Is Egosoft giving up?

[reanor]

Is Egosoft getting tired from all the bug fixing, or working hard on new content? They seemed to have kept a great pace for a few months, now the betas are getting smaller and smaller bug fixes lists. The problem here is that not all the bugs really go away. They show on the list as fixed, but they are still there. I hope they won't give up. They are probably hating the XML scripting as much as modders do... But we seem to be evolving around the same errors. Just brainstorming here, to see what others think. Things feel as if they have slowed down, or got tired, or vacation season started.

[Karmaticdamage]

No, egosoft has a history of supporting their games for years after their release. Theirs also planned DLC for X4 so I highly doubt that is the case.

[Alan Phipps]

The change of pace is more likely because they have probably picked all the low-hanging fruit (ie the more obvious problems and easy fixes) and most of the remaining issues each individually may involve substantial effort, resources and time. Plus of course there are those promised DLCs to deliver to a schedule. That's just my opinion looking from the outside though.

The 'fixed' issues later showing up as not fixed in all cases (or causing unforeseen secondary issues) is a fact of life in complex interlinked software development. There is also a possible factor that the play-testing of fixes and new content via public beta before release has not been quite as effective in getting things sorted as they might have anticipated. That is not a criticism of the testers but rather that the devs were probably overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of reports, of which not all offered vanilla, comprehensive, or quick repro information to allow the devs to nail the causes quickly.

Anyway, I can say for certain that I know that Egosoft are not giving up. Just check for reports marked 'Fixed in a future build' for evidence.

[reanor]

I don't envy the coders who have to deal with XML scripting in Egosoft on daily basis. I believe it is their biggest culprit right now. I sure do know that it always takes them some time to fix bugs, but their programmer(s) seem(s) to be struggling to iron out the core issues in the game. It's funny though because of this Wiki description:

The Mission Director (MD) is a subsystem of the game and interprets mission scripts, which are written in an XML-based language. The Mission Director in X Rebirth and X4 is based on the MD in X3: Terran Conflict, with some major changes based on feedback from MD users.

So they use similar XML scripting language, and we are on beta 2.21, yet we still can't assemble the fleet correctly, guild missions still fail, war logic is still not working, factions don't defend their sectors appropriately, Defense Station building is on a loop, then issues with economy, ship building, etc etc. We can probably say it's because the game is so massive, but I always thought that devs are usually more skilled than modders, yet a single modder can fix factions and war logic, while we can't get Vanilla fix for over 5 months now. Kinda sad...

[mr.WHO]

2.5 is in the work
3.0 is in the work
Split DLC is in the work
second unspecified (propably Boron or Terran) DLC is in the work


It's hardly looks like giving up.

[Skeeter]

Plus its Easter holidays, i dunno if they're on their break this week. Well it is in the UK.

[nickolaiproblem]

I don't envy the coders who have to deal with XML scripting in Egosoft on daily basis. I believe it is their biggest culprit right now. I sure do know that it always takes them some time to fix bugs, but their programmer(s) seem(s) to be struggling to iron out the core issues in the game. It's funny though because of this Wiki description:

The Mission Director (MD) is a subsystem of the game and interprets mission scripts, which are written in an XML-based language. The Mission Director in X Rebirth and X4 is based on the MD in X3: Terran Conflict, with some major changes based on feedback from MD users.

So they use similar XML scripting language, and we are on beta 2.21, yet we still can't assemble the fleet correctly, guild missions still fail, war logic is still not working, factions don't defend their sectors appropriately, Defense Station building is on a loop, then issues with economy, ship building, etc etc. We can probably say it's because the game is so massive, but I always thought that devs are usually more skilled than modders, yet a single modder can fix factions and war logic, while we can't get Vanilla fix for over 5 months now. Kinda sad...

But most of changes we've seen as alann put it were low hanging fruit easy stuff that could quickly be solved notice how ctd instance when down with some of these newer updates. War logic not working are talking about late game? Because early game wars are fine and xenon wars are fine its faction stuff that needs ironing. But I doubt that they will just let game just die. Modders have a different schedule than ego they can fix wars or faction relations while ego irons out other parts.

