Fantasy X-COM
by Kyzrati on 20130107 , under Mods
Ever wanted to play a deep tactical fantasy game based on the great X-COM mechanics? Answer: Yes.
"A Rookie's Tale" is exactly that and much, much more.
Our protagonist, Victor Wade, alien-fighting soldier turned interdimensional traveler, suddenly finds himself in a world guided by magic rather than science. How he got here we've already seen, how he gets back is another story.
Not every story will be the same, though. To call this mod a single mission would be an understatement. Perhaps "epic single mission" or "game-in-a-mission" might be more appropriate. Making full use of the engine's greatly expanded and improved mod support, Rookie's Tale is a highly dynamic experience that shows much more of what the engine can really do--the R7 scenario Cataclysm was an interesting experimental introduction to the new dynamic content system, but barely touched the surface compared to the variety you'll see in this mod.
Victor is not alone, at least not for long. As he explores the world he can recruit party members from the local population (you control them this time around) and take them along on the search for a way home. There are seven standard character classes, each with class-based special abilities, and a host of other unique characters that may come to Victor's aid. On your travels, you'll talk to NPCs, recover artifacts, topple paranoid warlords, stop rampaging ogres, repel goblin invasions, uncover demon-worshipping cults, delve into ancient ruins, open interplanar gates, pilot gnomish inventions, loot treasure troves, face (or run in fear from) liches, demons, and dragons, and a whole lot more. Okay, maybe not all at once, but you'll definitely use magic from among 50+ arcane spells and holy incantations (mostly of the fun and interesting kind, not a bunch of cookie cutter direct damage stuff), along with 25+ special abilities. Under the right circumstances, your allies will even raise levels to gain better stats and more abilities. And be on the lookout for others, friendly or not, who may have made the dimensional jump as well...
The fantasy setting is obviously not original. It's D&D meets X-COM meets my imagination (that last one can be considered the glue--or crazy glue depending on your perspective). This is both intentional and necessary at this point because X@COM is still lacking UI support for providing detailed info about objects/units, so I'm trying to rely on your existing knowledge to help you get into the game, and [maybe] survive. Don't worry, there is plenty of unexpected content of my own design to catch you off guard, but having your traditional RPG hat on while you play won't hurt.
So this mod brings X@COM somewhat closer to a more traditional roguelike setting: fantasy RPG with lots of interaction. Thus you can:
Unlike previous scenarios, the maps generated are a lot more organic: forests, sloping hills, caves and the occasional structure as opposed to roads and buildings on an obvious grid. Each one is generated from a large collection of possibilities, giving you many unique starting areas and different ways to accomplish Victor's goal. Even if one journey starts similar to another, I can guarantee you the similarity will end there as you explore the map.
So this is normally the part of the post where I show you screenshots of the diversity of maps, revealed in their entirety. But seeing as this mod is really about exploration (you even earn points for it), and there are quite a few secrets and surprises out there, screenshots could spoil some of the fun for those of you who are going to play. That said, a post without any screenshots just won't do, so here are some relatively innocuous and generic excerpts:
I'll also be posting an in-depth guide with gameplay details later. After all, unless you play a *lot*, you almost certainly won't see/find everything anyway, so it may be a fun read :). Because it will no doubt include some major spoilers, I'll wait on that until you've had a chance to explore the world yourself a bit first. EDIT: This guide is now available here.
Until then, here's a guide to the essentials (definitely read through this before playing!):
So get out there and come back with a tale for us! Share stories in the comments, Bay 12, or the forums, and if there are enough interesting ones I may highlight them in a future post.
Note: A Rookie's Tale does not come with the standard X@COM download. As a mod, you'll find it as a stand-alone program under the mods section of the files page.
Technical/Modding Addendum:
So to re-cap why I'm modding my own game (which may seem like an odd thing to do during alpha development): Rookie's Tale is an example of the wide variety of content you can include 100% by mod--every bit of content you see is scripted in text files that are parsed and run through the X@COM squad-based tactical simulator which sits on top of Rogue Engine X (the same engine that runs Cogmind, which kicked butt in this year's RotY poll, btw).
