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Comment by jheriko | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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.

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.

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

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)

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