Development Plans

2018-08-29T00:17:58Z

69.168.160.54: /* Season 4 */ Linked to actual AMA response

[[File:PlanetaryLanding 2.jpg|thumb|300px|Atmospheric planetary landing]]

[[Elite Dangerous]] has a truly [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM0Gcl7iUM8&t=35 huge scope] and [[Frontier Developments|Frontier]] has ambitious development plans. During an interview at [[Lavecon]] 2015, [[David Braben]] stated to have a clear intention of a 10 year development plan.<ref>https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/165775-Lavecon-News</ref> This includes smaller free updates, paid major updates and expansions. Frontier uses an iterative approach. This means gradually build upon features to expand and improve it. Here's an overview of planned updates and expansions.

== Season 1 ==

[[File:Elite-Dangerous-Box-Art.png|right|thumb|250px]]

The first season added various new features and content. It was released after Elite Dangerous launched on December 16, 2014 through 2015. Notable features are:<ref>https://www.elitedangerous.com/en/seasons/#season1</ref>
* 1.1 [[Community Goals]]
* 1.2 [[Wings]]
* 1.3 [[Powerplay]]
* 1.4 [[CQC Championship|CQC]]
* 1.5 [[Ships]] expansion added many new ships
* 1.6 [[Mission]] System
* 1.7
** New mission types
** Module storage
** Beautiful [[station]] interiors
** New navigation filters
** Ship transfer

== Horizons - Season 2 ==

[[File:Elite-Dangerous-Horizons.png|thumb|250px]]

[[Elite Dangerous: Horizons]] is the second season of expansions for Elite Dangerous. It introduced a variety of new features and gameplay content. Horizons v2.0 was released on PC on the 15th of December 2015. Subsequent major updates were released in 2016 and 2017. The most notable are:
* [[Planetary Landings]] on airless planets and moons
* [[Engineers]]
* [[Guardians]]
* [[Thargoids]]
* [[SRV]]
* [[Ship Launched Fighters]]
* [[Passenger Carrier|Passenger]] transport
* [[Holo-Me]]
* [[Multicrew]]
* [[Megaships]]
* [[Camera suite|Camera Suite]]
For detailed information about this season see the [[Horizons|Horizons page]].

== Beyond - Season 3 ==

[[File:Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-Roadmap.png|thumb|250px|Elite Dangerous: Beyond roadmap]]

[[Elite Dangerous: Beyond]] is the third season of expansions planned for Elite Dangerous through the year of 2018. The main focus is core gameplay, existing features, quality of life and other improvements.<ref name=":0" /> This is free for all [[Horizons]] owners. New features will be added too. The most notable are:
* New [[ships]]: [[Chieftain]], [[Krait]]
* New weapons
* [[GalNet]] Audio: text-to-audio feature
* [[Wing Missions]]
* [[Planets|Planet]] tech improvements: Planetary Visual Improvements
* Revised [[Trader|trade]] data
* [[Engineers]] improvements
* [[Material Trader]]
* [[Technology Broker]]
* [[Crime & Punishment]] improvements: [[Notoriety]], [[Advanced Tactical Response]], [[Detention Centre|Detention Centres]]
* [[Megaship]] interaction improvements
* New [[Guardians|Guardian]] tech and a personal narrative
* New [[missions]] and scenarios
* Improved Lighting Model
* [[Squadrons]]
* [[Fleet Carrier]]
* Mining gameplay improvements
* Exploration gameplay improvements
* [[Codex]]
[[Zac Antonaci]] said ''"In addition to all the content talked about at Frontier Expo, we also have some pretty cool things in the works which will be available to purchase."''''' '''<ref>https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?p=6020972&viewfull=1#post6020972</ref>

For detailed information about this season of updates see the [[Elite Dangerous: Beyond|Beyond page]].

== Season 4 ==

[[File:Anaconda-Walking-Pilot-Scale.png|thumb|250px|A walking pilot in a hangar with an Anaconda]]

There are no major announcements about the fourth season yet. The release date is 2019. [[David Braben|Braben]] said after the [[Beyond]] season there are a lot of exciting things that they'll announce, some of which will be free and paid.<ref name=":1" />

Frontier will shift from the paid expansion model to major premium DLC that can be purchased. So rather than buying an expansion with multiple updates, you can purchase major updates separately.

