7 ms·

OpenXcom 1.0

166 points by etiam 12y ago

danso 12y ago
Congrats to the team...I think my appetite for this has been whetted a little by the modern 2K Games remake...which, I know, is kind of heresy, but it really is a great example of how streamlining and simplifying an already decently-thought-out game (i.e. restricting soldiers to one special weapon and grenade, and base management to one base) can still be satisfying. That said, in the remake, the AI is inexplicably "boxed" up. That is, the AI doesn't move until you stumble upon them...and so if you're patient and methodical, it's not terribly hard to win most fights, scratch-free. That ruined the tension that the original game had...The About page for Open-XCOM says the AI is improved...I'd love to see a writeup on what was changed.
- jahabrewer 12y ago
  > if you're patient and methodical, it's not terribly hard to win most fights, scratch-free I was pretty satisfied with how they addressed that issue in Enemy Within. There are optional objectives that give you bonus resources if you reach them before they expire after a number of turns. But yes, in Enemy Unknown, I gave up on my Classic runthrough after I realized that I could win easily if I just advanced slowly enough.
- angersock 12y ago
  I picked up the original XCOM on Steam again, last having played it on an old 486 box--I remembered my lessons, and the first mission I'd intercepted a little scout craft (2 crewman, one of whom died on impact). So, naturally, I deploy 12 squaddies, leapfrog and encircle the crashed craft on a farm in broad daylight (never, ever, at night, ever), and proceed to fill it full of detpacks. Perfect, flawless run. I'm feeling cocky. Next mission, terror mission, and within three turns I've lost like half my team to friendly fire (unfortunate incident with an incendiary rocket), a quarter to enemy fire, and the last few guys are either panicking or getting crushed in a pincer between alien tank units (cyberdiscs) and heavy infantry. And that's when I realized that pretty much no modern games are as hard and unforgiving as that old DOS wonder. You start the game with a bunch of folks in T-shirts and M16s, and by the end you are literally space marines whose mere presence sends elite enemy units scurrying in terror--and more importantly, the game made you earn it, every step of the way. EDIT: Their Github! https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/ https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/
  - jordigh 12y ago
    > unfortunate incident with an incendiary rocket Couldn't resist: http://4chanmemeandmotivational.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/teamkillers_-_its_always_the_retard_with_the_flame_thrower_always.jpg http://4chanmemeandmotivational.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/...
  - Pxtl 12y ago
    Actually, it's hard to deny that X-Com did have a serious gameplay fault in its difficulty curve, as much as we loved the nostalgia. At the easy difficulty modes (most new players) the curve is completely backwards. It stars out brutally difficult and becomes easier as you gain access to heavy plasma weapons. If a total wipe of your early team was a forgiving event compared to late-game losses, that could be excused as setting tone, but it's not like that - players just save-scummed until the mission worked. That's not good gameplay. I mean, the game's merits easily overshadowed its flaws, but the reverse-difficulty is a serious flaw.
    - angersock 12y ago
      So, the trick with the early game was to accept losses, right? Once you realized "Hey, we're totally outgunned...we just need to flood the aliens until we get better gear", things changed. Missions became more about resource management: what is the bare minimum I can field to wipe these guys, what can I build and manufacture that has the highest profit margin, etc.? Terror missions, for example, early on devolved into "Set fire to everything, because we need the light, and shoot the civilians, because they could be used to feed the Chrysalids and make more Chrysalids." The enemies in the game stayed largely the same difficulty, but your equipment got better and better and tactics switched as you were able to field more expensive units--and unless you ran a really tight resource game, you treated those expensive units much differently. The thing that made the game feel unique was exactly that: the reverse-difficulty. If you started kicking ass, and then things got harder, it'd be annoying--instead, you had some early success, discovered just how outclassed you were, and after a few restarts learned how to fight a technologically-superior enemy until you had achieved force parity.
