Before the pledges have ended on Wing Commander creator's Star Citizen venture, the mind behind one of the other big sci-fi videogame names of the 80s and 90s has launched a crowdfunding project of his own, with Elite, and Frontier creator David Braben and his UK studio Frontier Developments revealing Elite: Dangerous.

Elite and Frontier were successful space trading games, acclaimed for their vast procedurally generated "open worlds", presenting the vastness of the cosmos in a time when plenty of other games were still doing the single screen thing.

Braben is also known for his more recent involvement in the popular Raspberry Pi miniature computer project.

Elite: Dangerous is the game I have wanted Frontier to make for a very long time. The next game in the Elite series - an amazing space epic with stunning visuals, incredible gameplay and breath-taking scope, but this time you can play with your friends too. I want a game that feels more like the original “Elite” to fly, and with more rapid travel (to allow for the multi-player nature of the game) – so you travel quickly using local ‘hyperspace’ travel rather than by fast-forwarding time – but with the rich galaxy of Frontier – and more, so much more.

With a lofty GBP£1,250,000 goal, and no pitch video, it's hard to gauge the Kickstarter project's chance for success at the moment, and Frontier Developments' shipped titles, which include RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Kinectimals, and LostWinds, might not be the best portfolio to attract space-sim hungry core gamers.

Elite: Dangerous is aiming for a 2014 launch on PC.

Head on over to the Kickstarter page if this sounds like your thing.