Elite dangerous is always doomed.
[VIDEO] Obsidian Ant: The Importance of Atmospheric Worlds
- Thread starter VR SenseiMatty
- Start date
Space Legs with grave digging gameplay confirmed!
A question on compromise - are you happy to accept Atmos Worlds coming in a number of stages, starting with the simplest ones and then culminating in the most complex ones over a number of updates with a fair gap between each update? Or to you does Atmos landings absolutely have to be all types at the same time?
Im aware of the size of this feature. I would accept a slowly but truly approach
This isn't really true for the new MS Flight Sim coming out next year. They are using a lot of procedural generation to fill out the ground terrain by utilizing AI routines to analyze the satellite imagery and enhance it. The result is incredible detail and clarity at all altitudes, right down to ground level. It's really incredible tech and I can see why OA included the comparison in his video. Elite will need similar ground details filled out by proc gen in order to do atmo worlds justice.
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Funnily enough that stagged process seems to also be how Braben saw the introduction of planetary landings in Elite: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threa...chat-thread-5th-june.20351/page-8#post-455691
And when you think about it, after 5 years Elite still doesn't even have basic ground AI.
Well I would love if Elite where one or the other, I reckon it looks good though but not amazing.
Yeah, in my take on it, the first step is barren worlds with no liquids and no phase changes of matter. Then for the prog gen, the only* additional factors that need to be accounted for on top of the existing ones are abrasion by wind carried particles, landscapes formed by wind carried/blown materials, and changes in landscape through shifting of those material and the consequent concealment and revealing of solid features. And the atmospheric effects both in terms of appearance and interaction are wind, pressure differentials, convection currents, and the wind carried/blown particles.
(*I’m being a bit liberal with the term. There’s probably more factors which I haven’t included, but I think I’ve covered most of the major ones. Could be wrong...
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I'm the greedy guy that wants it all, ASAP.
We've been waiting....what, 5 years now? Imagine going back in time to 2014 when this game first left space dock and telling Commanders "no Atmospheric Worlds by December 2019, 2020 if you're lucky, probably 2021, maybe!"
I'm the greedy guy that wants it all, ASAP.
We've been waiting....what, 5 years now? Imagine going back in time to 2014 when this game first left space dock and telling Commanders "no Atmospheric Worlds by December 2019, 2020 if you're lucky, probably 2021, maybe!"
I wonder how FDev would react to the same statement in 2014.
Not sure I want it. Unless it's done really well, and fits seamlessly with the rest of the game. Which is about flying space ships in space. Atmos worlds would be more about walking and driving round atmospheric worlds (I do that every day IRL*). Not nearly as cool as flying a space ship thru space (which I can't do IRL).
*on planet Earth. Havn't been to any other atmos worlds...
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Are atmospheric landing important to E: D? In a brass tacks sense I'd say not important at all. Sure, other games are moving towards every more detailed environs, but E: D has always been a 'cockpit-first' experience and I'd argue more detailed and feature rich ships, stations, and (for want of a better description) cosmic fauna are far more important than having detailed landable planets and all of the complexity that implies. E: D would still be a great space game should this feature never come, or indeed had never been offered up as a development goal in the first place. Upcoming games Like Cyberpunk, Flight Sim, or Star Citizen may seem to have a high fidelity in their locations, but lets be honest, none of those games operate on the scale that E: D does and that has always posed a real problem for FDev to contend with.
Having said that Atmospheric Landings has always been seen as a natural extension to the ideas and gameplay that Horizons first introduced. The possibility space inferred by ALs outweighs that of barren landable rocks by a massive degree and has always suggested that ALs would bring a whole new level of play to the game. The question has always been will that potential ever be realised, and if it does just end up being Horizons in new (procedurally generated) clothes then will that be enough? To be blunt, if ALs does turn up and all you can do is the same range of exploration and missions currently available I suspect the backlash from many in the community will be epic.
And therein lays the problem. E: D will never be and was never conceived to be GTA in space. It seems that many see Atmospheric Landings as being E: D's long awaited transformation into a full blown adventure game where each planet becomes a unique play space (see No Mans Sky, Beyond Good And Evil 2). In my opinion that line of thought has always been pure wish fulfilment and the cul de sac that Star citizen has increasingly found itself in (and FDev has nowhere near the budget or resources of that game). Working on the basis that ALs are in fact being worked on in secret somewhere within Frontier towers, I feel that it will become increasingly important for FDev to set some expectations for what people are going to get. I'm going to be very interested to see what the announcements next year bring because I can't help but feel that some of the theory crafting behind ALs has gotten a little out of line with what the reality will end up being.
Personally I'd be happy with ALs being something closer to Flight Sim than Star Citizen but I fear that many will see this as a disappointment.
Having said that Atmospheric Landings has always been seen as a natural extension to the ideas and gameplay that Horizons first introduced. The possibility space inferred by ALs outweighs that of barren landable rocks by a massive degree and has always suggested that ALs would bring a whole new level of play to the game. The question has always been will that potential ever be realised, and if it does just end up being Horizons in new (procedurally generated) clothes then will that be enough? To be blunt, if ALs does turn up and all you can do is the same range of exploration and missions currently available I suspect the backlash from many in the community will be epic.
And therein lays the problem. E: D will never be and was never conceived to be GTA in space. It seems that many see Atmospheric Landings as being E: D's long awaited transformation into a full blown adventure game where each planet becomes a unique play space (see No Mans Sky, Beyond Good And Evil 2). In my opinion that line of thought has always been pure wish fulfilment and the cul de sac that Star citizen has increasingly found itself in (and FDev has nowhere near the budget or resources of that game). Working on the basis that ALs are in fact being worked on in secret somewhere within Frontier towers, I feel that it will become increasingly important for FDev to set some expectations for what people are going to get. I'm going to be very interested to see what the announcements next year bring because I can't help but feel that some of the theory crafting behind ALs has gotten a little out of line with what the reality will end up being.
Personally I'd be happy with ALs being something closer to Flight Sim than Star Citizen but I fear that many will see this as a disappointment.
Maybe they should add some flowers in lots of pretty colours, and mountains made of precious stones, just for you. Oh, and rainbows, maybe some unicorns?Bland Terrain in VR is still bland Terrain. Just in 3D.
Thanks for sharing though
"Planet of the Hats"!!
Do you still play ED?
I would accept anything coming in a number of stages. It's more fun and you get to see development. That used to be more common in game a long time ago. If we were in a better situation that would be the norm and help spur on both software and hardware development.
Side rant: Of course if diamonds weren't artficially inflated in price we would have way more adavance tech and research and better potential medicine etc. But you know some people need endless piles of money. God knows what development and material use would develop if we everything around us wasn't a bunch of illegal acts to make money.. With greed comes advancement. At a snails pace!
