News The David Braben Q&A Summary 5th June 2014

[David Braben]

Yes - that is a good point. We will make sure that we do.

Err - and fortunately I missed that last bit... ;-)

 

[David Braben]

In that case...

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, David!

Since there seems to be a big disinformation campaign against Elite, claiming that Elite IV (Dangerous) has been in development since 2005.

Can we get, from the horses mouth, the head honcho, the big kahoonah, exactly what has been developed, when, and for how long? My understanding is that most of the development took place after the kickstarter and it was only skunkworks up until then.

Can you end the debate, once and for all?

No problem!

I have wanted to do a sequel for a long time, and there has been 'skunk-works' development, on and off for quite some time, but full on development is mostly since (and somewhat during) the Kickstarter campaign. So you are correct.

 

[David Braben]

David, you once talked at the Science museum about how games at the time were in the same place as film was in the 20s/30s. All bombastic spectacle.

How much has the industry changed since, in your opinion? Are we shifting that paradigm yet? Any shining examples?

Games are gradually changing from this. We are starting to see some more thoughtful elements and true emotion in story-based games. Games like "The Last of Us" for example. Construction games like "Minecraft" are outside this too.

 

[David Braben]

As it's currently not noticable in premium beta, will the gravity model in supercruise that allows things like slingshot-maneuvers around massive bodies still be implemented, as proposed in the DDF-thread on In-System-Travel? That bit was what hooked me to the game initially, and I would be kinda sad if that's something you decided to throw out.

I think that feature could be key to make supercruise more than the linear travel it kinda is right now, assuming you don't turn flight assist off. I saw a number of posts feeling bored when supercruising, I guess those would be satisfied if you would elaborate on gravity.
I also see this as huge potential towards immersion, as many of us probably always feel somewhat uncomfortable linearly traveling through space, when all of today's space travel is nothing but using gravity of our planets as efficiently as possible. There just needs to be one hint of it, nothing complicated, so we don't accidentally scare off the other bigger part of the community.

Yes - that was something I like too. I think it does do this a little, but it needs to be accentuated.

 

[David Braben]

Il take the opportunity to say:

Thank you Mr Braben for giving the Elite to use for nearly 30 years ago.

That game was the one that got me into playing games and I still think its one of the best games that ever have been created.

Iam close to 50 years now and ive been following your company Frontier for many, many years and hoped that someday (before I get to old) to se a new Elite game.

And whit the development of ED its certainly close the circle for me

So a heartfull Thank you Mr. Braben

You're welcome - and thank you to all those others who have passed on thanks too. It is much appreciated.

 

[David Braben]

Now, we have a game to write, and E3 to prepare for, so I'm afraid I have to stop.

If you're at E3, feel free to drop in to our meeting room - room 501B.

Hopefully we will see some of you there. I will do a live Q & A again - either here or as a Twitch stream.

Thank you all, and see you in Premium Beta again (I'm Commander Braben).