      - 12y ago
- dlebech 12y ago
  I agree that it is slightly weird that the aliens wait for you to discover them. However, when playing on impossible difficulty (and maybe also classic?), the aliens don't "hang out" most of the time. They will actively seek you out and it can be quite a challenge when they all show up to the party at the same time.
bobcostas55 12y ago
How's Xenonauts? Have they made enough changes to justify the price?
- rurounijones 12y ago
  What do you mean by changes? It is a complete remake with the same theme, not a modification. But yes, I am enjoying it and it is in the spirit of the original x-com. the only downside I have noticed so far is that I seem to be seeing the same maps a lot (although with X-Com chopper and UFO location randomised)
Vektorweg 12y ago
I really like OpenXcom, but like the original Xcom i can't play it because of its rather stupid hit calculations. Range to the target isn't used for calculating the chance to hit a target. Because the troops can't hit something when it stands in front of them. Resulting in funny battles. There is an build-in mod to reduce the chance to hit a target based on range. Since this doesn't solve the issue, the melee aliens become even more dangerous. And from all games around, Xcom do have the nastiest melee alien ever.
- devindotcom 12y ago
  Is this true? I've definitely unloaded a few full auto shots into aliens nearby and the hit rate seemed drastically higher than if I were to do that at range.
  - Vektorweg 12y ago
    Its also noted in the changelog: - Range based accuracy removed - UFO Extender accuracy added. or in the ingame settings.
  - danielweber 12y ago
    If you miss, your shot changes to be off by some amount of degrees. If you are close enough, even misses hit your target.
- morsch 12y ago
  I think this might be a good place to start: https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Battlescape/Projectile.cpp#L306 https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Battles...
tunnuz 12y ago
This is one of my all time favorite games. So I'm really happy someone is wishing to bring on its legacy. I think I'll play it very soon.
- rurounijones 12y ago
  Have a look at Xenonauts (http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/) as well, it very much keeps the original x-com spirit alive.
devindotcom 12y ago
I'm so pumped for this, tried it about a year ago and decided to wait. The games I come back to in my life are Mega Man 2 (okay and a few other NES games), Final Fantasy III/VI, and XCOM. Others I dip into and remind myself of every once in a while, but these I actually regularly play through semi-regularly because they're just such a joy. Can't wait to dig in, maybe with a mod or two, and fret over my squad for a few hours. Thanks to the team.
aquadrop 12y ago
That's the game (original) I played for years in my childhood, and opening theme was my favorite music video :) Thanks to the team behind OpenXcom.
swombat 12y ago
Nice but... the iPad game completely took care of all my XCom cravings for quite some time. It was one of the most solid iPad games I've encountered. It's more a remake than an adaptation, and they really put in a lot of effort to bring the first XCom game into the 21st century, and it shows. It cost £10 or so, and I never regretted a single penny of it. If you loved this game, I really recommend getting XCom on the iPad. PS: This is not meant to take away from what these guys are doing... but watching that ancient creaky interface after being treated to the modern touch interface in the iPad game was somewhat painful. Here's a video:
- NhanH 12y ago
