"Gamestar" Interview with Bernd

[Cyb3rNinja]

*Klick*

Taken from the german games magasine "Gamestar" which some of you may already now from the pre-release Interviews with Bernd.
It's about a possible X4, the reasons for this terrible launch and the future of X-Rebirth.
Sorry would love to provide a translation but i don't have the time!

Edit: Sorry it took so long! All credit for the translation belongs to Noimageavaiable, who asked me to add this.

GS: How did it come to X:Rebirth being released in such an unfinished state?

Bernd: There are many reasons that played together. The release date was determined quite a while ago and after seven years of development time you have to release the game at some point. But the problem wasn't the date but our struggle to add ever more features even very late in development.

We always want to offer high variety and it did become an X game even if I always emphasize that it is not X4. I didn't want to create that impression either but it is nether the less difficult to release a game where between trade, station building, fights, plot and tutorial so many things are possible.

For example we completely redesigned the landing platforms just in early 2013. Up until late 2012 we had a modus where you land through a button press and then interact once without free walking. But we weren't satisfied with this and added many things too late.

But the bigger problem are actually the small bugs, the small crashes. And that is the main reason for the bumpy start, we just didn't have enough testers there. I underestimated that a lot. With 150 people we had more testers than ever before but the game is very popular. We achieved our goal on one hand, to have more people play the game.

But that also meant that we were surprised by many technical problems that occurred especially on fast computers. We underestimated the amount of problems that would occur on high-end machines. We didn't even have a computer in our office that was as powerful as some of the systems Rebirth is played on now. We always assumed the game would also run well on these computers if it ran well on out midline computers.

GS: Now Rebirth isn't just criticized for its bugs but also because of poorly thought out or poorly functioning game mechanics. Did you never get the feeling during development that you had to draw a line at some point?

Bernd: No. This problem isn't new after all and it is always that way: We could go on and on. We could theoretically include everything after all. And that is how we will continue working once the bugs are fixed. There is already an endless list of new features we want to include.

However I see the gameplay changes as different from the technical problems which are annoying and could have been avoided if we would have had something like Early Access. If you would just test with more people. Many hardcore fans might dislike some gameplay changes but it is another game after all. It was also clear to me from the beginning that many hardcore fans would prefer an X4. And maybe we will do that at some point. But we can't reach new customers with that. The introduction to the game as well as the pacing of all the gameplay mechanics will always differ between those two directions.

GS: And you reached more players with this release?

Bernd: We sold more games in the first weeks since release than with any X game before.

GS: But was it a fair start to charge 50 Euro for a game in this condition?

Bernd: We also received lots of positive feedback, it is sadly overshadowed by many technical problems but there are many people who play this game and are satisfied with it. It is of course regrettable when part of our customers, regardless how small that part is, experiences performance problems or gets stuck in the plot for some reason. And these things are avoidable.

But things like the change to highways. These specifics that are radically different. The game is supposed to be faster and more action oriented. Trade for example is supposed to run in parallel instead of forcing the player to personally experience this slow part of the game. It doesn't make sense to discuss things like that with our fans. With these fundamental things the question weather it is better or worse doesn't make much sense because you're comparing apples and oranges. It is just completely different. If you make a game where the players trade themselves and pilot their trade ships you'll have a significantly slower game. But we will never change that about Rebirth.

On one hand we have detailed plans to expand X:Rebirth and also enable many things old fans in particular are missing. But as much as we are going to add, X:Rebirth stands for many changed mechanics and those will never change. You have to differentiate there.

GS: You mentioned Steam's Early Access program. Why didn't you use that option since you're already going with the controversial mandatory Steam activation?

Bernd: We would have liked to do it but the opportunity came too late. And it didn't work for reasons of distribution too. It would have fitted our style of publication well and we probably would still have the game in Early Access over a longer period of time.

GS: But on Steam you're publishing the game yourself, aren't you? And Early Access on Steam isn't that new either.

Bernd: As you said on Steam we publish the game ourselves. But unfortunately only on Steam. I can't go into details there but fact is that we cannot do whatever we want. We also have to consider Retail. That is how it is unfortunately.

