, as long as it make financial sense that is. This first release is just the first step. They are already planning for future content, planetary landings being the first expansion, when making the game. One other example of this is that they are building the ships with the interiors in mind even though we won't see them until later. New ships seems like a given area to expand the game in.

Personally I see this first release as a "rough sketch" of the complete painting, but the "sketch" will still be awesome though :cool:. As time goes by more and more details will be filled in. :)
 
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