Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Elite: Dangerous Creator Shares The Secret For Surviving Three Decades As An Indie
Thirty-three years is a long time to stay successful in any industry, but it seems even more impressive in interactive entertainment, where giants fall by the wayside seemingly every month. When meeting with the recent Game Developers Choice Pioneer Award recipient David Braben, we asked the Elite: Dangerous and ScreamRide creator to share the keys to his success.
"We've always been writing for the future if you like," Braben says. "In the 33 years I've been in the business, every year has had a really dramatic change. If you assume things are going to stay the same, that's where the problems happen. Always trying to look for what's the next thing – where do we want to be? That was the reason we designed Elite: Dangerous to support head-mounted displays even though there weren't any around at all."
Looking at his studio's past catalog, this proves true. Frontier Developments has flexed its muscle across several different platforms since its first game on PC back in 1994, creating everything from PlayStation 2, Xbox, Wii, Kinect, and iOS. Some of Braben's most notable games include the original open world game, Elite; a boundary pushing sim series, RollerCoaster Tycoon; the first downloadable Wii game, Lost Winds; and some of the better reviewing Kinect games, including Kinectimals and Zoo Tycoon.
"You've got to be looking where the future is going to be," Braben says. "I think when people say the pool is shrinking, what's happening is the total area of water is actually getting bigger but we're seeing different pools shrinking and other ponds growing. We're just trying to make sure we're not in a pond that's about to dry up. People said we were a bit mad for supporting 4K during the [Elite: Dangerous] Kickstarter, because you couldn't get displays yet. Look how quickly the displays became affordable. I would expect a similar trajectory for 8K. I don't think we're bonkers supporting it. Graphics cards are getting better at an amazing rate."
Staying on the bleeding edge of technology has also allowed Frontier to keep its games relevant for years after their initial launch, something the team learned a lot about during the development of RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. "We really pushed hardware specs," Braben says. "The top end of the sliders were ludicrous and we got a lot of complaints like, 'I've got a top-end machine and I can't run it. This game is rubbish.' But actually we supported pixel shaders, which at that time were only in workstations. They're in cheap laptops now. It's why the game has been the de facto coaster game for more than 10 years."
This commitment to continually push forward is still evident in the company's philosophy today. When the Oculus Rift was successfully funded on Kickstarter back in 2012, the Frontier team was one of the first to get a game prototype up and running with the technology. In a matter of days, developers were flying through deep space in Elite: Dangerous with the added thrill of sitting in a virtual reality cockpit. "When we released the alpha on Dec. 5 2013, many were saying, 'this game is great but wouldn't it be awesome in VR?' We said very similar comments internally," Braben says. "It was only five or six days later we brought it out with full Oculus support. We didn't have to build a business case because we're independent. Ironically, it would have probably taken longer to build a business case than actually implement it.
"I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. What it's done is made sure we're on the leading edge and not following because we've got our own technology. The other secret to Frontier is we've had our own technology for a very long time. All the game's we've talked about have been made with this technology. That really empowers us because when we produce ports for VR, that goes across all of our games automatically."
In Braben's eyes, a keen eye for identifying new tech trends and future proofing products have been the keys to keeping Frontier humming along as an independent studio for longer than many publishers last. Making good games along the way has also probably helped as well.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