David Braben commented in an AMA that: ''“I don’t think people liked having to pay for multiple updates in one go, so that is something we are going to move away from. At this end of the ‘season’ it makes sense, as people can see the huge number of features we are delivering, but it makes for a higher price.”''<ref>https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/64pp4c/ask_him_anything_david_braben_obe_fdev_ceo/dg42x3y/</ref>

There are rumors that it will be the first editions of [[Atmospheric Landings|atmospheric landings]], [[Space Legs|space legs]] and maybe giant executive controlled [[Capital Ships|capital ships]]. It's expected that [[Procedural Generation|procedural generation]] and interior modules will be used for [[Ship Interiors|ship interiors]]. This can also be used for [[Procedural Cities|procedural cities]] and atmospheric [[planets]].

== Roadmap ==

[[File:Elite-Dangerous-Atmospheric-Planet-Cobra--Fan-Art.png|thumb|250px|Atmospheric Planet and a Cobra]]

The expansions will include significant new features such as seamless freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ#Will it be possible to manually land on planets.3F|atmospheric flight and landings]]''' ('''[[Atmospheric Landings|atmospheric landings]]''')''' and [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ|on-foot and out-of-ship activities]]''' '''([[Space Legs|space legs]]) such as FPS combat, walking around and boarding ships, walking in stations and walking and driving vehicles on entire 1:1 scale populated living planets ([[Procedural Cities|procedural cities]]) with [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ#Will I be able to hire crew for my ship.3F|multi-player crew]] and [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ#Can I own and control capital ships.3F|player executive controlled capital ships]].<ref name=":2" />

Frontier said ''"we plan to follow that same incremental development philosophy that we’ve done throughout our Alpha and Beta phases, and continue to significantly enhance the game via further expansions post-launch."''<ref name=":2" />

Frontier intends to release small, free updates after launch. Expansions that include significant new features and content will have to be purchased.<ref name=":2" />

For example, the roadmap is to add these features with major updates (in no particular order): <ref name=":2">[http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=1824c0b05a#Lifetime%20Exp Elite Dangerous Newsletter #29]</ref><ref>https://www.pcgamesn.com/elite-dangerous/elite-dangerous-standard-beta-begins-next-week-last-chance-grab-lifetime-expansion-pack</ref>
* [https://www.elitedangerous.com/en/horizons Landing / driving / prospecting on airless rocky planets, moons & asteroids]- this was added with [[Elite Dangerous: Horizons]], see [[Planetary Landings]].
* [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ#Can I walk around the ship.2C planets and space stations.3F|Walking around interiors and combative boarding of other ships]]. - see [[Space Legs]].
* [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ#Can I walk around the ship.2C planets and space stations.3F|Combat and other interactions with other players and AIs in the internal areas of star ports]]
* [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ#Can I walk around the ship.2C planets and space stations.3F|Accessing richly detailed planetary surfaces]] - see [[Atmospheric Landings]] and [[Procedural Cities]].
* [[Elite: Dangerous FAQ#Can I own and control capital ships.3F|Availability of giant ‘executive control’ ships to players]]. - see [[Capital Ships]].

The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM0Gcl7iUM8&t=35 scope of ''Elite'' is huge], so a sensible strategy is used to add to the game in stages.<ref name=":3">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM0Gcl7iUM Elite: Dangerous Development Plan]</ref> ''"The core release of the game focuses on the ships and space. We'll then be working to expand the game. This includes exploring your ship and space stations. The potential content for Elite is huge, so we're keeping a sensible strategy to add to the game in stages."''<ref>https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous/faqs</ref>

Keep in mind that the game has been [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM0Gcl7iUM8&t=151 well planned and designed from the start] with all these features in mind (it is not an afterthought) and [http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Elite:_Dangerous_FAQ#Does_the_.22Elite:_Dangerous.22_developer_Frontier_Developments_have_enough_expertise_to_pull_off_such_an_ambitious_project.3F Frontier Developments already has the technology for this.]<ref name=":3" />

== 10 Year Development Plan ==

[[File:Elite Dangerous Station Walking.png|thumb|250px|People walking in a station]]

During the 2016 Elite Dangerous 24 Hour Charity Livestream! David Braben confirmed a 10 year development plan and he hopes it'll be a lot longer than that. "''Looking back at those (developer videos), you can see what we've done, were executing on the plan. There's still a lot of things that are to come and those are very exciting. We do have a long plan. It would take us a long time to deliver all the things that we want to do. The great thing is the more things get added to the end of it. So it may well be never ending. I've said sort of 8 years, 10 years, but actually it could end up and I'm hoping it'll be a lot longer than that. The key point is we'll keep doing exciting things and we'll work out how best to do that."''<ref>Elite Dangerous 24 Hour Charity Livestream! Part 1! 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS33cyq6Z_A&t=21m00s</ref>