Because I know the engine best, it made sense that I create an extensive mod to both make sure everything actually does work (Cataclysm only used a subset), and provide examples for other modders to learn from. In fact I myself even learned a hell of a lot doing this, since it's a very generic system which can do things I never planned nor expected. (It's alive!) I'll be posting a lot of the tips and tricks I found on the forum so other modders can make their own missions more expressive, too.
On the coding side, the dynamic content system was fleshed out considerably as I encountered little things here and there (everywhere...) where adding just another setting or two could open up a whole new range of possibilities. This eventually resulted in a massive number of internal changes/improvements. My changelog since the last release (8.2) is crazy long--not much for the public changelog, though, and no major new features, so this isn't R9.
One of the more noteworthy non-technical improvements that came about as a result of this mod is different FOV shapes, set by race. Armors can also modify the wearer's FOV and sight range, such as restrictive medieval armor or high-tech armor with extra sensors that pass on more information about the surroundings. In Rookie's Tale, the few armors that do this will warn you with a message, and you can always check your FOV visualization ('f').
There's a heck of a lot more that could be done with this mod, and it could easily be expanded into a true full game given more map chunks (which would make for fewer chaotic maps due to a wider pool to choose from, thereby enabling finer control over what pieces are placed near what--I didn't actually use that feature) and even more interactivity with objects and NPCs, but I have to stop somewhere.
If you would like to make your own fantasy mod, you could always rip parts from Rookie's Tale, or just use all the data objects to create a different scenario by creating new areas (though that's probably the most annoying part until we have a proper map editor).
Also a heads up: There's a WH40k mod in the works now. Interested players can check it out on the forum and give it a run to provide the author with some pre-release feedback if so inclined.
Special thanks to all the forum members who helped playtest this mod prior to release, especially 10101, our resident binary German :) Seriously, without him I wouldn't have been able to both test and fix all the issues we resolved and still release on time. With so much content to play through, though, there could be some issues we didn't find. Report them and they shall be fixed. I'll even throw in some new areas in the update.
A Rookie's Tale is actually the first in a four-part series following Victor before he makes it back to Earth (the other three parts being sci-fi/alien), though I doubt I'll actually go through with the others. Anyway, Now that I've gotten my fantasy fix and made good use of it, next we're back to your [ir]regularly scheduled tactical sci-fi program[/game].
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"A Rookie's Tale" is exactly that and much, much more.
Our protagonist, Victor Wade, alien-fighting soldier turned interdimensional traveler, suddenly finds himself in a world guided by magic rather than science. How he got here we've already seen, how he gets back is another story.
Not every story will be the same, though. To call this mod a single mission would be an understatement. Perhaps "epic single mission" or "game-in-a-mission" might be more appropriate. Making full use of the engine's greatly expanded and improved mod support, Rookie's Tale is a highly dynamic experience that shows much more of what the engine can really do--the R7 scenario Cataclysm was an interesting experimental introduction to the new dynamic content system, but barely touched the surface compared to the variety you'll see in this mod.
Victor is not alone, at least not for long. As he explores the world he can recruit party members from the local population (you control them this time around) and take them along on the search for a way home. There are seven standard character classes, each with class-based special abilities, and a host of other unique characters that may come to Victor's aid. On your travels, you'll talk to NPCs, recover artifacts, topple paranoid warlords, stop rampaging ogres, repel goblin invasions, uncover demon-worshipping cults, delve into ancient ruins, open interplanar gates, pilot gnomish inventions, loot treasure troves, face (or run in fear from) liches, demons, and dragons, and a whole lot more. Okay, maybe not all at once, but you'll definitely use magic from among 50+ arcane spells and holy incantations (mostly of the fun and interesting kind, not a bunch of cookie cutter direct damage stuff), along with 25+ special abilities. Under the right circumstances, your allies will even raise levels to gain better stats and more abilities. And be on the lookout for others, friendly or not, who may have made the dimensional jump as well...
