Team Interview #3 - Cycrow

[Gregory]

X3: Farnham's Legacy is a new game in the X3 space game series. TRADE, FIGHT, BUILD, THINK in a living and breathing universe. It incorporates a new storyline and yet more additions to the open, free-form gameplay that forms the core of all X series games. X3: Farnham's Legacy is free to owners of X3: Albion Prelude and will be released on May 4th, 2021.

As we build up to the release, we continue to interview some of the project team members. This week, Cycrow answers our questions.

>> Visit the X3: Farnham's Legacy - Scripts and Modding forum, which is now available.

Q: Please briefly introduce yourself to the readers and tell us when, and how, you first came into contact with an X-game?
A: Hi, I’m Matt, also known on the forums as Cycrow. My first X game was X2: The Threat, which I started playing while I was at university. Since then, I started to mod for the games, starting with X2, and it has been my main gaming focus ever since.

How did you end up on the team that has been working on X3: Farnham's Legacy for the past five years?
As I had worked on some of the previous games, X3: Terran Conflict and X3: Albion Prelude, I was approached about helping out with this new project.

What was your personal motivation to work on this project? What makes the X3 series so special for you?
I’ve spent a long time both playing and modding the games, and I always felt a lot more could still be done to improve the X3 series. So, this was a great chance to really expand on the previous games and to hopefully see how far modders will be able to take it after release.

>> X3: Farnham's Legacy - Reveal Trailer

I think it's pretty safe to say that X3 modders in particular will be flabbergasted at the release of X3: Farnham's Legacy, won't they? Since that’s one of your topics in the project, what can the modders among our players look forward to?
The simple answer is ‘lots’. So much has been added to the modding, in particular the Script Engine which has been expanded more than in all the previous games combined. It gives more control over many aspects of the game, including vastly improved input and menu systems, allowing new menus to be created.

Do you have a particular highlight from working on the project that you would like to share with readers?
Too many to go into in any real detail, but I’m particularly happy with how the Ship Browser and Station Manager turned out.

Any last message you'd like to give to X3 fans out there, with just under two weeks to go before the release of X3: Farnham's Legacy?
Prepare to be blown away by just how much has been added and improved on.

Thank you for sharing some insights with us and thank you for your participation in the project!

[MegaBurn]

Cycrow,
Thank you for your work on X3:FL, I'm looking forward to it. Also nice to see the new S&M forum, a clean slate.

During FL development, what was your biggest technical challenge or achievement? (geeky war story?)

[FritzHugo3]

many thx Cycrow and all other people to make this project maible. Thx for all xoure free time and hard work.

The original X are not dead, this feels so good.


And i as an non programmer, as an totaly stipid man at code - i have made 5 or 6 good working scripts with teh old ingame editors. One of the baddest things for me, that X4 have this not ingame.

Im full of anticipation.

And for me, the old series have so much better Stering, Shortcuts, menues, interfaces. X4 are realy a good game but not the way to interact with it over a keyboard.

Have all a gread weekend, nice weather (mmh or better bad weather, so all programers are working smile - no ) and health.

It feels so good, that you are all back, i see names where i miss the last years in the XR and X4 Forum. (i understand why, but). It feels a a little family meeting.

I hope a little from the charme what we have had in the time from X2 and X3 in the forum comes a little back.

[Sorkvild]

Any last message you'd like to give to X3 fans out there, with just under two weeks to go before the release of X3: Farnham's Legacy?
Prepare to be blown away by just how much has been added and improved on.

That is quite enticing. I can't wait to dive into new chapter of X3

[iniochos]

Would I be exaggerating if I said that we are entering a subcategory of x3?

[Klord]

Great work Cycrow. Thanks for the continued commitment.

The screenshot indicates that there should be properly coded pirate rep system in FL. Finally I can be a fully fledged pirate ! Yey !!!

Edit:

Wait ! There is a diplomacy option !!!
Holy Cow !

[NEMESIS165]

You guys are amazing . Thank you for you work

[Blitz4]

My first X game was X2: The Threat, which I started playing while I was at university. Since then, I started to mod for the games, starting with X2, and it has been my main gaming focus ever since.

My first X game was X3: Terran Conflict. Over 2,000 hours of gameplay in the game and the various overhauls. It's hard to estimate how long due to not tracking the time. For the first 13 months after X3:TC was released, it was the only game I played, it's the longest amount of time I spent on one game and that contributed towards it being the game that I played the longest.

I'll never forget those 13 months. I even read the entire Apricot Mapping Service book back then as a tutorial on how to play the game. That experience, it can't be explained in words. There were no guides outside of information posted here on these forums. There were no videos or tutorials.

It's hard to explain to newer gamers what that feelt like. I looked and there's no modern game that gives the same experience. One way I can compare the experience is with people who say Old School Runescape or Morrowind is their favorite game at release. Games today have so many ways to make your experience easier and smoother, even allow you to choose your adventure before you even start it by challenging you to choose between Easy * Medium * Hard, but with no context and before you even play the game you're googling "what's the difference between easy...", which just ruins the entire playthrough as you now taught yourself, it's ok to use google to get help if I ever get stuck in game. It's comical how "good" modern games are. After Morrowind there was Skyrim and that game has a compass and arrows showing you where your quest is. Morrowind is claimed to not giving you any direction. So much so that if you wanted to goto some city, you asked around, read the off ramp signs, and opened a map to plot a course there. Yes I know. Today's gamers opening a map, it's a radical new concept to the point where it's sad and comical (30 second ). Sorry, that's a gamer joke.

Can't wait to play FL.

And thx Cycrow, not just for FL, but for making my experience with X3:TC that memorable. You didn't just give the X3 series more life, you gave gaming more life for me. Of course I can explain..

Where some people point to Zelda: Ocarina of Time and say, "that was my fav game, I was a kid when I played it, didn't know what I was doing, but I'll never forget how I felt playing it (as I had to figure everything out myself in this big sandbox adventure)." -- I can relate and have my nostalgia game. For any modern gamer that feels big games just aren't good anymore, they're right, my advice is to play older games. Whatever your nostalgia game is, go find more like it and play more from around that era.