Elite: Frontier kickstarter

[gundato]

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.

Yeah. That is why I didn't really go into the shareware games.

The most recent Fight Night came out a few years back (and probably flopped ;p) but the model of "Pay for MP, SP, or botmatches" was perfect. Gave me exactly what I wanted and let me save a decent amount of cash.

I think Starhawk (which also flopped :p) is doing something similar by having SP and MP components.

[trjp]

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.

I said people might/would expect that - I didn't say it should be that. At it's core, Elite was deadly simple (it wasn't dis-similar to FTL in it's approach tbh) - but no-one would expect anything like that - esp not if it's costing $2M!!!

The lack of ANY other information on it leaves me wondering why people are backing it - apart from because they're sheep :)

[trjp]

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.

The only reason you feel I'm stalking you (and I'm not) is that you keep shoving your views into threads and when someone points-out how wrong you are, you aggressively dig deeper and then start throwing EVERY logical fallacy there is in to keep people dancing.

Tip: when you have to rely on 'the rules' to win your argument - you really need to step away from the screen tho :)

[soldant]

The only reason you feel I'm stalking you (and I'm not) is that you keep shoving your views into threads and when someone points-out how wrong you are, you aggressively dig deeper and then start throwing EVERY logical fallacy there is in to keep people dancing.

Wait, where has he done any of that? Not to derail the thread too much, but it sounds like you might be making stuff up. He's allowed to voice his opinion ("shoving"? Really?) on whatever thread he chooses. If you disagree with him that's fine, but sometimes you sound vindictive about it.

[Kadayi]

The only reason you feel I'm stalking you (and I'm not) is that you keep shoving your views into threads and when someone points-out how wrong you are, you aggressively dig deeper and then start throwing EVERY logical fallacy there is in to keep people dancing.

So you're not stalking me, you're just haranguing me because you disagree with my opinions in other threads? Yeah, you're not a creeper (much).

Tip: when you have to rely on 'the rules' to win your argument - you really need to step away from the screen tho :)

You mean these rules? :-

1. Be excellent to each other.

2. That means not insulting each other.

3. No, really, it's possible to disagree without insults. Just don't do it.

4. Please use English. I know, but our Foreign is pretty shockingly bad.

5. Please report spam or innappropriate behaviour using the tools provided.

Yeah, they're all about 'winning'.

[peschiNL]

Shutting down a fan game is pretty scummy.

It is. Specially because the fangame was made with Bell's support.
btw if you want to play Elite, just download Oolite, a very good replica of the original game: http://www.oolite.org/

[Space Indaver]

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!

*snigger*

Quite. Still, I'm not sure I can turn this guy down. After all, I did pirate/borrow all his other games.

[b0rsuk]

Like it or not, this project is getting funded. Apparently his reputation is enough to raise a mountain of money in a matter of days, despite his anti-gamer stance.

[johnki]

I may have had a bit of fun laughing at the FAQ after RobF pointed it out on Twitter.

Other than that, I'm probably not funding this.

[Novel]

Can someone please, please nail down for me the difference between Star citizen and elite:dangerous? I give you this interview:http://www.pcgamesn.com/article/inte...terribly-upset, and from the sound of it Elite could potentially be played as an MMO. So, single purchase, first person, detailed economy, etc. The only apparent difference to the uninitiated like me is that elite is procedurally generated, and less likely to have running around inside your ship which both games could certainly do with. Unless more differences emerge, i suggest the Elite: dangerous Kickstarter is scrapped and instead he throws in his support for star citizen and combine the best of both games. Hopefully you can address this appalling state of affairs :P.

[Unaco]

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.

Where did you possibly get the idea that the game is just going to be a 'reskin'? Braben has been talking about, and planning, Elite 4 for many, many years. And the KS mentions making an Elite that pushes modern tech in the same way the original did in the 1980s. They are aiming for much, much more than just a 'reskin' of the original. 1.2 mil isn't that much for a decent sized studio to make a game... but it's a bit grasping to claim he's just going to buy a house with it. The KS has been updated now, and there's a fair bit of info there.

Anyway... it's 5 days in, 1/2 million pledged... I reckon it's going to make it. Might even chip in some shekels myself come payday. Would love a modern Elite... the X games have done well, but never quite got all of the aspects down pat, never quite hit all of the right spots. So to see it done by (one of) the original people behind the game, and done right, as a modern game, would be terrific.

