XCOM is undoubtedly a mighty game universe, behind which are several former publishers, many continuations and a richest story, full of rise, falls and endless disputes.
Like everyone who came from the nineties game hits, Xcom began with a small. There were no plans to create new intellectual property, no market analysis, nor a painful choice between available platforms.
It all started with the personal computer of BBC Micro, produced by the British company Acorn Computer. The miracle of overseas engineering was presented to the best school friend Julian Gollop.
We contacted some creators of the famous series and talked with nostalgia about the life of XCOM.
In XCOM: Terror from the Deep, we wanted to use the DOOM 2 model ..
Producer Franchise Xcom Stuart White recalls the origins of the series
XCOM producer: Terror from the Deep Stuart White has been engaged in games since the beginning of the nineties. He worked in Microprose, Bullfrog Productions , Electronic Arts , Lionhead Studios , Microsoft Games Studios Above Populous, Dungeon Keeper 2 , Fable. In a conversation with us, White honestly admitted that he loved the work of the authors of XCOM from an early age.
“From childhood, I liked the games of gollopes. As a teenager, I cut into Rebelstar raiders , Laser Squad , Lords of Chaos On mine Amstrad CPC. Then in Microprose, I terribly enviously envied the producer Tim from my office cube working on UFO: Enemy Unknown.
“Tim and I played in prenatal versions of UFO, while further along the corridor, the Hollopian brothers polished the game day and night. Soon after the UFO release on PC, Tim left the company. Xcom franchise (as we now began to call him) I began to engage in. I happened to produce the versions of the game for Amiga and PlayStation.
“Release for PlayStation, in my opinion, to this day the best version of UFO (you just had to buy PS-thoughts). This is the only version in which we fixed a bug with a reset of complexity after preserving the game. ".
“I produced a sequel developed in nine months Xcom: Terror from the Deep And XCOM: Apocalypse , Then he worked on a project with an unofficial name Fox Force Five , which later became XCOM: Alliance ".
“In those years, the development of games was completely different. I had 10 projects at once, and 3-4 people worked on everyone (a couple of programmers, designer and artist). Now hundreds of people are engaged in games like Fable 3 ".
"IN Xcom: Terror from the Deep We wanted to use the distribution model Doom And Doom 2. I had to take the original game and add several improvements to it. We improved AI, interface, levels, increased the number of territories from nine to twenty -four, finalized sound and picture, aliens, complexity, tree of research. We wanted to expand the mythology of the game. That's why we added so many allusions from Lovecraft ".
From the British table
Thirty -year career, Julian Gollop came up with a dozen projects and three game series. From the age of fourteen, the developer's favorite entertainment was Dungeons & Dragons, complex desktop wargam companies Simulations publications And Avalon Hill ( GetTysburg And Starship Troopers ).
At school, he developed Time Lords And Islandia. These games were programmed by the classmate of Julian – Andy Green, who turned out to be the happy owner of BBC Micro. Design documents then occupied only a couple of notebook sheets.
[Bullet]] Nebula, the early game of Julian Hollop for ZX Spectrum, is dedicated to the examination and colonization of the Galaxy (combat system, AI, resource management, exploration).
Time Lords (1983) is a standard table role module, where a computer is used instead of playing bones and the host, and the plot about the aliens traveling in time was inspired by the cult of the British series “Doctor Who” (if the gullop lived in the USSR, then his first game, obviously, is obviously would be about Alice Seleznev). Elements of economics and management of resources appeared in Islandia (1983) and the Actions Points (AP) that survived before XCOM were used for the first time.
The idea with the glasses of action Hollop gathered from board games – this is a very important concept for computer strategies, creating the illusion of simultaneous actions of friendly and enemy combat units.
Time Lords. In this cornation of pixels, the young Hollop saw the epic computer version of Dungeons & Dragons with five planets and fifteen time periods.
