The awesome Dr Kay Ross is moving on from Elite & Frontier onto a stage of their life :)

[Taimaru]

Good luck with your future adventures Dr Kay Ross. You have truly been an awesome asset to Frontier and the development of Elite: Dangerous. Thank you for all that you've done. o7

 

[LKx]

I guess? Nothing I'd go planetside to explore. This screenie really demonstrates the EDO heightmap terrain.

always been heightmap, since horizons

 

[Einar Donarsson]

All the best to Kay. I am sure now that freedom of Elites limitations is at hand, possibilities will grow significantly!

 

[VR Mr Teatime]

I think an astrophysicist would be a better answer. Looking at some of the latest planets with their exaggerated contrast from orbit (which decreases the closer we get, which seems terribly wrong to me), I would imagine that she was "overruled" in favour of a more playful approach. Whether that might have led to her decision to leave is, of course, pure speculation (but at least well imaginable). Fact is that it makes the game more appealing to the masses - bit in the direction of NMS (at least visually) - but also breaks with the old mantra of "verisimilitude".

Given where Stellarforge is currently and planetary development, I think a planetary geologist would be a better choice with somebody who has good knowledge of fluid dynamics. Those are the two sets of expertise needed to take the planetary development further.
Hopefuly those people are already on staff.

 

[S3NS3R]

Not another one who has moved to NMS or SC

Seriously though, thank you Dr Ross for all the work you have done on ED. You helped in making a lot of peoples dreams of navigating the Milky Way a virtual reality.

 

[JosiahD]

All the best for the future Dr Ross. I hope the Odyssey launch issues haven't been a contributing factor - for all the issues at launch, your passion for the galaxy simulation cannot be faulted, and showed every time we saw you speak on the subject. Your intelligence will be missed. Big shoes for FDEV to fill....

 

[here_it_comes]

always been heightmap, since horizons

Not true, this is why ED mountains/canyons looked better.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIc0WPY63hY&t=102s

 

[Hydrino]

So long and thanks for all the fish planets!

Best wishes for your next galactic creation.

 

[Bravo17]

Thank you for all the hard work that you put in to make the ED Universe. I wish you all the best in whatever you are moving on to next.

 

[Juniper]

Well that's really sad for the game. Good luck in the future Dr Ross.

 

[NoVR - What_The_X_F_Dev]

Looks at Odyssey, thinks on statement about Kay leaving, considers her popularity and the political lay of the land, and decides on "No Comment"...

 

[Cageman]

To be fair.... you will always have a "peak moment" at any company. Her peak was the construction of Stellar Forge and the procedural generation of the planets in any given system. Back then she was never a pure graphics programmer. She created something that few other games actually can.

Once that was done she was, more or less, done with her job. Giving her other tasks was a misstake (rendering lead as an example).

I very much hope she will find new adventures and can tell us all about it.

 

[Jukelo]

Not true, this is why ED mountains/canyons looked better.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIc0WPY63hY&t=102s

Horizons terrain doesn't look better, and both Odyssey and Horizons use vertical displacement methods to generate terrain.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Never heard of her before Odyssey. Not for Horizons planetary landings and I don't know what made her such a phenomenon.

 

[zimms]

Never heard of her before Odyssey. Not for Horizons planetary landings and I don't know what made her such a phenomenon.

Her appearances on Discovery Scanner where she explained how the Stellar Forge works were legendary.

 

[jojon]

The "stage of life" thing keeps making me think she's going to weave herself into a pupa.

 

[Ozric]

Never heard of her before Odyssey. Not for Horizons planetary landings and I don't know what made her such a phenomenon.

She created the Stellar Forge and by extension the galaxy we play in.

 

[Arthur Spooner]

Never heard of her before Odyssey. Not for Horizons planetary landings and I don't know what made her such a phenomenon.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

She created the Stellar Forge and by extension the galaxy we play in.

Stellar Forge was a topic for Horizon too but there was no star cult around it.

 

[Ozric]

Stellar Forge was a topic for Horizon too but there was no star cult around it.

She gave a talk at FX 2017, the room was completely packed out. People were queueing outside watching on a TV screen hoping people would leave so that they could get in. The success of that talk and demand of those who were unable to get in, lead to the first Discovery Scanner stream on the Stellar Forge.

I don't think there's a cult around her now, it's just people want to pay their respects to someone moving off of the game in the same way they did for Mike and Sandro as examples. The fact Kay was put front and centre as the face of the new planetary tech, has made her more prominent over the last year.