Kickstarting: Elite Dangerous

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away... a space fighting and trading game was born. Created by David Braben and Ian Bell, Elite was a game like no other that I'd played at the time. It started you off with a basic spaceship, a handful of credits and a galaxy full of planets to explore. The entire galaxy was procedurally generated, so they could create a vast number of star systems very easily. Each star system had a different number of planets and space stations, which all had things they wanted to trade for. Your status was defined by your combat rating, from harmless to elite.



The first version of Elite was made for the BBC Micro in 1984, but my first experience was with Elite Plus on the PC in 1991. This version had 256 colour VGA graphics as well as new sound and music. Elite would later be followed by two sequels, Frontier: Elite II (1993) and Frontier: First Encounters (1995). Each sequel had a graphical upgrade, as well as adding several new features, including an attempt to make the space travel and combat more realistic. The Frontier games added factions and basic quests, to allow you to gain notoriety and money through other means other than combat and trade (although a combination of these was often the most useful course of action).