Ravn7

The link doesn't work anymore. Could the whole text be posted in the first post?

I'm still convinced it's too cheap. The game will feature more of nearly everything than X1 so it seems natural it should be more expensive. It's doesn't feel like a low budget indie game anymore. It's a solid valuable product in every aspect.

I didn't want to start a new thread, so I'll just write here. Anyway, there's an interesting site that manages late pledges. It may be usuful. https://gamefound.com/projects/the-farm-51/chernobylite#/project-overview

And look at the popularity of auto chess games It will be changed. Personally, I think the X1 air combat system didn't fit in a classic (non-RTS) strategy game. I'd be happy to welcome a revamped system. Although it's not the most important part of the game so I can live with it.

That's exactly what I was thinking. New tactics, new situations, new challenges.

Hi, On Wasteland 3's Twitter page I saw this website for slacker backers: https://app.crowdox.com/get/wasteland-3/102683 Maybe this could be a good option for X2? Especially, for all non-Steam users. Also, it offers tiers to choose, unlike Early Access.

Besides, in classic X-COM I always wondered how they get right inside without a fight in front of the entrance to the base. I can imagine a few scenarios: UFO does some damage to the base and flies away UFO does some damage to the base but is destroyed in the process. A player gains some alloys and other stuff UFO crashes and it's more like a standard mission UFO lands, leaves the aliens and flies away. Possibly, a player gets another chance to shoot it down. One last shot. UFO lands and stays at the site UFO lands and in a while another one does the same. So a player gets a second mission after the first one with the same equipment. Also, in the game, there could be missions with a few UFOs landed. Like a squadron of three small ships or one bigger and one smaller. That would be something new in the franchise.

Besides, in classic X-COM I always wondered how they get right inside without a fight in front of the entrance to the base. I can imagine a few scenarios: UFO does some damage to the base and flies away UFO does some damage to the base but is destroyed in the process. A player gains some alloys and other stuff UFO crashes and it's more like a standard mission UFO lands, leaves the aliens and flies away. Possibly, a player gets another chance to shoot it down. One last shot. UFO lands and stays at the site UFO lands and another one does the same. So a player gets a second mission after the first one with the same equipment.

You could make it feel more dynamic by upgrading audiovisuals. Similarly to classic X-COM where we had those radar waves and good appropriate music. Because as it is now, it just feels dull and empty. Even if it's not in reality.

When it comes to base defense missions, it's a feature I care the least about. You could make a battle outside of the base or a simple attack mechanics (e.g. power of attack/defense and assessing losses). Sometimes a UFO could land nearby and those would be like missions with higher difficulty levels. There are so many more important features that I wouldn't even know which to start with. Thus, I think adding this functionality would be a waste of time.

At first, I thought only the stuff and troops can be teleported. Not something as big as a plane. But if it also applies to the dropship, then why do you need it at all? You can transport the troops with the weapons storage made in a shipping container. The lack of a dropship (since you don't fly with it, then you actually don't need it) definitely wouldn't add anything to the game. One squad and a few dropships - that would be fine. But one teleporting dropship? That's too simplistic, in my opinion.

I think it's a great idea to have multiple bases. Although it has some drawbacks. Mostly, the side-on view felt fresher. And looked cool, so it was good for marketing reasons. Thus, I think it's important to make it look much better than in X1 and more complex. Here are some ideas on that matter and some others: - Make the buildings bigger. To make it possible, the base could be vertically larger. In that case, the statistics could be placed below the base view. - Make two levels. With the second one becoming possible after doing some research and then digging. This way it would retain this feature from the side-on view. And obviously, some buildings could be built only on the upper level and some on the lower. - Sharing resources and staff could be possible only after building or finding more alien gates. Or they could be required to build other bases at all. It also makes sense from the story point of view because aliens could detect it and also there is no time for transporting equipment and personnel. After all, in reality, it takes a lot of time and you need trucks, trains, planes, etc. to do that. And one more thing for the future. I think it would be a shame if all the assets and ideas for the side-on view would be wasted. Thus, maybe you could use them to make another game only about X-COM base management? It could let you get some funds for future projects. After all, somehow Fallout Shelter became extremely popular.