For the publication of Time Lords, Hallop has concluded a contract with the British Red Shift. The owner of the company went all the money from sales, and Julian himself did not see any of his early work on store shelves. In the early eighties, games were sold mainly by mail or at specialized exhibitions. Holding a bag with a cardboard manual and a time lords tie lords tape, Juliana was pleased. He even began to study Basic by bought a friendly computer from a friend for 25 pounds Sinclair ZX81.
The next work was Rebelstar Raiders (1984). The project was done under the influence of "Star Wars" and the combat module Snapshot for desktop space opera Traveller (1977). The game narrated about the war of the detachment of people with the army of droids and was equipped with inconceivable for the beginning of the eighties tactical options.
[Bullet]] Making UFO: Enemy Unknown Mythos Games is Julian and Nick Plus a couple of artists from Microprose (one painted aliens and heroes, the other – landscapes).
It was possible to hide behind the corpses of comrades in the detachment and wreckage of robots, shoot – aiming or offhand (another important mechanic for xcom). In the sequel Rebelstar 2 (1988) You did not fight with robots, but with aliens, armed bows and arrows. In the final of the game, it was necessary to defeat the queen of strangers and seize the masonry of alien eggs.
The work of the gallop was attracted Games Workshop. Julian offered his new partners a computer version of the board game about Judge Dredde. The action was to take place in the multi-level post-apocalyptic megalopolis Mega City, and the player controlled a detachment of judges. As a result, the comics made an uncomplicated arcade about Dredd on a motorcycle, but from this project in XCOM: Apocalypse The concept of mega-City-the city-country-cities of the future passed.
In parallel with games, Julian studied sociology and economy at the University of London. Education left a direct imprint on his gaming projects, in which it was necessary to constantly work with resources and deal with the management of the team.
[[Bullet]] In ufo: enemy unknown, the fear of the unknown is intensified by the fact that you hear terrible music, but do not see anything at the same time. What, where – is not clear.
The first official game of Hollop, made in the studio as a developer, was the Cybperpanka tactical simulator Laser Squad. In this project, you were told about custom -made murders, an attack on the lunar base of the ominous corporation and the protection of the rebels from the army of infuriated droids. Laser Squad appeared in the scenaries related to the plot, and the concept of the field of view of virtual soldiers-one of the key elements of the entire XCOM series.
Around the same time, the older brother Nick joined Juliana, and they founded the company together Target Games. The studio produced the versions of Laser Squad for the popular computers in Britain ZX Spectrum, Comodore 64, Amstrad CPC and Amiga. The American market for Hollopes was too tough. It was necessary to make a new project with an eye on the USA and PC, but for this it would be necessary for a serious publisher, ready to support. The company became such a partner of the brothers Microprose.
Aliens were voiced by our elephants
Composer Helter Brower reveals the secret, as sound effects were recorded
Helter Brower began a composer career with cooperation with a young British company 17 Bit Software , which has turned into Team17. He wrote music for Alien Breed , Project X , Superfrog , Driver And Rollercoaster Tycoon. One of his achievements remains sound effects for XCOM: Terror from the Deep, which he recalled with nostalgia during our conversation.
“I have not seen the first part of the XCOM, so the project leader described me the game and showed sketches of technology and aliens. This reminded of work on Alien Breed for Team17, only with more diverse opponents and weapons. ".
“Microprose asked for sound effects to be recorded from real animals. We received a bribe of birds, meowing cats and a trumpet call of elephants! I reduced all these sounds, imposed each other, added explosions and champing pouring mucus. Horror ".
“The original soundtrack John Brumhall from Enemy Unknown I managed to process for PS version. I only bought the brand new Kurzweil K2000 synthesizer, and it was a wonderful opportunity to try my new toy in the case. It was superinsense to work, because then I learned a lot about music for CD ".
“The success of the XCOM is to use a step -by -step tactical combat system. This approach allows you to carefully consider your actions. Plus in the game is also a rich fantastic plot ".
