Friday 6 December 2013

What Am I Looking Forward To?

It's December and with no news of the alpha release slipping it looks like we'll be getting our hands on something playable from Frontier Developments very soon. My prediction is Thursday December 12th 2013.

With FD on lock-down and noses to the grindstone, I feel like we're experiencing the quiet before the storm. So I thought I'd take this time to put down what I'm really looking forward to in the final game. Perhaps we might even see some of these things in alpha!

An entire galaxy

Not trying to start a turf war with other space sims in the pipeline, but Elite Dangerous will undoubtedly have the biggest game universe; with an entire galaxy being simulated and only 1% of it being explored at launch. This will be a great game for those who like to seek out new places.

A simulated sky box

Unlike other space games where a static texture is used for the background, Frontier have said Elite Dangerous' background will be dynamically generated by the game engine, depending on where you are in the galaxy. Each star will be somewhere you can travel to.

The Cobra

I was almost starting to think Frontier were intentionally toying with backers' emotions by not showing a Cobra. But then Michael Brookes went and posted this. Although I'm more of an Anaconda fan myself, I got to say that the Cobra is looking very sexy.

Dynamic lighting

A nearby star or the glowing engines of a ship will light up your cockpit. if you haven't seen it already, check out the latest development diary video around the 5 minute mark. An interview with James Avery, senior VFX artist, reveals there's going to be some dynamic and very impressive explosions too.

Space battles!

Combat is one of the things I didn't really rate about Frontier: Elite 2. I'm looking for a more visceral experience and judging by the game play videos I've seen so far there's a good chance they might deliver.

1 comment:

  1. Like your way of thinking, but am sticking to Alpha release on Friday the 13th! ;)

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