Elite: Frontier kickstarter

[Sketch]

Classic video game Elite is getting a 21st Century makeover.
David Braben, one of the creators of the original, is seeking £1.25m ($2m) via Kickstarter to fund the updated version.
The updated version will involve the same mix of interstellar travel, trading, piracy and spaceships as the original 8-bit game.
Those who pledge cash to the project will also get a chance to shape the development of the updated version.
"Elite is a game that I've wanted to come back to for a very, very long time," Mr Braben told the BBC. "It's the sort of game that I would very much like to play today."

I never played the original, but I can assume this is a good thing right?

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...lite-dangerous

[gundato]

I'll be interested in how this goes. Most of the "remake an old game" KSes have been about "forgotten" genres. The X series is alive and well and (arguably) more popular than Elite ever was.

[sabrage]

1.2mil without so much as a proof of concept? Lots of luck, "Elite: Dangerous".

Also, this:

Looking at all the high quality games we at Frontier have produced, from RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 to Kinectimals to LostWinds to Disneyland Adventures, I think the risk of non-delivery is small.

[TillEulenspiegel]

You might want to look up who David Braben is.

[kwyjibo]

Braben is the second most avuncular man in games development after Charles Cecil.

[RobF]

You might want to look up who David Braben is.

*puts hand up*

He's this guy isn't he?

[gundato]

*puts hand up*

He's this guy isn't he?

If it is, I have to say: his ideas aren't all that bad. Not great, but considering the inevitable alternatives, they seem downright reasonable.

[RobF]

Your idea of reasonable is vastly different to mine, man. Personally, I *like* my consumer rights not to be stamped on by rich men but each to their own!

[gundato]

Your idea of reasonable is vastly different to mine, man. Personally, I *like* my consumer rights not to be stamped on by rich men but each to their own!

In a perfect world, there would be no oversight whatsoever and we could re-register steam keys whenever the hell we want.

In practice, the publishers (and distributors) won't like that. He proposes ideas that are fairly reasonable. Maybe a bit too extreme in some cases, but all the ideas are pretty decent and actually give us more "rights". And a dedicated rental service for PC games would be great (Pay 5-10 bucks to rent Modern Warfare 5 for the weekend to continue the story, return it since you don't care about the MP).

And the "sell partial game you can upgrade to full later' idea is actually really good and has been used on the PSN a few times. I picked up the latest Fight Night game for dirt cheap since all I wanted was the botmatches.

But this is DEFINITELY a different subject (and one that has been discussed ad nauseum in the past).

[trjp]

If I throw him £5, what can he do in 32K? :)

also - which other game on Kickstarter would make the BBC front page THAT FAST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20165344

[RobF]

Maybe, but it's kinda relevant if we're talking about who's asking for over a million Earth pounds to make a game with no pitch video, no concept art or anything beyond a paragraph or two pointing out they once made a few similar games many years ago and could do it again but now with more graphics.

This is a Kickstarter with even less of a concept and less information than Loot Drop managed to put together.

[trjp]

Maybe, but it's kinda relevant if we're talking about who's asking for over a million Earth pounds to make a game with no pitch video, no concept art or anything beyond a paragraph or two pointing out they once made a few similar games many years ago.

Esp as Frontier was shit.

Seriously tho - perhaps he's actually going to see what people want, because much as we all loved Elite in the day - expectations now are RADICALLY different.

Most people would expect a 4X game and - well - most space 4X games aren't Elite and shouldn't be Elite.

In fact when you boil-down Elite, it's hard to see what to do with it because it was VERY simplistic - so I'd like to know what he's got in mind because - well - I have Drox Operative and FTL :)

[sabrage]

You might want to look up who David Braben is.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. Kinectimals. LostWinds. and Disneyland Adventures

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[RobF]

@trjp

I don't know! I'd like to think you find out what people want before asking them for a million quid though?

But I dunno. I don't know what he could do to make a modern Elite so special beyond really making Elite+a bit shinier (thinking along the lines of what we did with Jet Set Willy Online, keep it as same-as-you-can but whack in online functionality). Time has hardly stood still and what was once a revelation in code is pretty much a Facebook game now so can having everything server based + pretty graphics really cut it anyway in a world where Eve, Drifter and lord knows how many other variations, riffs and extensions exist?

Take out the name Elite, take out Braben from the equation and are we really left with anything that you can't get elsewhere? I don't know, genuinely. I can't see it but maybe that's because I'm not looking at this right.

[frightlever]

People clamored for a new Elite for years. Apparently he was WORKING on a new Elite for years. I think if he was able to deliver a new Elite, one worth our time, he would have by now.

Also, Sir You Are Being Hunted got mentioned in that BBC story. So that's cool.

[agentorange]

Apparently he was WORKING on a new Elite for years. I think if he was able to deliver a new Elite, one worth our time, he would have by now.

How does this logic? Would he just imaginate it out of thin air? Or do you think publishers would jump on the idea of a sandbox, near-simulator space trading game?

[caljohnston]

I'll be interested in how this goes. Most of the "remake an old game" KSes have been about "forgotten" genres. The X series is alive and well and (arguably) more popular than Elite ever was.

X sucks compared to Frontier though.

[soldant]

X sucks compared to Frontier though.

I think that's a fair statement to make in some ways. X tries to do way too much and vastly over complicates things by having an absolutely abysmal interface and stupidly enforcing its crappy lore on the player (really, call them minutes or hours, don't make new terms). But it strives for a level of complexity above Frontier, which was fairly simple. Frontier was great because you could go anywhere, including down onto planets. But it was also a vast empty sea of nothing in many cases. Compare that to Freelancer, which was too shallow but nailed the exploration part.

People clamored for a new Elite for years. Apparently he was WORKING on a new Elite for years. I think if he was able to deliver a new Elite, one worth our time, he would have by now.

Except a direct remake of Elite would probably be crap, because Elite was very simplistic and we generally expect more substance from games these days. I'd much rather a well crafted universe like Freelancer with some of the complexity (but not the interface!) from the X series.

[c-Row]

Esp as Frontier was shit.

Hand in your batch please.

[agentorange]

Most people would expect a 4X game and - well - most space 4X games aren't Elite and shouldn't be Elite.

In fact when you boil-down Elite, it's hard to see what to do with it because it was VERY simplistic - so I'd like to know what he's got in mind because - well - I have Drox Operative and FTL :)

Why the fuck would people expect a 4x game? Are all space games now days only allowed to of the 4x variety? And you call Elite simple and then bring up FTL? FTL is the fucking Oregon Trail in space, it's not even a rogue-like.