Xenonauts shaping up nicely

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I like how it looks. Do they still insist on not making the game as randomly deadly as X-Com?

 

[turn_based_fanboy]

Looks promising but my wallet will wait for the moment when it's finished

 

[GarfunkeL]

I dont see it doing anything! that Xcom doesn't do better except for altering the combat mechanics so that they are more balanced and they will still fuck it up. And there are mods for Xcom that attempt it too for free.

Awesome psychic powers you have, to already KNOW that it does everything worse than X-Com. This isn't your big ass developer famous for lying here but an indie project.

And if you think they are adding nothing new, you are wrong - as they have made a new air combat model where you control up to three planes at time, though on a 2D-plane instead. So instead of "shoot everything and go home", the air combat will actually be tactical.

Sure it can turn out to be a total turd. But at least with indies, it shouldn't be too much to ask to grant them little trust before going all cynical herp-a-derp-.

 

[zeitgeist]

Awesome psychic powers you have, to already KNOW that it does everything worse than X-Com. This isn't your big ass developer famous for lying here but an indie project.

Are they supposed to be inherently more honest for some reason? If so, why?

I mean, they did spend the first third or so of the project's lifetime with no development at all going on, just sending those screenshot concept mockups to various gaming news sites, pretending they represented the actual state of the game, didn't they?

 

[Black Bart Charley]

Sure it can turn out to be a total turd. But at least with indies, it shouldn't be too much to ask to grant them little trust before going all cynical herp-a-derp-.

Trust isnt given. Its earned.
So, on what grounds? I mean, being indie is hard and all but that wont give you some leeway at least with me.
So whats there?

The atmosphere is never gonna trump 1994, xfiles on tv, area 51 engineer talking about elerium, me being 12 and easy to impress. Nowadays youd have to set yourself on fire for your cause to impress me and I would still say "meh that monk did it first".
Same goes for sfx which is tightly stuck to the atmosphere. The sound effects dont stand well alone. Since the original atmo. is unsurpassable, so is the sound.
The gfx is very solid. The clean vector graphics style is done well across the board. Clashes somewhat with the tactical screen a little and the subpar illustrations they show on moddb. At least it doesnt have those fucking glossy plastic buttons. Thats a plus. But some might say that it is too steril?
And the core of the whole thing are the game rules. Well, since we play the AI, it better be good... Ever seen a good indie AI? Me neither. (except AoD )
All in all, my cynical position is solidified by years and years of gaming experience which show that good games are like 100 carat diamonds.

 

[Haba]

I mean, they did spend the first third or so of the project's lifetime with no development at all going on, just sending those screenshot concept mockups to various gaming news sites, pretending they represented the actual state of the game, didn't they?

No they didn't. They capitalized on the rage over the sham that the new "XCOM" game turned out to be and came out earlier than intended but that is all (and openly admitted doing so).

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/16/xenon ... xcom-rage/

There are no mock-up screenshots of the game released. They do have concept art on the site but that is used in the game.

Try finding a better tree to bark up.

I'm more worried about the fact that I've hated every single "spiritual successor" for the original X-Com games, so those guys are setting themselves up for quite the challenge as well. So far I've liked the little details they've given out about the mechanics but the "feel" itself is quite hard to replicate.

 

[torpid]

Always count on the usual artfags to bash indie games on the slightest pretext -- the cutting edge of Codex edginess.

Are they supposed to be inherently more honest for some reason? If so, why?

Because if you're looking to gin up unfounded hype in order to push a shitty product and then laugh all the way to the bank with the ill-gotten moniez, indie games aren't a good place to work that hustle, what with their anemic sales and jaded players? But hey, good thing you're onto them, those dishonest, incompetent and greedy indie devs !

 

[Achilles]

Yeah, this whole thread is really depressing.

 

[curry]

Looks sweet.

 

[kyrub]

Whats the point of the project? A fluffy clone?

Exactly. Can they do something better than X-COM? If not, no point. The screenshots are great, but I don't see an ambition to do better or to innovate. So far. I may be wrong.

I dont see it doing anything! that Xcom doesn't do better except for altering the combat mechanics

Except for combat mechanics? Man, if they can pull the combat mechanics in the right way... There's nothing that sucks more in the original X-COM than combat mechanics. It's disapointingly exploit-able (spot-snipe, no interrupts when facing, auto shooting is always the best option, easy layout for base defense, conservative spawning).

