Seamless planetary landings

[Darth Revan]

This kickstarter campaign is starting to bother me a litte, over a million to get started, and release date that is really just about a year and a bit away, very little to show so far, no planetary landings. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot.

Remember First Encounters, a bug ridden mess, if they think they can release a polished product in a year they are crazy, they will release a rough game like everyone does nowadays and just patch it all the time. I don't think this a good time frame for a game that has barely begun production, and planetary flight is a deal breaker for me personally, even if they included it at laucnh at a basic level then improved upon it, that would be cool.

no more pledges from me.

Keep the faith!

I don't think the initial release will be anything like first encounters (it was the publisher who forced release not DB), the testing delivery date is approx dec 2013, so approx 4 months before release to fix any potential issues.

I think we'll see a polished game because of the lack of planetary landings. If Frontier try to shoe horn it in then there's more chance of bugs, or just a basic landing without the extras that are planned.

It's going to be a great game, you watch!

 

[DrBaggy]

Keep the faith!

I don't think the initial release will be anything like first encounters (it was the publisher who forced release not DB), the testing delivery date is approx dec 2013, so approx 4 months before release to fix any potential issues.

I think we'll see a polished game because of the lack of planetary landings. If Frontier try to shoe horn it in then there's more chance of bugs, or just a basic landing without the extras that are planned.

It's going to be a great game, you watch!

Pledge more and you can become a tester and iron out the bugs (I have never tested before, but have pledged to this level to get my hands on the game early)

 

[Darth Revan]

Pledge more and you can become a tester and iron out the bugs (I have never tested before, but have pledged to this level to get my hands on the game early)

Genuinely made me smile! I am on the 150 at the moment, so I get to beta test.

Somehow I think by the end I think I will be alpha testing (and more) as well!

 

[Trigg]

First Encounters was a bug-ridden mess because the publisher insisted on releasing the game before it was finished, in the days before the internet was widely available to issue quick patches. It is largely down to that fiasco that Frontier have chosen to go down the no publisher route with Kickstarter.

Also, the amount being asked for to fund the project may seem steep at £1.25m, but it is quite literally loose change compared to the amounts being spent on creating top level games these days. By comparison, Call of Duty 4 cost 10 times as much - Modern warfare 2 cost between $40 and $50m to produce - and that is despite having the previous games as a base on which to build.

 

[Non Grata]

Haven't watched the video yet, but shocked to read that planetary landings won't be there from day one. This suggests to me that the heart and soul of the new game will be Elite and not Frontier (and also that they are doing this on a shoestring). My biggest fear is that Frontier will be a better game than Elite Dangerous!

 

[The Space Pirate]

I'm with Imperial Courier on this one.

I'd prefer a basic planetary landing experience on day 1, restricted to visiting a spaceport with an update providing more functionality and improving the look further down the line.

I'm sure most people would be happy to overlook less-than-detailed surfaces in the phase 1 release. I don't see people complaining about the blocky graphics on minecraft...

Exactly - that's what you could do in Frontier after all. As someone else said, Frontier (yep, game and company have the same name ) are shooting themselves in the foot here. Big time. Ask yourself: what was the one thing that set Frontier apart from any other space sim since? Not the combat, because it was crap. Not the trading. In my opinion, there were two things: the huge, true to life totally explorable galaxy (which has now been reduced to a section - and we don't know the size of it yet) and the second thing was the ability to fly into a planet's atmosphere and land on it.

What might some people be thinking now? 'Why bother with this, when we've already got X? You can't land on planets in that either.'

Bad move, Frontier. I hope this doesn't kill the whole thing stone dead...

Haven't watched the video yet, but shocked to read that planetary landings won't be there from day one. This suggests to me that the heart and soul of the new game will be Elite and not Frontier (and also that they are doing this on a shoestring). My biggest fear is that Frontier will be a better game than Elite Dangerous!

Exactly.

Not only would that be the biggest disappointment in my gaming life, it will also prove disastrous to Frontier themselves.

It was going so well: updates were gradually revealing cool stuff about the game, then we had that brilliant gameplay footage the other day - now this. Like running into a brick wall.

This kickstarter campaign is starting to bother me a litte, over a million to get started, and release date that is really just about a year and a bit away, very little to show so far, no planetary landings. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot.

Remember First Encounters, a bug ridden mess, if they think they can release a polished product in a year they are crazy, they will release a rough game like everyone does nowadays and just patch it all the time. I don't think this a good time frame for a game that has barely begun production, and planetary flight is a deal breaker for me personally, even if they included it at laucnh at a basic level then improved upon it, that would be cool.

no more pledges from me.

