HIGH-SPEED SAILING PROFILE AN ELITE dramatic racing that the Cup has However, lessons in control ever seen. systems and even foil section But there was also a stark design could have an influence in reminder as to the risks involved other areas of yacht design, be it and the level at which the new the methods of draft reducing technology was being pushed. lifting keels on cruising boats, or ENTREPRENEUR Seven months after Oracle’s more refined high-lift/low-drag capsize, tragedy struck when foil sections for keels, rudders and British Olympic sailor Andrew even roll stabilisers. RETRACTED CANTED NO CANT Simpson was killed aboard When it comes to the solid wing sails, it is less likely that this Artemis Racing, one of the Retracted Wind David Braben FREng technology will trickle down into position other challengers, when the Downwind boat capsized and broke up mainstream yachting. Despite position their impressive efficiency and Wind during training. Windward hull Upwind their ability to reduce loads in the position A multi-million pound business that develops computer control lines, the wings are Wind games had its origins in David Braben’s schoolboy hobby FOILING AND complex and expensive to build. Leeward hull WINGSAILS Stepping (taking down) and of programming a simple PC. Three decades later, his The future for sailing hydrofoils is removing such wings is also an exciting one. The fast-paced difficult and potentially risky, company, plc, has successfully Under America’s Cup rules: racing of the America’s Cup not particularly in windy conditions - No moving surfaces allowed floated on the London Stock Exchange. Braben has only highlighted the thrill and when the wing still wants to fly - Foil cannot extend outside maximum beam, hence the ‘L’ configuration - Boats are not permitted to have both daggerboards lowered for more than 30 seconds speed of sailing on foils, but it has whether it is attached to the boat been instrumental as a co-founder of the Raspberry Pi also enabled a greater or not. Stepping an AC72 wing Foundation, helping to bring to thousands of schools a understanding of how such takes around 30 people, and like BALANCING ON FOILS configurations may work without modern equivalent of the hobbyist computer that got him other teams, Emirates Team New The curvature helps to align the ‘L’ shaped foil into more of a ‘V’ as conventional moving control Zealand have had several the daggerboard is lowered, but this can be increased by canting started. He talked to Michael Kenward at Frontier’s HQ surfaces. There is also a greater alarming moments when the the daggerboard in towards the centre of the boat as well. In the understanding of how much in . wing has overpowered them absence of any control surfaces on the foil, this ‘V’ configuration more stable a fast-moving boat is during the stepping process. provides a self-levelling effect. when it is riding on its hydrofoils. For the future of wingsails, As the boat accelerates, the hull rises and the amount of foil As a schoolboy, David Braben loved writing The company, Frontier Developments Given the problems of practicality is the limiting factor. in the water reduces as does the amount of vertical lift that is programs on an . This was a plc, employs more than 250 people, encountering waves at high Throughout the history of the generated until an equilibrium between the downward force of time before personal computers provided with around 100 programmers working speed with conventional, non- America’s Cup, technology has the hull and the upward lift of the hydrofoils is reached. sophisticated programming packages to alongside 100 designers. The business foiling boats, hydrofoiling always played an important part For controlling the ride height when the self-levelling effects manage all aspects of life. It was certainly develops computer games that sell in continues to offer the possibility elsewhere in the sport. From before computer games rivalled feature films their millions. of increased speeds in otherwise electronic wind instruments of the ‘V configuration’ were not available, the angle of attack of in their visual effects and complexity. These games have large and devoted challenging sea states. developed in the 1930s to the the bottom ‘L’ section of the foil could be altered by raking the The Acorn’s attraction for this youngster followings. Last year, nearly 27,000 fans But foiling is not the future for wing keels and Kevlar sails of the daggerboard fore and aft, again using hydraulic rams manually with an interest in science and engineering opened their wallets on Kickstarter, the all. While the America’s Cup has 1980s, the America’s Cup has operated by the crew. The boat maintains its fore and aft trim was that he could easily teach himself how to crowdsourcing site, to raise £1.25 million for always provided a trickle down always had a greater influence with the T-foil on the rudders, which hold the stern down. Under write programs as all the tools and languages the development of the latest version of the for technology, foiling is unlikely than has at first been apparent. the rules, these were only adjustable when not racing. were provided with the machine, from BASIC Elite game, now one of Frontier’s flagship to be used on typical cruising For all its radical changes, the to full assembly language programming. products. It will cost a lot more than that boats of the future. The heavy immediate benefits of this BIOGRAPHY “I found the whole learning process extremely to develop the game, says Braben, but keels of monohulls and even the America’s Cup cycle may be Matthew Sheahan is racing and technical editor for Yachting compelling,” he says. These days, Braben runs crowdsourcing also offers “a fantastic, novel relatively heavy structure of difficult to see at present, but the World magazine and has covered every America’s Cup since a software business based in the Cambridge opportunity for bringing a game to market cruising multihulls, make it 34th America’s Cup will doubtless 2002. He previously worked in the marine industry at Proctor Bell and Braben’s Elite broke new ground when Masts before which he had studied yacht and boat design at it was published in 1984. It was published by Science Park with a game development without using a publisher and building a extremely difficult to generate provide key developments and Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and the Acorn studio in Halifax, Nova Scotia. community around the game.” sufficient power-to-weight ratios technologies for the wider sport what is now Solent University. A keen racing sailor himself he Electron computers and the necessary righting in the future, just as it has during has sat on various main and technical committees in the sport. moments. the last 162 years.

