Vapourware Zodiac Legion - X-COM and dungeons

[Circuit the Short]

Any news, men?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Dude's busy playing Warhammer 40k stuff, he'll return once he does his duty for the Emperor.

 

[Galdred]

Dude's busy playing Warhammer 40k stuff, he'll return once he does his duty for the Emperor.

If only! I have some ongoing family business to take care of, which is taking a lot of time, but I hope it will be sorted out soon (but it will probably take something like 20% time over 6 month).

I have been working on the exportation of all graphic assets. I still have a few micro issues to solve on this front(the resulting texture atlas date files are too large so I have to find a good way to automatically split them), then I will focus on procedural generation of levels.
I will follow the X-COM/XCOM 2 formula of assembling levels from preset rooms and corridors, because I think fixed levels really get in the way when it comes to replaying this kind of games (I mean, I would really have loved better RNGenerated levels in Chaos Gate, and some variations on the main mission maps). It also makes dynamic mission generation easier.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

If only!

So you're not doing your your duty for the Emperor?

 

[Galdred]

If only!

So you're not doing your your duty for the Emperor?

No, that's not what I meant! Aaaaargh!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Galdred]

Actually, my idea was for the player to play Greek freedom fighters fighting it out against EU forces. But I thought that by this time, Greece might have left the EU, or the Troika could have become more reasonable.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Actually, my idea was for the player to play Greek freedom fighters fighting it out against EU forces. But I thought that by this time, Greece might have left the EU, or the Troika could have become more reasonable.

Leaving aside current politics.

What kind of mechanics did you had in mind for such game?
Would it have been JA2 knockoff or something more abstract or something else?

Besides I don't see anything wrong with doing "alt-history" what-if scenario.

 

[Galdred]

Actually, my idea was for the player to play Greek freedom fighters fighting it out against EU forces. But I thought that by this time, Greece might have left the EU, or the Troika could have become more reasonable.

Leaving aside current politics.

What kind of mechanics did you had in mind for such game?
Would it have been JA2 knockoff or something more abstract or something else?

Besides I don't see anything wrong with doing "alt-history" what-if scenario.

I don't think the JA2 framework would have worked, because JA2 is ultimately about reconquering the island. It would convey guerilla warfare poorly. I think something more abstract would have worked (Also being half Vietnamese, guerrilla warfare is something I am especially interested in).
So the tactical mechanisms would have been more about completing the objective (freeing prisoner, sabotaging installations...) before reinforcements arrive (which is not too different from Zodiac Legion actually).
But the strategic layer would have been more about keeping your bases hidden (by trying to misdirect the opponent about the location of your base when launching missions), and winning the hearts and minds of the people (by avoiding collateral damage, and provoking the counter guerrilla forces to cause them. Completing symbolic objectives and things like that).
So in a way, I would have tried to give it a modern Robin Hood vibe.

 

[Sloul]

Zodiac Legion concept is already neat, why would you go a separate project?
+ Your other idea sounds rather dull to me.

 

[Galdred]

Zodiac Legion concept is already neat, why would you go a separate project?
+ Your other idea sounds rather dull to me.

I wouldn't. This was the other concept that was competing with what would become Zodiac Legion when I was working on the early game design.

 

[Galdred]

Actually, my idea was for the player to play Greek freedom fighters fighting it out against EU forces. But I thought that by this time, Greece might have left the EU, or the Troika could have become more reasonable.

Leaving aside current politics.

What kind of mechanics did you had in mind for such game?
Would it have been JA2 knockoff or something more abstract or something else?

Besides I don't see anything wrong with doing "alt-history" what-if scenario.

Actually, now that I see non armed insurrection from the inside, I think it would make a good framework for a future purely strategic game.
There are a lot of things that makes it similar to guerrilla warfare: winning the hearts and minds of the people, securing funding, alternating persuasion/recruitment and disruption, avoiding risks of direct confrontation when numbers are not in favor of the insurgents, and trying to make your own vision (both strategic and political) prevail in, and outside the movement. But that would not make a very interesting tactical game.

 

[Galdred]

Regarding Zodiac Legion itself, the automatic import of character (body and armor) parts is complete, so it should be much easier to add new armors (and archetypes) now, and add character customization in a near future.

