Elite: Dangerous Blog

News and events from the Elite Dangerous galaxy

Elite: Dangerous Premiere event

My son and I travelled up to Duxford and arrived in the area around 2.40pm. When we got to the Travelodge, we found another of the EGX ambassadors (Liam) standing outside with his wingman. Since check-in was 3pm and you have to pay £10 to check in early, we went next door to the Little Chef for a coffee to kill some time and keep warm.

We got sorted out at the hotel and had around an hour before setting out to a Pub/Hotel called “The Red Lion” that was half-way to Duxford from where we were staying.

The pub was wall-to-wall Elite backers. There was at least 120 people there all for the event. I had arranged to meet up with the other Elite Ambassadors in the pub, who were staying at the hotel to hand out the badges I’d created. People were in a mix of T-shirts, suits, kilts, dinner jackets and fancy dress. It was something to see!

I found the other Ambassadors in a corner of the back room and made introductions and had a small drink (non alcoholic). We didn’t have long before it was time to head over to the Imperial War Museum. Edward Lewis the Frontier community manager had asked us to come early "for a surprise".

When we got there, some VIP backers were already queuing outside. We were waved through and joined the Frontier guys inside the lobby of the museum. They ushered us inside the side hall of hangar 1 where the event was being held. Inside the LAVE Radio guys were setting up on a little table to plug their show. Two circular Elite: Dangerous gaming tables had been set up with 12 PCs a piece (EGX x 2) Mid hall, there was a stage a large projection screen with a roped off area with seats for around fifty people. Directly opposite this in front of the main hangar doors was a 1/3 replica of a Cobra Mk II mounted in the same fashion as one of the museum exhibits, complete with Duxford plaque describing the ships history and statistics!

At the far end of the hangar was a roped off "studio" area (a bit like Top Gear) with two sofas and a coffee table on a stage. This backed onto the main hall and beside it were tables and stools with a FREE open bar. Beyond this was a small "souvenir" stand, selling T-Shirts, pins, books and other Elite: Dangerous related merchandise – they were also giving away Elite coasters, pens, stickers and cardboard-cut-out Corolis station models.

My son had a chat with the BBC’s Kate Russell and posed for a couple of photos with her. She was very down to earth and a big fan of Elite and computer gaming in general.

We were then asked to vacate the hall to the lobby again and had our wrist-bands issued. What I failed to realise at first, was that these were VIP invites, not just standard admission.
By this time, guests were shuffling in to the hall and being given champagne (or orange juice) so we mingled and looked at the aircraft in hangar 1. The route around the hangar led to the far side where a large buffet had been set up. They had paper cones with scampi and chips, mini burgers as well as sliced wraps with different fillings and sausage rolls. A very tasty spread!

Ed Lewis (Frontier’s community manager) was up by the big doors that led from the main hangar to the side-area we had first seen when we arrived. He waved us over and said "stay put, this is where the best seats are!", so myself and my son and half-a-dozen of the Ambassadors and their plus ones gathered by the left of the big doors and waited for a few minutes. Then a pre-recorded voice (the Elite computer voice actress actually) announced "Please gather at the hanger doors, the event is about to begin". We then had a countdown with lots of Elite in-game sound effects which culminated here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3nBHVKim2Q
A lot of the rest is on the Twitch Stream recorded by Frontier.

The usual "money for pizza for the developers" raised by the community for release nights was instead presented to David Braben as two cheques for over 1,000 pounds each for children’s gaming charities which was a nice touch. The total raised was 2,209.84 pounds (22-09-84 Elite’s release date).

Because we’d been given a VIP pass, we were able to go upstairs and mingle with the hob-nobs, sit on some very comfy leather sofas and take a load off! I met "Mobius" a prolific forum poster at Frontier’s forums, an Alpha backer and an illustrator. He’s 6ft 7 so hard to miss! Some of the people there had flown in from overseas (California, Abu Dabi as well as Germany and all across Europe!).

My son William had a go on the game on both a standard workstation and also a couple of sessions on the Oculus rift DK2. While he played the rift, Jason Bradbury from the Gadget show was giving his kids a go on the DK2 on the other side of the table, so Will went and said "hi" and shook his hand. He was really nice, considering he was "off duty".

I was chatting to one Elite Ambassador (Dr Wookie) who was from the USA, which when he spoke with an English accent threw me a little. Turns out he was a big Elite fan from 1984 and got into space in a big way and was recruited by NASA and now spends his time hunting for black holes.

Once all the presentations etc. were over and the Live Stream finished, we got a chance to go and chat with David Braben. William had some ideas for elements to add to the game and David listened to him babble enthusiastically and explained his idea (claiming conquered ships) was something they wanted to do, but ship boarding would need to be made, so probably after ship FPS and crew was developed. Considering the amount of people wanting to see him, he was very generous with his time spent with William. He also confirmed with me that player to player bartering and hard-point swapping were in the Gamma (since confirmed in game).

