I can't see how adding multiplayer would improve the game in a way that justifies the added complexity of implementing multiplayer support and the constraints such a mode imposes.
I personally don't believe the implementation of multiplayer will make it a better game.
I have to agree with that. Whenever I hear a game has multiplayer I sort of go "oh, okay," and never really play it. It's nice to have the option (if the MP is done well and not full of squeakers) but I'm not really a big fan of it at all.
The only multiplayer thing I've ever really played seriously was Terraria, and that's good to play with other people for completely different reasons, so yeah. Not really fussed about Multiplayer. Maybe as an optional addon later?
I've never really been a huge multiplayer gamer. I get the appeal, but it's just never been my thing. I've enjoyed Gears 3, Halo, and even BioShock 2's multiplayer for an extent, but I've never really stuck with anything for the long haul. However, multiplayer can be a very useful thing for increasing the longevity of your game, but I think it should almost always be treated secondary to the core, single player experience. I mentioned Gears 3, and while I overall enjoyed the game, there were a few disappointments and frustrations that came as a result of a larger focus on multiplayer, particularly four player co-op.
I don't have a lot of experience with X-COM, but I do hope that Firaxis only includes multiplayer if it would in no way detract from the single player experience.
I really do not see why or how multiplayer would add anything to this game anyway.
Originally Posted by archont
I agree with archont here on this one... adding MP would be a mistake... keep it simple to the idea of X-COM and go with it.... Give us a challenging SP experience and we will love you for it....
Ok. It would seem that no one so far care much for multiplayer. So Firaxis is right in not having any.
While multiplayer does indeed increase the longevity of a game 3rd party content/mods do the same thing - Bethesda games being an example. For XCOM:EU the moding support model of Skyrim (easy modding + idiot-friendly mod management) is the solution to increasing longevity, especially since the players of strategy/tactical games have the most creative and technically skilled modders there are - OpenTTD, Jagged Alliance 1.13..However, multiplayer can be a very useful thing for increasing the longevity of your game, but I think it should almost always be treated secondary to the core, single player experience.
Within a year of releasing XCOM:EU I'd be willing to bet good money that the modding community, if only the game was reasonably open, would spend several times the number of manhours improving and tinkering that Firaxis spent on actually developing it. It would be a huge missed opportunity if this avenue was not explored.
Downside is the stupids in suits haven't figured out a way to directly monetize mods* so there's no incentive to incorporate it in a game. And all things considered making a game mod-friendly requires a lot of extra effort.
* Because the stupids in suits can't comprehend the mindset of hardcore gamers/modders who release a mod as a labor of love without any monetary compensation. To them that probably sounds like a symptom of mental illness.
Let's not make negative comments towards "suits," please guys. They're the ones that pay to get games put out, whether you like it or not - please try to remain respectful.
I don't know about that. People seem to be wising up to the fact that mods can greatly extend the lifespan of a game and thus the amount of sales it gets. Certainly Civ IV and V benefited greatly from this phenomenon, along with every Bethesda game ever and Valve with Half-Life (which spawned Counterstrike, TF1, and then L4D, Portal, etc etc etc in the HL2/Source generation.)
Certainly, they should definitely include mod tools and make modding easy because it greatly broadens the appeal of the game.
Indeed, some companies do realize this, some don't. The way a company handles modding is very indicative of it's attitude towards the customer and just how in touch with gaming reality it's management is.
While there's no doubt that modding capability only improves a game it still doesn't increase revenue directly and in the short term. Sure, mods spawn games like Portal, DOTA or TF2, train a new generation of game developers, increase a product's longevity and it's thus brand recognition, but seeing beyond the next quarter's market share requires management that isn't.. well.. stupid.
Codex - duly noted. End of offtopic on my side.
It's not necessarily a bad thing you know. Developing Multiplayer mode takes time. Time that could be spent adding more content or polish to the Single player. And personally I think the time is better spent on that. Some other games without Multiplayer this year: Skyrim, Batman AC, Witcher 2. I don't think they needed it.
What really sucks is when they tack on Multiplayer just so they can advertise that on the box.
Personally, i will actually like multiplayer, with a simple random maps with the teams of rookies to fight to end that "my rookie can beat your rookie" talk with friends or maybe a MP mode with Aliens being another player instead of just AI. but of course the real meat of the game should be the single player so i wont really care if it doesnt have any.
