Former Fable dev sets out to make true Elite, Tie Fighter successor

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 26 October, 2011

Unnamed iPhone, iPad game shoots for the stars.

The space combat and trading genre seems dead - but one developer insists there are still some gamers out there who long for a return to the stars.

James Duncan, who worked on Fable 2 and Fable 3 before quitting Microsoft-owned developer Lionhead to start up his own developer, is making an iPhone and iPad game he hopes will revive the space combat and trading genre and will appeal to fans of illustrious classics such as Elite, Tie Fighter, Red Baron and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

"The very tenet of the game is to take the essence of those games," Duncan told Eurogamer. "This isn't a boast, either. I passionately love those games. No one for me has brought out a game like that since those games. Nothing has touched them. Tie Fighter is just a stone cold classic.

"For whatever reason this genre got left behind. These genres fell away because more money got pumped into games and with more money people don't want to take chances. Big companies just want to go where the money is. They just want to do FPS and third-person games."

Elite, made by Frontier chief David Braben, launched in 1984 and wowed gamers with its 3D space combat and sophisticated, strategic gameplay.

The game spawned a number of sequels and is credited with popularising space flight simulations, but the genre it helped establish has waned in recent years.

Indeed Elite 4, while officially still in development at the Kinectimals maker, seems a long way off. "Come on. It's never going to happen. It's just not," Duncan said.

"We want to bring that genre back now and do it justice and show that people are interested in it. I really passionately believe people are interested in playing that kind of game again and connecting with it. We want to fulfil people's dreams of playing those titles again."

Duncan is one third of RedBreast Studios. He is joined by technical director Sean Scaplehorn (Terracon, Metal Gear Solid Mobile, Final Fantasy: Derge of Cerberus) and concept artist Dennis Gustafsson (Troddlers, Die Hard Trilogy, Terracon, Richard Burns Rally).

Details on RedBreast's game are scarce - only one screenshot has been released (below). But we do know it has retro leanings. "This isn't a grey and drab world," Duncan explained. "This is a bit more of a colourful world. It's attractive on the eye and clean and simple. It's a nice aesthetic that will mark it out from the rest of the stuff that's around now."

And we do know what it is not: Frontier: Elite 2. "I deliberately left out Frontier from that list because that's completely not what our game's about," Duncan said. "I'm not a fan of Frontier. I know some people are. Our game is not a simulation of space. It's not a physics-based marvel at being able to navigate from one planet to another correctly.

"It's our take on Tie Fighter, Elite, Red Baron, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, where dogfighting was an integral part of the experience. The strategy you used to dogfight, the actual hand-eye coordination aspect of it, that is it. The trading is another strategic aspect. The marrying of the two, they got lost in the end, with various other things."

The game, currently without a name due to trademark work, is planned for release early next year. But Duncan insisted "we won't release it until we can fulfil the remarks we're saying about it". "We want people who have loved Elite, Tie Fighter, to be able to pick this game up and go, wow, this is what I remember. This is f***ing awesome."

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Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (41) Latest comment 7 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Fab4 #1 7 months ago

    I would literally kill for Elite on my iPad.

  • barchetta #2 7 months ago

    This just made my day - and I'm off to Gamecity to see Journey - so this is big news for me! If they can also channel some Colony Wars in there too I'd be even more chuffed!

    Please don't mess this up chaps!

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #3 7 months ago

    Even tho i have an iPhone and do play games on it, my heart sank when i read the subheading

  • Scimarad #4 7 months ago

    "The space combat and trading genre seems dead"

    I think X-Rebirth might take issue with that.

  • DrStrangelove #5 7 months ago

    Yessssssss

    iPad? Nooooooooo

    Seriously, I want to play that with a Joystick, not with fingers and/or turning round the tablet.

    If only someone would make a worthy successor to those games on PC :(

  • Floppy #6 7 months ago

    This gives me mixed feelings. I'm very interested in playing this, but not interested in getting an iPhone/iPad to do so.

    Call me old fashioned; but I like physical controls, not virtual ones. I like to see all of the screen when I play games, not obscure it with control surfaces.
    Edited by Floppy at 26/10/11 @ 09:26

  • arcam #7 7 months ago

    Well I'd play it! But I don't have an iPad :(

  • Schiraman #8 7 months ago

    What a dreadful choice of platform.

    Also: no mention of Freespace 2 in your list of great space shooters?

  • RexRunti #9 7 months ago

    Former Fable dev sets out to make true Elite, Tie Fighter successor
    If it was a true successor it wouldn't be on iOS. Flightstick support is a must for a true successor though I would accept a console version using a joypad.

  • Aradiel #10 7 months ago

    They won't release it until it's ready, they recognise what made those classics great, and the game doesn't have a name due to them doing research into trademarks etc?

    What the hell? It seems like a perfect company.

  • dr.glyndwr #11 7 months ago

    It's "TIE Fighter", not "Tie Fighter". I'm not a Star Wars nerd but goddamnit, I loved that game and we could at least get its name right.

    Also: I don't think touch or motion controls can really, truly work for this sort of game. I think it demands a flight stick. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

    Also also: why on earth hasn't X-Wing and TIE Fighter been remade for XLBAH?!

  • TigerX81 #12 7 months ago

    Think anything ipants belongs on a totally different website to stop this kind of disappointment. You could call it ieurogamer. No one really knows what the 'i' stands for anyway!

