Dr Wookie

Whew! A lot of questions ! The game is set in a persistent universe that evolves according to the combined actions of players... civilization will expand outwards, planets will go to war over newly discovered riches, over trading can cause glut or famine... really, this video describes it best, it's nothing if not ambitious! The main focus is on having adventures in your space ship; there will be planetary landings and other extravehicular activities in expansions. There will be a wide variety of ships fulfilling different roles: combat, trade barge, luxury passenger liner, bounty hunter, long range explorer etc.; you can own multiple ships, but only fly one at a time, with the others being stored somewhere. They do have different interiors, but most of the ships we've seen come from the same manufacturer with a particular house style. The ships that have been revealed in game so far include a tiny fighter and 2 km long capital ship that are not available to the player, a couple of all rounders (including the one I'm in), a small fighter, a heavy duty freighter, and big ship that was a trader but is now totally badass! Here is a video showing the newest ships There is no levelling as such, instead, you progress by earning cash and reputation. It's player skill that matters most. The first Elite was the first ever open world game, with the main influence being freedom; it was a space game because it was easiest to draw! I suppose the main overarching goal is to join the ranks of the Elite, by combat, wealth, or influence. There will be many missions, but no story mode. You can band together with other players, but most people you encounter are expected to be npcs, unless you arrange to meet up first.... space is big. One thing that sounds really promising is the ability to drag out a DIY space station kit that fills the hold of the largest player ship in the game... you can take it out to some uncharted system, deploy by an asteroid, and turn it into a base for further exploration.

It might be hard to imagine worse docking than the rush job at the end of the video, but you certainly can damage or even destroy your ship; docking has been a source of great tension for Elite players for nearly 30 years ! If you destroy your ship in normal mode, you can replace it by paying an insurance copay (currently 5%); if you can't afford it then it's back to the starter ship for you! There is also an iron man mode where one death removes you from the iron man universe for ever; however, you can continue that commander in normal mode if you want to . There are plans for you to be able to take out a loan in order to replace your ship, and you can pay back after a certain time, or do missions to work off the debt.

Agreed, of the many ways this has exceeded my expectations, the sound really stands out! I am playing on my 40" TV through my home theatre and it is glorious!

Yeah, I would never recommend buying either the alpha or beta phase for anyone who isn't already a loyal fan . At the current rate, retail level preorders could get in around October maybe, as there is still a LOT to be added and tweaked. It is due for release some time this year though (originally scheduled for March 2014, oops !) I am playing with a 360 gamepad, which works pretty well (don't let my terrible docking fool you, I rushed horribly). Other people use joysticks or full HOTAS systems. Keyboard and mouse are viable, but I think the devs mostly either use gamepad or joystick. Pretty much all controls are fully bindable, which is great. I borrowed an oculus rift from work, which gives and incredible experience; it's great to never need to touch the keyboard ! I've ordered DK2 on the strength of my DK1 experience

I bought Rocksmith 2014 back in November, having never played a guitar in my life. I absolutely love it! I also bought the 2011 version for extra songs. RS2014 was bundled with a righty guitar that I played just to see if it was something I was interested in keeping up. Since I am still going strong, I bought a left 2013 Gibson Les Paul LPJ, which is roughly a gazillion times better and easier for me to play. I also found out about justinguitar.com which has some really good lessons on the site and on YouTube... donations are welcome but voluntary. I have been going through the beginner courses, and picked up a few chords and how to play them well so far. Highly recommended for anyone learning with Rocksmith like I am

No, just a very enthusiastic backer... it was a game from my child hood that got me into space, and now I hunt black holes for NASA ! Totally, if you have $150 ! That gets you single player combat modules now, beta access on May 30, and free expansions for life. Or you could preorder the second beta phase ($75) or early access at the retail price ($50).

