The original X-Com games are widely regarded as classic in PC gaming. The turn based gameplay and isometic graphics, coupled with the gripping storyline captured the imagination of many a gamer. After the lacklustre X-Com Intercepter, which attempted to take X-Com to the stars, we have the next installment – X-Com Alliance. With the popularity of 3D Cards, the simple isometric 2D graphics wouldn’t go down so well on the PC nowadays, so Microprose are taking the next step and throwing it into a full first person 3D enviroment, powered by Epic’s very capable Unreal Engine. I fired off some questions in a space capsule off to the X-Com troopers, which took aproximately 7 months to reach them, and the another 3 months to receive their answers (luckily the capsule had a solar wind behind it on the way back).

Here’s the Squad lineup:

• WG = Will Gee, 3D Programmer
• CC = Chris Coon, Lead Programmer
• CDC = Christopher David Clark, Lead Designer
• MD = Martin DeRiso, Producer

KungFu: I got to see X-com Alliance in action last September at ECTS, how has the game progressed since then? Have any new ideas or features been added?

CDC: New ideas and features? Quite a few actually! The speech system, for example: each trooper has over 200 lines of autonomous speech that cover everything from running out of ammo in a firefight to mourning over the loss of a fellow trooper. Characters will tell you when they are tired and then bitch at you if you don’t give them a break. They’ll get frustrated at their own mistakes and can become panicked when they’re outnumbered. They’ll even chat amongst each other! Each character has his or her own voice, personality, and in some cases, accent.We’ve also added our own skeletal animation system. We hired professional stuntmen and stuntwomen to do our motion capture to ensure that the character animations are as smooth and lifelike as possible. We captured over 300 moves and can combine them with the skeletal system to portray a vast array of different animations across all of our humanoid characters.Those are just two of the biggest. We’ve added a ton of other stuff that will contribute to the immersion and gameplay experience, but we have to keep some things secret after all.

KungFu: Not a lot is known of X-Com Alliance, can you give us a brief run down of what it is all about, story, characters etc? And where it all fits into the X-Com universe.

CDC: If you read the X-COM timeline found in X-COM Interceptor, you will see mention of the launch of a starship called the UGS Patton and her subsequent disappearance. X-COM Alliance is the story of what happened to the Patton and her crew.The events in X-COM Alliance occur in the year 2062, 53 years after the last mission to Cydonia at the end of X-COM UFO Defense/Enemy Unknown. The Elerium supplies on Earth are depleted and the Patton is sent to Cydonia to research the site and hopefully find more Elerium. Upon reaching Mars, the Patton gets pulled through an inter-dimensional gate and is propelled light years from Earth – and smack dab in the middle of an interstellar war!In order to survive, the crew of the Patton must align themselves with one of the alien races they encounter and help them to win the war. Failure means death for the Patton and her crew.

KungFu: Do you think the old school X-com fans will like the jump from the turned based isometric gameplay to a fully fledged 3D hi-tech gameplay?

CDC: Come on! Everyone who loves X-COM has thought at one time or another about what it would be like to actually “be” an X-COM trooper! Soon they’ll know. Sure there will be some people who only want ¾ isometric turn based gameplay and will play nothing but, but if they’re willing to give the first person perspective a try, we think they’ll really enjoy Alliance. The X-COM faithful have expressed that they want a game that does justice to the X-COM legacy, and we think that X-COM Alliance will do just that. Many of us were here when UFO Defense/Enemy Unknown rolled out the door, and most importantly, WE ALL LOVE X-COM! Our goal is not only to produce a top-notch game, but to stay true and add favorably to the X-COM line. To this end, we have kept the core elements of X-COM intact. Squad based combat, nurturing and advancing your troopers, research, psionics, and many of the aliens from the original that fans grew to love (and hate), now brought to life in full 3D! Additionally, we’re stretching the boundaries of traditional squad based games by including roleplaying elements, a solid storyline, resource management, and the most lifelike squad mates that players have ever seen.

KungFu: How long has X-com Alliance been in the making? It seems to have been in development for quite along time.

MD: X-COM Alliance started up in the UK studio about 4 or 5 years ago, and has come a long way since its origin. Last year it began development in the Hunt Valley studio, where we’ve picked up on all of the foundation work that had been done, refining what was there and adding what needed to be added to make it something truly special.

KungFu:Will people be able to produce addons, such as maps, and mods, for X-Com: Alliance, as easily as they can with Unreal/UT? There hasn’t been any drastic changes made to the engine preventing such things?

WG: Actually, the changes to the engine will put more power in the hands of MOD makers. Think Half-Life vs. Quake2.