Recently Xenonauts started a kickstarter asking for 50 thousand dollars. I have to say, aside from the game itself the guy who is making it poured his life savings into it because he loved xcom. That deserves respect. This was in development before Enemy Unknown.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/69341191/xenonauts

Reasons why I think it will be the better game

- Not designed with console in mind

Everything I have seen of Xcom thus far has been running on a control pad. Not a single peice of footage of image has been on the mouse and keyboard. Usually this is a sign of the target audience. Some people will argue it doesn't matter. I disagree. Whenever a game is focused at consoles it almost always hurts the pc game.

- Indie title

In interviews the Xcom developer team has said over and over buzzwords "action" "streamline" "accessible". Going mainsteam (and console) usually means super simple games. Already we know a ton of crap has been cut out. The guy making xenonauts is not cutting out any complexity for a need to appeal to the mainstream.

It's cheaper and wont charge you up the butt with DLC -

You don't need to guess that Xcom will have a crap ton of DLC. Launch DLC, pre-launch DLC, dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc. e.t.c....

- Cheaper

Xenonauts is only $20. Xcom: Enemy Unknown will be about $49.

Of these two games I look forward to Xenonauts far more.

This is a interview from an older build. The graphics (tiles) are better now and with funding it will probably have even more work done to it. Be a man, fund this. You also get instant access to the beta to play right now. The game also has a demo to try out.

Good for you! I disagree on every point you make, but hope the project is funded for you and the other fans.

I believe that if anyone can make a X-COM game for the modern era, it would be Firaxis. Nonetheless, I did back those guys on kickstarter, if only to see what kind of game this Xenonauts ends up being.

In less than 36 hours the developer has already near enough touched his goal. Still 31 days to go with money accepted until the end of that date.

If there's a beta or demo out, have you played it yet? That's something I'd like to know when considering the validity of your opinion.

@MrBoBo said:

Recently Xenonauts started a kickstarter asking for 50 thousand dollars. I have to say, aside from the game itself the guy who is making it poured his life savings into it because he loved xcom. That deserves respect. This was in development before Enemy Unknown.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/69341191/xenonauts

Reasons why I think it will be the better game

- Not designed with console in mind

Everything I have seen of Xcom thus far has been running on a control pad. Not a single peice of footage of image has been on the mouse and keyboard. Usually this is a sign of the target audience. Some people will argue it doesn't matter. I disagree. Whenever a game is focused at consoles it almost always hurts the pc game.

- Indie title

In interviews the Xcom developer team has said over and over buzzwords "action" "streamline" "accessible". Going mainsteam (and console) usually means super simple games. Already we know a ton of crap has been cut out. The guy making xenonauts is not cutting out any complexity for a need to appeal to the mainstream.

It's cheaper and wont charge you up the butt with DLC -

You don't need to guess that Xcom will have a crap ton of DLC. Launch DLC, pre-launch DLC, dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc dlc. e.t.c....

- Cheaper

Xenonaughts is only $20. Xcom: Enemy Unknown will be about $49.

Of these two games I look forward to Xenonauts far more.

None of those things will be relevant into what makes a better game. It really will be a "wait and see" motif with these two games. I like how Xcom is taking notes from games that have come out between now and then, not being so hard nosed reliant on nostalgia and placating to people who played the first game. Xenonauts, currently anyway, looks like an Xcom expansion, actively ignoring every turnbased strategy game that's come out over the past 15 years in order to try and stay as focused on that original gameplay as possible. Usually when this happens, the problems from the old series hang over and you get something that is fairly lackluster. If all you want is to play xcom again, just go play xcom. You should be demanding more from your SRPG's now a days.

@BraveToaster said:

And something can be better because it's cheaper?

Yes.

I don't get it. When did streamlining become a bad thing? Streamlining and depth do NOT go against each other.

Case in point: picking up thrown flares. Go back to X-com and try and do this. You have to be near the flare. Then you have to open up the inventory, move the flare from the ground to your character, and then, after exiting the inventory, you can throw it again.

All that said, I'm looking forward to both games. But streamlining does not mean cutting depth. The only way get rid of depth is to actually sit down, look at your design, and make a conscious decision to get rid of it.

@PenguinDust said:

If there's a beta or demo out, have you played it yet? That's something I'd like to know when considering the validity of your opinion.

The alpha and beta has been out for a couple of months now. You need to fund it to play the alpha version though. I'm pretty sure anyone can play the demo.

@MrBoBo said:

@PenguinDust said:

If there's a beta or demo out, have you played it yet? That's something I'd like to know when considering the validity of your opinion.

