Next (free) update should address PRESENTATION

[Thylacine]

I think a lot of people (who are not sandbox purists) will want to see this. Now with powerplay being in place, for the next update, the game could address its presentation, ambience, atmosphere, cosmetics. Things like:

- When I die, don't tell me in a text box - make the screen fade in black and let me wake up in a hospital bed with some beeping machines

- When I start a new game, don't just throw me in there - that is lazy. How about a short intro where my dying relative on his death bed wishes me to explore the stars and gives me the key to his own old space ship (= my starter ship)

- Let there be people walking and working in the stations

- Let there be more interior and exterior variation to randomly be put on the stations, especially the cube coriolis ones

- Let there be audio NPC voices - e.g. telling me that I got landing clearance. Something like "[Insert ship type] vessel, you are clear to land on pad [insert pad number]" -> "Cobra vessel, you are clear to land on pad 27"

- Further down the line: instead of having commodities, missions etc. all available from a boring screen, have me walk across the hangar and go into the bar/market/ship dealer/missions board etc.

The game is great, but so far the original Wing Commander Privateer beats Elite in terms of presentation by far.

 

[RancidRance]

I agree with your last four points, but the first two for some people may actually damage immersion and their enjoyment of the game. Having an intro sets the Player's charecter in stone and I think would just get in the way, as would having to wake up in a hospital every time you die. When I die due to pirates I want to get some friends together ASAP and take them down, not sit though a cutscene.

Maybe we'll see some more variation and action outside the ship in the expansions.

 

[Thylacine]

The dying cutscene should only last seconds (to not be annoying) and should also be from first person perspective, just anything to make a sweet transition from being blown up and magically reappear in your cockpit. Like you get blown up, screen fades to black, game puts you in a hospital scene for like 4 seconds, screen fades black again, then you sit back in your space ship - preferrably without loading time (hide them in the black screens)

 

[RancidRance]

Ehhhh maybe. I still dunno how I feel about my character actually having character. Maybe I just don't like change, or at least thematic change. If I'm going to be dying a lot, and some people do, I'd prefer to see the same text box I can dismiss quickly each time rather than the same cutscene, no matter how short it is.

 

[GhengisSean]

I love these ideas. Cool thing is I remember a post where a moderator or someone higher up was saying most games take 5 to 6 years and elite is only in its 2nd or 3rd year of production. So basically I can see a lot of these ideas of or iterations of these ideas being implemented in the future. In five years from now who knows what will be in the game.

 

[Lankspeed]

Oh Please leave as is, there is two much noise in it now without more <smirk>

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Whilst I do not agree with all of OPs points literally, I do agree with the sentiment. I would like more stuff to liven up the worlds too, background life, as well as images rather than just text (at least as a a toggleable option say in the commodities market (i remember this being in concept art).

bear in mind tho.... we do not die, we just have very impressive escape modules.... That being said, a short sequence of us ejecting, before then jumping to hyperspace (a special type, which only works for very small items and does not limit itsself to the rules of bigger ships) could be cool.

even better if we dropped out at the very back of the space station and had to use small boosters (like a rocket back) to get inside the space station - through a small entrance. but I am probably fantasising unrealistically now

voices for the docking as well as random radio chatter etc is easy as well... FD could dole it out to the community. give us all a list of words and phrases to record at a set quality, and we submit them. it could even include other languages...... if I hear something in french over the radio ... like mayday under attack as I approach a USS, it does not matter if I do not understand it, so long as my computer translates it in the text box to something i can understand.

any voice packs accepted for use in game, the creator get a free ship skin of their choice as a thankyou.

 

[Iain M Norman]

I'd personally love to see some kind of escape pod animation when your ship explodes, then a nice fade or something to the insurance screen.

 

[RancidRance]

I love these ideas. Cool thing is I remember a post where a moderator or someone higher up was saying most games take 5 to 6 years and elite is only in its 2nd or 3rd year of production. So basically I can see a lot of these ideas of or iterations of these ideas being implemented in the future. In five years from now who knows what will be in the game.

