 Alright. It's been a busy few months since Elite Dangerous reintroduced community goals and the Galnet in-game news feed. This week, Rene and I caught up with the lead community manager for Elite Dangerous, Arthur Tolmey, to chew over Galnet's rebirth, the next generation of community goals, the Halloween event and of course, the Channel 4 news team. So Arthur's here everybody. Welcome along Arthur. Hello, hello, hello. Hello. Thank you very much for having me on your show. Big fan, big fan. Long time listener, first time caller. It is a pleasure to have you here. Well, we really enjoyed the, well, we're really enjoying the rebirth of Galnet and community goals and all that kind of stuff and the Halloween thing in particular just absolutely blew our socks off, didn't we? So we just wanted to sort of catch up with you and frankly, throw some questions your way and see if we can get some information out of you if you're going. Sure, you can try. Okay. So the rebirth and Galnet of community goals was publicly announced around the start of September this year, if I remember correctly. Are you able to say what triggered the relaunch of both of those things? Was it always in the company plan to restart it at that point or is it literally a case of you saw the level of demand from the community and acted on it? Relentlessly until it happened. Yeah, this is interesting what we want. Well, I guess the answer, I mean, I joined in gym. So I joined in June of this year. I mean, this year feels like a long, feels like 10 years, but I was in this year. So when I joined, I was a fan of elite beforehand, and obviously I was aware of what Gannett was and how important it was to community and for me as a player. Also, the team, when I joined up, the first thing I did as lead was to speak to the guys and see what the real big issues were. And all of the team were like, look, we need Galnet needs to come back. We need to do some meaningful content. And that was where we started. So whether it was always a company's proposal, I can't imagine it would ever been gone forever. But I wasn't here when it was when it stopped. Did that make sense? So yeah, one of my priorities when I when I came back was to listen to the guys and like, right, how do we actually listen? How do we get this moving and what direction you want us to go in? And I fought really hard and the team worked really, really hard behind the scenes to put together and how we how we would propose it and what it would look like and what it would mean need in terms of resources, which you can imagine at a time. The business is in full swing into into odyssey development. So when you're asking for resources, always got to be a reason for it. So, you know, it wasn't just a simple switch of we're just going to press this button and get us back. And there was a lot of backwards and forwards. And I'm just really, I'm actually just really pleased that the community were so patient with us as they have been. So so yeah, I hope that answers your question. Yeah, was there a sort of was there literally like it? Sorry, if you don't mind me throwing another one at you was there was a literally sort of a meeting when you arrived when the kind of the three of you sat down and it was kind of like, right, tell me what the problems are or tell me what everybody's yelling about. Fun fact, my first actual working day was when I was being introduced to the company was the fleet carrier launch. And as you can imagine, my first day wasn't necessarily a meeting of what's the problem. My first day was a meeting of let's put this fire out. So sorry, say again in at the deep end. Yes, it was definitely the end. I think I was right. So but it's fine. Because what was great is I got to see the team in action. And like I say, they it was nice for me because I was new to the company. So I had to really take stock of like who my team are and what they're doing. And that's you all of them really cared. So I was like, this is fantastic. Because I've now got good grounds. And then I think it was the following week, we I sat them down like on an individual basis and spoke to them about, you know, their wants and concerns, etc, etc. And they all raised, you know, content, gown it content, gown it. And I was like, Yes, I'm glad we're all on the same page here. So it's good. It was good to sit down and have everyone sort of with the same strategy before you have to sell that into them as a team. They were already on board. I'd love to be a fly on the wall for those meetings. That kind of plays into the next thing anyway. So how the the CMS actually became involved in the storyline. And what your the involvement of your team is in in those actual storylines? Yeah, sure. So when we talked about again, it goes back, I guess, to my first, the answer to the first question. When you go back and ask for resource and stuff, we have to have a long term plan. So we sat down and decided how this how these story arcs would tie in with with the content we would come into the game with what we know is coming anyways. I've got tread very carefully here. No, don't it's fine. Yeah, yeah. And of course, no, no one watches this rubbish. So we we sat down and as and we stoked out how we thought these stories would pan out and what