ooey

@trashman - lol! He was on Graham Norton the other night. Getting very old now.

If I was him, I wouldn't really worry - to me, this is one project that looks like it has gone past the point of no return and will be competed to a high standard.

That's the very definition of trolling... I havn't read the terms and conditions of kickstarter though. If a project falls flat on its face and there is no end product, do the backers get their money back? Maybe that's what he is worried about - the risk element. If they do then there is no risk involved and you can't really complain. By the nature of it the money will have already been spent though, so I guess there are no guarentees. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Like others have said here (but not ELTee(!)), $160,000-odd (is it $ or £?) really isn't very much to work with for a game of this scope. Millions were lavished on Xcom, I'm sure. It must be a strategy game in itself to work out what to spend the money on, and what not to.

One thing I found annoying about the original UFO was that you could train a sniper up so that he would always have a 100% (or greater(!)) chance of hitting his target. Where's the fun (or risk) in that? There's always a small chance you are going to miss in any situation so the max. chance of hitting should be 90-95% at best. That was probably a small bug Julian Gollop missed though.

Oh that's not procrastination, it's nearly always true in the real world. Anything good is worth waiting for anyway. I know you're only joshing though, or are you? (in a Vic Reeves voice) ;-). @ ls35a and the original poster, with such negative posts, you have done exactly the opposite of what you wanted to achieve by making Chris waste some time (however small) by having to reply to you. I'm sure you would have wanted him to use that time to better effect to put in a bit more development, no? Encouragement is the best thing for Chris and his international team if you want to see results. Things actually seem to be moving at a fair pace for the resources Chris has at his disposal. Remember - this game is a labour of love, not something that has to be churned out because it has to meet a deadline.

But mobile gaming is primarily for casual gamers. Someone into gaming isn't going to rely just on squinting at hand-helds/mobile phones for games and the limited gaming experience they provide.

All of this is the reason why I havn't set up any fancy forum like this for the project I'm working on at the minute, even though it could do with some backers. I will release it when it is finished, not because some impatient people who don't know how hard it is to manage such a project become negative about it. Anything that gets released to a strict deadline is usually not worth bothering about due to bugs and the like. The upside of course, is publicity/funding/generation of excitement and I suppose for Chris, this outweights the bad points. I remember my faculty Dean telling us once during a Software Engineering lecture that for any reasonably difficult project, take the time you have set aside to finish it, double that and then double it again. I've found them to be very wise words.

Chris - just tell everyone that it will be released when you think it should be, and not before. You can't win! If you release too early people will say the game is buggy and will be put off anyway. We can all play other games until you are ready to release. Some people don't realise just how complex xenonauts is/is becoming. We should think ourselves lucky we will have it at all!

I'd class it as an RPG too. So would most. That's why I didn't mention it. Looks a good game though, but I don't have it (if I did I'd never get any work done!).

You are making me think of Star Trek, the search for spock now (or was it the wrath of khann?)!

Oh dear, that makes me rather sad because I'm a Mormon, and find swearing very offensive because, well, it's meant to be isn't it? But that's another discussion. As for TBS revival (the original subject), various kickstarter projects other than xen have helped too. There are a good few that are well supported now. It looks like we've come full circle and are back to the Bedroom programmer ethos in a way - people making games in small teams that others (ok, minority groups) want to see, which is refreshing.

As you can see, there is usually nearly always a way around things if you want realism! Is realism important to me? Not really - if the world was in imminent danger of Alien invasion I would think governments would devote a lot more resources to stopping it than a small force called Xenonauts. Ya's gotta be given a licence to be a bit creative!

Oh HWP means the NEW xcom:EU - rrriigghhhttt! I was referring to the old one. Still, if the new one has some good mission types then why not adopt them too?

No! - steal ALL the mission ideas from EU but add more - variety is what made EU great!

What about one where one of your buddies is on vacation and gets caught up in an alien raid (without a gun) i.e. he's hiding or acts like a civilian during the mission. Your squad has to go in and rescue him (hes radioed you because he always carrys his brick-type mobile phone or something). I remember an interesting mission in Lazer Squad where you had to rescue 3 of your men from a prison dungeon. That might be good!

