Codex Interview RPG Codex Interview: Julian Gollop on Phoenix Point, One Year Later

[Dehumanizer]

Yeah, that's Chaos on the ZX Spectrum. Amazing game.

 

[Fenix]

Meanwhile his Bulgarian fascists collaborators are very busy on Facebook and blocking people for their opinion.

Hm... tasty stuff.
Can you elaborate on this one?
Or if there is thread about it, link it.

 

[Darkozric]

Meanwhile his Bulgarian fascists collaborators are very busy on Facebook and blocking people for their opinion.

Hm... tasty stuff.
Can you elaborate on this one?
Or if there is thread about it, link it.

Sorry mate, there is no thread or a link for this, they just blocked me on facebook for asking them 2 questions about the console port and the Fig money and that's it.
In my opinion it's always better to not answer a question and let it get lost among the other of hundreds comments than to delete it or block users. I don't like that kind of shit.
In the end, the only thing that matters is that the game will not be consolized. We'll see.

 

[aris]

That they are taking cues from XCOM is only a good thing, since these are very solid game. A game that played exactly like the original x-com is a game next to no-one would play. And if you think I'm wrong, check the last time you played X-COM for several hours, you fucking hipster.

 

[UnstableVoltage]

Meanwhile his Bulgarian fascists collaborators are very busy on Facebook and blocking people for their opinion.

Hm... tasty stuff.
Can you elaborate on this one?
Or if there is thread about it, link it.

Sorry mate, there is no thread or a link for this, they just blocked me on facebook for asking them 2 questions about the console port and the Fig money and that's it.
In my opinion it's always better to not answer a question and let it get lost among the other of hundreds comments than to delete it or block users. I don't like that kind of shit.
In the end, the only thing that matters is that the game will not be consolized. We'll see.

We don't take banning people lightly. In the last 12 months, I believe there have only been 2 or 3 bans from Facebook - and only people who have been acting extremely inappropriately or disrespectfully. As for your borderline racist "Bulgarian fascists collaborators" comment, I can tell you that none of he people who run the FB are Bulgarian. Now I come to think of it, I have seen that exact "Bulgarian fascists collaborators" comment before. If you're still confused as to why you were banned or comments removed, look no further.

A lot of people on this forum know that we're very active on Facebook, replying to comments. Both positive and negative comments. We seldom would ever have a need to remove them. Further, we would opt to just "hide" a comment, and the poster would not even be aware of it.

 

[Alienman]

If they don't remove it Merkel will put them all in prison.

 

[Darkozric]

Meanwhile his Bulgarian fascists collaborators are very busy on Facebook and blocking people for their opinion.

Hm... tasty stuff.
Can you elaborate on this one?
Or if there is thread about it, link it.

Sorry mate, there is no thread or a link for this, they just blocked me on facebook for asking them 2 questions about the console port and the Fig money and that's it.
In my opinion it's always better to not answer a question and let it get lost among the other of hundreds comments than to delete it or block users. I don't like that kind of shit.
In the end, the only thing that matters is that the game will not be consolized. We'll see.

We don't take banning people lightly. In the last 12 months, I believe there have only been 2 or 3 bans from Facebook - and only people who have been acting extremely inappropriately or disrespectfully. As for your borderline racist "Bulgarian fascists collaborators" comment, I can tell you that none of he people who run the FB are Bulgarian. Now I come to think of it, I have seen that exact "Bulgarian fascists collaborators" comment before. If you're still confused as to why you were banned or comments removed, look no further.

A lot of people on this forum know that we're very active on Facebook, replying to comments. Both positive and negative comments. We seldom would ever have a need to remove them. Further, we would opt to just "hide" a comment, and the poster would not even be aware of it.

