Developer(s) Gametek
Publisher(s) Gametek, Konami
Designer(s) David Braben
Platform(s) Commodore Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari ST, PC
Release date(s) October 1993[1]
Genre(s) Space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s) Single player
Rating(s) ESRB: Not Rated (NR)
System requirements 1MB RAM (Amiga/Atari ST)
Input methods Keyboard, mouse, joystick
Frontier: Elite II is a space trading computer game written by David Braben and published by Gametek in 1993. It is the first sequel to Ian Bell and David Braben's earlier game Elite, and is available for Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and PC computers.
Frontier retains the same principal component of Elite—namely completely open-ended gameplay—and adds to this realistic physics and an accurately modelled galaxy. There is no plot within Frontier, nor are there pre-scripted missions (as there are in its sequel, First Encounters); instead players explore space while trading legally or illegally, carrying out missions for the military, ferrying passengers from system to system, engaging in piracy or any combination of the above. As a consequence, Frontier cannot be completed or "won"—instead, players themselves decide what to aspire to and set out to achieve it.
Braben originally programmed the game for the Amiga in 68000 assembly language. It had roughly 250,000 lines of code, which were ported from 68000 assembler to the PC's 80286 assembler by Chris Sawyer. Frontier also had some features that had never been seen before. It was the only game at the time to do a palette-fit every frame to get best use of colours. It also featured real sized planets.
The entire universe of Frontier fits onto a single floppy disk. For the Amiga version, this is a single 880 KB disk (disk 2 was only a selection of interesting saved games), and for the PC/DOS platform a 1.44 MB HD floppy. For the Amiga version, the actual executable file was only around 400 KB (uncompressed), its small size partly due to the entire game being written in assembly language while its universe was mostly procedurally generated.
David Lowe provided two original classical style pieces, one of which was for the intro sequence.
In Frontier, the player begins in the year 3200 and assumes the role of one of Commander Jameson's grandchildren, having inherited one hundred credits and an Eagle Long Range Fighter from him. By the games standards, this is incredibly modest, and is used as a spur to encourage players to earn money by whatever means they feel is appropriate.
As with Elite, much of Frontier is concerned with trading: players can buy and sell a variety of goods — from food and computer parts to guns and slaves — with the aim of making the most profit possible from each trading run. Thus, learning to compare prices in various systems is essential for profitability, and calculating overheads for each trip (such as fuel, missiles, and hull repair) are essential skills. It often becomes apparent that a particular trading route is profitable, such as the Barnards Star - Sol route. It is worth noting that some trade goods (particularly narcotics, nerve gas, weaponry and slaves) are illegal in many systems and attempting to trade in these can result in a fine from the police, which can often escalate into violence if not paid. However it is often worth the risk as illegal goods generally carry a very high price on the black market.
There is something of a background story to Frontier, establishing two major factions in the galaxy: The "Federation", based in the Sol system, and the "Empire", based in the Achenar system. These two factions are bitter enemies, but at the time of the game they are in some kind of cease-fire, akin to the Cold War.
The game's copy protection was worked into the game in the form of police spot-checks, making sure the player is the legitimate owner of his ship. At certain intervals in the game, the police would ask the player to: "please enter the first letter of word X, row Y on page Z". If the player entered a wrong letter on three occasions, he would be arrested and his ship impounded, at which point the game ends.
The official Frontier website puts sales at about 500,000 copies sold. Braben received royalties for 350,000 copies.
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