User:TheCiscoKid

Original Elite Universe

Our ship is always at the centre of the Elite universe, the planet and the sun actually move relative to us in the opposite direction to our flight path while our ship stays at the origin. Similarly, our ship's speed gets subtracted from the z-coordinates of all other ships in the bubble, thus effectively moving our ship forwards by pushing everything else back.

• System: 16,777,214 cube
• Ship size (max): 510 cube
• Local bubble: radius 57,344 sphere
• Planet: radius 24,576 sphere, distance from station 65,536
• Sun: radius 24,576 sphere, distance from planet 65,536 to 458,752 range (based on seed)
• In-system jump: 65,536
• Speed: Units covered per game-code loop
• The space station safe zone

Source: A sense of scale

SCOOPING:

• Cargo canisters (randomly: food, textiles, slaves, liquor/wines, luxuries, narcotics or computers)
• Escape pods (slaves)
• Thargons (alien items)
• Splinters (minerals)
• Alloy plates

Fuel Scooping

Temp.	Condition
30°	Ambient
>224°	Fuel scoop
>255°	Die

Flying at a higher speed = faster scoop rate

BOUNTY/BLACK MARKET:

Bounty Status

0	Clean
1-49	Offender
50+	Fugitive

Bounty Mechanics

Slaves/Narcotics	+2 per ton
Firearms	+1 per ton
Killing cops	+64
Hyperspace	Halves bounty
Galactic Hyperspace/Escape Pod	Resets to 0

Bounty Hunters and Cops go after Fugitives

WITCHSPACE:

• 0.78% chance of misjumping
• Fuel is spent prior to misjump
• Can only escape via hyperspace (or escape pod in Disc version)
• In-system jumps and escape pod (in 6502 versions) are disabled
• No planet/sun/space station, reduced stardust particles (max. 3)

VERSION DISCREPANCIES:

Case	Cassette	Disc	6502	Later
Escape Pod in Witchspace	Death	Yes	Disabled	Disabled
Energy Bomb kills Thargoids	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Energy Bomb vs. Constrictor	Yes	Yes	No	No
Cougar Cloaking Device	-	-	No	Yes
Kill Count by Ship Type	No	No	No	Yes
Kill Count for Non-Ships	No	Yes	Yes	Yes

Design Principles

"The code is more what you'd call guidelines, than actual rules." - Captain Barbossa

• Bushnell's Law
• Intrinsic Motivation
• Tactile/Kinaesthetic Satisfaction
• Flow state/the zone
  • Why Do We Blast?!
  • Zoner Games/Zoning
• Elegance
  • Minimize Context Sensitivity
  • Maximize Gameplay Parity
• Modularity/Sandbox Design
• Gameplay Density
• Mechanical (skill-based) Progression
  • Unlocks should help guide the player without overwhelming them (clarity/comprehension-gating), the dopamine hit of progression is just the cherry on top. Inverting this relationship to focus on the dopamine hit is gambling design.
• Punish Inattention, not Ineptitude
• Threat-Reward Inversion
  • That which you chase, becomes that which chases you, and vice-versa, on-and-on, like a snake eating its own tail