I will now focus on integrating the monsters (the big scorpion like beast, and the shade), and tweaking the first two levels until they are tactically interesting, and provide more context when it comes to the universe and story (but without adding too much text, because people are not there to read).

Then I will work on rooms and procedural generation, and after that, I will release a small combat demo, then move to the overarching campaign.

 

[hoothoot]

cool stuff. following

 

[baud]

now that I see non armed insurrection from the inside

Yellow vests? You've been to some of the protests around the city?

 

[Galdred]

now that I see non armed insurrection from the inside

Yellow vests? You've been to some of the protests around the city?

Yes, I usually go to the ones in Paris, even though I am not convinced by the weekly Saturday mini protest strategy.
I am also trying to form an YV assembly in the South of Paris, but I have found 4 volunteers so far. Winning over a significant part of the elite will take a long time at this rate :D

 

[baud]

now that I see non armed insurrection from the inside

Yellow vests? You've been to some of the protests around the city?

Yes, I usually go to the ones in Paris, even though I am not convinced by the weekly Saturday mini protest strategy.
I am also trying to form an YV assembly in the South of Paris, but I have found 4 volunteers so far. Winning over a significant part of the elite will take a long time at this rate :D

Good luck about that.

 

[Galdred]

Regarding Zodiac Legion itself, the automatic import of character (body and armor) parts is complete, so it should be much easier to add new armors (and archetypes) now, and add character customization in a near future.

I will now focus on integrating the monsters (the big scorpion like beast, and the shade), and tweaking the first two levels until they are tactically interesting, and provide more context when it comes to the universe and story (but without adding too much text, because people are not there to read).

Then I will work on rooms and procedural generation, and after that, I will release a small combat demo, then move to the overarching campaign.

I know, self quoting is weird:

Some friends of mine recommended me to go to Early Access ASAP, that is, as soon as there is enough content playable (and skip KS altogether).
It would make the launch much slower sales-wise, but it would give much more useful feedback than people at conventions (as the feedback would come from actual consumers...).


I could cobble an inventory/level UI, then work on procedural gen + content, and get the game out to early access. The game would ship to EA without the stronghold/campaign layer (so it would first play like a tactical Rogue like), and it would take some months for them to be added..
What do you think of it?

 

[Circuit the Short]

GIB!!!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Some friends of mine recommended me to go to Early Access ASAP, that is, as soon as there is enough content playable (and skip KS altogether).
It would make the launch much slower sales-wise, but it would give much more useful feedback than people at conventions (as the feedback would come from actual consumers...).

You would also have to deal with the idiots who would shit in your game for the dumbest of reasons like graphix. But then you post here, so I should hope you'll be fine.

 

[Galdred]

Some friends of mine recommended me to go to Early Access ASAP, that is, as soon as there is enough content playable (and skip KS altogether).
It would make the launch much slower sales-wise, but it would give much more useful feedback than people at conventions (as the feedback would come from actual consumers...).

You would also have to deal with the idiots who would shit in your game for the dumbest of reasons like graphix. But then you post here, so I should hope you'll be fine.

Good point, Early Access games get their shares of reviewers who like to point the lack of tutorial, or the lack of content. I guess I could first release on itch.io to avoid tanking the Steam Score early on, but I don't know the platform very well.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I guess I could first release on itch.io to avoid tanking the Steam Score early on, but I don't know the platform very well.

zwanzig_zwoelf

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Alternately a demo and a separate EA with updates might serve your purpose better?

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

I guess I could first release on itch.io to avoid tanking the Steam Score early on, but I don't know the platform very well.

zwanzig_zwoelf

Itch is a nice place. The community is more tolerable since a large chunk of the platform are jam and hobby games.
However, if your die-hard fans buy the game on Itch, their reviews won't matter when it comes to the Steam score, which can potentially fuck you in the ass if you have a very niche audience.

 

[baud]

I guess I could first release on itch.io to avoid tanking the Steam Score early on, but I don't know the platform very well.

zwanzig_zwoelf

Itch is a nice place. The community is more tolerable since a large chunk of the platform are jam and hobby games.
However, if your die-hard fans buy the game on Itch, their reviews won't matter when it comes to the Steam score, which can potentially fuck you in the ass if you have a very niche audience.

Can't you offer Steam keys to people who bought it on itch, so that they might drop a review on Steam too? (or it might be against itch's ToS, I don't know)