Braben announces Elite IV.

[Psygnal]

Elite IV is happening, Frontier boss David Braben has confirmed, but "very slowly".
At GDC this year the legendary British game developer gave us an update on the status of Elite IV, saying "It would be a tragedy," if it were not still on the cards.

We're not announcing anything yet. I'm not giving a timescale because that constitutes an announcement. If you announce an announcement, that's an announcement. It's happening, very slowly.

This, to me... well, it's an announcement. Braben is working on Elite IV, which fills me with warm fuzzies, because I loved the original, and only mildly despised the sequel. I got into Eve Online because it promised to be a modern retelling of the original Elite story... so if Elite is going to be a modern retelling of the original Elite story, then I think it's likely to be a win-win situation.

I only hope that "very slowly" doesn't mean "never" - like so many programming projects over the years.

Psyg'

[MrBillwulf]

I somehow completely missed Elite. It sounds a bit like TradeWars, which I played in the 90s on local BBSs. It didn't have any graphics, but you could still "fly" around a large galaxy, visit different planets, trade goods, and fight pirates. Eventually you could own entire planets, but I never got that far. I recently bought X2: The Threat during Steam's summer sale, and it's supposed to a similar kind of game.

[Psygnal]

Yep, Elite and Tradewars have a lot in common - sans-graphics - though of course the original version was lacking in features. Buy low, sell high, upgrade and travel were about your only options. No ownership of anything other than your ship.

Incidentally, there's a modernised version of Tradewars available for free play online somewhere if you're interested in looking for it. I had a quick check, but I can't find the URL just at the moment.

I had the original X - I have not yet played X2 - but if X is anything to go by, it's not too dissimilar in concept - though you can do an awful lot more than just buy and sell. :)

Elite on the Amiga

Psyg'