Elite : Dangerous

[thradtke]

Elite for the Pi, with just the graphics pushed to the Pi's limit, would have been great. Don't see the point in a kickstarted project for just another PC game.

[Fidelius]

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/intervi ... d-braben-0

Interview: David Braben, Elite
Monday, January 20th 2014


When you hear all the enthusiasm out in the gaming industry for Linux, it’s easy to forget that we’re very much in a battle to prove our viability in so many areas, particularly to mainstream publishers. Do we need them though? Well, initially at least. As in other markets, Linux needs the corporate giants to cosy up - at least until the gaming industry changes - as it’s the quickest way to get Linux in front of the average gamer. Interest from the big players has largely been muted, however. Unless, like Ubuntu, you count a couple of browser-based games from EA as a win. For us that’s too close to getting leftover scraps from the EA’s table. No, thank you.

But it’s a different matter and a harder knock when our hero and gaming legend David Braben (co-creator of Elite) says he has doubts too. As you’ll see in a short interview I managed to snag over email he admits there’s no reason why Cobra, Frontier’s own game engine can’t run on Linux.

Everyone has to earn a crust, and if you’re a game developer the uniformity of, for instance, Apple’s iOS line-up also makes the process much easier. He did give us a glimmer of hope, though, with one golden nugget of an answer. Linux is something Frontier are “seriously looking at supporting.” Right now, it’s doubtful whether Elite: Dangerous (Braben's follow-up to Elite) will support Linux from launch, but the alpha opened recently and the game will be out this year.


Linux Format: What’s your position on Linux for gaming?

David Braben: Linux is great because it is a truly open format. It is why we used it for Raspberry Pi. At Frontier we haven’t previously supported Linux for one main reason; historically games on Linux do not sell as well as on other platforms, though of course figures are hard to come by.

It is not that they don’t sell at all, it is just that the other potential platforms sell more. My guess is that there are a great deal more Xboxes, Playstations, Windows PC, and iOS machines, than Linux ones.

Sadly, the openness of the platform, and the variations between setups make it a challenging platform too. Piracy is much easier because of that openness, but it is something we are seriously looking at supporting.


Linux Format: I believe you're using your own game engine - COBRA? Does that open the door to a Linux version?

David Braben: There is no reason Cobra cannot run on Linux, running through OpenGL.


Linux Format: What do you think is currently preventing Linux from being an unstoppable force for good in the gaming industry?

David Braben: With this sort of thing, it comes down to numbers. The fragmentation is an issue too (ie the number of subtly different set ups and OSes – making even the Windows PC appear pretty uniform.


Linux Format: What’s your best guess as to the future for Linux gaming? Or maybe just your best hope for it.

David Braben: A common platform would help (and there are a number of these coming through, including Raspberry Pi).

Do the marked lines leave open the possibility of an Elite: Dangerous for our little Raspberry Pi? :-)

Mr. David Braben managed to hand port and optimise his graphically most impressive Zarch from the 32bit Acorn Archimedes (ARM CPU) to the much slower and graphically inferior 16bit Commodore Amiga and Atari ST machines (Motorolla CPU), so maybe he too could port his Elite Dangerous to the ARM?

[Fidelius]

So, does anybody know if Elite IV will be ported to the Raspberry Pi?

Mr. David Braben is part of the Pi Foundation's board, and I suppose he would know? :-)

The roadmap says that Elite IV for the bigger platforms is probably going to be released in March of 2014.
The original Elite has been a massive attraction for many people to home computers; it could be so again for the Pi with a title like Elite IV. Just this time the price of the game could be higher than the hardware, hm...

[Ravenous]

Not really been following it but I think he's previously implied it won't happen on the raspi - it really requires high performance and GL. Or some other graphics programmer's jargon I didn't understand

Perhaps someone will chip in if they've heard something more recent though.

[Fidelius]

Thanks Ravenous for your reply. I'm sorry to hear. But indeed "high performance" would be an understandable show-stopper here.

Well, instead of Elite 4 maybe we can get an Elite 3.5 for the Pi, or rather Elite 3.14 aka Elite Pi then ? :-)

[gregor3000]

old elite 3 has some enhancements available such as OpenGL and Direct3D grpahics. it really looks awesome. you would need original game files for those enhancements to work.

[Fidelius]

Elite IV for the Raspberry Pi 2 ?

:-)

Would somebody like to ask the smart game creator Mr. David Braben (member of the Pi Foundation I think?) ?