Elite: Frontier kickstarter

[Harlander]

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.

Yeah, it worked pretty well for Doom, too.

[mrki]

I want to love this and I really do wish him the best of luck with the project as I've lost weeks playing all of the elite games, but there's almost no information on the kickstarter page. There's only a bit on procedural generation which I'm sure he's mastered, and the bit about networking code which I don't care about.

The concept of elite in itself is solid, though. I don't see the 4x aspect in it, it's more about the exploration and freedom.

[Feldspar]

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.

I'm being to suspect some kind of shadowy link between RPS and the BBC, a good number of the BBC PC games stories seem to feature quotes by a certain Mr Meer, and now this. Either that or BBC correspondents know where to find the best gaming news.

On topic, this looks just like a sneaky way of polling public opinion on the game, don't be surprised if he takes the kickstarter down and then restarts it when/if he has something to show.

[b0rsuk]

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

In a perfect world, there would be no Steam.

[Kelron]

I know Elite holds a special place for a lot of people here, but I'm really not convinced Braben can deliver on this. He's made periodic claims to be working on Elite 4 for years, yet doesn't even have some concept art or a screenshot for the kickstarter?

The Outsider had publisher backing and was eventually canned two years after it was supposed to be released. I remember reading previews for an Elite-style space game in PC Gamer years ago that I thought he was part of (though I may be wrong). He and his development studio haven't produced anything notable since Frontier, and I find it hard to blame that entirely on unreceptive publishers.

[rsherhod]

In a perfect world, there would be no Steam.

In a perfect world, there would be no need for Steam.

[Internet]

It was certainly a bold decision to go up against Star Citizen, especially when Star Citizen has very impressive tech demos. In all honesty, I'll be surprised if this one makes it. It has a big name, and but Braben hasn't had a recognizable PC hit in a while (Raspberry Pi is pretty cool, but I think it targets a different audience). It asks for a ton of money, has terrible tier rewards (70 pounds to access a forum?), has no video, has no FAQ, and is competing in genre which saw games with actual tech demos fail (Skyjacker and Nexus 2). Also, if it has been worked on by a skunk-works style team, where is the concept art, let alone game engine?

[Antimensch]

Bad timing. Hope the Updates will be fine so it can make it. I mean, srsly, it's Elite. Maybe the text is enough in the end. Who knows?

[Kadayi]

People have hankered after an updated (and working) Elite for years and Braben has done zip about it (aside from trade of the goodwill peole have towards it). Now suddenly kickstarter is here and he interested again? Also £1.2 million seems like a hell of a lot of money for what essentially is going to be a reskin by the sounds of it. I suspect most of that cash will be paying for a new house in the country or some such, whilst a couple of code monkeys knock it out over a long weekend.

I think I'll pass until there's something more substantial than a logo on show.

[Jockie]

Simon Roth (the guy behind Maia) is a former employee of Frontier and his twitter feed is currently straining not to explode and unveil apparent management incompetence behind the scenes at Frontier. A lot of other former employees appear to feel the same way.

[Antimensch]

Also £1.2 million seems like a hell of a lot of money for what essentially is going to be a reskin by the sounds of it. I suspect most of that cash will be paying for a new house in the country or some such, whilst a couple of code monkeys knock it out over a long weekend.

You know that this is... uhm... stupid, right? 1.2 million isn't that much. For one person, sure. But for a company? Peanuts if you have to pay a... uhm, let's say 40 man team for a year or so. Just because so many projects aren't asking for much... ah, well, forget about it. People like you may never understand an industry.

[mike2R]

Guessing this is mainly a marketing thing - Frontier Developments is not a backroom operation (I know an animator who works there). I'm sure they have access to the finance if they need it (and presumably it will be mostly traditionally financed, 1.2mil isn't exactly a big budget).

Also: yay! Elite and Frontier consumed far to much of my youth.

Checks kickstarter page.

"Multiplayer"

Fuck!

[Moraven]

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).

I liked the concept Microsoft tried with Fable 2 (and think 3) where you could buy the game in chapters. It was basically a pay to progress further into the content. Lowers the barrier to get people to try your game beyond a demo and allows people on a budget to buy the game in chunks. Kinda feel once Counterstrike and Day of Defeat had their own releases Half Life got that separation. I had originally bought Half Life for the simple fact to play CS beta (2.0 or around there is when I started).

[Kadayi]

You know that this is... uhm... stupid, right? 1.2 million isn't that much. For one person, sure. But for a company? Peanuts if you have to pay a... uhm, let's say 40 man team for a year or so. Just because so many projects aren't asking for much... ah, well, forget about it. People like you may never understand an industry.

Thank you for your patronising post. The kickstarter shows nothing as regards what will be delivered. If it literally is going to be a reskin, it's not going to require 40 people or take a year.

[RakeShark]

Indeed, I want more space sims, and would throw money at it, but at least give me a reason. Tell me what the hell I'd be getting?

[trjp]

Thank you for your patronising post. The kickstarter shows nothing as regards what will be delivered. If it literally is going to be a reskin, it's not going to require 40 people or take a year.

I didn't think you could have dug yourself in deeper there but you managed it - well done!

[Kadayi]

I didn't think you could have dug yourself in deeper there but you managed it - well done!

Not to put to fine a point on it trjp, but if you think anyone here remotely cares for your forum meta commentary you're much mistaken (least of all me). I suggest you familarise yourself with the forum rules and quit quoting near enough every other post I make with some personal aside as if stalking my every word is somehow perfectly normal, and isn't in reality the behaviour of a fucking creeper tbh. Bizarre as this concept maybe, it's entirely possible to disagree with something someone says on an occasion and not view that as grounds to wage some insidious campaign against them. Most people (though sadly not all) on this forum seem perfectly capable of parsing the person from the argument before them. Try giving it a go you might like it.

TLDR: get over your baggage, and move on already.

[b0rsuk]

Yeah, it worked pretty well for Doom, too.

As much as I'd like to say it's true - it's not. They have abandoned this strategy with DooM2. DooM2 was sold due to D1 hype. People were playing the shit out of D1 shareware, even multiplayer. Striking the right balance between "not enough" and "too fun to buy a full version" can be tricky.

[peschiNL]

if Bell was involved I might consider backing it.

Braben's Frontier games left much to be desired, clunky, bloated and missing the point why Elite was so successful. It was first and foremost a simple space combat game with trade thrown in, in an seemingly openended universe. Main problem I have with all the "sequels" and "spiritual successors" is that added too much stuff, so you didnt have enough time to actually do the fun part wich was blowing up ships and making money.

so Im on the wait-and-see side. meanwhile Im eagerly awaiting Bell's kickstarter, maybe Darkness falls? http://www.christianpinder.com/games/

[Internet]

if Bell was involved I might consider backing it.

Braben's Frontier games left much to be desired, clunky, bloated and missing the point why Elite was so successful. It was first and foremost a simple space combat game with trade thrown in, in an seemingly openended universe. Main problem I have with all the "sequels" and "spiritual successors" is that added too much stuff, so you didnt have enough time to actually do the fun part wich was blowing up ships and making money.

so Im on the wait-and-see side. meanwhile Im eagerly awaiting Bell's kickstarter, maybe Darkness falls? http://www.christianpinder.com/games/

Shutting down a fan game is pretty scummy.