GS: Was the game released in this unfinished state because your publishers Deep Silver and Tri Synergy pressed you?

Bernd: No, our publishers aren't at fault. I do not lay the blame with others either. The problem is you have to plan completely different for a retail release. You have to announce early when the game will hit the shelves, packages have to be produced, it has to be listed. You can't just change your dates half a year in advance when Steam offers Early Access.

GS: Yet other developers managed to do it, Bohemia Interactive with ARMA 3 for example (also self-published on Steam with local Retail-Publishers). The possibilities have been there for a while.

Bernd: For our plans for the retail release these opportunities came too late anyway. We will certainly work differently in the future.

GS: Since we're talking about the future. How does the future look for the series, more Rebirth or will we see an X4?

Bernd: We certainly won't be working on an X4 in the future. Our near future sees the development of Rebirth. There will be many smaller patches with gameplay improvements in the next two months. For the next year we will then switch to monthly patches to include bigger changes as well. But for now we have to do our homework with performance and stability before thinking about things like exterior view.

GS: Looking back on the release of X:Rebirth. Would you say it was a mistake to include features to the very end instead of finishing the present elements particularly regarding the UI and the general control scheme?

Bernd: Regarding the controls, no. There we always advanced in small steps and included new concepts only late. Whenever you solve old problems you also create new ones. Even another year of development wouldn't have changed that.

We already made some cuts with features after all and didn't for example implement AI commands that we would have loved to have on release.

But I think when you started the game on release, you didn't have problems with those endgame features in the first 10 hours. There the UI works and you're mostly annoyed by the by now mostly fixed bugs. Those are also the things that annoy me the most.

GS: So disregarding bugs the controls are especially in the beginning of the game good in your opinion?

Bernd: For the things you can do in the early game, yes. Trade with one ship, when you want to transport small amounts of goods, is sufficient. There are certainly things that can be improved but as long as you only have one ship it works actually. Difficulty arises when you want to concentrate on trade, which of course is something (not only) our old fans want. They want to control and build large fleets. We have yet to expand those features. There the UI isn't good.

GS: You kept the spreadsheet-menus from previous games for Rebirth. Rather than for example using symbol- or graphic-heavy menus everything works through classic lists. Did you try out other menus at some point as well?

Bernd: No, that's even a feature we removed. We decided against it due to expandability alone. Although you could certainly improve quite a few things in terms of presentation.

GS: So far Rebirth received the worst test results in the series. Do you think you can still turn the opinion on the game?

Bernd: I'm certain that we can positively influence the opinions of a lot of people over time but that is of course too late for the tests. And we obviously loose potential customers that way. Although it is certainly even worse for the players that bought our game and are now rightly displeased with it due to bugs. First we have to win those back. We can only do what we always did in the past as well: Not only fix the game far beyond the release but also expand it massively.

GS: How do you want to avoid a start like this next time?

Bernd: The team worked hard and I don't blame anyone. It is sad that the start went the way it did. But on the other hand the game is very successful too. There are many people who like the game in its current form. The game sold extremely well so we did some things right there as well. Even now we sell more games per day than with any prior X game. Which also means that for many people the features that didn't work properly on release aren't that important. Though in some cases that is also sad since we want to bring the depth of the economy and building to the new players as well.

Ideally I want to offer people who expect a Wing Commander a Wing Commander first and show them the depth of the universe later.

GS: But does that mean for you the good sale numbers justify the bad release?

Bernd: No, of course not. We always want to do it better. Especially the bugs that destroy the present game design are very annoying.

GS: Do you think you will still get it done?

Bernd: Of course. I already explained that in the forum. Phase One is stability for now. There we really need more testers. In the future we will certainly do that with Early Access. But we fixed more CTDs in the three weeks since release than the year before and the stability is already pretty good. But there are also always customers who run the game below minimal requirements such as 32-bit systems.

After that we will take care of the performance. Even if I don't want to say too much here. Those improvements take time. We currently do betas for the patches too. And we will continue the next weeks in the same way.

