KickStarter Phoenix Point - the new game from X-COM creator Julian Gollop

[veevoir]

Also, we should wait the final game or at least the geoscape part before butthurting...

This idea is against everything Codex stands for.

 

[Shog-goth]

Yeah, I get so mad every time I see how they're failing to live up to their promise that this will be "the real X-Com 2". Which they absolutely did promise. Uh-huh. Yep. We didn't make that up at all.

Phoenix Point is being created by Julian Gollop who was the original designer, programmer and artist of X-Com (X-Com: UFO Defense / UFO: Enemy Unknown) in 1994. Phoenix Point is a spiritual successor to the original X-Com games and hopes to invoke the same feeling and atmosphere of those classic games, retaining many of those much-loved gameplay mechanics while adding some new ones.

There is a difference between "Ufo spiritual successor retaining many of those much-loved mechanics" and "nuX-Com improved/done right". I signed up for the former but I'm probably getting the latter.

Also, we should wait the final game or at least the geoscape part before butthurting...that tactical demo pre ALPHA with almost 1\3 of the features is not enough to make points. Take chamomile and wait.

I don't have to wait the strategic layer to know that I don't like the current tactical one.

You all guys should be thankful to Firaxis.

Until they did reboot the series, the genre was dead. Thanks to its success, the genre is raising up.

Like a zombie, with just a glimpse of its former glory.

 

[PanteraNera]

Like a zombie, with just a glimpse of its former glory.

The NuGames-slogan "By Zombies for Zombies"

Zombie-gamers: "Gnaaaahhhhhh shhhhhiiiiiiiit, shhhhhhiiiiiiiiiit, gif meh moar shhhhhiiiiiiiiiiit"

 

[Mazisky]

I think Gollop knows it should be different enough from nuxcom, otherwise why playing PP? Same game with lower budget?

 

[PanteraNera]

I think Gollop knows it should be different enough from nuxcom, otherwise why playing PP? Same game with lower budget?

Exactly, that is my point the whole time. At least regarding to the tactical side, people that want a successor of the original game being butthurt because to much NuXCOM, NuXCOM-players laughing at PP for being a cheap ripoff. Worst case scenario, but not unlikely.

You can not please everyone.

But I kinda have the feeling that Gollop lost it anyways calling PP a lovechild of NuXCOM and Fallout, maybe he is just namedropping to get attention from as much NuGamers as possible, I don't know what he's thinking.

 

[Mustawd]

Honestly what is so hard to understand? PP is marketed as "from the creator of the original XCOM", why would people NOT expect it to be closer to the original game than to NuXCOM?

Umm...based on everything he's said and what was shown in the campaign?

From the Figstarter campaign:

Spoiler

Phoenix Point is the new strategy game from the creator of the original X-COM series. It features turn based tactics and world based strategy in a fight against a terrifying, alien menace.

Each mission will require you to deploy a squad of four or more soldiers, sometimes accompanied by aerial or ground based drones. Battles are turn based, with overwatch and return fire providing a great level of interaction. Soldiers have a willpower stat as well as endurance. Will points are used to spend on special abilities and strenuous physical or mental exertion.

Spoiler

Your soldiers gain experience through battles and training in specialised facilities. There are extensive skill trees for each class of soldier. Skill knowledge is developed from research and interaction with other human factions through trading, alliances or conflict.

Form the same campaign Q&A:

Spoiler

• Will the game use time units or have a 2-action system?
  
  Our tactical system is currently using something of a hybrid. Generally a character has potentially two actions per turn - movement and use of equipment. However, if an enemy is spotted while moving then the movement is halted and the player can react, either by moving or firing. This could happen multiple times per character movement. Additionally, Will Points are a very important factor. These can be used to extend movement, firing or add other actions to a soldier’s turn, depending on the abilities of the character or equipment in use.
  
  
• Will there be a pod system?
  No

• When you said 4+ squads, that means the starting lineup is 4?
  Four is the lower limit for deploying a squad, not a starting limit. Squad Sizes can be as high as 16, depending on the transport available and the type of mission. A more limiting factor on squad size would be the scarcity of recruits and ongoing injuries (or mental traumas) of soldiers.
  
