Hello everyone – it’s been a busy month at Goldhawk Interactive, and we have exciting news to share about Xenonauts 2! We’re thrilled to announce a new initiative to keep our community even more informed and engaged with the game’s development progress.
Enhancing Communication and Community Engagement
Understanding the importance of clear and consistent communication, we are excited to welcome Paul, known as “nervous_testpilot,” to our team. Paul brings a wealth of experience from Mode 7 Games, the creators of tactical titles like the Frozen Synapse series and Frozen Endzone. His background in publishing and marketing within the indie game scene makes him the ideal person to enhance our marketing, sales, and communication efforts. This allows our core development team to focus on what we do best: finishing the game and making it the best experience possible for you.
What does this mean for our community? Expect more frequent and detailed updates on Xenonauts 2’s development. We’re planning bi-weekly project updates that will delve into both the progress made and in-depth analyses of new game mechanics. We are also refreshing our Steam page and website with updated media to give you a better look at the current state of the game. Furthermore, we’re committed to being more active on the Steam forums, ensuring your questions and feedback are heard. As we approach our Early Access launch, you can also anticipate increased media coverage for Xenonauts 2.
Introducing the Official Xenonauts 2 Discord Server
For those of you who prefer real-time interaction and community chat, we’ve launched an official Xenonauts 2 Discord server! This server will serve as another hub for project updates, discussions, and direct interaction with the development team. While the forums will remain our primary community platform, Discord offers a more immediate and informal space to connect with fellow players and the developers.
Join the Xenonauts 2 Discord server now: [Insert Discord Server Link Here]
Image: A Xenonauts 2 Probe UFO, showcasing the updated visual style of the game.
Gameplay Enhancements: Visuals and Mechanics
Beyond communication, significant progress has been made on the gameplay front this past month, particularly in the visual aspects of Xenonauts 2.
Art and Visual Updates
We’re dedicated to replacing placeholder art to enhance the early game experience. The Research and Engineering screens now feature new, painted backgrounds and updated character art. We’ve also commissioned new artwork for several early research projects, including a compelling visual for the Orbital Bombardment mechanic, depicting a space station eliminating a city from orbit.
The design of the UFOs is also undergoing a significant overhaul. While returning to the X1-style UFOs, we are not simply reusing old assets. The Probe UFO, as seen above, is a revised version of the Light Scout, but most new designs will be significantly different, offering a fresh visual experience while retaining the familiar core.
Furthermore, we are exploring ways to drastically improve the visual fidelity of ground missions. Initial experiments with external artists focused on texturing styles, particularly ground textures, are showing promising results. We’re aiming for an X1-inspired hand-painted aesthetic, but with a higher-resolution 3D feel. These visual enhancements are still in early testing, but we are optimistic about their potential impact on the game’s atmosphere.
Coding and System Improvements
On the coding side, a major focus has been implementing the UFO hull-hiding system in ground combat, a feature familiar from Xenonauts 1. This system creates a “cutaway” view of UFO interiors when explored by your squad. We’re also integrating destructibility into UFOs, inspired by the “Fire in the Hole!” mod for X1. This will allow for strategic breach points on UFO hulls. This complex work is ongoing, with the final UFO models expected to enter development soon.
Smaller but crucial systems have also been refined. Night detection on the Geoscape is now implemented, triggering night missions based on the night shadow. Usability improvements have been made to soldier and dropship equipment screens. Geoscape anomalies and events triggered by UFOs now feature a wider range of text variations from X1 and are biome-dependent, preventing incongruous events in inappropriate environments.
Narrative and Research Text
Personally, development time has been dedicated to outlining game plans and writing research text, particularly for plot-related research. So far, 12 research reports and plot pop-ups have been drafted, with another 5-6 optional research projects planned to unlock an alternate ending for players who enjoy deep lore. This research text establishes the aliens’ identity, capabilities, and intentions, informing the wider research tree. Prioritizing the early game experience, the focus is now on completing the initial 10-15 research entries to ensure a polished and engaging introduction to the game’s narrative.
Build Status and Future Plans
The promised new build is slightly delayed due to significant ongoing changes to ground combat maps. Several factors contribute to this flux:
- UFO Redesign and Resizing: The implementation of the hull-hiding system necessitates a redesign and likely increase in size for all UFOs, impacting map layouts.
- Night Mission Support: All maps require re-exporting to properly support night missions, a prerequisite for their functionality.
- Visual Upgrades: Potential visual overhauls could further necessitate level design adjustments.
- Multiple Dropship and UFO Support: The current map structure needs to be adapted to support multiple dropship and UFO types spawning at mission start, a change required to fully enable advanced dropships in the tech tree.
Considering these extensive changes, releasing a build on the older map framework might be more practical in the short term. A new build using existing maps may be released in the next week or so, albeit without new UFO visuals in ground combat or functional night missions.
Stay Connected and Join the Discord Community
Despite being less active on the forums recently due to development demands, progress on Xenonauts 2 is substantial and ongoing. We encourage you to join our new Discord server to stay even more closely connected with the development process, chat with fellow players, and get immediate updates. We value your feedback and are excited to build the Xenonauts 2 community with you.
Join the Xenonauts 2 Discord server now:
