Two of Space Sector’s game’s choices to look for in 2012 are XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Xenonauts. They are both remakes, or re-imagined versions (the difference is only subtle really) of the original X-COM games from the 90′s where your job is to lead a squad of elite fighters against an alien incursion on our planet.

On one side there’s Xenonauts, produced by Goldhawk Interactive, a <24 manpower indie video game studio founded in 2009 based in London, that uses the alpha-funding model to fund their games. On the other side there’s the giant (at least size-wise it is) game publisher Take-Two interactive (that owns 2K Games). Take-Two has given the job to Firaxis Games (a respected game developer studio responsible for game titles like Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and Sid Meier’s Civilization 3, 4 and 5), to build a new X-COM franchise sequel. Take-Two owns the original franchise trademark that belonged to Microprose by the way.

I can’t tell you well enough how excited I am, as surely thousands and thousands of other X-COM fans spread around the globe are, to hear that after a long wait (of more than a decade) this year we will finally be able to get the chance to play a new X-COM style strategy game, that is worthy of the original titles. I’m not referring to one of the games in particular although I have to confess, understandably I guess, that I am a bit more excited to hear that a new X-COM game was going to be produced (the Firaxis one) than when I learned about Xenonauts, a long time before. Firaxis and 2K only announced their game now but Goldhawk Interactive, also due to it’s alpha-funding scheme, have announced Xenonauts many months ago.

We can imagine the shock this new XCOM announcement has caused on Goldhawk Interactive, seeing a “AAA” XCOM announcement for the same year they are expecting to release Xenonauts. In fact Xenonauts people talk about on receiving this news (see Goldhawk Interactive’s recent post about their reaction to 2K/Firaxis’ announcement). See a clip below.

“Mid-January is upon us and the festive season has been left well and truly behind. It’s time for another update on what’s been happening on Xenonauts, plus a few words on a game being made by a little-known studio called Firaxis. I’ll start with the elephant in the room, the Firaxis X-Com remake. I’ll admit that their announcement was not the ideal way to usher in the New Year, but the more information that is revealed about the game the less I worry for Xenonauts. I have a lot of respect for Firaxis and I imagine that their remake will at worst be a good game, but there are a lot of differences between what we are aiming to do and what they are. I therefore don’t think they’ll erode our target audience a great deal. In fact, they may even increase it.” ~Goldhawk Interactive

We have only to gain with this because now there’s a little competition going on between these two to see who pulls it off better, so, we have everything to win with this little dispute :)

Does Xenonauts has everything to lose?

I’m a huge X-COM fan, and I’m sincere, right now my preference, in terms of expectation level is for Firaxis’ “XCOM”. It doesn’t have anything to do with what they promise to offer really, since we barely know anything about the two games at this point. It is just natural to assume that an official sequel product is likely to be a better one, at least more true to the original. But this preliminary preference works both ways really. Although it may seem that Xenonauts starts way behind, they actually have one (well, I’m sure they may have more), one big thing in their favor: people don’t have so much expectations for their game as for Firaxis’ one.

Another Xenonauts advantages is that being a smaller studio in size they may benefit from all the hype behind the new XCOM franchise remake and take the opportunity to cash-in through that hype. Moreover it’s understandable to think that many XCOM fans will also want to try Xenonauts, if not for the sake of pure interest in the game, at least from a pure curiosity point of view, as much as prices will allow of course.

What made the X-COM series fantastic in the first place?

It’s a fair observation to make that there would not be a Xenonauts game if it wasn’t for the original X-COM titles (such as UFO Defense, Terror from the Deep and Apocalypse). But it isn’t less unfair to note that there wouldn’t be an XCOM: Enemy Unknown made by Firaxis either. The true credit must be given first to the original X-COM series, the one that made all this host of remakes, clones and re-imagining “XCOM” games possible.

So, but what made the franchise a huge success in the first place? – you may be questioning now. “What is all this great XCOM thing about? This seems to be one of the most loved sci-fi strategy games ever. But why?”

The answer is: many things. Many observable (the gameplay, the visuals, the music) and probably such as many not so observable (the people and the companies behind the projects). But with respect to the game itself the great characteristics, for me at least, are: the setting, the game’s atmosphere and of course the elegant turn-based and real-time mechanics gameplay mix.

I could be here all morning saying good things about the original games but if I had to choose the best aspects I would definitely say the setting, the game’s atmosphere. It’s that killing suspense, the horror, the surprise factor that so many people neglect how important it is to capture a player’s attention and provide a fun experience that made X-COM great. Examples of these surprise horror moments are “WTF will I see behind this door?”, “What horrors, what alien or number of aliens will be there?”, “WHERE ARE THEY??”, “My GOD, not one of THESE!! I’m F*****!! (Castle Wolfenstein any one?). It’s that tension, the grim and compelling atmosphere that builds and builds the mood higher and higher that glues the player to the screen. Ultimately you could almost feel you’re being part of what’s going on, what we can define as game immersion.

But there are lots of other details worth noting. The music was also special, it had momentum and also helped build tension. Then there’s the tanks and hovercrafts. You could actually move inside tanks and use them to blow up houses, and the poor aliens. Another interesting aspect of the game is that although the game was not linear, in a sense that it didn’t start and ended following a linear sequence of events, it had a story, and a storyline that you would need to follow more or less closely to allow you to finish the game, but you could always make some choices along the way that could accelerate or not the end-game progression.