The fantasy setting is obviously not original. It's D&D meets X-COM meets my imagination (that last one can be considered the glue--or crazy glue depending on your perspective). This is both intentional and necessary at this point because X@COM is still lacking UI support for providing detailed info about objects/units, so I'm trying to rely on your existing knowledge to help you get into the game, and [maybe] survive. Don't worry, there is plenty of unexpected content of my own design to catch you off guard, but having your traditional RPG hat on while you play won't hurt.
So this mod brings X@COM somewhat closer to a more traditional roguelike setting: fantasy RPG with lots of interaction. Thus you can:
- quaff potions,
- harvest herbs,
- set and disarm traps,
- use scrolls and magical artifacts,
- read magic tomes and cast spells,
- find secret doors/stairs...
Unlike previous scenarios, the maps generated are a lot more organic: forests, sloping hills, caves and the occasional structure as opposed to roads and buildings on an obvious grid. Each one is generated from a large collection of possibilities, giving you many unique starting areas and different ways to accomplish Victor's goal. Even if one journey starts similar to another, I can guarantee you the similarity will end there as you explore the map.
So this is normally the part of the post where I show you screenshots of the diversity of maps, revealed in their entirety. But seeing as this mod is really about exploration (you even earn points for it), and there are quite a few secrets and surprises out there, screenshots could spoil some of the fun for those of you who are going to play. That said, a post without any screenshots just won't do, so here are some relatively innocuous and generic excerpts:
 |
| Checking out the local village for potential allies. Hint: They're all in the tavern. |
 |
| Heading deeper into the forest. |
 |
| Crashing a party. Definitely uninvited. |
 |
| Spelunking. At night. With Giant Web Spiders. Oh, and about seven other kinds as well. |
I'll also be posting an in-depth guide with gameplay details later. After all, unless you play a *lot*, you almost certainly won't see/find everything anyway, so it may be a fun read :). Because it will no doubt include some major spoilers, I'll wait on that until you've had a chance to explore the world yourself a bit first. EDIT: This guide is now available here.
Until then, here's a guide to the essentials (definitely read through this before playing!):
- Most terrain/environment objects can be manipulated ('n')--i.e., almost everything is searchable/usable. (I was going to use the same feature to enable manual talking to NPCs as well, but decided to make conversation automatic on walking up to someone, if they have something to say.)
- Most units have special abilities ('z'). Some may be passive and thus won't show up on the list--I'll tell you about those in the guide, others probably have restrictions on their use. Party members that raise levels also gain new abilities.
- Lots of items are usable ('u'), especially those represented by '&' (no different from Cataclysm). Use them.
- Special/magical armors may imbue the wearer with new abilities (some passive, some must be activated with 'z'). Remember you can remove/exchange your armor now! (Though note that party members are unlikely to be able to wear armors named for specific units, or those for non-Human anatomies.)
- You start with only one unit, our hero Victor, and can always gain a few allies in your immediate vicinity; others can be found elsewhere--you generally just walk up to blue NPCs and they'll join you. Allies in the starting area can only be recruited by Wade himself.
- Victor Wade must survive to "win," since this is his story, after all. Keep him safe. If he dies you can continue playing to explore the map and earn a better score, but won't be able to see the cool ending and learn what happens next.
- Every map will have at least one area with a powerful enemy, which you should avoid until you've gained enough allies/weapons/spells/items to have a chance of defeating (warning: in some maps that enemy will leave their starting area).
- Despite the lack of UI info to confirm your intuition, assume that weapons you'd expect to be better actually are.
- If you have any non-controllable allies following you (like certain summons/servants), press/hold 'F' ("friendlies") to highlight them, even if outside your FOV. (This is a change from the 'C' key used in earlier versions to highlight only civilian followers in Cataclysm.)
- Probably the most annoying thing about using spells/abilities is that if one is red on the list, it won't tell you why (instead giving you a stupid message saying you can't use any abilities at all, which may or may not even be true). If not because you lack sufficient TU/EN (which should be obvious because it shows the numbers), it's almost certainly because you're missing a spell component or focus required to cast that spell, or don't meet some other special condition like the cooldown wait time. Re-reading the tome(s)/book(s) you find to be sure you know the casting requirements for each spell will help clear that up.