But of course you also have to mention that it apparently runs well for many people, after all we had always more than 10.000 players in the week after release. You have to consider the critiques with that in mind too. If you sell a lot of games and only one percent doesn't get it to work those people are of course legitimately angry and make themselves heard on the Internet. But you can't conclude from that that those are 50 percent of players. But regardless how many customers are affected it is always annoying.

GS: If you could turn time back a year. What would you do differently regarding features and the release?

Bernd: I probably wouldn't have changed any features and instead concentrated more on a bigger test before release.

[navetta]

Why on earth did you post this on the english board when its written in german.

[edqe]

Thank you for sharing this.

Google translate do the job well enough.

[Cyb3rNinja]

Why on earth did you post this on the english board when its written in german.

Well, as long as there is no translation this is the best you can get right? And i'm pretty sure you'll soon enough find someone willing to translate this but you should admit that it is much harder to translate something if you don't even know it exists.

[Skism]

Ok this is what Google translate says I don't speak German so don't blame me if its wrong

The German developer Egosoft team has a tough task ahead: they must regain the trust of their customers. Because after the release of their space game X: Rebirth in November there were massive criticism from both the fans as well as by the press. Rebirth was bugged and unfinished thrown on the market - after seven years of development time.

At present, although new patches appear almost daily cycles. Until the youngest part of the X-series, however, achieved a commendable status, are certain to pass Monte. And if the serious gameplay weaknesses are ever resolved, written in the stars.

We spoke with Egosoft boss Bernd Lehahn about the release of X: Rebirth, about the future of the game and good sales now account for the Rebirth at least to financial success.

Gamestar: How did it happen that X: Rebirth was released in such an unfinished state?

Bernd Lehahn : There are as many reasons that have negatively played together . The release date is indeed set for a while before and after seven years of development, you have to come out sometime in the game. But the problem was not the date, but our struggle to add more and more features, and that too very late in development .

We always want to offer a high level of diversity and it is just an X game become , even though I have repeatedly stressed that it is not X4. This expectation I did not want to wake up , but it's still difficult to bring out a game in the Trade, Substations , fights, plot and tutorial so many things are possible.

We have , for example, until the beginning of 2013, the landing platforms completely rebuilt . By the end of 2012, we had a mode where you end up by pressing a button and then once interacts without free running around . Consequently, we were not happy and have added much too late .

But the bigger problem is actually the little bugs that small crashes. And that is the main reason for the bumpy start , as we did not have enough testers. I have a very underestimated. We had 150 people with more testers than ever before , but the game is very popular. We have on the one hand achieved what we wanted , that many more people play the game.

But it has also brought with it that we were surprised by the many technical problems that occurred especially on fast computers . We underestimated how many problems there would be with high-end computers . We had here in the office is not a computer, which was as strong as some systems on which Rebirth is now played . We have always assumed that the game would run on such computers also good if it runs on our middle-class computers.

Gamestar : Well Rebirth is not only because of its bugs but also because of not well thought out or well-functioning game mechanics in the criticism. Did you have during the development never felt you had to draw a line sometime now ?

Bernd Lehahn : no. This problem is not new and it is always like this: We could go on and on . We can theoretically install everything since . And so we will continue to work once the bugs are fixed. There is already a long list of new features that we want to include .

The gameplay changes I see but other than the technical problems that would certainly have been annoying and avoidable if you would have done something like Early Access . If you would just test with more people . Some gameplay changes might not like many hardcore fans , but that's just another game. It was clear from the outset that many hardcore fans would rather have a X4. And maybe we do that , too someday. But we can not reach new customers. Both the entry into the game but especially the pace of the entire gameplay mechanics will always be a difference between these two approaches .

Gamestar : And with this release, you have more players achieved?

Bernd Lehahn : We have sold more games in the first weeks after release than at any other X game before.

Gamestar : But was that a fair start to charge 50 Euros for a game in this state ?

Bernd Lehahn : We also get a lot of positive feedback, it is unfortunately overshadowed by many technical problems , but there are also many people play this game and are happy with . It is of course annoying when some of our customers , no matter how big is this part that has performance problems or get stuck for any reason in the plot. And such things are preventable.