  
• Will psychology play a role as well, such as panic and fear?
  Fear, panic and insanity will all play a role. Permanent mental traumas may affect the abilities, behaviour and reliability of soldiers in combat.

• Will there be a cover system?
  Yes. The cover system works in a very similar way to XCOM 2.

• How will the shooting work? Will it have more realistic ballistics simulation?
• Currently we have a system similar to modern XCOMs. We will soon prototype a more simulated ballistics system, but we have to solve some interface/feedback issues. The player needs to have a some idea of what kind of damage might be expected from a particular position. The cover system will obviously be different, and it also needs to integrate with the hit location system. We have a plan, so we will see how well it works.
  
• Is the map randomly generated?
  The battle maps will be generated using randomly selected, pre-designed components as in original X-COM and XCOM 2. We will add variable positioning of obstacles, such as barriers and vehicles. Additionally, locations may have already suffered significant battle damage before your squad arrives, creating more of an appearance of a war zone.

Again, I am seriously confused on how anyone would think it doesn't copy nuXCOM in a variety of ways. Let's recap on the similarities SOLELY based on the original fig camapig:

-GIF shown in very early development which shows nuXCOM like cinematic camera
-Game alludes to starting the game with a squad of four soldiers, which CAN be eventually be expanded to 16. Of course, 4 soldiers is also what you start with in nuXCOM... Never mind. They said 4 wasn't a starting limit per se.
-They mention soldier classes
-They specifically mention there will not be a TU system, and instead uses a hybrid AP system. I think it's easy to extrapolate it's based off nuXCOM
-They include a question about pods. Why do you think that is? Allusion to some of nuXCOM's most disliked mechanics.
-Cover system will be similar to nuXCOM2
-They mention nuXCOM2 in terms of map generation.
-Their initial prototype shooting system was similar to nuXCOM's, although now being tweaked to have more realistic ballistics.


That's just the original campaign. Look at his comments from interviews. PP is more of a remake of X-com apocalypse with some nuXCOM and x-com UDO sensibilities more than anything, based on what he's said.

https://www.polygon.com/2017/4/25/15407662/phoenix-point-julian-gollop-fig

The scale of the creatures is reminiscent of the kaiju-like enemy called the Overspawn that harassed players in X-COM: Apocalypse, and Gollop tells us that they are a very conscious attempt to capture the intended feeling of that game.

“X-COM: Apocalypse is, from my point of view, like an unfinished project,” Gollop said. “Or, at least, a project only half done in the way that I really wanted it to be done. We wanted to bring back a sense of scale to our monsters.”

Another one:

So one of the things I'm doing with Phoenix Point is taking something I did before, actually, with X-Com Apocalypse, where you had a city with different factions with different resources, and they had relationships with each other, and you could raid them, help them, or so on. So in the world of Phoenix Point, in its post-apocalyptic setting, humanity is basically fractured but there are three strong factions, and they're trying to expand and take control of things.

Do you see this as you picking up where you left off with this kind of game?

Yes, definitely. The modern XCOM has shown how amazing turn-based tactical games can be, and we are evolving on that with Phoenix Point, for sure. But on the strategic side of the game, we wanted to do something a bit different

 

[Shog-goth]

But there is a substantial difference between "take inspiration" and "straight copy". I was aware that some concession to nuXcomers was inevitable, but not at this level. Most of the "casuals" that saw the demo treated It like a "XCOM ripoff" so the problem It's not only with "UFO zealots".

 

[Shog-goth]

But I kinda have the feeling that Gollop lost it anyways calling PP a lovechild of NuXCOM and Fallout, maybe he is just namedropping to get attention from as much NuGamers as possible, I don't know what he's thinking.

To be fair I think that the quote "insane love child of X-com and Fallout" is from the journalist and not Gollop himself.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

My current attitude on PP is wait and see.

I have made no bones on my opinion about the two-action system and why it sucks - because it flattens difference between soldiers, making them more interchangeable and ignores that not every soldier is as fast as each other.

