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Xenonauts-2 August Update!


Chris

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We're probably overdue another development update, so here's a quick post letting everyone know what we've been working on recently. Quite a bit to talk about actually!

Firstly, a public service announcement - we're going to be ending the Xsolla pre-orders on our site on August 29th. Anyone who has an Xsolla pre-order at that point will then be sent an email asking their preference for a Steam key or a GOG key, which will be sent to them at the end of September (non-responders get a Steam key). We're doing this partially because Xsolla is proving a pain to maintain relative to Steam / GOG, and partially because we want to build up a backlog of interested customers prior to our Early Access launch.

We're still not completely sure when Early Access is going to happen. The game is continuing to progress but I'm sure most of our beta testers would agree the game isn't ready for primetime yet; we're just going to keep adding things and fixing things until it is.

The first thing we're working on right now is implementing the remaining missing or broken parts of the game - e.g. night missions, base defence missions, multiple dropship support, updgradeable dropships, further expansion of the air combat, etc. Switching back to the classic X1 base mechanics has been quite a bit of work but the job is largely done, we're now just at the stage where we're updating the other systems that have changed as a result of this - e.g. we've had to update the Aircraft systems now they are stationed in actual bases and need to appear in Hangar base buildings, and need to support construction to them and relocation between them.

The second thing we're working on is overall usability and game balance. Over the past month or so we've been regularly talking about balance issues with the community and making adjustments, but we've also been fixing various gameplay bugs and design issues (such as suppression not functioning correctly, TU values being flat rather than %s, etc). We've nearly finished the tooltip system, too, which should make the game far easier to understand than it currently is ... right now there's not even a way to view the stats of a piece of equipment!

Finally, we're also spending a bit of time looking at the visuals of the game. In the ground combat we've switched to genuine isometic / orthographic camera rather than a perspective one trying to mimic it, which makes the battlefield a bit easier to read. On the strategy layer I'm looking at doing a pass on the UI to clean it up a bit, removing a bit of the visual clutter and probably moving to a visually similar but more modern font that renders more cleanly (and supports lowercase letters and special characters). The visuals of the game are a lower priority right now than finishing off the game mechanics, but the issue is on our radar and we are slowly improving things.

So, where does that leave us? I'm not exactly sure when Closed Beta V7 wil be due, as we first need to work through all the bugs / changes forced by the base update. I've also got another quite significant upgrade planned for the air combat that shifts the combat from a 1D grid to a 2D gride with "proper" movement. I'm guessing V7 is likely to arrive towards the end of this month, so we may release a (highly) experimental build in the interim that has a semi-broken strategy layer but will let us test some of the updated ground combat mechanics / balance changes.

Anyway, thanks for reading - we'll keep you guys informed about our plans as they progress!

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Out of curiosity, what's the status on Mac/Linux support? The FAQ said you hoped they would be supported but couldn't guarantee anything, but that was a year ago; has anything changed in either direction? (I have a vested interest, as my primary machine is a Linux system, and my daughter will be horribly disappointed if I take my windows machine back.)

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You lads know what you are doing - you've proven this with xen1, so just keep on doing what you're doing - we trust you. Do you have a release date in mind though? jan 2020 perhaps? That would seem reasonable (and would give us all something to look forward too after christmas :)).

Edited by ooey
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We have to wait ooey. Chris said already that the Game isn´t stable yet. The new Version have to be tested first from the Beta-Testers. I think it needs 2 more Betas before going Early Access. And not everyone will be hapy with the new Version (about some things which destroy the good Gamestory from X2).

And a good Betatest for the existing Versions are very very long. If everything goes good (which won´t like the Tests before), because new things are implemented, some get reworked [in good and others in bad] as well as much more is done, then a next update can be made. Therfore not.

In this case don´t expect to much from the Early Access Release before End Spring 2020.

Edited by Alienkiller
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Just now, Alienkiller said:

We have to wait ooey. Chris said already that the Game isn´t stable yet. The new Version have to be tested first from the Beta-Testers. I think it needs 2 more Betas before going Early Access. And not everyone will be hapy with the new Version (about some things which destroy the good Gamestory from X2).

And a good Betatest for the existing Versions are very very long. If everything goes good (which won´t like the Tests before), because new things are implemented, some get reworked [in good and others in bad] as well as much more is done, then a next update can be made. Therfore not.

In this case don´t expect to much from the Early Access Release before End Spring 2020.

Sorry, it´s double. What I wanna say is that the Beta has to prove itself again from 0 on. You can´t use older saves to continue.

Edited by Alienkiller
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I don't think many of us are worried about when the actual release date is as long as the team do a good job (which they will). To anyone that IS worried, dont! Chris has a proven track record with xen 1 as you probably know. The difference between him and other s/w developers is that he loves this kind of game (others are just told to make whatever they are told to by their CEOs etc.) so you know it will made with love.

However, I've always found it an incentive to set a (realistic) release date, which perhaps maybe Chris doesn't know yet (although there comes a point when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel with any piece of s/w).