The alpha and beta has been out for a couple of months now. You need to fund it to play the alpha version though. I'm pretty sure anyone can play the demo.

That's so damn silly to me. Unless you're planning on a free to play model, you should never do this. Feels like a great way for the developer to cut and run if things get too heavy.

@MrBoBo: I liked the video on the Kickstarter page more because it really filled me in on the details of the overall game. I've never played classic X-Com before, so I'm going to check this out. It looks pretty cool...

It is very similar to the original X-Com stuff, only it fixes the part that I hated with the annoying gear swapping around before every single mission in X-Com. In Xenonauts you just outfit people at the base from what I recall. Anyway, interesting that they are doing a kickstarter, I probably won't fund it though. Not because I don't like it or have no faith in it. On the contrary it is due to the fact that quite some time ago I already paid for it and have access to playing the test build updates on Desura. I suppose they went with Kickstarter to perhaps get some more notice and funding. It has been available to buy though for some time.

@Mesoian said:

@MrBoBo said:

@PenguinDust said:

If there's a beta or demo out, have you played it yet? That's something I'd like to know when considering the validity of your opinion.

The alpha and beta has been out for a couple of months now. You need to fund it to play the alpha version though. I'm pretty sure anyone can play the demo.

That's so damn silly to me. Unless you're planning on a free to play model, you should never do this. Feels like a great way for the developer to cut and run if things get too heavy.

Another way is open development with feedback from the user-base as they go along.

I feel crazy-bananas because I feel like I've read this exact thread before.

Also, we'll see I guess?

All nice and good, but I would remain careful and not overhype it. As much as people want another XCOM, what is often forgotten is that there have been more, a ton more. There have been four or so games in the UFO series ( UFO: Aftershock, UFO: Afterlight, ...), there has been a GBA conversion of the original (Rebelstar: Tactical Command), there was a real sequel with XCOM: Apocalypse, there are at least three fan remakes and there have been a few games from the creator of the original game that use similar mechanics (Laser Squad Nemesis, Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars). On top of that there have been a bunch of oddball sequels of the original series and whatever other stuff I forgot.
 
Point here is, people have tried again and again to recreate the XCOM experience, yet all of them kind of fell flat and didn't quite held up to people expectations. So maybe this one will be finally it, but chances are, it will just be yet another XCOM-like game that just didn't quite recapture the magic.
 
At this point I am not even sure that trying to redo XCOM is really the right way to go, it has already been done and people had more then enough years to replay the original. So when this one stays to close to the original, it might just end up being kind of boring, as people already played it enough.

Like somebody previously said, if all you want is old XCOM just play old XCOM, streamlining a game doesn't make it dumber and less complex or even less fun, if all you care about are a list of features you might need to take a step back and reevaluate what it is you want from games.

That's great that you have an opinion, imo.

@ModerateViolence said:

Like somebody previously said, if all you want is old XCOM just play old XCOM, streamlining a game doesn't make it dumber and less complex or even less fun, if all you care about are a list of features you might need to take a step back and reevaluate what it is you want from games.

hmm. It's not xcom, it's diffrent in several regards. Besides the point, if it was, it has better graphics. Xcoms presentation is terrible now. It's a very old game. Heck, it's older than alot of people playing games now. Streamlining is most likely to objectively increase sales, not the game. It's why most of the footage has been console as well, they most likely predict low sales on the pc. It's why it was first announced as a FPS. Not to "modernize" and make it "better", to increase mula by appealing to what is currently popular by re-branding a loved and/or respected dorment franchise. Hollywood does the exact same thing with movies. It's cynical cash in the majority of the time. It's gotten to the point that a movie wont even be 5 years old before being rebooted.

@JasonR86 said:

That's great that you have an opinion, imo.

Are you an angst teenager or something?

@MrBoBo:

Yep, you nailed it. I hate adults. They suck, imo.

@Ubersmake said:

I don't get it. When did streamlining become a bad thing? Streamlining and depth do NOT go against each other. Case in point: picking up thrown flares. Go back to X-com and try and do this. You have to be near the flare. Then you have to open up the inventory, move the flare from the ground to your character, and then, after exiting the inventory, you can throw it again. All that said, I'm looking forward to both games. But streamlining does not mean cutting depth. The only way get rid of depth is to actually sit down, look at your design, and make a conscious decision to get rid of it.

There's a difference between streamlining to make aspects like a user interface or general gameplay more intuitive to pick up, and streamlining to lobotomize the complexity and depth. If you want a prime example of the later, just look at Deus Ex: Invisible War.

