14 DAY TRIAL // David Braben, the developer behind the recently funded Elite: Dangerous, is admitting that he was nervous midway through his Kickstarter process and wondered whether he would have been better off seeking resources via traditional means.
He tells Gamasutra that, “I started off confident, but in the middle I was a little nervous. All Kickstarter campaigns that are eventually successful seem to have a similar shape, so I was hopeful there would be an upturn at the end.”
He also admitted that his own team at Frontier was not totally prepared for the level of scrutiny that the Kickstarter process led to.
The fact that a video was initially only offered to the BBC meant that many players failed to get a clear image of what Elite: Dangerous would offer and held back their funds until they got a clearer picture.
Braben adds, “The biggest lesson I have learned is the level of engagement from the fans is vital. I have really enjoyed talking to the people on the comments pages, on Reddit, and privately. It can be hard work, but it is heart-warming, and as a rule people were very positive and supportive.”
Elite: Dangerous is a very ambitious project and gamers have offered the 1.25 million British pounds, a little over 2 million dollars (1.5 million Euro).
Braben expected to launch a preliminary version of the game for a limited number of players during 2013, with the full PC launch set to take place next year.
Elite will use a procedural system to create more than 100 billion unique start systems, each of them filled with planets and other objects that players will be able to interact with.
The game will offer players complete freedom to choose their ship and their career and then head into space in order to generate money and improve their skills.