Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Sep 2008
- Posts
- 6,767
- Location
- Orsett, Essex
*****EGOSOFT TNBT (X Rebirth)****
- Thread starter Shadez
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Jan 2003
- Posts
- 5,962
- Location
- Chesterfield, UK
WOW what a backward step. Shocked and suprised.
I wonder if they are dumbing it down for consoles?
I wonder if they are dumbing it down for consoles?
Yep, you fly a personal ship always the ap gunner the white ship being chased in the trailer or the pic on ES rebirth info page.
You cant hop in other ships but you can control them. Tho their "maybe" a drone control system where you can sort of take it over personally tho not a lot of info is on this because their calling it control through a 3d display. Oh and people think that fighters i.e m5 to m3 are gone and replaced by drones. You defo can buy up a fleet tho and sort it however you want but their limiting the player to flying just the ap gunner only.
You might be able to capture ships still but not hop in them.
Ship interiors coming back
Cockpit a fully functional one too is coming back.
Dx9 game (duno what they were thinking lol)
Ship interiors so you can transition into ur ship bit like starlancer i think as sounds like it.
About consoles, well with it being dx9, and a much smaller game im guessing they were pushing for a console release. Maybe not right away tho because as you know ES like to patch the crap out of the games and MS or Sony would charge a fortune for them patches so my guess is their releasing PC first and patch it up for a year then port it to console probably xbox360. Because i think their gona have the xbox pad setup for the game.
About the player ship (like it was in xbtf). But this time it will be upgradable a bit like dark star one tho maybe not as extensive visually.
Oh and if i have not said, the game has been delayed till 2012.
---
Oh and check out the cool b5 mod for x3 tc.
You cant hop in other ships but you can control them. Tho their "maybe" a drone control system where you can sort of take it over personally tho not a lot of info is on this because their calling it control through a 3d display. Oh and people think that fighters i.e m5 to m3 are gone and replaced by drones. You defo can buy up a fleet tho and sort it however you want but their limiting the player to flying just the ap gunner only.
You might be able to capture ships still but not hop in them.
Ship interiors coming back
Cockpit a fully functional one too is coming back.
Dx9 game
(duno what they were thinking lol)Ship interiors so you can transition into ur ship bit like starlancer i think as sounds like it.
About consoles, well with it being dx9, and a much smaller game im guessing they were pushing for a console release. Maybe not right away tho because as you know ES like to patch the crap out of the games and MS or Sony would charge a fortune for them patches so my guess is their releasing PC first and patch it up for a year then port it to console probably xbox360. Because i think their gona have the xbox pad setup for the game.
About the player ship (like it was in xbtf). But this time it will be upgradable a bit like dark star one tho maybe not as extensive visually.
Oh and if i have not said, the game has been delayed till 2012.
---
Oh and check out the cool b5 mod for x3 tc.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 4,364
Oh my! I NEED this game lol, loved the others so much
Here at TGB one of the most excit*ing things we get to do is talk to the peo*ple who actu*ally make the games we know and love. Recently we got the amaz*ing oppur*tu*nity to sit down with Bernd Lehahn the direc*tor of Egosoft, devel*oper of the X series. Dur*ing our inter*view with Mr. Lehahn we were able to get some insights into why they make their games the way they do and we also got some excit*ing new details about their upcom*ing release X: Rebirth.
TGB: First I want to say thank you for tak*ing the time to talk with us at TGB. We are very thank*ful for the time you are spend*ing with us today.
TGB: The X series seems to be your pri*mary title as a com*pany. What has inspired you to con*tinue devel*op*ment of the x uni*verse instead of expand*ing into other areas?
Bernd Lehahn: This was really an easy deci*sion. We all love space games. Yes it is true, that only few devel*op*ers have the lux*ury of con*cen*trat*ing on one series, but I am sure this is not because they wouldn’t like to. It is rel*a*tively rare today that a devel*oper keeps full con*trol of his own IP and directly makes money with every sold copy of a game. Once you are in this posi*tion how*ever, it is great to work with a com*mu*nity of fans and build some*thing larger. This is also the rea*son why we were able to sup*port our games much longer than a nor*mal game devel*oper can afford. So it is all closely con*nected with keep*ing con*trol and build*ing a larger IP. Hmm… I hope I can answer some of these ques*tions with a sim*ple: Yes or No
TGB: The X uni*verse has been quite suc*cess*ful for Egosoft. Why has Egosoft cho*sen not to expand onto other plat*forms such as the Xbox 360 or Playsta*tion 3? Are their hard*ware lim*i*ta*tions? Con*trol Problems?
