X: Beyond the Frontier

[cailic7137]

This is more on topic than off, but I don't see any general X forum. Anyway, I have been playing the X series since it's beginning. So, I just read where Bernd Lehahn stated that X: Beyond the Frontier was released in 1999. Now I could have sworn that I was playing that game in the mid 90's. I remember a little triangle flying around my computer screen that was rather difficult to control. I thought that the 1999 release was a remake, with far better graphics. Am I loosing my mind? I can remember talking about it to people I worked with back around 1994ish. Yet everything I have found says that the first X game was released in 1999.

[CBJ]

XBTF was definitely released in 1999, and that was the first Egosoft space game, so whatever you were playing before that wasn't from Egosoft.

Maybe you're thinking of Frontier: Elite II. The early Elite games were obviously one of the inspirations for the X series, but they're not otherwise related. The sequels to Elite and Frontier: Elite II were Frontier: First Encounters and, many years later, Elite Dangerous.

[mr.WHO]

He most definetly think about one of Frontier/Elite games.

Funny thing, way back then, when I first saw X-Beyond the Frontier I also thought it might be somehow related to Frontier/Elite

[cailic7137]

XBTF was definitely released in 1999, and that was the first Egosoft space game, so whatever you were playing before that wasn't from Egosoft.

Maybe you're thinking of Frontier: Elite II. The early Elite games were obviously one of the inspirations for the X series, but they're not otherwise related. The sequels to Elite and Frontier: Elite II were Frontier: First Encounters and, many years later, Elite Dangerous.

The graphics that I remember were not that good. It looked like something that came out of the 80's. Your ship was a simple triangle and the planets were just greyed circles. Was there a pre-release to X:beyond the Frontier? Perhaps a proof of concept or something? I was working at CompUSA at the time and I had been exposed to weird stuff from time to time. I could swear (If I were the swearing type) the title was the same. I guess I could be wrong. It happens from time to time. But the memories are just seem so real. Don't ya hate it when you remember dreams as reality?

[Chips]

That sounds like Elite (mid 80's), let alone Frontier Elite 2 (early 90's)... you can search the gameplay on Youtube and see if those fit your memory?

[matthewfarmery]

Indeed, that game was elite, there were a few versions of that. The simple triangle version was the most conman. As computers couldn't handle that much more. But later on, there was Elite plus (Amiga) which had better graphics (by a small margin) And the gameplay was pretty much the same. Elite 2 had better graphics and a bit more gameplay, plus been able to buy ships do a lot more missions. But depending on version was a bit buggy and became a bit of a bore at the end. But still a great game. Later on, there was elite 3. Never really played that one.

Elite remake
https://oolite.space/

Elite frontier remake
https://pioneerspacesim.net/#slide0

Both are good, while pioneer has branched away from frontier, oolite on the other hand remains pretty close to the 8 bit original. Just with better graphics and sound.

Edit, just checked out oolite, not played that in a while, some serious development has taken place since I last played it. Plus has support for modding and expansions.

[CBJ]

It looked like something that came out of the 80's. Your ship was a simple triangle and the planets were just greyed circles.

Then quite honestly it probably was something from the 80s, and my guess is that it was one of the Elite series games. In fact it sounds more like the original Elite than one of the sequels.

Was there a pre-release to X:beyond the Frontier? Perhaps a proof of concept or something?

There was a demo (I remember it vividly, because it was what got me into the X series) but graphically it was just like the full version. Again, whatever it is that you're remembering, it's not an Egosoft game.

[ishy1974]

You might be thinking of StarGlider II on the Amiga / PC.