There's Thargoids On The Starboard Bow [Elite 3D]

A trip down memory lane: Elite 3D, a version of Elite hacked by Mark Moxon to use anaglyph 3D, playable on a BBC micro emulator (standard BBC B with 6502 second processor). This was one of my favourite BBC games back in the 80s.

Elite was first released for the BBC Micro 40 years ago, on September 20th 1984. At a time when every other game involved three lives and a hi-score table, Ian Bell and David Braben, produced something original and unique - an imaginative 3D sci-fi universe in which you could fly your spaceship from star to star, docking at space stations, trading legal or illegal goods, upgrading your weapons and ship systems, fighting pirates or becoming a pirate yourself. 

Elite was both a creative achievement - the first true open-world game, and a technological achievement - realtime 3D graphics for stars, planets, spaceships, space stations and asteroids, AI for enemy ships, an economic and political simulation, eight galaxies to discover, and a few "surprises" all crammed into 32K for the original BBC version - in fact there's even a 16K Electron version with only a few less features. That's less bytes than an e-mail.

Versions of the game appeared on other home computers and early PCs, each with their own quirks and twists. Braben went on to write two excellent PC sequels, Frontier and Frontier: First Encounters, and (much, much later) successfully returned with the MMO Elite: Dangerous.

The original Elite was known for a steep learning curve, particularly for combat and docking skills. I had forgotten just how hard this game could be: on my first flight I emerged from hyperspace and was immediately attacked by swarms of pirates - there's only one on screen here but look how many are on the scanner. I didn't stand a chance, but at least managed to take three or four down before they got me.

I've never forgotten the sound from this game - particularly the screeching as my shields are worn down by enemy lasers, followed by the crashing sound of hull damage.

Also among the pirates was a Thargoid - I'm quite sure I saw it. I didn't get a screenshot because I was too busy dying.

On the other hand, a few flights later I survived to reach the safe zone, and managed to successfully dock with a space station - this was another hard-earned skill when first playing the game. Inspired by the film 2001, docking involves lining up with the space station entrance, then matching the rotation of the space station.

The trading aspect of the game is also quite hard - even after several more flights buying and selling goods I'd only managed to earn a few extra credits, nowhere near enough for the upgrades I want.

You can play Elite 3D in your browser here. There's more information about it here.

Mark Moxon, the one-time editor of Acorn User, can be found on Mastodon (@markmoxon@universeodon.com) where you can read about his Elite-related and other projects. I love the 3D anaglyph hack - it doesn't change the game at all but adds to the experience while remaining firmly grounded in the 80s. Silly hacks are also part of Elite lore - the best of these was the hack for the Archimedes version that added fluffy dice and a bumper sticker.