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

[Mustawd]

now please proceed in describing each and every one of them.

No, I meant it’ll take 127 things. They’re at like...5?

 

[Zombra]

Seriously, it's my main gripe with PP.

Most of this is fine, but you start off with a wild rampaging peeve of mine.

- talking about "from the maker of the original X-COM" without saying what that means

Everyone, stop jumping to conclusions when a project cites its personnel's past accomplishments. No one got pissed off that Brazil wasn't about time-traveling midgets despite being billed as "from the director of Time Bandits". Do you guys not remember that Chaos Reborn was also sold on X-Com's name? Look at this for fuck's sake. Why weren't you crying about the lackluster geoscape and where are the silacoids when that came out?

And another thing.

"spiritual successor of X-Com"

Where? Who said this? It's nowhere in the Fig pitch.

I've been making fun of you guys for two years

because no they didn't.

 

[Galdred]

Character development in an X-Com game should be a passive process, not an active one. Those are not supposed to be RPGs. The moment you start picking up perks and shit you've made a horrible design decision.

Your focus should be in killing the aliens and getting their equipment and corpses for research. The soldiers should be means to that end. If some of them manage to survive, great job, have a promotion.

If they die, no big loss, plenty of volunteers lined up outside the recruitment booth...

I have just been replaying it because I was intrigued by this promotion bonus. The game did a lot of things well actually when it comes to permadeath: constant stream of free recruits, and the ones who didn't see action got promoted over time (1/3 promotion rate compared to the soldiers in the squad). Also, the barely noticeable bonus from experience made it good to have without crippling you for taking casualties on the long run.
I'll officially be lifting ideas from Cannon Fodder from now on.

 

[PanteraNera]

- talking about "from the maker of the original X-COM" without saying what that means

Everyone, stop jumping to conclusions when a project cites its personnel's past accomplishments. No one got pissed off that Brazil wasn't about time-traveling midgets despite being billed as "from the director of Time Bandits". Do you guys not remember that Chaos Reborn was also sold on X-Com's name? Look at this for fuck's sake. Why weren't you crying about the lackluster geoscape and where are the silacoids when that came out?

Totally get you and I agree!
It is stupid to be optimistic and draw conclusion.
That is why I will only support indie's/kickstarters that show the whole big picture and not just glimpses. But even than, things might turn out differently from what one might expect.

Also I had not followed Chaos Reborn, as I was not interested in that game at all. (I am not much into fantasy)

And another thing.

"spiritual successor of X-Com"

Where? Who said this? It's nowhere in the Fig pitch.

Official FAQ on the official PP website:

also on Fig right on the header, on the right side, just under the campaign bar you will spot this:

Sure it is not "official" and it was written by eurogamer, but why put it there, if it's wrong?

What I understand now, that can mean anything, thats just glimpses that got fabulously optimistic people, old time fans of X-COM interested or even made them throw their money at it. And yes, it will probably have a real-time geoscape (as we haven't seen or heard anything about that in a while), it will probably have something similar to an UFOPedia, it has a turn-based tactical battlescape. Yes you can call that an X-COM-like game. Even more so than anything else that got released in the last 20 years.

And as we have learned from Fallout 3 & 4 a successor doesn't necessarily mean that it will be a better game than the original.

You know, personally, I do not blame Bethasda for their take on Fallout. I don't like it at all, but well Fallout was not their baby.
I would have been furious if Black Isle Studio had done Fallout 3&4.
Same with Jack Solomon, I am not mad at him, or Firaxis for doing XCOM 1&2.
Can't say the same about Julian Gollop and PP, as it is his baby. Sure as he is the "father" he has (at least in a lot of countries) the right to abuse it and molest it as much as he wants.

I've been making fun of you guys for two years

Damn my english is bad, cause you got me confused with your fun, I took it seriously most of the times and was confused why you would change your mind so often :D

 

[Grotesque]

(as we haven't seen or heard anything about that in a while),

 

[PanteraNera]

(as we haven't seen or heard anything about that in a while),

Yeah, I know ... .

*laughs it off* well there is still plenty of time, huh, uhm, nine more months ... is plenty.

Honestly, I really hope they have a lot of stuff that they are holding back, but that would be fabulously optimistic again.
Also so many comments on discord about stuff/features that has not been decided,
means that there are features they didn't even started working at.
They started late 2015 / early 2016 with production and what have they shown so far?
They still aim a release for Q4 2018.
Puzzles me.

BTW in recent news also this:

They were aiming for Q1 2018, than for late march, than it changed to late march / first week of april, now its "early april"

 

[PanteraNera]

more regarding the geoscape:

also this from last year about the 4x elements:

and they won't be on E3:

 

[Alienman]

Event heavy sounds like the opposite of simulation

 

[Zombra]

Event heavy sounds like the opposite of simulation

Isn't CK2 a simulationist's paradise, though?