I think aliens may look "strange" but Xenonauts tried to be believable and, overall, make sense. Besides, times changed and these days you don't just put absurd things in games or movies that otherwise try to be coherent. Of course, Japanese games have their audience but I doubt it's the same audience X1 have. And, IMO, these games don't really try to be coherent in the first place. Thus, this alien concept could be modified. If it would get a proper suit, with the brain still visible but also with some equipment like small anti-grav generators, it actually could be reasonably realistic. And it could explode on death so a player wouldn't get those generators for research too early. Personally, I think everything should at least try to be believable in a game such as X2. Otherwise it would lose some of X1's appeal.

I think Xenonauts is more serious than new XCOM and I liked it. And so did many others because X's audience is statistically older than average modern players. Classic X-COM fans and veterans being among them. Firaxis' XCOM audience, on the other hand, are those younger players and they are the target market for the new series. Thus, X2 shouldn't aim at the same market, whether it's about design, lore or graphics. X2 has it's own market niche and it would be better not to forget about those classic X-COM fans who are a part of that niche. Otherwise it would need to take way some of the new XCOM audience. And that is very unlikely. By the way, I liked aliens in Unreal games. At least some of the models. They looked alien but humanoid enough to handle tools (and weapons) comfortably.

Apart from my desktop PC, I have a 15" laptop. With deliberately chosen 1366x768 resolution. I just didn't want to hurt my eyes with HD resolution on a small notebook screen. It doesn't matter whether it's 15" or 17" at this point. I haven't notice any game I've played in recent years (PoE, D:OS, Anno 2205, Banished, Civ:BE and others) having problems with that (except for X1, of course). BUT, if it really poses an unresolvable issue for X2, some text may fall out of its space and I could live with that. You could only add appropriate info to the graphics settings menu - when someone chooses too low resolution - that it's not supported. It would just require to make sure vital information (like ammo amount etc.) are not placed at the end of the screen. In the worst case, I will play only on my desktop.

@Chris, I understand. You're right I may have been underestimating your work needed to be done there. Although I don't think the video was bad. It was totally fine and the script itself was really very good, actually. I get it you don't have any professional who can spend all the time he needs to make videos. But maybe you could hire someone when the game will be ready and the time right? A team member could right down a few sentences about his recent work to answer the question "What have you been working on lately?". That is if you think you can spare that time and money. I guess it shouldn't be much. Anyway, whatever you decide, good luck to you. I know the game is going be great, because the first one was and this one can only be better.

Jeez, I thought PayPal is just a service that sends money from one place to another. But other KS projects use it all the time, so why can't you? I doesn't make sense. Couldn't they consider it again? Anyway,@Chris, like you sad yourself, there are other ways to offer pre-orders. For example, one other game in development uses this: https://xsolla.com/ - although certainly there are some less expensive services on the market. Also you can use other crowdfunding services as I mentioned once in other thread. The biggest advantage of that, in my opinion, would be generating additional PR. It would also give you an opportunity to publicly talk about problems with PayPal and how you were mistreated (but you managed regardless) which could be even better for PR. And it would be enough for a few months of selling pre-orders. Or maybe even more if they would agree - I guess Fig would be most likely to go for that because they are in need of more PR ("We're helping devs mistreated by big corporation. We are the good guys"). When it comes to a store, I think it is better than just a simple pre-order in early access without any tiers to choose from. Or with two editions, for that matter. It can be seen especially during crowdfunding campaigns. People like to have multiple choices (there are two factors here; from a psychology perspective having multiple choices makes people feel they’re in control – and also it’s like in a supermarket, i.e. many products on shelves make people more likely to buy something) and they make good use of it. Now imagine there were only two tiers on KS. How much less money would you get? The coverage. Yes, I did see those articles. But I mean these were only news, not any longer articles like some proper previews. Also, Swen and even Vince D. Weller (if someone doesn’t know, he is the creator of a hardcore indie RPG titled Age of Decadence) are doing interviews quite often. The video. In my opinion it’s much easier than you think. I’ve just looked at D:OS 1 KS video and I can assure you it’s not something I couldn’t do. Although I’m definitely not a pro, so I’d need some practice with Adobe Premiere or something similar (I worked only with Photoshop and did a few amateur videos with some simple software) but, with an exception for the music, I know I could do it even by myself. Not to mention how easy it would be for a pro. I know nothing about English market in that regard, but in Poland I know someone who could do it. Thus, if in England it’s too expansive or too hard to find anyone who does videos like that, you can surely find someone in Eastern Europe. Of course it would be much easier and more comfortable to find someone nearby who would do everything by himself. Otherwise you would need to get a camera, a lamp and a stand, record some talks with devs in front of their computers, record in-game footages, think of sentences to put in the video and then send it all to some Google Drive unedited. Then you could try to find someone experienced in video editing. I, myself, know maybe like three people I could ask. Also, you can always (or one of you) learn video editing yourself. It’s obvious you don’t have much free time. But maybe you would benefit from it for years, which would make it worth your time? And in gaming industry marketing trailers are quite an important factor. Few years back there was a study which showed trailers have a greater impact on sales than demos. It’s enough to look at Star Citizen to see how much hype and money trailers can generate. Thus, spending some time and money for making trailers and videos can be like an investment with a good return. And you don’t even need a good camera for making video updates. Just a good mic and simple HD webcam would be enough. If you want, I could ask someone what recording equipment to buy. It won’t be expensive. Certainly not for you, relatively speaking. And you could use it for years.

