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X3: Reunion - Developer Diary #1 Feature
Derek dela Fuente
19/08/2005
TVG begins a close look at the development of Egosoft's latest space-sim...
Taking the space simulator genre into new depths, X3: Reunion promises to expand upon the success laid down by its predecessors. Built on top of the âRealityâ engine, X3 pushes the graphical boundaries and enhances every aspect of the series.
As development draws to a conclusion TVG has teamed up with the good people at EgoSoft and Deep Silver to bring you a series of Developer Diaries chronicling the vision behind the game and the inspirations that drive the increasingly prominent developer.
The Vision for X3: The Reunion
The development team is much bigger and has direct community involvement now. In fact we have grown to the extent that we have interns working with us to further their own studies and education. Our most exciting new aspect to the game is what we call the GOD module. This is the AI engine that determines how random events affect the universe and truly ensure that from the first minute every playerâs game is unique. Interaction in the universe no longer relies solely on the player but will take place on its own globally, forcing the player to think and adapt the style of game play to the current situation. What is more, these events will be documented and the player can precipitate them, influence them, solve them or try to turn them to his or her advantage. We talked a lot about new graphics and exciting new textures and 3D models but it is content such as this which really sets the game play aside and draws the player in to a real living universe.
One of the most important aspects for the team in creating X3 is that it offers improvements not only in gameplay but the look of the game. Of course, there are very real and visible game improvements, but we could have made similar changes by sticking with the original expansion plans. So maybe whilst the overall theme remains the same, how we deliver it to the player is now very different and this represents something of the shift that you mention.
We have of course had plenty of feedback but probably the most frequent is to have the ability to land on and interact with planets, closely followed by an online version of the game. The latter will come about once funding to back the game up has been safely secured but the former is more of a genre obsession â“ not saying that it is a bad thing. Planetary interaction in X3 will be limited but that doesnât mean we donât understand what the fans want. Rather, we have to see what this would add to the game and perhaps, more importantly, what would it cost the game in other areas, such as economic activity and balancing, and a huge increase in development time.
And more Improvements
Introducing random events at random times into the universe, rather than objects just reacting with each other, represents a big step forward towards our goal, as well as adding life with NPCs that interact with the player.. These traders now trade with factories, including those of the player, and in many cases will take the place of trade ships. This opens up all sorts of future possibilities. Importantly though, events take place without the influence of the player.
Design
The whole design has already been created. In fact, as is normal for us, much more of the design is planned and in development in one way or another, and when we approach a release date we must have a serious discussion on which features we will âring fenceâ, i.e. which will make the game and which may be carried on to a future title.
So whilst the whole framework is established, some work can still be left to the last minute and is flexible. This method of working is why we have consistently been able to add in huge amounts of additional content to our games post-release.
The design and goals have not changed that much from the very start â“ we had set our goal of producing the closest space simulation to reality as possible. The genre has huge potential â“ space captures the imagination of young and old alike in a way that nothing else can. So of course, we can continue to advance it with further improvements in graphics, game play and story development.
Major changes to the game design and the way the game plays will always prompt feedback from existing fans. From our point of view, we must always listen to the existing fans and community to see what their expectations and hopes are for the game. Equally, they must understand that in order to keep the development alive and, more importantly to keep it constantly improving and remaining cutting edge, we must also make changes that attract new players to the game.
Technological issues â“ the WOW Factor
Well, we certainly have the âwow factorâ in X3 and today more than ever it is vital to have that. Great graphics sell a game more than anything â“ great game play probably keeps it fresh and then widens appeal by word of mouth and reviews. But like most things, to do well, you have to be noticed. Commercial interestâs aside, space does deserve to be as beautiful as possible and X3 manages to set a new standard and a very high one at that. There are no real issues different from before except maybe time â“ with the ability to create more and more lifelike detail models comes the inevitable drain on resources. With game development becoming increasingly expensive, especially across several platforms, it will be very hard in the future for a small developer to come onto the scene and make a big impact.
We have been asked what has inspired the game and the team, well absolutely anything. Failing to make Bernd (our boss) a coffee every morning when I make everyone else one could appear in the game as the consequences for destroying the supply line consistently to a factory! Current Sci-Fi offerings on TV, old classics such as BladeRunner, ideas from the community, new programming commands that make new features available even this late in development â“ anything can be brought into the game in one way or another.
Quite often, inspiration can be something which we thought about months ago but shelved as it wasnât possible. Lots of ideas like this which were impossible before are now achievable with our new engine in X3, and we can dust them off and finally bring them to reality.
But seriously, to end our conversation, we recently saw the ISS and shuttle images on TV. From this, we had the idea to add a real time orbit around a sun to some sectors, where the planet will evolve from light to dark over time. This looks absolutely amazing and weâre still testing the feature â“ hopefully it will make it into the game in time. After all, we want to make sure this looks better than the real life version around Earth at the moment!
TVG would like to thank Egosoft and those at Deep Silver for making this insight possible; weâll have more from the team shortly.
Anonymous
Date Added:Sun 20th Jul 2008 03:53
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Date Added:Tue 13th Nov 2007 00:40
Anonymous
Date Added:Tue 30th Oct 2007 12:37
is a good try,ships are very good
Anonymous
Date Added:Fri 5th Oct 2007 14:22
Anonymous
Date Added:Thu 28th Jun 2007 12:52
- 2006-10-30 11:10:37 - you probably are tvg rules! at it, and you didnt have a decent gun. you need to upgrade to kill lots of things in the game. take your time to play it.
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Date Added:Tue 30th Jan 2007 19:48
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Date Added:Sun 10th Dec 2006 21:02
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Date Added:Sun 19th Nov 2006 14:59