Bernd Lehahn: Well it’s cer*tainly not a triv*ial task to bring such a com*plex and hard*ware hun*gry fran*chise to a con*sole. Our games have stood and will stand in the future, for total free*dom inside a very large uni*verse. I don’t think it’s impos*si*ble to bring this to a con*sole, but it’s a big task. So as a small devel*oper we have to con*cen*trate on one plat*form at a time.
TGB: Many pre*vi*ous PC exclu*sive devel*op*ers have com*plained that piracy is a big prob*lem for them and have moved away from the PC plat*form as a whole in some cases. Do you, as a devel*oper, feel piracy is a huge prob*lem for you?
Bernd Lehahn: Piracy sure harms us, but I think we found a good com*pro*mise in how we pro*tected our last two games (and in how we removed that pro*tec*tion after*wards). It is always impos*si*ble to judge how much more we could sell, but I do not believe any devel*oper moves to another plat*form just because of this. Con*soles are a big mar*ket and devel*op*ers would be stu*pid not to develop games for this market.
TGB: The X series, while it has some story ele*ments is pri*mar*ily an open sand*box. Has Egosoft ever con*sid*ered doing a more focused cin*e*matic cam*paign to drive the story behind the X uni*verse?
Bernd Lehahn: Yes, in fact with every game we have tried to improve on the sto*ry*telling and exper*i*mented with ways how to com*bine the open sand*box with a plot. X2 had some cutscene dri*ven plot ele*ments, X3:Reunion had plot minigames etc. But this was all not per*fect because we had to stick with a lot of the exist*ing designs. That’s another rea*son why X Rebirth had to be redesigned from scratch and is not just X4.
TGB: Speak*ing of X Rebirth are there any excit*ing new fea*tures that you can tell us about?
Bernd Lehahn: Many… I am writ*ing a series of post*ings for our own forums for the next few days in which I describe in depth a lot of the new game design and cool features.One very cool new fea*ture is drones for exam*ple. The player will have only ONE ship to fly him*self. But this one ship is super cool. You can move around inside, trans*port and talk to NPCs aboard etc. But you also can still own and con*trol drones and cap*i*tal ships. Drones can even be con*trolled in first per*son, so in real*ity you still have lots of ships to steer from *****pit view. The only dif*fer*ence is that this is done using a vir*tual real*ity sys*tem (gog*gles come down from top of your *****pit and the co-pilot takes over fly*ing the main ship) and you won’t die if these drones get destroyed. This sys*tem gives us a lot more free*dom in design*ing new and very diverse experiences.
TGB: Are you going to be adding some FPS style game*play to the X uni*verse? Plan*e*tary Inter*ac*tion perhaps?
Bernd Lehahn: No. Not that we didn’t think of it. Mar*ry*ing an X game with some*thing like Mass Effect sure brings some nice ideas, but again: We are a small devel*oper and have to do one step at a time. You WILL how*ever be able to step out of your ship and stand on plat*forms. Talk*ing to NPCs is a big and impor*tant way of con*trol*ling the game and a step to mak*ing things eas*ier (less com*pli*cated menus and sim*pler conversations).
TGB: Will X Rebirth uti*lize some of the newer graph*ics tech*nolo*gies such as DX11? Does DX11 present devel*op*ment chal*lenges for developers?
Bernd Lehahn: That’s not decided yet. X Rebirth will run on DX9 API as long as all the fea*tures that we need from the API are pos*si*ble with it. That does not mean we may not at some point also sup*port DX11, but for now we do not see a need. Our engine is quite dif*fer*ent from all the big estab*lished names, because it is designed specif*i*cally for a space game. We would love to use an engine like Unreal or the CryEngine, but unfor*tu*nately we had to develop it all our*selves, because this was the only way to have cut*ting edge space graphics.
TGB: So X Rebirth fea*tures an entirely new graph*ics engine?
Bernd Lehahn: An entirely new every*thing engine The graph*ics engine was actu*ally replaced between X2:The Threat and the X3 games, but the X Rebirth engine is a much big*ger step, because it also means a whole new tech plat*form to sup*port mul*ti*thread*ing for AI, physics and other tasks.