Another key aspect in the original X-COMs is that you really cared about your squad of men and women. And you had good motives for such because as your men gained experience that would make them experts and very critical assets to have. The loss of one squad member could mean sayonara to the entire game. You really had to look out for your men and protect them from danger at all costs. This tension, this life-or-death confrontation is slowly disappearing in today’s games, where dying doesn’t mean anything anymore and if you’re in bad shape you just need to look around and find some health flask, wait for mana recharge or simply don’t care at all, die and happilly start over. What’s the fun with that? In the original XCOMs you could always save your game yes but if you made some bad moves that could cost you the entire battle or the even the entire game (NOOOOO!!! I killed the lobsterman navigator!! I needed that bastard alive for questioning, I’m F*****!!). Damn, those were good times.

Screenshots Mano a Mano

Now it’s time for some quick comparison show-down between the two titles. In the end it all comes to “what have you brought?  ~Indy 3″.

Remember that these are all “under-development” screenshots, both games only get released by the end of the year (Q3 2012 to be more exact).

Terrain

Terrain look & feel is a very important aspect of these games because thats where most of the gameplay mechanics unfold (there are usually several terrain settings involved in XCOM games, from deserts, jungles, ships and cities). In the next three shots you can see the original game’s terrain look & feel, followed by Xenonauts proposal and then the one by Firaxis.

XCOM: UFO Defense Terrain (1993). shot from electrondance.com

Xenonauts Terrain Screenshot

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Terrain

Xenonauts went on a more “clean and crisp” approach that somehow makes me remember the original games more. XCOM: Enemy Unknown has much more graphical effects, which is nice but ultimately not that critical for me.

Planet Monitoring

The Planet Monitoring screen (aka Geoscape) is where you manage your base and can see the world view. It’s in the Geoscape where you fight the strategic war with the aliens, where the “Battlescape” is where you fight the tactical battles. More info on this in the UFOpaedia.

XCOM: UFO Defense Geoscape

Xenonauts Planet Monitoring Screenshot

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Planet Monitoring Screenshot

It’s really hard to tell anything from the screenshots alone besides the fact that both visions look good. Xenonauts in flat 2D world view, XCOM followed the “3D” (original) formula.

See more XCOM: Enemy Unknown screenshots here. More Xenonauts shots here.

Gameplay features close look

Both games are still in production and are due for release only by the end of the year so it’s not possible at this time to be very exhaustive in features, simply because they are not known yet (firmly at least), and I don’t have access to neither game’s builds at this point :)

In a general sense gameplay will be pretty much the same in both games, as expected if you’ve read this far. The real-time element of both games is set on a global view (the “Geoscape”), where the player tracks UFOs, and alien incursions happening on the entire world. You should also be allowed to conduct research and develop your XCOM / Xenonauts bases at any time (although I couldn’t confirm this yet). This is the games’ real-time strategy part.

Combat is all fought in turns, in a normal turn-based fashion. Both teams have a series of “movement points”. Each unit spends its points and when those are exhausted you pass to the next unit in the team till all are left without enough movement points to conduct any action or till you’re content with your movement. You hit end-turn and now it’s the Aliens time to play.

And while gameplay is basically the same in both games it’s possible already to enumerate a series of details from what I could manage to dig up. As I don’t have first hand information I decided to use some quotes along the way to summarize the features.

Re-imagining vs Remake?

What they say.

“The game [Xenonauts] is heavily inspired by the classic X-Com / UFO: Enemy Unknown, released in the mid-90s by the now-defunct Mythos / Microprose. It is not a straight remake; though the core mechanics remain similar much has changed or been updated – so much so, in fact, that we prefer the term ‘reimagining’ to remake’. ~Goldhawk Interactive

“Re-imagining is probably a better term. Firaxis’ XCOM: Enemy Unknown doesn’t directly copy the underlying game systems – for instance, soldiers have different stats than they did in the 1994 original – but the concepts are still here. Players still have to manage multiple resources and threats on a global scale in a seemingly hopeless war against extraterrestrial forces with far better technology and capabilities.” ~GameInformer (Game Informer has an exclusive coverage deal with 2K/Firaxis for XCOM: Enemy Unknown)

Squares vs Hexes

The original series featured squares as spatial movement unit. Xenonauts seems to have kept the formula. XCOM: Enemy Unknown apparently innovates this aspect and now uses hexes as spatial movement system instead.

Base Building

In the original series you could see and manage your base from above. Xenonauts keeps the traditional base view, XCOM: Enemy Unknown innovates a little and offers vertical base building.

From left to right: X-COM: Terror from the Deep, Xenonauts, XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Other differences

In 2K forums there’s talk that XCOM: Enemy Unknown may feature some original gameplay streamlining. Elements like ammo now being unlimited or we now having one main base only to manage (where before you could build sister bases all around the globe). Fog-of-war now prevents seeing an alien from too much distance and something about squads having a cap of 4 soldiers max. Frankly from what I could tell these are all speculations still.

Conclusion

It’s definitely too soon to take any definite conclusions on who will stick closer to the original X-COM formula and conquer more X-COM fans (if sticking to the original formula is the best strategy at all). It all comes down to who will provide the best gameplay experience, and that’s much more complex than knowing only who will offer the best graphics or if one of the games offers some detail exactly equal or not as in the original series. For me the winner, from a nostalgic point of view, will be the one that is able to recreate those classic moments of tension, suspense and that overall horror setting as it was provided by the original X-COMs. All that with believable gameplay and lots of surprises sprinkled throughout the experience should be the winner’s ticket.

We are still 9 months apart from both games release date, since Goldhawk Interactive has announced a couple of days ago that they’re planning to release Xenonauts about the same time as XCOM: Enemy Unknown, (i.e. this autumn 2012). And as if all this would not be enough there’s also Chaos Concepts’ UFO2: Extraterrestrials coming in 2012 :)

Guess this will be the X-COM remakes year. And… I couldn’t be happier.