stories would be interesting and how they would have turned into one another. And I guess we then stoked out this this grand score, a story arc. And I know there was a document and I do know what I'm going to do. I'll do it after this. I'll find it. I can't obviously show it today, but I will in 2022. Here's my promise. I will screencap today. The actual Marvel esque style. Wow. Imagely that I we put together a team that goes up to 2022. Oh, God, I'll screw I'll screencap it. And then in 2022, I'll show it just as I was online. And this is what we did. So we then wrote this all out and we're like, this is what we think should happen. Obviously the first year that you are in right now is the most detailed. And then it sort of sort of phases off because obviously, I didn't know if it gets signed off and and then be it was like, we could do all this work and they could turn and say, that's great. Go go somewhere else with it because you know, we're not doing it here. But that didn't happen. So it was it was a it was a case of mapping out and then getting Lawrence Lawrence Alden. I don't know if you know who he is, but Lawrence was he was lead designer and lead prior to Pierce, who we have now, but Lawrence is a big, big like component in this, like Lawrence was was a huge element in getting this worked in. He was a big fan of it. He wanted it to happen. He was like, look, I can make this work with a small team. And he really was really on our side. And I say it on stream, but Lawrence and his team really should take a lot of credit because although we push for him, we scoped out that a lot of guys that really made the turn the turn the key and made these things happen. So if you're listening, Lawrence loves a strong word, but I do love you feel we do for us. He's a good guy. He should get a lot of credit for it. But at the end of the day, you're the front man. So what I tell you what Lawrence, why don't you have a little cry about it? Have you got have you got any idea how long did it did it take for the whole sort of all the way through to 2022? How long did it take to get all that mapped out? Well, yeah, so that took to be fair, the parts after the first, I want to say phase, I'll say phase, I was told never to use that term, but you know, and so I actually did map out into phases. So there are four phases and I'm winning phase one at the moment of how we mapped out. And the first phase took the longest. But I would say if you were to look at man hours, I saw a hard one because it went through a lot of people, a lot of us spent time on it. I don't know, with maybe 40, 50 hours of us iterating on this, this should fit here and this should go here and this this time going there. And and obviously it's it's our overarching story, which is still going to lead room for manipulation, depending on what players do. So it's quite difficult to scrub that in. So you've got to have a story that will fit an outcome with a slightly different ending, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be honest, I'll be entirely honest. No one could ever script an entirely open ended story. So we have to have a start and an end. So I'd say it tickers about about about 50 hours. But it's probably more than that, but I'd say about 50 hours. So is there like one, you know, a story person, a specific person that sits there all day and makes this stuff up all day long? Or is it always a team? So there is there is a team, but there is a writer who will go along and actually put into like I'm definitely not a writer. But you there's Lawrence will. So we have our overarching sort of story. We know what's going to happen where and when we know what the so and so is going to be killed. And this thing's going to blow up. But and these are the people behind it, but then the actual wording of all the gown and stuff like that in the articles will go to an actual writer who'll write all that stuff up. Who did you say was going to get killed? Oh, yeah. So when it so if you're is there is there like a, I don't know, I want to say David, but that's too much of a cliche. But is there like a person that kind of sits above and says yes, you can kill that person or no, you can't kill that person. It is David. So it does literally go to David. It's 1 800. I'm not telling you. No, it's David like that. Don't get me wrong. David is incredibly, incredibly busy, but he his passion for really like it's it's it's really it's it's very cliche. Oh, yeah, you're going to say that. Look, the guy lives and breathes it created. He has a hand in everything. So it's a big decision. It goes to David as an example. Well, I'm sure we're talking later on, but the the ghost ship stuff that went to David. David was was really keen on making sure we get that right. And we don't temp with with history and law. He's basically our George Lucas. So you you would always go to him for like, can we do this? Is what we want to do is this feasible because, you know, like instantaneously whether this is right or wrong with X person would do this or it's within their character, etc, etc. So yeah, it's David. That's brilliant. And that could that's really good to know. And I mean, you kind of you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of blokes by age. You're listening to