Yeah I'm excited to see what'll happen as well, I'll just have to give in to a few ideas I don't like

EDIT: I'd be fine with an Escape Pod. That'd be awesome!

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

Good ideas. Kind of reminds me of the original America's Army game when you got sent to prison for team killing (harmonica music in the background too).

Little touches like this do make a surprising difference.

 

[Whiterose]

First two points I have total ambivalence towards....however the last four I agree with. I think we should still have bulletin boards on the ship, but you should be able to walk to the bar and pick up other missions that are either illegal, covert or assissination missions. "You havent seen me....right".

 

[JeffRyan]

I still think:

Tier 2 NPCs should be the next free update. And some of the 'smaller' stuff like ship naming.

 

[NickTheGrey]

I would love the idea of being able to move around inside / outside the ship while docked at a space station or outpost but I think to do it justice, it would almost have to be a separate game. Maybe I'm missing the point but when I see people suggesting that, my first thought is that they mean some kind of first person system like Mass Effect for example. Of course, it wouldn't need to be anywhere near that kind of depth or scope because the ships are relatively small and as big as the stations and outposts are, a lot of them are taken up by areas that wouldn't necessarily be accessible by players.

How about an element of multiplayer that would allow commanders to fly as copilots / gunners for each other?

 

[kreuzbichler]

meh

useless fluff

 

[Temple604]

The game is great, but so far the original Wing Commander Privateer beats Elite in terms of presentation by far.

Still waiting for a game to surpass this legend. ED does great at capturing certain elements of realism, but I still miss the excitement and immersion of a developing story line, NPC characters, traveling around stations/planets, and cutscenes. Any hope that these features might someday be incorporated into ED?

 

[ZeeWolf]

So everyone in the pilots federation has the same dying relative?

Sounds familiar.

Cut-scenes don't necessarily suit a game that's providing a back-ground for infinite dynamic stories. They also get tiresome pretty quickly.

 

[Jumbik]

NPCs in copilot seat would be good start in my opinion.

 

[AnnuverScotinExile]

I still think:

Tier 2 NPCs should be the next free update. And some of the 'smaller' stuff like ship naming.

Tier 2 NPCs is very important. Equally urgent, IMHO is to have some proper exploration instead of this minimalist placeholder.

And to the OP and everyone else that fell into the trap:

You don't die. There is no magic or cloning going on. When your ship is about to blow up, your escape pod ejects, and whisks you back tot he last spaceport you docked at. That is all invisible now for various reasons, the most important of which was undoubtedly the time it would take to implement. There were heated discussions in the DDF, and probably at FD's offices, about whether pods could be flown and whether they were indestructible or could be scooped. When (if) FD get around to introducing 'iron man' mode, the escape pod launch will be manual, and if you leave it too late you will be dead.

 

[yyy]

I don't want cut scenes. No to cut scenes. No. No. No!!!

The only reason why cut scenes exist is because of CoD type games where each new game has a different storyline because thats the only difference. Yes the weapons are different and the graphics a bit better each time, but the essential gameplay is exactly the same. To differentiate the new game from the old, they introduce cut scenes to make it appear to players as if they've bought something completely new. On CoD watching the cut scene a second time is a bore.

 

[Vasious]

So everyone in the pilots federation has the same dying relative?

Sounds familiar.

Cut-scenes don't necessarily suit a game that's providing a back-ground for infinite dynamic stories. They also get tiresome pretty quickly.

According to the manual we all have mysterious benefactors who gave us the Sidewinder.

But not like we have that set in stone

My Cmdr got his Sidewinder from the surplus stocks or the Eranin Defense force after the war.

Cut scenes may not suit but I like the idea of adding context

and as someone said

Useless fluff

Yes Glorious Glorious Useless fluff