Welcome to Elite for the Pico-8 home console!
This game is intended to be less grindy and slow version of the NES Elite, suited more for an evening of fun rather than a week of space-trucking. If you're wondering how to play, I've written a Game Manual
Before you play: Holding down the (X) button and pressing Left or Right is how you navigate menus. Double-tap (X) to select a menu option.
I should mention this out of the gate: This isn't a faithful port of the original Elite. This is just my own idea of what makes a fun game. If you want a completely faithful port, see Jamesedge's Picolite.
About Worlds: Trade will affect the prices of certain commodities, as well as the Tech Level of the systems traded with. Additionally, Bounty Hunting and Pirating will affect the Piracy level of a system.
About Trade Items: Every trade item now grants a good amount of profit, if you know where to buy and sell. Missiles are also doubly useful as a trade item and a way to re-arm your ship cheaply.
About Ship Stats: I tried to make each ship's characteristics match the original game's as much as possible, but it isn't perfect as the stats aren't 1-to-1. Ships now have shield, pitch, roll, and yaw values as well as their base energy, speed, and weapon stats. Most ships can't yaw anymore, so dogfights are more interesting IMO.
About Encounters: There is not one, not three, but two special encounters in the game. These are slightly different from other Elite versions as they both use mechanics unique to this game. There are also about 7 minor special encounters, such as Rock Hermits and Ace Pirates.
About NPC AI: As with all of my games, it seems I overcomplicate my NPCs. There are a significant number of variations an NPC pilot can have. The same type of ship might fight differently depending on the pilot's stats.
About Secrets: There are a few unique and bizarre things found in the game. There are no hidden quests or special things you need to do in these cases. Pico8 just doesn't have the space, sorry!
About Post-Game:
Changelog
1.2.1
fixed a rather embarrassing typo.
reverted ship buying to 576 kills.
performing the Konami code on the profile screen will now unlock alternate ships early.
@Minion Oh, well that's not a good start! I can't recreate it on my end, but I think you've got a corrupted save file. I altered the cartdata call so others hopefully won't encounter your issue. If it continues to be a problem, I'd like to know what browser/standalone Pico-8 you are using.
Working fine here for the record! Took me a little while to figure out it's X+L/R to choose a menu item and double-X to select.. not sure the best way to communicate this to the player though. This is really impressive once getting into the meat of it, still figuring it out but I will be returning for more! Incredible work for PICO-8!
Awesome work! The most accurate Elite for Pico8. I have a question: is there the possibility to buy a new ship?
@Truncana: Yes, but it is disabled because I didn't like how it altered progression. The Cobra Mk3 is far and away the best ship so none of the other ships were a logical purchase. Right now buying ships is unlocked after you reach Elite (576 kills), allowing you to restart the game with any ship and buy new ones.
I think there's a bug in how the game handles bounties. I warped into a star system and got attacked by a pirate. I managed to take that pirate down and got a bounty for it. Then several other pirates, and police ships, appeared, and a battle ensued -- somehow I got the bounty for them even though I took no part in the battle.
@rnd That is somewhat intentional. The player only needs to be nearby to be awarded a bounty. This was to incentivize players flying with other trade ships rather than being alone. Some traders will stay with you whether you want them too or not, and I didn't want them stealing kills from the player.
This is a lot of fun. Did take a bit to figure out the controls, but after a few minutes I was flying through menus. Love that you actually have to maneuver correctly to dock. Great job!
It makes me happy to play games and try different games, I would love to try this too.
One question: the Konami Code finishes with “x o” or “o x”? Thank you!
I inserted the correct code, but where I can find the other ships?
@Truncana While docked, you should see an icon of a Krait on the 6th menu slot. That button opens the ship menu.
I inserted the correct code, but there is no icon for other ships… What I’m doing wrong?
Is the code:
Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, o, x
?
@Truncana That code is correct. You are on the Profile screen, right? The code doesn't work anywhere else.
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