this and probably crying now. I'm not through for happiness. So why round is there is the overarching story created is that so do you start at the end point that you're trying to drive to and then all the bits in between are sort of built up in reverse or always start at the beginning and then, you know, the various plot twists twist the end point. One thing I was very clear on when when we started, I was like, where do we want to be at this point? And once we establish that as I write, now we can work backwards. OK, I can't even be able to do that to say like, I know where I need to be. And I know because you know where you are. Makes sense. So yes, so I want to be here at this point. So what I need to do in the, you know, the months in between to get to this point. And that's when you can be honest that we found that creatively was was so. Not easy, but it just gave some options. You were just like, right, we could do this and at this point we need to be here because once you once you know your end point, you know where you want to be. You're like, well, realistically in the middle, we now know we should be at this stage. So therefore your first half needs to get to the middle point and then middle point gives you your end point. So it's it sounds obvious, but it really is a lot easier starting backwards. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where are you going to end? Yeah. And there is actually there is actually stuff that you're obviously not looking for spoilers, but there is actually stuff that you're trying that you've got to fit. You're you're plotting to or does it or does it sit entirely on top? Yeah, I mean, layer if you don't mean. No, yeah, no, I'll be totally honest. So we were sort of development of sort of the elite dangerous as a whole is coming for the next few years. We kind of know where we want to be at what stage. So and there is obviously the option that some that might shift depending on development, etc, etc. Obviously we live in a very strange world at the moment where one remember back in the office, next minute back out the office. So it's very odd. But yes. So to answer your question, this the story, we do know what's coming in the story does kind of compliment that very, very nicely. And there are big milestones. We kind of want to make sure the story is crescendoing at those points to really emphasize it. And again, those crescendoes very much will fit with what we want to do. But I can't say too much. And I don't know like over a gig, but it is a case of we try and fit our stories and all sides with the development development team are doing. And obviously, sometimes that ebbs and flows as well with what the world is doing. So OK, OK. OK, so one thing that you've said, which I already picked up on is that everything happening right now is for a reason. We quote you. It's you've said it's for a reason. So we're assuming that Gownett stories as well that might not have had have an apparent appearance in the game currently, in particular with regards to stories like the proposed core dynamics and Lake on Spaceways Mercher. Yes, absolutely. Look, everything we're doing happens for a reason. And all the stuff that's going on. And again, I did promise I'd never spoil, so I'm not going to spoil too much. But you have the way we look at this is obviously it's a long story arc. So some of this stuff will be some of the stuff directly relates to stuff. And you can you can work it out like obviously there's the CG's that are running and I can see there's an end point here. And obviously, that the feds and the empire are having a bit of a dust of the Cold War going on between and etc. Etc. There's some obvious stuff and there's also stuff that later on down the line, you're like, oh, I understand now. Right, so you're kind of laying tracks for what's to come. So it's kind of like it's not even like it's and sometimes these articles won't be huge. It would just be a case of you if you really look to be like, oh, I get it. I see that's what that was the start of this. And that's okay. Okay. So it's very clever. And I'm not saying because it's my idea because it isn't my idea. This is the writer. So this is they are very clever of doing this sort of world building in terms of like it may seem like an innocuous thing. But when you look back at it, when you step back, you'll see actually, I see now that's where the and this isn't by the way, what I'm about to say now is not spoiler specific. I'm just giving examples. You go, oh, I see that's the point we got set in. And that's yeah, that was the start of it. And then you but then you see it. But right now it might just be, oh, okay. So and so is new position in this company. It doesn't mean anything to me. Okay. Okay. That's really interesting, is it? Fascinating. It's brilliant because it must be such fun to be involved in that. That must be brilliant. And also you kind of wait and waiting for the sort of almost the penny to drop in a whole community. Yeah, yeah. Everybody go. You can see your audience and that, you know, it must be nice for the writers to sort of sit back and go, well, that'd be interesting to see whether they can come that one. The hardest part, I'll be honest, is the weight because it's a long story and there's