{"id":8904,"date":"2013-03-29T05:55:32","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T09:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/?p=8904"},"modified":"2013-03-29T06:16:45","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T10:16:45","slug":"julian-gollops-x-com-ufo-defense-postmortem-at-gdc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spacesector.com\/blog\/2013\/03\/julian-gollops-x-com-ufo-defense-postmortem-at-gdc\/","title":{"rendered":"Julian Gollop’s X-COM: UFO Defense Postmortem at GDC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"X-COM:<\/p>\n

X-COM: UFO Defense (aka UFO: Enemy Unknown) - Tactical gameplay (abandonwaredos.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Allow me to digress a bit about myself and my history with Julian Gollop’s games. If you’re not interested, just skip to the first video below, which is brought to us by Gamespot.<\/p>\n

If I would have to pick a person on the games industry who has influenced me profoundly over the years, in a good way, then Julian Gollop would\u00a0definitely\u00a0be one of them.<\/p>\n

You see, I grew up with Gollop’s games. Chaos: The Battle of Wizards<\/a> for ZX Spectrum from 1985 was a major milestone in my gaming youth. The Rebelstar series<\/a> from 1986, also for ZX Spectrum, was another major influence on my gaming likes, as it was probably one of the game series I enjoyed playing the most.<\/p>\n

And then, Julian, with his brother Nick Gollop, designed and developed X-COM: UFO Defense<\/a> (aka\u00a0UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe). And, boy, was I hooked. I can’t easily think of a game I loved playing as much or more than Gallop’s X-COM. Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon perhaps, or Steve Barcia’s Master of Orion, but all other games come next.<\/p>\n

\"X-COM:<\/p>\n

X-COM: UFO Defense (aka UFO: Enemy Unknown) | Geoscape (gamestersparadice.com)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Yesterday, Julian gave a talk at GDC about X-COM: UFO Defense, where he talks about what went wrong and what went right about X-COM’s development. The pitch to Microprose, the crunch time, the history of X-COM and what he thinks about the latest XCOM installment from Firaxis, and what may lie ahead for him in the X-COM context.<\/p>\n

If you’re an X-COM fanatic you can’t miss this presentation. If you’re a game designer, you’re going to want to learn a few tricks from this guy. If you’re just a gamer have a look\u00a0nevertheless. Even if you didn’t play X-COM: UFO Defense, at least you’ll know a bit about PC history, and what made PC gaming so popular in the first place. Enjoy!<\/p>\n