I hope you had as much fun reading this article as I had writing it :)

Today I discovered a new 4X space strategy title on the making named StarDrive. StarDrive is, in its single developer’s own words, a 4X Action-Strategy game. It’s partly action partly strategy because although you select fleets and manage your empire in the traditional strategy way (real-time in this case) you are also allowed to control your flag ship manually in a traditional WASD fashion with your keyboard.

Dan, the main developer behind StarDrive and single worker of Zero Sum Games, is asking for support to help fund the remaining parts of his game, namely art and multiplayer. For this he has set up a kickstarter crowdfunding project where we pledges for a sum of $7.500. Dan explains that the money will almost entirely be used to pay another guy involved in the project, the artist. As usual in this type of funding projects you will get rewards depending on the sum you pledge.

Dan explains that the primary inspirations for StarDrive are Masters of Orion 2 and Escape Velocity and adds that ultimately he plans to make other games inside the same StarDrive universe. So, it seems that Dan is really commited on finishing off his game and possibly even create more in the future. All he needs is a little push.

In the presentation video Dan justifies the need for the extra funds to create unique palettes for the alien races spaceships and to help kick-off multiplayer. With a successful funding Dan expects to reach closed-beta by March 2011 and a full release by Summer 2011.

So, what are you waiting for to help this guy finish his 4X space title in style? :) The game looks very good already, with the extra funding  it will surely be a great title. So, let’s help him out. Support Dan’s indie 4X space game project at StarDrive’s Kickstarter website. I already did.

Key Game Features

• Customize your Race by selecting from a large list of physical traits, socioeconomic traits, and traits relating to your history and tradition.
• Deep, module-based ship design as described above.
• Lead your forces into battle with your own flagship that you control like an arcade shooter; command your fleets like you would in a real time strategy game with simple mouse commands.
• Tactical ground combat to take over enemy planets.
• A deep research tree with many dozens of technologies.
• Alien Artifacts to find and collect, which give bonuses to your empire.
• Rich diplomacy options, allowing you to make and break treaties with alien races; trade technologies and artifacts, sell ships, declare wars, and design joint operations with your allies.
• Finally, multiplayer.  Do this all with your friends online.

Presentation Trailer

Beyond Beyaan is a currently in development 4X space strategy game title that is heavily inspired by the 4x classic Master of Orion series. A couple of months ago I wrote an hands-on preview of Beyond Beyaan taking into account the development / alpha version of the time. The game was already playable by then but you could tell that there were many missing stuff still and lots of things to polish, mostly art and UI.

Brent has produced an alpha video footage to present his game’s current state. Since the video has no sound and Brent shows the game’s full screens, with some overlay explanatory text notes, I recommend you watch it full screen.

Alpha Footage Video

Progress Status

Since my preview a couple of months ago Brent has worked and improved many areas of the game. Some in what appears to be record time (at least judging from the pace and frequency of blog updates). Some of these improvements include a new ship design screen which seems to be more polished and usable than the previous one; the technology screen has also been improved featuring randomness elements and a new unlocking system.

There’s also a new planet screen that looks very nice where you can manage your planets on an integrated way without the need to go checking each one by one in the star map. There’s also a new fleet window, pollution, transports and much more. A ton of work. The game looks very different from when I last played that’s for sure.

There’s no release date for Beyond Beyaan set yet. I guess Brent will release it to the public when he’s happy with it. Speed on release will also depend on how successful Brent is with donations and pre-orders (details for this next).

Support Beyond Beyaan

Brent has set up a donation button in his blog in order to raise money to fund art work and other resources of the game. He explains what he plans to do with the donations funding. There will be perks involved to donors however I’m not sure if that information is up to date. By latest word Brent is also working on setting up a pre-order system in Desura, where people can pre-order the game, play and help on development.

Brent would be delighted, for sure, to hear your comments on what you’ve seen so far. If you want to support his project, then by all means do so! You can reach Brent and follow his work through his blog.

Latest Screenshots

Four Swedish brothers teamed up and founded Pikaia Games, an indie game development studio. Renations will be Pikaia’s first title. They’re punch line is bold. They say that “The game reinvents the genre“. Let’s see about that. Open beta (game open to the public) is scheduled for this Fall 2011.

Renations’s story is a bit cliché though. Somewhere in the near future a secret institute creates the first time machine. The events that succeeded that invention led to the “Great Disaster” that engulfed the world in a nuclear war which triggered a nuclear winter age. After thousands of years, after the long nuclear winter has ended, life reappeared in the surface of the Earth. Four factions rose to the surface. Renations starts from there, the resettling of the Earth.

Although the background story is beaten to death Renations developers promise to offer compelling story telling as the game unfolds and the plot unveils.

”RENATIONS, features four playable factions, each one with unique traits, military units, buildings and research tree. RENATIONS is different to other similar games as it features extensive lore and emphasizes the art of storytelling. As you progress in the game you encounter many unique game mechanics such as siege weapons, rare resources, cooperative PVE instances, the ability to form treaties, the possibility to establish embassies in foreign nations and much more” – Pikaia Games.

The devs state that accessibility has been a key design driver in Renations so they state that no plugins or downloads will be required and that the game will run on any online device that has a web browser (including tablets such as iPad).

With the market almost saturated with not-that-innovative browser-based games I’m looking forward for this one. I’m planning for an hands-on preview of Renations in a couple of months. So, stay tuned.

Screenshots

Teaser Trailer

About the Pikaia Games

Pikaia Games is a newly founded indie studio by four brothers from Sweden. RENATIONS is our first game (ever!). It was created without a penny of investment. We made it for fun, due to our love to the genre and because we have a firm belief that these kind of games can be done better. We’ve focused on availability, an intuitive interface, a well written story – and – to create a game that is easy to learn, but hard to master.