You get the sequel to one of the most influential games in history, which is responsible for me being where I am today: hunting black holes for NASA ! Here's an attention-grabbing video that in typically British understated style, was used to announce the composer . The game is Elite Dangerous, and was funded by British Kickstarter in January 2012. Now that the first stages of alpha are out (if you backed to an insane level like me ), it's already looking better than this video. We have had the single player alpha out since mid December. Here is a video I made (and there are hundreds of others) in one of the combat scenarios (though I was just flying around) Stealth will be a big part; sound doesn't travel in space but heat is visible, so gattling guns are stealth weapons! Here is my video of a scenario where I have to pick off 3 ships in an asteroid field, while avoiding the gaze of a much more powerful ship The original ELITE was a revelation when it was released in 1984. At a time where we expected 3 lives and a score, and games lasting 10 minutes, ELITE gave us 8 galaxies and games that could last for weeks. ELITE was the first open world game; there was no particular story or goal, we started with a spaceship and 100 credits, and explored, struck deals, and fought off pirates (earning bounties) and forged a bloody path to wealth and glory. Those valiant few who made it to the ELITE combat rating could send off for special gold badges, so long as they had proof. Like No Man's Sky, ELITE was created by a small team (just two students at Cambridge University, David Braben an Ian Bell). Also like No Man's Sky, ELITE was a technical marvel: it gave us 8 galaxies containing 2000 stars, each with a planet to fly to, a space station to trade with, and its own indigenous life (though we never saw it). This was all rendered into wireframe 3D (another gaming first), and procedurally generated; galaxies were all produced from a single seed value, and beauty contests were held to make sure the player could fly everywhere, and no system had very rude names. Oh, and this was all crammed into just 22k (probably smaller than this postl). David Braben established Frontier Games and released two sequels in the 90's, ans there have been rumours of a 4th game for as long as I can remember. Then last year, when the UK Kickstarter opened, a little game called Elite: Dangerous got funded, breaking the record for the achieving the highest target ever: 1.25 million GBP (about $2 million). It's a space sim from the daddy of all space sims! Nearly 1 year on everything seems pretty much on track, and I have been consistently blown away with what they've come up with. The core game (you in a ship) is going through alpha right now, with multiplayer coming next week, followed by beta testing and a "gamma" phase where all backers get access to the game, and the final polish can be applied. Planetary landings and walking around stations etc. (No Man's Sky territory) will come as expansions as they want to do them properly. This new game will model the entire Milky Way galaxy (about 400 billion stars) using procedural generation and hopefully clever ways to keep things interesting. The local star map will be painted onto the sky, so you can travel to any star you can see. What is more crazy, the nearest 100,000 stars or so will be hand crafted to match what we know, and every known exoplanet will be included. We will make our way as explorers, traders, pirates, bounty hunters, miners... basically doing anything we please (there are no classes, but different occupations call for different types of ships). There will be a single evolving universe, where the concerted actions of players can alter the fates of worlds. What has been really great has been the "Design Discussion Forum", where committed (crazy) backers get to interact with the developers during many aspects of the design. I'm one of those crazy backers, and one of the most significant achievements of this forum was to change in-system travel between planets etc. from a points-of-interest, "room" model to free flight. The response was absolute genius. Once Frontier decides that the topics have been sufficiently discussed, then they go into the Design Discussion Archive, which is available to anybody who wants to see it. This new game has brought together a passionate and vibrant community who have set up podcasts (e.g. laveradio.com), an audio drama (Escape Velocity, http://laveradio.com/EscapeVelocity/) and a substantial number have pledged to write official fiction. The first game came with a novella, the Dark Wheel, and there has been a strong tradition of supporting fiction since. Everyone should check it out!

Hence the angle, I'm glad it worked at least once . It looks like the Elite Dangerous marketing machine is starting to kick in now, since it is the cover game (and lead article) for this month's EDGE magazine: http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/e264-inside-the-rebirth-of-a-legend-frontier-developments-elite-dangerous/ Also, it is Number 1 in the Top Ten Games [Gametrailers] Can't Believe are Indie:

Thanks! I read somewhere that reading the books might spoil the game a bit, since it is a prequel. I'll hold off until I've finished the game, maybe

Hi guys, in the early days of video gaming, there were two big space sim franchises: Elite (1984) and Wing Commander(1990). Both franchises have new kickstarted games, Elite Dangerous and Star CItizen. Both seem to be true to their origins, which are very different, even though they have many aspects in common. In the Elite games, great care has been taken to keep the ships simple and practical. Back in the 80s this was a necessity, but several returning ships in Elite Dangerous have kept to the same basic lines. In the time of Elite, ships are available to the masses, kind of like how cars are today. The cockpits are very ergonomic and simple, so people can easily check their surroundings (the radar is a design icon), identify ships with bounties, scoop up cargo and manage their systems. The video below shows this stuff in action By contrast, Star Citizen seems like pure wish fulfillment, like the design teams were briefed by a gleeful 10 year old! The ships have loads of cool stuff on them, even if a lot of it doesn't do anything. The video below shows a really keen fan ogling the Constellation class ship, which is really impressive So the question for you guys is which do you prefer?

I have a huge pc gaming gap from about 1995 to 2010. I played WIng Commander I and II, but totally missed out on Privateer, Freelancer and Freespace. I was very jealous . I had a 25 MHz 386 SX so couldn't run flashy modern games This big Elite nerd is hunting black holes for NASA right now . Doesn't being paid for my dorkiness make me a geek? By the way, here is some really nice flying by someone other than me to show off the Elite combat

Here's one of my all time favourite video game tracks... Danny Elfman's theme to the original Fable. It starts off simple, then gets very layered Seeing that earlier Mass Effect video reminded me of this one which plays the first time you see the Citadel. It's a great blend between classical instruments and scifi synths. Finally here's a real earworm from Device 6. For some reason, it won't embed, but here's a link