From what we've heard, Elite D will be vastly more complex than Frontier or Frontier FE. That I'm afraid points to bugs and lots of them; unless the project flies over the line, they will pretty much be doing this game on a budget.

 

[Styggron]

Haven't watched the video yet, but shocked to read that planetary landings won't be there from day one. This suggests to me that the heart and soul of the new game will be Elite and not Frontier (and also that they are doing this on a shoestring). My biggest fear is that Frontier will be a better game than Elite Dangerous!

Nah not a chance. They are just unable to do everything from day 1. The detail David was talking about in the video is just amazing and that will take time to get it right and spot on to David's requirements.

We ARE getting seamless planetary landings just not from day #1 so the news is good. Id rather it be delayed and done properly otherwise imagine having to wait till 2016 imagine how that would go on kickstarter. Frontier have to do this in a mudular way and this is the best way to go about it.

I think it is FANTASTIC news

 

[The Space Pirate]

Watch the video, Taotoo - the scope they're aiming for will blow you away and like me, I'm sure you'll fully understand the reasons for not including SPL from day one. If this game is released, it will shake the gaming world to its very core in my opinion.

 

[Non Grata]

Don't want to be negative, but the news was a shock. Until now I'd accepted only semi-newtonian physics as a necessary compromise. In-system jumps and no stardreamer was worrying, but at least there was no talk of jump gates. But to take out a core feature that made Frontier great, and replace it with an animation (even if only temporarily) is hard to fathom.

Being able to stow away amongst somebody's gold and hijack their ship is great, but that sounds like a huge amount of work to implement, and won't happen for a long time. Meanwhile on day one it looks like it will pretty much be elite + nice graphics + multiplayer.

And even if eventually we can land on planets, will some sort of cut scene still be involved?

 

[Alien]

David did say somewhere that if they just make the KS target that will be enough for the basic game

 

[[VR] Shadowman]

Meanwhile on day one it looks like it will pretty much be elite + nice graphics + multiplayer.

And even if eventually we can land on planets, will some sort of cut scene still be involved?

I disagree with the above. I think you've massively over-simplified the first release. Even without SPL (which tbh I have no issue with whatsoever, as they've explained it'll be done properly), I'm 100% positive there will be a million things to keep us playing and enjoying the game.

I do agree that the avatar thing is gonna be a huge amount of work though. I hope it doesn't detract from the core game. I'd hate to feel I was forced to leave my ship every time I dock, just to pick up new cargo etc.

 

[Non Grata]

I disagree with the above. I think you've massively over-simplified the first release. Even without SPL (which tbh I have no issue with whatsoever, as they've explained it'll be done properly), I'm 100% positive there will be a million things to keep us playing and enjoying the game.

I do agree that the avatar thing is gonna be a huge amount of work though. I hope it doesn't detract from the core game. I'd hate to feel I was forced to leave my ship every time I dock, just to pick up new cargo etc.

Again, I hate to be negative, but what have we actually seen? Some ships in space, and a planet backdrop. We know they've been looking at it for years and probably have had some amount of code around for that amount of time. Doesn't look like much else has been done yet, apart from graphics, and they've got a relatively small amount of time (and not much money) to get a working game released.

FD talks about 'envisaging' things, and 'what we'd like to do', but what has actually been confirmed for the initial release? The feature thread lists things as confirmed by they don't look to be to me.

If planetary landings are deemed to be too much work, why is this so? Frontier had them? As for going hunting etc., if we're realistic that isn't coming any time soon. I would be delighted if my thoughts turn out to be wrong, but multiplayer elite is was it's looking like to me.

I actually wouldn't mind the initial release being basic, and paying whatever they want over time to get the full game, but it does dampen my enthusiasm when I feel that that game won't be arriving for years to come.

The way in which the planetary landing issue wasn't addressed early on makes me wonder if FD initially didn't put as much thought into communicating with their potential customers as they might have done with a publisher.

 

[Alien]

I'm going to do things a bit in reverse in answering you, Taotoo.

The way in which the planetary landing issue wasn't addressed early on makes me wonder if FD initially didn't put as much thought into communicating with their potential customers as they might have done with a publisher.

FD had for many years kept a wall of silence with the fans asking about Elite 4. It really was hard to get anything out of them. I know where on the forum there is a very angry post from me to them simply because they would not confirm the cancellation of The Outsider, I won't link to it, because I want to let sleeping dogs lie.

