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Elite's new progress vid demonstrates scale, stimulates imagination
Frontier's twelfth progress diary video for Elite: Dangerous has been released. The six-minute clip focuses on Alpha 4 and features Frontier boss David Braben offering hearty thanks to backers whom he says have been crucial to design discussions on topics like the new supercruise travel system. If you haven't seen any footage of Elite's galactic map yet, the video is worth a look, as it shows a zoom down from the Milky Way to a single star. Braben says that this scale is also apparent as you're crossing systems or watching one of the game's gas giants grow from a spec in the distance to a view-blocking monstrosity. The massive scale is "only a backdrop for the game, but it really appeals to me," Braben explains. "This or something very like it is really out there, whether it's the rings of Saturn or some gas giant that we've only seen as a blip on some graph." Click past the cut for the full clip. [Thanks Cosmos and Cotic!]
Make My MMO: May 11 - May 17, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding, Shards Online officially launched its Kickstarter and revealed its gameplay to the world via its first livestream event. Some other crowdfunding stuff probably happened too, but really, we're all Shards all the time in these parts, and we'll be your best friend if you go give Citadel some money so that we can eventually make a Massively server filled with love and world domination. In case objectivity is your thing, we've included the rest of the week's crowdfunding news after the cut.
Elite's Alpha 4 is here, beta starts May 30th
Development on Elite: Dangerous is moving right along, as evidenced by this week's release of the space sim sandbox's Alpha 4 client. The latest patch represents the final Alpha phase, and it "vastly expands scale, scope, and depth over previous alpha versions," according to a Frontier press release. Elite's already massive universe just got bigger, and the devs have released two additional travel methods to assist with traversing it. Hyperspace jumps are now a thing as is super-cruise for accelerated in-system jaunts. Alpha 4 also introduces inter-system trading via a dynamically evolving market. [Source: Frontier press release]
Braben on Elite's GTA successors and friendly competition with Star Citizen
Space sims are in vogue again, thanks in large part to crowdfunded darlings like Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen. Prior to the past couple of years, though, the genre was basically dead in the water aside from occasional indie gems. Elite mastermind David Braben says the lull happened because game devs and publishers lost sight of the freedom that defines space sims. "The true successors to Elite and Frontier were the Grand Theft Auto games. For me, the setting is secondary to the feeling of freedom," Braben recently told Tech Radar. "The success of the Elite series has always been based on the freedom that players are given. It's all about individual choice in an open world -- you don't select 'pirate' or 'bounty hunter' or 'trader' from a list, you simply do what you want and events will unfold accordingly." Braben also addresses the "friendly competition" between Elite and Star Citizen, saying that he and Chris Roberts are "both alpha backers of each other's games and both want the other to succeed."
EVE Evolved: Eleven years of EVE Online
It seems that every year another few MMOs have closed their doors or convert to free-to-play business models to stay afloat. EVE Online has always enjoyed a level of insulation from these market trends elsewhere in the genre, and just last week on May 6th it celebrated its 11th year of year-on-year subscription growth. Following on from my previous column celebrating the EVE Evolved column's sixth year of operation, this week I'll be summarising all the major EVE news stories throughout the year. It's been a big year for EVE fans, one that many of us can be proud to have been a part of. The EVE community turned its financial wizardry toward the real world and raised over $190,000 US in relief aid following a typhoon hitting the Philippines, and CCP even built a monument dedicated to the community. Several massive player battles once again put EVE on the global media's radars, and the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions revitalised the game for explorers and PvPers alike. But not everyone can hold his heads up high this year, with details of more cyberbullying within EVE coming to light and several players being banned for defacing the EVE monument in Reykjavik. In this anniversary retrospective, I summarise all the major EVE news from the year in one place and take a look at what the future may hold for the EVE universe.
Elite newsletter talks star systems and an unofficial dangerous rating
It's Friday, which must mean that there's an Elite: Dangerous newsletter winging its way across the universe toward my inbox. Yep, there it is now. Issue #22 covers everything from Pilots Federation lore and rankings to capsules on the three power blocs (Empire, Federation, Alliance) you'll encounter whilst adventuring through ED's vast virtual universe. There's also a blurb about the five star systems centered around the Bootes constellation as well as a shout-out to Commander Starwind, who is the first player to reach the coveted -- and currently unofficial -- "dangerous" rating with over 2000 confirmed alpha kills.
