As Elite celebrated its 25th anniversary, we spoke to co-creator and chairman of Frontier, David Braben, about his early development days, why Elite was a true pioneer of its age and why the games industry is still only just beginning.
It has been 25 years since the release of Elite. What’s it like looking back?
David Braben: It’s astonishing. It doesn’t feel like very long and that’s the frightening thing. You think, “Wow, where on earth have those 25 years gone?” In another way, looking at what’s changed in 25 years, it was a very different world. [Ian Bell and I] launched [the game during] the time of the miner’s strike. You know, Margaret Thatcher – everyone hating her. So, it is amazing what’s changed in that time.
I think, in terms of Elite, it was a really exciting time doing the game. And then we did an awful lot of versions of Elite, which sort of took some of the shiny off. But for me the nostalgia is still there. It’s really nice looking back. It was a really great time. I was still a student, so I was only a baby really [laughs].
Did you design any other games during your student days?
DB: [laughs] I believe it was my first game. Yeah, I was doing my degree at the same time. Elite, as I said in the talk, was written during stolen moments, rather than a proper sit down. It made it feel really enjoyable.
What were some the elements that made Elite standout when it was first released?
DB: 3D! Yeah, well, that was the main one. I think also the scope of the game. It wasn’t a game with narrative. But in terms of the way the story is put together, it is very, very different. The game had no score [chart], you had to save your position. All of these things were quite new – in a giant world that you could explore. I think we take that sort of thing for granted now. And even so, very few games have those sort of things going for them.
Where did the idea come from for the trading and economy systems?
DB: It came from the fact that fighting spaceships with nothing else around is a bit dull. You’ve got to have some reason to care. So, if you get a really good price for a [piece of] cargo, you really want to get it there. You care about surviving. And there’s a real irony, because we saved the [ship’s] position on cassette we wanted it to be as small as possible. We couldn’t afford to save all the data from flying around, so we only allowed you to save when you were docked. Which meant it [was] a really stressful experience on a journey, because you had to get to [a] space station before you could save.
What would you say to younger readers who many not have heard of Elite?
DB: We’re a very young industry. You many think of Ian and I as one of many, sort of, Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplins of the very early film generation, for games. It’s an industry that hasn’t really taken off yet. It’s very, very big. But, in terms of where it is going to go, we’re just starting to find our feet. So it’s still possible to get into the industry and make a difference.
Elite was the first game to be released with an accompanying novella, The Dark Wheel, and at one point there was also an origami insert planned. Were you keen to have products such as these which expanded the fiction?
DB: Absolutely. There was lots of stuff in the pack. [In] those days most games came on a little cassette tape with a little insert which just [provided basic information]. Whereas, [Elite] came with a manual – which was quite thick, a quick reference guide, a key strip – [to] tell you what all the buttons do, a poster, a competition entry form… you know, there was an awful lot in there. And then, of course, there’s the cassette that the game came on. [All of this] made it feel really rich. Robert Holdstock’s excellent story, The Dark Wheel – it was the first game to have a novel with it, to try and build the world and make it richer. So, a lot of the things Elite did were firsts, but then were copied by other people.
Follow David’s work at Frontier and see more on Elite in this feature.
Aaron Lee
Tags: david braben, elite, frontier, gamecity
