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the xect lives!
Posted by Chris on 10/27/2007Ha! Ironically, on the day that I decide start offering the Xect for download again, I discover a video on youtube starring it! The Xect is an expansion race for Total Annihilation that I'd developed. It was more or less a complete merging of leftover units (robots, tanks, et al) from my hobbyist modding of the game. When Spring TA emerged, I offered the Xect (and the older race, the Mynn) as free content for anyone to use. And sure enough, someone is using it! In nothing less than a crazy mashup with Stargate and Pirates of the Carribean! Enjoy.
the beta testing results
Posted by Chris on 10/26/2007
About 3 weeks ago, the first round of beta testing for Xeno Versus: Space Melee wrapped up. There was a surprising amount of consensus among the testers. I thought it would be interesting to share a quick break-down of what was said.
What worked well:
- The art: all around great
- The sound: the (mostly temporary) sounds fit well
- The gameplay: balanced, fun, and easy
What needed changing:
- The camera: too jerky, not zoomed in enough, doesn't "wrap" like the camera in Star Control
- The ship select interface: it needs mouse support for ship selection
- The game speed: too slow
- The interface: numbers harder to read than energy bars; confusion with the ship rings
Of course, all of these needed changes are currently being implemented. Hopefully, this will allow the second round of beta testing to focus more on tuning the gameplay. As I've said before, our goal is to make the best space melee since Star Control. It's taking a lot of work, but the end result should be a polished 2D space-fighting experience.
what happened to the star trek: enterprise power rankings?
Posted by Chris on 10/25/2007Oh dear reader, what happened indeed? Quite frankly, this site's host (Readyhosting) stopped supporting Cold Fusion in its standard service package. (Ironically, I signed up for Readyhosting because of that service!) All the science fiction TV and movie reviews were 100% database driven. Same goes for the writer, director, and episode rankings for Enterprise. Thus, no Cold Fusion means no functional code to read the database. :(
But perhaps you didn't know that this site was also the original home of not one but two complete expansion races for the RTS game Total Annihilation? That's right, xenoclone.com was about games first, sci-fi second. So in a sense, the site is going back to its roots. In fact, it's my intention to update the projects section with information about these old projects (in addition to my current projects). Expect more blogging and information up as I continue my quest to reclaim the name xenoclone from the nefarious forces that are trying to steal it from me!
a better layout
Posted by Chris on 10/24/2007My patience quickly wore off. A new site is up now. It may not be the final version of the site, but it sure beats plain text! The awesome face in this site's background is the character Ryoko from Xeno Versus: Space Melee. Her artist is the incredibly talented Mauzi, the game's Anime artist.
Now tell me, what other indie game developer employs a more talented character artist?
tired of plain text
Posted by Chris on 10/23/2007The bare-bones nature of this site has begun to drive me crazy. I used to be a Web developer. I know I can put up a really killer site; one that represents the high quality of the games we're going to release in the upcoming months. Alas, other things come first! As the lead developer, I'm responsible for basically everything outside of the art, music, and sound. Heck, I even do some of the art! Finding the time to handle all of my game responsibilities is hard, especially with my near-complete MS thesis, my full-time (non-gaming) job, and my new marriage taking up most of my spare time.
I have two goals for the next 6 months: 1) release Xeno Versus: Space Melee and the unannounced second project of ours and 2) reclaim the name xenoclone. I am highly suspicious of a certain other indie games team who released "Project Xenoclone." I sincerely believe they saw this unique handle that I've had for years and took it for their own poorly-rated project. I hope with the success of our games here that a person will google "xenoclone" and see this site (once again) first on the results list!
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