the payoffs come and they'll be great. And I get it that people are eager for it. I really do. But as I said before, there's something in this for everyone, like depending on what you're doing, what you love a leak for, there's something in these storylines that is there for everyone. So it's just you have to you have to be patient and enjoy what's coming. Like it's not, we're not doing anything in between. But like when the payoffs come, that'll be great. And I think you'll enjoy them. I hope you enjoy them. We all do. So otherwise, I'll get my coat. I mean, if no one enjoys it and it falls flat on it, so I think I think someone else will get your coat for you, to be honest. And here's the thing. It's like anything we do, we're like, I always listen. I the team always listen. We might have an idea and we might think it's the greatest thing since last break. Yeah. And we'll put it out there and the community just go, this is awful. You're terrible people. Never do this again. And we're like, OK, point taken and we move away and we learn like this. This the way I look at things is is nothing ever really fails unless you don't learn from it. Yeah. So if you learn from something, then that's fine. It's not a failure. You've still learned something and it's good. As long as we don't keep repeating things, that's fine. That's a good attitude. So the on the on the subject of things happening for a reason, the the Adam Astor storyline and we're not we're not looking for spoilers here. Was that injected into the game specifically for a reason or was that was it was it literally just it's a it's a Halloween thing? Well, two things. One, I'm very keen on having special events. I think they they galvanize the community. I think it's fun. But two, it is there for a reason does tie into the existing plot and, you know, people are out in the cul-sac doing stuff at the moment. There's stories that still continue in the cul-sac. Maybe there's a dead result with the Adam Astor turning up. And who knows what that might lead to later on down the line. And you do. But I do. Yeah. I'll say is and whilst we might have solved the fun part of that, you know, that particular story, it's not the end of of what, you know, well, I'll say anything else. I'm just saying, OK, it's it's there for a reason. Yeah. OK, so the Adam Astor storyline then that was that was that was the creepy nature of it invented because it was Halloween? Or was it just a creepy story that happened to be going on anyway? And then you thought, well, that would work if we slotted in over the top of Halloween. Do you see what I mean? Yeah, no, it's a good question. And I think I'm going to be totally honest. The story was there. We it just fits perfectly. So but I did ask for it to be a certain a certain way. And and I did ask it to be obviously because of time. Yeah, I said, yeah, we should definitely play into what this is all about and let people understand that, you know. Yes, there is there is a Thargo element, but there's also the the underside of that, which is there's a human element to that story, which is also very, very creepy, what's going on and what what sort stuff is happening out there and has been happening for a very, very long time. That's the point I was surprised. No one picked up on straight away was the date of the events that were taking place. Well, we kind of did, but didn't like one. I suppose weren't surprised. If you see what I mean, but like we kind of went, oh, OK, I see what what actually don't don't don't feel that you need to answer this as a point at all. But the thing I suppose that that we because my God, there are a lot of discussions in this house, mate, about what all that meant and what that little and why why is that rock placed like that? And oh, my God, oh, my God, really was a nightmare. That there's a right. So there's a comms beacon in the middle of that. This is this is completely nothing to do with what I was going to ask you. There's a comms beacon in the middle of the in the middle of the base, the new base at the geological site out and out in the cul-sac. And it's got a blinking light on it. You're not allowed to tell off how long we actually spent trying to decode that blinking days. We we videoed that blinking light in two different states. So the state that it was before you interfaced with it and the state it was in after you interfaced with it. And we and we ran it through more code readers to work out. We had the we had the discord looking. Our whole discord was going, I think I can see an F and all this life like God's sakes. Oh, it was you were completely obsessed. Rea was completely obsessed. I was I was thinking clues everywhere. Yeah, for me. Thanks, I know you're welcome. For me, the the and I said this, I think on the on the night stream before we the whole internet went down in the office was fantastic. I did say on the on the stream, one thing was a good learning process for me was how fast how we how smart our community are. They were quick. They were not. The community are when they're a collective, like when they work together on something, it's incredible. Yeah, they're like the ball got fantastic for me because now I can go away and be like, I have these really crazy elaborate sort of plans. And I