Elite : Reclamation (Novel)

[cim]

Mmm. It all depends on what you think makes Elite be "Elite".

The important differences between Elite and Frontier are basically to the wide setting - who are the major political powers and what does the starmap look like when you zoom out - and those to the flight mechanics necessary to deal with having 1:1 scale systems. Everything else is a very clear successor (though often extended):
- ship designs
- ship equipment, especially weapons
- station designs
- station locations
- trading model and mechanisms
- basic roles a player or NPC can take

The flight model was controversial, but I don't think makes it "not a sequel".

The setting, I think it's fairly clear, is probably the sort of setting that Braben originally envisaged but couldn't do due to lack of space on the BBC. I don't think it makes it "not a sequel" either: if FE2 had kept the Elite style of maps, but changed the basic galaxy seed so you were in a different Eight, and this one was administrated by the Interstellar Coalition, I think there'd be no question it was a sequel. Indeed, I think it's only one of the explicit nods to the previous game - the Old Worlds systems - which make that hard to believe. The Elite manual mentioned the Cooperative and its systems not being the only political power in the known universe, just merely being the largest [1]. (Indeed, both the manual and the Dark Wheel use "Federation" and "Cooperative" a little interchangeably... that's not the way the attempts to merge the timelines have gone, of course)

It's not as if the Elite setting was particularly coherent in the first place: the game portrayed one thing; the manual and Dark Wheel said another thing which sometimes matched, sometimes talked about things not visible or hinted at in game, and occasionally outright contradicted the game. Reconciling either the Elite game alone or the Elite manual and Dark Wheel alone with the Frontier setting is much more straightforward than trying to reconcile all three groups of setting information.

Elite->FE2->FFE->E:D seems a fairly natural progression towards a particular game and setting which Braben wanted to make (whether all the details which first appeared in FE2 were in his head in 1985 or not) but has previously been unable to for various reasons.

Oolite is a very different answer to the question of "what might Elite have looked like if made for 21st century hardware", but also has some pretty big setting and gameplay differences from the original Elite. It just gets away with them because certain obvious things are the same.

[1] Which is true: Cooperative population is around 7 trillion. I haven't counted Frontier particularly precisely but I'd be very surprised if inhabited space in that game came out as more than 2 trillion. Elite Dangerous I expect will be much larger, though.

[Disembodied]

It also depends on whether you regard some of these games as "sequels", or "remakes". Like the recent TV remake of Battlestar Galactica, it's possible to take a core idea and redo it in a completely different way, with a bigger budget, better effects, and for a different audience.

It's probably better to think of FE2 as being a remake of Elite, rather than a sequel, in my opinion: otherwise, how do we explain the absence of any alien species from FE2? No Fat Furry Felines, no Bony Blue Lobsters, no Slimy Yellow Frogs. The use of some old Elite system names in FE2 is more a homage, I think, than any sort of continuation of the same universe.

With no huge technological change between the two, FFE was clearly a sequel to FE2, but - with any luck - E:D will be a remake of FE2, with FE2's fun-crushing mistakes taken out, and not any sort of sequel (although now and again I worry that the obsession with multiplayer has the capacity to drain almost as much fun from the game as did FE2's obsession with pseudo-Newtonian physics: I'll just have to wait and see).

[Cody]

... I worry that the obsession with multiplayer has the capacity to drain almost as much fun from the game as did FE2's obsession with pseudo-Newtonian physics

<nods sagely>

[Commander McLane]

It also depends on whether you regard some of these games as "sequels", or "remakes". Like the recent TV remake of Battlestar Galactica, it's possible to take a core idea and redo it in a completely different way, with a bigger budget, better effects, and for a different audience.

It's probably better to think of FE2 as being a remake of Elite, rather than a sequel, in my opinion: otherwise, how do we explain the absence of any alien species from FE2? No Fat Furry Felines, no Bony Blue Lobsters, no Slimy Yellow Frogs. The use of some old Elite system names in FE2 is more a homage, I think, than any sort of continuation of the same universe.

I could subscribe to that, except that "reboot" seems more appropriate than "remake", precisely because so much of the content was dropped. Your example of BSG sums up the criteria for a remake very nicely. But if they had dropped the Cylons completely with no hint that they ever existed, we wouldn't call it a remake anymore.

And many apologies to Drew for derailing his thread!

[drew]

Today's update is out and I'm suffering a Trumble infestation, Commanders! Damn that cat!

www.drewwagar.com

Cheers,

Drew.

[drew]

With the Alpha looming, Drew turns his attention to the PC needed to play the game...

http://www.drewwagar.com/

Cheers,

Drew.

[drew]

A big update today and some major news.

http://www.drewwagar.com/

Cheers,

Drew.

[Gimi]

A big update today and some major news.

http://www.drewwagar.com/

Cheers,

Drew.

Good update Drew.
This is probably already inn, but just in case, please remind Fantastic Books Publishing that they should include instructions for shipping abroad in the Kickstarter.

[drew]

A big update today and some major news.

http://www.drewwagar.com/

Cheers,

Drew.

Good update Drew.
This is probably already inn, but just in case, please remind Fantastic Books Publishing that they should include instructions for shipping abroad in the Kickstarter.

Noted!

We've still got quite a few wrinkles to iron out before we press 'go', not least what is a primary goal and what is a 'stretch', but stay tuned!

Cheers,

Drew.

[Wolfwood]

Would be great to have the hardback special editions as a mid-step towards the full audio experience, but let's see how this goes.

[drew]

It's been a year folks. A reflective look back on how a Kickstarter was Kickstarted. And a moment of fame for Gimi, once again!

www.drewwagar.com

Cheers,

Drew.

[drew]

Another week, another update. Alpha just around the corner and those PC Specifications...

www.drewwagar.com

Cheers,

Drew.

[Diziet Sma]

So how does the wife feel about that caterpillar on your lip, Drew? Will you be allowed to keep it when Movember is over?

[drew]

So how does the wife feel about that caterpillar on your lip, Drew? Will you be allowed to keep it when Movember is over?

No. She hates it.

Cheers,

Drew.

[drew]

A poignant moment! This time last year (tomorrow in fact) my Kickstarter was about smash through its target. A year to the day since the point at which Elite Reclamation suddenly went from 'Won't this be great if it happens' to 'OMG! It's funded!'

A year down the space time continuum and the book is pretty much ready and another Kickstarter is running.

Frontier's Alpha is so close it's palpable and they've just released a new Dev video. I've taken a look through that. It's very encouraging, both for the game and the book. A future blog will detail my experiences with the Alpha, so stay tuned!

The Fantastic Kickstarter goes well, and there are some new pledge awards and upgrades to check out.

As usual, it's all on the blog. So have a read and enjoy. Comments very much welcome on the blog as per normal!

www.drewwagar.com