We conquer the United States
Target Games has collected demo version Laser Squad 2 with an isometric picture in style Populous (1989), but without AI – two teams of living players fought. In 1991, demo showed the publisher. The head of the development Microprose Pete Moreresu Laser Squad 2 liked. He asked the Hollopes to develop a large game in the style of popular on this engine Civilization (1991) and Railroad Tycoon (1990), where not only tactical battles were present between two groups of fighters, but also an epic strategic element. Morerend even prompted Julian the theme of the future game – unidentified flying objects.
Having seen enough of the cult of the British documentary series "UFO", Julian decided to make a game about the XCOM World Organization, opposing a vague alien threat. The book of the American physicist Robert Lazar, who allegedly worked in zone 51 on captured flying saucers, formed the basis of the mechanics of the game. First, we examine the places of UFO fall, then we study alien technologies at the XCOM bases, and then we will press the aliens with chirza boots.
[[Bullet]] Laser Squad – the first game of the Hollopes brothers, published by them on their own. The concept of the field of vision of the fighters, the destroyed environment … The project did not bring special money.
In total, there were 12 pages in the design of the original game-the volume unthinkable by the standards of Julian. Microprose did not particularly change anything in the English project. The development of the game took place in Microprose offices in the British city of Chipping-Sodbury. Worked twelve hours a day without days off. Nick and Julian took on design and programming, Microprose has seconded to the developers of two artists, the music was written by composer John Brumhall over the past two months of development. Programming and testing were carried out simultaneously, so changes were made to the game literally until the last minute.
At the same time, the project was about to be canceled twice in connection with the financial difficulties of Microprose. In 1993, the company became the ownership of the American publishing house Spectrum Holobyte. The new owners did not like the game. The strategy was not canceled only due to a positive reaction of beta testers.
Follow the sky
A project called UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe and Australia ( Xcom: ufo defense in the USA) was released on a PC in March 1994 and was a great success. Over 600,000 copies were sold on computers, half of which were in the USA. Even released in 1995 for the first PlayStation was dispersed by a circulation of half a million copies.
XCOM: Terror from the Deep – the first UFO sequel was developed without the participation of gullopes with a team of 15 people.
The success of the game was not least contributed to the topic. In 1994, the first series of "Secret Materials" was shown on American television. Against the background of the adventures of Malder and Scully, the theme of little gray men became extremely interesting. An important role was played by the choice of platform. Projects on a PC in the mid -nineties were sold no worse than console, and strategies were one of the most commercially profitable genres.
There were simply no competitors at Enemy Unknown in terms of combining strategic planning and tactical combat missions, not to mention a million other details that gave the game an unsurpassed scope.
UFO success is the sum of the gaming components of the project. There are tactical battles (based on Laser Squad and Rebelstar), aliens (AI was taken from Julian's old developments), research and equipment of fighter, the development of characters, the fight against alien terrorists, the sale of aliens artifacts, relations with 16 sponsored XCOM nations, and the final attack on Mars. It's just fantastic! For three years, Hollopes managed to create a game with phenomenal potential, which is still considered a classic of the genre.
[[Bullet]] Xcom: Terror from the Deep more reminiscent of an addon for UFO: ENEMY Unknown than an independent game.
To develop an official sequel, xcom: Terror from the Deep, Microprose gave Hollopam six months, but the brothers refused to make the game hastily. The authors suggested licensing the code and transfer the sequel to Microprose. They themselves wanted to start work on the third part, spending at least two years on the project.
As a result, a team of 15 people without the participation of Julian and Nika developed Terror from the Deep collected by Microprose. Got an addon with new enemies and setting. Nowadays Terror from the Deep would be called DLC. Julian did not like the game because of the overly prolonged missions.
The third part should have been a full -fledged continuation, XCOM: Apocalypse (1997), created on the basis of the already familiar idea of Judge Dredde, with whom Julian rushed for more than ten years. The brothers returned to the concept of a living metropolis of the future with different fractions, corporations and economic relations between them, traffic and pedestrians.
