X-Com the game

[krautbernd]

I am not sure what the advantage of voxel terrain would be.

Better terrain destruction.

Not only Voxel terrain. Also Voxel units and objects. Yes, better terrain destruction, but also to preserve the pixel look in a true 3D environment. Imagine the battlescape, but freely zoomable and rotatable. But as far as I can tell that's not really what OP is after.

But since voxels are far more resource-hungry than polygons, and OpenXcom already tends to struggle with moderately large and especially multi-level maps, it's doubtful it would be a net benefit.

I'd really urge you to check out Teardown (if you haven't already done so) in regards to what a modern voxel engine can do, even on "average" machines. I'd also expect that starting from a clean slate - and not recreating an old engine - would yield improvements in performance. Not that I expect OP to actually go through with this (Voxels or not).

3.  Please tell me more, which two core arcs, and who do I get permission from for the rest of the arcs?  Solarius Scorch?

He'd be where you start, yes. But some of his work is building on existing IP to a degree that won't fly in a commercial game (UAC being the most obvious example). You two would need to sit down and examine the whole thing pretty thoroughly.

Take into account that material "in the arcs" has also been contributed by other authors (users on the forums, github, etc). You'll probably need to contact Solarius for particulars, and you might want to check out the credits in the readme attached to XCF.

[Juku121]

voxels

Voxel units and objects are pretty secondary for battlefield manipulation. Maybe some particularly big Muton corpse or a wrecked tank would matter, but it'd more eye candy than functional.

A part-time developer who already has another game in the works is hardly going to produce a 'modern voxel engine', so I imagine the whole thing is rather moot.

And people play OpenXcom on cell phones, tablets, old laptops and similar stuff. An engine targeted at 'average' machines is not going to be a great boon.

Yeah, it would be nice if something like that was made, but I don't think it's realistic. I don't think even porting XCF over to a new engine is a realistic (less than) one-man project, unless you're okay with it taking years.


Edit: Okay, I took a gander at Teardown. Yeah, something like that would definitely earn the X-Minecraft moniker. It would also be pretty nice as an X-Com game. But, again, realistic expectations. I have more confidence in Xenonauts 2 getting a release than a fully voxel-based X-Com game being made.

[krautbernd]

Voxel units and objects are pretty secondary for battlefield manipulation. Maybe some particularly big Muton corpse or a wrecked tank would matter, but it'd more eye candy than functional.

The eye candy being the entire point, being able to have the orginal battlescape aesthetic in full 3D. *drool*

A part-time developer who already has another game in the works is hardly going to produce a 'modern voxel engine', so I imagine the whole thing is rather moot.

But as far as I can tell that's not really what OP is after[...]Not that I expect OP to actually go through with this (Voxels or not).

Of course it is, I'm aware of that. Doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see it happen

[al_5437]

Below is today's screenshot from the craft-team-equipment view.
On the left are the main base navigation buttons (64 pixels out of 1024).

192 pixels for the column that lists base's crafts and the button to purchase new crafts (UI copied from xenonauts).

The remaining 768x768 is the equipment view where you would have in one screen what other games divide in three or four.  You would select a spot in the craft, and then assign 1. agent 2. suit of armor and 3. equipment to that spot.  At any point, you would be able to save/load a predefined config.

Take into account that material "in the arcs" has also been contributed by other authors (users on the forums, github, etc). You'll probably need to contact Solarius for particulars, and you might want to check out the credits in the readme attached to XCF.

Yes, I will do that after the prototype has base management and basic game loop. There is always an option to scrap the globe, and to do the game in medieval-fantasy setting.  Five feet long bows instead of sniper rifles.

[al_5437]

The equipment selection view is functionally complete.  Lots of polishing remains to be done, such as adding a button to resize spot management within craft and actual equipment of the spot, and more validation checks.

The data model is as follows (I haven't studied how it is implemented in oxce, but pretty sure it is very similar).
A craft template has spot positions, and spot count.  A spot is where the operative would appear in battlescape relative to the craft.
A craft instance has craft spot instances, which can be assigned to any spot position available.
A craft spot has an operative, a suit, primary equipment slot.  All three are nullable.
Suit has a list of slots (holster, pockets, backpack).
The management allows you to assign spots to spots positions, assign agents, armor, and equipment to the spots, and it performs a number of validation checks to make sure a pet can't wear non-pet armor.

I thought about compiling and uploading the demo, but a new version of godot alpha comes out every two weeks, and I would need to redownload the export templates, so here are the screenshots.
The suits are daz renders.

[al_5437]

Weekend sprint is over, the craft crew equipment system is functional.
Download and try it :

https://castirongames.itch.io/x-inq

Once it is running, click on the 'bases' in the top right.
then, click on 'craft equip'.  In this view, you

1.  select which craft to equip
2.  once a craft a selected (first one selected by default), you can select each spot within that craft to fill with operative, armor, and equipment.  There is some validation to prevent rats from being equipped with human armor, but it doesn't count inventory.
3.  click on the 'save' in the bot left corner.  That will save a spot configuration (armor and items, but not operative), and move it to the top list.
4.  Click on the 'Spots' button, you will be able to rearrange the actual spots among the available spot positions.
5.  Click on 'Geo Back' button, click on 'intercept', and enjoy the icons that can be resized, as in screenshot.