There is no release date announced yet but there is already a gameplay trailer and some screenshots that you can find below. For more information checkout the game official website.

Features

• Simple and addictive game play: explore, discover, build a fleet, conquer.
• Turn based fleet combat.
• Galaxy Map helps you navigate your fleet through many constellations.
• Stunning universe dominated by four civilizations.
• 80 one-on-one turn based battles in stunning 3D space constellations.
• Fleet combinations consisting of Laser, Missile and Repair spaceships.
• A dozen special attacks, each with stunning visuals.
• Over 20 mother ship turn based card battles.
• Crystal Mining mini game to find crystals needed for special attacks.
• Search For Life mini game with 5 levels of achievements – each with a crystal pack reward.
• Simple crafting panel in the space station.
• Achievements panel “Hall of Fame” with medals and ranks.
• Boost your leadership status to become an admiral.

Gameplay Trailer

Screenshots

Legends of Pegasus is a 4x space strategy game currently being developed by Novacore Studios.

The game shall feature a mix of turn-based and real-time strategy gameplay. Turns when moving around in the starmap and real-time during space combat.

Legends of Pegasus is targeted for release in Q2 2012.

Have a look at this first look trailer. It is a video made at the Gamescom 2011 event. You cannot move forward the play and it is taking a bit of time to load so I wrote some impressions after.

You can tell the guy was a bit nervous presenting the game (or at least in a rush). I guess they sent the marketing guy without presenting him the latest build :) “You have … aah … different  … aah … icons in the colony” yikes!

Although the presenter says that this is a really early build, there’s really nothing that exciting aboutwatching this video presentation. There seems to be nothing really new. Reminds you a lot of Sins of a Solar Empire.

Colony Management is slot based, similar in concept to other games like Galactic Civilizations or Armada 2526.

So, is there any interesting new stuff?

Ships models look nice, and the modularity feature presented in the trailer seems interesting.

It is promised to offer a strong single player campaign, this time in contrast to most of the latest 4x space game titles that decided to offer only sand-box or scenario gameplay. A compelling story is also promised.

Non-repetitive but meaningfull voice sounds (when giving orders to ships) are also mentioned.

Let’s keep an eye on this one to see what new it has to offer. The genre is desperately needing for new ideas. Making the new “Sins” is not sufficient anymore. Let’s hope fore-coming games decide to innovate a little bit more.

For more information (features and screenshots) checkout the Legends of Pegasus press release announcement.

Beyond Beyaan is heavily inspired by the 4x classic Master of Orion series. When you start playing you can easily tell that many aspects are inspired by MoO1 (the sliders, ship design and research for example) and others by MoO2 (some parts of research and ship design also). The starmap and ships movement also remind you of MoO.

I’ve been following Brent’s work for some time now. Considering that he’s working almost by himself (and that this is his first game) I think his progress is amazing. I believe there’s much still to be done and polish but I think the game is already solid enough to be looked at more closely. There is no release date established yet though.

Next follows a brief hands-on preview of the current development/alpha version Brent was kind enough to share with me.

Game Setup

When you start your game you can choose the players (Human or Computer) and some galaxy generation parameters. When you’re done with that you generate your galaxy. When you’re happy with your galaxy you click next and start your game.

Beyond Beyaan: Game Setup Screen

The game customization screen is probably not finished yet. It needs a bit of polishing but it already contains the basic stuff, and looks fine. There are only two races currently available to choose from: Humans and Zero People. Brent will probably add more races in the future.

In-Game

When the game starts you’re presented with a starmap. You can see your star system containing your homeworld and probably other planets of different types. I already saw Tundra planets, Desert, Terran, Asteroids, Jungle, Steppe and Dead, and all of this diversity in a single system. Amazing!

You decide your planet’s output by adjusting sliders to manipulate what’s to be produced. Here the similarities with MoO1 are striking, but also in Sword of the Stars, although SotS got inspired in MoO1 in the first place :)

By adjusting your sliders you can choose to allocate funds to Agriculture (impacts population growth), Pollution (impacts max pop, not fully implemented yet), Commerce (not yet implemented), Research (implemented), and Construction (implemented).

Beyond Beyaan: Colony Screen

From what I could tell 1 population unit standing on a planet generates 1 BC (billion credits if I’m correct). You then allocate the amount of cash generated to areas like research, pollution containment, construction, etc.

Planets have special characteristics I believe, since some feature an icon representing some kind of treat. I could not tell which types of bonuses are offered though (tip: tool tips always help a lot).

To move ships around you click on your fleet (represented by a bunch of small ships next to your systems), set the amount of ships you want to send and then right-click on a location.

Beyond Beyaan: Ships Movement

To colonize planets, if I understood correctly, you transfer population by building transports. At least that was what I did since I could not find a colony type of ship. So, to colonize, you send your transport(s) to an ninhabited planet, in the same system or in a different one, and choose a planet to land. Multiple empires can inhabit the same system (something that also made me remember MoO2).

On the bottom of the galaxy screen there is a “taskbar” with 9 buttons that contain the menu options. From left to right: Game Menu, Galaxy View, Diplomacy, View Fleets, Design Ship, View Designs, View Planets, Research, and End Turn.View Designs isn’t implemented yet.

Beyond Beyaan: UI Menu

Brent confirmed that ship Design is fully implemented, but the UI layout isn’t final. Here again the similarities with MoO1 and MoO2 are evident. You can choose weapons, hulls (the models resemble MoO models a lot), number of mounts and special equipment like computers, engine, armor and shields.

Beyond Beyaan: Ship Design

Although you can tell that the models are heavily inspired by MoO I don’t remember seeing them exactly as such in MoO games. Some of the models are quite cool actually.

