I am not sure the multiplayer was done. I think it was done in house, but that is a big difference to out in the wild. There have clearly been problems and things moved from client to server as a result. Problems = delays = moving staff from x to y and leaving x on the cutting room floor. What is needed now is patience to see if FD can incrementally add enough content to satisfy the buyers.
What's the official word on the DDF/DDA?
- Thread starter Sanderson
- Start date
One of the reasons I backed was that we were lead to believe that (at least sometime during the KS) 'key technologies' like multiplayer were 'done', and there was 'skunk-works' like development stretching back over the previous decade. We now know multiplayer is still an issue, and that most of the development really started after the Kickstarter ended. Maybe (probably?) there were numerous false starts and other issues (what did happen to 'The Outsider' and it's technology?)
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Anyway, surely we can all bask in the DDF's triumph that is the Frame Shift Drive and super-cruise! The non-simulation playing masses must lionise us for that!
If I had the opportunity to invest in the game then I believe I would have back in 2007. I would of invested back then because I knew that they will release a new version of Elite. I am very disappointed that they have not released a offline version, but that will come in time. We all know that they will make a lot of money selling elite offline mode because not everybody has very good connections. Maybe they will release it after Wings as been added, but then again thats another marketing promo.
If I could invest in FD now I would, not just because of Elite, but because of the vision they have for this game.
And in retrospect, so was the heat us nonbelievers were getting.
I also find it pretty fun that the DDA is now hidden in the "off-topic" part of the forum.
I find it disturbing. How can it be "off topic"? It's not even part of the Elite forums. Ridiculous.
My suspicious cynical nature concludes that they deliberately hid it, unless you do a search. Things like this are what erodes my confidence in Frontier.
I'd just re-watched that KS video in response to someone else, it's Igor chasing David, not Sandro.
Anyway, in that video the words demonstrating 'multiplayer over the network' are used - so FDev's LAN, not t'net. There was another video AFAIR around Alpha 3 at a conference of some kind where David discusses MP over the internet catching them by surprise, but I cant remember what vid and what site..
*Edit* I've just arrived in the 'Bolonii' system - which is probably what I'm talkin'
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Meh, I don't think it means that much, it's just a fun coincidence to me. I doubt they were actively trying to hide it, they probably just didn't want to create more forum bloat with a new "prerelease archive" section and just put everything into whatever they saw first.
At the time it was a way for backers to participate usefully in the initial design process and it served that purpose. No plan survives contact with the enemy however.
Software development works this way because software requires multiple development passes over time to produce a satisfactory result. There is never 1 to 1 mapping between the initial design and the eventual result except in trivially easy cases, developers can't deliver it and players wouldn't want it in practice.
As you put stuff up on the screen it becomes more real to everyone, new ideas occur, things that looked good on paper look impossible to deliver in their original form, unexpected connections between features throw up unexpected requirements for change, and so on.
The design discussions have done their job, there's a more dynamic development process happening now. Adding features that are judged to complement and add value to what's already there, no doubt with the original design documents in mind. Balancing and refining existing features using limited staff and resources that are always in demand somewhere else too.
I realise this is stating the obvious. The only way to truly appreciate it though is to plan a program in collaboration with its potential users, code it, and then see where the process naturally takes you. You might recognise some common features with where we are now in ED.
Software development works this way because software requires multiple development passes over time to produce a satisfactory result. There is never 1 to 1 mapping between the initial design and the eventual result except in trivially easy cases, developers can't deliver it and players wouldn't want it in practice.
As you put stuff up on the screen it becomes more real to everyone, new ideas occur, things that looked good on paper look impossible to deliver in their original form, unexpected connections between features throw up unexpected requirements for change, and so on.
The design discussions have done their job, there's a more dynamic development process happening now. Adding features that are judged to complement and add value to what's already there, no doubt with the original design documents in mind. Balancing and refining existing features using limited staff and resources that are always in demand somewhere else too.
I realise this is stating the obvious. The only way to truly appreciate it though is to plan a program in collaboration with its potential users, code it, and then see where the process naturally takes you. You might recognise some common features with where we are now in ED.
This is exacly how I feel about it all too. I get depressed reading through the DDA these days because I still remember the energy and excitement each new proposal and the player-dev feedback that went on during that time. The project fired our imaginations, just like the older titles did. We bought into Brabens enthusiastic dev diaries and the constant feedback and updates from the devs.
Today its like trying to get blood out of a stone. The road map is this mythical taboo subject it seems, the newsletters have very little news, and dev responses are often one sentence long that reveal pretty much nothing.
The energy and enthusiasm seems to have dried up. The ambition too.
I doubt I'll ever trust nor back another kickstarter project ever again. My own fault, I'm old enough to have known better. I guess the name Braben and Elite made me throw caution to the wind when I jumped into this project and handed over good money on the vision that was being pitched.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy parts of the game, mainly because my fun comes from doing things to the extreme, but I doubt there is any longevity here for me if some real depth and challenge isnt on the cards. I'm still looking at ED as being in some sort of extended gamma stage, and by the summer some of that DDF ambition will be there for us to enjoy. But more in hope than anything else, unfortunately.
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