I'll proof read them for you if you want chris - I'm good at that!

Of course games like cod mw2 exist on the PC! It's just immature youngsters that are less likely to have one than a console. You will find, as I have, that MOST abuse comes from youngsters. Of course, there are some immature adults out there too! I don't mind being called a d-bag, its when the personel, bad language comes out that I start to get annoyed, and yes - most of the worst stuff comes out of the mouths of older people (because they know more swear words?!).

Hmm... Transits and Yugos don't really go together, do they?! Still, what is there is great, and remember that these are only suggestions. I like the way xcom refers to the 60s/70s occasionally - someone said they came across a radio message for Cmdr Straker during one of their missions, and there is a tribute to the Gollop Bros. towards the end of the game - a very nice touch, and something which I had hoped Chris would acknowledge in xen at some point (without them, there would be no xcom).

The "kiddie" mentality is only there because of the kids you find on games like COD that continually call you "douchebag" etc. Obviously it's easier for them to have a console because they are cheaper. Yes - screen being too small is one of the reasons I dont like hand-helds, but other than that I just don't see the point of them (for me anyway). Of course, they are a great source of gaming for those who commute to work etc. Hate/dislike, whatever you want to call it, I have never really felt the urge to buy one, but each to their own. Glad you like hichhikers guide lesserangel - but instead of the very disapointing film, have a watch of the original BBC TV series which is much more true to Douglas Adams' book (though being Americian, you might not understand some of its British quaintness ;-)). The cast is so much better too. He used to live near me in Islington, you know!

Personally, I hate hand-helds. I would only ever have got one for Advance Wars.

Well GGE - that's why I have a console too, as most of us do - for convienience! Actually, I programme mostly but when I do play, I play the old stuff over and over again (like the original UFO, Panzer General etc...). So maybe if this doesn't feel like a revival to anyone else, it does to me. All I'm really saying is that despite the fact I think xcom is half the game xen is going to be, I am so glad it is doing well because this will make many casual gamers realise that there is more out there, and THAT is what is needed to start a revival of a genre. Demand for watered-down TBS will grow, then maybe proper TBS. You want proof my friends? How about the number of new people that have been brought to this forum by the release of xcom? I think the most that have ever been here in any one day has been surpassed a number of days in a row recently. Have a look - it's heartening to see.

I'd like to see you try playing a game like xen using an old Atari joystick! They were stiff as hell. There is a simple answer of course, allow consoles to use mice! I think about 98% of us would use a mouse over a joypad with games like this. It's preference, not the fact it cannot be done. Actually, since the xbox has usb ports, does anyone know if you can plug a mouse into it to play certain games? Of course, the game would have to allow you the option to use one, and I guess thats the problem.

I'm not 'elitist' with regards to either the PC or console (X-box 360 as it happens). I have both, but it is blatantly obvious that the PC is better for games like Xenonauts because you can use a mouse (yes, of course you don't really need a KB if the interface is good enough). Actually I was a very long term Amiga fan, who had to come to terms with the fact that his machine just doesnt cut it anymore. I'm not saying such games can't be controlled by joystick, it's just more intuitive with a mouse. I played the demo of Xcom on the 360 and immediately thought it fiddly, and that it would be much better with a mouse (which is why I bought the PC version). I totally disagree with the fact there is no (admittedly mini) TBS revival going on and I hope for Xenonauts sake that I'm right. Have you seen the brilliant Frozen Synapse, for instance? With TBS having been in the doldrums for years, what is happening now DOES actually count as a revival, and if people like them (as they seem too with 'watered-down' TBS like xcom) then this will continue. I think companies are looking for where their next $$$ are coming from, because they seem to be starting to take the hint that we are bored with identikit FPS, dance games etc. As for consoles having more powerful processors - heh! The 360/Ps3 are rather old now, and the new xbox is touted as being about only 3x more powerful than the current one (I remember crying when they announced what gfx card they were going to use, one that costs about £50).

BA's van could make an apperance?! Starsky's Striped Tomato?! They would be a nice nod to the 70s/early 80s too.