You should have done some research before buying the game I'm afraid.
Oh my - Elite Dangerous is a space station hopping game? (i.e. no landing on planets)
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The fact of the matter is one of the KS pledge rewards was :
From the kick-starter page
Which at the time, for me, made it perfectly clear to me that future expansions would be paid for.
And then they renamed the perk after KS and backers app to the 'Lifetime expansion pass' for £35 ... surely that should have been an indication ..
From news letter #29
It was made clear over and over that major expansions would come at a cost.
From the kick-starter page
Which at the time, for me, made it perfectly clear to me that future expansions would be paid for.
And then they renamed the perk after KS and backers app to the 'Lifetime expansion pass' for £35 ... surely that should have been an indication ..
From news letter #29
It was made clear over and over that major expansions would come at a cost.
Call me crazy, i'm fine with this being a station-hopper. It's all I wanted. Walking around your ship, going to the toilet, no thank you life simulator.
Sargon
Banned
But I'm sure you'll agree that being able to get up from our pilot seat for a quick stop to the john while cruising towards the station in Alpha Centauri woulnd't be a bad idea
FD has never hidden their plans for those expansions, not only during the KS campaign but also many times afterwards.
Anyway if we disregard that, we still probably all agree that FD should be rewarded or compensated for their work. At least making money is essential if they want to continue improving the game. Which we probably also all want.
Furthermore, we may all appreciate it much more if we have to pay a little for it than if we dont. You can disregard something you obtained for free, but if you paid for it, well you'd probably give it some more attention.
And i personnaly still prefer to pay for a few expansions down the line than "rent" access to a game through a subscription fee. That would be too far towards the other extreme imo.
In a way i was disapointed first, because i started with Elite 2 when landing was "a thing", and i deseperately wanted that new games would do it but not many even tried, probably too "complex", too "costly" or "non esstential". FD could have diregarded it, It never was in the original after all, but they plan on doing it.
Anyway i would have fond silly the fact that they would go so far as to reproduce the milky way as reallisticly as possible in this ultimate installement of the series, and not even attempt to make planetary landing possible. But it is still not an easy task.
Making it interesting is the whole challenge there, and if you think about it for a minute i'm sure you can understand why.
In Frontier the planets were empty flatlands with some weird mountains pasted on it, on a very local area around you. Apart from landing and managing MB4 mines there was nothing else to do, it was interesting, maybe inspiring at the time, but it was also quite dull. And with new techs and modern games we'd probably all like something at the very least slightly above dull, even though some may say they dont care as long as they can fly above the surface from up close, and yes it would already be interesting i would say. But FD is planning for more than just that. And if it is indeed much more than that, then they'd deserve perhaps a bit more than a simple "thank you".
I'm also not bothered to buy one less game next year or the year after to get one more expansion for FD. As long as it feels like a big addtion and not an empty DLC like some other companies are now well known for. lately, I hardly find a lot of new games to my taste anyway, so prolonging the longevity of one i like is surely worth it.
Anyway if we disregard that, we still probably all agree that FD should be rewarded or compensated for their work. At least making money is essential if they want to continue improving the game. Which we probably also all want.
Furthermore, we may all appreciate it much more if we have to pay a little for it than if we dont. You can disregard something you obtained for free, but if you paid for it, well you'd probably give it some more attention.
And i personnaly still prefer to pay for a few expansions down the line than "rent" access to a game through a subscription fee. That would be too far towards the other extreme imo.
In a way i was disapointed first, because i started with Elite 2 when landing was "a thing", and i deseperately wanted that new games would do it but not many even tried, probably too "complex", too "costly" or "non esstential". FD could have diregarded it, It never was in the original after all, but they plan on doing it.
Anyway i would have fond silly the fact that they would go so far as to reproduce the milky way as reallisticly as possible in this ultimate installement of the series, and not even attempt to make planetary landing possible. But it is still not an easy task.
Making it interesting is the whole challenge there, and if you think about it for a minute i'm sure you can understand why.
In Frontier the planets were empty flatlands with some weird mountains pasted on it, on a very local area around you. Apart from landing and managing MB4 mines there was nothing else to do, it was interesting, maybe inspiring at the time, but it was also quite dull. And with new techs and modern games we'd probably all like something at the very least slightly above dull, even though some may say they dont care as long as they can fly above the surface from up close, and yes it would already be interesting i would say. But FD is planning for more than just that. And if it is indeed much more than that, then they'd deserve perhaps a bit more than a simple "thank you".
I'm also not bothered to buy one less game next year or the year after to get one more expansion for FD. As long as it feels like a big addtion and not an empty DLC like some other companies are now well known for. lately, I hardly find a lot of new games to my taste anyway, so prolonging the longevity of one i like is surely worth it.
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Let's make no mistake here, the task awaiting Frontier Developments when it does finally come time to start on planetside environments is Herculean.
The level of consistency such environments will need to achieve in order to match up with what has already been released is a task beyond most game developers. Add in the kind of accurately modelled biology, geography, meteorology and even sociology that will probably be expected by the players and likely demanded by the developers of themselves, and it is a mindboggling undertaking. I'm sceptical that it can possibly live up to expectations, but I am excited to see what they can achieve.
