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X2: The Return - Developer Diary #1 Feature
Derek dela Fuente
13/12/2004
In a set of ongoing features TVG chats to EgoSoft and watches the progress on X2: The Return...
TotalVideoGames is a great fan of the X2 series which is already building into a great franchise and with this expansion pack due early in 2005, along with a stand alone X2 title to follow. Space strategy fans are in for a real feast from Egosoft, who we spoke to for the first in a series of 4 diary supplements before its release.
There are 10 members within Egosoft working on the game and the internal staff was always just one part of the whole development process at Egosoft. Since X-Beyond the Frontier was released in 1999 we have built up an ever-expanding community of fans, many of which also help in the development. Several of these devnet members have now become full members of the development team even though they are located around the world. Here is a rundown of the Internal team:
- Martin Brenner: Lead programmer. Martin has been with Egosoft for 10 years now and leads all our programming and development efforts.
- Michael Baumgardt: Webmaster, devnet coordinator, community guru.
- Christian Rousselle: Engine programmer. Christian joined our team recently to coordinate the development of our next generation graphics engine.
- Markus Pohl: Lead designer: Markus is in charge of cut scene design and currently works on new types of missions both as a designer as well as programmer.
- Christian Vogel: Art director: Chris designs most of the new user interface, many new ships and stations, our website and lots more.
- Klaus Meyer: Story programming: Klaus implements changes in the economy, helps with the plot implementation and many other areas.
- Carsten Krämer: Story programming: Carsten leads the implementation of the plot.
- Andreas Itze: Andreas is currently working on performance optimisations of our engine.
The external support include:
- Andy Walsh: Andy is a professional scriptwriter and joined the team a few months ago to put together a great story for X2-The Return.
- Tobias Richter: Tobaisâs company âThe Light Worksâ helps us with designing some of the best cutscenes for X² - The Return.
- Mike Lewis: Programming user interface, missions and lots more.
- Chris Burt Jones: Handling of bug reports, bug hunting and community support.
- Paul Hutchinson: Paul is another of our external art team members. He is currently working on cut scenes.
- Bernd Lehahn: Well and finally me: I try my best to lead the development and put everything together. In the past I also got to programme now and then but recently I am busy with just leading the development and managing the company.
TVG: When you sat down to create X2: The Return what kind of must have, must change, must do, list did you put together?
Most of the features for X2-The Return are logical progressions from the earlier games. Our goal was always to provide a free universe, a dynamic environment where the player is not constrained by the plot but rather the experience is enhanced by it. There are significant changes within the game itself, the two principle ones being an easier user interface for new customers and a refreshing one for the existing ones and, of course, a further step to modularisation with the complex factory chains and tunnel systems (at a price!).
There are also a whole lot of new types of missions for the plot (weâll cover this later), and outside of this many smaller ideas like sabotage support, etc. Youâll have to wait to find out just how much more there is to doâ¦
TVG: If there has been one criticism of X2 it has been the storyline and some of the visual presentation. How will you ensure that the storyline this time around will be that much stronger and have you brought in a scriptwriter to ensure it is rock solid?
We are very aware that the other strengths of X2-TT in many ways overshadowed the plot and storyline, and knew we had to improve specifically in this area. We have worked together with a professional script writer (Andy Walsh) and he has done a magnificent job in creating not only a far more immersive story with more action loaded elements but more deep characters than before. Also we have learned from X2-TT technical wise and know better now what we can do best. One lesson learned here is not to make awfully long character dialogues as in game cut scenes for example.
TVG: Basically how do you go about creating X2: The Return - how do you conceptualise and put things together? How much planning, concept/design work and thrashing out of ideas is done and how much, if any, is done on the fly?
The concept grows rather than being put together from scratch. The universe started with XBTF and grew ever after. Like the game itself and its universe, development can be dynamic. Following on from the original XBTF, the core of our community was formed and immediately wanted to be involved with ideas for the future. Incredibly, books were also written about players own versions of the history within the universe - indeed these books were published as well! With this much feedback, and the fact that we do listen carefully to it, weâve probably collected ideas to make another 10 sequels. Of course, we still have our own ideas as well â“ you do see these from time to time.
TVG: Please expand on the kind of input and focus the Devnet - a collection of developers from around the world â“ have into the game?
How does this work both in interaction and physical presence!?
The DevNet is a hive of activity. The best developers there progress to become team members and help on many detailed aspects of the game, according to their strengths and what we need. Many help in translating, both for the game and for the community. Speaking of the community, as ever, they are a great source of ideas for the game now and for the future. After all, they represent some of the customers we are developing for.
TVG: Can you tell us the backdrop story to the game and will there be total continuity from previous title?
The plot has huge events, we wonât spoil the story here but we can promise that a lot of the questions which remained unanswered in the past will be answered with big and surprising results. A lot of material from the earlier games as well as the great books by Helge Kautz will be used in the story, but still the plot can stand on its own. Players do not have to know any of the previous games or books. Certainly though, this is a storyline worth waiting for, and is still in keeping with the best traditions set out in previous X games.
TVG: Another possible negative to a few is that the learning curve in the Threat was pretty steep. Is this one of the areas you will try to present a more intuitive feel? Some say that German developers tend to have the mind set for their own territory which in this case was ideal but to the outside may be too complex at times?
Well these people may be partially right. It is quite an important and not an easy task to find the right balance for the start of the game. On the one hand things shouldnât be too easy and too cheap. The improvements a player makes during these first few hours lay the foundation for the addiction that players feel later in the game. But on the other hand, if the start is too hard some customers are easily lost during the start and will never see 90% of the more advanced features of the game. X² - The Return will be a lot easier than the older X gamers though because it plays immediately after X² - The Threat and you play the same person. Also, the new user interface and menu systems will make the game far more manageable than before.
TVG: Personalisation within the game is important so what new features can fans look forward to?
Personalisation within the game now exists with the many different factory constructions that can be built from different races and linked together to form unique mega complexes. Outside of the game, the modding community is thriving and there have already been some amazing player modifications. Thanks to the unique scripting engine, modders have been able to create their own missions, alter variables within the game, write new AI code â“ everything you can think of. Not forgetting also the wide array of ship models that have been created and imported into the game already.
TVG: There are many things to do within X2 - can you tell one new element that the team is working on that is really getting them excited?
The way we work, extending an ever growing universe with new possibilities, freedoms and places - the team is always very closely bound to feedback from fans. Even during the development we are always very excited to hear the feedback of the devnet members on each new feature we implement. It is really rare that we get to a point where we feel that there is a feature that we HAVE to implement. Take the new menu system for example, we thought about this a lot and have plans with this that go far beyond what is currently possible. It is very exciting for us to see this evolve and see ideas coming into reality. Most of the development on new features nowadays is a team effort and the dedication that this excitement brings is really necessary to get such a huge project going in the first place.
TVG: What are your thoughts on other similar space sim strategy games and how do you see X2 as a kind of genre bender?
All positive. The genre has so few titles that they are not competition but extend the market. We are keen to see Elite 4 â“ the name alone may encourage more players into the genre again. Freelancer is great and widens the audience just like we try to do.
TVG: What is the current state of play pertaining to code?
We are currently mainly working on the implementation of the new plot for X2-The Return. At the same time alpha testing started to allow external devnet supporters to work on things like sector design and ship properties balancing.
Next Chapter â“ Technology and âspacey thingsâ.
TVG would like to thank EgoSoft for taking the time in between a busy schedule to answer our questions; X2 fans can lok forward to more from the team next month.