[Bullet]] Rebelstar Raiders is the first game of the fighting detachment released by Hollop at the end of 1983 and inspired by the Snipers and the Snap Shot’s desktop opera Games Workshop.
Mega City from comics about the judge migrated to the XCOM universe and changed his name to Megapraim. For order, they added a storyline about the aliens attacking the metropolis from another measurement. Apocalypse worked on Apocalypse. Microprose hired third -party level designers with which there were friction halls. Microprose artists painted not what they needed (strangers and city caused special criticism). In addition to everything, it was decided to do in real time, preserving a step -by -step tactical combat system.
As a result, the Apocalypse turned out to be inconceivably complex and almost non -packed, although none of the players who visited megapraim will ever forget the epic picture of the collapse of several levels of the metropolis. By the end of Julian’s development, his game “Apocalypse” became an analogue of the film “Apocalypse Today” by Francis Ford Coppola.
[Bullet]] The money received from the first UFO went to create mythos and the state expansion, but Microprose still wanted its artists to deal with XCOM: Apocalypse.
At the beta testing stage, the project eventually lost many elements-most of the city and organizations management. It's a pity, because the development of these mechanics invested so much time and time. In the original project, it was possible to kill, abduct and interrogate corporation leaders, buy and sell buildings, introduce XCOM agents into other structures. All this was left overboard. However, XCOM: Apocalypse and so well sold, bringing Microprose the desired profit.
We were almost allowed into the real military simulator F-14 ..
XCOM producer: Interceptor Dave Ellis reflects on an alien series
Dave Ellis in the gaming industry for more than twenty years. He started in the technical support department of Microprose in 1992, then he became a beta tester, leading beta tester, junior manager, and game designer Civilization 2 , Star Trek: The Next Generation – Klingon Honor Guard And F-14 Fleet Defender. We talked with Dave about his contribution to the development of the famous series.
“Since we made military simulators, I happened to visit the US Navy military airport and wander around the hangars with fighters. We were even allowed to sit in the real military simulator of the F-14, but he did not work on that day for technical reasons ".
“From XCOM: Interceptor first wanted to make the simulator of the interceptor from the first UFO – only missions and heavenly battles, no strategy. If the game had become popular, we would continue and in one of the sequels finally brought the simulator into space. Wing Commander and X-Wing series at that time were wildly popular.
As a result, we missed the battles on Earth and started immediately from the cosmos. It was decided to add strategic elements and construction of bases, because I did not like the linear tasks of X-Wing. Unfortunately, different teams worked on the simulator and strategic parts of the game. The result was a generator of random monotonous missions. We added plot tasks, but it was already too late.
In addition, then came out Wing Commander: Prophecy And Descent Freespace , Interceptor shut up behind the belt in terms of space battles ".
“XCOM: Genesis was embodied in three dimensions, and not in two, but we intended to maintain the gloomy atmosphere of the original UFO and the balance of strategy (map of the globe, air interception, research and basic battles) with tactical battles. For battles, we developed an RTS system with a pause that allowed the player to equip fighters and distribute orders in the UFO: Enemy Unknown ".
The decay of the coalition
Microprose was at that time the leader of the gaming development, releasing complex, multi -level and interesting games. However, her experiments with genres did not always end successfully, so there was nothing surprising in the fact that the company first absorbed Spectrum Holobyte, and then Hasbro Interactive. Unfortunately, Hasbro showed no interest in further work with the Hollopes brothers. The developers were not confused and crossed under the wing of Virgin.
[[Bullet]] Microprose employees had a very distant idea of what isometric graphics look like.
The copyright situation on XCOM in the late nineties developed extremely confusing. Juliana lawyers and Nika assured customers that in court all the rights would go to Microprose. Microprose lawyers convinced the brothers to win the victory. As a result, the Hallopes signed an agreement by which all the rights to the series passed to Microprose, and they got large author's deductions for XCOM: Apocalypse.