My point is, after keeping a wall of slience for so long, you get into a habit of doing it, and it takes time to learn how to engage the fans again. FD rightly kept things quiet because it wasn't the right time to tell us this or tell us that. Knowing what to say is often more important than knowing when to say it and it is nearly always the case that it is better to say nothing.

Again, I hate to be negative, but what have we actually seen? Some ships in space, and a planet backdrop. We know they've been looking at it for years and probably have had some amount of code around for that amount of time. Doesn't look like much else has been done yet, apart from graphics, and they've got a relatively small amount of time (and not much money) to get a working game released.

Not being a FD employee I can't say what they have, but to me it looks like all the work on The Outsider (which was paid for unless I'm mistaken) is being used on Elite 4. There are probably a lot of items on that features list thread that are under consideration, but as I said above, it is better to keep quiet than to make a statement you'd have to change later.

I actually wouldn't mind the initial release being basic, and paying whatever they want over time to get the full game, but it does dampen my enthusiasm when I feel that that game won't be arriving for years to come.

You're already going to have to wait 18 months for it, so why is waiting a bit longer for extra features such a big issue for some people? Sorry Taotoo, but even though I often have zero patience, I accept that this is a long game not a "I want it all now" game. 18 months from now, trust me, waiting a bit longer for things like SPL will seem easy. Remember, some of us have been waiting years for Elite 4 to actually get made. Look in the top right of this post and see how long I've been on this forum waiting for Elite 4. One of the first threads I made was "Any news on Elite 4". I can even find it for you and give you the link. Another 18 months is nothing in comparison.

 

[Kipper]

I disagree with the sentiment that "not much has been done".

Alright, not much of the GAME might have been done - but the first thing they will have needed to do is build an engine that the game can run on. I don't know of any that they could have bought in that would have done the job (well, I know of one, but I don't know if Sony are selling Forgelight yet!).

The game engine just makes the game possible - it supports the multiplayer, the size of the locations, the physics models, the lighting and sounds and everything else. It's the hard part, and there's nothing fancy to show at the end of it.

What it does mean though is that you can start rapidly assembling the "game" parts, plugging them into the engine and stuff comes together quickly.

Of course I don't know for sure, but that's my bet.

You think if they'd have had that gameplay or combat video ready on day #1 they wouldn't have used it? They pretty much made that since the KS launched, IMO. They're probably working on more for us now to get the final push over the line.

DB had to come out and talk about planetary landings because otherwise everyone would have kept asking to see a video when its not possible right now, so kudos for that..

 

[wibbleboy]

I can't quite fathom about why people are treating the seamless landings as a deal breaker; from what I recall of Frontier, the planets didn't actually offer much in the area of gameplay, more of a novelty (go to London and it has a church with a clock tower).

I'd much prefer the FD focus on the main game, plus items of immediate benefit; the glossy features can always be added later.

I believe getting a cross-platform release in place is more important than seamless landings and on-foot exploration. Promising multi-platform is likely to engage Linux and Mac users; who are obviously rolling in money

Perhaps Frontier should have adopted Minecraft's deployment model. Charge people to "play" the Alpha, get the bugs ironed out, add Linux and Mac support for the Beta, then add seamless landing for the final release.

 

[OneoftheLost]

I can't quite fathom about why people are treating the seamless landings as a deal breaker; from what I recall of Frontier, the planets didn't actually offer much in the area of gameplay, more of a novelty (go to London and it has a church with a clock tower).

I'd much prefer the FD focus on the main game, plus items of immediate benefit; the glossy features can always be added later.

1,00000000000000000000000000000000 times this. My working theory is that the folks who are making noises didn't actually play the game, they just flew around looking at things. In which case I would happily recommend to them the games of Orbiter and Celestia.

 

[The Space Pirate]

I can't quite fathom about why people are treating the seamless landings as a deal breaker; from what I recall of Frontier, the planets didn't actually offer much in the area of gameplay, more of a novelty (go to London and it has a church with a clock tower).

Really? In all the hundreds of hours I put into the game, I don't ever recall noticing it! Maybe I'm just blind...

 

[cassius]

Really? In all the hundreds of hours I put into the game, I don't ever recall noticing it! Maybe I'm just blind...

Yep, and it showed the correct time if i recall

 

[The Space Pirate]

Yep, and it showed the correct time if i recall

Must pay London a little visit then.

 

[Capt. Hook]

Think I may have been a bit guilty of dropping some spent toxic military fuel residue over a few cities in a previous life in Frontier...