If you're a space games fan, you've probably been taking a good look at that new Elite Dangerous: Odyssey exploration dev diary to get an idea of what's in store for the sim early next year. It's clear the upcoming expansion will add a whole new dimension to Elite Dangerous' gameplay, with new locations and outposts to explore on foot and up close - and it seems some of the other big space stories across films and games helped inspire developer Frontier in creating these new worlds.
In an interview about the upcoming Odyssey expansion with game designer Luke Betterton and art director Chris Gregory, we asked about whether any other works in the space, er, space had been inspiring for the dev team in crafting the new update. "Oh, yeah," Betteron jokes. "The Elite Dangerous: Odyssey team is full of nerds, to be honest." He mentions that earlier on that day a member of the team had been talking about British sci-fi comedy classic Red Dwarf, for example.
"It's one of those things that's just in the fabric of who we are as a team. So yes. There's no way you can get away from inspiration," he adds. The designer says he can't "point out anything specific", per se, and Gregory agrees, "it's not one thing really, is it?" - however, the art director does mention a handful of passions and inspirations.
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