TGB: The X titles have tra*di*tion*ally been very friendly and open to the mod*ding com*mu*nity. Your in game script gen*er*a*tor is a prime exam*ple of this. Dur*ing the last 10 years the num*ber of devel*op*ers who sup*port the mod*ding com*mu*nity have been greatly reduced. The recent announce*ment that Dia*blo III would not fea*ture any mod*ding sup*port at all had the mod*ding com*mu*nity in an uproar. Why has Egosoft cho*sen to be so closely tied to the Mod*ding com*mu*nity? Why do you think so many devel*op*ers are not releas*ing Mod sup*port with their new releases?
Bernd Lehahn: I can’t speak for oth*ers, but for us it’s an easy choice: Sup*port*ing mod*ders helps adding to our games and bring*ing more cool con*tent to our fans. With X Rebirth it is a bit harder than in the past because the whole tech plat*form has changed at once, so peo*ple can’t work with it before the game comes out. But we aim to release tools and doc*u*men*ta*tion as soon as pos*si*ble after the release of the game. TGB: last ques*tion
Bernd Lehahn: phew…
TGB: Has the idea of adding multi-player ever been con*sid*ered for the X Universe?
Bernd Lehahn: Yes and the other half of the answer is again the same as twice above men*tioned: We are a small team and have to focus, but .… yes
TGB: That is all the ques*tions that we have for you. I want to say thank you again for tak*ing the time to talk to us about your com*pany and your games.
http://www.thegamersblog.com/review/egosoft-interview/
TGB: First I want to say thank you for tak*ing the time to talk with us at TGB. We are very thank*ful for the time you are spend*ing with us today.
TGB: The X series seems to be your pri*mary title as a com*pany. What has inspired you to con*tinue devel*op*ment of the x uni*verse instead of expand*ing into other areas?
Bernd Lehahn: This was really an easy deci*sion. We all love space games. Yes it is true, that only few devel*op*ers have the lux*ury of con*cen*trat*ing on one series, but I am sure this is not because they wouldn’t like to. It is rel*a*tively rare today that a devel*oper keeps full con*trol of his own IP and directly makes money with every sold copy of a game. Once you are in this posi*tion how*ever, it is great to work with a com*mu*nity of fans and build some*thing larger. This is also the rea*son why we were able to sup*port our games much longer than a nor*mal game devel*oper can afford. So it is all closely con*nected with keep*ing con*trol and build*ing a larger IP. Hmm… I hope I can answer some of these ques*tions with a sim*ple: Yes or No
TGB: The X uni*verse has been quite suc*cess*ful for Egosoft. Why has Egosoft cho*sen not to expand onto other plat*forms such as the Xbox 360 or Playsta*tion 3? Are their hard*ware lim*i*ta*tions? Con*trol Problems?
Bernd Lehahn: Well it’s cer*tainly not a triv*ial task to bring such a com*plex and hard*ware hun*gry fran*chise to a con*sole. Our games have stood and will stand in the future, for total free*dom inside a very large uni*verse. I don’t think it’s impos*si*ble to bring this to a con*sole, but it’s a big task. So as a small devel*oper we have to con*cen*trate on one plat*form at a time.
TGB: Many pre*vi*ous PC exclu*sive devel*op*ers have com*plained that piracy is a big prob*lem for them and have moved away from the PC plat*form as a whole in some cases. Do you, as a devel*oper, feel piracy is a huge prob*lem for you?
Bernd Lehahn: Piracy sure harms us, but I think we found a good com*pro*mise in how we pro*tected our last two games (and in how we removed that pro*tec*tion after*wards). It is always impos*si*ble to judge how much more we could sell, but I do not believe any devel*oper moves to another plat*form just because of this. Con*soles are a big mar*ket and devel*op*ers would be stu*pid not to develop games for this market.
TGB: The X series, while it has some story ele*ments is pri*mar*ily an open sand*box. Has Egosoft ever con*sid*ered doing a more focused cin*e*matic cam*paign to drive the story behind the X uni*verse?
Bernd Lehahn: Yes, in fact with every game we have tried to improve on the sto*ry*telling and exper*i*mented with ways how to com*bine the open sand*box with a plot. X2 had some cutscene dri*ven plot ele*ments, X3:Reunion had plot minigames etc. But this was all not per*fect because we had to stick with a lot of the exist*ing designs. That’s another rea*son why X Rebirth had to be redesigned from scratch and is not just X4.
TGB: Speak*ing of X Rebirth are there any excit*ing new fea*tures that you can tell us about?
