****DISCLAIMER****
This is highly speculation, only FD knows what is planned for season 3, however this is most likely the next feature in Elite Dangerous.
What can we expect and how will it transform the game?
Space legs, this will be one of the most important feature to me anyway, why you ask? Because since the early days back in 1984, I wanted to get out of my ship and walk around. It's the freedom you get by doing so that is so interesting.
Lets me clarify, I am not interested in running around shooting at stuff. I want to explore, investigate old ruins, deserted stations and ships. I would like to have more tools for doing science in the game.
How will FD do this, will it be traditional MMO, go to A shoot X, bring me Y, or will it be something different.
Lets use The Outside as a reference point. In case you don't know this was a game FD developed for Codemasters, and was "Canceled" in 2011.
"The player controls a CIA intelligence officer by the name of Jameson, who can use various hand-to-hand combat styles and weapons."
So hand to hand combat and weapons are already developed or in some form of development. We can for sure expect that some of this will be reused for the FPS expansion in season 3.
"Several key proprietary technologies, which Frontier has been developing for some time, make their debut in The Outsider and bring the sort of freedom of action first seen in Elite up to date"
So what are those key proprietary technologies, they have developed? difficult to say, maybe the PG of faces coming here in ED for the commander creation tool.
"The developers claim that the game abandons the traditional, prescriptive, mostly linear story of current generation games, and replaces it by simulating characters’ motivations and aims. This gives the player genuine freedom to change the story outcomes."
The Outsider was developed for a SP game, however the same game mechanic could be used in missions. If you take a mission, you will be able to change the outcome as it will be related to your actions during the mission.
"A new animation system is being developed for the game with the aim of giving a more realistic feel as it is adaptive and less scripted than typical animations."
So they already have the foundation of the animations nailed, as this was some years ago FD need to update it with the possibility to do EVA type of interaction and combat.
"The game was almost complete, save for final recorded dialogue and cut scenes. The actual game is fully playable from start to finish, and though not fully polished gameplay-wise, it was still looking good and close to being a damn fine cover-based shooter. There were some clever twists with disguises, and how the civilians behaved around you. Some really clever AI (or the illusion of cleverness if you like).
I know that, we sometimes laugh at the AI in Elite, however this is a different kind of AI needed, I for one are really looking forward to see how the NPCs around you will react, combined with the crowd mechanics we have seen in planet coaster we are heading towards interesting times for sure.
How will weightless mechanics work? Here we can't find much information, only a few pictures here and there. However the ships are designed to be operated in a weightless conditions, as there are not gravity generators in Elite, only by spinning things you can achieve gravity.
Looking at the cockpits you will see a lot of places you can grab for moving around in a weightless condition, so this mechanic must be well designed to work well if we need to use it to move around in our ships.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsider_(video_game)
https://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=448180
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/11/source-frontiers-canned-the-outsider-project-was-actually-t/
This is highly speculation, only FD knows what is planned for season 3, however this is most likely the next feature in Elite Dangerous.
What can we expect and how will it transform the game?
Space legs, this will be one of the most important feature to me anyway, why you ask? Because since the early days back in 1984, I wanted to get out of my ship and walk around. It's the freedom you get by doing so that is so interesting.
Lets me clarify, I am not interested in running around shooting at stuff. I want to explore, investigate old ruins, deserted stations and ships. I would like to have more tools for doing science in the game.
How will FD do this, will it be traditional MMO, go to A shoot X, bring me Y, or will it be something different.
Lets use The Outside as a reference point. In case you don't know this was a game FD developed for Codemasters, and was "Canceled" in 2011.
"The player controls a CIA intelligence officer by the name of Jameson, who can use various hand-to-hand combat styles and weapons."
So hand to hand combat and weapons are already developed or in some form of development. We can for sure expect that some of this will be reused for the FPS expansion in season 3.
"Several key proprietary technologies, which Frontier has been developing for some time, make their debut in The Outsider and bring the sort of freedom of action first seen in Elite up to date"
So what are those key proprietary technologies, they have developed? difficult to say, maybe the PG of faces coming here in ED for the commander creation tool.
"The developers claim that the game abandons the traditional, prescriptive, mostly linear story of current generation games, and replaces it by simulating characters’ motivations and aims. This gives the player genuine freedom to change the story outcomes."
The Outsider was developed for a SP game, however the same game mechanic could be used in missions. If you take a mission, you will be able to change the outcome as it will be related to your actions during the mission.
"A new animation system is being developed for the game with the aim of giving a more realistic feel as it is adaptive and less scripted than typical animations."
So they already have the foundation of the animations nailed, as this was some years ago FD need to update it with the possibility to do EVA type of interaction and combat.
"The game was almost complete, save for final recorded dialogue and cut scenes. The actual game is fully playable from start to finish, and though not fully polished gameplay-wise, it was still looking good and close to being a damn fine cover-based shooter. There were some clever twists with disguises, and how the civilians behaved around you. Some really clever AI (or the illusion of cleverness if you like).
I know that, we sometimes laugh at the AI in Elite, however this is a different kind of AI needed, I for one are really looking forward to see how the NPCs around you will react, combined with the crowd mechanics we have seen in planet coaster we are heading towards interesting times for sure.
How will weightless mechanics work? Here we can't find much information, only a few pictures here and there. However the ships are designed to be operated in a weightless conditions, as there are not gravity generators in Elite, only by spinning things you can achieve gravity.
Looking at the cockpits you will see a lot of places you can grab for moving around in a weightless condition, so this mechanic must be well designed to work well if we need to use it to move around in our ships.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsider_(video_game)
https://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=448180
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/11/source-frontiers-canned-the-outsider-project-was-actually-t/