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This was not, though, the end of his interest in astronomy. As a games designer, he would indulge his interest and design his own universes, galaxies and planets as central elements in a series of successful games

Braben continued to develop his computing Elite’s arrival on the market coincided with compares what games writers do with how RASPBERRY PI skills during his undergraduate years. He and the end of Braben’s undergraduate days. “My architects work. Both work mostly on a One of Braben’s recent ventures is about Bell managed to complete work on the first university work became my hobby. Essentially, computer, creating buildings that someone as far removed from the cutting edge of version of the Elite game during this time, else will realise. “I see engineering in the by the time I left university I was running computer hardware as it is possible to but did not know what they could do with it. virtual world as no different from engineering a business.” get. He was one of the six founders who Who would sell it for them? in a real world.” This did not stop Braben from toying devised the Raspberry Pi, a mini computer Computer games were primitive in the Games software also requires with the idea of staying on to do a PhD. He that harks back to the Acorn Atom and BBC early 1980s, as was the business around them. heavyweight software engineering, with had already applied his computing skills to Micro – the computers that first appealed to “It was very amateurish,” says Braben. unique requirements for reliability and the astronomy – looking at gravity and planets Braben and thousands of young people like ”Most games makers set out to mimic ability to work on different hardware. around binary stars. He thought about him and helped to create a generation of arcade games. It was focused on what the accepting an invitation to turn his work into computer enthusiasts. He says: “In the early industry called the coin drop, with the a PhD project, but, with a business to run, GAMING IMPROVEMENTS 2000s, I noticed that at Frontier the number goal of extracting another coin from the Braben went on to become a freelance game Braben does see signs of growing of people getting through to the interview player’s pocket.” designer. This was not, though, the end of his appreciation of the sophistication of stage for our jobs was decreasing. That was Braben saw little point in forcing the same interest in astronomy. As a games designer, gaming software. This is helped by the fact quite worrying. We wanted more people, four or five minute experience on games for he would indulge his interest and design his that many of today’s engineers are, as the not fewer.” At first, he wondered if it was the the home market. “You have got no coin drop, own universes, galaxies and planets as central jargon has it, ‘digital natives’, people who company’s image, but he soon found that it so there is no point. With a leap, we said, ‘Why elements in a series of successful games. have been surrounded by PCs, games and was an industry-wide issue. do we have that?’” Braben and Bell wanted to Braben worked as a freelance designer other software all their lives. Then there is This didn’t make sense to someone create a game that you could play for hours. for several more years, during which time the rise of simulation in many other areas of who could see the huge sales of computer This did not go down well with the major the industry began to mature. He set up engineering. Simulation, says Braben, is at games, many of them to just the sort of entertainment companies, such as Thorn-EMI. Frontier Developments in 1994. Since then, the heart of gaming. Games designers, for people who might be tempted to study When Braben talked to the company about the series of RollerCoaster Tycoon simulation example, simulate the appearance of objects, computing at university. Braben turned selling computer games, “They said, ‘Oh and strategy games has sold more than such as a car’s surface. “When we render it to the keen young players who tested the no, total playtime of 10 minutes should be five million copies, spent time at the top of in a game, you can’t just render one surface, company’s games prior to release. “I just the maximum.’” the sales charts and even found a niche in you have to render all of the subsurface asked the kids, ‘What is your favourite subject One company took a different view: management training. layers. If we didn’t capture and model all the at school?’ And then, ‘What is your worst Acorn. “It couldn’t have been a bigger Frontier continues to travel in space with subsurface ‘scattering’ that naturally occurs, subject at school?’” The same answer to the David Braben FREng contrast. They were proper enthusiasts, the Elite series. The original game sold more then it would just look plastic.” second question came back loud and clear: whereas I would describe Thorn EMI as than a million copies and still has its fans. Games can also be important drivers it was Information and communications he started his degree course. Cambridge being businessmen.” So when the two GETTING STARTED Does it, though, have any relationship with of computer sales, perhaps increasingly so. technology (ICT) as the lessons were usually didn’t have a course in computing back then, undergraduates were looking for a home This is a far cry from the development cost of real astronomy? Don’t the games break all The power of most hardware is now such dull and limited. just a ‘computer science conversion’ that for the result of their ‘hobby’, they went the first version, which grew out of Braben’s the laws of physics? Braben takes onboard that games are just about the only software There seemed to be two reasons for allowed anyone studying natural science to with Acorn. undergraduate days. He wrote the game such ill-informed questions and patiently that puts any strain on the system. “If you this, the pupils often knew more about with a fellow undergraduate, Ian Bell, during switch to computer science towards the end explains that, yes, games may mess around look back 10 years, people were getting the subject than their teachers, and the his degree course in natural sciences at the of their degree. GROUNDBREAKING with physics, but they still have to follow rules faster computers because they really did curriculum contained next to nothing . That was Braben’s plan, until he saw what In 1984, the duo’s open-ended Elite computer or the players would be able to demolish want them so that they could do things like about computing. It was all about using It was parental advice that had kept Cambridge taught as computing. He was not game – originally written for the BBC Micro – everything. One gets the sense that messing video. Ten years ago, a computer couldn’t spreadsheets and word processors. Braben from taking a degree in computing. impressed. “However, this was down to the didn’t just break the four-minute record, it set around too much with the laws of physics really do decent video. Nowadays, they can “Essentially, it was office skills. That is what His physicist father had advised him that state of the subject at the time. The field was new standards for programming with its 3D would offend Braben. do it without breaking a sweat. The real ICT had become.” On top of that, many he would be better off studying physics to so immature that you could already pick up graphics. Elite ended up on most consumer He responds with the same forbearance issue for the big computer companies”, says schools had dropped computer science as a add to his knowledge of computer science. most of what was being taught.” In the event, computer platforms, becoming a classic, when asked if writing games really is Braben, “is why do people need to replace subject. “He was absolutely right,” says Braben. The Braben switched to electrical sciences for the which helps to explain why an army of fans is ‘engineering’. “Most of what we do here their computers? What is the driving force? When Braben raised the problem with wisdom of that decision became clearer after final stages of his degree course. prepared to pay up front for a new version. is engineering, software engineering.” He Currently, it is games.” government a decade ago, he was brushed

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aside and accused of special pleading, based in the UK, with production at Sony’s curriculum for computing aims to ensure returned to in a talk earlier this year at the despite his protestations that a skills Pencoed factory in South Wales passing the that all pupils can understand and apply TEDxAlbertopolis event in London, where he shortage would bite every industry that one million mark in the UK in October 2013, the fundamental principles and concepts explained procedural generation, the sets of needed good graduates. Braben carried and also, at 1.75 million units sold, outselling of computer science, including abstraction, algorithmic rules using randomised strings on investigating what was going on. “What the BBC Micro. logic, algorithms and data representation. It of numbers to create realistic and convincing horrified me was that the problem got Has Raspberry Pi really done anything for will also ensure that students have repeated game effects, or computer-based graphics worse and worse and worse.” computer education? “It is getting better,” practical experience of writing computer tools. “There’s a lot of physics in an airbrush, Along with other concerned individuals says Braben. “I like to think that Raspberry programs in order to solve computational the viscosity of the paint, the speed of the in the sector, Braben set about finding a Pi has created visibility and has made the problems. The Academy Fellows’ computing motor, where the artist holds it away from subject a bit more fashionable.” solution. After looking at various ideas, in group has also led to the development of a the paper and it creates a beautiful pattern 2008, a group of six people from the IT low-cost programmable robot for teaching within an artist’s control...the designers industry and from academia set up the EDUCATION ADVANCES computing in primary schools. of that art package will have mimicked . The charity set out Braben accepts that it will take time to Braben suggests that we think of as best they can what an airbrush does,” education as a staircase. “What has happened to make a tiny and cheap computer that reshape the teaching of computer science he