Bernd Lehahn: Many… I am writ*ing a series of post*ings for our own forums for the next few days in which I describe in depth a lot of the new game design and cool features.One very cool new fea*ture is drones for exam*ple. The player will have only ONE ship to fly him*self. But this one ship is super cool. You can move around inside, trans*port and talk to NPCs aboard etc. But you also can still own and con*trol drones and cap*i*tal ships. Drones can even be con*trolled in first per*son, so in real*ity you still have lots of ships to steer from *****pit view. The only dif*fer*ence is that this is done using a vir*tual real*ity sys*tem (gog*gles come down from top of your *****pit and the co-pilot takes over fly*ing the main ship) and you won’t die if these drones get destroyed. This sys*tem gives us a lot more free*dom in design*ing new and very diverse experiences.
TGB: Are you going to be adding some FPS style game*play to the X uni*verse? Plan*e*tary Inter*ac*tion perhaps?
Bernd Lehahn: No. Not that we didn’t think of it. Mar*ry*ing an X game with some*thing like Mass Effect sure brings some nice ideas, but again: We are a small devel*oper and have to do one step at a time. You WILL how*ever be able to step out of your ship and stand on plat*forms. Talk*ing to NPCs is a big and impor*tant way of con*trol*ling the game and a step to mak*ing things eas*ier (less com*pli*cated menus and sim*pler conversations).
TGB: Will X Rebirth uti*lize some of the newer graph*ics tech*nolo*gies such as DX11? Does DX11 present devel*op*ment chal*lenges for developers?
Bernd Lehahn: That’s not decided yet. X Rebirth will run on DX9 API as long as all the fea*tures that we need from the API are pos*si*ble with it. That does not mean we may not at some point also sup*port DX11, but for now we do not see a need. Our engine is quite dif*fer*ent from all the big estab*lished names, because it is designed specif*i*cally for a space game. We would love to use an engine like Unreal or the CryEngine, but unfor*tu*nately we had to develop it all our*selves, because this was the only way to have cut*ting edge space graphics.
TGB: So X Rebirth fea*tures an entirely new graph*ics engine?
Bernd Lehahn: An entirely new every*thing engine The graph*ics engine was actu*ally replaced between X2:The Threat and the X3 games, but the X Rebirth engine is a much big*ger step, because it also means a whole new tech plat*form to sup*port mul*ti*thread*ing for AI, physics and other tasks.
TGB: The X titles have tra*di*tion*ally been very friendly and open to the mod*ding com*mu*nity. Your in game script gen*er*a*tor is a prime exam*ple of this. Dur*ing the last 10 years the num*ber of devel*op*ers who sup*port the mod*ding com*mu*nity have been greatly reduced. The recent announce*ment that Dia*blo III would not fea*ture any mod*ding sup*port at all had the mod*ding com*mu*nity in an uproar. Why has Egosoft cho*sen to be so closely tied to the Mod*ding com*mu*nity? Why do you think so many devel*op*ers are not releas*ing Mod sup*port with their new releases?
Bernd Lehahn: I can’t speak for oth*ers, but for us it’s an easy choice: Sup*port*ing mod*ders helps adding to our games and bring*ing more cool con*tent to our fans. With X Rebirth it is a bit harder than in the past because the whole tech plat*form has changed at once, so peo*ple can’t work with it before the game comes out. But we aim to release tools and doc*u*men*ta*tion as soon as pos*si*ble after the release of the game. TGB: last ques*tion
Bernd Lehahn: phew…
TGB: Has the idea of adding multi-player ever been con*sid*ered for the X Universe?
Bernd Lehahn: Yes and the other half of the answer is again the same as twice above men*tioned: We are a small team and have to focus, but .… yes
TGB: That is all the ques*tions that we have for you. I want to say thank you again for tak*ing the time to talk to us about your com*pany and your games.
http://www.thegamersblog.com/review/egosoft-interview/
Last edited:
I don't really mind there only being one ship you can fly. What makes the game so fun is trading your way up to a massive empire/fleet of which you nearly always control remotely anyway.
I can't see them releasing it on consoles either... it's just to complicated a game imo.
I can't see them releasing it on consoles either... it's just to complicated a game imo.
Soldato
- Joined
- 25 Sep 2008
- Posts
- 6,767
- Location
- Orsett, Essex
I wanna know how can we have a ship that trades and fights 