The day I met David Braben.

Darren Grey

Darren Grey
I was at the Baftas talk too, and I wish I'd brought some pen and paper because David mentioned quite a few interesting things I thought I should share with the community. Alas, all forgotten now!

I spoke with him briefly at the bar, and asked him about the quality assurance angle of procedural content. In the original Elite for instance they had to scan all the star names for rude words. He says for this game they don't care so much about that - in a game with slavery and narcotics a bit of rudeness is fine.
 

Sir.Tj

The Moderator who shall not be Blamed....
Volunteer Moderator
Sir.Tj
Really enjoyed reading that Drew.

I always loved the RI Christmas Lectures, Elite and Sky at night so I might be a little bit jealous. :D
 

Maxeren

Maxeren
That was really inspiring to read.. thanks alot Drew.

Can be hard to see some of your heroes go. But having met them and thereby having something personal to remember them by must be very special :)
 
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Darren Grey

Darren Grey
Hmm, just a few things I remember from the talk:

- David wants to be an explorer in the game, and he wants to find the bits of the game that even he hasn't seen.
- He showed some videos of inside the Lakon cockpit that we haven't seen before, and said he'd try to get them online.
- He's really really into his astronomy details. During the Q&A session after the event the interviewer got chastised by David for suggesting things like star collisions could happen in the game. David then went into a long discussion of astronomical timescales, how our solar system was formed, past celestial events, etc - the interviewer's eyes glazed over a little but I was rapt :D

He ended up talking with Drew and a group of others in the bar afterwards. My hearing is awful at the moment so I sat out, but Drew told me a few little details after - in particular a little teaser about the location of Raaxla...
 

Cmdr Eagleboy

Cmdr Eagleboy
Nice one Drew. I think you and other book writers can proudly say you saved KS in my opinion. Because you held community together in very crucial time (when we all felt we are not going nowhere) with this crazy idea of writing books for ED - I mean, doing KS for license was a already one crazy thing, but actually doing it? It's huge commitment, and being fans I guess none of you took this lightly.

And with amazing results as they turned out (and thank you Fantastic Books for chipping in and seemingly pulling everyone together in nice book set) I have to say...

Thank you. You have earned this. Fingers crossed books are success commercially and we will get more reading stuff from you and other writers in future.
 

Giskard

Giskard
Interesting Drew - and pretty remarkable that you have met three of your heroes! Although I guess you could argue that the legendary Carl Sagan became a hero after the Christmas Lectures?!

I would have loved to have met any of these inspiring figures.
 

Completely Harmless

Completely Harmless
Congratulations, Drew, I am glad for you. :)

Now if I only got my kindle already so I could laze around and read all them books I got, including yours. :cool:

*checks watch* Nope, still not here. :(
 

drew

drew
A couple of tidbits from David. ;)

The docking bay entrance (in the original game) was deliberately put on the planet facing side to avoid having to render the docking bay and the planet at the same time - framerate issues.

And Raxxla...?

Well - "It exists, we know where it is and we know why people haven't been able to find it..."

Cheers,

Drew.
 
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MikeSnos

MikeSnos
drew said:
Wasn't quite sure where to put this, it's not really about the fiction and I thought all fans might enjoy it.

Yesterday I ticked a significant item off of my 'bucket list' and, well, here it is.

http://www.drewwagar.com/progress-report/the-day-i-met-david-braben/

Cheers,

Drew.
Click to expand...

Loved your article Drew! Wonderfully written and your enthusiasm comes though brilliantly for anyone who doesn't already know what people in this 'world' are like :)

I've watched the Christmas Institution lectures for years and my one regret is that the TV cameras weren't available for any of Michael Faraday's lectures, they were, apparently, events rather than lectures.

My heroes include Newton, Faraday and the incomparable Feynman! What a guy :) Carl Sagan also appears on my list as does Einstein for being a somewhat ordinary chap who made a massive impact. In other areas Turing gets a big nod from me as does Churchill, Neil Armstrong and Brian May and then there's Tom Baker!

One thing I think people forget is that DBOBE is similar to Einstein... He's a normal down to earth guy who happens to developed something that is game-changing and endures and yet is still immensely grounded and yet treated (rightly) as a leading light!

Excellent post... I guess you need to find more heroes :)
 

drew

drew
If we're talking rather more historical figures, I'd love to have a chat with :

John Harrison - (He who solved the Longitude Problem 1700s)
Jules Verne
Cleopatra
H. G. Wells
Joan of Arc
Winston Churchhill
Jane Austin
Selected Emperors of Rome...

Cheers,

Drew.
 
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drew

drew
Andrew Sayers said:
That's quite a scoop you got out of him - the article was great, but "Raxxla exists" closes a 30-year circle in its own right :)
Click to expand...

Perhaps something for the "Second Great Expedition" :)

It's probably not much of a reveal to ...er... reveal that the official writers have been specifically asked to avoid 'Raxxla'. My money is on some clues being revealed in Michael Brooke's upcoming novel. We'll see.

Cheers,

Drew.
 
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Fenris Wolf

Fenris Wolf
Great post Drew.

drew said:
And Raxxla...?

Well - "It exists, we know where it is and we know why people haven't been able to find it..."
Click to expand...

It just isn't known by that name to the rest of the Universe.

The common name for the planet is ****** **** **


Edit - Oh... that's in the swear filter! :eek:
 
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