Research is implemented, you can already research stuff. You allocate the research points you generate from each planet throughout the different technologies you want to research.

Beyond Beyaan: Research Screen

The research mechanics feels also very MoO’ish. You manipulate sliders (and can lock them) to distribute your research points, which is clearly inspired in MoO1 (other games also use this mechanic like Armada 2526 for instance), and you can choose from multiple research options in the same “field” (which resembles MoO2 way of choosing  from multiple alternatives).

Nothing seems to be left out; there is also diplomacy in Beyond Beyann.

Beyond Beyaan: Diplomacy Screen

The options presented are pretty much standard, maybe the reconcile empire and harass empire are two innovative options on this topic.

So, what’s new or different about Beyond Beyaan?

So far my experience playing Beyond Beyaan was not so different from playing a mix of MoO1 and MoO2, but subpar. I also had a few flash experiences from other space strategy games.

Beyond Beyaan’s major strength though resides on its high moddability.

Brent states that the player will have the ability to modify different aspects of gameplay. You could mod galaxy generation to create custom galaxies for example.

But the biggest things that you will be able to modify are the technologies.  From Brent’s own words:

“This game will focus on space combat and technologies, so you can create your own technologies and plug them in.  For example, if you want a torpedo to bounce off a ship towards another ship, you can script that torpedo’s “OnHit” function to tell it to bounce instead of disappearing. Or perhaps you want a missile to split into multiple missiles (not just internal code, but visibly splitting), you can script that in “Travel” function after a certain time amount has passed” – Brent Patterson.

This sounds great so I asked Brent how players could modify the game. He replied the following:

“At main menu, before starting a game, there will be a drop-down showing different game files that you can load, the normal gameplay would use “Default”.  You can add new folders, and create your own races, technologies, AI scripts, galaxy generation scripts, artwork and sounds for the game.  The game will allow you to select one of those folders and load it, so you don’t have to overwrite any of the game files. So in theory, it’d be possible to mod the game to be similar to older 4x games, or create your own game.” – Brent Patterson.

Pre-Order and Donations

Brent has plans to set up a Pre-Order service soon in order to try and raise money to fund art work and other resources of the game. Currently he has set up donations on his website. He explains what he plans to do with the funding. There will be perks involved to donors.

Brent would be delighted, for sure, to hear your comments on what you’ve seen so far. If you want to support his project, then feel free to do so! You can reach Brent through his blog.

Good luck on your project Brent. I will watch it closely.

About Brent Patterson

Brent shared his motivation on developing Beyond Beyaan with SpaceSector.

Brent is a professional programmer and a space game enthusiast that wants to see a worthy Master of Orion successor.

“I was not happy with the new 4x games being released, that I find to be too complicated or in real-time. So, I decided to create my own game, picking up from the features I liked best from MOO1, and some other 4x games” – Brent Patterson.

Brent maintains a blog where he keeps his advancement on Beyond Beyaan up to date.

Fighter Squadrons

“What are space battles without fighters, right?” by Camel 101.

Camel 101 showed off Gemini Wars Fighter Squadrons. Each time a fighter squadron is launched, an icon will show up on the top corner of the interface. By clicking the icon the squadron can be selected and ordered as any other ship.

“The fighters can be ordered to dock on carriers, or the carrier ordered to recall the fighters”

Fighter squadrons are very effective in attacking ships, especially large ships, that are not equipped with rapid fire cannons.

Tactical combat always wins with the introduction of fighters. They definitely add tactical depth to combat. For example “A good way to disable a large capital ship is to order several fighter squadrons to target the life support system of the enemy ship. Once the life support is disabled, the crew of the targeted ship will be neutralized, making the ship easy to board”.

“Each fighter squadron in this video has 16 fighters, so for 6 fighter squadrons there’s a total of 96 fighters in this attack”.

Checkout the video, it looks great!

Planetary Bases

Gemini Wars will feature planetary outposts made of space stations orbiting planets. “These structures are very expensive to build, and can have several upgrades. For example they can be equipped with powerful defensive shields and weapons, or fighter squadrons” by Camel 101.

These planetary bases are very important “not only because they create a very tough defensive position, but also because they define the amount of capital ships available to build.” So, if you have more of these planetary bases means you can build more capital ships.

Next follows a series of screenshots (click on them to enlarge) showing an outpost evolution on a barren planet, including a picture of the planetary base defending itself from attack. Well, maybe not to the scale (unless the planetary body is a small asteroid) but it still looks cool! :)

For more information on Gemini Wars check out the official website.

Star Trek Infinite Space will be the first browser-based Star Trek MMORPG game. It will be free to play (as usual in most browser-based games) so this means that no software costs and no subscriptions fees are required from the player. The player is only required to have an internet connection, a web browser and a special 3D browser plugin (that the player must download) in order to play.

Although the game core is free to play, there will be optional micro-transactions available, the usual business model of most browser-based games.

What will Star Trek Infinite Space be about?

From what I could tell Infinite Space will be a MMO role-playing game (MMORPG) with exploration, strategy (RTS) and combat elements. You sit in the captain’s chair. You choose your faction: between Federation and Klingon. You pick your vessel, from authentic Star Trek spaceships, and you’re ready to start your journey of exploration through the galaxy.

Like in any kind of RPG you raise your level (level up) as you go. You level up with the experience you acquire during your missions, supposedly from combat. As you level up you can upgrade your spaceship with better equipment and upgrade your skills.

Gameforge promises fascinating 3D graphics, which supposedly are far better than traditional flash (they really look quite amazing). As in any MMO game, Star Trek Infinite Space allows collaborative gameplay. You can embark in missions for yourself or you can join other captains when engaging in combat.

