Xenonauts-2 Version 0.23.0 (Public Combat Test) Released!

[Chris]

This version of Xenonauts 2 is a free public test build only available on GOG Galaxy, released free because it is still an early build and we don't yet think we can justify charging for it; full details on where to get the build can be found in this thread.  

This build may be the final iteration of our free public builds ... the actual build we will during our Kickstarter as the public demo! However, it's also possible we'll release one more version next week depending on whether we see any more major bugs or gameplay issues that need a fix. Ultimately the purpose here is not to make a "perfect" level as we don't have unlimited time and there's still quite a lot of development to be done, we just want something that plays okay for an alpha demo!

If you're interested in hearing about the development of the project or getting notifications about our impending Kickstarter, please sign up for our mailing list here: http://eepurl.com/4FKe9

CHANGELOG:

• Fixed AI Turn Hang: There's been a rather annoying hang happening in the Friendly AI turn that we've been chasing for a while - this should now finally be fixed.
• Fixed Civilian / Dropship Crash: The game previously crashed if a civilian managed to get into your dropship, which was somewhat unfortunate given they think it's the safest place on the map and sprint directly towards it at the first opportunity ... but this is also fixed now.
• Faster AI Turn: We spent a bit of time looking over the AI turn in an attempt to speed it up, and we tweaked a few things to make it run faster. One specific issue was that the AI turn camera was previously set to focus on any actions that affected friendly units (i.e. including civilians and local forces) rather than just Xenonaut units; we've now fixed that up.
• Non-Symmetric LOS Fix: There were a few spots in the buildings where units could shoot out, but enemies on the other side were unable to shoot back due to an issue in the line of fire calculation. This should now be fixed up and shooting should be fully symmetrical again.
• Elevation Bonus: There's now an elevation bonus for shooting down at a target from higher ground. This does not increase your base hit % chance, but it does reduce the stopping chance of any (non-100%) intervening cover. 
• Weapon Overwatch Defaults: We've added support for a tag that controls whether a weapon is set to overwatch fire by default or not, and we've now set the Grenade Launcher not to overwatch fire by default. This can be manually overriden (there's a toggle on the left of the UI that controls it) but I imagine the number of friendly fire incidents will be significantly reduced!
• General Fixes:
  • Clicking on an alien head now sets the camera to the appropriate height - meaning enemies on roofs are much less confusing!
  • Local forces have had their Accuracy dropped from 60 down to 45
  • Fixed a bug preventing you from shooting at adjacent building walls
  • Smoke is now less visually opaque
  • Alien plasma projectiles have been slowed down slightly
• Balance Changes:
  • Shotguns now grant +10TU
  • SMGs nerfed to do 20 dmg instead of 30 dmg

I think this fixes most of the major issues with the game, so let us know if you find any further weirdness. Your feedback has been enormously helpful over the past two months or so as we've turned this level from something with somewhat clunky and frustrating gameplay into something that is a much better advert for the type of game we're trying to make!

Regarding the Kickstarter - we've put out a load of info on the game out on the forums here, but we're still beavering away on the background getting the Kickstarter page and video set up. We're clearly not going to hit the original 4th May deadline but the page is shaping up nicely and the video is progressing, and I'm hoping for a comfortable mid-May unveiling date. Our mailing list doesn't get much use but it definitely will be used in the run-up to the launch, so make sure you're on that if you want to stay informed and you're not a forum regular!

[Jean-Luc]

Sorry if these things have been mentioned X times already, I haven't been following the test threads very closely.

1. The free rotation camera is really nice, it should be the default setting imo.

2. The inertia on camera panning is pretty annoying, looking around the map should feel snappier in general I think.

3. No crashes or performance problems, seems solid overall. 

4. The stun baton animation looks awkward and doesn't make much sense. There's no reason for the baton to be wielded 2-handed because, one, it relies on electric shock more than physical force and, two, because it's fairly short and was clearly made to be held in one hand. It just looks weird at the moment. 