But such things as the change to the highways . Something very specific , which is radically different. The game is faster and action- oriented . The trade is for example run in parallel instead of the player to force personally experience this slow part of the game . For such things there is no point with fans via such features to debate . With these basic things , the question makes little sense after better or worse , as you compare apples with pears. It's just completely different. If you make a game in which the players act itself and control its merchant ships , one has a much slower game. But we will never change at Rebirth .

On the one hand we have detailed plans X: Rebirth to expand and also to enable much what grade miss the old fans at the moment. But this much we will also add , X : Rebirth anyway for a lot of changed tuners and where nothing will change . One must as accurately distinguish .

[mbar]

Thanks for posting the link. Interesting read and I hope thhe bugs can be ironed out. Hopefully game play mechanics can be made more clear.

Chrome translates the page.

[Alee Enn]

from the end of the article, translated by Google (so don't blame me) :
"The X-series
After the end of X-Wing, Wing Commander and Elite is the X-series from the German developer Egosoft the only space series, which is still continued. We provide in this picture gallery before all games of the series and the particularities of each title. But what runs through all the X-Games, is the all-determining basic concept that Egosoft summarized with four words: action, fighting, building, thinking."

I take issue with the "only space series, which is still continued" bit ... have they not heard of Eve? Pioneer? I could go on listing examples. And they fail to mention (and thus make Egosoft look good) that a whole new generation of space sims are just around the corner, and ultimately, Rebirth's main competition.

Otherwise a good article, even if Google doesn't translate it very well.

[birdtable]

Bernd still in denial .... add more features !!!! ... The testers complained ... they were ignored and removed.

[kuplo]

*Klick*

Taken from the german games magasine "Gamestar" which some of you may already now from the pre-release Interviews with Bernd.
It's about a possible X4, the reasons for this terrible launch and the future of X-Rebirth.
Sorry would love to provide a translation but i don't have the time!

Thanks for the link, I read through it and I have to honestly say my feelings that every time that Berned opens his mouth to speak I get this feeling about Rebirth like a 5 pound weight in the pit of my stomach.

He basically says that he is happy with the features as they were delivered and while he says that they will add more features to the game, there are many features that will never be added to the game and or changed in any way.

I have strong suspicions that the new UI is one of those features that they will not change and thus it becomes a snow ball rolling down a hill towards how many features can not be implemented because it will not work in their current UI, this thought makes me very very angry.

It seems to me that the man may be delusional, about the game being a success, only in so much as it has earned more money from sales than previous X games (guess he should have gotten X3 on steam when it was still reasonably young, then not likely to have earned more sales with this abortion over previous all titles), but the fact remains that while he quoted (in another post or article) that he was surprised to see 15,000 +/- people playing [or trying to play] this game upon release, the fact now stands that every time that I've checked the Steam stats there is now only between 1,000 and 2,500 people trying to play the game.

What happened to the other 12,500 people that were playing upon release Berned that are no longer playing due to either game stability, game performance, lack of features that need to be in any game titled as an X game, and or his design choices?

The one line that really pisses me off is how he says the release problems was at least partly due to there trying to add more and more features to the game. I'm sorry but that simply doesn't wash with the game that we have that is so feature weak that nobody can tell me they were struggling to add more features to the game. In my suspicions it was the opposite and they were looking at what features they could pull out so that the game could be played with a flipping controller and fit in the controllers UI system. This interview seriously just makes me so angry with this guy, I've watched all the developer videos and as far as I'm concerned, he was lying through his smile on so many things in the videos that he can no longer be trusted to be saying the truth anymore.

The game may be a financial success for Egosoft but it's a consumer failure for what seems to be a good majority of gamers.

[Nomenluni]

Why on earth did you post this on the english board when its written in german.

just use google translate, by the time you had posted this you could of read it.

[sabrehawk]

DENIAL . DENIAL . DENIAL. Thats all i read here between the line. Sorry Bernd L. you have lost contact with either reality or the meaning of truth.

