X3: State of the Reunion

Logan Booker opens a channel to Egosoft and questions Greg Kingston about X3: Reunion.

Space, allegedly, is a frontier of sorts. Like the depths of the ocean and your grandma’s underwear drawer, there are some places humans won’t be exploring for many years to come. It’s a technology issue mainly – a lack of transparent aluminium or a HAZMAT suit with included tongs – that keeps humanity bound to the ground, along with gravity and an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere.

Why blow up a planet when you can just land on it?

Perhaps out of the need to explore dangerous, unreachable places, or maybe because it seemed like a good idea at the time, a guy in a basement in 1980 set fingers to keyboard and the simulator was born.

Teenagers could embark on a perilous journey to their local computer store, pick up a copy of Bruce Artwick’s Flight Simulator, slam it into their awaiting TRS-80, and crash into an assortment of grotesquely-rendered mountains, all in the comfort of the living room or, more accurately, a poorly-lit bedroom littered with the remains of worn-out anoraks and Risk board game pieces.

Inevitably the question was asked: If a game allowed you to fly in the sky, what’s to stop you from cruising through space? It was at this precise moment, or maybe a few moments after it, that Elite blossomed in the minds of Ian Bell and David Braben. The ultimate in simulators had arrived. Many others followed, including Origin’s Privateer and Freespace, but it was the single letter-titled X that walked in the true footsteps of Elite. Egosoft, the creators of X, developed a sequel, X2, to further distil the art of crafting epic space adventure.

And now, we have X3: Reunion – the culmination of Egosoft’s knowledge, experience and technology.

Trading, fighting and, well, landing are all part of the action.

Free reign
 
‘The open-ended side to the game, which is its essence, allows the player to dip in and out of the story at [their] leisure,’ says Greg Kingston, PR manager at Egosoft.

‘But to add life and to ensure that everyone’s game is different, the AI within the game will adapt and change the universe and its contents according to what actions the player takes.’

The X series has always been about freedom and exploration – the original game started with the player piloting an experimental space craft. After a short tutorial, the player was thrown into a different, unknown part of the galaxy and immediately interrogated by an alien ship. From these bizarre beginnings, it was up to player to travel about, fighting off bandits and trade in order to survive.

Although discovery was key, previous X games had a strong, almost distracting, economic focus to them. The player would construct and purchase manufacturing plants and build their fortune in an alien universe. While X3 will have direction, as every game must, Egosoft has gone to great lengths to make freedom that direction.

‘We are fortunate that we are leading the field in this genre,’ says Kingston, attributing the game’s focus on freeform play to Egosoft’s experience, love of open-ended play and ‘fierce determination and passion [that drives] development of the X games, to develop the perfect space simulation’.

And simulation it will be. According to Kingston, the AI and randomisation is controlled by a software component called the ‘GOD’ module, which ensures that every single game is different and varied. ‘The AI in the game is very special. Already we have over 10,000 objects moving around with a set purpose, all interacting together.

Now we have a higher AI path overlooking the whole universe, which allows for “global” events to take place. This could be race wars, skirmishes, NPC factory seeding [or] sector destruction,’ Kingston explains. NPCs will interact with the player and themselves and bulletin boards will reflect changes in the game caused by the player or other major events. A strong community following has been important in the development of these features and Egosoft has listened carefully to the desire of its fan base.

‘Feedback from our fans and community drives some directions of development, so the economy is remodelled now and the universe itself has been brought to life [based on community desires]. Combat is more of a challenge, new weapons and station types are introduced and a whole host of new missions and other features are introduced,’ Kingston explains.

It's all thanks to the oodles of love and attention Egosoft has put into developing the characters, the atmosphere and the gameplay.

Egosoft has also added ‘huge amounts’ of content to the game in order to keep the freedom aspects in check. Part of this content includes some expert touches in the story and character departments.

‘[The story] is penned by a professional screenwriter with Hollywood voice talent as well – far better than previous games,’ he explains.