Perhaps my number one all time favorite game is the C64 version of Elite. The legendary game by Braben and Bell. I remember playing it as a kid, trading goods between planets, occasionally trying some piracy, battling thargoids, mining asteroids, and dying a lot. The sheer richness of the universe is mind boggling, considering the simplicity of the game.
Of course there isn't any chatting with the pilots of the other ships, you cannot talk with the merchants, and you cannot woo the governor's daughter (that reminds me of another all time favorite, so another blog post will be in the works), but what you can do is to try to maximize your profits, improve your ship, and grow your reputation.
"Right on Commander", says the ship's computer after a particularly well executed kill shot of a viper trying its best to avoid your military grade front laser, and you almost cannot help but feel a little proud of yourself.
What makes Elite so compelling and seemingly rich? There is after all only a couple of special missions, and mostly you are just buying and selling things, and battling space pirates. Sometimes a run from planet to another is as simple as this:
- Exit the station
- Activate hyperjump
- After arriving at target system turn ship towards planet
- When you're close enough, system will detect the station, so fly to the station
- Dock with the station
And all of it actually follows fairly simple logic. If you have a cargo hold full of stuff that is very expensive, and the system you've jumped to is on the bad side of the tracks, the pirates will show up in large numbers. If you are carrying less expensive cargo, and flying towards a rich planet, you are less likely to be bothered by anyone.
What our brain does is it adds motivations and additional complexity to the actions of the computer controlled ships. In our minds, we think about the pilots flying those ships, and why they are doing what they are doing.
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| image source: https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Elite |
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