Doing the combat right (unlike the original) + an interesting alien plot + better strategic, economical layer = the success.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Xcom was frankly horrible in its execution of what it tried to do. There is so much exploitable stuff, the AI is dumb as shit, different research and equipment is completely imbalanced. If the Xcom genre had become popular we would be certainly laughing at how badly the original was designed compared to what would have came. I have no doubt that an indie team committed to recreating and improving the original formula without any dumbing down could easily surpass Xcom in quality.

 

[Black Bart Charley]

I feel the fruits of my work are flourishing. People bash XCOM and JA2 openly now. Would not have happened in 2008.

Can they do something better than X-COM? If not, no point.

Well, there is a point alright. They want to do it better in the mechanics department. They just wont get it right, get the game balanced properly because the ai will just suck. And I have a feeling that they wont be introducing a timelimit on tactical missions either.

Say, since you practically live in IDA anyway, why dont you fix Xcom?

 

[Quilty]

So you people now actually complain about the attempts at incline? This shit makes me sick.

Root's piercing words about homosexuals apply to you all.

 

[DakaSha]

Does this game even have anything at all to show for itself other then a bunch of talk?
Im asking serious, non rhetorical question.. I cant be assed to look it up.
But judging by this thread there is literally nothing to this game except a bunch of blablabla and a bunch of people who are in such desperate need of a new xcom that they cry over a game that is nothing but concept so far.

Are there any videos or non-mockup screenshots? If yes please link them

edit: also i get the feeling that half of you dont understand what polish actually means... :-/
If you think those menus look fun to navigate through, dont look convoluted and dont contain needless flavor shit that should be in a separate popup then you have gamer issues.
Why are the inventory boxes just simple squares? This has nothing to do with graphicswhoring.. its atmosphere. Simple boxes look cheap. Where is the frame or even better a backback image etc.

The menus look like a quickly thrown together windows forms skin.. terrible. It doesnt 'fit'

Of course if they are mockups then whats the whole discussion even about?

And again this doesnt make the game inherently bad. If its still good then awesome. But i smell extreme wishful thinking and people with a terrible sense of aesthetics. The reason I (and maybe some others) bitch about this is because some of you are gong batshit insane over something that really doesnt look all to special(based of the screenshots). Just looks mediocre

Maybe i SHOULD look it up before writing huge posts though ^^ I guess i trust you guys enough to present all info in the thread

 

[Johannes]

Besides improving the mechanics, balancing and AI, which are really mandatory for the project to have sense, I'd like if they improved the background a bit so it would make a bit more sense - why exactly can't anyone but the player effectively fight the aliens (just copy what I'm doing ffs) or research them, or at least build radars? And if for some reason nobody can, why don't you give me a bigger budget, etc... I don't have quite enough suspension of disbelief for this shit, even if I can just ignore it and just play the game.

 

[kyrub]

I feel the fruits of my work are flourishing. People bash XCOM and JA2 openly now.

Not at the very least. These games are the few worth of discussion, the rest is a loss of time. That we see X-COM flaws does not mean we don't appreciate its unicity.

I have more problem with so univocal worship of the Enemy Unknown and TFTD (and this would-be sequel), when nobody plays the games anymore (besides few LPs here and there). The game has won a comfortable 3rd place in the recent Codex poll. Yet XCOM forums are dead. Why? It got old. Not only graphics. In combat mechanics, JA2 has surpassed XCOM at every level.

Another example: there is a full hybrid mod of Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep, combining all maps and aliens from both. Incredible work. This achievment was made by a certain BombBloke, 2 years back. He's got a total of 1 player feedback up until today.

XCOM is history. It has become a pure matter of nostalgy in gamer's community, we loved our first Xcom experience back then. But we need something new today, it can be alike vanilla, but basically much better. It has to be what JA2 was to JA1.

Root's piercing words about homosexuals apply to you all.

...and the wrath of heteros will be always with you. (/anticurse)

 

[el Supremo]

Another example: there is a full hybrid mod of Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep, combining all maps and aliens from both. Incredible work. This achievment was made by a certain BombBloke, 2 years back. He's got a total of 1 player feedback up until today.

