Easter Egg Missions?

[Pringle]

Just a thought, its not really important but I thought it'd be a nice little touch...

 

Terror Missions:

I am assuming you are going to use randomised maps for terror missions; and I'm guessing it will work by selecting certain 'locations' from an array or something similar.

 

If you enter a terror mission on a certain date simply change the array it recieves its data from.

 

If you go on a terror mission between 20-31st of December it can have -mas decorations up.

 

If you go on a terror mission on October 31st you can have halloween decorations, as an added twist civilians could 'look' like various aliens (costumes); this would however be quite evil

 

As a bit more work you could even make it location specific; thanksgiving and independance day in America; the chinese new year; etc...

 

Crop Circles

You quite often end up battling in crop fields, why not have crop circles just for fun

 

Anyway, they're not important but I thought they might make a nice little Easter Egg

[margant]

Not all people in the world selebrate these hollidays. It is a waste of time and work hours to do this kind of specifications for north America region only... plus I dont suppose you thought about having all the other countires national holidays decorations included as well did u?

[XcomVic]

why not have it so that it IS specific region only (in game, not when distributed).... whatever these countries celebrate and when can be a deciding factor, like if you have a terror mission in china around their new year's (somewhere in feb I think) and another in US and other parts around Jan 1st.... btw, you should take some serious consideration on this and not write it off so fast. We are all just trying to make the game better, AREN'T we? SO I thought that input was acceptable by every party participating, even non-programmers.... just my opinion though.....

[margant]

Participation is very welcome. Just remind yourself how can this affect the work of the people who make this into life.

In any case some ideas that seem "not so good" maybe the touch that spices up the game afterall. Fine I agree... altho there are 2 ways to look :

1 how cool what that be

and

2 - how difficult it is to make this.

 

so being a programmer I take the 2nd side more often.. hehe.

:alienmad: :alienmad: :alienmad:

p.s. In any case no ideas are stupid, so speak up people !!

[XcomVic]

I know that it might be difficult to implement some of the ideas, because of them being so hard, you all must be amatuer programmers then if you can't add a few more sprites to things:) I am just joking btw, I wish I had at least half the knowledge you all have in programming:(

[Pringle]

Well I did say in my post that I didn't think it was important, just a nice touch if you had time.

 

I don't see how it would be that difficult depending on how the map's are generated...

 

You'll have to generate maps from different graphics sets anyway for things like the farm house, city, desert, etc; it doesn't seem like it'd be difficult to add in an 'IF THEN ELSE' statement of somekind...

 

If Date = 31/10/* Then

Load From Array "Halloween"

Else

Load From Array "City"

End If

 

Or something of the sort...

 

I don't actually know what programming language you are using or even if you will be loading maps in that fasion so obviously your the best judge of whether it'd be feasable or not...

 

Anyway, I appologise if I came across wrong, I didn't mean that it was vital or anything; I just thought it'd be a nice little quirk in the game...

[red knight]

I know that it might be difficult to implement some of the ideas, because of them being so hard, you all must be amatuer programmers then if you can't add a few more sprites to things:)  I am just joking btw, I wish I had at least half the knowledge you all have in programming:(

I agree with margent about the difficulties, but in this case the dificulty is not on our side... We dont have 3D Modellers, the dificulty in this case is for the ones that will (eventually) contribute with the art, as far as the programming is concerned you can make a little discrimination about what 3d model to load, just have a little class that acts as a proxy to the real model, based on the day and the location... but the idea is far from being feasible because of the lack of artists... (even though we got all the artist we need, it is required a lot of work to make a visually medium quality game, just scale it by a very big constant to make it visually appealing)...

 

However the idea was good...

 

Greetings

Red Knight

[Guest stewart]

I don't see a big problem with adding little touches like that. It's a few extra lines of code (if someone wants to bother to add them) and some extra resources. The harder part will be cultural things which are based on the moon. Crop circles is an idea brought up earlier too (hmm? now who thought of that originally????)

