[Baseless Idea] X-Com Total conversion

Kurrine · September 2012

<div class="IPBDescription">A discussion of an FPS/RTS of the X-com series.</div>First off this is hardly a silly request for a mod, more a bored attempt at starting a discussion of an idea that just came to mind. So if you aren't interested in discussing the concept of a mod with likely no outcome, feel free to ignore this.

This recent idle thought came to mind recently, I'd love to see an FPS/RTS stab at the X-com Series. Spark does feel like an excellent engine for the job, assuming the upward trend of performance continues as is for a while more. Though I'm aware there's always the risk of being shut down using someone else's IP this is more theory-crafting for fun.

One starting thought I'm on the fence about is if this would be something better as a competitive game with one side in command of the alien players and one in command of X-com players, or if this would be a co-operative against AI sort of thing.

MCMLXXXIV · September 2012

You don't have to call it X-Com - probably something with Xeno in the title would work :)

But yes I think this is a good mod idea. Needs some thought into the design aspects and presumably you'd need some concept art - are you thinking of reproducing the turn-based aspect or making it real-time?

Kurrine · September 2012

Well I guess it would be difficult to really do it turn based, I hadn't really considered even trying turn based really. The original idea was to have each player play someone in the squads (first person) on the field and one play a commander on each side, hence why I thought spark might be a good place for such a thing. So it may be better if it were real time. I don't know, how well do you think pulling off a turn-based would really go under such circumstance? I can't think of any examples of a first-person turn-based game.

Remember when they were going to do an X-com FPS? I'd always felt without some sort of strategy role it wouldn't feel at all like X-com at all. I'd say keeping some sort of command role would really be an essential. There's also the base-management that I'm concerned about, mostly how it should be handled. Some sort of base-building on the same map would likely have to be worked in though to resemble the X-com base management. Though this would likely require large maps to allow for two bases (an X-com base and a large saucer for the alien team likely) with still a good sized buffer zone between the two and I'm unsure how well Spark would handle that.

Edit: as far as actually using the X-com name, yeah we'd have to completely avoid that, as I recall who owns the X-com IP right now (the hyper-litigious 2k). It could still be essentially made but it couldn't in name resemble the series. That puts a bit of a damper on the idea, not that I really expect this to go anywhere. Still, I'd love to hear what some think on how such a game would be like adapted to RTS/FPS.

elodea · September 2012

X-com. Spark engine. Fps/rts. Sound like some of the best things in the world combined as one at first glance. Love x-com, sounds like it could be great fun but possibly only ever in a very niche sense. Maybe i've missed some things and these elements actually fit together really well, but atm i see alot of conflicts.

Problems
The vast majority of people just want to load and play straight away whether it be with random matchmaking or whatnot. What this does is make any game design catered to this miss out on all the things that really made x-com incredible, from base building, territory control, squad/asset management, research, to storyline discovery etc.

Could see real-time fps combat instead of turn-based 3rd person working in the same way ns2 fps works, but without all the meat pre-combat you really do just end up with 'just another re-skinned alien shooter clone'. If you go turn-based, you end up conflicting with the desire of people to load up and just play with minimal delay (if you go the one soldier one player control route).

Possible solutions
I'm guessing one might be able to do a really cheap perpetual system where you're all randomly matchmade and have pre-combat customisation time as a group (so you see what others are equipping, can drop items into a pool for others or pick up items from pool). Gain ranking and paygrade increase through some kind of xp system which sticks with your steam-id or whatnot. Use said paychecks to buy equipments and ammos (only way to really dispense items in a meaningful way despite it not making sense for x-com soldiers to buy their own crap). Though i'm not sure how much appeal this might have if you go the real-time fps route unless you buff everyone's hp heaps and make the game more about equipment loadouts and teamwork than fps twitch skills. As for the RTS commander aspect, i'm not sure whether there's room for it in a fun and meaningful way (taking a lesson from ns2 alien commander).

Then there is more fully incorporating all or most of these elements as some kind of perpetual world or mmo akin to planetside. Although the problem then becomes the technical challenge of making said mmo and needing a much bigger playerbase...

Kurrine · September 2012

Now that is the kind of post I was actually looking for really, I personally didn't care if it was shot down or not. Yes the concept as you go deeper is likely flawed without some unheard scope. It really is a shame such a thing likely would not be possible with at least at face value an interesting concept. It does sound like a fun concept at first as an MMO though, nice thought on that part. Though it doesn't make sense to me without some sort of centralized command structure, I just can't picture that with an MMO where it tends to be many smaller groups doing as they wish. It really isn't much of a realistic idea I suppose.

Align · September 2012

Hmm... turn-based FPS combat could be real interesting if the turn was per-team rather than per-unit. When it's your turn, you can move around, when it isn't, you can only look around and shoot.
I imagine there would be a lot of communicating on "off" turns, like "I see one near the big tree!", but perhaps I'm overestimating the average player?

Anyway, probably too big a change for a mod of a FPSRTS game.

Soul_Rider · September 2012

Turn Based FPS? Initally, I lolled, hard.

Then I stopped laughing and thought of Counter-Strike, where people quite happily sit around chatting and stuff for a few minutes a round at times. This could actually work. With a commander too...

Commander selects weapons load-out for current mission (based on a cost limit), marines choose and use up the loadout, then go into the field. Each player, adjusted for their weapon/equipment loadout, moves for a certain period of time. The commander selects which person to move, just like the x-com games, but the player has to use their movement and firing time to get into place and then out of harms way again. Players can't shoot on the move, so time needs to be used effectively. Plans are made with the commander and the team, and players update with what they can see.

Rounds wouldn't be as long as x-com of course. Creating Marines vs modified marines dressed as aliens shouldn't be too much of a problem to do. It would be very niche, but quite possibly a cult game too.

I copyright (lol) the first Turn-Based-FPSRTS, as outlined above :)

It is definitely an idea i would like to explore... I have 2 big mods on the go at the moment, but hopefully after v1 things will slow down on the constant updating of our mods, and we can look to stretch ourselves out into new mods. I'd be keen to do this one when I get the time, just to see if it would work...

I loved the Original X-Com and the follow up terror from the deep (which i have on steam).

[Baseless Idea] X-Com Total conversion

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