was like, maybe it's a bit too complex. After the Adam Aster, I'm like, not a chance. Yeah, these are both both barrels what the community needs. So I'm expecting we do stuff that it be harder. It won't be as in your face as as as the last time there'd be way more subtle. I think it was so good to see the community feeling. We loved it and we absolutely loved it for me being a fairly new, new player as such that the feeling of community that came out of that event was just stupendous. It was just amazing that, you know, all over many multiple discourse, everybody was chattering, everybody was decoding, everybody was just brilliant, just brilliant. It's the best of the community out. I thought it really did. And the thing is, it's when the community team and I see the players react. It's such a boon for us. That was a brilliant idea. Yeah, it gives you it's so hard to explain like how it feels when people say nice things about what we're doing, because you work so hard for it and you really hope it does pan out. And there's always that big fear of, is it enough? You know, you don't want to let people down. It really is that really is the freedom we have is that we don't really let the community down. So it's nice when it pays off. So we want to do more of it and it was nice because it was reflected in, you know, game stats showed everything. But I just it was amazing as soon as people knew the system, just watching the traffic, just all just swarming to the system. And I was just like, this is amazing to see a community just react like a living, breathing. That must be fantastic. And just moving as one. It was amazing. Nice for you guys. Really nice for you guys. Well deserved. The point, sorry, the point that I didn't because it got all lost in there. The thing that we that we spent hours pouring over in this house as well and discussing was I can't remember the guy's name, but the one who was left staring at the stones at the end and was he he appeared he was under he he appeared to be under their influence or hypnotised or I don't know that's what we were like. OK, so we contacted the Thargoids a lot earlier than we thought we did. Gotcha. But what's going on with that guy? That's that's that's what we poured over. Dominic Cooper. I'm going to I'm going to listen to your answer very carefully now. Is there anything you'd like to add about that at all? Dominic Cooper. Yeah. Not a lot I can add about that, but that's to say it's a very interesting piece of law, right? OK. That they not just he was affected. There was a lot of people that think yes, yes, yes. They were attitude around the base. Now, I'm not saying that that's linked to anything in particular. I'm just saying it's very interesting that these sort of things happened. OK. Who knows? I mean, you have to look at the time frame between that incident and where we are right now in the universe. There's some time has passed between there and then. So it's interesting to see that, you know, we have encountered the Thargoids. Yes, probably before we knew we've encountered the Thargoids, which is always fun. I can see the string being attached. Yeah. You hear it. Hind in. So. The event from the outside obviously looked like it required a fair amount of input from right across the team coordinating the voice talent, which I just have to say was amazing, wasn't it? Voice talent. Yes. Superb. New in-game assets, additions to the law. How long ago was that story put together? How long did it take to make all of that sort of come together? Because you've got a lot of feeds all coming into that. So it was from the pitch meeting, really, when we were talking about our story arc. So it was straight from the beginning. And I'll be honest that story, you know, as a bit inside that changed probably twice. It was always the same we had the same end point, but how we got there was changed sort of twice in between. But yeah, it took a lot of effort. You know, Lawrence had to, you know, correlate everything. The writer, the acting talent, secure budget for it because it's, you know, you can't just, we don't just have actors on standby. So we have to hire them in, then we have to pay for them and we have to justify that cost. So there's a lot of stuff that goes into it. That it's, it's, it's not like you say it really isn't just as simple as I would just do this thing and we're add it in. OK, a lot of planning. How did the anchorman thing come about? Oh, my God, best thing ever. And so. So we were talking about Halloween and I asked sort of what frontier does the Halloween. They said, we have like hard streams. We do anti-dress, etc., etc., etc. And I was like, well, you know what, let's just, let's just do something. So we, I mean, again, we have our original idea was and it just didn't feel right. I can't remember what it was. We were doing something and kind of what our plan was. It was to be, oh, that was it. We were going to do a riff on Star Trek and we're all going to be roles in a ship and we're going to go out and do stuff and we were never really as a group, we were just like, it just doesn't, it just doesn't feel like right. And I was like, look, if it doesn't feel right, let's just not do it because it will just come across as really bad. And I can't remember who