Massively's hands-on with EVE Valkyrie on the Oculus Rift DK2
At last year's EVE Fanfest, the press and attendees got a rare glimpse into something other than CCP's major IPs -- a virtual reality tech demo produced by a handful of developers during their down time. Originally codenamed EVR, this VR dogfighter on the original Oculus Rift development kit drew a surprising amount of attention and went on to win several awards at E3. It's now been a year since that project first sprouted legs, and last week at EVE Fanfest 2014 it sprouted wings as well. Now named EVE Valkyrie, what started as a side-project has become one of CCP's key intellectual properties and the poster-child for virtual reality gaming. The game's success now ultimately relies on the adoption of VR tech and the appeal of its gameplay, both of which are still open questions at this point. I got some hands-on time with the latest build of Valkyrie during Fanfest to see how the game and the technology that powers it have come along in the past year, and I was pleasantly surprised. Read on to find out how Valkyrie has changed in the past year and for a first look at the new Oculus Rift Development Kit 2.
Elite: Dangerous newsletter clarifies alpha and beta phases
In the latest edition of the Elite: Dangerous newsletter, David Braben and crew refine the game's alpha and beta schedule. "The final stage of the Alpha [Alpha 4] will be released on May 15th and will be followed two weeks later by the first stage of the Premium Beta on May 30th," the letter states. Until then, Premium Beta purchasers are able to download the single-player combat build. Frontier also talks up Alpha 4's 400 billion star systems, discusses its proprietary Cobra software tech, explores the Boötes constellation, and dishes on the game's three modes of travel: conventional drives, frame shift drives, and upgraded frame shift drives that permit full hyperspace jumps. [With thanks to Cotic for the tip!]
EVE Evolved: Six years of EVE Evolved
Six years ago to this exact day, I joined the Massively crew and published the first edition of this column dedicated to the ins and outs of EVE Online. The column has been home to over 300 featured articles since its creation, offering everything from guides and expansion reveals to opinion pieces, fiction, and tales of real in-game events. It's been my pleasure in the past six years to offer the Massively readers a digestible glimpse into the ordinarily somewhat impenetrable world of EVE Online and to introduce new players to the only game (other than Master of Orion II) that's managed to keep me hooked for over a decade. It's been a fantastic year to be a fan of EVE Online, with CCP announcing its long-term vision for deep space colonisation and the game being revitalised through the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions. I've had the opportunity to explore both expansions in this column and to share some hands-on experience with DUST 514 and CCP's upcoming dogfighter EVE Valkyrie. There's been no shortage of opinion pieces this year either, with articles on everything from PvP consequences and twitch controls to whether Star Citizen and Elite are a threat to the sandbox giant. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I round up the best articles from the column's sixth year of operation in one place.
Elite: Dangerous goes in-depth on trading
Elite: Dangerous' 20th newsletter is out, and the team has dedicated the lion's share of its space to talking about the upcoming space sim's trading game. The developers explain how Elite's thousands of systems will help to create a huge economy once the MMO goes live: "Each star system has a different basic type of economy –- for example agricultural, industrial, hi-tech, extraction, refining or service, and some have a mix of these basics –- such as extraction and refining are often (but not always) in the same system. From a commodities perspective all but a service economy produce items for consumption. This creates an active trade network." The newsletter also gives a sneak peek at planetary rings, informs fans that today is the last day to buy into alpha access, and says that the game will update its galaxy configuration based on any major discoveries that may occur in our world. Give the newsletter a read and check out a video of the trading system after the break!
Elite's latest newsletter talks hyperdrives, the Cobra MK III, and more
Frontier has sent out issue #19 of its Elite: Dangerous newsletter. As usual, there's plenty of interesting info on the upcoming space sim sandbox, from how heat (and heat management) factors into Elite's gameplay to the design philosophy behind the iconic Cobra MK III. This latest letter concludes with more "mostly harmless questions" from the community, including bits about Kepler data and traversing Elite's mind-bogglingly big playfields. There are two modes of super luminal (faster than light) travel. Super cruise (or frame shifting) is used for travel inside systems. It was originally conceived as a sub-luminal drive, but based on the fantastic collaboration we have been having with our Design Decision Forum backers it was re-worked and is now itself a super luminal system to allow relatively rapid travel within systems. Hyperspace drives are used to travel between star systems. Hyperdrives with different ranges, charge up times and fuel consumption parameters are available, and so your particular model of hyperdrive governs your specific ability to move around the galaxy. Both will make their debut in Alpha 4 (not counting the early version of hyperspace in Alpha 3).
