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February Progress Update


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OK, I figured I'd better post one of these up because it's coming to the end of February and there's been some radio silence over the past week or so.

First thing to say, I hope we'll have a new build out in the next couple of weeks. This will have AI in it again, the new Ground Combat UI and some significant UI upgrades to the Air Combat, amongst other things. We've also added a new UFO to the game and are working on the ground tiles for that at the moment. They should be in there too, along with the new tiles for the crashed alien Scout which include crash damage to the craft and the ground around it. Rendering has also continued, but I don't think we're ready to add any new alien races quite yet.

We've also been adding quite a few functions to the game in terms of customisation - the points at which certain missions become available to alien UFOs and the points at which more powerful UFOs (and what type of UFO) are all completely moddable now. We've also made the base building maintenance and construction times moddable, so essentially we should have all the tools to properly start balancing the game shortly.

Major developments this month have been:

1) We've parted company with our previous AI coder due to a lack of results achieved since when we picked him up at the end of December. We've got someone else taking over at least temporarily so we have some basic AI in place for the upcoming build - aliens will look around, shoot and move at the very least. Then we'll do the advanced AI in a less rushed manner once the game is at least playable. My apologies for the delays on this; it's been a bit of a problem area for us.

2) We're still looking at the Kickstarter fundraising thing with a mind to do it sooner rather than later, but it's just a question of finding the time really. Just keeping on top of all the work coming in can be difficult by itself!

3) Finally, our website was hacked repeatedly last week. There was a vulnerability in one of our Wordpress plugins that allowed hackers to place redirection code on our front page. I think it's fixed now, but basically it took up quite a lot of my time getting that done. Could have done without that.

I'm hoping that the next release will work as a press release once the bugs in it are sorted out. The UI updates we have planned are pretty cool and also include tooltips, so should make the game a bit easier to understand. The crash site tiles will make the maps a lot more impressive, and having the aliens actually respond to your presence will make the game a bit more enjoyable too - there will actually be a challenge!

Also, I think we've actually done a lot more this month than I've listed up there, but it's just temporarily slipped my mind...

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Speaking of welcoming a new AI coder. Will we be welcoming a webmaster soon or are you going to keep doing that yourself Chris? You mentioned in the thread notifying you on the matter that it reeally wasn't your thing and in this one that you could have done without dealing with it. Would a professional webmaster be worth the investment or just be a hassel?

PS. welcome to the new AI coder DS.

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cool. crazy excited about the next build.

I totally hesitated to pre-order because the game had a large-seeming price-tag, I wasn't sure it would work under wineskin. when I got barraged with bugs, I thought it was wine freaking out. little did I know they were all build-related bugs! once there fixed, this game will be epic!

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That sounds good, Chris. Really looking forward to the next build purely for the inclusion of some AI. From the sound of it, even the basic AI will function similarly to the old UFO:EU AI, which would be good enough. But are you able to give us any hints or teasers as to what you're looking to incorporate into the more advanced AI functions?

Also, I know you mentioned previously changing the way the 'to hit' chance is calculated, so that a soldier's chance to hit isn't negatively affected by cover he's right next to. Has this been implemented in the latest build, or is this something that will come later?

Cheers!

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I would also like to say thanks for the update.

I must admit that I too have been waiting to see how things progress before cracking out my wallet. Money is tight right now so I have to be careful what I spend on. As a mod maker I know how easy it is for projects to lose momentum (or sadly even die).

I have been watching the situation with the AI and I am glad to see Chris has taken the difficult steps to get it back on track.

Personally I think that getting the Kickstart fundraising going should be high priority considering the recent success of Double Fine. I think many people have become aware of this great system to fund projects and we will see a massive flood of "nostalgia" game start-ups. Don't get lost in the crowd.

Edited by Slippery Jim
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I must admit that I too have been waiting to see how things progress before cracking out my wallet. Money is tight right now so I have to be careful what I spend on. As a mod maker I know how easy it is for projects to lose momentum (or sadly even die).

I have been watching the situation with the AI and I am glad to see Chris has taken the difficult steps to get it back on track.

Personally I think that getting the Kickstart fundraising going should be high priority considering the recent success of Double Fine. I think many people have become aware of this great system to fund projects and we will see a massive flood of "nostalgia" game start-ups. Don't get lost in the crowd.

I agree with all your sentiments. I have also been reluctant to part with cash as I have seen some solid improvement in art, but have been more than a little concerned about the progress of the AI and other major features/bugs and the possibility of projects losing steam and being abandoned. Definitely nice to see the AI being taken care of and am really looking forward to some positive movement and additional news with the next release.

I also think that a Kickstarter fund would be helpful. Although Double Fine is a true success story, a more reasonable goal may be something like FTL. Also an indie game with a smaller budget than Xenonauts, hoped to raise $10k. In less than 72 hours they are now at $70k! Given the definite quality difference between this game (looks very indie and low budget/low graphic fidelity) compared to Xenonauts (really an indie AAA title), I think Xenonauts could do quite well. Another key would be to point out that funds donated go 100% to making the product better! I think folks really respond to that. I even think their backing prizes would work great for Xenonauts, with some price adjustments, I was think something like the following:

<$20 - A nice thank you.

$20 - Pre-order with early access to the beta.

$30 - Above and a Premium Pre-order badge on the forum and a PDF instruction manual with detailed back stories, equipment lists, tips and more.

$40 - Above and PDF art book, a digital copy of the soundtrack and a thank you in the game's credits.

$80 - Above rewards and an extra game & beta key for a friend.

$100 - Above $40 rewards (no extra beta key for friend), a limited edition poster and your name will placed in the Xenonauts rosters so that players can hire you on their team. (This reward limited to 100 people to make it more "exclusive").

Higher awards would have to be decided on by Chris, but I think that is a great start!

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