Jump to content

Injecting some extra charisma into the game


Recommended Posts

1 minute ago, Solver said:

It was possible in the original game, but X:CE solved some technical issues that could crop up with too much fire and destruction.

Just noticed my phrasing sucked, I meant that it made better maps with cool crash sites happen. Never really checked that particular detail between the two versions. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suppose if people want good voice acting, Goldhawk could achieve this fairly cheaply by hiring a Local Les Dennis/Michael Wilmslow-type mimic or two. I have a friend that is pretty good at this and he probably wouldn't even charge anything (and he lives close to kings cross). Whether-or-not Chris wants Bruce Forsyth's voice in his game is another matter though (he's particularly good at that one). 

 

"No-dear, I'm alright my loves, but I am wounded. Zzzzzz MEDIC!"

:) 

 

If you wanted funny death sounds, check out Turkish Star Wars (see youtube). Should give you a laugh if nothing else.

Edited by ooey
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had another thought when it comes to drop ships investigating crash sites and alien raids ... you know how after, I think, 20 turns or so on an alien city raid, the whole map would be displayed for you along with exactly where all the remaining aliens were / what they were doing?  I'm thinking of a smaller scale, less approximate use of such a system of aerial surveillance, the trade-off being that you got results much sooner into the battle itself, but at a reduced value of certainty.  Ugh, let me break it down into steps.

1)  Drop ship lands in affected area.  Cue drop ship some few feet off the ground, stabilizers & landing gear engaged, dust, leaves, sand, grass blowing around the LZ.  Cue pilot headset chatter announcing landing, perhaps announcing something along the lines of 'LZ HOT !  or LZ COLD.' depending upon alien presence or lack thereof.

2) Soldiers encounter initial alien response, eventually contain threat, last soldier leaves drop ship or soldiers move a sufficient highlighted distance from drop ship.

3) Start of next turn, drop ship lifts off into the sky, cue pilot headset chatter, 'BIRD BACK IN THE AIR ...' or some such.

4) A turn or 2 later, pilot headset chatter, 'SCOUTING FOR UGLIES !' 

5) 5 to 10 turns into mission.  Pilot "We May Have Something Here.  North Northwestern Grid, Unidentified Heat Signatures in (Forested Area, Open Area, Residential Area)."  Or just skip the type of area description and end with 'unidentified heat signatures' and pan camera briefly to a small area unmasked from fog of war, with a red or orange outline of general area aliens may be lurking in.

6) Repeat this process every 5 to 10 turns if helpful / needed.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

More atmospherics would definately be appreciated. I do get a little bit too much of a sterile feeling from xenonauts at the moment. Sometimes small touches make a big difference. Doesn't have to be anything crazy in terms of fancy new systems. Though I suspect that really isn't going to be their focus until all core gameplay mechanisms are where they want them. Definitely hope they do put in a few things in the atmospheric arena though. Maybe they could do some whether effects on maps as well.... some that's non-functional mechanically and just change the visuals and perhaps others that have some actual mechanical effect. They already have day/night and smoke effects, so it sounds like they would have the core technical systems in place to handle some of those. Maybe for some biomes a random chance of dense fog or sandstorm.... could be like smoke that blankets the map but doesn't dissipate...... maybe rain or snow, that reduces the amount of time that fire will burn or spread, etc.

Also an upvote to a bit more rubble and debris on the crash site (and terror attack) maps.... things not even neccesarily caused by the UFO's crashing but by the mayhem and panic experienced by the local civilian populace (e.g. crashed cars, broken windows, things dropped or abandoned on the street, etc).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Dagar said:

I'd love to see civilians in cities running around with TV's in their arms... :D

Oh hell yea, that's some Dwarf Fortess stuff right there. The most memorable thing I've ever seen from that game is when a militia guy was hanging out with his carpenter friend and monkeys attacked. He couldn't reach the armory, so the guy picks up an Oak Door, and starts beating down zombie chimps like a boss. XD

P.s. That door was later used for the throne room, still covered in monkey furs. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/27/2019 at 5:30 PM, Solver said:

Yup. Maybe getting a bit off topic here, but I think Oblivion's horrible VA wasn't so much because the actors were bad (though some were IMO), but rather because there were so few voices. When every Orc in the game has the same voice, it's immersion-breaking.

And that leads to the conclusion that quality VA is costly. If I imagine VA in Xenonauts, the idea is fine, but if the game only had 1 male and 1 female soldier voice, it would just detract from the atmosphere. Goldhawk is obviously a small studio, and while I'm sure they could record a few lines, they just couldn't afford VA that's even halfway immersive. 

Overall I really think X1 had a great amount of character for such a low-budget game. The art had a distinct style, the Chief Scientist was a great snarky character - a major writing achievement since the game's text was almost entirely research reports - and the soundtrack was pretty great. The visual design of aliens is the only major flaw of X1 atmosphere-wise.

Well damn, Solver, you just said exactly the thoughts I've had on both of those subjects.

 

Thrown in with the Praetors now, have we?

 

As far as sounds go, I think the bottom line is that the game could use more. However, we should consider that, theoretically if that were to happen, whatever is used will be limited in scope and recycled frequently. Things like voiced lines likely will not go over as well as other ambient sound or effects, such as engine noise, looping flames, or alarms.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Definitely would prefer effects over voices. As much as they seem nice at first, in a genre with so many restarts, they are one of the features that fall off the fastest. Personally, I can't even play EU with the voices anymore. Xcom 2 did a bit better, but they had a CRAPLOAD of voices+mods.  On the other hand, I will always remember my original xcom rookie that nailed a cross map snipe, or that time a mind controlled one whiffed a c4 toss and won me a doomed mission on accident, or that time in Xeno when a guy saved a base raid by battleaxing a xenomorph queen. On the other hand, I really remember how awesome the ambient noise mods in XDiv boosted the atmosphere (Maybe minus that one guy in the desert that keeps falling off of cliffs). My vote's for FX, your mind can fill in voices, it can't do the same for noises as well. Being surprised by sound immersion really takes things up a notch or 12. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...