So Johnny and the devs ...

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johnnylump
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Re: So Johnny and the devs ...

Post by johnnylump »

Yes, on occasion I've used some ideas I've seen on here. Nothing so grand as a weapon; more along the lines of "how about making this perk do this." We've also recruited some internal playtesters from these forums and used their ideas liberally.
pingpong
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Re: So Johnny and the devs ...

Post by pingpong »

johnnylump wrote:Yes, on occasion I've used some ideas I've seen on here. Nothing so grand as a weapon; more along the lines of "how about making this perk do this." We've also recruited some internal playtesters from these forums and used their ideas liberally.
Hi JL

From what I have been able to surmise from your past posts and from Jake's comments, some of the inspiration seems to be from ideas that were written into the vanilla game code, but later discarded/not used at final release (eg Fatigue in XCOM EU/EW => LW 1). Is this accurate and how much is actually "hidden" in the original game code? -- kinda like Michaelangelo "freeing" David from a block of marble ; )

Though I have no experience as a game designer, I have this impression that the guys at Firaxis are initially designing a game that is as "complicated" as LW, but then realize that it needs to be streamlined in order to appeal to a larger audience. Thoughts/comments?
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johnnylump
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Re: So Johnny and the devs ...

Post by johnnylump »

For LW EW/EU, we were definitely scavenging plenty from the base game, because it was so difficult to introduce new assets. As for fatigue in particular, I don't recall if it was in there any more than a single line in an enumerated type governing soldier status, but it's possible there was some more there. Certainly it wasn't a pre-written system that we just flipped a switch on. What amounts to "cut content" from the vanilla game can really vary from leftover perk icons all the way up to partially or fully realized mechanics that were deactivated.

Certainly we can see in the code things FXS tried and ultimately didn't use, but it's not always easy to figure out how far they developed it. I've mentioned the "Skyranger mortar," which was also an enum in EW, but there's no evidence they developed it any further than that.
dethraker
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Re: So Johnny and the devs ...

Post by dethraker »

JL,

The fatigue "system" wasn't implemented in anyway beyond a couple functions that have the word "fatigue" in them. From what I could tell from digging around in LW code was that the system was designed entirely by you and the other modders that worked with you on the project. Whether or not the idea came specifically from those two functions or if you guys were considering doing something like that already I have no clue though. However it came about it was a great system for the game and certainly more than could have been imagined when everyone first started trying to figure out how to mod the game.
Phaseless
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Re: So Johnny and the devs ...

Post by Phaseless »

The fatigue System added such an enjoyable layer to the strategic Play, I agree. It was a lot of fun trying to optimize squads and loadouts with an economic mindset. Send what you Need, no more, no less. That was quite an enjoyable challenge. Before, you could just send your A-Team, and re-send your A-Team, and so on, as Long as nobody got wounded.

With fatigue, I always tried to have an A-Team on standby for Terror missions or the like. You couldn't just send your best guys to a difficult Invasion Mission anymore. You had to plan for the worst case.

The Infiltration System is a similar mechanic and I quite like it. Although if balanced right, a combination of Infiltration + fatigue would be creme de la creme, IMO.
Sparky79
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Re: So Johnny and the devs ...

Post by Sparky79 »

johnnylump wrote:Yes, on occasion I've used some ideas I've seen on here. Nothing so grand as a weapon; more along the lines of "how about making this perk do this." We've also recruited some internal playtesters from these forums and used their ideas liberally.
Thanks for replying Johnny (or do you prefer JL?).
I am happy to hear that. :)
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