Honestly, the advantage of the 2-action system is that it makes simpler for idiots casuals. One good thing is that PP will have more soldiers than NuXcom, so at least there will be the trade-off that complexity will be superior.

Its not like my clientele matters anyway, I pirate every game I see, my new non-pirate games are gifts from fellow Codexers anyway.

 

[Mustawd]

To be fair I think that the quote "insane love child of X-com and Fallout" is from the journalist and not Gollop himself.

I think that's right, but the Fallout thing has some merit. Of course, I don't think Gollop ever mentioned Fallout? I dunno,. I haven't seen much beyond him just saying you cna target body parts and then journos kinda extrapolated that to Fallout (in this case Fallout 3. Fucking journo idiots). This is from that same Polygon article:

Players will need to make the decision during combat about which of the queen’s systems it will attack, using an interface very similar to Fallout’s VATs system.

“When you're attacking a monster,” Gollop said, “you have to decide which body part you're aiming for. Are you trying to disable its legs? You trying to disable its head? Or you just trying to disable its mist generator? Or are you trying to disable the eggs inside which are hatching into these larvae? Or do you want to try and attack it under the belly?

 

[Mustawd]

But there is a substantial difference between "take inspiration" and "straight copy".

I've read a dozen articles about PP, and the main theme among them is that:

1.) PP will use nuXCOM2 as a base for its tactical layer. This means probably UI, AP system, classes. However, he been consistent in saying that they are evolving it. Herego bullet physics, hybrid AP system, will power, the way classes/weapon equipping/inventory works.

That being said, it's very clear, at least to me, that the strategic layer is his baby. It's something he's very heavily invested in, base don all his interviews.

2.) Strategic layer will have a geoscape. It will have multiple strategic locations to visit throughout the map. It will have several factions as well as an evolving enemy. Gollop also consistently mentions how PP is envisioned as a tactical game with some 4X strategic elements.

To me that is taking inspiration from a game, copying things that made that game work, and it expanding on it generously. PP is much more than a tweaked nuXCOM tactical layer. Is it x-com? Nope. Not even close. But the tweaks made to the nuXCOM system do seem more aligned with addind complexity to the game. And the visuals also are a bit more in line with the original x-com theme and feeling.

If you'r elookng for a x-com clone, then I'd say look at Xenonauts 2. I don't think PP will be that, but FWIW I am looking forward to it.

 

[agentorange]

X-Com (and as far as I know the whole small scale, squad tactics game with Laser Squad) is Gollop's creation, so if NuXcom was based on it and made some, what he sees as, improvements, I don't see why he shouldn't be able to incorporate those into his own new game.

The design styles in Phoenix Point are certainly more similar to what I always imagined a higher fidelity X-Com game would look like, rather than the exaggeratedly cartoon style Firaxis decided on. Despite the intro to X-Com having a cartoon quality to it the game itself had a very ominous, moodiness that was completely lacking in the Firaxis games. X-Com: Apocalypse had some very grotesque alien designs, and like mustawd pointed out PP appears to be an extension of many of the mechanics Gollop and the team were exploring in that sequel. That in itself has me interested in PP, even if the hybrid AP system makes me wary.

 

[Shog-goth]

If you'r elookng for a x-com clone, then I'd say look at Xenonauts 2. I don't think PP will be that, but FWIW I am looking forward to it.

I like your reasoning and I understand your arguments but I wasn't looking for a "clone", I was looking for the UFO "spiritual successor" they promised and, to be such, PP should feature many of the mechanics of its predecessor. Instead It looks more like a total conversion of nuXCOM and, beyond the promises, the only tangible elements we have to judge spoke of "straight copy".

But I concede that there is still time and a lot to discover, so maybe the final result will be quite satisfactory also for a "zealot" like me (but not the game I hoped for).

 

[Mazisky]

But there is a substantial difference between "take inspiration" and "straight copy".

I've read a dozen articles about PP, and the main theme among them is that:

1.) PP will use nuXCOM2 as a base for its tactical layer. This means probably UI, AP system, classes. However, he been consistent in saying that they are evolving it. Herego bullet physics, hybrid AP system, will power, the way classes/weapon equipping/inventory works.