Infinite Space takes place in the actual Star Trek Universe

Star Trek Infinite Space unfolds in the Star Trek Universe. The timeline for the game will be between seasons three through six of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series (during the Dominion war).

To ensure a proper story line and a credible Star Trek feeling, Star Trek experts Mike and Denise Okuda are assisting the development team. Lee Sheldon, an experienced game designer, author, producer and script writer of Star Trek TV Shows is writing the storyline and the game missions.

Infinite Space is probably one of the most anticipated browser-game of 2011. The release date is scheduled for summer 2011 (Q3 2011). For more details about the game visit the Star Trek: Infinite Space official website.

Gameforge is back, and this time the stakes are very high. Infinite Space is an ambitious browser-based game; if it works alright this may be the turn of the tide for browser-based games. In the meantime I leave you with the official trailer, a very interesting gameplay trailer and an interview with the game’s executive producer. Also don’t forget to check here for some screenshots.

Official Trailer

Gameplay Trailer
I warn you again that the game is still in development, so the final game may look differently from what you will see below. Wow! Pretty impressive for a browser-based game don’t you think?

Video Interview with the Executive Producer

Empire of the Eclipse is a 4x MMO real-time strategy game with a target release date for end of March 2011. EotE was designed for the Apple’s iOS family of devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) and will be available from the Apple app store as a free download with a $1.99 a month subscription.

To know more about EotE I invite you to read my posts: “Zarksoft Games Announces Empire of the Eclipse – MMO Strategy Game for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad” and an interview I did with Lee Dotson, President of ZarkSoft Games.

Zarksoft Games made an hands-on presentation at GDC of Empire of the Eclipse for iPhone. Enjoy!

Very Short Introduction and Glimpse Review of Sins of a Solar Empire

The next two chapters are a clip of my review of SoaSE Trinity (SpaceSector score: 9.2).

SoaSE provides a mix of real-time strategy and 4x mechanics which results in a much more tactical game like Starcraft or Command & Conquer but still preserving a good depth of strategic options. Sins is not like Master of Orion 2 or Galactic Civilizations but much more like Homeworld, Imperium Galactica or Star Wars: Empire at War.

Sins of a Solar Empire – Trinity – is a very nicely done game. It excels on providing a rich gaming experience that will no doubt entertain you for many hours. Ironclad and Stardock deserve an applause for having created a game that successfully mixes the RTS mechanic with the 4x genre in such a fantastic way.

If you’re unfamiliar with Sins of a Solar Empire or you want to know more about the SoaSE universe I invite you to read my SoaSE Trinity review before you read about Rebellion.

Now It’s Rebellion Time

Stardock describes Rebellion as a “full fledged stand alone expansion” to the original title. So to me this means that you don’t need to own the original game to play Rebellion.

Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion promises to continue the successful mix of 4x strategy elements with real time strategy space combat. Rebellion will offer two separate factions: the Rebels and the Loyalists. Stardock promises that there will be new ships, including a Titan class ship, a massive spaceship.

Apparently Rebellion will not include a single player campaign, as the previous titles also didn’t. This is an old request from the fans however Stardock did not added this up. Rebellion will however provide graphics improvements, namely enhanced lighting and particle effects and new victory conditions.

Rebellion is currently in Alpha stage. Stardock announced that folks that pre-order Rebellion will be able to participate in the game’s Beta phase. Owners of the original Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity game will get discounts when purchasing Rebellion.

Rebellion New Features

• New Factions: Players decide whether to become Loyalists or Rebels, which unlocks a unique new tech tree granting them new technologies and ship variants.
• New Titan-class ships:  Massive warships for each race that dwarf capital ships, these deadly new monsters are capable of wiping out entire enemy fleets single-handedly.
• New Capital Ships:  A new capital ship class arrives, giving players new strategic options.
• New Corvette-class ships:  Small, highly maneuverable light ships that are adept at a variety of tasks.
• Loyalist and Rebel versions of some of the existing Sins’ frigates and cruisers, each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses.
• Updated lighting and particle effects for enhanced visuals.
• New Victory Conditions to allow for more variety, differing strategies and shorter game sessions.
• Additional capital ship ability levels, for greater strategic choice.
• Impulse::Reactor support for chat, friends, achievements and more.

Pre-Order Rebellion

If you pre-order Rebellion you will gain access to the Rebellion Beta scheduled for later this year (\edit (27-12-011): by the time this post was written). If you want to pre-order Rebellion follow this link: Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion [Pre-Order].

For more details on Rebellion checkout Stardock’s Rebellion Press Release in the Sins of the Solar Empire website.

BotE, as for StarTrek Supremary, intend to be the spiritual successor to Star Trek Birth of the Federation (BotF). BotE is a 4X space turn-based strategy open source game.

Malvoisin made a post about BotE Alpha version in SpaceSector.com forum. He describes BotE as being a free standalone game in the likes of Master of Orion 2 or Star Trek: Birth of the Federation. Malvoisin clarifies that BotE is not a mod but a full game of its own.

BotE is in version 0.8 (Alpha 6) by now, Malvoisin states that the game is pretty far developed in terms of gameplay.

You can have a look in Malvoisin’s post for more details. He says that in BotE you can play as one of 5 races, both in multiplayer of singleplayer against the AI.

Checkout the the Birth of the Empires Alpha 6 release announcement which contains all the details about BotE Alpha 6 release.l

You can download the BotE Alpha version from here.

You can discuss the game in the Star Trek Games Forum.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Game Features (from Gemini Wars website):

3 unique factions, with different units and strategies.

Epic single player campaign.

Ability to control fleets of starships, space stations and planets.

Research tree leading to powerful units and upgrades.

Cinematic battle camera.

