Indie Studio Takes X-Com Into Its Own Hands With Xenonauts

[Tom Goldman]

Indie Studio Takes X-Com Into Its Own Hands With Xenonauts

The official X-Com series is diverging from its roots, so Goldhawk Interactive is developing Xenonauts to satisfy strategy fans instead.

The X-Com series began as an isometric turn-based strategy game called uncharacteristic [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/5379-Review-X-Com-Revival-Package] shooter revival called XCom at E3 2010. While XCom is set to disappoint some measure of the gaming population no matter how good it is, those gamers can put their hopes and dreams into Goldhawk Interactive's upcoming Xenonauts instead.

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The first look at Xenonauts' ground combat system courtesy of PC Gamer shows off a title that looks just like X-Com: UFO Defense, but cleaned up with modern computing power. Players control a squad of soldiers that must squat behind various forms of cover, only able to see what's in their line of sight. Each soldier can be given an individual load-out before a mission, from various choices of guns and other items like grenades, while Xenonauts also adds vehicles into the mix. Losing one of your soldiers in combat will hurt, as new recruits take some time to be brought up to speed. Ground combat maps are randomly generated, and will eventually feature UFOs to storm to acquire alien technology, but they haven't been implemented yet.

Xenonauts should bring back fond memories for any X-Com fan, though Goldhawk Interactive's title does add new elements like a cover system to keep the formula fresh. There are six alien races that players will encounter, each with many variants on the field depending on rank. Xenonauts also features updated strategic management elements and an air combat system, again, like the original X-Com. The game has been in development for 18 months and is still a work in progress.

Though X-Com's original creators, namely Julian Gollop, have been developing titles such as here [http://www.amazon.com/Rebelstar-Tactical-Command-Game-Boy-Advance/dp/B000A2GX2M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305207350&sr=8-1]

Source: PC Gamer [http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/10/xenonauts-dev-diary-exclusive-first-ground-combat-screens-and-walkthrough/]

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[OniaPL]

It seems that nowadays the Indie developers clean the mess that the big companies leave and bring light to the gaming world.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Are the environments fully destructible? If not then it isn't xcom. Needs to include fun stuff like spreading fire and smoke drift.

People didn't like X3 Apocalypse but you were able to bring down buildings and that was a feat at the time.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Has anyone shown Andy Chalk this yet? I haven't heard the screams of delight...

Personal response:

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Uh, correction. The Aliens don't blast your face off with a laser pistol, that's your guy's fellow squadmates.

 

[FogHornG36]

Well i feel bad for who ever the hard core hanger ons are that enjoyed it...

Ok i got to tell you, after looking at screen shots, the graphics are quite old sauce, the game play must be orgasmic.

 

[SachielOne]

You know, the plasma blast to the face is actually the best scenario. Turning the corner to run smack into a Chyssalid without enough AP left to get a shot off was always FAR worse.

 

[Slycne]

Are the environments fully destructible? If not then it isn't xcom. Needs to include fun stuff like spreading fire and smoke drift.

People didn't like X3 Apocalypse but you were able to bring down buildings and that was a feat at the time.

Pulled this from their dev diary, but the short answer is yes.

If you?re wondering what happened to the battlefield around the dead alien, that?s the results of using a grenade. In our current build I think we?ve probably made grenades a little too powerful ? you can see it has destroyed a bunch of the ground tiles, blown a hole in the wall and damaged part of the hedge too. Also, we?re still working on the tile blending. Consequently, the black tiles of scorched earth don?t blend with the surrounding ground very well, but we?ll have that fixed up for the final game.

In terms of destructible terrain, each tile has three states: undamaged, damaged, and destroyed. You can see all three in the image above. A damaged cover tile can still be used as cover (and still cannot be walked through), but this is dangerous. The game?s cover penetration mechanics mean that when a tile is destroyed, any excess damage carries over onto units sheltering behind it. Sheltering behind a badly damaged piece of cover is almost as bad as standing out in the open, particularly if the aliens are shooting at you with powerful weapons.

 

[Irridium]

This makes me happy. Hopefully it won't suck like the X-Com sequels.

And hopefully it'll have the world map. The world map in X-Com was kickass.

 

[Weaver]

Wasn't there another free and fanmade x-com sucessor out there already?
I forget what it was called.

 

[RA92]

Oh noes! Cover-based mechanism and chest-high walls for a TBS game! Ruination!

Kidding aside, while Swords of Star 2 will keep Homeworld fans satiated, this will hopefully do the same for X-Com fans. Cheers, small independent developers!

 

[RadiusXd]

funny this should come to my attention just as I found out about xcom, I have been watching kikoskia's lets play of it.

Is very good dope.

 

[Phishfood]

Wasn't there another free and fanmade x-com sucessor out there already?
I forget what it was called.

There was a port of X-Com to modern PCs that was abandoned halfway, There was also a UFO game UFO Extra terrestrials?

The UFO After[math|shock|light] games were pretty good (same team) but missing a certain something.

I've been keeping an eye on this since it was mentioned in relation to XCom a while back. Seems like it might be well worth the money.

 

[Weaver]

Wasn't there another free and fanmade x-com sucessor out there already?
I forget what it was called.

There was a port of X-Com to modern PCs that was abandoned halfway, There was also a UFO game UFO Extra terrestrials?

The UFO After[math|shock|light] games were pretty good (same team) but missing a certain something.

I've been keeping an eye on this since it was mentioned in relation to XCom a while back. Seems like it might be well worth the money.

I found it, UFO: Alien Invasion. Free and open source; is unrelated to the "UFO" games development wise.

http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/News

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Are the environments fully destructible? If not then it isn't xcom. Needs to include fun stuff like spreading fire and smoke drift.

People didn't like X3 Apocalypse but you were able to bring down buildings and that was a feat at the time.

Pulled this from their dev diary, but the short answer is yes.

I like some of the notes on the forums. It looks like the devs want to remove some of the more broken gameplay elements (blaster bombs and mind control) and make the game more hardcore.

I'm not against that but I will certainly miss leveling city blocks with the blaster bomb to erase that one last alien.

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

There's been loads of Xcom remakes

they've all been shit

 

[Worgen]

now that looks like the xcom I know I love, fuck this fps shit that doesnt appear to have anything to do with the series

 

[spookydom]

This is good to see. When I heard that the new official X-com game was going to be a fps I soiled my armour. Hope these guys can deliver. Have been waiting for a decent and updated X-Com game since this website was all feilds.

 

[tehroc]

It looks like a browser based game.

 

[Delock]

And in attempting to satisfy X-Com fans, you have pissed off Xeno- fans who have yet to get a good ending not screwed over by the second half of the story suffering from development difficulties.