- If you have enough screen space (1280x960), you'll notice I included a new fantasy style text font which will be loaded by default, but you can always switch back to a different font or smaller window. There's actually a second fantasy font choice at that same size, but I don't think it looks nearly as good. Note that if you have a slower computer the larger window size can slow down the game as the engine is not yet optimized.
So get out there and come back with a tale for us! Share stories in the comments, Bay 12, or the forums, and if there are enough interesting ones I may highlight them in a future post.
Note: A Rookie's Tale does not come with the standard X@COM download. As a mod, you'll find it as a stand-alone program under the mods section of the files page.
Technical/Modding Addendum:
So to re-cap why I'm modding my own game (which may seem like an odd thing to do during alpha development): Rookie's Tale is an example of the wide variety of content you can include 100% by mod--every bit of content you see is scripted in text files that are parsed and run through the X@COM squad-based tactical simulator which sits on top of Rogue Engine X (the same engine that runs Cogmind, which kicked butt in this year's RotY poll, btw).
Because I know the engine best, it made sense that I create an extensive mod to both make sure everything actually does work (Cataclysm only used a subset), and provide examples for other modders to learn from. In fact I myself even learned a hell of a lot doing this, since it's a very generic system which can do things I never planned nor expected. (It's alive!) I'll be posting a lot of the tips and tricks I found on the forum so other modders can make their own missions more expressive, too.
On the coding side, the dynamic content system was fleshed out considerably as I encountered little things here and there (everywhere...) where adding just another setting or two could open up a whole new range of possibilities. This eventually resulted in a massive number of internal changes/improvements. My changelog since the last release (8.2) is crazy long--not much for the public changelog, though, and no major new features, so this isn't R9.
One of the more noteworthy non-technical improvements that came about as a result of this mod is different FOV shapes, set by race. Armors can also modify the wearer's FOV and sight range, such as restrictive medieval armor or high-tech armor with extra sensors that pass on more information about the surroundings. In Rookie's Tale, the few armors that do this will warn you with a message, and you can always check your FOV visualization ('f').
There's a heck of a lot more that could be done with this mod, and it could easily be expanded into a true full game given more map chunks (which would make for fewer chaotic maps due to a wider pool to choose from, thereby enabling finer control over what pieces are placed near what--I didn't actually use that feature) and even more interactivity with objects and NPCs, but I have to stop somewhere.
If you would like to make your own fantasy mod, you could always rip parts from Rookie's Tale, or just use all the data objects to create a different scenario by creating new areas (though that's probably the most annoying part until we have a proper map editor).
Also a heads up: There's a WH40k mod in the works now. Interested players can check it out on the forum and give it a run to provide the author with some pre-release feedback if so inclined.
Special thanks to all the forum members who helped playtest this mod prior to release, especially 10101, our resident binary German :) Seriously, without him I wouldn't have been able to both test and fix all the issues we resolved and still release on time. With so much content to play through, though, there could be some issues we didn't find. Report them and they shall be fixed. I'll even throw in some new areas in the update.
A Rookie's Tale is actually the first in a four-part series following Victor before he makes it back to Earth (the other three parts being sci-fi/alien), though I doubt I'll actually go through with the others. Anyway, Now that I've gotten my fantasy fix and made good use of it, next we're back to your [ir]regularly scheduled tactical sci-fi program[/game].
Nerd Aesthetics
by Kyzrati on 20130101 , under
Work continues on the new mod, which is now mostly content-complete and soon to enter the playtesting/tweaking phase for a release sometime within the next week or so.
My own personal time sink (read: son) has been performing his role quite effectively, so I've been spending more time away from the computer in recent weeks. Seeing as how I'm still always home, and X@COM rarely leaves the screen so that I can type up new additions whenever I have a spare moment, while working on this mod I've had many a chance to gaze (longingly :)) atthat this screen.
