With the release of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey drawing closer, we were given the opportunity to ask art director Jonathan Bottone and principal designer Gareth Hughes about the new features, combat mechanics and planets - as well as discovering a little more about the series' history and i𒆙nfluences.
Elite Dangerous' Origins
Elite Dangerous, in its current form, has been around since 2014, but the Elite series actually traces its roots all the way back to 1984. Despite the fact that Elite Dangerous is the fourth title in the franchise, the game is said to based on "guiding principals that David [Braben] laid down all those years ago." Hughes goes on to say that the team "want to pro🌠vide new and compelling experiences but we ꦑwant the heart of Elite to shine through everything we do."
This heart is also evident in the game's very structure, as Bottone tells us proudly that "the underlying tech is built on the original galaxy ⭕simulation." He goes on to state that "it's important to stay true to that and expand on the variety of planets."
Speaking to both Hughes and Bottone, their pa🎐ssion for the game and their love of what they do is clear to see. Ensuring that the title is the very best it can be is obviously a driving force for the team, who strive to bring "consistency to the experience" of playing.
Elaborating on this point, Gareth Hughes tells us "There𓆏's a core philosophy to Elite around player choice, player agency and the things that really make the game - which is exploration, combat trade, and all the blurriness in between."
An Intertwined System
When asked about their favorite parts of the game or development process, both had trouble picking out just one aspect of the process. "I don't have a favorite ♈part," says Hughes. "Elite is so many intertwined systems༺ to pull a single thread out is difficult." However, he does mention the "wonderful moments of discovery" and "beautiful isolation" as major highlights for him.
Buttone is ✨a bit more decisive, as he says "I focus on the planets. For me its the first moment of touching down😼 on the planet's surface find out what's there to explore."
The game is a huge and complex beast, so it's understandable that most of its core systems drive each other. Hughes elaborated on what he calls the "symbiotic relationship between the tech and the art and the design." He describes it as "the underlying technological 🎃model is driving the creation of these planets to a ruleset. Obviously, then, the art is making them look wonderful and accurate and then the gameplay is feeding off that."
Elite Dangerous is kn𝓀own for its complex and realistic 1:1 scale open-world that provides players with sandbox experiences in a representation of the Milky Way galaxy. As players explore they can interact with each other and change the world around them. As Hughes puts it "Everything that every player does matters for every player."
A New Horizon
The Odyssey expansion aims to enhance this experience by allowing players to walk on the planet's surfaces for the very first time. They will be able to see new vegetation, experience the different atmosphere of each planet, and have a "Neil Armstrong moment" as they step out of their ship. There is also a focus on the isolation and beaꦺuty of being on planets. "You're more vulnerable... being inches from the void is the part we want to make clear to the player," says Bottone.
However, exploration also comes with a price in terms of survival, and there are m꧑any dangers lurking on the surface. "We arꦇe looking to have on foot combat in terms of gunplay in settlements," says Hughes. "Certainly, at launch, it's primarily going to be against human opponents players or AI - the factions."
Hughes continues. "We're looking to create aℱ slightly less arcade-y experience ... We want something to be a bit more thoughtful, a bit more about survival, a bit more tactical. So really, although it's going to have moments of really high tempo action, we don't want it to be the꧑re all the time."
The combat system is going to be showcased in a future developer diary, but we can expect it to contain a hefty dose of realism since in the game death has meaning and the team wanted this to carry over into the new content. "Being in Elite is a bit scary. Death has meaning... on foot will ha꧂ve similar mechanics," says Hughes. "Ramifications of decisions can ෴be pretty bad."
One of these ramifications becomes clear when Buttone elaborates saying "We try not to cut off any e꧑xpectations... Should we stop ships being able to shoot people ✅on foot? No."
It seems that exploring the planets is as terrifying and d🐻angerous as it is beautiful. We look forward ꦐto seeing more from the team in the coming months.
Elite Dangerous is available now for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Odyssey is due to be released in early 2021.