Elite's premium beta starts today, expands May 30
Frontier has announced that the premium beta for Elite: Dangerous "effectively starts today." Backers may download a single-player combat build and play around with it until the full testing phase starts on May 30th. Prior to that, the devs will roll out the fourth and final phase of Elite's alpha, wherein the sci-fi sandbox title will expand with two new modes of faster-than-light travel as well as the full Milky Way galactic map featuring 400,000,000,000 star systems. You can read the full press release after the jump. [Source: Frontier press release]
Elite newsletter talks alpha progress, to-scale celestial bodies, and more
Frontier has released Issue #18 of its Elite: Dangerous newsletter. It's a good 'un, too, especially if you like development progress updates, videos, and answers to interesting questions. There are bits about the state of the game's 3.0 alpha client, a docking tutorial video, and a look at the redesign of the iconic Coriolis space station from the original Elite title. One of the more interesting fan questions relates to the size of celestial bodies. "Celestial bodies and the distances between them will be correctly scaled wherever possible [and] real astronomical data is being used," Frontier says. "To give you an idea we're currently at 116,000 stars from various catalogues and [that] includes pulsars and black holes as well as main sequence stars. Exo-planets are the other big import which we're about to start working on." We've embedded the alpha progress video after the cut.
Stick and Rudder: Five more space sims to fill the Star Citizen void
A few months back I put together a list of my favorite space sims in an effort to pass the time remaining until Star Citizen's release. Well, that release is still a ways off, even though we are scheduled to get our grubby little space mitts on the dogfighting module next month. I'm in the mood to pew pew right now, though, and if you are too, here are a few more classic games to help fill the void.
GDC 2014: A video interview with Elite: Dangerous' David Braben
GDC 2014 in San Francisco is a great time to catch developers and ask them burning questions about their games. And that's exactly what one fan of Elite: Dangerous did, sitting down with Frontier Developments' CEO David Braben for a long chat about the upcoming MMO edition to the Elite franchise. The nearly 25-minute video interview includes information about the game, Braben's history in the gaming business, and footage of the interviewer playing the game using an Oculus Rift. Braben revealed that "the original Elite was never conceived initially, in [his] opinion, as a space game." Instead, it was all about the freedom, being an open world. How did it come to be in space then? According to Braben, that setting was ultimately chosen because "it was easier to render." Hear more of his thoughts in the video below.
Elite's 3.0 alpha is here, as is docking and a new video
Frontier has officially released version 3.0 of the Elite: Dangerous alpha. If you've backed Elite or bought alpha access previously, you can update your client immediately and begin testing the new update. "After successfully proving out the moment-to-moment combat gameplay and multiplayer technology in Alpha phases one and two respectively, phase three starts to move towards building out the game by adding docking, an early version of hyperspace jumps between multiple locations, and ship outfitting within an iconic Coriolis space station," explains the latest Elite press release. The firm has also released a 3.0 trailer, which you can view along with the full press release after the break.
Make My MMO: Crowdfunding March 2 - March 8, 2014
Crowdfunding news was lighter than normal for the week ending March 8th, but we nonetheless learned a bit more about space sim sandboxes Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen. The Phoenix Project also updated us on the status of its City of Titans spiritual sequel, which now boasts a new president and a new board of directors and is "deep in pre-production." Click past the cut for the rest of this week's crowdforged notables.
Perfect Ten: Game franchises that became MMOs
Popular franchises have been known to jump between various entertainment media, from games to television to movies to comic books and even to pogs. We should not gasp in utter amazement that this is also the case with many of our beloved MMOs; we should nod sagely and accept the terrible truth. There are several video game franchises that have culminated in -- or at least have taken a detour through -- the land of MMOs. For gamers who wanted more and especially did not want to see their journey end, an MMO continuation is a welcome answer that's usually hiding its own problems. But nevermind that; let's march down the halls of history and see the yearbook photos of these franchises when they were young!
Elite: Dangerous discusses alpha plans and docking procedures
Did yesterday's hands-on preview of Elite: Dangerous get you excited for a chance to play the game yourself? Good news -- the game's most recent newsletter confirms that the third stage of alpha testing is arriving in mid-March, meaning the game is that much closer to a wider release. And you can still jump in on the development process if you'd really like to. But the newsletter isn't just about the continued test process; it's also about docking. As simple as that might sound, docking is a very involved portion of the game, requiring careful positioning for a proper lock. It's so complex that the most recent build of the game has actually simplified the process with an improved docking interface, making it easier for players to line up their ships correctly. Take a look at the newsletter for more details, and if you really can't wait to get in on the experience, consider supporting the game on the official site.
Hands-on with the Elite: Dangerous alpha
I don't have much history with Elite. I played the original, circa 1985 on my dad's green monochrome Apple II, but frankly I didn't understand a bit of it and subsequently went back to Sundog and subLOGIC's fledgling wireframe Flight Simulator as a result. By the time Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters shipped in the early to mid 1990s, I was already losing copious amounts of my adolescence to Wing Commander, Privateer, and X-Wing, all of them of course indebted to the space trading flight sim thing that David Braben and Ian Bell published a decade earlier. For all intents and purposes, then, I'm an Elite virgin despite a lifetime of playing nearly everything in the genre it inspired. And if the Elite: Dangerous alpha client is an accurate barometer, gosh have I missed out.
