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Is Elite conceptually similar to Escape Velocity? I was so obsessed with this game as a kid, and the mods were super cool too! Would love to learn the backsto

Is Elite conceptually similar to Escape Velocity? I was so obsessed with this game as a kid, and the mods were super cool too! Would love to learn the backstory behind the publisher, Ambrosia Software, about how they made so many great games in the 1990's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_Velocity_(video_game)

AnotherGoodName 2y ago
Very very distantly. The more direct ancestor of Escape Velocity was Star Control 2.
card_zero 2y ago
Sure, it's the original "space trader". Unlike EV, which owes its top-down interface to an even older game (Asteroids, 1979) it is however 3D. Fighting pirates is a mild test of hand-eye coordination, 3D orientation and nerve. Docking with a space station (until you buy the auto-dock device) is a severe test. Imagine you have to insert a slice of bread into a slowly rotating toaster, and if the bread touches the sides you die. Also your eyes are located in the leading edge of the bread. (This was presumably inspired by Kubrick's 2001.)
- PlunderBunny 2y ago
  I found that docking was trivial in the BBC Micro disk version if you got reasonably close to the space station entrance, then sped away in the opposite direction (I.e. keeping the space station centred in the read view, turned around and went straight ahead to the station - no adjustments needed.
  - PlunderBunny 2y ago
    Sorry - I meant to write “…in the rear view…”
- buescher 2y ago
  It's more a brilliant fusion of earlier text space trader games with 3D space combat. Analogous to the way that Atari's Star Raiders made a 3D space combat game out of the old teletype Star Trek games.
- teddyh 2y ago
  Arguably, the interface of Asteroids was copied from the video game Spacewar! (1962).
bitwize 2y ago
Yes. You have a ship and can explore the galaxy, trade goods, fight off pirate raids, etc. It was one of the deepest games available for any system during its time. There was a NES port only available in Europe; its CHR ROM was actually RAM, allowing the game's vector graphics to be drawn into it in framebuffer-like fashion for an experience that matched the computer ports.

AnotherGoodName 2y ago

Very very distantly. The more direct ancestor of Escape Velocity was Star Control 2.

card_zero 2y ago

Sure, it's the original "space trader". Unlike EV, which owes its top-down interface to an even older game (Asteroids, 1979) it is however 3D. Fighting pirates is a mild test of hand-eye coordination, 3D orientation and nerve. Docking with a space station (until you buy the auto-dock device) is a severe test. Imagine you have to insert a slice of bread into a slowly rotating toaster, and if the bread touches the sides you die. Also your eyes are located in the leading edge of the bread. (This was presumably inspired by Kubrick's 2001.)

PlunderBunny 2y ago
I found that docking was trivial in the BBC Micro disk version if you got reasonably close to the space station entrance, then sped away in the opposite direction (I.e. keeping the space station centred in the read view, turned around and went straight ahead to the station - no adjustments needed.
- PlunderBunny 2y ago
  Sorry - I meant to write “…in the rear view…”
buescher 2y ago
It's more a brilliant fusion of earlier text space trader games with 3D space combat. Analogous to the way that Atari's Star Raiders made a 3D space combat game out of the old teletype Star Trek games.
teddyh 2y ago
Arguably, the interface of Asteroids was copied from the video game Spacewar! (1962).

bitwize 2y ago

Yes. You have a ship and can explore the galaxy, trade goods, fight off pirate raids, etc. It was one of the deepest games available for any system during its time. There was a NES port only available in Europe; its CHR ROM was actually RAM, allowing the game's vector graphics to be drawn into it in framebuffer-like fashion for an experience that matched the computer ports.