Elite: Dangerous video dev diary discusses roles, demonstrates dogfight

Last month, we learned that David Braben, founder of Frontier Developments, launched a Kickstarter campaign for the development of Elite: Dangerous, a successor to the deep sci-fi sandboxes Elite and Frontier: Elite II. Over the last five weeks, new concept art and videos have been released showing off various aspects of the multiplayer space sim. Now, Braben treats fans to a third video dev diary in which he discussed player roles while a dogfight with other devs plays out across the screen.

In the video, Braben and the devs demonstrate the variety of roles in Elite: Dangerous. Players can earn their funds in-game from such activities as mining, shipping, pirating, and bounty hunting. Roles are also fluid: A player who normally protects convoys can be flagged as a pirate when attacking one, and the folks defending said convey can take on on the additional role of bounty hunter and collect the bounty on the pirate.

To keep roles balanced in game, the team is dedicated to ensuring that no one particular role is the ultimate way to generate cash. Braben stated, "If you get very good at a particular role, it shouldn't be massively better than if you get very good at some other role." To hear more about the roles (and see the first live footage of the Anaconda), watch the video after the break.