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XCOM: Enemy Unknown


Mr. GOH!
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I brought up BE as that is Firaxis' last game, so if they didn't have multiple teams in the studio that'd be their quickest turn around possible on the game, with working straight from XCOM EU (3 years ago) being the longest turn around. It'd also be insane to think there's not some internal overlap in teams.

 

Maybe it wasn't quick, but it was certainly developed after "XCOM" the shooter, I think folks forget how long that was in development, the game was pretty much completely scrapped, re-made n re-branded after its initial reveal. I carry on forgetting how terrible Polygon layout is. Can't just put shit in a row to read, have to throw shit all over the place n slap stupid bespoke design on articles. I ended up loading Wiki n jumping to the EG article  given which makes it much clearer it started 3.5yrs prior March '12, which'd make it around 2009, a few years into "XCOM" development.

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I brought up BE as that is Firaxis' last game, so if they didn't have multiple teams in the studio that'd be their quickest turn around possible on the game, with working straight from XCOM EU (3 years ago) being the longest turn around. It'd also be insane to think there's not some internal overlap in teams.

Fair enough. And yeah, I'm sure some people transition between teams over the course of the projects . But I don't really see that as being a particularly relevant distinction given the context here. They're still two separate teams working on two separate projects. Transferring people between the two as the projects' needs change is preferable to layoffs.

 

Maybe it wasn't quick, but it was certainly developed after "XCOM" the shooter, I think folks forget how long that was in development, the game was pretty much completely scrapped, re-made n re-branded after its initial reveal. I carry on forgetting how terrible Polygon layout is. Can't just put shit in a row to read, have to throw shit all over the place n slap stupid bespoke design on articles. I ended up loading Wiki n jumping to the EG article  given which makes it much clearer it started 3.5yrs prior March '12, which'd make it around 2009, a few years into "XCOM" development.

That shooter was announced in what, like 2008? That Polygon piece mentions that Solomon was trying to get his XCOM off the ground as far back as 2003. It's quite possible that the negative reception to the shooter is what prompted 2K to finally give the game the full greenlight, though. But the game itself was never made as a response to it, it's been a dream project of Solomon's for essentially his entire career as a game designer.

 

I dunno, I just don't think it's fair to label it a quickly slapped together response to what I basically view as "Development Hell: The Videogame!".

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The point being that some aspects of this version actually predate the other game by quite a few years. I never said fully 9 years, though. Some of it was on and off and the game was "officially in development for five years" according to that Polygon piece.

 

Beyond that, we're just arguing semantics so I'm going to take that as my cue to end this here.

 

Yeah, I think describing it as having been in development hell is kind of an overstatement,

I was talking about The Bureau when I mentioned development hell.

 

as it was just a game some guy wanted to make, not in actual development.

Actually, Solomon was given a team to make the first prototype back in 2003. That Polygon piece is actually a pretty good read, you guys should check it out. :P

 

To be fair, he failed on that first attempt. But I think being given a team and six months to prototype his idea qualifies as being in development at least on some level.

Edited by FLD
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