thothkins

Lovely work. ..I liked the movie...

Now that would add something different. On one of your next battles you see that one of the aliens has a little medal icon hovering over it, showing that it killed a few of your guys in a lost mission. It's now tougher than it's peers, but will it be able to survive your vengeance?

No son, just ignore the drooling vet with the thousand yard stare mumbling about mind control. Instead, let me show you an autocannon...

Three here too. I've yet to play with just having radar stations, but will give that a shot.

I think the grumpy, bitter, badly paid Xenonaut in basic uniform (but expected to save Earth) would be a huge hit in workplaces around the world

I don't want to drone on too much, but this is a great addition. Thanks as always Max.

I agree that the intros were nice. but the absence of one in Xenonauts has not made me feel any less invested in saving the Xeno-world or made me feel that there was a lack of context. While the setting was always a fairly breif cover to get to the focus of the game: the battle scape, the Alien Invasion research that appears after a day or two, the novella and the web site back story were always more than enough for me. Point taken that tow of those are outwith the game itself. I'd argue that the all action, jumping X-Com soldiers form the original game intro don't quite match the terrified, wounded X-Com soldiers creeping through a corn field to certain death in the actual game

Thanks for that Chris. It was an interesting summary of many of the things that have been discussed here over the months and months...and from the dev diary some more months and months. But that has always been one of the plus points. That despite the changing funding, the early set backs, the horrible engine you still discussed a lot of those issues with the people here. One quote concerned the realistic setting "I consider it a mistake. Firstly, we wasted the setting: the mistrust between the two superpowers is barely mentioned, let alone factored into the gameplay mechanics. I took an interesting period and then did nothing with it." As someone who banged on about the game crying out for this part to be developed further, I'd be the first to say that it was still one of the biggest attractions in the first place. Choosing that setting and,specifically, making that gritty Osprey style art available so early, gave the game a distinctive style that any amount of near-future games would fail to achieve. Like the stories behind each Xenonaut, there's a lot that can be picked up by the player's imagination in such a setting. Because of the interaction with the forum, it was clear what the priorities of the game were to be. So, while it's true to say that the setting wasn't developed as much as it could have been, it was always clear why. I'd never say it was wasted, since it was a big drawing point in the first place. Another quote "Having the community involved in development is of huge benefit to any team, but I really feel the optimal point to bring them in is when the prototyping phase is over and the design is largely settled." I can certainly see the appeal of that from a developers side. But from a player's view having all those discussions means that the reasons behind the choices are understood. I could pick half a dozen things from when the game design was largely settled and mistakenly think poorly of the game. Perhaps enough to not pick it up. Knowing how those decisions were reached, makes quite a difference. Having an opportunity to express an opinion before hand makes an even bigger difference. Not venting on several issues at once, as you would had the game been developed more privately also helps. The global reach chinook being a good example of this. It's a natural reaction to see people react poorly at first to small changes, let alone the larger design decisions that had to be made for Xenonauts. As uncomfortable as those first few days are, it works out in the end.

Good to see that it's not too much of a jump from the Xenonauts game. I had dreaded something like "Weaving has always been special to us at Goldhawk. Especially the effect of the industrial revolution. That's why we're developing Dark Satanic Mill Manager..."

An option for an Antarctic/Arctic map is Outpost 31, from the 1982 Thing movie. A map was put together for a Ting boardgame and there are lots of pics on the rest of the Outpost 31 site

The cold war setting was an important factor in drawing me into Xenonauts. The bleak tone of the art and the rapidly escalating alien threat sets the game apart form other X-Com type games. I would have loved for that to have been taken further (a changing cold war political world based on the game events), but I totally understand where the resources had to be used. I'm not sure a title video would have added much more than the in game art already did. It would have been nice to see. But in the same way that a lot of features would be nice to see. I'd always prefer resources spent on the game itself. As someone has said, the Lore+ mod should add more of that original X-Com flavour.

I'd also love to see a pyramid complex. A Hadley's Hope compound a la Aliens movie would be fantastic.

That's Max Headroom. He's not going be announced as a moderator until tomorrow. Congrats Max!

Congrats on the 85%. If the scoring is anything like I remember it to be, that's good indeed.

So pleased to see the game finally released. Well done to all involved for their perseverance through changing opportunities and difficulties. It's great to see the superb communication down the years extend into the code too. I've had a huge amount of enjoyment in the forums and with the various builds. The success the game is getting is so well deserved.

Sporks: When you want to stab someone with every piece of cutlery, but don't have the time.

Gauddlike soon learned that beyond the vilest of enemies, beyond the cruellest of despots, beyond cultural warfare across centuries...no one likes a tattletale. Not that it saved anyone else either...

There are a couple of threads showing X-Com sources on here somewhere.

I thought it was a generously large hankie. I'm sure it will come out in the wash. Buy wash, I mean via an industrial toxic chemical scrubbing system.

Yeah, UFO for all your X-Com needs.

I'm a Buddhist Civilian, not a post number! How can you do an autobiography when people follow you around, write it all down as you're doing it and publish it before you? It makes my blood boil it really does.

And yay, the flocks came to worship the 800th poster and light candles in their name. They ignored the 799th poster, and the 801st poster was equally shunned. The 802nd poster was right out.

I agree, the in game shots look excellent.

Updated for Kwill's role icons