By 11.30pm Will was tired (he’s only 12) and getting bored - he’d played all the tutorials on Rift and normal PCs - so I thought it time to say my goodbyes. I bumped into Alison (Frontier’s events manager) and asked if she’d seen Ed Lewis, when he walked up behind her. I told him I was off and he said "hang on because I’ve got something for you". He led us to the back of the hangar where Frontier had set up their "staff room" and dug out a large picture frame 30" x 12" and said "this is for you as a thanks for your help" – it was a limited edition print of Elite: Dangerous artwork, signed "To Anthony Hunt thanks for all your help, David Braben". All the ED Ambassadors got one, personally dedicated. A nice touch. Ed said that they had planned a goody bag as well, but time and events had left them running around too much with too little time, so they are going to post us a t-shirt, mug and other goodies too, later this week.

We had a really good time and mainly were blown away by the people we met. I met Hugh, who codes the network systems for Elite and Anthony the graphics engine coder and another guy who modelled the Cobra for the game and who was really choked up by seeing the huge model of his "baby". A massive amount of enthusiasm for the game and the players.

Elite:Dangerous Beta 3.09 Released

The Beta 3.9 update has so far confirmed to be bringing two new ships in to the game, the Faulcon DeLacy Python which is a heavy transport ship and the Saud Kruger Orca which is a specialised passenger liner.

The Elite: Dangerous Beta 3.9 update will bring the fixes, tweaks, improvements and optimizations that are now customary with each major update.

Elite Rankings
Reaching the rank of Elite, can now be achieved through trading, exploration and combat, rather than combat alone.
Faction Rankings
It is now possible to gain ranks with both the Federation and Empire by working on their behalf.
Bartering
It is now possible to barter with other players in deep space, by transferring non-stolen goods to them.
Mission System
More variety in what missions you are able to do. A significant overhaul of Unidentified Signal Sources, giving increased variety and adding more mission related context.
Ship outfitting
Ship outfitting has had a major overhaul.
Galaxy Map
Galaxy map has also been improved with a major overhaul.
Voice Comms
Open-mic voice communications between up to 6 players in a group has been added.

Elite: Dangerous Premiere event - November 22nd

I have been invited, as thanks for being an Elite: Dangerous ambassador at EGX, so I will be tweeting from the event. My feed is @achunt.

It should be good! If you haven't pre-ordered (or got the BETA) already, then it looks you've got six weeks to pre-order before the game is released.

 

On November 22nd 2014 the Elite: Dangerous team will be hosting a very special event.

The Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, UK is the venue for the Premiere of Elite: Dangerous! This celebration of the game and our amazing community will be broadcast around the world via a livestream on Twitch.tv.

There will be new content, discussions and talks with the development team, game streaming - and some important announcements.

You will be able to join us in a number of ways;

  • Those of you whose Kickstarter and other early backer pledges included an invitation to our UK party will soon receive your invitation to join David and the development team in Duxford.
  • We are also able to offer a limited number of tickets to this special event on a first come first served basis – these are priced at £50 and will go on sale on the Elite: Dangerous online store at 9:00am UK time on Friday 24th October.
  • The event will be livestreamed on Twitch.tv, so wherever you are around the world you can watch and be involved.
  • The live broadcast will be recorded and made available online so you will be able to catch it whenever you choose after the event.


Whichever way, please save the date! 22.11.14.

 

EGX Sunday

Today was the home stretch. My feet were used to the abuse. The Frontier guys and girls were taking really good care of us with lots of water, vitamin C tablets, food and breaks through the whole event. Nobody got burned out. Poor Alex was starting to suffer with cold though.

One visitor kept coming back (third or fourth time) and chatting with him for at least the second time, it transpired that it was a member of Dead Men Walking gaming community. Small world!

On the way in on Sunday morning I met a Dad with two young sons (9 & 11) and they were chatting with me about Elite on the tube to Earls Court. They came straight to our stand when the doors opened and the elder boy got to knock “Play with Oculus Rift DK2” off his show bucket list first thing. He kept telling his Dad “This is awesome Dad, we have to get this!” the whole time he was playing.

So many people were coming in saying “my friend dragged me here to see this, he wouldn’t shut up about the game!” and left saying “I’m going to pre-order now!”.

Doors closed at 7pm and I managed a go on one of the new tutorial missions where you attack a guarded convoy, then it was time to do battle with tube closures and make my way back home to Kent.

The Elite: Dangerous stand won "Best Booth" and "Best PC Game" awards.

EGX Saturday

Today was the first “Schools out” day and was insanely busy. Many, many Dads with young children, where the dad had fond memories of the original Elite and were eager to see the new game. By this point we were starting to see people coming back for multiple plays on the game.

The BETA 2 looks so good and with the X52’s, even without the DK2, the game is very immersive.