I harbour far less doubt in the abilities of Frontier's staff to pull even that feat off, however, than I do about the OP's self-professed software development and business expertise. If he/she thinks this is doable as a free expansion with the kind of money that FD currently has in the pot, he/she is living in cloud oo land.
Simply throwing the word "procedural" out there, as if it's a panacea for all game design ills, is idiotic.
The level of consistency such environments will need to achieve in order to match up with what has already been released is a task beyond most game developers. Add in the kind of accurately modelled biology, geography, meteorology and even sociology that will probably be expected by the players and likely demanded by the developers of themselves, and it is a mindboggling undertaking. I'm sceptical that it can possibly live up to expectations, but I am excited to see what they can achieve.
I harbour far less doubt in the abilities of Frontier's staff to pull even that feat off, however, than I do about the OP's self-professed software development and business expertise. If he/she thinks this is doable as a free expansion with the kind of money that FD currently has in the pot, he/she is living in cloud oo land.
Simply throwing the word "procedural" out there, as if it's a panacea for all game design ills, is idiotic.
You should have read further in the "Kickstarter"; Expansions were always paid for as another tier....or purchased later in the store.
Why does everyone keep quoting newsletter thirty something etc... If the initial kickstarter brief had said 'we're building a game that mainly involves flying to space stations, and the remaining 99.999 percent of the galaxy, including planets and moons, are out of bounds', then the reaction would have been different.
But you're missing the point, which is make the game as good as it can be, and make the paid DLC just that, compelling downloadable 'content', and not a means of finishing the game.
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Quite right, what wasn't clear from the start is that to get a game comparable in immersion to it's predecessors, you need to pay for DLC.
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Bigger tasks have been accomplished, just because the game has 400 billion planets, doesn't mean you need to model each one, and bouncing off the planet like a rubber ball is not the answer.
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BTW that's 400,000,000,000 systems! Each on containing anything from 0 to god knows how many planets.
Just saying.
OP, here's your answer.
It was already posted on the first page. What don't you agree with here?
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Go take a walk, seriously. No, I mean it, you need some fresh air and to see this in a different perspective. In order to make planetary landings and first person in the same level of detail that they made the flight dynamics and galaxy navigation they would need a lot of funding. Let's see if any examples come to mind... Oh, yeah, Star Citizen.
There are two options for this, either make it several paid expansions, or a monthly fee (or both, like Eve Online). If you want to argue, let's argue about which funding model is best. Anything else you are just going to encounter a brick wall, because your points make no sense.
The way planetary landings were done in Frontier is 'easy', see here: https://elliptic-games.com/ (seriously, check that game out, it's awesome). I expect (and will demand) FD to make something orders of magnitude better.
It was already posted on the first page. What don't you agree with here?
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Go take a walk, seriously. No, I mean it, you need some fresh air and to see this in a different perspective. In order to make planetary landings and first person in the same level of detail that they made the flight dynamics and galaxy navigation they would need a lot of funding. Let's see if any examples come to mind... Oh, yeah, Star Citizen.
There are two options for this, either make it several paid expansions, or a monthly fee (or both, like Eve Online). If you want to argue, let's argue about which funding model is best. Anything else you are just going to encounter a brick wall, because your points make no sense.
The way planetary landings were done in Frontier is 'easy', see here: https://elliptic-games.com/ (seriously, check that game out, it's awesome). I expect (and will demand) FD to make something orders of magnitude better.
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Have a look for yourself https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous
The 'landing on the planets will cost you extra' was announced after the initial Kickstarter brief.
Hey thanks, went take a walk, got some fresh air, and this game looks good https://elliptic-games.com/
Regarding your argument about funding, have you seen what Elite Dangerous is selling for (https://store.elitedangerous.com)? That's comparable to your GTAs, there is your funding.
Frontier Elite 2 was a masterpiece, and they rightfully named the company after it. For 20 years I've been looking for a game that came close to it, and am still looking.
To your first question, yes. 99% of what I have been expecting has arrived as stated it would. Maybe some of the features don't work like I thought they might or have changed (better or worse) because of bugs, whining, etc. I had the expectation that I was supporting a project that on initial release would host the core features of an overarching project, allowing future additions through paid content releases. IMO, I have a bunch of things to do within the 3 branches of content: Trading, Combat, Exploration included with this initial release. If I get bored with one, I can change to another branch with relative ease. All the while I can do this in a beautiful "Next Gen" environment. I also can't wait to experience future developments of this product. Not angry that I would have to pay for them, since I knew ahead of time that I would be required to.
I can't see why David would not be proud of his release. In this day and age it is pretty incredible that we are even able to play a game within it's first days. Some people did have issues and ED's release was not perfect. I give them credit, though I understand that improvement can be made to alleviate those issues we did have, in future additions. Luckily for my sake I am in the US and have benefited from having most things fixed by the time I get home from work.
Am I a fanboi? No, I didn't even know about this game until late Beta. Never played the original. I did do my research and knew what I was willing to get into when I invested/purchased access. There are aspects I like and others that I am unhappy how they have been "fixed" by FD. However, I will continue to support the game because I feel it is worth the time and energy. I will make suggestions and participate in ongoing discussions regarding mechanics and their changes. I can only hope you do the same. I just find it obtuse that you would take a shot at a game for not including a feature that was never intended to be included at release.
Maybe we will see you in a year when the additions you are hoping for are in.