Multiplayer action providing endless re-playability.

Unique gameplay providing a refreshing twist to the RTS genre.

Gameplay

In Gemini Wars, you are a fleet commander rising through the ranks of the United Space Federation forces.
Start with a small group of frigates, and climb your way to controlling battleships, carriers and planetary bases, in huge space battles and boarding actions.

Build space stations and orbital facilites to fortify your position, build your fleet, extract minerals and research upgrades. Execute boarding actions using marine special forces, and bombard your enemies with orbital long range cannons.

At first look the game seems similar to the Homeworld and Sins of a Solare Empire series.

Have a look at the next video for a glimpse on Gemini Wars user interface and combat (click on 360p or 480p for a better performance) :

Have a look also to the game teaser trailer:

Some Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Gemini Wars is being developed for PC and Mac and is scheduled for release on the Q4 2011.

For more information on Gemini Wars checkout the game website.

Only 4 months after releasing Civilization 5 Sid Meier has announced he’s upcoming Civilization game. This time Sid turns to Facebook. The official title is Civilization World (aka Civ World). Sid says that in Civ World you will be joining your friends to form nations, which will compete with other player’s nations to rule the world.

Sid also announced that they are going to launch the closed Alpha test of the game in January 12th 2011 and invites everybody to sign up at 2K Civ World alpha website to become part of the development testing. You will need to form a team, choose a team name and a team captain. Each team member will need to register at the site.

As a token of appreciation to all that register for the Civ World Alpha testing they will grant a special item for you to display in your throne room to let the world know you’re one of the founding players of the game.

Sid Meier has been supervising the designing of Civ World personally along with he’s Firaxis design team. Sid states that in the coming months he will be posting gameplay updates detailing parts of the game.

Sid said the following about Civ World: “games will have a well-defined beginning and end, each ending with a triumphant civilization and one person recognized as that game’s most prestigious player. Along the way, as you progress through the different eras of time, you’ll have the chance to win era victories as well. We want players to have both a final goal to work towards, as well as short-term objectives to achieve as they play. The trophies you unlock with your triumphs will carry over from game to game, and you can show them off in your throne room“.

To read the Sid Meier’s letter about Civ World go here.

To follow Civ World on facebook go to the Civ World facebook page.

To sign-up for Civ World Alpha Testing go here.

In an unprecedented move Zarksoft Game designed Empire of the Eclipse for Apple’s iOS family of devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) which is a clear market bet.

And the stakes are very high. In a press release made today Lee Dotson, Zarksoft Games President, said the following:
“As long time fans of games like Civilization and Master of Orion, we’ve worked diligently to make a game that lives up to the standards set by those milestone titles,” said Lee Dotson, President of Zarksoft. Empire of the Eclipse also brings accessibility and massively multiplayer capabilities to mobile devices.“

Game Key Features

• Massively Multiplayer: Fight, trade, scheme and vie for universal domination with up to 1500 other players per game.
• Epic Universe: Games can range in size from 2,500 to 90,000 sectors. Explore, conquer and exploit hundreds of thousands of planets.
• Explore: Fog of war and dynamically generated universes require exploration and reconnaissance, key components of the empire building experience.
• Streamlined Interface: Jump to any controlled planet or fleet from anywhere in the galaxy with just a few touches.
• Diplomacy: Enact a state of Peace, War or Embargo with other players. A rich array of interpersonal player dynamics awaits.
• Many Ways to Win: Win by the application of brute force or economic superiority. Transcend the stars or collect ancient alien artifacts. Whether warmonger, diplomat or explorer, there are always ways to win.
• Skill Trees: Utilize a diverse and flexible selection of 40 skills to uniquely tailor and individualize an interstellar empire.
• Player Communication: Robust in-game mail and chat systems feature private channels and item attachments to better facilitate trade and covert operations.
• Retina Display: Stunning visuals are tailor-made to support both Retina and traditional iPhone displays.
• Universal: A single account may login from any i-device you or anyone else owns.
• Fair Play: Players cannot purchase their way to victory. Robust server side gameplay ensures a fair and competitive play experience for all.

Empire of the Eclipse sets in the distant future where the player will establish an interstellar empire. As usual in space strategy games the player will be using diplomacy, economic decision and conquest to thrive.

Empire of the Eclipse will be available Q1 2011 for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch mobile devices.

For more information on Empire of the Eclipse go to the Zarksoft website.

I invite you to read the SpaceSector article “Can MMO games be the future of 4x space strategy?“. I wrote this article 15 months ago. It seems that Empire of the Eclipse is going in that direction. You can also have a look in the first article I wrote in SpaceSector: “Space Strategy Games: What’s next?” (18 months ago). Will Empire of the Eclipse be the next step of the evolution of the Space Strategy Games genre?

Clip from “Space Strategy Games: What’s next?“:

“The question is where we should go from now to keep the concept [4x space strategy] appealing at the same time expanding its coverage. The network society demands ubiquitous products which can be accessed quickly, easily and anywhere with no requirements for special tools or products. Current technology already offers this reality with the Internet and the global range of telecommunication services and products.“

It seems that Empire of the Eclipse has made a first move towards this direction. Let’s wait and see what is the final result.

Some screenshots (click to enlarge)

About Zarksoft

Zarksoft was founded in 2010 by industry veterans Tina Lawton, Lee Dotson, Jeff Lawton, and Jeff Williams whose previous work includes contributions to Diablo 3, Unreal Championship 2, American McGee’s Alice, Anachronox, Hellgate: London, Star Trek Online and more titles. Zarksoft retains a passion for creating dynamic multiplayer environments and has a fierce commitment to independent development.

The story is about humanity coming into contact with other life forms and civilizations and the decisions they will have to make after that.