I thought the previews for Enemy Unknown looked really good.

IMO, play both and just shutup. You don't have to pick one over the other. Finally, X-Com is getting remade, and there'll be two seperate visions of it. Just be happy about that

Dunno, will have to wait and see.

Better is relative. I think you mean it'll live up to your expectations of an XCOM sequel much better than the actual XCOM game coming out.

Good news, it's been funded in under two days. That amount was about half of what they generated after months without the help of kickstarter. With the added money they have promised to try add more features like female units, suppression mechanics, intro and outtro movies. A native mac version/linux version. More art assets. Very happy for the dude, he seems passionate and concise in his goal.

Shut the fuck up with all of the goddamn "OH NO NOT A FUCKIN REMAKE IT MUCH BE A DUMBED DOWN PIECE OF SHIT."

AND YET everyone who's seen the actual game, including massive fans of the original, say it looks great and everything the dev has said sounds awesome. You wanna have a preference? Fine, enjoy your ugly, unpolished indie game. Meanwhile, those of us who can respect the merits of both and recognize that change can in fact make a better game without dumbing it down, and we will love the hell out of the game that those guys are making. I think Xeno looks great, or at least I think it sounds like it could be really fun. But making a game stuck in the past is what it is. You're worse than the fuckers bitching about Diablo 3 being less complex, and stopping you from having "all of the diverse builds" that D2 had. Despite the fact that no one ever used those other builds because it was too competitive and that meant only the objectively best builds were really used. Similarly, Xcom isn't being dumbed down, it's being changed, and modified. You don't have to like it, you don't have to shut up about it, but I don't have to give your whining anything more than a frustrated dismissal. JUST PLAY GOOD GAMES AND STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE REST. You know what game is mad simple to play? Half Life 2. You know what game is fucking amazing? Half Life 2. It's a game, not a list of fucking mechanics.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Shut the fuck up with all of the goddamn "OH NO NOT A FUCKIN REMAKE IT MUCH BE A DUMBED DOWN PIECE OF SHIT."

No.

@MrBoBo said:

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Shut the fuck up with all of the goddamn "OH NO NOT A FUCKIN REMAKE IT MUCH BE A DUMBED DOWN PIECE OF SHIT."

No.

What are you an angsty teen or something?

I just read your entire post and I didn't find any legitimate reasons for thinking one game will be better than the other.

@JasonR86 said:

@MrBoBo said:

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Shut the fuck up with all of the goddamn "OH NO NOT A FUCKIN REMAKE IT MUCH BE A DUMBED DOWN PIECE OF SHIT."

No.

What are you an angsty teen or something?

I dono man. I think it might be screaming FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUCK DO AS I SAY SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FUCK.

It could be "no" I guess.

@MrBoBo said:

@JasonR86 said:

@MrBoBo said:

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Shut the fuck up with all of the goddamn "OH NO NOT A FUCKIN REMAKE IT MUCH BE A DUMBED DOWN PIECE OF SHIT."

No.

What are you an angsty teen or something?

I dono man. I think it might be screaming FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUCK DO AS I SAY SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FUCK.

It could be "no" I guess.

I don't know. You just seemed like an angsty teen, imo.

@JasonR86 said:

@MrBoBo said:

@JasonR86 said:

@MrBoBo said:

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Shut the fuck up with all of the goddamn "OH NO NOT A FUCKIN REMAKE IT MUCH BE A DUMBED DOWN PIECE OF SHIT."

No.

What are you an angsty teen or something?

I dono man. I think it might be screaming FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FUCK DO AS I SAY SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FUCK.

It could be "no" I guess.

I don't know. You just seemed like an angsty teen, imo.

Cool.

Is it necessary to behave like four year olds?

@LordAndrew said:

Is it necessary to behave like four year olds?

Yes!

in b4 locked for too much angst

I pledged £30 towards this game. It looks very good. However, the wait of kickstarter games (months or even years) will require patience with only goodwill on the users end that it will even turn out good in the end. This looks promising though.

@LordAndrew said:

Is it necessary to behave like four year olds?

I find it very rare to be on a gaming forum with mature minds. Usually small ones with a group freinds are fine. However when it is a popular gaming board such as this it tends to be full of rather brash young adults seeking attention through negativity. One common tactic is actively looking for users with perceived weakness.

Keep telling yourself that.

I'mma famous!

@MrBoBo:

Yep, you nailed it. I hate adults. They suck, imo.