  Just FYI, your link to the video seems to be cut off. And I seconded the praise of the ipad games. I've played quite a lot of TBS games over the years, and the XCOM remake has to be the best experience I've ever got. Both in term of game play, controlling and the overall experience (a good balance between challenge and immersion - it isn't too hard that it would frustrate you, nor too easy that it feels like a grind).
  - swombat 12y ago
    Here's the video link, not sure where it went... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyEvp59OBog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyEvp59OBog
- ekianjo 12y ago
  Not everyone plays games on iPads. Please be a little considerate. The gaming market is much bigger (in terms of hours played) outside of the mobile devices.
  - mdemare 12y ago
    XCom is also available on PC, Mac, and last-gen consoles. I bought it for all three, but I prefer it on the iPad.
- vosper 12y ago
  The iPad version was fantastic - looked great, ran great, and was completely absorbing. I'd read some criticism of the touch controls, but I only had a small amount of awkwardness with pinching and change-height gestures. And because it's turn-based most of the issues I found could be undone before they caused me to make a mistake.
Tsutsukakushi 12y ago
Xcom fans should also check out x@com. http://xcomrl.blogspot.fi/ http://xcomrl.blogspot.fi/
ekianjo 12y ago
It's worth noting that there is another Open Source Xcom game clone, UFO Alien Invasion: http://ufoai.org/wiki/News http://ufoai.org/wiki/News (has 3d graphics).
- leoc 12y ago
  OpenXcom's not really a clone though, it's a repolishing of the original X-COM. http://www.xenonauts.com/ http://www.xenonauts.com/ is another clone/spiritual successor.
snorrah 12y ago
Interesting timing, since Xenonauts (http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/) came out of early release today!
- rurounijones 12y ago
  Which is very fun and keeps the spirit of the original X-Com alive and well.
aidenn0 12y ago
Note that the original X-Com always played on Beginner difficulty. The developers never found out about this bug, and so may the sequel extremely more difficult, thus making it not at all fun for all but the most hardcore strategy gamers.
- viseztrance 12y ago
  That can't be right. I fondly remember playing it on impossible, and almost all of the aliens started with heavy plasmas, and aside from that even the smaller ufos had twice the number of regular units.
  - aidenn0 12y ago
    Gamespy mentions it here: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/x-com-ufo-defense/1216654p3.html http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/x-com-ufo-defense/1216654p3.html Wikipedia claims that the difficulty didn't reset until after the first Battlescape mission, which might explain things. Aha! http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Known_Bugs#Difficulty_Bug http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Known_Bugs#Difficul... It was only on the DOS version, the windows version did not have the bug; perhaps you played the windows version?
  - pjc50 12y ago
    IIRC it reset the difficulty on loading a savegame, so if you started a game and played for a couple of hours it would be at that difficulty.
radimm 12y ago
You say Xcom, I hear floppy disks :) what a memories! Thanks for sharing, will give it a go over the weekend.
skriticos2 12y ago
Hm, this needs the original game assets, which I just bought on Steam. Trouble is, I can't download them on Linux because it's listed as a 'windows' game. <facepalm>
- nknighthb 12y ago
  Steam's Windows version is known to run under Wine. It doesn't run great, but you can certainly use it enough to download game assets.
  - skriticos2 12y ago
    I've done that a few times, but I don't want to clutter my current system with the wine + winetricks packages again for the upteenths time. I was hoping to find an accessible way now that Linux is first class citizen for Steam.
    - Elv13 12y ago
      You can create a disposable chroot debootstrap and use "xhost +" on the host to let Steam run. This is what I do every time I need something that require Java on my desktop.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

