The already released space simulation Elite Dangerous has supportive words for the often criticized competitor Star Citizen.
Competition drives business, they say. And David Braben, founder of Frontier Development and creator of the Elite series, sees it that way too. Because the developer of the space online game Elite: Dangerous has only positive words for Star Citizen.
Sometimes you just have to stick together in the industry, especially when you are developing an extremely ambitious game in a genre that has actually been considered dead. David Braben explains that both Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen are very ambitious games, and he is already looking forward to being able to play Star Citizen.
Both games want to achieve their goals in different ways, and no one can say which is the right way. He finds it unfortunate that Star Citizen has to take so much criticism when one should actually applaud a developer for tackling something new, something that is difficult to implement and that no one has ever tried before.
Game development is not easy
Braben further explains that it is difficult to create a game because many independent components must be developed correctly. Sometimes it may look simple, but only if experienced people have spent a lot of time planning ahead and enough people are working behind the scenes to implement everything. He compares this to a swan. It would look graceful as it glides over the water’s surface, but if you look beneath the surface, you would see frantic paddling.
Braben is proud of what he does as a developer and he is glad that there is such a good community that expresses their support. He continues to believe that we would look towards a rosy future. Furthermore, he is glad about the release of the first part of the Horizons expansion and the planet landings it introduced. Now they would work on further elements to improve and expand Elite: Dangerous.
