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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Alien Race Names


Gyrfalcon No'Dessu

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Grey (inspired by Sectoid)
Spawn (inspired by Chrysallid)
Raptor (inspired by Reaper)
Ventriculant (inspired by Celatid)
Morlock (inspired by Muton)
Satyrian (inspired by Floater)
Viper (inspired by Snakeman)
Silabrate (inspired by Silicoid)
Artopod (inspired by Sectopod)
Terror Disk (inspired by Cyberdisk)
Cloak (inspired by Ethereal)

One thing I noticed about the above names is that they all are really nick-names. I mean, a sectoid is grey, snakemen look like vipers, ethernals are all in those big massive cloaks... but they're not really proper race names, you know? What I was wondering is if there has been any thought towards having a true race name in the live-alien research you gain from studying a creature or a medic. For example, The Greys may call themselves the Turanaki, it'd be sort of an interesting factoid. *shrugs*
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some of the CTDs have the REAL and scientific names in 'em But those above is the most importent, cause they are are the ones used by soldiers.
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  • 2 weeks later...
The aliens have three names.

1. Their nickname ie "Grey"
2. Their scientific name ie "HomoGreyus" or whatever the grey scientific name was
3. Their own name (what they call themselves) ie "Sagiasti" for the grey.
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Exactly, there are several names for each race. The main/most important names are the list we now have, as the game UI requires that info. Any other names will only be encountered in the X-Net text entries.
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  • 4 months later...
I think that the the "gray" and "cloak" names need to be a little bit better, I mean that is extremely cheesy to say that those are official alien names. But thats just my opinion. Other than those two, they rock!!!


:rock: Bountyhunter2211 :rock:
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  • 2 weeks later...
They look great! Sure, Grey, Viper, and Terror Disk are a bit cheesy, but I'm not one to criticise. As for the Muton name, isn't Morlock the name of those things in H.G. Wells's [u]The Time Machine[/u]? Apart from infringing on copyright things, readers may think tossing an electro-flare at one will panic one. What about. . .
Misclelock? (MIS-o-lok)
Menitor? (MEN-i-tor)
Spenfex? (SPEN-feks)
Britengen? (BRI-ten-gen)
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I think "Gray" sounds perfect. Besides, this is a strategy game, not a cheesy sci-fi novel. My only problem is the name "Viper." Again, not my decision, but I kind of liked the original Serpentoid a great deal more. Had a certain coolness to it. "Cloak" is perhaps a bit too...I don't know. Perhaps a more supernatural air would do the character good. "Spectre" sounds a bet too cheesy, but something along the lines of making the creature seem more like an apparition might be okay.

As for the "Morlock..." I don't know. Call me uncultured, but I never had the pleasure of reading/watching Time Machine.
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To get a better handle on how these names would be used, consider you're a soldier in a dropship heading towards a crash site. I see Grey and Viper rolling off a platoon sergeant's tongue better than Serpentoid. There are still 'scientific' names and the alien's own names, this list was designed as 1 of the 3.

At this point no more discussion was being done, because we wanted to get a working set of texts done. Changing names as we go requires editing all the various texts as well. Not everyone likes all the names, but when they are included in the game it will be a text file format (xml). Each person can edit that file with notepad or whatever text editor they like, and put in any set of names they choose at that point. We all probably have an alien we'll rename using 'Replace All' in our text editor.
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[quote]To get a better handle on how these names would be used, consider you're a soldier in a dropship heading towards a crash site. I see Grey and Viper rolling off a platoon sergeant's tongue better than Serpentoid. There are still 'scientific' names and the alien's own names, this list was designed as 1 of the 3.[/quote]

Good point. Again, just my thoughts on the matter.

Though, there's always the point of creative license. Sure, it's good and all that you can change things around yourself, but you do want to leave a lasting impression based on what the creators wanted. Just because I could swap things around myself doesn't make me like the game any better. ^_^
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Well, I think that these aliens aren't going to be put in any official 'Xeno-biology" book. What's my point? Any information about them is of interest only to X-Com, and x-com soldiers don't care a tiny bit about their names, they just want "to fry that alien's @$$". Thus, those names are cool as nicknames, AND give some information about the species. You know that the Greys will have grey or at least grey-like skin, for example...
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