166 points by etiam 12y ago

danso 12y ago

Congrats to the team...I think my appetite for this has been whetted a little by the modern 2K Games remake...which, I know, is kind of heresy, but it really is a great example of how streamlining and simplifying an already decently-thought-out game (i.e. restricting soldiers to one special weapon and grenade, and base management to one base) can still be satisfying. That said, in the remake, the AI is inexplicably "boxed" up. That is, the AI doesn't move until you stumble upon them...and so if you're patient and methodical, it's not terribly hard to win most fights, scratch-free. That ruined the tension that the original game had...The About page for Open-XCOM says the AI is improved...I'd love to see a writeup on what was changed.

jahabrewer 12y ago
> if you're patient and methodical, it's not terribly hard to win most fights, scratch-free I was pretty satisfied with how they addressed that issue in Enemy Within. There are optional objectives that give you bonus resources if you reach them before they expire after a number of turns. But yes, in Enemy Unknown, I gave up on my Classic runthrough after I realized that I could win easily if I just advanced slowly enough.
angersock 12y ago
I picked up the original XCOM on Steam again, last having played it on an old 486 box--I remembered my lessons, and the first mission I'd intercepted a little scout craft (2 crewman, one of whom died on impact). So, naturally, I deploy 12 squaddies, leapfrog and encircle the crashed craft on a farm in broad daylight (never, ever, at night, ever), and proceed to fill it full of detpacks. Perfect, flawless run. I'm feeling cocky. Next mission, terror mission, and within three turns I've lost like half my team to friendly fire (unfortunate incident with an incendiary rocket), a quarter to enemy fire, and the last few guys are either panicking or getting crushed in a pincer between alien tank units (cyberdiscs) and heavy infantry. And that's when I realized that pretty much no modern games are as hard and unforgiving as that old DOS wonder. You start the game with a bunch of folks in T-shirts and M16s, and by the end you are literally space marines whose mere presence sends elite enemy units scurrying in terror--and more importantly, the game made you earn it, every step of the way. EDIT: Their Github! https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/ https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/
- jordigh 12y ago
  > unfortunate incident with an incendiary rocket Couldn't resist: http://4chanmemeandmotivational.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/teamkillers_-_its_always_the_retard_with_the_flame_thrower_always.jpg http://4chanmemeandmotivational.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/...
- Pxtl 12y ago
  Actually, it's hard to deny that X-Com did have a serious gameplay fault in its difficulty curve, as much as we loved the nostalgia. At the easy difficulty modes (most new players) the curve is completely backwards. It stars out brutally difficult and becomes easier as you gain access to heavy plasma weapons. If a total wipe of your early team was a forgiving event compared to late-game losses, that could be excused as setting tone, but it's not like that - players just save-scummed until the mission worked. That's not good gameplay. I mean, the game's merits easily overshadowed its flaws, but the reverse-difficulty is a serious flaw.
  - angersock 12y ago
    So, the trick with the early game was to accept losses, right? Once you realized "Hey, we're totally outgunned...we just need to flood the aliens until we get better gear", things changed. Missions became more about resource management: what is the bare minimum I can field to wipe these guys, what can I build and manufacture that has the highest profit margin, etc.? Terror missions, for example, early on devolved into "Set fire to everything, because we need the light, and shoot the civilians, because they could be used to feed the Chrysalids and make more Chrysalids." The enemies in the game stayed largely the same difficulty, but your equipment got better and better and tactics switched as you were able to field more expensive units--and unless you ran a really tight resource game, you treated those expensive units much differently. The thing that made the game feel unique was exactly that: the reverse-difficulty. If you started kicking ass, and then things got harder, it'd be annoying--instead, you had some early success, discovered just how outclassed you were, and after a few restarts learned how to fight a technologically-superior enemy until you had achieved force parity.
    - 12y ago
dlebech 12y ago
I agree that it is slightly weird that the aliens wait for you to discover them. However, when playing on impossible difficulty (and maybe also classic?), the aliens don't "hang out" most of the time. They will actively seek you out and it can be quite a challenge when they all show up to the party at the same time.

bobcostas55 12y ago

How's Xenonauts? Have they made enough changes to justify the price?

rurounijones 12y ago
What do you mean by changes? It is a complete remake with the same theme, not a modification. But yes, I am enjoying it and it is in the spirit of the original x-com. the only downside I have noticed so far is that I seem to be seeing the same maps a lot (although with X-Com chopper and UFO location randomised)

Vektorweg 12y ago

I really like OpenXcom, but like the original Xcom i can't play it because of its rather stupid hit calculations. Range to the target isn't used for calculating the chance to hit a target. Because the troops can't hit something when it stands in front of them. Resulting in funny battles. There is an build-in mod to reduce the chance to hit a target based on range. Since this doesn't solve the issue, the melee aliens become even more dangerous. And from all games around, Xcom do have the nastiest melee alien ever.

devindotcom 12y ago
Is this true? I've definitely unloaded a few full auto shots into aliens nearby and the hit rate seemed drastically higher than if I were to do that at range.
- Vektorweg 12y ago
  Its also noted in the changelog: - Range based accuracy removed - UFO Extender accuracy added. or in the ingame settings.
- danielweber 12y ago
  If you miss, your shot changes to be off by some amount of degrees. If you are close enough, even misses hit your target.
morsch 12y ago
I think this might be a good place to start: https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Battlescape/Projectile.cpp#L306 https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Battles...

tunnuz 12y ago

This is one of my all time favorite games. So I'm really happy someone is wishing to bring on its legacy. I think I'll play it very soon.

rurounijones 12y ago
Have a look at Xenonauts (http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/) as well, it very much keeps the original x-com spirit alive.

devindotcom 12y ago

I'm so pumped for this, tried it about a year ago and decided to wait. The games I come back to in my life are Mega Man 2 (okay and a few other NES games), Final Fantasy III/VI, and XCOM. Others I dip into and remind myself of every once in a while, but these I actually regularly play through semi-regularly because they're just such a joy. Can't wait to dig in, maybe with a mod or two, and fret over my squad for a few hours. Thanks to the team.

aquadrop 12y ago

That's the game (original) I played for years in my childhood, and opening theme was my favorite music video :) Thanks to the team behind OpenXcom.