That being said, it's very clear, at least to me, that the strategic layer is his baby. It's something he's very heavily invested in, base don all his interviews.

2.) Strategic layer will have a geoscape. It will have multiple strategic locations to visit throughout the map. It will have several factions as well as an evolving enemy. Gollop also consistently mentions how PP is envisioned as a tactical game with some 4X strategic elements.

To me that is taking inspiration from a game, copying things that made that game work, and it expanding on it generously. PP is much more than a tweaked nuXCOM tactical layer. Is it x-com? Nope. Not even close. But the tweaks made to the nuXCOM system do seem more aligned with addind complexity to the game. And the visuals also are a bit more in line with the original x-com theme and feeling.

If you'r elookng for a x-com clone, then I'd say look at Xenonauts 2. I don't think PP will be that, but FWIW I am looking forward to it.

Xenonauts 2 looks more Xcom 2 than PP to be honest

 

[PanteraNera]

To be fair I think that the quote "insane love child of X-com and Fallout" is from the journalist and not Gollop himself.

True, took a second look and I think you are right, thanks for correcting m e:

mustawd.
let me put it in another context so you can truly understand:

Spoiler

You know...I mean....I have a 3 19 year old nephew and a 2 21 year old niece...and you couldn't pay me 1 billion dollars to lie to them like you lie to yourself every fucking day. Every fucking day you shave and as you wash the shit off your face you look in the mirror...and you tell yourself, "Hey....I'm doing good..haHA! People want this product. And then you go on about your day with that self assurance.

Well fuck you MLMarkland Julian Gollop . Really. I say that from on behalf of my nephew and my niece. I say that on behalf on my unborn children that I will have. I fucking hate you on behalf of my miscarried son daughter I have no contact with since her birth, that I never talk about. I fucking hate everything you stand for. I fucking hate your project. You fucking charlatan piece of shit. I hope this thing never sees the light of day you fucking asshole. This world has a lot of bad people. And you are one of them.

But that would be way to exaggerted and just not my style

• Will the game use time units or have a 2-action system?
  
  Our tactical system is currently using something of a hybrid. Generally a character has potentially two actions per turn - movement and use of equipment. However, if an enemy is spotted while moving then the movement is halted and the player can react, either by moving or firing. This could happen multiple times per character movement. Additionally, Will Points are a very important factor. These can be used to extend movement, firing or add other actions to a soldier’s turn, depending on the abilities of the character or equipment in use.

Keywords for me are here currently and hybrid.
Currently meaning to me, that it might change, is in development.
Hybrid can be anything, I was not expecting that their implementation of TU's would be just be a slightly different movement system and the rest being all NuXCOM, in regards of the 2-action system.
They should just have stated that there are no TU's and moving works slightly different from NuXCOM, that would have been easy to understand.

And still I would have hoped for and somewhat expected that there was more to it, I just didn't think that they will straight up copy NuXCOM to such a great extend. Sure it made fucking sense to me, to have a action-cam and stuff like that, to draw in more players, to get more money, all fine by me. But I hoped it's just the surface and if you dig deeper, there are more mechanic's from the original XCOM.

Also you should have quoted this as well:

Phoenix Point is being created by Julian Gollop who was the original designer, programmer and artist of X-Com (X-Com: UFO Defense / UFO: Enemy Unknown) in 1994. Phoenix Point is a spiritual successor to the original X-Com games and hopes to invoke the same feeling and atmosphere of those classic games,retaining many of those much-loved gameplay mechanics while adding some new ones.

That is a whole other story.

 

[Mustawd]

Also you should have quoted this as well:

Phoenix Point is being created by Julian Gollop who was the original designer, programmer and artist of X-Com (X-Com: UFO Defense / UFO: Enemy Unknown) in 1994. Phoenix Point is a spiritual successor to the original X-Com games and hopes to invoke the same feeling and atmosphere of those classic games,retaining many of those much-loved gameplay mechanics while adding some new ones.

That is a whole other story.