 

[MRY]

I hope this game pans out, but when I read about events where "the Disciples of Anu have an internal schism with a rebel priest advocating an alliance with the Synedrion," a voice in my head says, "Hold your hippogriffs, MRY." An incalculably big part of the pleasure of the original game was a geoscape that looked like a middle school atlas, real countries' governments paying you in real(ish) dollars, real backwater nations defecting to the aliens, real Terror Events or whatever they were called in cities whose names you remembered, etc. As much as naming the squaddies after friends and families, that was a big part of what made the game work: you'd get mad at the feckless Angolans for hosting an alien base, or the stingy Germans for slashing your funding. (The realish-world arsenal you start with is another part of this same thing.)

All this is part why the second and especially third games never really worked for me. Maybe you can have the same feeling in a fantastical setting where the Mumbos of Jumbo override the warp transistor or whatever, but I'm not so sure.

 

[Alienman]

Event heavy sounds like the opposite of simulation

Isn't CK2 a simulationist's paradise, though?

It's a bit of both. That game has many events that just add flavor.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Hm.

Hopefully they will show something decent soon to alleviate worry - so far all of this pandering and AAA aspirations does not look good :/

 

[Alienman]

I hope this game pans out, but when I read about events where "the Disciples of Anu have an internal schism with a rebel priest advocating an alliance with the Synedrion," a voice in my head says, "Hold your hippogriffs, MRY." An incalculably big part of the pleasure of the original game was a geoscape that looked like a middle school atlas, real countries' governments paying you in real(ish) dollars, real backwater nations defecting to the aliens, real Terror Events or whatever they were called in cities whose names you remembered, etc. As much as naming the squaddies after friends and families, that was a big part of what made the game work: you'd get mad at the feckless Angolans for hosting an alien base, or the stingy Germans for slashing your funding. (The realish-world arsenal you start with is another part of this same thing.)

All this is part why the second and especially third games never really worked for me. Maybe you can have the same feeling in a fantastical setting where the Mumbos of Jumbo override the warp transistor or whatever, but I'm not so sure.

Third game was awesome. Don't listen to this man!

(I would love if they actually went with the retrofuturism look)

 

[Mustawd]

I hope events don’t mean nuXCOM-like cinematics triggered by a particular alien encounter or reaching a specific tech point.

I did enjoy XCOM, but that was one of the many gripes I had with it.

 

[Grotesque]

I hope events don’t mean nuXCOM-like cinematics

They barely have the money for a barebone xcom like game and you worry they will have cinematics? )
They will not. They said so, not enough funds.



I enjoyed the little clips of soldiers descending from the transporter in xcom, the interrogation clips and the autopsy ones even though they were somewhat recycled.
These would add a much needed flavor in a simulationist game and style.
Thankfully this can be achieved by others means also like good writing, small framed animated pictures for events, music, even the UI plays an important role to the mood of the game.
Some games in the late 90's had exquisite UI design that set the tone and feel of the game.
I particularly liked the ones that played with light and shadow, the UI being like a utilitarian panel that was lit from a particular angle which gave the UI a presence and tactile feel.
That is a lost art.

 

[PanteraNera]

https://phoenixpoint.info/blog/2018/3/25/backer-build-one

BACKER BUILD ONE
We're back! We know it's been a little while since the last update, but everyone has been working hard behind the scenes.

First off, we have a release date for Backer Build One: April 30th.

This is a month later than we had originally planned, and we're really sorry for the delay. While every effort was made to meet our original Q1 estimate, we wanted to make sure we could deliver the best possible version. One of the reasons for the delay is to implement the inventory system. We feel that this is a key mechanic for Phoenix Point, so wanted it to be included with Backer Build One.



EVENTS
Back in February, Snapshot Games attended the PC Gamer Weekender show in London. Guests of the show were able to meet with Julian and other members of the team, along with having the chance to play our tactical demo. The demo is a small taste of what there is to look forward to. A single scenario were guests got to try their hand at Phoenix Point, taking control of the New Jericho faction in defense of a Haven. There were unfortunately some features that we weren't able to squeeze into the demo in time for the show (such as the Technician class and the drivable vehicles) but we are working to get them included for next time.

If you weren't able to attend PC Gamer Weekender, you can watch a play-through of the demo below.


EGX Rezzed
In April we will be attending EGX Rezzed, also in London. The show dates are Friday April 13th to Sunday April 15th. Snapshot Games will be there on all three days with the demo build. If you're attending, seek us out and try it for yourself.

Tickets for EGX Rezzed are still currently available, but running low. Get your tickets here.

MUTATIONS
One of the features we're most excited about in Phoenix Point is the mutation system. Each enemy (including the boss creatures) has the ability to mutate and throw new challenges at the player. Enemies will have a variety of different heads, torsos, arms, legs (and various other limbs) that can be used together in different combinations. Each different body part will provide different skills and abilities to the enemy, along with some straight up statistical modifiers such as increased speed or armour.

For each creature, each body part will have a distinct look. Following the philosophy that players should be able to distinguish and identify different units from their models, the different mutations will have a lot of visual variety.

Below are some examples of the huge number of visual variations the art team were able to imagine. As always, a lot of this imagry is concept work and may or may not appear in the final game as shown.

Four different variations for the Chiron

Four different variations for the Chiron

Above you can see four different variation combinations for the Chiron creature. Notice the different use of legs, torsos and heads which can all be used interchangeably creating some very distinct visual differences.

