Conceived in 1984 by David Braben and Ian Bell this went on to become the greatest game in its genre, if not the greatest game ever produced. At the time the graphics were cutting edge, and the addictiveness and the novel idea of an open-ended game drew a massive crowd of people eager to get away from the repetitive Space Invaders-style games of the period, and the fan base it created remains to this day, 16 years after it was originally produced. Many have tried to copy/emulate it, notably games like Homeworld and X: Beyond the Frontier, but neither, despite their admittedly superior ray-traced graphics have rivalled even the original Elite in terms of playabililty, addictiveness, and above all, fun.
After what seemed like an eternity Frontier: Elite 2 was released in 1993 to critical acclaim, despite being bugged practically all magazines loved its improved interface and its continued practise of a true open-ended gaming experience. It also resulted in a long and protracted series of lawsuits between David Braben, programmer of Frontier and Ian Bell, who co-wrote the original Elite, and Gametek, who released the game in time for Christmas 1993, fully aware that although bugged, the public would snap it up for Christmas presents to spotty adolescents who spent far too long playing Sensible Soccer.
Two years later and Frontier 2: First Encounters was released. It introduced the idea of a linear plotline, but attempted to stick with some form of open-ended gameplay by retaining the now generic trade/fight aspect that had made Elite and Frontier such a success. You could take part in the story and watch events in the Universe unfold around you, or stay out of it and miss out on the action. It was one of those take-it-or-leave games, really, some people loved the addition of the storyline, others hated it for its very linearity. It also marked a move for David Braben into a true programming language, in this case C, whereas FE2 had been originally written entirely in 68000 code for the Amiga and ported to the PC 80x86 code.
The Elite pages concentrate on Frontier: Elite 2 and Frontier 2: First Encounters. Despite being almost interchangeable (FFE got a slightly redesigned interface, an involving storyline and more bugs) they are more or less the same game as far as I'm concerned, although many fans of either would argue against this.
This is to certify that the author of The Elite Universe has successfully attained recognition in The Order of Elite.