Can you be more specific? What mod?
I don't see it here:http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=User:Bomb_Bloke

 

[zeitgeist]

Another example: there is a full hybrid mod of Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep, combining all maps and aliens from both. Incredible work. This achievment was made by a certain BombBloke, 2 years back. He's got a total of 1 player feedback up until today.

How are they combined? If they work well together (i.e. simultaneous threat from land and water) and you can build bases on both ground and underwater locations and form separate ground/underwater squads etc, I will play it right now. Link please.

 

[20 Eyes]

The screenshots look great so far, I love the look of the troops and the gear.

I'm excited for this.

 

[kyrub]

Can you be more specific? What mod?

This one:
http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/UF ... t7367.html

It is not finished and has many flaws, but playable (I tried it myself). Although I think BBloke did not finish it mainly because of lack of interest / support.

----

One more rant (and then I stop).
The Xenonauts ambition can be seen on the Base layout screen. That's carbon copy of X-COM, a perfect square, identical for all bases, you see hangars (garages), radar. One almost thinks: here they will spawn. At least they could have a look at X-Com Apocalypse, where different geographical layout (no ideal square grid) forces you to build different "shapes" of base layout. But we are in XXIst century - could the base be situated on a hill? Or in a deep valley? Shaped in 3D, so you need to fight through the stairs? Can the base be shaped more as a tower? Oooh, tower fight. Give me that, please!

No, this will be simple "long corridor" shooting, X-COM tm. Unless the xenonauts change the course quickly.

 

[Haba]

Does this game even have anything at all to show for itself other then a bunch of talk?
Im asking serious, non rhetorical question.. I cant be assed to look it up.
But judging by this thread there is literally nothing to this game except a bunch of blablabla and a bunch of people who are in such desperate need of a new xcom that they cry over a game that is nothing but concept so far.

Are there any videos or non-mockup screenshots? If yes please link them

*sigh*

The videos and the screenshots posted are all in-game. There are test builds available for those who pre-ordered. And yes, that includes the tactical combat segment as well.

At this point you'll just have to wait like with any normal game project, there will be public releases later on.

XCOM is history. It has become a pure matter of nostalgy in gamer's community, we loved our first Xcom experience back then. But we need something new today, it can be alike vanilla, but basically much better. It has to be what JA2 was to JA1.

Speak for yourself. I still play the originals today and have successfully introduced new players to the games as well. By your logic nobody would be playing chess either as today gamers "need something new".

Guess what? Today a carbon copy of X-Com would be "new". We haven't exactly been flooded in them, now have we?

What made X-Com games successful back in the day was the near perfect combination of simple, yet elegant mechanics. And coincidentally straying too far from this has also been what has led most of the successors to failure, inducing Apocalypse.

Also keep in mind that even the scope of original UFO: Enemy Unknown is quite a challenge for an indie dev.

 

[someone else]

Xcom sucks, I will write an article later on why it sucks.

 

[Trash]

UFO: Enemy Unknown was a rare gem. One of those few games that are so good that nothing has ever reached their level. Even TFTD felt (at the time) as a rushed sequel trying to cash in on UFO's success and frankly, it was. While I would love to see that Xenonauts will somehow rekindle the magic I do feel that all hope for a worthy successor died with The Dreamland Chronicles. Hordes of subpar clones have so far proven me right and frankly, Xenonauts has shown me nothing to suggest otherwise.

 

[Achilles]

Anyone who says that X-Com (and not XCOM, you fucking dumbasses!) sucks is a gigantic faggot. Get the fuck out of this thread, go write something about mass effect 2 and leave us the hell alone. Bastards.

 

[DakaSha]

Does this game even have anything at all to show for itself other then a bunch of talk?
Im asking serious, non rhetorical question.. I cant be assed to look it up.
But judging by this thread there is literally nothing to this game except a bunch of blablabla and a bunch of people who are in such desperate need of a new xcom that they cry over a game that is nothing but concept so far.

Are there any videos or non-mockup screenshots? If yes please link them

*sigh*

The videos and the screenshots posted are all in-game. There are test builds available for those who pre-ordered. And yes, that includes the tactical combat segment as well.

At this point you'll just have to wait like with any normal game project, there will be public releases later on.

Soooo... there is no reason to think its special in any way except for a bunch of talk..