suggested it. And I probably was me because I am a big fan of actually. And I think someone said a news article and I was like, well, let's do it like and command. And we did it in, we did it in the morning, actually, we did that whole skit on the morning of when we went out. And when we filmed it, we cut it all together. And when we thought it was funny, we were watching it. We were laughing back. And a lot of people said, this, this won't be allowed. So I was like, probably not. Let's just put it out anyway. Oh, wow. So I put it out and I'll be honest, I'm very lucky man that the community reacted the way they did because it was that we had we had a lot of good feedback on that. We absolutely loved it. Absolutely. We couldn't believe it because we were sitting there because I love Ankerman. I love Ankerman. We slightly less enthusiastic about my love for Ankerman. Yep. But like brick brick. I've got, well, you probably know I've got a brick tamlin doll. That's how much I love Ankerman. So like Ben Adetti in front of the weather map was Oh my God, that was gorgeous. He was well, yeah. He's found his role in the nation. He was very, very funny. It was it was great as well, like just to watch him do it because like that was only like his second take. And he was just like, let's do it this way. And we just like, that's perfect. Damn, you don't have to do anything else because that's absolutely exactly that needs to be. It was just it was a lot of fun. And you know, it's good when you're laughing when you're making it. So we were like, if we're laughing when we're making it, then at least someone's going to laugh when we show it. Completely. The temptation when you're giving all your answers there about the Ankerman thing, by the way, to go. I don't believe you is overwhelming, but I won't because I'm better than that. You're a better man than that. I'm a better man than that. Well, you're not, but we'll just pretend that. Is there anything else you want to add while we've got your attention? Yes. It's not what I had. I just want to say thank you really to yourselves for doing the content to everyone that listens to to just keep doing what you're doing. Whenever I watch content, whether it's good or bad, people criticising or not, I go, welcome it. We all welcome it. It's it makes the game what it is. We the game wouldn't be going as it was. And it's it's always when I hate them, it's all like, oh, if it's in the community, it really is because there's so many people like you have a passion for it. And they you guys really care and we care and it makes and honestly, it makes my job so much easier. I've reached out to plans who put criticising content out and said, look, we're happy with this. And I've reached out and said, look, thank you for giving me this. It makes actually makes my job easier because I can go away and I can give, you know, evidence of community feedback and stuff. But I just want to thank everyone really for sticking with us. And it's a great time to be an elite player. Some really cool stuff coming. A lot of fun stories only just started really. A lot of stuff that's coming down the line and some stuff that we're working on that hopefully will blow people's minds. So yeah, I think we'd probably echo that back at you. Actually, we we we we we love what I won't pretend for one moment to speak for the rest of the community. But just from what we get from our discord and how this household of as a little microcosm of elite players because we're all elite players in here. It's not healthy. Honestly, we've got an unhealthy amount of accounts. We've got an unhealthy amount of accounts. I think we'd echo that back at you. We love what you've managed to do since you've come in and then the way you've kind of rallied the team together and the lads behind you. And yeah, it really feels like there's direction at the moment. Galnet is a good team is I loved Galnet. But I prefer Galnet now. It's it's fantastic. And I love all the CG's tying in and the story and the fact that it's going somewhere and that we're just love what you're doing at the moment. Please do more of it. Thank you very much. Yes, we appreciate it. Thank you. It's really, really kind. And again, just to reiterate, like I it's thank you for inviting me on. And I actually have time for all the guys. But the team is the team. It's not it's not a me thing that the guys are a huge proponent of this, you know, Bruce, Steve and Paul. They work tirelessly behind the scenes to get this stuff done. I simply couldn't do it. You know, it's great for me to to go and pitch stuff. But I couldn't picture about their work and they their work is they actually care. So without them putting the effort in, I couldn't do what I do. Great stuff. Who lost to the whole gang? Please give our love to the rest of the team, won't you? Yes, absolutely. We'll do. Not Guarido, though. Screw that guy. No, he's a dick. Yeah, he is. It's out there now, isn't it? All right, thank you very much. Arthur, always a pleasure, mate. So that's it. Hope you enjoyed our brief chat. I just want to extend our thanks to Arthur again for giving us some of his valuable time in what I know is a hectic schedule for them at the moment. We'll be back later this week with more stuff. See you then.