I love working with pretty data, lots and lots of pleasingly-colored data that lines up nicely and makes my eyes happy without killing them after staring at it for hours.* Maybe it's just nerd aesthetics getting the better of me, but seeing the data even from a distance is fun, so I've recreated the effect by taking screenshots during development and shrinking them down here. No need to read the content (which is too blurry, anyway), just enjoy the images. Of course you can always read the content when the mod is released, but that's not the point here (you also may not have as large a screen(s) as I do = less beautiful).
By percentage, coding has taken up far less of my time lately since this scenario (introduced in the previous post) is a mod, and therefore implemented entirely through text scripts.** So what you see here isn't source code, it's the scripts as they appear when viewed with X@COM-specific syntax highlighting.*** (My source is very organized and has some interesting shapes and color combinations to it as well, so I should put up shots of that some time.)
Here I'm designing props to be placed into the world. Their properties are listed on the top and some map pieces used in random generation can be seen at the bottom.
Entities (units) and their stats are listed at the top here while I work on defining the effects of their special abilities on the bottom.
Here I'm putting together the map pieces in earnest, placing objects and determining their behavior through the spawning scripts seen at the top.
Many new armor types here (since you can now swap out armor), some that enable special abilities.
All these new units (top), items, and abilities need cool new particle effects (bottom) to go with them. I've pretty much doubled the existing library of particle effects with this mod.
So barring the end of the world (I think we're past that now, right?), you should be able to play this soon.
*Less of a problem now, I must admit, since 15+ hour coding sessions died last year, sacrificed at the altar of awesome parenthood so that my son could be born into this world! Cogmind was essentially the sacrificial lamb, by the way, being perhaps the last such project I'll ever have the concentration of time to undertake in so short a time span. (FYI: Both he and Cogmind were born around the same time.)
**However, there has been a large number of small changes throughout the code responsible for handling object interaction, since that's what this mod is mostly about--increased interaction/dynamic content capable of expressing a greater range of roguelike/RPG features beyond your standard tactical squad simulator.
***And it's not just a few scripts, either. I've churned out a good 5,000 lines of content (hopefully equivalent to "5,000 lines of good content" ;p) in just a few weeks, half of those controlling abilities and interactive environments, in addition to hundreds of new units, many hundreds of items, etc.
Thanks to everyone who voted in the Roguelike of the Year 2012 poll. X@COM did better than last year (all I was hoping for) and we were still in the top 20 despite the inclusion of a greater number of commercial games this year. You can see a rundown of the poll results here as analyzed so nicely by Jo at Rogue Temple. (Cogmind did great, too!)
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My own personal time sink (read: son) has been performing his role quite effectively, so I've been spending more time away from the computer in recent weeks. Seeing as how I'm still always home, and X@COM rarely leaves the screen so that I can type up new additions whenever I have a spare moment, while working on this mod I've had many a chance to gaze (longingly :)) at
I love working with pretty data, lots and lots of pleasingly-colored data that lines up nicely and makes my eyes happy without killing them after staring at it for hours.* Maybe it's just nerd aesthetics getting the better of me, but seeing the data even from a distance is fun, so I've recreated the effect by taking screenshots during development and shrinking them down here. No need to read the content (which is too blurry, anyway), just enjoy the images. Of course you can always read the content when the mod is released, but that's not the point here (you also may not have as large a screen(s) as I do = less beautiful).
By percentage, coding has taken up far less of my time lately since this scenario (introduced in the previous post) is a mod, and therefore implemented entirely through text scripts.** So what you see here isn't source code, it's the scripts as they appear when viewed with X@COM-specific syntax highlighting.*** (My source is very organized and has some interesting shapes and color combinations to it as well, so I should put up shots of that some time.)
Here I'm designing props to be placed into the world. Their properties are listed on the top and some map pieces used in random generation can be seen at the bottom.
Entities (units) and their stats are listed at the top here while I work on defining the effects of their special abilities on the bottom.
Here I'm putting together the map pieces in earnest, placing objects and determining their behavior through the spawning scripts seen at the top.