A few examples of Chiron mutations rendered in 3D

A few examples of Chiron mutations rendered in 3D

The examples above are just a small selection from a huge sheet of different designs. There's already a lot of different variation in how they look (and in their abilities - but we're not going to reveal too many secrets here).

Here's a few more for you.

A Chiron with colour and texture applied

A Chiron with colour and texture applied

That's enough of the Chiron for now. Let's take a look at something else.

Some concept art for the Crab Queen's head variations

Some concept art for the Crab Queen's head variations

Most of you will have seen the Crab Queen boss who features in our demo and trailers. Above you can see some concept work for some of her different head variations.

Speaking of the Queen.... one thing that we didn't quite manage to get into the tactical demo was the redesign of the Crab Queen's larva.

The new look of the Queen's Larva

The new look of the Queen's Larva

Something that we've mentioned a few times before is the Mutog - a mutated dog which can be controlled by the Disciple of Anu Mutog Handler class.

The evolution of the Mutog

The evolution of the Mutog

The design and art team are also constantly working on new creature types and variations, such as the floating creature below.

Concepts for different variations of the floating creature

Concepts for different variations of the floating creature

Here's an example of one of those variations with colour and texture applied.

A floating creature concept

A floating creature concept

There are many more creatures and variations. We'd love to show them all, but we don't want to spoil the surprise. All of this concept work and much, much more will be available in the Phoenix Point Art Book which is available as a digital PDF with the Luxury Digital Edition and above, and a physical hardbound book with the Collector's Edition and above.


THE SNAPSHOT TEAM
The Snapshot Games family has increased in size again in 2018. Here is a quick rundown of the latest members.

Simeon

Sound Designer

Simeon joined Snapshot Games towards the end of 2017 as our in-house sound designer. He's responsible for all of the sound effects which you will hear in the game (including our tactical combat demo). He's also the composer of the music heard in the demo, along with being the voice of the Crabmen!

Previously, Simeon has produced the music for some Bulgarian movies, spent 8 years working on sound design for casino games and has been a DJ and musician for over 10 years.

He enjoys Fallout, Skyrim, The Void, Planetside 2 and Doom.

Vanya

3D Artist

Vanya joined the Snapshot Games team in February as a generalist 3D artist. She works on environmental art, character models and textures. Previously, Vanya worked at Ubisoft Sofia as a level and environmental artist on Assassin's Creed Origins and The Curse of the Pharaohs DLC.

Vanya's favourite game is Doom, but she also enjoys Destiny 2, Overwatch, Fallout 4, Uncharted, Quake and League of Legends.

The New Jericho residential buildings are what Vanya is working on currently.

Nikola

Programmer

Nikola joined the team in January as a programmer. He works on a wide range of things from general gameplay, UI functionality, ability mechanics and camera control. Nikola previously worked for Gameloft on a number of titles.

His favourite games include Total War, Surviving Mars and XCOM.

Nikola is currently working on the free-aiming system of Phoenix Point.

Kamen

FX Artist

Kamen also joined the Snapshot Games team in January as an FX Artist. He works on a number of systems within Phoenix Point including environmental visual effects, the UI, camera control and animations. Kamen has a background in the VFX industry and worked on movies such as Rambo, Immortals and Life of Pie.

His favourite games are the original X-Com series, Fallout 1 & 2, Diablo 1 & 2, Quake and Mass Effect.

Kamen is currently working on the animation pipeline before moving onto The Mist!

Georgi

3D Character Artist

Georgi joined the team at the beginning of the year as a 3D Character Artist.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

First off, we have a release date for Backer Build One: April 30th.

I presume that those will be distributed via Steam, but what if I want to get GOG version when game is fully released?

 

[PanteraNera]

First off, we have a release date for Backer Build One: April 30th.

I presume that those will be distributed via Steam, but what if I want to get GOG version when game is fully released?

UnstableVoltage-04.03.2018

@Inner Enigma As I said previously, we may deploy the pre-alpha using our own download client - that hasn't been decided yet.

 

[UnstableVoltage]

I presume that those will be distributed via Steam, but what if I want to get GOG version when game is fully released?

However the Backer Build is distributed (which is unlikely to be Steam at this stage), you will still have the choice of a Steam or GOG key for the final release.

 

[Grotesque]

"Nikola is currently working on the free-aiming system of Phoenix Point."

what is the free aiming system more exactly?

 

[Jimmious]

This is how I see Grotesque and PanteraNera in this thread:

 

[PanteraNera]

This is how I see Grotesque and PanteraNera in this thread:

Can't talk for Grotesque but I think it's fairly accurate

 

[veevoir]

This is how I see Grotesque and PanteraNera in this thread:

You do realize those are Codex founding fathers? They represent everything this forum wishes to be

 

[Cyberarmy]

You do realize those are Codex founding fathers? They represent everything this forum wishes to be

They are my heroes, I can only imagine to be only a fraction of them.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

They represent everything this forum wishes to be

Speak for yourself, I don't want to be a geezer.