5. Just a Kickstarter related suggestion. Looking at the demo in isolation it very much feels like X1 with better graphics. If possible it could be a good idea to add something to it that makes it feel more distinct, more like a sequel. Another alien type or piece of equipment. I know it's a lot and I expect you'll do your best to present the new stuff on the KS main page but if there's anything you can do to "spice up" the demo it'd help sell the game better I think. 

[thixotrop]

One mission with fullscreen: 1280 x 800, Quality: Fastest

One mission with fullscreen: 1920 x 1200 Quality: Fantastic
In this mission the time between bullets in multi-shots of rifle and LMG was definitely longer, otherwise no disadvantages.
Grafics are really nice here. The alien muzzle fire in shadowed parts look great.

In general:
Still an issue:
- Camera pans to black areas in hidden/friendly movement, this is quite annoying because the camera doesn't move back to the soldiers.
- Also the camera doesn't move back when one of my soldiers is hit by an alien out of the black. This is not good, as it is impossible to assess where the shots came from.
- It would be more convenient if the camera would pan back to last used soldier after hidden movement, i.e.at the beginnung of the new turn.
- Humans spill whitish blood. Update: Although it seems to vanish immediately. Afterwards sometime red blood can be seen. Does the white blood drop below the surface?

- The pan of the camera is tooslow when following a bullet to its target.
- Some civilians / friendly seem to be invisible in friendly / hidden movement phase. Although I have soldiers facing the direction the camera moves with the moving friendly.
- In the second mission (high settings) the faces of the soldiers in the UI were shown in 8-bit style.

- Only now I have seen that the camera rotation mode can be changed in the menu, silly me. I prefer the free rotaton.

Pictures:
Soldiers and Aliens can shoot through walls and roofs.

Friendly soldier and alien positioned directly next to each other.

Alien corpse falls through the wall, doesn't look good.

And my logs as usual:

recording_1.rec
recording_2.rec

Edited May 6, 2018 by thixotrop

[Skitso]

+No crashing, feels very stable

+Faster enemy turns are nice

 

-When a unit stops it's movement detecting a new alien, sometimes the revealed alien isn't seen before rotating the unit to correct position.

-Some textures are still not visible: https://imgur.com/HU1H2iP

-Menu textures are still looking odd (I'm using 1440p resolution): https://imgur.com/gXYfoGT

-A small nitpick: units legs sink into footpath concrete. https://imgur.com/a/8bC1mvZ

-AI turn camera feels a bit erratic, jumping all over the place.

-As Jean Luc said, camera inertia is annoying. I'd prefer a more snappier control there.

Edited May 8, 2018 by Skitso

[Ninothree]

On 5/8/2018 at 6:38 AM, Skitso said:

-Some textures are still not visible

I think that this issue is to do with activating/deactivating the fog of war (the eye button). 

EDIT/ADDITION:

• Tracking of projectiles can sometimes be unhelpful. After you click to fire, the camera jumps back to your soldier, you watch the bullet travel through empty air across the screen, the camera then jumps to follow but if the projectile hits at that moment then you miss seeing it land / the damage that comes up.
• Grenades can only be deselected with esc, clicking the gun or switching units doesn't effect the selection. This means you don't get an overwatch shot and if you forget to switch back on the next turn, you'll lob a grenade rather than firing your gun. Also, the UI doesn't make it clear that you have selected the grenade at all - the ammo image disappears and the soldier switches the item in their hand but these are quite subtle changes, certainly to a newbie.
• With the stun baton: as Jean Luc said, the animation isn't very satisfying. The damage doesn't come up as the baton strokes either. Also, I used that for my final kill but the alien disappeared and the level didn't end (on the plus side, I explored right to the far end of the map).

Edited May 9, 2018 by Ninothree

[Arturius]

Wow! 

It's so nice to write here, on Goldhawk Forum, for the first time since I played Xenonauts 1 :)

I've read your plans for second game and played this demo, and now I am sure I will back you up Chris :)

 

Some remarks about this particular demo build:

1. It is possible to have an FPS display enabled? Because on my older machine the game plays a bit laggy.

2. I think shotgun shots are way louder than other weapons sound effects.

3. Some kind of summary screen after "mission completed" could be useful - both gameplay (overall accuracy etc.) and hardware (average fps, cpu load) statistics.