Interviews// Elite Dangerous: Horizons

SPOnG: The flight model is incredible in Elite Dangerous. The ships grown and protest when you fling it about in space. Was that something infused into it?

BD: The sound designers have done an amazing job. All of the ships have their own sound palette. If you have ever had the fortune of affording a Fer-de-Lance, for me that is just the pinnacle. It feels really expensive and when you're flying around in that it's just incredible what they have done to give off that atmosphere.

I admit I didn't fairly earn mine, I used a cheat to get mine. In my defence, I have to spend more time making the game than I can playing it. But it was a real moment for me. We did a live stream and I was flying the Fer-de-Lance for the first time and I was in my element. I was so used to using my Sidewinder and then I got into this new ship and it was a dream.

That is really important and it comes down again to not just programming, it's art, it's sound design, it's all of the elements coming together. I'm really glad that the sound designers are getting so much recognition as I always feel sound design is the forgotten part of development and now those guys are getting plaudits and nominated for awards left right and centre, it shows how much hard work they have put into it.


SPOnG: I especially like it when the screen cracks and blows out from the ship, forcing decompression, and you're too far from home to get rescued.

BD: There is actually a section of the community who are like the SOS squad who will come and help you re-fuel if you have run out of fuel. You can go online and tell them your coordinates and they will come and actually help you if you're stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

It's incredible, I can't think of many games that have that kind of community with a holistic experience where people want to help one another and just go out of their way to do so. The fact that there are people who sit in the middle of our galaxy, just waiting to welcome people who arrive there, I just can't think of any other game where you get that kind of thing.


SPOnG: Speaking of experiences, a fond memory I have with Frontier Elite II is when I had to carry out an assassination on a target at a certain time on a certain planet. So I went there, waited until the time arrived then shot him out of the sky. Will Elite Dangerous have similar experiences?

BD: It's people like you that get us into trouble! People do that in space. It's one of those things that you never know. When you're playing out in open space, you may have an agenda, you may want to be a pacifist, you may just want to trade, or you may just want to go from A to B.

I once had an experience where I spent seven hours transporting rare goods across the galaxy, trying to afford my first proper purchased ship and I got one jump away from reaching home and someone interdicted me and I had 10 minutes of dodging and weaving, I had no weapons because I had fully loaded out for the journey.

I just had to weave and dodge and my shield went down so many times it was so terrifying. The feeling of satisfaction when I managed to jump away and get home was incredible. It's moments like that why people play Elite Dangerous.


SPOnG: Thank you very much for your time!