Oolite Bulletins

Hello,

I love elite, but for me frontier was the one. The great mapping system, amazing physics, & varied gameplay. First encounters was good, but felt unfinished.

I'm really hoping ooelite will head in the same direction! What do you people think?


Wonea

For me, Elite was the One and only. I liked FFE as well and played it a lot, but it was never quite the same as Elite had been. Oolite, added with some more varied missions and varied gameplay, and perhaps a bit enhanced graphics, will definitely surpass FFE, at least for me.

If people keep asking for Frontier features at the same rate as they do now, I think there will be a fork of Oolite which will go in that direction.

I think that could be a good thing, at least if there would be friendly cooperation between the projects.

I'm with Wolfwood.

I think we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg with Oolite at the moment, there are so many active and creative people on this board. OXP missions and ships are gaining momentum, there is so much potential.

As far as I'm concerned FFE can fork off

wonea wrote:

I'm really hoping ooelite will head in the same direction! What do you people think?

Please god no. That's what I think.

Elite for me every time. Frontier was a travesty of gaming - a flight model that sucked (albeit scientifically accurate) and stunted gamplay.

It has its followers, but I like Elite. And I like Oolite. Not Frontier.

Elite. Only Elite. Frontier was an abomination.

Elite was the perfect play-drunk game. Oolite is its glorious child. <hic>

And another holy war!

Here's my take on this. I played Elite a lot when I was a kid, and I've only played FE2 and FFE a very little, so I'm biased.

However I'm sure there are a lot of elements in FE2 and FFE that Oolite wouldn't suffer from implementing in a way that's consistent with Oolite/Elite.

Improved interaction one, an extended universe is another.

Like any good pirate, we should fight over what's good, take it, and dump the rest in our plasma wake!

aegidian wrote:

Like any good pirate, we should fight over what's good, take it, and dump the rest in our plasma wake!

I like that one, pristine quotable material!

i, like all of us probably play a great many different games, from medal of Honor to Star Wars to Sonic the Hedgehog lol. All of the games we play offer one main consistent factor, entertainment. For the last 25 years fans of Elite have enjoyed the simplicity of its gameplay, not being overrun with options, but having the feeling that we are creating our own path in the universe . When people are creating ships and missions, I'm sure that we take examples of ships etc from other games as an idea, so in essence oolite incorporates many games already, but it retains the basic concept of simplicity and freedom. Ive played FFE and FFE2 very briefly thinking they were part 2 to elite, but they are totally different games with different objectives in the game and for the player. Oolite is the BEST representation of the original game anyone has made, to enhance it with more options as Giles mentions is the way to go, to overload it with the FFE stylee would detract from what oolite is, which is oolite...........in my humble novice opinion anyway

Which is why there is an original elite mode for die-hard oldtimers. :^j

Lucidor wrote:

Which is why there is an original elite mode for die-hard oldtimers. :^j

Well I'm an "oldtimer", and fair enough original Elite in it's day was the mutt's nuts. However Elite fans over the years have clamoured for an updated version with improved graphics and gameplay. The Breadbin has held back on Elite IV despite many many implores, and has only now recently taken it off the backburner supposedly back into development.

Oolite has filled the void in my opinion and the way Giles has structured the open development, has unleashed the frustrated and talented Elite fans with programming skills, enabling Oolite to progress to where it is now, while most importantly maintaining the ethos of original Elite.

We get many first posts from Elite fans who "stumbled" across Oolite (me included) to thank the developers for helping them relive their mispent youth. So long may Oolite flourish, at last, after so many failed attempts to "modernise" Elite it's actually happening.

aegidian wrote:

Like any good pirate, we should fight over what's good, take it, and dump the rest in our plasma wake!

"Good artists copy, great artists steal"

Picasso (although often attributed to Steve Jobs, who likes to quote it)

Or, alternatively "Piracy pays better than the Navy."

TGHC wrote:

Lucidor wrote:

Which is why there is an original elite mode for die-hard oldtimers. :^j

Well I'm an "oldtimer", and fair enough original Elite in it's day was the mutt's nuts. However Elite fans over the years have clamoured for an updated version with improved graphics and gameplay.

You are an oldtimer, but not a die-hard oldtimer like milinks who doesn't seem to want changes in gameplay, just updated graphics.

The strict mode is good since it allows everyone to enjoy the game the way they prefer it. Maybe it can be extended in the future, so that people can turn on or off certain features such as bulletin boards and whatnot.

Frontier fans has also clamoured for an updated version of that game, and also stumbles across Oolite and finds it sooo close but not quite right. Oolite is probably the closest thing that will ever appear. Braben may or may not make another sequel, but I'm not convinced.

Oolite with strict elite, strict frontier and full oolite modes would be cool, but I imagine there would be problems with missions and other things.

Each new version of Elite has had new features, so keeping Oolite as a straight clone of say, BBC Elite (but with better graphics) is not really following in the Elite style.

New Elites should have new features. But the features must be in sympathy with the Elite Way.

Now I do enjoy Frontier and FFE - I like the more expansive universe and the feeling of scale. They do also comply to The Elite Way - open endedness and freedom. However, they aren't as good as they could have been. I think Frontier and FFE could have been far better games had the authors not concentrated on the expansive universe (much as I love them), but added better interaction.

My personal opinion - and take it for what it's worth because I'm not the boss - is that the way Oolite should continue is not in lots of extra equipment (well, except the Advanced Naval Targeting System ) but in improved interaction which in turn supports The Elite Way by furthering the open ended appeal of the game. IOW - make the open endedness not eventually turn to boredom from same ol' same ol' but make the universe feel more alive. Oolite already feels much more alive than Frontier or First Encounters because you aren't the centre of the action. That's an important step. The scriptability is a hugely important development in the universe of Elite games because it allows new interactions. Perhaps Oolite should become like a kernel, running a universe of scripts. Perhaps a player can have an option to get 'surprise scripts' via the Internet - so you get a totally unexpected mission some day.

The rub is though that convincing AI and interaction is HARD. Some of the more advanced interaction we'd all love to see is going to take a lot of effort to do and a lot of careful thought.

I like the surprise script idea.

More interaction is probably why so many wants an mmorpg. In due time I'm sure we'll get both online gaming and a great AI. :^)

I don't quite understand what you mean when you say that we're not the centre of the action. Is it that fights can occur between AI's as well?