I get what you're saying, but there is a lot more evidence in that same campaign that says otherwise. And I think that a lot of these spiritual successors have shown that much of the original mechanics are just too unwieldy to sell well enough in today's market (or at least that is their own opinion). But i'm with you. It's still in development, so hopefully some changes are made that align more with the original.

 

[PanteraNera]

I get what you're saying, but there is a lot more evidence in that same campaign that says otherwise. And I think that a lot of these spiritual successors have shown that much of the original mechanics are just too unwieldy to sell well enough in today's market (or at least that is their own opinion). But i'm with you. It's still in development, so hopefully some changes are made that align more with the original.

Sure, but it's still Julian fucking Gollop, I mean I played the original X-COM day and night as a kid, I have drawn strategies in school, I was thinking about the game when I was with my parents in the woods to collect mushrooms, it's just hard to belief that this man, that have made such a visionary, great game, that still is after 24 years undoubtedly one of the best if not the best turned based tactics games of all times, makes this.

I think you are right in saying that we will probably see lots of good stuff in the geoscape part of the game. I sure hope so. But that doesn't change that the battlescape is, what it is, NuXCOM. And we will spend way more time there than on the geoscape.

Like I said several times before, I did not expect a 1:1 remake of the battlescape of X-Com, that would be silly. I hoped he evolved, showed his vision of a modern X-Com, that is more stimulative than NuXCOM (I know it is). Maybe he is doing that just right now, maybe he is in for the money, maybe he is after 24 years just not who he was back than, my personal video games hero.

I had no idea what the hybrid system might be, but I am not a game designer. How could I know, I just knew its in the right hands, the man himself, Julian Gollop.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/phoenix-poi...b-monsters-make-it-a-worthy-xcom-alternative/

Phoenix Point's deep combat and massive crab monsters make it a worthy XCOM alternative
Meet alien crabs and make them bleed.

My heavy gunner has a jetpack? Cool. My first inclination is to direct him to the rooftop of a nearby tower to rain fiery death down on the crab-like invaders swarming the map, but Phoenix Point chief designer Julian Gollop hints that that might not be wise. A few turns later the tower is destroyed completely by a rampaging spider monster. The creature is the size of a house and barges through terrain like a drunk kicking their way through a flower bed. It’s clear that its massive claws will make short work of my soldiers should it get close.

I discover that I can target many different points on the creature, blowing off legs to slow it down, or shooting its claws to hopefully blunt its melee attack. Explosives are particularly useful against such a massive beast because the blast radius can damage multiple limbs. In the end, this is how I cripple it, with shoulder-mounted rocket shots from my heavy gunner, and some grenades from my assault soldiers. The queen dies just a few movement points away from my soldiers as they huddle in a defensive formation in the corner of the map.

The sheer size of the thing presents a daunting challenge, and this is the first of many ways that Phoenix Point differentiates itself from Firaxis’ XCOM reboots. Though Julian Gollop created X-Com, the modern Firaxis games are an inevitable comparison point given Phoenix Point’s surface-level similarities in format and UI. At a glance the sight of your troops’ taskbar of actions and the territory outlines showing how far your troops can move are very similar to XCOM and XCOM 2. However, the Firaxis games didn’t feature location-based damage. They didn’t model impact chance of individual bullets. They didn’t stop the action the moment your soldier spotted an enemy, giving you the chance to duck back behind cover. Their boss monsters weren’t this huge.

Cumulatively, these changes make Phoenix Point feel like more of a detailed combat simulation. The all-or-nothing percentage chance shots of Firaxis XCOM could be cruel, and flanking—the most effective way of tilting those dice rolls in your favour—was hugely important.

Phoenix Point is more nuanced. In typical XCOM fashion you command your team by moving them around the gridded battle map, seeking out cover and getting flanking lines on enemy combatants. In the combat demo I played at the PC Gamer Weekender my soldiers specialised in multiple classes including the aforementioned jetpacking heavy gunner, assault troops who get free reaction shots when attacked, and a slow sniper who shoots dudes really far away. The UI displays several layers of info about each potential shot. There’s a percentage chance to hit (which generally seems far higher than XCOM), a percentage chance of a kill, and percentage chances attached to enemy limbs so you know how tricky it will be to cripple a body part.

