The Meaning of Oolife!

[Commander McLane]

some people's partners do seem to refer to Oolite as "That Game"

From the days of Elite, I can recall two occasions where ‘that game’ was mentioned in divorce proceedings.

That's pretty freaky.

[Cody]

some people's partners do seem to refer to Oolite as "That Game"

From the days of Elite, I can recall two occasions where ‘that game’ was mentioned in divorce proceedings.

That's pretty freaky.

My friends and I were all thirty-somethings, with all the ‘baggage’ that that entails (jobs, homes, partners, kids etc), when Elite appeared. Some of us dived-in too deeply, and became a little obsessed with it.

[drew]

I spent quite a while trying to figure out what Elite meant to me. At the danger of hoovering my own tail and disappearing as a result I'll quote myself from the foreword of 'Status Quo'

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the strength of feeling that surrounds the original 'Elite' game, a game that simulated an entire universe within a measly 49152 bytes of assembly code (less on many versions).

Elite comes from what is now quite a distant time in history, from a time when computers were far more primitive than today's mobile phones. As I write, we've just passed Elite's silver jubilee, which was marked with a little fanfare from the original authors, much to their credit.

There are many thousands of people out there, of a 'certain' age, who have fond childhood and teenage memories of this game. Yet more gratifying, new folks are discovering 'remakes' of Elite, of which 'Oolite' is, of course, the very best. More sobering too is the thought that Oolite may well be superior, at least to the original fans, than the long awaited 'Elite 4', if and when it ever arrives.

I've asked myself what makes Elite so compelling. It's a question that deserves a considered answer. I think it's a combination of factors, a constellation if you like. The 1970's had seen a revival of 'space operas' from the seminal 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek', through to 'Battlestar Galactica', 'Dr. Who' and 'Blake's 7'. Many children's shows of the time reflected the interest in space: 'Battle of the Planets', 'Star Fleet' and my personal favourite 'Ulysses 31'.

In the real world we'd landed on the moon, and the Space Shuttle first flew in 1981, we visited most of the planets in the solar system with the Voyager probes. It looked like things we're moving. I remember clearly thinking that the vision of '2001: A space Odyssey' looked rather pedestrian in 1985.

Alas, there are no elegant spinning space stations in permanent orbit, no moon-base, no space liners. The space shuttle will soon cease to fly, we've lost Concorde. It seems the human race concerns itself with facile
celebrities, pre-occupation with various forms of imminent doom and overall mediocrity in favour of actual achievement nowadays.

Elite originally allowed a way for prepubescent kids to fly into space and adventure amongst the stars in a rather more intelligent way than the 'left/right/shoot' variety of the original arcade games. Elite rode the wave of 'space enthusiasm' that occurred in the early 1980s. The 3D graphics were a significant part of this, though not unique even back then. The real 'core' of Elite was that there was no set purpose; you went where you wanted too, travelling, fighting, trading at whim.

The graphics were still scant, the procedurally generated universe rather homogeneous, forcing you to inject your own imagination into the game. You had the opportunity to 'save your game', a new innovation at
the time, allowing yourself multiple personae. I was at once a bounty hunter, a fearsome pirate, a dashing hero rescuing beautiful (and presumably scantily clad ) princesses from the evil clutches of
hardened gangsters. By treating its players with respect, Elite catered for it all.

Elite paid homage to the 'Zeitgeist' of the time. The spinning Coriolis stations were clearly modelled on 2001. Later versions even included the familiar 'Blue Danube' music whilst ships were docking.
Ships were armed with lasers and missiles, defended with shields, so far so Star Wars/Trek. Enemy ships came equipped with different levels of weaponry, so there was an 'arms race' to bring your own ship up to speed. There was no score, only cash and reputation; it was the 1980s!
Another key aspect of this was the small Novella that came with the game, alongside the necessary manual, keyboard overlays and a natty ship identification chart - clearly reminiscent of the World War II aircraft identifications charts you can now see in museums.

