Is Will Pitt doubting the presence of classic gamers?

[Kellanved]

:shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=3180537&mesg_id=3180537

Personally I never managed to get past "deadly", but there has to be at least one "Elite" DUer.





;-)

[jayfish]

1. Ahhh Yes, "Elite".

I never made elite on the original, (I think I still have the novella around somewhere)but I did on a 90's remake. It was called "Ultra Elite" or some-such. It was cool because you could land on planets and duke it out with the local constabulary. It was kinda like GTA III before GTA III. Lots of fans didn't like the more realistic physics though.

Jay

[Ravenseye]

2. The Physics were impossible

for the 90's remake? Itw as realistic physics..you're flying through space at a gazillion miles per hour, and somebody attacks you, he flys by at a gazillion miles per hour, you slow, try and turn, slow your momentum in one direction, blah blah blah

it was impossible. It had the potential to be an AMAZING game but the space combat physics were impossisble.

[jayfish]

3. I Think The Physics Were Fine,...

the problem was that when you jumped from system to system, you came out so far away from your objective that you really had to get your speed up or it would take literally weeks to get there. A couple of time accelerated seconds later and Whammo! Your in a fight going 1.23 X 10^11. It was an easy fix but they never did it.

Jay

[Ravenseye]

8. I hated that

That's sort of what I'm talking about....

Frontier: Elite II
and
First Contact: Elite III

were both problematic in that area. To go anywhere you had to go REALLY FAST...like you're saying,t hen you're both in a fight going that speed. If you mnaged to slow to a reasonable amount the AI kept going insanely fast.

very very very accurate space combat....very very very hard.

Take either one of those elites minus the bugs with their HUGE galaxies and planets etc...and just fix space flight so that it's not realistic physics..ie make flying in it like it was in say X-Wing and I'd probably still be playing it.

[EarlG]

4. I think that was the sequel, not the remake

"Frontier" it was called. I think David Braben had split with Ian Bell at that point and went all out on "realism" hence the very difficult space combat and the 400 billion planets or whatever it was. The game was very buggy too.

I used to play Elite back in the day, the physics for that game were more standard space-shooter physics (ie. the ships flew more like airplanes). I don't think I ever got past "dangerous."

I recently read a fascinating short biography of Braben and Bell and how they made Elite. They fit the entire original game into something like 8K of memory, or something ridiculous like that. It really was one of the most groundbreaking games ever made, not just in terms of technology but also in terms of gameplay experience (I may be wrong, but I think it was the first ever "open-ended" game, where there was no score and no way to win).

[EarlG]

5. Here's an excerpt

from that biography I was talking about - it's edited, so some of it is missing, but it's a great read nonetheless:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1064107,00.html

[jayfish]

6. That's It! "Frontier"

Thanks EG. I liked them both. What did everyone play the original on? I played it on a c64 (might have been c128). That, "Johnson v. Bird" and "Wizardry" ate way too much of my time.

Jay

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

7. I loved Elite and Frontier (the sequel)

Frontier was the first game I ever had for my Amiga. That's right, I said AMIGA.
Never got Elite ranking in either game, though.
I should dig up an Amiga emulator and play Frontier again...

[Ravenseye]

9. they're free for pc - shareware

you can download them for free

http://www.eliteclub.co.uk/download/

you have to run them in dos though.