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[Fikes]

I am going to throw in a vote against big maps. Nothing sucked the fun out of a very large UFO mission like trying to track down that last stupid floater that kept panicing. Every room in those mamoth UFOs had to be checked and because you just wanted the mission to end, you'd get all sloppy.

[Kyzrati]

Yay! A vote against! I probably won't use them in the game, but it's true that it'll be a popular request from any modders, and it's not the kind of thing you can do with an external mod (and stay sane), so I could support it without actually using it myself.

The negative is it that implementation would definitely slow down development because many data components would then need to be optimized to make large maps feasible. Right now, with a small map, I can do all kinds of cool things while pretty much ignoring the need for optimization

And finding that last alien is on my list of annoying problems with big maps.

[forsaken1111]

I'd say leave large maps and scrolling as a possibility but don't worry much about it for now. Optimize as best you can, as always, but it's a secondary modder feature at best.

Even at 80x80 or whatever size you go with, finding that last alien can be a pain especially if you go with multilevel maps. Maybe make it so the last 1-2 alien(s) will either flee or charge at the player rather than hide?

[Kyzrati]

Well, *very little* optimization is necessary with standard map sizes.

The "last alien" (or two) thing won't really be an issue since I'll make it easier to dispatch them--probably rush you or something. The real AI won't come until v0.4...

[forsaken1111]

I suppose you could explain away the limited mission areas by saying that the surroundings have been blocked off by conventional forces, army and such.

[Thexor]

I'd just like to point out that a 3x3 unit would take up over 5% of the entire width of a 60x60 map. You can make awesomely-large units with dynamically-sized maps. 

That said, if you think smaller maps are better, so be it. Fundamentally, so long as the maps don't feel cramped or claustrophobic, I'll be happy. 

[Kyzrati]

I suppose you could explain away the limited mission areas by saying that the surroundings have been blocked off by conventional forces, army and such.

I wouldn't really call them "limited." It depends on what you're comparing to. I'm using the same dimensions as the original--60x60 were the largest maps X-COM had. Smaller maps were 40x40. So while it may feel smaller because you can see the entire map at once, you're actually seeing the equivalent of an entire traditional X-COM map--without even scrolling.

Bigger maps would have an impact on gameplay since the map sizes were originally designed based on the general number of units you'll have on a given mission and their movement ranges over time depending on TU.

I'd just like to point out that a 3x3 unit would take up over 5% of the entire width of a 60x60 map. You can make awesomely-large units with dynamically-sized maps. 

3x3 units wouldn't be in < 1.0. Arbitrary unit sizes are just being added for potential future use, probably rare boss-type aliens and whatnot (whatnot being pretty open-ended ).

You could stick a house-sized alien in a 60x60 area, but hopefully there's a lot of strong terrain to use as cover

[dehimos]

I like the game, but I am casual, no sprites, no funny 

There'll never be sprites in X@COM--it's going to be an "immersive console experience." However, there can and will be support for an unlimited number of alternate images. The game representation doesn't have to be ASCII--you can replace the ASCII representations in X@COM by modding the bitmap and assigning objects like terrain, aliens, etc a new image. They'd have to be tiny images (like 12x12), but they can be anything you want, and there'll be no limit to the number. (I just wrote the image mapping code a few days ago.)

That's is good 

[kerlc]

thank bloddy god for this. the new X-com is going to dissapoint.

[forsaken1111]

I suppose you could explain away the limited mission areas by saying that the surroundings have been blocked off by conventional forces, army and such.

I wouldn't really call them "limited." It depends on what you're comparing to. I'm using the same dimensions as the original--60x60 were the largest maps X-COM had. Smaller maps were 40x40. So while it may feel smaller because you can see the entire map at once, you're actually seeing the equivalent of an entire traditional X-COM map--without even scrolling.

Bigger maps would have an impact on gameplay since the map sizes were originally designed based on the general number of units you'll have on a given mission and their movement ranges over time depending on TU.

Good point, I'm probably spoiled a bit by modern games and the xcom maps always SEEMED big because you were just a little group and aliens were everywhere oh god is that shadow a sectoid its going to shoot me agghh.... sorry.

Keep up the good work.

[Aklyon]

thank bloddy god for this. the new X-com is going to dissapoint.

This and Xenonauts.

[Vherid]

thank bloddy god for this. the new X-com is going to dissapoint.

This and Xenonauts.

So fucking pumped for xenonauts, I love cold war era war shit.

[Black_Legion]

thank bloddy god for this. the new X-com is going to dissapoint.

This and Xenonauts.

So fucking pumped for xenonauts, I love cold war era war shit.

I love the direction this and X@COM are going... it's just I haven't seen any videos of the gameplay that would truly entice me to buy Xenonuats. I like what I see with the art direction and their new direction with the GUI's but I'd like to see something the combat in action, like a youtube clip.

[Fikes]

I suppose you could explain away the limited mission areas by saying that the surroundings have been blocked off by conventional forces, army and such.

That is how I always described it in my head. A ring of police presence. I liked the apocalypse method too, where there was a way to just retreat of the edge of the map. Many times when I couldn't find the last alien I could just wait them out.

[forsaken1111]

Every time I return to this thread I attempt to mentally pronounce the game's title.

"Xat-Com?"