  • asphaltcowboy #13 7 months ago

    You were saying all the right words with TIE Fighter and Secret Weapons... and then you said iPhone and iPad... :(

  • Mr-Brett #14 7 months ago

    That's a damn shame, I very much doubt you could get the level of control required for a decent flight/combat game on touch controls :(

  • Arsecake_Baker #15 7 months ago

    "The space combat and trading genre seems dead - but one developer insists there are still some gamers out there who long for a return to the stars."

    I think you'll find it's a little bit more than "some"

  • Vortex808 #16 7 months ago

    I would absolutely love a game along the lines Elite or TIE Fighter, just not on any iProducts. I would like it on PC, or console please!

  • CheesecakeBobby #17 7 months ago

    Yeah I remember all those classic games, and how great the touchscreen controls were for them. Hang on...

  • Syrette #18 7 months ago

    True Elite, TIE Fighter successor - on a fucking iPhone?

    Won't be "true" at all then, will it. Sigh.

    Nothing against the guy; I imagine it's just the cheapest option and he won't have to worry too much about the publisher side of it.
    Edited by Syrette at 26/10/11 @ 11:33

  • darleysam #19 7 months ago

    But I love Frontier.. damnit, SO CLOSE :(

  • Branoic #20 7 months ago

    Hmm, I think when most people think of Elite they're actually thinking of Frontier. If he's not a fan of Frontier I'm not as interested.

  • kingdumpalot #21 7 months ago

    why make it for ithings?

    These games traditionally took large chunks of gaming time, not the kind of thing you do while waiting for a train etc.

  • schnide #22 7 months ago

    Sadly, it seems to me like one of the things this guy learnt at Lionhead was Molyneux's ability to generate hype where it may possibly not quite be deserved.

  • Zomoniac #23 7 months ago

    My flatmate plays some PC game, I think it's called X 3 (X3? X-3? No idea). From what I've seen it just appears to be a modern Elite.

  • Alestes #24 7 months ago

    It would be nice to see if for the Nokia N9 too.

  • barkertron #25 7 months ago

    @Zomoniac Yep, it's X3. It's good fun, although slightly impenetrable.

    Also worth checking out for anybody with an iPhone/iPad is Galaxy on Fire - it's decent, but I'd agree with most people here that I don't want to fly a ship with touch/tilt controls. The idea of decent dogfighting on mobile devices seems highly unlikely, but if they can pull it off then fair play to them.

  • essexguy1983 #26 7 months ago

    Want.

  • jefranklin18 #27 7 months ago

    It's a pity that it is reliant on indies to attempt to give us some of those classics. If we are to believe the "regular" publishers, all we want are generic FPS#22404, time after time after time...

  • CFacto #28 7 months ago

    Galaxy on Fire 2 on iPhone is pretty good and along these lines.

  • Daikon #29 7 months ago

    Indeed Galaxy on Fire 2 is pretty good.
    Warpgate is also worth checking out.

    But in any case I wouldn't trust a game made by somebody who doesn't like Frontier...

  • SimonM7 #30 7 months ago

    Unnamed iPhone, iPad game shoots for the iPhone, iPad, more like.

  • septimus #31 7 months ago

    @Fab4

    Galaxy on Fire 2 HD?

  • SvennoJ #32 7 months ago

    I got very excited for a moment until I read the text. iPad? No love for Frontier? Elite 4 not going to happen :(

  • holsty101 #33 7 months ago

    I'm sure you all know this already but anyone hankering for some Elite action needs to check out Oolite.

  • lambchop #34 7 months ago

    Just make a new Knights of the Sky instead!

  • Stickman #35 7 months ago

    "Holy shit guys! I'm totally making a game that's just like Elite and TIE Fighter! I've not started yet, but it'll be absolutely bitching!"

    Front page me please.

  • Bander #36 7 months ago

    This James Duncan bloke is right, this is a forgotten genre that was a lot of fun. Good luck to him.

    Although I think he may have picked the wrong format. Galaxy on Fire is already quite a big success there, but the tiny display and touch/tilt controls are far from ideal.

  • TheBard #37 7 months ago

    Wait, how can he talk about an Elite/TIE Fighter game on the iPad with completely ignoring the existence of the more-than-fabulous Galaxy on Fire 2!

    Seriously, if you have an iPad, play this already. And if you have an iPad 2, or an iPhone4S, what are you doing here; go and play Galaxy on Fire 2 HD now!

  • Ahskay #38 7 months ago

    "It's our take on Tie Fighter, Elite, Red Baron, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, where dogfighting was an integral part of the experience. The strategy you used to dogfight, the actual hand-eye coordination aspect of it, that is it.

    And he's proving that by making it for the Ipad and Smartphones. Doing a barrel roll while firing up thrusters and pew-pewing the other fighters should be awesome on a touch-screen!
    Edited by Ahskay at 27/10/11 @ 13:19

  • CatWeazle #39 7 months ago

    I'd really like to see an FPS/RPG/space-trader crossover, where you can run around the interiors of spacestations & ships which you dock with; and also can get out of the pilot seat anytime & poke about in the interior of your craft, mending the hyperdrive unit. Wake me up when its done.

  • lucky_jim #40 7 months ago

    Wow, there are a lot of people being cocks about iOS in this thread. It's an established platform that's here to stay and offers a tantalisingly low barrier of entry to devs. That's most definitely a good thing, and no misinformed whining about controls is gonna change that.

  • parablax #41 7 months ago

    @Fab4 Buy an android tablet and you can. In the market place elite is hidden in there under the guise of 'space trading game'.