I’ve been keeping track of many successful campaigns in recent years and personally I think Xenonauts 2 campaign wasn’t prepared as well as it could be. In fact there were at least a few serious drawbacks. Maybe it’s a shame there was no discussion on the forums about the crowdfunding/marketing strategy before the campaign started. The first one is the lack of PayPal payment method. At the end of the campaign funds come very quickly and then suddenly it’s being interrupted. Thus, a direct payment method is really important, because it can give you a few thousand dollars/pounds on top of the funds you get on KS. While being very easy to set up. Second, there is no website where you can buy pre-orders. Although now, for reasons mentioned above, would be the best time for that. Of course those issues can be remedied to some extent by setting up PayPal and a website store in the near future. As soon as possible, because if you do it soon enough, you will certainly get some additional press coverage. Also, it’s good to remember pre-orders can be a great source of funds (since for some pre-orders are enough for their studios keep up). Third, the lack of solid press coverage. I haven’t seen any previews or interviews. It’s entirely possible I missed something, but anyway it’s obvious you started doing PR too late. There were only some gameplays on YouTube. Which are very important, of course, but they are still not the press. Fourth, the video wasn’t good enough. It was okay but nothing like the greatest KS gaming projects. Just look at Project Eternity, new Torment or both Divinity games. Dynamic gameplay (in some), emotional music and good catchphrases. Also, in many videos, more team members talking, which makes an impression of a bigger and thus more professional studio. Obviously, neither here is everything lost, because you can make many videos and trailers in the future. It just won’t be during the KS campaign, so it won’t allow to gather as much funds. But I have some suggestions here. I mean to look at most successful projects. In this case D:OS 2 and Star Citizen. They post regular >video< updates. And I think Swen Vincke does it better, because he walks around the studio and talks to people in the form of light conversations. Maybe there is someone in your team, who would like to do it. And if you hesitate, it’s good to remember you can record the video as many times as you want. Until you feel comfortable enough. And Star Citizen shows how much money they gathered after the KS campaign, which is encouraging to pay more. You could see how it’s going and then think about putting some counter on the web page. Although seeing the counter and the next stretch goal is always encouraging, anyway. So there are some options. The campaign wasn’t bad overall. I think the campaign description was good. Clear and interesting. Also, the updates were very good with the right amount of emotions. And the decision to reach the next stretch goal was the right move. A few campaigns already missed that opportunity to make a good PR and made a bad one instead. It always felt disappointing.

Honestly, it seems like no one wants this game to sell good. I mean I made some point there in my first post but no one made any counter argument. I have only one comment. Games for geeks don't sell.

A good subtitle may turn out to be an important factor from the marketing point of view. I think it should be catchy and suggest what can players expect from the game. The subtitle on KS may be good as a first sentence of the description but it's too long for small pictures on sites like GOG and Steam. Backers shared a few proposals in comments on Kickstarter. There can't be too many to choose from, so I picked only four. My favurite is one of them and two remind of classic XCOM games. The fifth is KS subtitle. I don't know if I can add anything later but if you think something else would be a better choice, we could add it or even make another poll.

