[Official] Behind the scenes

Post by **CBJ** » Wed, 19. Nov 14, 17:31

It generally takes about two to three hours to compile, build and upload, but most of the time-consuming parts of this process are automated and don't require someone sitting there the whole time to babysit. Extracting the changelog takes a bit more manual work, as does performing in-house tests to make sure the process has gone smoothly before it is published to private and/or public Beta. In theory we could do the whole thing in about half a day; in practice it usually takes a bit longer than that for one reason or another.

Post by **Tamina** » Wed, 19. Nov 14, 17:40

Thanks for the answer CBJ

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Wed, 19. Nov 14, 22:56

linolafett wrote: Sanahar, jep thats just rahanas backwards, it will replace the hightec rahanas freighter (afaik). 1Mio hull is too much? What do you suggest? It should be a faster, but weaker variation of the rahanas.

Hi lino,

Sorry for the slow reply, I needed to take a bit of time to think about related stuff before I formed an initial opinion.

I would suggest that 1 million per hull (pre-surface elements) is too little. At the moment, I'd suggest a free greater than a Rahanas Container.

Compared to a Rahanas Container, the beta 3 encyclopaedia describes it as carrying 9% more wares, with 15% more speed and greater weaponry. I don't know what the shielding will be like but at the moment, I think those benefits will more than compensates for 23% less base hull and potentially less shielding.

Regards,
Sparks

jeroll3d · Post by **jeroll3d** » Thu, 20. Nov 14, 05:37

linolafett wrote:*snip* Just the whole post of how to create the lockbox *snip*

Level of detail is encribile. Fantastic!

Hey, CBJ, more huge sector, increase size

Nice work guys.

EDIT: removed full quote -Lino

egosimon · Post by **egosimon** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 10:36

Now it gets serious! A thread in the polycount forum (http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143894) motivated the whole company to participate in an art contest.
"Draw a cat without looking at the paper"
Here are the results:

Boss Cat

Bernds Cat

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Art Cats

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Sound Cat

Alexeis Cat

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Producer Cat

Peters Cat

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Programmer Cats

Owens Cat

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Timons Cat

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Adrians Cat

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Matthias' Cat

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Mikes Cat

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Michis Cat

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Markus' Cat

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Martins Cat

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CBJs Cat

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Florians Cat

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Stefans Cat

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Klaus' Cat

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Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 11:08

lol! That looks like it was a lot of fun.

It also looks a bit like Lino, Simon and Timo have done this before

As for some of the others, they probably need to see the vet sharpish!

...I suspect that if I took part, I would have drawn Stefans's cat

Edit: Typo

egosimon · Post by **egosimon** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 11:12

Sparky Sparkycorp

Why not try it and post your result?

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 11:30

Oh boy, challenge accepted!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByP1Gu ... sp=sharing

...I was right, I felt compelled to go for Stefans's profile view hehe

Sorry it's not an image yet, I'll try to find my imgur password later and update (or a mod is welcome to if they like)

AkrionXxarr · Post by **AkrionXxarr** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 11:33

I think both Lino and CBJ did a surprisingly good job given the circumstance.

Post by **Tamina** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 13:37

Yeah Lino and CBJ did a really good job!
Has one of you both cheated here? I am looking at you CBJ, alone in the UK! It is time for confessions guys!

Take it as a compliment.

My favourite cat however is the one from Chris.
The lack of eyes is disturbing, however she is really cuuute :3 Look at her, I wanna pet her so really bad (from this perspective)!!!
Sorry Lino but Chris has won my heart with this cat

I didn't knew Alexei was a permanent Egosoft employee.
What is he doing all day when not composing?

The rest is really great modern art

Try sell it to a museum for several millions!

Post by **Santi** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 17:59

Pity it was not Grasshoppers because Michis nailed it.

Earth Ultimatum IV. · Post by **Earth Ultimatum IV.** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 18:12

The special EUIV CAT is missing... A domestic cyborg cat with futuristic armament for your lonely household.

BigBANGtheory · Post by **BigBANGtheory** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 21:36

Did Alex draw a mouse too or some kitty litter

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 21:41

lol, that explains the smile

Sandalpocalypse · Post by **Sandalpocalypse** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 22:08

why does stefans cat have a person face

Post by **Tamina** » Fri, 21. Nov 14, 22:15

Sandalpocalypse wrote:why does stefans cat have a person face

I don't know. It is really creepy, isn't it? *Hides behind chair*

egosimon · Post by **egosimon** » Mon, 24. Nov 14, 13:49

Today it's not about graphic but something which is at least as important:

Sound Production

I'm Simon and an artist at Egosoft but also manage the sound production. This means that I receive sound requests sent by the team e.g. when a new feature was implemented. I add those information to a sound list and spice it up with all necessary information Alexei needs.

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Alexei is well known for the great music he does for the X-Series but only few people know, that he creates all sounds for X:Rebirth too! To give him a clear picture of what he's producing for, i record videos and load them up to our "secret" Youtube channel. Youtube is a good choice since it's easy for everyone to watch the movies instead of having download them from FTP and then noticing that there's a codec missing.

When Alexei starts the production, we're constantly chatting in Skype and I give feedback and we iterate as often as it's necessary. When we've something we're satisfied with, i record a new video and show it to him. Here's a dialog about that we need a fail sound which sounds more like fail than before:

Original version
It's about the sound when the bar turns red and you loose the minigame:
http://youtu.be/z4H8gd6B414

Alexei
try this one, made something evil
Sends ... http://youtu.be/NimEjiej-F4

Simon
hm is for me too high at the beginning
doesnt have to be fancy. just clear

Alexei
high by tone of frequencies?

Simon
i mean a standard "fail" sound is more like beup-boop and not beeeep--beeep---booop

Alexei
Sends ... http://youtu.be/rHtTERXK6bE

Simon
ok this is better but it can be longer and with a bit echo like the others. doesnt have to be that short

Alexei
echo will not work right with low sounds like this
Sends ... http://youtu.be/CSydIt6__ek

Simon
hm and with stronger boop-boops? like in the UI sound i sent you before?

Alexei
it is there

Simon
ah ok ... stronger?

Alexei
Sends ... http://youtu.be/b-UFL2PQ9lQ

Simon
yeah thats better

New version
Now it should be more clear that you lost the minigame:
http://youtu.be/wFR4aYHkuW8

Thanks for reading all the text! I hope you enjoyed this small sneak peak into sound production. It might seam a bit weird to try to describe sound via text, but it works pretty well if you have an experienced audio engineer like Alexei.

If there are any question, don't hesitate to write them into this thread.

Cheers,
Simon

Post by **Terre** » Mon, 24. Nov 14, 14:42

How much compression is used on the effects and soundtrack, not only lossy but +-db. My thinking is that an optional download; DLC, be made available of uncompressed and lossless audio.

Post by **Ketraar** » Mon, 24. Nov 14, 15:13

i mean a standard "fail" sound is more like beup-boop and not beeeep--beeep---booop

Note the very high rated technical discussion that is used in the creative process. This high level of technical terms is used to convey exact information between developers, this dialect is inherited to devs and can be attributed to the diet.

In short: Pizza makes you talk like that.

MFG

Ketraar

PS: Humor might be present in this post.

fallenwizard · Post by **fallenwizard** » Mon, 24. Nov 14, 15:20

Ketraar wrote: PS: Humor might be present in this post.

We can't have that here

Anyway: Alexei always surprises me. I love his music and didn't know that he created all the sounds. I hope the ongoing conflict between russia and the rest of world doesn't affect your work relationship in the future, because I can't imagine the X series without him.

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[Official] Behind the scenes