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Check out "Elite: Dangerous" it has a scientifically accurate 1:1 scale, fully Seamless Milky Way galaxy using a mix of procedural generation with artist direction

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Elite:_Dangerous_FAQ

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Procedural_Generation

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I've been a fan of David Braben's since playing Elite and Virus as a kid. I'd never seen him speak and The Procedural Generation video gave me a whole new appreciation of his intellect. I hope he gets a knighthood for his work on Raspberry-Pi. Much greatness in him and I wonder what he would have achieved if he had started off in California rather than Essex and Cambridge.

> Much greatness in him and I wonder what he would have achieved if he had started off in California rather than Essex and Cambridge.

Wow, that's more than a little bit self-important / arrogant. You do realize that Cambridge is home to several huge tech innovators, right (ARM?) And that the UK produces more than its fair share of huge video games (GTA?).

Applying your logic, who knows what that Tim Berners-Lee guy might have achieved if he'd started off in the valley rather than CERN...

"Much greatness in him and I wonder what he would have achieved if he had started off in California rather than Essex and Cambridge."

Maybe nothing great? Consider if Linus didn't have Finnish winters?

Probably not so much. He'd probably have been hired by Atari and making a ton of cash, followed by disappearing into obscurity.

yeah, but lets be honest... that's never going to get finished. its not like they've already had 10-15 years of working on it and millions of pounds of investment that have already been wasted... long before the recent kickstart.

There are plenty of finished space-exploration games with very similar scope.

The Frontier series, for instance, featured a life-scale galaxy with seamless planet landing, each one entirely unique. It was released in 1993, and we're much better at making games like these now.

Here are some other games that will "never be finished":

- StarBound - http://playstarbound.com

- Rodina - http://elliptic-games.com/

- Elite: Dangerous - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangero...

- Drifter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/celsiusgs/drifter-a-spac...

- Star Citizen - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cig/star-citizen

- Limit Theory - http://ltheory.com/

And there are still many more.

£2,140,164 raised.

The money raised from fans is only a fraction of their total budget.

http://www.directorstalk.com/video-edison-executive-intervie...

http://frontier.co.uk/investor_relations

That is nowhere near enough. The best case scenario is a static world with simplified stelar objects. So far the only released game that got even close to realistic distances was I-War 2:Edge of Chaos( awesome game btw ) which was static.

Frontier: Elite 2 from 1993 and Frontier: First Encounters (Elite 3) from 1995 did it way before I-War was even a thing, complete with full freeform seamless landing on planets with real celestial mechanics.

http://frontier.co.uk/games/older/frontier_elite_ii

http://frontier.co.uk/games/older/frontier_first_encounters

I took a look at some game play videos and I'm positively surprised. I seems today's developers mostly just don't care or don't have the required knowledge.

Also considering the lack of exposure and the amount of flack Elite: Dangerous is getting compared to the other space games it's also the gamers who sadly don't care.

Btw here is an interesting interview with David Braben somewhat before the time of Frontier: Elite 2's release.

http://amr.abime.net/review_38271

http://amr.abime.net/review_38231

http://amr.abime.net/review_15452

Here is a reddit AMA from a year ago.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/15od2s/i_am_david_brab...

There is also an impressive universe simulator called Space Engine and they are planning on adding gameplay to it, but it will probably take a long time before it's ready.

http://en.spaceengine.org

There is also Pioneer Space Sim that started as a Frontier: Elite 2 remake, which is also still WIP.

http://pioneerspacesim.net

Also be sure to check out the Elite: Dangerous FAQ

http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Elite:_Dangerous_FAQ#W...

its in no way impossible - they just failed to deliver for long enough already imo - i have zero faith in the team delivering it.

i dont think its impossible or that they don't have enough money - just that they will fail to deliver based on their having been plenty of time and money for Elite 4 already... it already puts duke nukem forever to shame imo.

i would like to see it, but i don't think its realistic (i don't believe its technically impossible - especially with that kind of resource, i just have little faith in the people involved by this point - which is a shame)

I saw the 1984, 1991, 1995 games on youtube and I am blown away how ahead of the pack it was. Pushing the envelope of hardware in those times and the amount of gameplay depth seems absolutely incredible.

I have my reservations about the new game however because if anything, there's plenty of space shooters out there. No Man's Sky is appealing because of the procedural nature, but the new gameplay videos looked quite good.

I'd want a game to feel like it's new everytime I play it online. I hate seeing the same corridor or encountering same situations. I agree that gameplay here will be the final gamebreaker for me.

I don't buy that procedural = sandbox effect = bored in 10 minutes. If anything I could never play GTA series entirely, I'd get distracted, pick up hookers, shoot a rival gang member in a drive by shooting, and commit suicide by jumping off the building while firing RPG launchers. This also tends to get old.

The other day, my younger brother and I spent 6 hours BASE jumping off various things in GTA 5. I'm terrible at games with too much freedom, and I get bored with that pretty rapidly :(

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