David Braben, one of the brains behind Elite, that game that has dominated my psyche for the last 30 years, has launched a Kickstarter campaign aimed at crowd-funding Elite IV, the long-awaited sequel to Elite that has been bugging people since Frontier First Encounters turned out to be so dire.

Not only that, but it apparently is going to be a proper sequel - same style of gameplay and everything - to Elite. Not Frontier. Dodgy physics and all.

This is bigger than the Star Wars thing, oh yes.

I've already pledged £20. I want to pledge £2000 but I don't think Anne would be very happy about it. I want so much to be part of this in any and every way I can be, and the Kickstarter imperative is one that actually lets me. It's awesome.

Will it happen though? Well, if the drive meets its target then it's one of those things that HAS to happen. The money's there, the people are there and can get paid, and it could all come to pass quite quickly. So yes, I really think it will happen. Every other Kickstarter I've been part of has happened (barring wrist injuries, Mr Burlew).

I'm busy trying to convince the guys on the Oolite forum to club together and try and raise a bit of cash to donate collectively. I even think that the forum guys would have pots of useful things to contribute to the project other than just money, so I think that if we could collectively raise about £300 we'd be able to have a voice on the OFFICIAL development forum. Which would be awesome. Crowdsourcing is one of those great ideas that just keeps on getting used for better and better things. It also frees up the developers from producer or financier interference and lets them design the game THEY want to design. Mind you, some of the crowdsourced backers might have a voice...

Whatever happens, at least we know that Frontier Developments and Mr Braben are trying to get this age-old vapourware game onto the market. And about time too.