Whilst the manual told you what you needed to know and was peppered with interesting titbits of information about the Elite universe, Robert Holdstock's 'The Dark Wheel' told you what you wanted to know – how did the Elite Universe work? What was it like there? With the Novella, the Elite Universe was now a 'real' place, with people, societies, organisations and powers, as fully formed and as compelling as the universe of Star Wars or Star Trek. We learnt it was a rough place; death was never far away. Life as a trader was tough, hard and brutal. There were those with secrets to protect, who'd stop at nothing to do so. A thousand years of technology hadn't changed the nature of humanity one bit. This was no sanitised universe where mankind had improved itself, quite the reverse. If anything, mankind's darker side was more prevalent. Here was a universe of piracy, illegal and underhanded trading, danger, held together by a thin veneer of civilisation and advanced technology.

The Novella followed a familiar groove – a huge personal loss and a vendetta. A naïve but talented young hot shot, a feisty female sidekick, a mysterious mentor/benefactor and a shadowy opponent. Through the course of the story the hot shot gains experience and becomes less the callow youth, finally winning the day and avenging his loss.

Probe a little deeper and you find that Robert included other fascinating details; 'The Dark Wheel' – an eponymous group of mystical old-time individuals, a lost planet – 'Raxxla'. None of these were actually in Elite, but that didn't stop people looking, wondering if somewhere in the code these places might be hidden. Such was the rich tapestry upon which the player painted his own story.

Fast forward 25 years. It's now 2009 (well it was). Computer games are unrecognisably more complex. Elite looks like what it is, a product of a bygone age, a piece of history. So why does this game refuse to
die? Why do people invest so much time and effort into it? There's no money to be made. No fame to claim.

Because we care. Elite is part of our lives. Elite was both story and game, and for many of us an escape from a reality which looked increasingly bleak as the 1980s drew to a close. Perhaps Elite showed us that hard work and determination could prevail over impossible odds, or perhaps it was just a great game, a distraction from the real world. Either way, it is gratifying to me that the original authors now understand that their greatest contribution was not 3D graphics, or procedurally generated planets, but the unforeseen and unlooked for opportunity to mold and shape the minds of youngsters; there can be no greater privilege, or heavy responsibility, than that.

Oolite will need little introduction to those of you who have played it. Suffice to say, here is what Elite would have been if the technology of the 1980s had been up to it. Better graphics for sure, but the same open ended gameplay. Crucially now, players have the ability to generate their own content for the 'Ooniverse'. Aspects of the original manual (Generations and Space Dredgers for example) now exist in Oolite. The Tionisla graveyard from the The Dark Wheel is now a real place.

There are new ships, new missions, new places to go. The Ooniverse is as big as the imaginations of the people who create it.

And so to Status Quo. In many ways my small thanks to the original authors of Elite, to Robert, and to all the fans out there. Elite gave me a lot in my youth, and this is at least a down-payment on that
debt. The story was written in 2006 shortly after I first came across Oolite. There was already some fan-fiction available, but to my mind it didn't sufficiently provide Oolite with the necessary background colour that The Dark Wheel provided for Elite.

Oolite has moved Elite forward whilst staying true to the original premise, unlike many other imitators. There are new bits of technology available to the pilot of an Oolite starship, with which the Elite Combateer would be unfamiliar. Status Quo was designed to bring the Elite combateer 'up
to speed' and allow them to enter Oolite thus equipped The rest is, of course, history – if that's the right word to use for something that doesn't happen until sometime in the year 3125!

Cheers,

Drew.

[DaddyHoggy]

I forgot what a moving piece the Intro to Status Quo was. Well said (again)

[ElectricViking]

Drew, that is a magnificent piece of writing you have there. Bravo.

[Killer Wolf]

yeah, that's a cracking thoughtful analysis. one thing though :
"The 3D graphics were a significant part of this, though not unique even back then" ~ if there were other games out there w/ proper hidden-line-reloval 3D, i'm not aware of them. I think there were a couple w/ wire-frame, but i still recall seeing Elite for the first time in a shop, looking at the spinning Cobra and thinking t was nifty then going "hang on...that's PROPER 3d! hidden-line removal!!" and it was just stunning at the time. seems feeble now, but if you were around at the time you;d realise what an achievement doing that was, at a decent framerate, on machine that ran at (quick wiki check!) 2meg! yep, that's right, about 1500x slower than the one i'm typing on right now!!