Your product does not work . PERIOD. It has been out since 20 Days now.
It still does not work . PERIOD. The Plot is constantly bugging out. The frame rates SUCK hard. The interface is a bat from HELL to use. I dont care about ugly NPCs, or ugly textures, boring station interiors, non existant side quests, horrible audio performers, ...but i DO care about functioning PLOTS, mechanics and technical quality coding of the fundaments of the game.... and a game concept that does not force me to put a finger in my NOSE while i have to wait and wait and wait till some r******* ship AI finally decides to undertake a operation that included moving frickin 5km from 1 spot to the other and DOCK...and then takes another 5-10 minutes to MANOUVER INTO THE DOCK? And then i have to repeat that mindbending operation for EVERY type of action i want to undertake with the same ship...move in..REPAIR..move out, order drones, MOVE IN MOVE OUT, order upgrade MOVE In MOVE out...F..ME...i have real NERD RAGE BY NOW writing this...holy cRAp..!?! And that sort of stuff goes on and on and on and on ...there was a reason for SETA in X3 its called X Stillbirth.

It will continue to suck for months and months ..and even if all the BASIC features would work like they SHOULD HAVE IN THE BLOODY FIRST DAY...the game will still remain a conceptual design MESS. Thank you for luring me into buying this flashbang of a game with your selective marketing appeareances.

You do N O T H I N G to recompensate your pissed of customers...besides
throwing out some tiny patches that mostly didnt even fix what they claim to fix and even break other things. Still on your homepage you say NOTHING about the inusufferable state of this game...all there is is YADDA YADDA how great it is.

I have given this game a fair chance by GRINDING my free time for 70 hours into it and i wasnt even able to complete this primitive completely LINEAR plotline due to constantly nuclear bomb bugs. (restarting about over a dozen times) ..

I will now uninstall. FINALLY . I cannot be bothered anymore. Enough is enough.

That interview to me was NO APOLOGY ..it was DENIAL and downplaying the issues and rubbing in the face of the people who feel ripped off that you made so good sales...well dude in the LONG RUN you will not.

{ edit: desius - Personal attacks on volunteers who gave up their own time to try to avoid this very situation are unwarranted and will not be tolerated here. }

[Alee Enn]

You know, it would be nice to maybe ... like, you know ... actually discuss things without every other thread getting locked because of rage posts.

[Nomenluni]

there's nothing worth reading in that article, he is just being a politician as expected.

Does come across as though he is slightly in denial though.

[Xuro]

Bernd Lehahn: We have sold more games in the first weeks after release than at any other X game before.
We also get a lot of positive feedback, it is unfortunately overshadowed by many technical problems, but there are also many people play this game and are happy with.

I am convinced that we can influence the opinion of many people over time positive, but for the tests is of course too late. And thus we lose potential customers.


He's trolling us I'm telling you... I seriously hate this guy now.
You already got more customers then you deserved who trusted you and pre-ordered the game, that's the only reason for its success.

Please take your head out of that place where the sun doesn't shine. No respect from me what so ever after that read, if you would admit instead of constantly stating what success it was.... man I'm so pissed.

[dcarver]

We have , for example, until the beginning of 2013, the landing platforms completely rebuilt . By the end of 2012, we had a mode where you end up by pressing a button and then once interacts without free running around . Consequently, we were not happy and have added much too late .

So you are telling me you spent a year on a new feature (running around stations, which I hate) before getting the Space simulation (trade ships and player capital ships attacking) and then main Campaign working. And before adding features that existed in previous X games that players liked.

I'm very interested in hearing more about the design changes in this new game. Like missing keys to target attackers and selecting ships in the Sector list. No Shields on Capital ships, Stations taking real DAYS to build, having to do manual trade runs and having to manually scan stations every hour. I believe I want a game where I setup my resources and they are all automated. And I can control my fleets directly.

[birdtable]

The man is an idiot ....

[YukikazeX]

Bernd still in denial ....