To be honest, anytime next year is fine with me. I'm not so sure we are all that patient though. But we want a polished game, right?! :)

Edited by ooey
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very few devs have regular updates and actually talk realistically about what they are working on, so I really do appreciate every update given.

I am wondering if the test version the beta testers are playing now is actually feature complete...I havn't heard a word about the MARS weapons platform from the testers in any feedback thread.

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Such things aren´t implemented yet. That´s why you don´t hear about such things.

The only big thing which acid regugitation me is the bases can do everything, which destroys the fully game. We will see it in the next Beta but if that what gives acid regugitation like in X1 comes realy back, then it makes no difference anymore if you play the old or new game.  

Edited by Alienkiller
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On 8/11/2019 at 4:13 PM, ooey said:

You lads know what you are doing - you've proven this with xen1, so just keep on doing what you're doing - we trust you. Do you have a release date in mind though? jan 2020 perhaps? That would seem reasonable (and would give us all something to look forward too after christmas :)).

The provisional date we're working towards for the Early Access launch is November 2019 so the final release date is likely to be after Jan 2020. But the game should properly avaiable for purchase this year and be far more of a game from start to finish than it is now.

 

On 8/14/2019 at 12:02 AM, Conductiv said:

very few devs have regular updates and actually talk realistically about what they are working on, so I really do appreciate every update given.

I am wondering if the test version the beta testers are playing now is actually feature complete...I havn't heard a word about the MARS weapons platform from the testers in any feedback thread.

No, it's not feature complete by any means. The MARS is still on our to-do list so isn't in the game yet, but it is something we're aiming to have done before the Early Access launch.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Xsolla?!?!

I want a steam key and was jebaited to a GOG key. I've received an email, indicating that I can choose between GOG or steam and after clicking the "Change to GOG" link it says "You have successfully changed your Steam key to GOG" which I never wanted, but I can't revert. It feels like a scam. I only clicked it as I thought it will lead to me a way to decide what I really want. I never told me that I get steam if I've done nothing.

The email stated "Please could you follow the link to indicate your preference for a Steam key or a GOG key?"

Can you please tell Xsolla to get me a steam key please?

Ask for my personal email/purchase identity via DM pls.
 

Edited by flash_ahaaa
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10 hours ago, flash_ahaaa said:

Hey Xsolla?!?!

I want a steam key and was jebaited to a GOG key. I've received an email, indicating that I can choose between GOG or steam and after clicking the "Change to GOG" link it says "You have successfully changed your Steam key to GOG" which I never wanted, but I can't revert. It feels like a scam. I only clicked it as I thought it will lead to me a way to decide what I really want. I never told me that I get steam if I've done nothing.

The email stated "Please could you follow the link to indicate your preference for a Steam key or a GOG key?"

Can you please tell Xsolla to get me a steam key please?

Ask for my personal email/purchase identity via DM pls.
 

Hmm, yeah, the intention was for them to send out a mail giving players the option to choose between a GOG key and a Steam key, and at the end of the month to assume anyone that didn't reply wanted a Steam key. Seems like Xsolla took that to mean that a reply was only needed if you wanted a GOG key ... but they didn't check that with me beforehand.

We're looking into the situation now and it'll be resolved before the keys are actually sent out.

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On 8/30/2019 at 10:07 AM, Chris said:

Hmm, yeah, the intention was for them to send out a mail giving players the option to choose between a GOG key and a Steam key, and at the end of the month to assume anyone that didn't reply wanted a Steam key. Seems like Xsolla took that to mean that a reply was only needed if you wanted a GOG key ... but they didn't check that with me beforehand.

We're looking into the situation now and it'll be resolved before the keys are actually sent out.

Please add me to the list of "clicked to decide between but wanted a steam key actually" list as well.

PS: the game is fun .. although hard from time to time :)

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I accidentally clicked on that GOG button as well because I was thinking it would enable me to choose what kind of key I wanted.

Instead it just told me I successfully changed my steamkey to gog.

So, please add me to the list of "clicked to decide between but wanted a steam key actually" list as well.  ;)

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On 9/1/2019 at 11:34 AM, Ufomeister said:

I accidentally clicked on that GOG button as well because I was thinking it would enable me to choose what kind of key I wanted.

Instead it just told me I successfully changed my steamkey to gog.

So, please add me to the list of "clicked to decide between but wanted a steam key actually" list as well.  ;)

Me too please

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On 8/29/2019 at 10:59 PM, flash_ahaaa said:

*snip*

 

On 9/2/2019 at 6:23 PM, LtColFox said:

*snip*

 

On 9/1/2019 at 6:27 AM, GerEldaron said:

*snip*

 

On 9/1/2019 at 10:34 AM, Ufomeister said:

*snip*

I'll send you guys a PM too, but as a general message to everyone who had a problem with the Xsolla emails - having spoken to Xsolla about this, they said they've just been manually updating the preferences of people who contacted their support saying they'd accidentally selected a GOG key instead of a Steam key, and it'd be easiest if everyone did that.

Therefore please go to the Xsolla support page here and explain the situation: https://help.xsolla.com/

Sorry about the process being a bit of a pain.

 

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