Oh, I see now you have the time to answer here but on Facebook you can not? I'm not confused why I can't comment on your Facebook page, I know exactly why you disable my commenting ability on your page and not just hide it. There are 2 possible things happening here, either the people that administrate the Facebook page are ultra sensitives and can't handle 2 simple questions with a bit of sarcasm but not swearing to be honest or you're just little fascists, deal with it, cause in my country that's what you call someone who doesn't allow you to speak your mind. And ethnicity doesn't matter to me, I don't care if they are Bulgarian or Ethiopian. I know the truth hurts and I know that you can't handle a bit of sarcasm. And while you're handy please don't consolized the game...

 

[ArchAngel]

Meanwhile his Bulgarian fascists collaborators are very busy on Facebook and blocking people for their opinion.

Hm... tasty stuff.
Can you elaborate on this one?
Or if there is thread about it, link it.

Sorry mate, there is no thread or a link for this, they just blocked me on facebook for asking them 2 questions about the console port and the Fig money and that's it.
In my opinion it's always better to not answer a question and let it get lost among the other of hundreds comments than to delete it or block users. I don't like that kind of shit.
In the end, the only thing that matters is that the game will not be consolized. We'll see.

We don't take banning people lightly. In the last 12 months, I believe there have only been 2 or 3 bans from Facebook - and only people who have been acting extremely inappropriately or disrespectfully. As for your borderline racist "Bulgarian fascists collaborators" comment, I can tell you that none of he people who run the FB are Bulgarian. Now I come to think of it, I have seen that exact "Bulgarian fascists collaborators" comment before. If you're still confused as to why you were banned or comments removed, look no further.

A lot of people on this forum know that we're very active on Facebook, replying to comments. Both positive and negative comments. We seldom would ever have a need to remove them. Further, we would opt to just "hide" a comment, and the poster would not even be aware of it.

Oh, I see now you have the time to answer here but on Facebook you can not? I'm not confused why I can't comment on your Facebook page, I know exactly why you disable my commenting ability on your page and not just hide it. There are 2 possible things happening here, either the people that administrate the Facebook page are ultra sensitives and can't handle 2 simple questions with a bit of sarcasm but not swearing to be honest or you're just little fascists, deal with it, cause in my country that's what you call someone who doesn't allow you to speak your mind. And ethnicity doesn't matter to me, I don't care if they are Bulgarian or Ethiopian. I know the truth hurts and I know that you can't handle a bit of sarcasm. And while you're handy please don't consolized the game...

RPGCodex is a unique place. You cannot act outside of it like you are here. Grow up kid.

 

[EnthalpyFlow]

"Whoa! You don't let me speak shit on your FB page? You must be a NAZI"

Don't worry Darkozric, the twenty odds don't last forever, although it would be great if you could pass them before your are fourty.

 

[Fenix]

It is a common opinion that interner is a territory of freedom...
As often happen this common opinion is bullshit...
Since introducing internet, freedom of thought in the world is substantially shrinked... and we are back into feudalism.

 

[Black]

Great job Darth Roxor, keep it up!

 

[Darkozric]

"Whoa! You don't let me speak shit on your FB page? You must be a NAZI"

Don't worry Darkozric, the twenty odds don't last forever, although it would be great if you could pass them before your are fourty.

It's not shit to ask why he went to Microsoft for more money. I'm not the one who promised a PC game retard. The butthurts tell me that I am a butthurt LOL, next time give him a blowjob idiot. Now wait 1 year plus for better animations and lore lol

 

[cherry blossom]

We've been told that manual stance selection (crouching, going prone) will most likely not be in the game - which is kind of sad, since with its realistic ballistics simulation the stances would have had a real effect. I assume that manual facing will probably not be in either. From a game design point of view, what's the reasoning behind this streamlining? We've been told that it's mostly about pacing. Could you elaborate on that?

The pacing of a turn based game is very important, in particular to make sure that the player doesn't have repetitive, mostly trivial decisions to make which just consume time and clicks. The Firaxis XCOMs succeeded very well with this. There is also the problem of providing clear signs and feedback to the player about what is going on in the game without cluttering the interface with lots of informational displays.