I understand that they have to put a public face and cannot admit every problem, but i am disappointed. Brad Wardell was able to salvage Elemental admitting that the game was a disaster and that it needed dramatic changes, something that they were able to do in time.
Egosoft have problem to admit the basic reality that they sold so much only thanks to the aspectations and that the new players hate them or were lucky and got a refund. The problem is not that's a new game: is that the gameplay is deeply flawed; we have a fighting mechanics with a ship so tragically simple that every sidescroller shooter look like a flying simulator in comparison and a management game stubbornly without automation, with extreme micromanagement and so tedious that makes the atrocious Master of Orion III pale. In two words: unbalanced design.
They probably spent a large part of the development cycle arguing on how change X for the better, but it doesn't seem that they were able to reach a compromise. Rebirth seems composed by at least three design ideas bolted together and it doesn't work very well.

[Lazerath]

hahahhahhaha

EDIT: Reworded so its more appropriate

Bernd looks completely foolish in this interview.

END EDIT

He completely side steps the questions. hahahaha...

The damn game is BROKEN, NOT FINISHED, in a STATE OF DISARRAY and only a FEW people enjoy it, the majority HATE IT...is he so blind that he cannot see what is infront of his eyes.

The massive backlash of players, reviewers and he still tries to say its a succcess and a great game when EVERYTHING else points to it being a FAILURE.

He doesn't answer the questions either.... just side steps around what the real question is..

Bernd.... I have lost all respect I had for you now!

Lie to us, rip us off and then Deny what is really going on... sad... just sad..

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me... Egosoft won't be fooling this guy anymore!

[jeroll3d]

DENIAL . DENIAL . DENIAL. Thats all i read here between the line. Sorry Bernd L. you have lost contact with either reality or the meaning of truth.

Your product does not work . PERIOD. It has been out since 20 Days now.
It still does not work . PERIOD. The Plot is constantly bugging out. The frame rates SUCK hard. The interface is a bat from HELL to use. I dont care about ugly NPCs, or ugly textures, boring station interiors, non existant side quests, horrible audio performers, ...but i DO care about functioning PLOTS, mechanics and technical quality coding of the fundaments of the game.... and a game concept that does not force me to put a finger in my NOSE while i have to wait and wait and wait till some r******* ship AI finally decides to undertake a operation that included moving frickin 5km from 1 spot to the other and DOCK...and then takes another 5-10 minutes to MANOUVER INTO THE DOCK? And then i have to repeat that mindbending operation for EVERY type of action i want to undertake with the same ship...move in..REPAIR..move out, order drones, MOVE IN MOVE OUT, order upgrade MOVE In MOVE out...F..ME...i have real NERD RAGE BY NOW writing this...holy cRAp..!?! And that sort of stuff goes on and on and on and on ...there was a reason for SETA in X3 its called X Stillbirth.

It will continue to suck for months and months ..and even if all the BASIC features would work like they SHOULD HAVE IN THE BLOODY FIRST DAY...the game will still remain a conceptual design MESS. Thank you for luring me into buying this flashbang of a game with your selective marketing appeareances.

You do N O T H I N G to recompensate your pissed of customers...besides
throwing out some tiny patches that mostly didnt even fix what they claim to fix and even break other things. Still on your homepage you say NOTHING about the inusufferable state of this game...all there is is YADDA YADDA how great it is.

I have given this game a fair chance by GRINDING my free time for 70 hours into it and i wasnt even able to complete this primitive completely LINEAR plotline due to constantly nuclear bomb bugs. (restarting about over a dozen times) ..

I will now uninstall. FINALLY . I cannot be bothered anymore. Enough is enough.

That interview to me was NO APOLOGY ..it was DENIAL and downplaying the issues and rubbing in the face of the people who feel ripped off that you made so good sales...well dude in the LONG RUN you will not.

Wy community have - HAVE - a ready this...this...???

[steelgrey75]

Well it would seem that in his mind the only success he cares about is making money. Its clearly not a success, its been ripped apart in every review, the internet is awash with complaints.
Its not just the bugs that are the problem, its the design choices and the omission of basic things like a gravidar or targeting.
He's got the blinkers on and he's choosing to ignore certain complaints. He acknowledges the poor performance and many bugs but clearly refuses to budge on many other important issues.
Well its his game so I suppose he can do what he wants with it, even though its going to cost him in the future when his next release is unlikely to be such a success.