I just dont see how multiplayer fits into XCOM except *maybe* a co-op style
I mean, what you have, one player be aliens one be XCOM? What good is a multipler game that starts off so imbalanced? Or have multiple XCOM organizations competing against eachother? Seems odd...
It doesn't have to be unbalanced. Sure enough, if you allow the alien player to send a retaliation battleship on an attack on the X-com's players base right off the bat... Well that would be very one sided...
But what if there is a number of things the aliens also need to do before they can do that ? To balance things all you have to do is work out reasons why alien can only send small scout research ships at first. Why they need to bother with abduction missions. Why they bother with terror missions to get funding countries mad instead of simply whipping out the X-com bases.
Just like X-com side can't just send an avenger ship on the last mission on day 1, perhaps the alien side also need to sort a number of things out and meet some requirements before they can hit the more brutal infiltration mission and base attack.
Alternatively
Multiplayer could be a simple separate mini game like Alguien suggested. You pick a stage and both side select a load out based on parameters determined before hand. Then both side duke it out in a pure tactical contests to see who is the best strategist.
Such a game mode would be very easy to implement. You already have X-com and alien units designed. You already have the stage designed. All you need is to give control of the alien side to some player as part of this mini game. The most difficult part of making this would be working out the connection protocols to connect two instance of the game and designing the game setup interface.
Now I am not saying that X-com MUST have multiplayer. Just saying it is not as impossible or oddly fitting as some may think. But possible or not, the point of this topic was simply informing those who did not know that the game will probably not have any multiplayer elements (at least as of now).
Don't think MP would add much to X-COM, except for tactical skirmishes. That might be quick to include and not take much development time. Maybe some sort of global domination mode as well? Kind of like the it goes on Aftershock.
But all in all i wouldn't miss it. X-COM might be strategy, but it ain't no C&C. The storyline screams SP gameplay, just like the Elder Scrolls games.
Keep in mind that the gameplay for both sides does not have to be exactly the same. On the original EU, aliens did NOT start the game with battleships and Ethereals. For all we know, they have a research tree just like X-Com's
Take a look at how well X-COM: The Two Sides was pulled off. Me and my friend would get into a rivalry and carry on a game for weeks.
I'm not really that fussed - I'd rather Firaxis focus on SP and make that as great as it could be. However, I would love an option to play as the aliens!
Developing a game takes time. And with multiplayer you have to do a lot of testing (which takes MORE time then the development). So I also think its good that there is no multiplayer. Concentrate on SP. And lets be honest: X-COM is not the best game for a LAN-party. It doesnt need to be.
I don't really see how adding MP to this game would add anything significant. They should focus on the mechanics and balance of it as a single player game first - don't worry about MP unless there is a huge demand post release. Even then, maybe in a sequel (Terror from the Very Hard to Reach Places?).
I dont see how this game could profit from MP too, at least not campaign style. Only thing had to be open coop, 16 players, try to stop alien invasion from their country, and perhaps a training mode where 2 players would duel in the tactical phase.
Anyway, it would be a sidetrack, and not nessecary. Besides, Firaxis still have a game out where they have promised a good MP experience, but after a year since release, they still havent provided it. Im talking about Civ V.
They should get that done first, before they even start thinking of a potential MP for XCOM.
I understand how fans of the original wouldn't like a direct multiplayer but I strongly disagree with most of the opinions here that it would detract from the experience. Although XCOM:EU is probably too far along in development for MP to happen, I can easily envision how MP could add to the vision and scope of the original:
Persistent World
Given the one-base limit, why not allow a persistent universe that your friends pop in and out of? You all play rival organizations and don't have to play all at once; rather, you can come and go and do missions as you wish. You can synchronize for assaults on heavy bases and specialize in different tech trees.
Drop-in tactical combat
Although this (and the last idea, probably) would require an always on internet connection, have EU constantly searching for another player to tack on in a co-op mission Napoleon: Total War style. So imagine you're playing your game by yourself, and the game notices someone else in Korea is playing it at the same time. It generates a grounded UFO that exists for both of you (like an instance.) You send a Skyranger, he sends a Skyranger, and when you both reach the UFO the game launches a 2-player instance. The rewards are better from this mission, providing incentive despite the fact that he might suck.
A lot of opinions here do not say that. They are saying that its a matter of ressources. And they should be invested in single-player first, so that single-player experienced is not traded off for multi player. The stuff that you are suggesting would take A LOT of time (= money) to concept, develop, balance, test and bugfix. Time better invested in making the single-player experience perfect.