Many new armor types here (since you can now swap out armor), some that enable special abilities.
All these new units (top), items, and abilities need cool new particle effects (bottom) to go with them. I've pretty much doubled the existing library of particle effects with this mod.
So barring the end of the world (I think we're past that now, right?), you should be able to play this soon.
*Less of a problem now, I must admit, since 15+ hour coding sessions died last year, sacrificed at the altar of awesome parenthood so that my son could be born into this world! Cogmind was essentially the sacrificial lamb, by the way, being perhaps the last such project I'll ever have the concentration of time to undertake in so short a time span. (FYI: Both he and Cogmind were born around the same time.)
**However, there has been a large number of small changes throughout the code responsible for handling object interaction, since that's what this mod is mostly about--increased interaction/dynamic content capable of expressing a greater range of roguelike/RPG features beyond your standard tactical squad simulator.
***And it's not just a few scripts, either. I've churned out a good 5,000 lines of content (hopefully equivalent to "5,000 lines of good content" ;p) in just a few weeks, half of those controlling abilities and interactive environments, in addition to hundreds of new units, many hundreds of items, etc.
Thanks to everyone who voted in the Roguelike of the Year 2012 poll. X@COM did better than last year (all I was hoping for) and we were still in the top 20 despite the inclusion of a greater number of commercial games this year. You can see a rundown of the poll results here as analyzed so nicely by Jo at Rogue Temple. (Cogmind did great, too!)
Case File: Victor Wade, Legend
by Kyzrati on 20121216 , under
A little teaser, the intro text for what I'm working on. I wanted to have it ready around mid-December, but I also prefer to include nearly everything in the design doc to retain as much epic potential as possible, and those two goals are definitely at odds with one another. Having no strict deadlines, I made the obvious choice ;p
Mechanics and core content have been finished for a while, but it comes with a huge amount of dynamic content and map areas that have yet to be completed. I'm gradually working down the long list of the latter--eight unique starting areas are already complete, as are two possible boss areas (huge on their own). Then comes several more boss areas and all the little interesting areas in between. Should be fun.
For anyone who didn't read about recent progress, this is the project I was talking about last month (see post), aimed at testing more engine features and making sure it's up to the task of handling all manner of craziness. So far I'm very satisfied, as it is apparently capable of handling a lot of unexpected features.
Also, just like last year, Roguelike of the Year voting has begun. It's not a competition, just an expression of support, so if you like X@COM (and Cogmind for that matter, which was also released this year), head over there and vote for us along with any other roguelikes you've enjoyed this year!
Mod: "Assault"
by Kyzrati on 20121125 , under Mods
We have our second full mod, this time from Draxis!
Lead a semi-randomly outfitted squad of fully-armed soldiers to take an alien base in Assault. Quite a nostalgic mission, as the design is based on the original alien base assault from X-COM! Most of the gear is standard, though you may have access to the flamethrower as well, which will come in handy if the chryssalids get some of your guys.
Check out some maps generated by Draxis' mod:
I played several games, and in the last was on track to win without losing a single soldier, if not for my own Wolfgang's stupidity. Just before taking the command center the squad used a stolen small launcher to fire back into the darkness from where we were taking heavy fire; advancing forward we found a pile of unconscious snakemen bodies, yay! After everyone passed that spot, Wolfgang decided to do away with the bodies before moving on (didn't want to risk any of them coming to, nor waste time picking up all their weapons). Prime alien grenade for immediate detonation... forget to leave enough time to get around the corner... ka-boom, Wolfgang joins the pile of snakemen bodies.
Get your own copy from the files page!
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Lead a semi-randomly outfitted squad of fully-armed soldiers to take an alien base in Assault. Quite a nostalgic mission, as the design is based on the original alien base assault from X-COM! Most of the gear is standard, though you may have access to the flamethrower as well, which will come in handy if the chryssalids get some of your guys.
Check out some maps generated by Draxis' mod:
Get your own copy from the files page!
Great Leap Sideways
by Kyzrati on 20121117 , under
So... according to the Roadmap I should be working on testing out more facets of the sound support right now.