In addition to breaking limbs you have a chance of inflicting bleeding damage. You also need to consider the different types of damage your soldiers do when confronted by specialist crab men. Close combat shield-arm guys can choose to present the shield in any direction to protect their advance. Heavier weapons have a chance to penetrate armour, so your sniper and your heavy gunner can try to shoot through the crab’s shield in the hope of disabling the shield arm and inflicting some bleeding damage.

The dice rolls could yet change a lot during development, but in this demo the high hit frequency and wider range of attack outcomes created a more detailed, shifting battle state. One gun-arm crab was causing me trouble, but a reaction shot from one of my assault soldiers did a little damage and inflicted bleeding. I could choose to leave him to bleed to a low health state and chance a future reaction shot taking him out. Alternatively the reaction shot could have shattered the crab's gun arm, effectively taking it out of the fight without killing it. In XCOM enemies were as effective on one pip of health as on max health, in Phoenix Point battle damage creates a more authentic sense of evolving combat.

Soldiers have a new resource to manage called Willpower. You can use a Willpower points to perform stressful extra actions. You spend Willpower to put a character into Overwatch—a stance that grants your soldier reactive shots in the enemy’s movement phase. Assault characters can use Willpower to make an extra move after shooting. If they are faced with a shield crab they can move into a flank, fire, then use Willpower to skid back to cover. It gives you the opportunity to spend and commit to an extraordinary action that might get a soldier out of trouble, or eliminate a key enemy.

There's a lot more still to see of Phoenix Point. The world map will feature several human factions in addition to the crab aliens, and Gollop hints at Lovecraftian inspirations for the enemies in Phoenix Point. So far I like the gritty tone of the environmental design, and I like the granular approach to combat simulation, which gives you more factors to consider than Firaxis' XCOM. Based on my short time with it, Phoenix Point could end up being the deeper game, and a worthwhile alternative to Firaxis' reboots.

 

[Shog-goth]

True, took a second look and I think you are right, thanks for correcting me

You're welcome. Feel free to do the same.

it's just hard to belief that this man, that have made such a visionary, great game, that still is after 24 years undoubtedly one of the best if not the best turned based tactics games of all times, makes this.

So right.

 

[luinthoron]

• Will the game use time units or have a 2-action system?
  
  Our tactical system is currently using something of a hybrid. Generally a character has potentially two actions per turn - movement and use of equipment. However, if an enemy is spotted while moving then the movement is halted and the player can react, either by moving or firing. This could happen multiple times per character movement. Additionally, Will Points are a very important factor. These can be used to extend movement, firing or add other actions to a soldier’s turn, depending on the abilities of the character or equipment in use.

Keywords for me are here currently and hybrid.
Currently meaning to me, that it might change, is in development.
Hybrid can be anything, I was not expecting that their implementation of TU's would be just be a slightly different movement system and the rest being all NuXCOM, in regards of the 2-action system.
They should just have stated that there are no TU's and moving works slightly different from NuXCOM, that would have been easy to understand.

It's not just movement working slightly different than nuXCOM, though. The implicit TU's in their hybrid system still mean that different weapons need more or less TU's to fire and therefore change how much you can move before doing so and, based on the latest demo, as I pointed out earlier, you can still continue moving after firing if you did not use all the TU's you had for movement before. The only similarity to nuXCOM here is that you're in most cases limited to shooting once per turn.

 

[Grotesque]

Want to hear the latest on Phoenix Point's development? Join us on Friday when Julian will stream the pre-alpha and take your live questions!

 

[Cross]

While I still wish Phoenix Point had gone with time units, it's silly to label it as a nuXCOM clone because of that. The most fundamental thing that sets nuXCOM apart from old X-COM (and other squad-based games like Jagged Alliance) is arguably not the 2AP system, but the fact that it effectively removed line of sight from the equation by using the pod activation system to chop the Battlescape up in small, discrete encounters where all combatants are visible to each other. Because of this, the way you approach combat in nuXCOM is fundamentally different from old X-COM.

