Chris Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 Hello everyone and welcome to 2023! December was a good month for the project even though it was curtailed by the Christmas holidays, as we released V25 and then opened the game up to the first wave of open beta testers. We didn't add many new features as most of our time was spent gathering community feedback and fixing bugs identified by our new (and old) testers, so I'll instead talk more broadly about we're going to be working on in the next couple of months. Open Beta: The first thing to say is that the open beta has already been extremely helpful. We started by inviting a small group of new testers (50) and asked them to post up their initial impressions of the game, and report any bugs / issues they encountered so we could fix them. The response has been really good so far. Thankfully, the initial response to the game has been almost universally positive (i.e. nobody saying that they didn't enjoy the game, or that it felt too similar to Xenonauts 1 to be worth playing) but we've also recieved a lot of useful feedback about what people do and don't like about the game. Stability is generally pretty good but there's still been a LOT of bugs reported that we're currently working through - every bug fixed makes the game feel better to play! As we release future builds we'll be inviting new players to join the Open Beta so we can maintain a continual stream of "first impressions" posts, but we'll probably only be inviting 50-100 people for each new build. However, if you're not lucky enough to get an invite, you'll still be able to give the game a test via our public demo! Public Demo: Xenonauts 2 is going to be participating in the upcoming Steam Next Fest that runs from 6-13th February 2023, and we're going to be putting out a demo that will allow you to play the first couple of months of a campaign (usually about five or six tactical missions). This should allow people to get a taste of the full game, and hopefully get everyone excited for our upcoming Early Access release! Upcoming Work: As such, the dev team will mostly be spending their time on improving this demo this month. Our primary goal is to get the tutorial implemented, as if experienced players feel it would be helpful then I imagine new players will be entirely lost without it! This is a quick 5-minute sequence that covers the plot events immediately prior to the start of the game, and introduces the player to the key controls for the Geoscape and tactical combat. We're also going to be improving the difficulty settings so that people can better adjust the challenge to their level of expertise, balancing the game, and working on fixing as many of the reported bugs / usability issues as possible. The project is entering an exciting period now and I wanted to say thanks to everyone continuing to read and contribute. Hope everyone had a good holiday! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CasteloBranco Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 Woot! I was lucky to be one of the "new" beta testers and I can assure you that the game is in very good shape. I did not post much because I am not english born and most of my impressions was already posted by others testers. I also think the tutorial must be ready for public access, since teach important stuffs for the new players and without it the game may looks to difficult in the initial phase. I had some crashes that was reported by others testers, like the crash in the transfer page because infinite laser gun. Some long loading pages in the 79% and 93%, but did not get stuck in any game play. Overall, I think the game is very nice. great job and congratulations to all the team. o7 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jet Jaguar Posted January 6, 2023 Share Posted January 6, 2023 I was also lucky enough to get accepted into the beta and found that the game is AWESOME so far, definitely a fun and exciting experience. As I play the game more I realize that some of my initial criticisms were premature and I'm definitely enjoying it more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoxaLogos Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 I look forward to the next open beta! I keep arriving late to check in It's been a few years, since I played Xenonauts 1, but I certainly enjoyed it. Feel free to tap me when you need more testers! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferenco Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Dear Developers Team I have buy already a new laptop, as in my old (veryyy old) game crashes. So, I am ready for a new beta. Please, add me to the list of testers. I am a big fun of your original xenonauts, already complete it even with all possible modifications, now looking foward for a new game to try. I relly enjoyed your game, and I have a huge expirience with games like xenonauts, starting from original UFOs serie and laser squad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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