Braben launches Elite Kickstarter

Frontier Development has taken to the newly UK friendly Kickstarter to restart work on cult sequel Elite: Dangerous.

The team has 60 days to raise £1,250,000 and in return promises "an amazing space epic with stunning visuals, incredible gameplay and breath-taking scope."

"We're using Kickstarter both as a means of test-marketing the concept to verify there is still interest in such a game that extends beyond the individuals who regularly contact me about the game, and raising the funds to do so," explained Frontier's Braben.

The £1.25 million target will allow it to make the "minimum game" and Braben expressed hope that the funding would go beyond this, to allow for more content and platforms. The game will use artist-directed procedural generation to keep the budget manageable.

"It also means it becomes a viable project to avoid the conventional publishing route - something that I don't believe can deliver a game like this successfully."

With 59 days left to go the project already has 829 backers and £42,851, a total that is rising even as these words are written. One contributor has already pledged at least £5000, winning themselves dinner with Frontier Developments and a star system named in their honour.

"Looking at all the high quality games we at Frontier have produced, from RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 to Kinectimals to LostWinds to Disneyland Adventures, I think the risk of non-delivery is small," Braben reassured contributors.

"We already have a large team who are very experienced at delivering complicated projects, and the key high-risk components (like networking) are already in place. If necessary then we will delay the release beyond March 2014, but I do not believe we will need to do so."

The deadline for funding is January 4 2013.