This is a poor answer, though. With the right design, none of those things are trivial, time consuming or repetitive. You might as well say that it's repetitive to control and choose actions for each unit one by one in a turn-based game. The proper answer would be "We don't want this level of management in our game / we aren't designing it around such level of depth" and be done with it. No need for hiding behind crappy and insulting justifications for your streamlining.

 

[Fenix]

It's not shit to ask why he went to Microsoft for more money.

Wait they went to consoles?

 

[PanteraNera]

It's not shit to ask why he went to Microsoft for more money.

Wait they went to consoles?

XBOX so far.

 

[PanteraNera]

We've been told that manual stance selection (crouching, going prone) will most likely not be in the game - which is kind of sad, since with its realistic ballistics simulation the stances would have had a real effect. I assume that manual facing will probably not be in either. From a game design point of view, what's the reasoning behind this streamlining? We've been told that it's mostly about pacing. Could you elaborate on that?

The pacing of a turn based game is very important, in particular to make sure that the player doesn't have repetitive, mostly trivial decisions to make which just consume time and clicks. The Firaxis XCOMs succeeded very well with this. There is also the problem of providing clear signs and feedback to the player about what is going on in the game without cluttering the interface with lots of informational displays.

This is a poor answer, though. With the right design, none of those things are trivial, time consuming or repetitive. You might as well say that it's repetitive to control and choose actions for each unit one by one in a turn-based game. The proper answer would be "We don't want this level of management in our game / we aren't designing it around such level of depth" and be done with it. No need for hiding behind crappy and insulting justifications for your streamlining.

Well, I agree with most of what you said. Also for people following the development the answer is no real surprise.

I really wished for the game to be a successor to X-COM, but since quite some time it is apparent to me that it will not be.
I say it is save to bet that it will be better than XCOM 1&2, by how much no one knows as a lot is still subject to change and I say it is more likely for the worse than for the better.

As I said no real surprises for me, but while I expected it, it was still a big downer for me that we will not get an inventory system like X-COM (or JA 2). no inventory Tetris, you have to watch encumbrance thought.

I personally think that PP has some merits of his own, like world-building and writing, mutating enemies and as it seems an interesting strategic layer.

On the other hand parts of the UI and the inventory system already feel centered about gamepads rather than mouse and keyboard, the visual tone has quite shifted to something more streamline/friendly. In the fig build and early screenshots and concept art, there was a lot of gore and body horror going on for the PV creatures, also the human faction looked much more like scavengers that have to improvise and use what ever is available. to survive.

 

[Haba]

Well, I can appreciate his honesty in the answers.

Seems like its not really my cup of tea. But then again it felt like that in the first pitch.

 

[Darkozric]

RPGCodex is a unique place. You cannot act outside of it like you are here. Grow up kid.

2 simple questions suddenly became "RPGcodexian acting"...Reduce the use of drugs grandpa.

 

[hpstg]

Why would this have to be like the original game? The closest to that should be Xenonauts, or the original series. It's actually nice to see some possible new ideas thrown into the mix.

We have Long War 2, this, and even XCOM 2 with its DLC.

They are all payable from a couch, and that only means that more like them will be made. The amount of petty entitlement from edgy idiot kids these days is terrible.

 

[PanteraNera]

It's actually nice to see some possible new ideas thrown into the mix.

Absolutely, I personally really love the world-building and lore they are doing, also the writing is very believable. The strategic part might be really interesting with a lot to offer, diplomatic relationships with the other factions, events and the 4x elements. Than we have a evolving mutating enemy thread which sounds interesting as well.

We have Long War 2, this, and even XCOM 2 with its DLC.

What people do dislike is, non of those has the tactical depth of X-COM or Jagged Alliance 2. PP is going somewhere in between X-COM and XCOM.

 

[hpstg]

That's where it will most likely land, but I actually have no problem with this.