OpenXcom

[michal]

Hello,

I see that some people here like X-Com, so let me introduce you OpenXcom. It's open source project.

You need original game data to run it.

The goal of this project is to bring back the tried and true feel of the original with none of the issues! All the same graphics, sound and gameplay with a brand new codebase written from scratch without disassembling the original executable. This should give it:

    Fixability: Play the game natively without any need for emulators or fancy hacks, with none of the limitations and bugs that plagued the original. No more 80-item-limit, personnel limits, funding overflows, disconnected facilities, broken proximity grenades, floating soldiers, etc.
    Moddability: Tweak the game to your heart’s content. Sure the original was pretty good, but maybe you just think it could be that bit better. A nicer base layout, better laser weapons, maybe challenge yourself with a custom game mode, or just put in all the crazy stuff you’ve always wanted! None of it is hardcoded.
    Flexibility: Port the game to any platform you like, put in your own resources, or use it to make your own far-fetched remakes. The code is fully documented and free to use by anyone in accordance with the GPL.

Project isn't ready yet, but progress has been huge so far.

Official site: http://openxcom.org/
Source code: https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom
Automatic windows git builds: http://openxcom.org/index.php/downloads/git-builds/

You can see latest battlescape video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF8Z3Sl2Ceo

Some screenshots:

[Skeletor]

Great work, thank you!

[michal]

The basic battlescape AI is now implemented.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4yc_Hfhubs

[Skeletor]

Loved every second of this video 

[Skeletor]

I installed it (WinXp) but after running openxcom.exe I receive an error ("please make sure xcom is in the data subfolder). I tried copying openxcom.exe there but didn't worked; what do I have to do?

[michal]

After 8 months of hard work 0.3 is finally here! Be sure to uninstall any old versions first and read the Documentation carefully for any new features.

New features:

    Basescape:
        Craft rearming.
        Craft equipping.
        Purchase/Recruit.
        Sell/Sack.
        Base transfers.
    Battlescape:
        Battle turns.
        Item equipping, firing, throwing.
        Environment: fire, smoke, explosions, damage, kills.
        Unit stats.
        Inventory.
        AI Phase 1 (patrol, aggro).
    New languages: Czech, English (UK), Polish, Romanian, Russian.
    Support for custom font characters and full Unicode.
    Options.
    Platform-specific folders.
    Partial Ufopaedia.
    Externalized soldier names.
    Nag screen only shows once.
    Swapped F5 and F12 keys.
    Movable caret in text input.

Bugfixes:

    Bug in Geoscape pathfinding.
    Incorrect language names.
    Cross-platform bug when loading PCK files.
    Invisible loading errors.
    Incorrect mouse events.
    Missing strings.
    Various UI issues.
    Various translation issues.
    Bug in craft rearming.
    FPS Counter didn’t always show up properly.
    Crash sites didn’t vanish properly.
    Failing to load a game could crash the Geoscape.
    Games weren’t always saved properly.
    Monthly report didn’t show correct date.
    Crafts in base view weren’t positioned correctly.
    Music loading issues.
    Various battlescape fixes.
    Various performance improvements.

And as usual, the known issues:

    Battlescape is still in a “sandbox” mode, so missions never end and anything you do in it won’t carry over to the Geoscape. Take advantage of it!
    Geoscape sidebar isn’t translated in all languages.
    You can’t minimize dogfights.
    UFOs are nerfed to make them easier to intercept.
    Screenshots are saved in BMP since it doesn’t require libraries. DO NOT share them in this format, convert them to something sane like PNG/JPG first.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlveh5oM9gw

[guest509]

This is a cool game. I beat it like 10 years ago. I can still pick up and play this game. Why make a copy of it? Is there something I'm not getting. I love the game, don't get me wrong. I have it going on my play station right now. Why would I want a newly programmed copy?

[Kyzrati]

They're making a new one that should be easily moddable (open source) and easily portable to just about any system (SDL). It's a pretty good idea, though I think it's a bad idea to stick with the original game data like they are. Graphics, sure, there's a point there (don't have to worry about resources), but the internal data representation in the original was designed based on old system limitations, and there are so many ways to improve it using a more modern, modular system.

[michal]

It's just easier to concentrate on programming using available game data files. I'm sure that in future, there will be support for replacement resources created in more modern formats (like png etc).

[Kyzrati]

As I said, where resources/assets are concerned that makes sense, but data-wise it's a mistake since the same data could be represented in a much cleaner, more easily-modifiable manner than what they did for a game made over 15 yrs ago.

Sure OpenXCom data (referring to the large number of stats and such) will be modifiable once they've externalized it all, but it won't be very flexible in terms of being able to create new and interesting components simply through external data modification. And it would be a heck of a lot of work to refactor/mod the original to use different data structures.

I just think the code for a data-heavy game like X-COM should be redesigned to make the data as flexible as possible. But I guess time will tell once the mods start rolling out in years to come Either way, I'm sure it'll be no less fun in the end How can it be--it's X-COM!