David Braben explains how Elite: Dangerous trailer was made
Rendered in-engine, but with extra spot effects.
Frontier has re-released the eye-catching Elite: Dangerous Capital Ship Battle trailer published last month - this time with commentary from boss David Braben.
This sixth developer diary, above, focuses on the creation of the trailer, which was designed to inspire potential composers to create music for the space trading and combat game. The original video is below.
At the time the trailer was released we were told it was captured in-game, but with post-processing effects layered on top. In this latest video, Braben explains exactly how the video was made, confirming it was rendered in real-time using Frontier's game engine but with extra spot effects.
These effects, which won't appear in the final release, include lens flare (although Braben states this will form a part of the gameplay experience), and a zoom in focus effect. Braben also says the cockpit dashboard currently looks better than the one shown in the video.
Braben also delves deep into space ship design, discussing the differences between how a space battle plays out in a video game and how it probably would in real life. You wouldn't see laser beams in space, for example, but you kind of need to see them in a video game.
Elite: Dangerous marks the first game in the series since 1995's Frontier: First Encounters. This latest entry raised a whopping £1.5 million Kickstarter and is due out on PC next year.