== Developer Comments ==

[[File:Elite-Dangerous-Orca-ship-atmospheric-landing-fan-art.png|250px|thumb|Orca atmospheric landing]]On March 20, 2015 [[David Braben]] was asked about the long roadmap ahead and he said: ''"Well I'm very excited. I've said over a long time I'm very excited about some features that we will do down the road including things like landing on planets, walking around inside your spaceship, getting out of your spaceship, all of those things I think are very very exciting and obviously those are in the long-term roadmap."''<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLpX1G5I5tQ Elite: Dangerous - David Braben Interview], Gamereactor, 5:20
</ref>

=== Beyond ===
These are comments related to [[Elite Dangerous: Beyond]].

On May 24, 2017, Frontier's head of communications Zac Antonaci commented on future major updates after [[Horizons]]: ''"So with the Horizon season of expansions coming to a close, what is beyond 2.4 I hear you ask? Well, it certainly isn’t the end of this amazing journey… we’re only just getting started!"''<ref name=":0">https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/354066-Elite-Dangerous-2-4-and-beyond</ref>

''"Our awesome dev team are dedicated to continuing to build and improve the Elite Dangerous experience with an exciting long term vision in mind. We’re happy to be able to confirm that the next major updates following 2.4 will focus on core gameplay, existing features, quality of life and other improvements! We’re delighted to be investing a considerable amount of development and effort into making the core gameplay experience even better for our fantastic community or players."''<ref name=":0" />

On July 26, 2018, Braben said ''"We’ve continued to support and nurture the existing franchises. Elite Dangerous has continued to grow, the team size is actually getting bigger. The plan was – beyond the current season for Elite, which is mostly announced – there are a lot of things that we will be announcing that are really exciting, some of which will be free, some of which will be paid."''<ref name=":1">[https://wccftech.com/frontier-next-game-unveiled-late-2018/ Frontier’s Next Game To Be Unveiled in Late 2018/Early 2019; Elite Dangerous Is Getting Exciting Things] - July 26, 2018
</ref>

== Elite Dangerous Sequel ==
In an interview with PCGN at E3 2018, the company’s CEO, [[David Braben]], said that while he wouldn’t rule out a sequel to the deep-space adventure, fans shouldn’t expect to see anything on that topic soon.<ref name=":4">https://www.pcgamesn.com/elite-dangerous/elite-dangerous-2</ref>

Braben said ''“the world has changed. We’re coming to the end of the fourth year of Elite Dangerous.”'' That's ''“a wonderful place to be in,” ''but ''“isn’t to say there won’t be something at some point.”'' A sequel is ''“long time time off and there is lots to do in the Elite Dangerous world.''”<ref name=":4" />

== Related Links ==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yd-m9AR7mY The Future of Elite: Dangerous]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM0Gcl7iUM8&t=35 Elite: Dangerous - Development Plan video]
*[http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5659 Q&A about Development Plan]
*[http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=dcbf6b86b4b0c7d1c21b73b1e&id=ac1081437f&e=0439f6773e#launch%20and%20beyond Newsletter about Landing on Planets, Ship interiors and Walking around]
*[https://games.yahoo.com/video/interview-elite-dangerouss-david-braben-211040547.html In-depth Yahoo interview with David Braben about the scope of Elite.]
*[http://www.edge-online.com/features/frontier-developments-elite-dangerous-the-rebirth-of-a-legend/ In-depth Edge article with David Braben and Jonny Watts about the scope of Elite.]

== Videos ==
<gallery>
Elite Dangerous Development Plan
The Future of Elite Dangerous
Elite_Dangerous_-_Top_10_Future_Updates_and_Expansions
Whatever_Happened_to_Elite_Dangerous_-_Development_Past_%26_Future
</gallery>

== Gallery ==
<gallery>

PlanetaryLanding 2.jpg|Atmospheric planetary landing art
Flightsuit_combatsketch01.jpg
Stationinside_08.jpg
Viper-MkIII-Atmosphere-Concept-Art.png
Elite-Dangerous-Ship-Interior-Concept.jpg
</gallery>

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Guides]]
[[Category:Elite: Dangerous]]

Elite Dangerous Wiki - User contributions [en-gb]

Development Plans