And there is a conceptional problem with your idea: since there is real-time in global-view, but round time in combats, that would mean that time would stop for all players on global view, if one player engages in battle. And that would really suck for them since they had to wait a loooong time.
You'd need to have persistent servers to handle this. Persistent servers are expensive. It'd basically have to be like an MMO. Either F2P with some way to transfer RL money into some advantage ingame, supported by ads (not sure if possible), or a full on WoW like subscription.
It would also be a positively herculean undertaking codewise. Netcode in general is tricky, but something like this would be... Huge.
It's a neat idea, but it's really something you build a game around, rather than tack on to a single player game, since it's that huge an undertaking.
...That being said, I for one might give a hypothetical XCOM: Online a whirl if it has mechanics like the ones you mention.
Isn't there already a game coming that'll be doing the persistent world thing with X-Com like gameplay? UFO Online, or something?
I second what Fox said. The Two Sides had the right idea. There is potential for a strong multiplayer campaign as soon as there are two (or more) opposing factions.
I think multiplayer could suit this game very well, depending on how it's done. Could even be revolutionary.
I wouldn't mind seeing a player-versus-player mode with one side playing the aliens and one side playing the humans.
At the beginning of each round, players get to create a combat squad from their pool of persistent soldiers and load them out with weapons purchased with a starting amount of cash, which is also persistent.
When you win a game, you earn money and experience for your surviving soldiers (who I remind you, are persistent; dead soldiers will have to be replaced). You also gain any equipment left behind by either side which can be reused or sold for cash. You could even somehow tie is research into this mode and a skill or level bracket to keep games evenly matched between opponents.
Maps will be procedurally generated and can even host multiple players, 2v2, 3v3, et cetera. You could even extend this mode to a metagame where you choose what part of the world or what country to fight in and whichever side wins the most matches in that territory by the end of the day, controls that territory.
In any event, sounds like a good time to me
I love the original gameplay of Xcom UFO defense a lot and in a lot of ways want that style to be preserved, that being said, maybe we are not opening our minds to what coop and multiplayer could offer us in one of the all time best classic games of our time. Think of a coop setup like this, you and say two or three of your friends each have their own base and can respectivley take care of their base however they like, then when you want to speed up time you could have a ready check for all players togo to said time speed, interceptions would be tricky but missions wouldn't be, one person would send out their 'avenger' type ship to start a mission amd when he gets there, another ready check would be implemented(imagine dialog ready checks like in swtor) so when all players 'avengers' arrived the mission could commence amd within the mission why not give all the players a turn at the same time and the aliens their turns just like the original game, that way players would have the freedom to either work together with their own units during their collective turn or they could spread out and take on aliens as they please during said turn, you would have to implement some kind of difficulty algorithm of course for more players, like the more players the more aliens appear or something. Base attacks could work the same way, someone gets a base attack and requests reinforcments from friends. Multiplayer could work the same way except the aliens would be played by people. Don't think for a second that coop and multiplayer are forced upon you, the option to play single, multi, coop is always yours, just think of it as a way to enjoy an epic game with friends if you wanted too. Interfacing with friends while playing a new classic like this in my opinion would all that much more fun, thank you.
I wouldn't mind Multiplayer...they had X-COM Email Multiplayer...I think it would be a fun addition... Humans vs Aliens. You vs your friends.
My friends and I had a blast doing hotseat multiplayer (both coop and player versus player) in X-Com Apoc. We'd go to one of the cultist buildings, deploy separately with 2-3 guys each, and just tear it up.
I think everyone just wants Laser Squad Nemesis HD. Free bundle!
I have to say I'm a little startled to hear so much opposition to multiplayer/coop in Xcom. Like insidius, I played hour after hour of hotseat Xcom with friends back when my 9600 baud modem wouldn't allow coop play. We now have the technology to create a spectacular multiplayer/coop experience! I'd really like to see that happen.
I'd prefer that they got the singleplayer part down pat first.
This is Firaxis, I don't think that's something to worry about necessarily.
Perhaps, but this is their first time (as Firaxis, with the current team) doing an X-Com game, not one of their old standbys. At least they ought to be "fresh" since they're working on something new and interesting. Let's hope for the best.
It can be decent but isn't a priority definitely. I'd rather have them make a proper remake first and see how it goes from there. There are still way too many considerations that aren't either addressed or turned out to be serious watering down. Doesn't mean much if a so-so game has multiplayer or not.
Was Sid Meier involved in the first Xcom game?
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