@BigJKO: You got me, although the only thread before mine was a brief snark at the start of the kickstarter campaign, unless I missed something! @youmeyou: I'm not so sure about Star CItizen, but in the case of Elite Dangerous, dogfighting is only a small part of the experience. Sure, there's piracy (which is more geared towards intimidating someone into dumping their cargo because killing ships damages cargo) and bounty hunting. However, the two other mainstays of the Elite franchise are trading and exploration; there will be 100 billion star systems to explore, with handsome rewards for details of new systems and mining opportunies. We will also be able to buy luxury passenger liners as well, maybe engaging in a spot of espionage. This thread isn't supposed to be me banging on about Elite though, honest ! For what it's worth, the dog fighting is very fun, with the devs taking steps to eliminate the endless circling. (but I won't go into details here)

I think F2P could be a viable and fair mechanic in the right hands. The key is that it should unlock the icing, rather than replace the cake. Things like cosmetic enhancements are fine and dandy. Also, if you want to buy a permanent advantage in the game, that's fine too; not a fan of e.g. boosting for a particular match though.

I played through Episodes 1 and 2 yesterday afternoon . I really love the style and atmosphere, as well as the writing. Episode 2 could have done with more game though . Major Episode 2 spoiler: Has anyone read the books? I'm very tempted to give them a try now

The Steam Winter Sale prompted me to buy a few new things, and also go through stuff I had already bought. As a result, I recently finished Gone Home, and sort-of-finished The Stanley Parable (who knows really?). I bought Saints Row 4 in the latest sale, forcing me to play through Saints Row The Third that I I bought ages ago; ridiculously over the top, janky fun. On the iPad, I bought and romped through The Room (and Epilogue), as well as Device 6. The four short games were perfect little snacks that tried out very different ideas; I can see myself being drawn more to these little indie games in the future

I played Gone Home in a single sitting over the Holidays, and absolutely loved it! I think I am pretty much the target market though, since I am a big fan of adventure and mystery, and am of a similar age to the protagonist. I poked around pretty much everywhere I could, learning as much as possible about each person in the family from the clues dotted about. I also wallowed in nostalgia for the 90s: X-files on VHS, but also band tapes and zines. It was long enough to do everything it wanted (and boy did it succeed for me), but it never got tired. One of my favourite games of 2013

Which panels, do you mean the heat vents and hardpoint covers? Or the thrusters and shield generators? They all work and do things . Personally, I prefer the Elite way of doing things, and am a backer of Elite Dangerous to alpha level (and a bit beyond ). From what I've experienced, the cockpit of the starter ship (the sidewinder, which is the second smallest ship in the picture) has been very well thought out, and it just feels like a really good place to be. I think Star Citizen looks really interesting, and I will probably buy it, but haven't yet backed it . I started investigating it properly a couple of months ago, so don't know quite as much about it. Thanks for the responses so far everyone, even if you don't think you're the intended audience ! Gormongous, I'm not sure about Star Citizen, but certainly in Elite Dangerous there are different factions (based loosely on the ideals of the Roman Empire, modern USA, and modern Europe) with very diverse societies. These produce highly distinctive ship designs, with the Imperial ships being more elegant, flowing and curvaceous.

You're welcome Wow, that raises so many questions! Does that make me a bad person? It's the curse of scientific curiosity

Why can't it be both !?The sucking is called gravity, so if you can convince it to suck at one end, then you could probably coax it to Earth! The selfish meanie would nom everything and keep it all for itself. A neutron star on the other hand... would generously bathe us in deadly radiation. So that's probably a non-starter too (thanks health and safety weenies)

Oops, I didn't see this had been updated recently before starting my own thread sorry! Last I checked, the most recent post was 2012. I am an alpha backer (with access to the design discussion forum), and am really enjoying what I have played so far: various single player combat scenarios. Multiplayer alpha should start this week... I am dry excited, even if a bit crap!

There is no doubt about the existence of black holes... there are stars orbiting the big one at the center of our galaxy that are so close that it can't be anything else! I look at binary star systems that contain either a neutron star or black hole, and these rip material off the other star. There are substantial differences in the properties between systems containing neutron stars and those containing black holes, so it's pretty clear that the black holes have no surface. Hawking's presentation details theoretical problems with the event horizon; he presented one suggestion, but other alternatives are available. That's the trouble with theory about the event horizon: we will never be able to perform experiments to confirm theory, so I personally think it's a waste of time and talent. The theorists worry about a so called information paradox that does not exist in practice... Black holes are thought to emit "Hawking radiation" that may cause black holes to evaporate; however, astrophysical black holes are all too big to evaporate by many orders of magnitude, and black holes that can evaporate are too small to suck anything in!

In the current alpha build, the speed is directly tied to the thruster power because the full flight model has not yet been implemented. However, the full game should see you floating along after turning off engines. I think they are planning to have planetary landings/ big game hunting etc out within a year or so of public release. However, they are taking an "it's ready when it's ready" approach, so that could slip.

Wow, never played it, but it looks very Julian Gollop! I loved Chaos, and later Lords of Chaos, and the description by the OP made me think of these games.

I would have thought so too! Yep, Elite can be played online in single player mode (with the evolving universe but no troublesome humans), or offline .