[margant]

Hm .. true Red Knight.

The scripting part would not be that painful, and I know what you are saying Pringle .. of course this is not quite as loading arrays .. but we would neeed textures (NOT SPRITES XCOMVIK, spires are for 2d engines, here the battlescape is 3d) and proper implementation that would take up time.

 

Hm .. i always thought that the idea is cool, I just expressed my opinion about the ratio of RealyHaveToBeDone/WorthImplementing.

 

so good going guys. Non programmers can come up with all the cool stuff since they might not be as constraint in the points of view (worry about how to do it and so on).

 

p.s no offence was meant by my commentaries

:alienmad: :alienmad: :alienmad:

[Pringle]

Right then, could some clarify this for me then please?

 

The battle scape is going to be made up completely of 3D entities?

 

I haven't checked everything but last I heard was that you were using 2D graphics with an invisible 3D poly overlayed for targetting, etc...

 

Or I'm possibly thinking about a completely different game...

 

So is all the artwork going to be 3D?

[red knight]

1) The battle scape is going to be made up completely of 3D entities?

 

2) I haven't checked everything but last I heard was that you were using 2D graphics with an invisible 3D poly overlayed for targetting, etc... Or I'm possibly thinking about a completely different game...

 

3) So is all the artwork going to be 3D?

I will address them in diferent paragraphs

 

1) Yes...

2) Yes, you maybe had been thinking on a pretty different game... The battlescape will be completly 3D, all including the soldiers... With exactly the same functionality of the old one, but free movement (no squares) taking into account TU spending of course...

3) Yes, for a 3D game, 3D models is the very best approach....

 

Greetings

Red Knight

[Pringle]

Ok thanks Red Knight... now that I think about it you had been considering 1st person view which kind of implies its going to be 3D anyway, I should have thought about it...

 

So does that mean we'll have a rotatable/zoomable view? Or will the camera be fixed?

[red knight]

Ok thanks Red Knight... now that I think about it you had been considering 1st person view which kind of implies its going to be 3D anyway, I should have thought about it...

 

So does that mean we'll have a rotatable/zoomable view? Or will the camera be fixed?

I dont like the idea of 1st person viewpoint, but it is not dificult to implement... A month ago, i dont remember if it was on a thread or in the chat i had explained that isometric view is not restricted to 2D... in fact isometric view is not more than a camera constraint... The idea is to let the camera to point down on a 45 degrees with the ground, and constrain it to move on the XY plane (Z is fixed), in that way you get an isometric view on a completly 3D game. The result is that you can rotate and zoom without losing the isometric feel. Warcraft 3 use something alike, take a look at it.

 

Greetings

Red Knight

[gangsta]

Ok thanks Red Knight... now that I think about it you had been considering 1st person view which kind of implies its going to be 3D anyway, I should have thought about it...

 

So does that mean we'll have a rotatable/zoomable view? Or will the camera be fixed?

well the remake will be 3rd person. 1st person view will be easily added and I think stewy been the one who mentioned it alot. I think the game will still be designed from the 3rd person perspective.

[Pringle]

Yeah, I agree, I think 1st person would lose the feel of X-Com; zoomable/rotatable view would be nice though

[War_Lord]

Time to throw in my two cents:

 

RedKnight is right, practically none of the difficulty in adding seasonal type graphics to the game is going to be heaped on the programmers - it's a relatively simple task to program, but the amount of work it's going to cause for the poor 3D artists we get could range from challenging to impossible, depending on how many different types of textures we're going to need him/them to design (and how many "holidays" we're going to need them to draw for in each of the different texture groups already needed).

 

Since (last I checked) we don't have ANY 3D modellers, we're already up crap creek without a paddle in that regard, and we're not going to have too many 3d artists chomping at the bit to come and let us overwork them for absolutely no pay.

 

But I agree that the idea is good, and assuming we can find the artists to make it work I don't see why we shouldn't (as programmers) take the extra few minutes to implement it.