[ezra-r]

They are clearly into something more long run if they haven't had time yet to update the thread of the latest version with the actual latest released version... don't you think?

[ei8htx]

How updates in a game in Beta/Early Access typically work:

1. Release big new update, up the major or minor version number.
2. Follow up same day with game-breaking patches from the brand new features
3. Follow up same week with a patch that has loads of fixes
4. Follow up some time later with less fixes, as it's getting more stable
5. And even less
6. Quiet for a while

Then back to 1.

We're sitting at #6. It's been quiet for a while. I imagine the next update will be a big one.

[Tomonor]

Oh crap, Egosoft have been silent about the past 2 weeks since the last patch was deployed. They are probably dying as a company. /s

I've seen not one gaming company going bankrupt, a few of them were actual AAA developers. This is not how "giving up" looks like.

[CBJ]

The suggestion that the list of bugs that are being fixed is getting shorter and shorter is demonstrably false. The 2.00 and 2.20 lists were longer than any of the previous ones, and 2.21 was an exception because it was essentially just a hotfix for 2.20. I've not yet compiled the 2.50 changelog, but I'm confident that it too will have plenty in it.

The only thing that has slowed down is the frequency of release. The rate at which we were building and releasing patches immediately after release was never going to be sustainable in the long term. Building and releasing an update takes a considerable amount of time and resource away from actually fixing and improving things, and it doesn't make sense to continue doing that on a daily or weekly basis once the most critical issues have been dealt with.

As for giving up, that's just nonsense. We have set out a general roadmap in one of the sticky threads at the top of the forum, and that's what we are working to.

[Shehriazad]

You go guuuuuurl! xD


Im just kidding.

I guess what a few people are curious about is if it's reasonable to expect something big like 2.5 this month or if that update and thus subsequently 3.0 and the DLC will come rather later than sooner?


As for me...Im not really actively playing right now, Im just doing Ventures whenever they are up to collect the paintjobs and waiting for the Venture wars and Venture market (which I hope is still coming)

[Tanvaras]

Egosoft give up, I don't believe they know the meaning of the word. Every X series they have put out has been supported with patches for so long it puts many other developers to shame.

[Shehriazad]

Exactly...their patch speed hasn't ever been "insane"...but they easily make up for it by still brining out patches for a game when in Gaming terms the game already has reached retirement age.

[rit]

"Is Egosoft giving up?", for anyone who has played past X games from Egosoft (for me X, X2 and X3(all 3), but not X Rebirth) the only possible reply is that Egosoft has not even got started.

Anyone who knows the process knows they take the game to it's current 'limit' and they will then take a break and come back after some updates and/or a DLC and then continue or start again until they hit the next limit. The first 3-400 hours of playing these games are just about getting a feel about what may be possible over the next 2-3 years. Many players will end up purchasing other major software titles just to fill the time between one visit to the universe of an X release and the next.

[Artean]

Syntax error.

[Socratatus]

Oh crap, Egosoft have been silent about the past 2 weeks since the last patch was deployed. They are probably dying as a company. /s

I've seen not one gaming company going bankrupt, a few of them were actual AAA developers. This is not how "giving up" looks like.

There have been gaming companies that have gone bankrupt and it`s mostly sudden, when no one outside (and few inside) saw it coming.

[Xenon_Slayer]

Fun fact. Skype 8 can't handle posting the upcoming changelog in one post.

[Tomonor]

Oh crap, Egosoft have been silent about the past 2 weeks since the last patch was deployed. They are probably dying as a company. /s

I've seen not one gaming company going bankrupt, a few of them were actual AAA developers. This is not how "giving up" looks like.

There have been gaming companies that have gone bankrupt and it`s mostly sudden, when no one outside (and few inside) saw it coming.

In my experience before it happens, there is a 'silence before the storm' period that sometimes extends into multiple months when no dev communicates outside the company at all.

Fun fact. Skype 8 can't handle posting the upcoming changelog in one post.

That's why no one should use skype at all

[mr.WHO]

Fun fact. Skype 8 can't handle posting the upcoming changelog in one post.

Hope that that there will be more [added], [new] entries than [fixed] entries...one can dream (well I admit, that I'm waiting for several fixes that will come with 2.50).