Last man Standing

[The Veteran]

Ok so since my triumphant yet ever so modest return to the forums I've noticed a serious lack of old blood in the topics I've been discussing. Of course I'm referring to the hardcore XCommers who were here before I was and have stayed here ever since. Not this young blood who found Enforcer in a bargain bin or the wishy washy types who stop in for tea but then leave before the kettles boiled (that'll be me by the way!) I mean the real fans who were already deemed adults when the first game was released and still play it everyday. The guys who don't like the Aftermath series on the pure basis that it isn't actually XCom and have at some point or another attempted to build their own laser rifle.

 

Now I was never under any illusion as to why this was the case and the responses I have had since my return have been more than enough to answer some questions and ask some new ones. That's not really the point though.

 

As far as I can tell, people have been so disappointed by so many projects so many times they seem to have pretty much given up hope on any XCom project ever pulling through.

 

Now I can understand that but I think it's very sad... And to further elaborate on why I can understand that lets just say I've done my homework on some of the other projects that were out there and none of them seemed to be putting up much of a fight on the way down!

 

The fact is though, that's them and this is us. When Colonisation started up the first time round there were essentially three people at the helm throughout the whole thing and from the commitment of just those three people we were able to create playable demos, screenshots, concept art and more! The original interview I did for the project here on StrategyCore is still in the same place it was all those years ago and every time I reread it I'm amazed by how far we actually got as a small disorganised team.

 

This time we've put together a real team with experienced members, designers and developers who aren't doing it because they're massive fans but because they can see when a game has a future. I know we went down once too and it lasted for way too long but things now are very different than they were back then and it's not going to happen again, not while I can do anything about it!

 

Regardless of all of this though I can't pull this off without support from the Xcommunity and we need to know that we're heading in the right direction and ticking all the right boxes. I remember when UFO :Aftermat and UFO : Extraterrestrials were just rumours that we ddin't want to believe and now they're all out in the shops, one with two sequels! Given time and commitment there's no reason a project started by inexperienced fans couldn't turn into a similar success, but truth be told it's incredibly unlikely. That's why we need more than time and commitment, we need support and lots of it. We need to cause a buzz and attract some well-needed attention. Once the ball starts rolling down that track it won't stop unless we make it so all we need is a push to get started.

 

Check out the other threads I've updated in the colonisation section and if you're still sceptical check out all of the other forums under 'special projects' and then check out colonisation again. We need Developers, people to help us with the code. We need more artists too or the guys and gal we already have will be struggling for a very long time! If you were on the team before now's your chance to come back and finish what you started! Just remember how much you love this franchise and think what it would be like to play a brand new game. You could not only do that but you could help make it happen!

 

Don't think it can't happen just because it hasn't so far. Don't give up on us and we won't give up on you.

[FullAuto]

'Bout time!

 

Sorry I can't help, chap, but my technical level of skill resembles a monkey with its thumbs cut off. Bloody good luck though, and you know fine well this is the community that loves to lurk.

 

I doubt whipping up publicity will be a problem, Extraterrestrials did it, and people do take note of indie devs nowadays (sometimes).

[The Veteran]

Cheers FA, I guess really we've been lurking a bit too but you'd have to be a bit crazy to show your hand when your holding all 2s!

 

It's a bit later in the day now though so it's all starting to come together into a coherent project. Got myself 2 new devs since my last post in fact so things are already looking up a little! We will be starting from scratch with the code though as we're changin engines due to the loss of our lead dev. Anyhow that's in the wrong topic so I'll leave it there!

 

Thanks for your support FA! Let me know if you come across any coders in your travels! I was thinking the other doomed projects may have some talent to contribute but not sure who they are or how to find them!

[Zombie]

Ok so since my triumphant yet ever so modest return to the forums I've noticed a serious lack of old blood in the topics I've been discussing. Of course I'm referring to the hardcore XCommers who were here before I was and have stayed here ever since. Not this young blood who found Enforcer in a bargain bin or the wishy washy types who stop in for tea but then leave before the kettles boiled (that'll be me by the way!) I mean the real fans who were already deemed adults when the first game was released and still play it everyday. The guys who don't like the Aftermath series on the pure basis that it isn't actually XCom and have at some point or another attempted to build their own laser rifle.

Admittedly I've been around the block a few times, but like FA have few talents to offer. My programming experience, while once meaningful, is quite useless these days when everyone is using C++ or the likes. I have a little artistic talent but nothing really exciting or impressive. Just about the only thing I'm good at is looking at stats. If you ever get to the point of adding stats to your game, drop me a PM and I'll be happy to give it a once-over.

 

Cheers FA, I guess really we've been lurking a bit too but you'd have to be a bit crazy to show your hand when your holding all 2s!

Depends if the ducks are wild or you are holding a joker too. Five of a kind is hard to beat.

 

Thanks for your support FA! Let me know if you come across any coders in your travels! I was thinking the other doomed projects may have some talent to contribute but not sure who they are or how to find them!

While possible you might be able to do a little headhunting for talent, you might be just as better off to find new talent. One issue you will find from people involved with the other projects is a lack of interest/time due to real life. You can't get around this no matter what you do, unless it is a paying job as money will keep the member focused...

 

- Zombie

[The Veteran]

Well good news is we now have 3 devs so I'm happier today than I was yesterday! And I wasn't unhappy yesterday so that's good!

 

As I said we're still looking to expand the team on pretty much every front but yeah dev skills would be best! That said I've just finished working on the second weapon research tree yesterday and all of the weapons, vehicles, armour etc will need to be balanced stat-wise before the end so maybe you could have a look at some numbers for us later on!

 

Nothing much else has happened since yesterday but getting our hands on another developer is enough to satisfy me for a nice long time! I think with one more person on the team we'll be looking at choosing an engine and getting down to some serious work. So far I've had the Unreal engine suggested to me by several people but I'm not a dev mysef so I'm not sure how compatible it would be with XCom style gameplay features. Another suggestion is OGRE which I've been told is more suited to our project but probably not as widespread as the Unreal engine.

 

I think I may start a thread for discussion of engines in fact so anyone with any knowledge of them should pop in and let me know!

 

Thanks for your response to this thread too zombie, it's nice to see the oldies coming back out from the shadows and risking their feelings with another 'special project'! I promise we're going to do the best we can for all of you!!!