 

On the subject of 1st vs. 3rd person (which has come up all over the place like a virus in the other forums): We more or less came to the conclusion that the game is (and has to be) 3rd person, with the _possible_ addition of being able to pull into a units body for a first person view (just takes changing the camera position temporarily, really, right RedKnight?).

 

I also want to make a note here to the programmers involved: it's important we try to keep from being biased on ideas purely based on the difficulty of doing them, and I know margant wasn't trying to do this, but he brought up a good point (for the programmers to consider, I don't want you non-programmers even thinking about the difficulty of any task, because it will hurt the creative process): after ideas have been brainstormed we'll go through the tedious process of deciding which are "more trouble than they're worth", but until then lets keep the ideas flowing... no need to cut off our creative flow, we'll worry about what can and cannot be done as time goes on.

 

Anyone got around to documenting and summarizing these forums yet (I'm looking in your direction, DN)? If not, lets get on that so we can have people browse an overall summary and hopefully cut down on repeat topics creeping up in every topic, eh?

 

My two cents, take em or leave em.

[red knight]

On the subject of 1st vs. 3rd person (which has come up all over the place like a virus in the other forums):  We more or less came to the conclusion that the game is (and has to be) 3rd person, with the _possible_ addition of being able to pull into a units body for a first person view (just takes changing the camera position temporarily, really, right RedKnight?).

You are right, and a model of the arm of the player and a close up model of the weapon used. Just like any FPS in the market... I had almost forgot, the camera must be able to be attached to every movable object (in this case the soldier). In summary: Not a difficult task.

 

Greetings

Red Knight

[gangsta]

Well was me who's been bringing up the point over and over again when people say that we can just make our own aliens that we are dependent on the models from the last hope group. As for the view thing in order to keep the feel of the original game we have to do it 3rd person. First person just doesn't work in stratagy games as the main view.. perhaps there some places where switching to first person view could work like searching through a government office for top secret files.

[Pringle]

I don't think an optional first person view would be a problem; not particularly difficult to implement and as long as its only optional it shouldn't ruin the feel of the game; but if we're keeping the game turn based what would be the real point? It's not like it'd be a first person shooter or anything; aliens would be static, etc...

 

Of course; if different modes are going to be implemented as Gangsta keeps saying then I suppose you could do a real time system but that'd be more work, don't know how hard it'd be (haven't done a lot of game programming)...

[Devatar]

"Anyone got around to documenting and summarizing these forums yet (I'm looking in your direction, DN)? If not, lets get on that so we can have people browse an overall summary and hopefully cut down on repeat topics creeping up in every topic, eh?"

 

Uhuh, that should be me, Warlord, at least where the combat mode and stuff is concerned. But I haven't really gotten around to doing it yet. Lots of quizzes this week, and break's not until friday, so I don't have a lot of time. I promise I'll start this weekend. Sorry!

[margant]

Devatar. I have started documenting general stuff. See thread

Documentation Process Started started by me and at the bottom there is a link to the text doc. U can PM me with info and I will update it on the site or just post the newer text doc in the thread itself

 

Good luck with quizzes, I have 0 time now because of similar problems so I can be here much. Adios

:alientalk: :alientalk: :alientalk:

[Devatar]

Thanks Margant! I just got through the first smoldering barrage of tests. AND DID I WHOOP SOME SERIOUS donkey!!!! (which still doesn't get me near passing.)

 

Anyway, I still have two more damn test days to go, but I'll pretty much be living in this forum by next week. (Anyone have a really good couch?)

[gangsta]

I don't think an optional first person view would be a problem; not particularly difficult to implement and as long as its only optional it shouldn't ruin the feel of the game; but if we're keeping the game turn based what would be the real point? It's not like it'd be a first person shooter or anything; aliens would be static, etc...

 

Of course; if different modes are going to be implemented as Gangsta keeps saying then I suppose you could do a real time system but that'd be more work, don't know how hard it'd be (haven't done a lot of game programming)...