David Braben popped by in the afternoon (having made a flying visit on Friday) and I got a chance to chat with him (and get a photo) – he was a really nice guy, down to earth and enthusiastic.

On Thursday most of the players had been male; not stereotype gamers, but only a handful of ladies. By late Saturday I was seeing a much larger number of female players, of all ages. Many were there with their boyfriends, but were as interested in the game (not just tagging along), quite a few were in cosplay getup. Some really funny characters.

EGX Friday

Today I was getting into the swing of things. Word was getting around the show that Elite was the game to see and we were getting a lot of “Elite Newbies” who’d never heard of the game or the series but were blown away by the gameplay and graphics. Also more than a few stand staff from around the show came around early on, who were keen to see the game and have a play.

As each person came in we would chat to them find out what they knew about Elite: Dangerous and the series and then explain the concepts of the game, the history of the series and the Kickstarter and the imminent release of the game (Q4). Most people would play the basic combat tutorial and a few struggled to complete the mission, but most passed with ease and really enjoyed the game.

It was a pleasure to be demonstrating software that other people got excited about.

EGX Thursday

Today was a much earlier start. We had to be there by 8.30am. By this point the centre of the ring of desks was covered with a giant circular post of the “Azeban City” Coriolis space station. We had four of the twelve workstations set up with Oculus Rift DK2, one had a 4K screen and they all had X52Pro flight joysticks and top-end Turtle Beach headsets.

Our stand filled up pretty rapidly and by managing the post-chat flight time for each commander, we kept the queue to less than an hour the whole day. The highlight of the day was Jason Bradbury from The Gadget Show sat down at the Occulus station next to mine while Kerash (John) talked him through the game. He had a go and loved it. When Jason took the headset off, he was so excited he high-fived me! He was so taken when I pointed out the BBC Micro keyboard in the cockpit, he had to snap a photo with his phone.

After the 7pm close, we went for a much deserved beer. I only had a half because of the long train journey with no loo!

EGX Setup day

Spent the afternoon at Earls Court today. They were setting up the stand and PCs for playing the game. New builds hot off the compiler!

Frontier has twelve PC rigs with 32" screens, X52 joysticks and headsets all set up in a circle running Elite: Dangerous. Four of the rigs are running Occulus Rift DK2, so come see me and I will make sure you get a go!

The other Elite Ambassadors are a nice crowd. One even mentioned he'd visited dMw forums searching Google for info on Elite (I knew Google was good for something!).

The stand was really impressive - I will post a photo or two tomorrow.

We didn’t need to arrive until 2pm, so most of the guys who were acting as Elite: Dangerous ambassadors met up at a restaurant near to Earls Court for lunch beforehand. Terry who was clearly very quick, brought a box of Ferrero Roche for the “Ambassador’s Party” – he shouldn’t have, he spoiled us! LOL

We then went over to the exhibition halls and met the Frontier staff Mike and Ed the sales/PR guys and Ali & Jess the marketing/events management girls who had been our contacts via email up to that point – they were a really nice bunch.

The stand was in an unfinished stage at that point, but they had put a lot of thought into the setup. Wandering around it was clear most of the game stands were dark, windowless and boxed in with queuing outside. The Elite stand was an open circle with twelve workstations with recessed 32” screens and the queue had been set up around the perimeter with a “selfie” photo booth at the end of the queue. This meant people waiting could see the game being played the whole time.

Elite at EGX London 2014 in Earls Court 24th-28th Sep

Well instead of going as a vistor this year. I will now be going on all five days.

Got the time off work and I will be on the Frontier stand as an ambassador for Elite: Dangerous.

I will do my best to promote the Dead Men Walking gaming community while I'm there.

Any details of Elite I come away with I will forward to you all (provided there's no NDA - although I can't see that likely with a game already in open BETA).

 

Hello Commander!

Congratulations! You have been chosen to be one of our Elite: Dangerous Brand Ambassadors for EGX 2014 in London!
EGX 2014: Earls Court

Time: Wednesday 24th September - Sunday 28th September

The show will be open to the public from Thursday to Sunday. You will be needed on the Wednesday from 1pm at the event for a run through of the demo and stand – and also to meet us!
Before the event we will be sending you an Ambassador Briefing document along with contact information.
You will be given Ambassador t-shirts for the event, if you could please specify your size by the end of today. If we don’t get the t-shirt size we shall order XL T-shirts for you.

Travel and Accommodation

You will need to book your own travel to and from the event, please notify us of the cost prior to booking, keep all your receipts or note your mileage as we will reimburse these to you. If you are coming from outside London and require accommodation over the four days please let us know by Friday afternoon.
If you have any further questions do not hesitate to email us.

We are really looking forward to meeting you all and growing our Ambassador team!

The Frontier Team

Regards
Alison Chapman
Events Manager
Frontier Developments Plc