I've been thinking about the Kickstarter campaign. Although it's late but, on the other hand, there was no official announcement, so probably it doesn't have to be exactly on May 4th and not a single day later? Anyway, as we all probably know by now, it's not possible to make a good game without money. And the more money, the better (usually, there were few exceptions). Thus, maybe it would make sense to talk about some ideas on how to make the KS campaign possibly most successful. My thoughts and proposals are: The subtitle. It would be great if there was a good subtitle. Something catchy and easily understandable. It might remind of classic XCOM games. Alien Terror, Terror From Space, Enemy Hidden, Warfare Unknown. Or something more original, like Alien Conspiracy, Alien Infiltration. The video. In my opinion one of the most important things is a good video. My personal favorite is the video for Project Eternity. It has great music at the beginning, which focuses viewer's attention. Battletech video starts good, too. You could also add some scores and quotes from the best reviews. Showing more studio members on the screen could also be beneficial from the PR point of view. This time I'd show some desktops with PCs in the background and how design something on the screen. In short, show you are already hard working and efficiently pushing development forward. I can imagine some dynamic gameplay (i.e. with cut or quick mouse movement). And I'd hire someone with better recording equipment to get higher picture quality than the video for X1 campaign. Campaign description. I looked at a few of the most successful crowdfunding campaigns and I think in your first campaign the description was quite OK. This time, I'd just say it with greater confidence, like "we're a group of experienced and passionate people who are committed to make a true and long-awaited successor of classic XCOM games" etc. Unlike X1 I notice usually there are specifically designed title bars. Such details make the campaign feel well prepared and serious. I think it would also be a good thing to make a graphics with clearly presented tiers (in most cases it's not clear at all, in my opinion). Oh... I've just noticed there are many, possibly inspiring, guides on the web. Continue with fundraising and pre-orders. I have an idea here for something that hasn't been done before. I don't know if you have already decided on a way to continue raising the money after the campaign itself has ended. I mean it may be beneficial to offer a few options of pre-orders, because people like to have a choice. Therefore my idea is to start another campaigns on Fig and/or Indiegogo for the longest duration possible with higher prices. Of course it may be better to ask them first but when it comes to Fig it's not like there are many ongoing campaigns these days. In-game features that can be shown during the campaign. I have one idea in particular (I guess you have many others). Radio chatter. It's a thing that added to the game would easily make it feel much more dynamic and alive, while not being expensive. I think X2 could also distinguish itself by featuring more realistic than most games realistic radio chatter. If I may recommend anyone, that is if you want any expertise, I know this physicist who has a channel on YT was in military, likes strategy games and is even working on one now, just on the game's world building and physics. I don't know the guy personally but he seems really passionate about the work he does. Good luck.

Yes, that's exactly the way it is. I have already thought about it when I saw there is a free battlescape demo. It wouldn't be a good idea after the KS campaign and I'd recommend against it. It's going to be fine with higher tier for beta. But also I think it would be good to make any physical goods at all, even if only very expansive. Like a printed version of geoscape Earth view with a logo and signed by devs (one version copied and the other one signed personally). If you get few dozens backers it won't be too much time consuming, so you could even hire someone to do it. Probably no more than two days of work. Maybe A3 rolled prints? Priced as needed. It could be beneficial as the marketing goes, too. The presence of anything signed by authors can make a good impression on customers. Like possibility of getting signed book or a CD.

Is this graphics from the final version of X2 or there will be an overhaul? For now I think the tiles are too visible. It looks outdated. Like the game was made mostly for classic XCOM fans, not necessarily for everyone. Although the equipment looks good, very modern, and these bright interiors are really cool. In my opinion, the tiles don't need to be so clearly visible, the highlight is enough, no one would get confused. But maybe you're going to change it, so there's no need to talk about the graphics yet?

Is the KS campaign going to start this year? I'm certainly not going to miss it this time (already singed up fo the mailing list). BTW the quality of avatars gets surprisingly low after upload.