Well I don't know about supporting a realtime system. And yes I've been saying supporting first person view won't be a problem. First Person doesn't work for stratagy games just for shooters and RPGs I think. But there can be special cases here where we might use it as part of the game play in the future. Say like you have to search the office of some government that supports the aliens for a specific file. Then whenever you are at a desk you could look around using the first person view to find the item. This is a very special case and something I would hold off implementing till the game at least plays like X-Com 1.

[Deimos]

Of course; if different modes are going to be implemented as Gangsta keeps saying then I suppose you could do a real time system but that'd be more work, don't know how hard it'd be (haven't done a lot of game programming)...

Well I don't know about supporting a realtime system. And yes I've been saying supporting first person view won't be a problem. First Person doesn't work for stratagy games just for shooters and RPGs I think. But there can be special cases here where we might use it as part of the game play in the future. Say like you have to search the office of some government that supports the aliens for a specific file. Then whenever you are at a desk you could look around using the first person view to find the item. This is a very special case and something I would hold off implementing till the game at least plays like X-Com 1.

Hi I'm completley new here, having only just found the site. On the point about the first person view, how about having linked to the find alien marker, when a unit spots an alein the little red marker flashes up. When the player clicks on it "zoom" into first person to show where the alien is located. Just a thought.

Matt

[gangsta]

would lose the original X-Com feel if that is default. So I'm against it.

[Sluissi]

New here, just found the remake and it looks good, I'm all for the optional first person thing, and I just wanted to add something, it's kinda an Inspiration from one of the Alien movies.

 

Headgear Cameras. Like the marines had, maybe have it optional to turn off transparent roofs so you have to go to headgear cameras once you go into a building, it would be kinda creepy and add some atmosphere to the game. This would be optional of course, people who wanted an original X-com experience could turn transparent roofs back on and play it like the original. this shouldn't be too hard to code as long as roofs and floors(in the case of multi story buildings are seperate objects from other things(as it would probably have to be to have transparent roofs anyway)

 

just my $1.55 which I coulda used to buy a fish sandwich.

[CaptainCharisma]

Cool idea.

 

Ok about the 1st person shooter adaption.. yes.. maybe.. but its soooo overdone (X-Com Enforcer), And last time i checked, that game was on the "budget" shelf in Software etc (the software store for you euros.). In any case 1st person doesnt do this game justice. Thats not to say I wouldnt do it as an added option, just that I wouldnt do it BEFORE the isometric battlescape.

 

HOWEVER ! Consider this. You are playing X-Com 1. You equip your commander (named "Rambo") with a heavy plasma rifle, a few extra clips, and an alien launcher. You land him down on a crash site, ALONE. One man, against the alien invasion force. If you havnt tried this yet, i highy recommend it. Its very difficult, but immensely fun. My point... have any of you not played Metal Gear for playstation? Imagine a simmilar X-Com commando mode, where you send in ONE commando agent to preform special tasks (Recon, sabatoge, espionage, etc)

It still retains the X-COM strategy element but isnt purely 1st person either. Also since its just one person, it doesnt feel like Rainbow 6 or Global ops either.

 

Seriously however... its not so far fetched over what is already planned, as all it really involves is a few snazzy camera angles, and more elaboate animations for the character model (ex huggin walls, ang shooting around corners, crawling through vents....).

[Sluissi]

my suggestion wasn't to make it a first person shooter, but to make it a strategy game where inside places(under a roof) you'd have to use your squad's headgear cameras to command them instead of the isometric view. Of course, all of this would be completely optional

[Darkon]

Special events, VERY rare, friendly alien ships being chased by a hostile alien race (random species)

 

you can either shoot down the friendly alien ship, (you would have to deal with the hostile one afterwards mind and the now hostile aliens at the crash site) or shoot down the hostile ship and reap the benefits of having new alien allies! (or lots of goodies from the aliens or something)