swombat 12y ago

Nice but... the iPad game completely took care of all my XCom cravings for quite some time. It was one of the most solid iPad games I've encountered. It's more a remake than an adaptation, and they really put in a lot of effort to bring the first XCom game into the 21st century, and it shows. It cost £10 or so, and I never regretted a single penny of it. If you loved this game, I really recommend getting XCom on the iPad. PS: This is not meant to take away from what these guys are doing... but watching that ancient creaky interface after being treated to the modern touch interface in the iPad game was somewhat painful. Here's a video:

NhanH 12y ago
Just FYI, your link to the video seems to be cut off. And I seconded the praise of the ipad games. I've played quite a lot of TBS games over the years, and the XCOM remake has to be the best experience I've ever got. Both in term of game play, controlling and the overall experience (a good balance between challenge and immersion - it isn't too hard that it would frustrate you, nor too easy that it feels like a grind).
- swombat 12y ago
  Here's the video link, not sure where it went... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyEvp59OBog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyEvp59OBog
ekianjo 12y ago
Not everyone plays games on iPads. Please be a little considerate. The gaming market is much bigger (in terms of hours played) outside of the mobile devices.
- mdemare 12y ago
  XCom is also available on PC, Mac, and last-gen consoles. I bought it for all three, but I prefer it on the iPad.
vosper 12y ago
The iPad version was fantastic - looked great, ran great, and was completely absorbing. I'd read some criticism of the touch controls, but I only had a small amount of awkwardness with pinching and change-height gestures. And because it's turn-based most of the issues I found could be undone before they caused me to make a mistake.

Tsutsukakushi 12y ago

Xcom fans should also check out x@com. http://xcomrl.blogspot.fi/ http://xcomrl.blogspot.fi/

ekianjo 12y ago

It's worth noting that there is another Open Source Xcom game clone, UFO Alien Invasion: http://ufoai.org/wiki/News http://ufoai.org/wiki/News (has 3d graphics).

leoc 12y ago
OpenXcom's not really a clone though, it's a repolishing of the original X-COM. http://www.xenonauts.com/ http://www.xenonauts.com/ is another clone/spiritual successor.

snorrah 12y ago

Interesting timing, since Xenonauts (http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/ http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/) came out of early release today!

rurounijones 12y ago
Which is very fun and keeps the spirit of the original X-Com alive and well.

aidenn0 12y ago

Note that the original X-Com always played on Beginner difficulty. The developers never found out about this bug, and so may the sequel extremely more difficult, thus making it not at all fun for all but the most hardcore strategy gamers.

viseztrance 12y ago
That can't be right. I fondly remember playing it on impossible, and almost all of the aliens started with heavy plasmas, and aside from that even the smaller ufos had twice the number of regular units.
- aidenn0 12y ago
  Gamespy mentions it here: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/x-com-ufo-defense/1216654p3.html http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/x-com-ufo-defense/1216654p3.html Wikipedia claims that the difficulty didn't reset until after the first Battlescape mission, which might explain things. Aha! http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Known_Bugs#Difficulty_Bug http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Known_Bugs#Difficul... It was only on the DOS version, the windows version did not have the bug; perhaps you played the windows version?
- pjc50 12y ago
  IIRC it reset the difficulty on loading a savegame, so if you started a game and played for a couple of hours it would be at that difficulty.

radimm 12y ago

You say Xcom, I hear floppy disks :) what a memories! Thanks for sharing, will give it a go over the weekend.

skriticos2 12y ago

Hm, this needs the original game assets, which I just bought on Steam. Trouble is, I can't download them on Linux because it's listed as a 'windows' game. <facepalm>

nknighthb 12y ago
Steam's Windows version is known to run under Wine. It doesn't run great, but you can certainly use it enough to download game assets.
- skriticos2 12y ago
  I've done that a few times, but I don't want to clutter my current system with the wine + winetricks packages again for the upteenths time. I was hoping to find an accessible way now that Linux is first class citizen for Steam.
  - Elv13 12y ago
    You can create a disposable chroot debootstrap and use "xhost +" on the host to let Steam run. This is what I do every time I need something that require Java on my desktop.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]