Phoenix Point, whatever its flaws might be, appears to be staying mostly true to original X-COM in this regard. Which explains why they went with a hybrid AP system that still lets you make granular movements, because you need the ability to move one step at time to utilize the line of sight mechanics. And thankfully, unlike nuXCOM, your turn doesn't seem to automatically end after shooting.

 

[Mustawd]

It's not just movement working slightly different than nuXCOM, though. The implicit TU's in their hybrid system still mean that different weapons need more or less TU's to fire and therefore change how much you can move before doing so and, based on the latest demo, as I pointed out earlier, you can still continue moving after firing if you did not use all the TU's you had for movement before. The only similarity to nuXCOM here is that you're in most cases limited to shooting once per turn.

Thanks for clearing that up. I don’t think the PP team has done a great job of explaining the hybrid system. Because before reading this I was under the impression that it was still an AP system under the hood, but allowed you a few discrete movements during each “Action”.

 

[Freddie]

UnstableVoltage I didn't back this but few thoughts.

For me these games are sort of economic puzzles. All the work for units, weapons, other gear, enemies, to animate them, squad level tactics with strategy layer. For me these are however a lot about managing economy. Tactical play, soldiers, whatever units I have are my budget so to say, and goal is to use my budget wisely to achieve the objective. On strategy layer, depends what options and challenges are available. Of course I like to manage risks and try to find any advantage available to enhance my budget on tactical level, which is required to beat the campaign.

That isn't to say story and setting isn't important. What I wrote above could of course be done with Excel with far more earthly scenarios, but it isn't very fun. In fact, that there is this war scenario and story and enough and consistent information to help me make decisions based on that information, it's good. And more relaxing than Excel.

What comes to fluff, all descriptions how this technology works, I mostly look for what I can do with 'new invention' but fluff allows different sort of immersion. As long as I don't need to read 40 lines of fluff for what ever is Phoenix Point's equivalent for technological discovery, which then essentially could be 'Hand grenade +1' I'm all right with it. Hand grenade+1 or rifle / ammo+1 are good things. That sort of naming won't fly, but I think it's good rule to keep items names descriptive.

AP point thing, for me what you have works. I think you made these things very clear from the beginning your campaign. My playstyle is reductive, of course there are things that are situational, but in general, not how many actions to win, but how few.

What comes to GUI, and UI in general. It's not my intention to play the GUI. There can be things like people feeling that GUI is like satellite feed to some sort of terminal or something. Or that when there are lot of buttons it gives more control.
For me the best GUI is however one that I don't need to notice that much once I learn how to use it. Tool tips can be big help, icons that are visually descriptive help memorising things. Form follows functionality like someone wrote earlier in this topic. I appreciate hotkeys so I can check through my squad for their health, ammo, etc. without using a mouse (or crap trackpad if on laptop) and use my mouse hand to sip some tea for example. Or I sit at home and have keyboard on my lap, press R or whatever to reload and give moving orders via mouse. Then I'm playing the game and not the interface.

For visual aspects, I don't expect photorealism or perfect animations. In the end they are abstractions. Lobsterman looked pretty fine to me. Visual look and feel contribute to atmosphere which then can contribute to make your game stand out and help establishing the brand. Then there are only so many variations you can do and so many palettes to use that are safe to use in a sense that they work regardless how users have configured their screens and not going to areas where you risk excluding the colour blind from your customers.

That all said, there is very interesting situation. I mean where Firaxis shipped (IMO) overpriced and (fact) buggy DLC during last fall. If you manage to get PP out, even better have enough success that there would be demand for sequel, I can't but wonder what would happen. It's your first game yet cool heads are most likely to deliver.

 

[Mazisky]

UnstableVoltage I didn't back this but few thoughts.


That all said, there is very interesting situation. I mean where Firaxis shipped (IMO) overpriced and (fact) buggy DLC during last fall. If you manage to get PP out, even better have enough success that there would be demand for sequel, I can't but wonder what would happen. It's your first game yet cool heads are most likely to deliver.

Having a competitor is a really good thing....also i hope in PP success because this may lead to other devs making Xcom-like games.