[c-Row]

This week's Kickstarter Katchup raised an interesting point everybody seems to ignore - the Doublefine Kickstarter didn't show anything from the promised game either and relied heavily on "Look at us, we were huge once and you loved our stuff of old, so please give us your money". Right now, the Elite KS has more information about the promised game than Doublefine's.

[RobF]

This week's Kickstarter Katchup raised an interesting point everybody seems to ignore - the Doublefine Kickstarter didn't show anything from the promised game either and relied heavily on "Look at us, we were huge once and you loved our stuff of old, so please give us your money". Right now, the Elite KS has more information about the promised game than Doublefine's.

I don't think anyone missed it or ignored it, it's just that it's not really much of a point. In the past 10 years, Schafer has delivered Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Costume Quest, Stacking, Trenches and Once Upon A Monster. Where even the licensed game at the end there is a world apart from your usual licensed fare. And whilst they've all explored different genres, it's fairly safe to say they've all clearly been held together by a common thread of what you'd expect from Tim Schafer and crucially, a studio ran by Tim Schafer. Could you imagine these games existing without his guiding hand?

Now compare that to Frontier and specifically Braben's creations. Can you say the same? Would Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 be anything without Sawyer? Would Lost Winds be a thing without Burgess? Kinectimals, the same plus throw in Dowie et al? Is there any such thing as something you could identify as "a Frontier game"? What was the last game Braben had a hand in proper? Take Braben out the equation for these games and is there any question as to whether they could be made elsewhere or not?

That aside, Double Fine promised to write a game and film a documentary so that even if things did go tits up, there'd be something the backers could walk away with. And asked for a magnitude less money than the two million dollars that Braben is asking for.

I'm not even sure how you can realistically draw that parallel. Now, David Crane's Kickstarter... that I could understand. Both running on a similar principle with similar "remember me?" pitches and nothing of use nor worth truly pitched and asking for large amounts of wonga on the back of that. Neither he nor Braben having delivered anything notable in over 20 years. That'd be vastly more accurate a comparison yet people don't afford Crane the benefit of the doubt they do for Braben. Why is that?

[Internet]

This week's Kickstarter Katchup raised an interesting point everybody seems to ignore - the Doublefine Kickstarter didn't show anything from the promised game either and relied heavily on "Look at us, we were huge once and you loved our stuff of old, so please give us your money". Right now, the Elite KS has more information about the promised game than Doublefine's.

The one point that everyone seems to ignore is how completely wrong that is. Doublefine explicitly acknowledged the possibility of releasing a failed game, so they also promised a video series that would document their failure and ensure that backers still had something of value. A far better parallel would be Project Eternity, but they said "Hey, remember those games we've been making for our entire careers? We want to keep making them."

[RakeShark]

That and DoubleFine asked for $400k, where as Braben asked for ~$2 million. The initial investment amount tends to dictate the amount of information needed to make a decision on such a project.

[Kadayi]

Where did you possibly get the idea that the game is just going to be a 'reskin'? Braben has been talking about, and planning, Elite 4 for many, many years. And the KS mentions making an Elite that pushes modern tech in the same way the original did in the 1980s. They are aiming for much, much more than just a 'reskin' of the original. 1.2 mil isn't that much for a decent sized studio to make a game... but it's a bit grasping to claim he's just going to buy a house with it. The KS has been updated now, and there's a fair bit of info there.

Because he's showing zip, nadda, nothing, nix. If Elite's been in the planning for so long them something of it must surely exist beyond a few bits of concept art? Also in truth I don't think £1.2 million is remotely enough to do much more than a reskin at the end of the day.

[c-Row]

Because he's showing zip, nadda, nothing, nix. If Elite's been in the planning for so long them something of it must surely exist beyond a few bits of concept art? Also in truth I don't think £1.2 million is remotely enough to do much more than a reskin at the end of the day.

£1.2 million is the same amount Chris Roberts aimed for with Star Citizen, so I guess that will just be a reskin of Freelancer then? (not that I would mind...)

[Kadayi]

£1.2 million is the same amount Chris Roberts aimed for with Star Citizen, so I guess that will just be a reskin of Freelancer then? (not that I would mind...)

He has tech in place.

[c-Row]

He has tech in place.

According to the Elite KS page, so has Braben ("[...] key high-risk components (like networking) are already in place.").

[Kadayi]

According to the Elite KS page, so has Braben ("[...] key high-risk components (like networking) are already in place.").

'According to' isn't quite the same as demonstrating. Still clearly you're unable to see that distinction.