I'm not.
There are several invisible/unannounced priorities that are injecting themselves into that list, many of them internal changes, the benefits of which may or may not be immediately apparent (to you--I know perfectly well what I'm doing. We hope ;p).
While it seems things have been pretty quiet on my front, it's not for lack of progress, as I've been working on Secret Project No. 47. To put it in non-secret terms, I'm expanding the capabilities of the existing game systems for both better modding potential and more interesting features aimed at the future of X@COM.
Adding official (albeit partial) modding support in R8 turned out to be a wonderful idea, because it'll ensure that at its very core the game supports elements that are both useful and desirable, and that support is built in from the start.
After all, X-COM is not the "goal" of this project; it's merely a starting point. Already we've seen the addition of many elements you won't find in the original, even though for a long time now I've restrained myself from straying too far beyond abstracted recreations of the original mechanics, as I didn't want to get bogged down by the dreaded Feature Creep many epic projects tend to face. (In case you weren't aware, X@COM will be epic, just like you know you want it.)
With the completion of battlescape mechanics in R8, before going much further (i.e., pushing forward with sound and interface development) I'd like to build a stronger foundation for what's to come. Converting armor from a static part of a unit equipped before battle to an item potentially swappable in the field (see earlier post) is representative of the kind of work I'm doing now.
That said, I'm not blindly coding new features here--exploring the possibilities and limits of the game is best done with a usable (and preferably enjoyable) testbed.
Thus I'm guided by design.
Because I'm working on a mod.
Yes, I'm modding my own game :)
It's a rather radical diversion from X-COM, but "diversion" only in the content sense, certainly not the progress sense, as this is indeed expanding the game in some very useful and desirable ways. Project 47 is going to make Cataclysm look like the uneventful sandbox testing map.
There's still much to do because I keep sidetracking myself by coding new features (RL, the non-roguelike variety, is also conspiring to slow me down), but in the meantime, at least one or two more third-party mods will hopefully be ready for you to play around with while you wait for R8.3. And thanks to all current and future modders, who are also helping guide this process by showing me what they want to be able to do, which may or may not yet be available.
I suppose this is really only one part of the Leap, and it's more of a series of skips (but skipping is decidedly non-manly, so we're Leaping), since after this there'll be more intermediary issues I want to tackle before branching off into new areas, but I'll post about those another time.
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I'm not.
There are several invisible/unannounced priorities that are injecting themselves into that list, many of them internal changes, the benefits of which may or may not be immediately apparent (to you--I know perfectly well what I'm doing. We hope ;p).
While it seems things have been pretty quiet on my front, it's not for lack of progress, as I've been working on Secret Project No. 47. To put it in non-secret terms, I'm expanding the capabilities of the existing game systems for both better modding potential and more interesting features aimed at the future of X@COM.
Adding official (albeit partial) modding support in R8 turned out to be a wonderful idea, because it'll ensure that at its very core the game supports elements that are both useful and desirable, and that support is built in from the start.
After all, X-COM is not the "goal" of this project; it's merely a starting point. Already we've seen the addition of many elements you won't find in the original, even though for a long time now I've restrained myself from straying too far beyond abstracted recreations of the original mechanics, as I didn't want to get bogged down by the dreaded Feature Creep many epic projects tend to face. (In case you weren't aware, X@COM will be epic, just like you know you want it.)
With the completion of battlescape mechanics in R8, before going much further (i.e., pushing forward with sound and interface development) I'd like to build a stronger foundation for what's to come. Converting armor from a static part of a unit equipped before battle to an item potentially swappable in the field (see earlier post) is representative of the kind of work I'm doing now.
That said, I'm not blindly coding new features here--exploring the possibilities and limits of the game is best done with a usable (and preferably enjoyable) testbed.
Thus I'm guided by design.
Because I'm working on a mod.
Yes, I'm modding my own game :)
It's a rather radical diversion from X-COM, but "diversion" only in the content sense, certainly not the progress sense, as this is indeed expanding the game in some very useful and desirable ways. Project 47 is going to make Cataclysm look like the uneventful sandbox testing map.