said. “Inside the computer it simulates in the last 10 or 15 years is that the first three enables people to teach themselves the in schools but is optimistic that this will that science...now imagine doing that with or four steps had been demolished, with the basics of computing. happen. For a start, the government is clouds, or a bit of hillside.” steps higher up, at the universities, still there,” The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized listening at last. For Elite, Braben and Bell had to he adds. Raspberry Pi is just one the bits computer board that plugs into a TV and a David Braben was involved with the build layers and layers of rules to create Royal Academy of Engineering’s informal needed to rebuild those first steps. keyboard. It was an instant success when it galaxies, governments and economies. Fellows’ computing group which supported He is also on the campaign trail for went on sale in February 2012, with prices They also needed to create a set of rules the joint proposal with BCS to create a computer education and training further up for naming new constellations, so had to starting at not much more than £20. A new Programme of Study for Computing the staircase. He is on the games board at round of media appearances by Braben look to linguistics. “I remember looking among 5-16 year olds as part of the National BAFTA, Creative Skillset and various university at it and trying to get names that were provoked a rush that crashed the websites Curriculum Review. They presented their advisory boards. He is particularly keen to see David Braben holding the Raspberry Pi, a single-board computer roughly the size of a smartphone. pronounceable, so you wouldn’t get phlegm of the companies selling the Raspberry Pi. It is equipped with an ARM processor that runs Linux, and USB ports that let users attach a keyboard and findings to the Department for Education in that, when universities offer degree courses on the screen because that’s what came The first batch sold out “within seconds”, mouse. Video is also supported via HDMI and RCA with storage handled by SD cards 2012, and most of their recommendations in ‘computer games’, they teach something out – essentially things called phonemes.” with over a million units sold in the first will commence for the next school year, that would have the potential to qualify Procedural generation was useful, too, for year. Manufacture of the Raspberry Pi is now starting in September 2014. The national graduates for a job in the business. Instead, too many degrees teach basic he is still the majority shareholder, on the programming that would not prepare AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. saving scarce memory in early computers. students for demanding tasks in one of the This raised nearly £4 million and valued the The Raspberry Pi has several times the more complex sectors of IT. Braben says: “I company at around £40 million. processing power of the BBC Micro or the don’t like the games industry being used by Then there is the work on the next , so memory limits are less of academia as a way of selling easier-to-teach version of the company’s games, with an engineering challenge for today’s young degree courses.” There has been success here Elite: Dangerous due out in 2014. With its programmers. Given time, some of them may too. “We have now got quite a few courses emphasis on space travel, the game lets learn to code the kinds of complex rules- that are approved and that are reasonable, Braben continue to develop his interests based structures that will lead to Frontier Developments’ next blockbuster game. but they are not easy courses.” Look for in astronomy and physics, and to explore Creative Skillset degree accreditation, is elements of space, time and gravity. BIOGRAPHY Braben’s advice. “I love the effects of low gravity and Michael Kenward OBE has been a what that means for architecture. For freelance writer since 1990 and is a example, most structures in space are FUTURE BUSINESS member of the Ingenia Editorial board. This year, Braben participated in the actually spun, so they still obey the rules He is Editor-at-Large of Science|Business. flotation of Frontier Developments, where of physics,” Braben said. It’s a theme he

CAREER TIMELINE AND DISTINCTIONS Born, 1964. Independent software developer, 1982-1993. Developed the computer game Elite, 1984. BA, Electrical Sciences, University of Cambridge, 1985. Diploma in computer science, University of Cambridge, 1986. Develops computer game Frontier from 1988 to 1993. Chairman of Frontier Developments plc, 1994-present. Birmingham University Industrial Advisory Panel, 2003-present. Advisory Board of the Centre for Digital Entertainment and BAFTA Games Board Member, 2009-present. Founding Trustee of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, 2008-present. Elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, 2012. Frontier Developments plc floated on London Stock The rendering to get the lighting effects and material textures on the spaceship ‘Anaconda’ will establish a new level of realism for the Elite series of video games. Elite: Dangerous is due out in 2014 © Frontier Developments Exchange, 2013.

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