Features of Horizon

• Total open space, your ships can travel anywhere between stars and inside solar systems
• Full tactical combat across the galaxy, epic battles are possible between all races at the same time, reinforcements can arrive while battles are ongoing with no artificial limits on how long battles can last;
• In depth ship design which let’s you choose weapons, emplacements and specials on different hull sizes;
• Unique races, techs, weapons and ships based on each race’s culture and civilization;
• Smart diplomacy, coordinated actions between races like you’ve never seen before;
• Intelligent AI without cheating, that adjusts to the player actions as the game develops.

What inspired the design of Horizon

According to the Horizon FAQ “Many sci-fi shows and games have inspired the making of Horizon. But in short Babylon 5, Star Trek DS9 along with Star Control 2 and Master of Orion 1 and 2 had the greatest impact in the design and decision to make an epic sci-fi game that captured some of the best elements from these productions“.

A release data is not yet announced. The developers justify that by saing: “Being a small independent developer and our desire to release a game of certain quality, we are not cutting features that otherwise would have allowed us to announce and meet typical industry deadlines.“

No multiplayer in first version

The game will not have multiplayer. The devs say that due to their limited resources as well as design choices they favored a single player experience but promise that will be a depth experience that will compensate for the lack of a multiplayer mode in the first version of Horizon.

Screenshots (click to enlarge)

Check the Horizon forums for more information and updates on the game.

On of the key issues of Star Ruler seems to reside on its scalability going from 1 star system to up to thousands comprising down to just a few ships fighting to a thousands of simultaneous fighting ships.

The tech tree will be as detailed or as simple as the player will like it to be, the AI will be as challenging as the user desires, ship designing is as simple or as complicated as you wish, and so on.  BMS states that the approach taken to the ship layout and diplomacy systems also will help to add a unique flavor and pacing to the game.

Star Ruler is real-time with a time-multiplier.  The game can be slowed down from it’s default speed or up to ten times more its default speed at the user’s option.

It promises to be mod-friendly. The developers say also that they will provide many post-release upgrades  and promise also that the game will run well on both new and old computers.

Key Features

• Vast, Procedurally Generated Galaxies
• Intricate Ship Design and Exciting Combat
• Unique Research System
• Easy to use interface, complex gameplay
• Engaging AI Opponents
• Extensive Modding Support
• Multiplayer: Co-Op, Team, and Free-for-all
• Original Soundtrack

Videos

Interview with Blind Mind Studios

Gamesquad as made an interview with Blind Mind studios about Star Ruler. Check it out here.

Star Ruler is scheduled for release at 21st August 2010 and is already available for pre-order. For more information go to the Star Ruler official website. You can ear the entire original soundtrack here.

Targeted for release on Q1 2011 SotS2 promises to take the series to a new level at the same time keeping some essential features and gameplay mechanics of the original title. I invite you to watch the video below where Martin Cirulis (Kerberos productions CEO) introduces many of the game aspects, its similarities with the original title and what new content to expect in SotS2.

Check out also some screenshots and also the latest news obtained during the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Event) held at Los Angeles on 15-17 June 2010.

SotS2: Interview with Martin Cirulis (Kerberos Productions CEO)

SotS2 screenshots (click to enlarge)

Some recent media coverage about the game at E3

Big Download got a chance to ask some questions to Kerberos Productions’ CEO and creative director Martin E. Cirulis: “E3 2010: We learn more about Sword of the Stars 2″

Gamespot visited the Paradox Interactive booth at E3 2010 and got the following: “Sword of the Stars II Impressions”

Strategy Informer’s brings you straight to the show floor at E3, where they made an interview with Paradox Interactive about Sword of the Stars 2: “Strategy Informer’s Sword of the Stars 2 Interview“

Don’t forget to check out the official SotS2 Paradox Interactive site for news and developments about this promising 4x Sci-Fi game.

Star Legacy is promised to be a feature-rich 4x game being designed from scratch. The game is targeted to answer the simple question: “what would the ultimate sci-fi 4X game include?”

Turn-Based with Multiplayer

Star Legacy will be an open-ended turn-based game. As in all good 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) titles it promises to offer a full range of choices: spaceship design, research new technologies, colonize new worlds. The game will offer multiplayer, although its exact form is still being worked out.

High Modability, not only graphics but almost anything else

Graphics will be 2D, and the developers promise that anyone will be allowed to modify the visuals without the need of specialized software or knowledge. The developers also promise high modability to allow players to easily mod not only the graphics in Star Legacy but also everything else since most files will be XML based and can be altered with a simple text editor. With this players will have extreme freedom to shape the game as they see fit.

By default the game will offer between 12 and 15 alien races and also pirates, which the player can also decide to be.

About the Star Legacy Development Group

The Star Legacy Development Group is a start up development team consisting of eleven members from around the world. Bringing a range of various skills to the table from digital art to scripting to programming all members are experienced modders and die hard fans of the turn based 4X space strategy genre.

Star Legacy News and Discussion at Shrapnel Games Forums

Check out the Shrapnel Games website for the latest news. To discuss Star Legacy go to the Star Legacy forum hosted by Shrapnel Games. I’ll keep you updated about this title. As soon as there is more information and some screenshots I’ll post it here at SpaceSector.com, so stay tuned!

In preparation for this Star Trek event, Mike will release a game update in August 2010 that will improve the multiplayer experience and game performance. The update will also include improvements to Diplomacy and the Intelligence features.

Official STAR TREK Convention 2010 Las Vegas, Nevada

To find out more about Supremacy check the SpaceSector.com articles “Star Trek Supremacy – Open Source Free Game in Development” and “Interview with Mike Strobel | Star Trek Supremacy Lead Developer”.