There's still much to do because I keep sidetracking myself by coding new features (RL, the non-roguelike variety, is also conspiring to slow me down), but in the meantime, at least one or two more third-party mods will hopefully be ready for you to play around with while you wait for R8.3. And thanks to all current and future modders, who are also helping guide this process by showing me what they want to be able to do, which may or may not yet be available.
I suppose this is really only one part of the Leap, and it's more of a series of skips (but skipping is decidedly non-manly, so we're Leaping), since after this there'll be more intermediary issues I want to tackle before branching off into new areas, but I'll post about those another time.
Mod: "Aggression"
by Kyzrati on 20121031 , under Mods
And we have our first total conversion by Andrew Sundberg! (maker of Cataclysm+)
Take control of a party of orcish raiders as they put the smack down on a human town, or die trying. The party is led by the warlord himself, supported by grunts, archers, a varg, and the oh-so-deadly Elder. Face off against guards, adventurers, mounted knights, mages, monks and more. And don't forget to slay some peasants!
Here is my gang of orcs after having cut a bloody path through the town, now preparing to break into the graveyard crypt to find out what's in those sarcophagi:
And here were the results of my last test run (I didn't even use my fuming vials!):
Not quite as good as my first run using an earlier version, but Aggression got a bit more difficult since then :)
So go get some Aggression on the files page, and if you'd like to discuss it feel free to join us on Bay 12 or the X@COM modding forum.
This mod wasn't too long in the making--most dev time was consumed by tweaking and balancing, then it sat around in the incubator forum while playtesters gave it a spin (and I've been waiting to upload it since the primary server is down). Expect even greater work from Andrew and other modders in the future!
Note: The primary server is still down, so the site looks a bit weird without its proper fonts and images, including the background image... Downloads are fine though, since I've set up a mirror.
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Take control of a party of orcish raiders as they put the smack down on a human town, or die trying. The party is led by the warlord himself, supported by grunts, archers, a varg, and the oh-so-deadly Elder. Face off against guards, adventurers, mounted knights, mages, monks and more. And don't forget to slay some peasants!
Here is my gang of orcs after having cut a bloody path through the town, now preparing to break into the graveyard crypt to find out what's in those sarcophagi:
And here were the results of my last test run (I didn't even use my fuming vials!):
So go get some Aggression on the files page, and if you'd like to discuss it feel free to join us on Bay 12 or the X@COM modding forum.
This mod wasn't too long in the making--most dev time was consumed by tweaking and balancing, then it sat around in the incubator forum while playtesters gave it a spin (and I've been waiting to upload it since the primary server is down). Expect even greater work from Andrew and other modders in the future!
Note: The primary server is still down, so the site looks a bit weird without its proper fonts and images, including the background image... Downloads are fine though, since I've set up a mirror.
R8, Now with Extra 0.1
by Kyzrati on 20121023 , under Progress
R8 just got a little update, mostly just bugfixes for new features the modders are using, along with a slew of internal tweaks to help them improve existing mods and bring you even better ones.
Of course there is one big change for players: Armor is now an item that can be removed, as described in the previous post. Ctrl-r is the key to both equip and remove armor, which requires two free hands. These actions can also be performed by mouse through the inventory screen. Most of the regular armors are not removable, but for now it'll at least be of some help in Cataclysm since you can pick up bulletproof vests and the like off dead policemen and unique units.
You'll need to grab the new version to play future mod releases, and I updated Cataclysm+ to v3--it's now compatible with 8.1.
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Of course there is one big change for players: Armor is now an item that can be removed, as described in the previous post. Ctrl-r is the key to both equip and remove armor, which requires two free hands. These actions can also be performed by mouse through the inventory screen. Most of the regular armors are not removable, but for now it'll at least be of some help in Cataclysm since you can pick up bulletproof vests and the like off dead policemen and unique units.
You'll need to grab the new version to play future mod releases, and I updated Cataclysm+ to v3--it's now compatible with 8.1.