In 1998, the following continuation was announced, XCOM: Alliance, on the Unreal engine. By 2000, the game mutated into the terrible mixture of FPS, RPG and strategies, changed three developers' teams and was set by the publisher of Infogrames in 2002.
[[Bullet]] In the contours of Megapraim from XCOM: Apocalypse, Mega City from comics in magazine 2000 AD is guessed.
Instead of a direct sequel, Microprose decided to release branches in different genres. One of them is a cosmic simulator XCOM: Interceptor (1998). In fact, this is an honest clone Wing Commander In the universe XCOM. The basis was the resources Alliance , But the gameplay was diversified due to strategic elements.
An attempt was made to create RTS based on the franchise, XCOM: Genesis, which was engaged in Interceptor's chief designer Dave Ellis in old Microprose offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Hasbro Interactive canceled the project in December 1999, when all Hasbro game studios were disbanded when selling a company.
Microprose officially ceased to exist in 2001, when Hasbro Interactive was owned by Infogrames. After many mergers and acquisitions, the rights to XCOM were Take-Two Interactive And 2K Games. In 2005, the famous series, which survived a lot of ups and falls, came to our friends from Firaxis and the Jake Solomon team.
[[Bullet]] In our time xcom: Enforcer would have come to the court on the iPad or another mobile platform.
Julian Gollop is still playing games. Among them is ahead of his time Magic & MayHem (1998), created based on the game of Julian Lords of Chaos. Virgin Interactive was not enthusiastic about role -playing elements, and the game itself was not too successful. The irony of fate is that a couple of months later, it was this concept that brought success Baldur’s Gate.
For Virgin in 2000, Julian began to develop the first three -dimensional Remake XCOM, called The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge. According to the plot, the aliens conquered the land, so the setting was rather post -apocalyptic, in the spirit Half-Life 2. The game was supposed to reach the PC and PlayStation 2, used the new Havok physical engine, step -by -step movements with third -person view, shooting and destroyed landscape in the Apocalypse style. Dreamland Chronicles Julian compares with tactical RPG Valkyria Chronicles For PlayStation 3.
[[Bullet]] The Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge – a real three -dimensional XCOM remake, a little not completed by Julian Hollop. He could become the top of the tactical genre on consoles.
Unfortunately, the project was never destined to get to the shelves. Virgin transferred to the ownership of InterPlay, and InterPlay became part of Titus Interactive, which was not interested in Virgin games. Because of this, Julian Gollop had to close the Mythos Games studio. After which a miniature company was opened Codo Technologies.
UFO: Enemy Unknown – perfect computer game in vacuum. Smart, interesting, deep, with chic music and pleasant mechanics. It's hard to say how it happened. The stars came together? Hollopa knocked on a bright head inspiration? In essence, this is not important. The beginning sometimes may not be as important as the finale. Series such as XCOM clearly prove that no matter how well everything starts, you should not lift your nose. Success should be proved with every new project, with every new addition. I would like to believe that XCOM developers: Enemy Unknown will not forget about it.
Music will affect the player's subconscious
Composer John Brumhall about Ufo music: Enemy Unknown
John Brumhall has been working on music, sound effects for games since 1991. He was engaged in projects of different ranks: B-17 Flying Fortress , Transport Tycoon , Frogger 2: Swampy’s Revenge , Heavenly Sword , Forza Motorsport And Guitar Hero. If you believe Brumhall, then UFO: Enemy Unknown remains one of his favorite projects.
“UFO was one of the many games that I worked on as a regular Microprose composer in the early nineties. The glorious was time! Whatever I do, the project necessarily became a hit. Golden Age PC-IGR ".
“I was informed that we are working on a new project by Mythos Games studio, headed by the Hollopes brothers. Our beta testing department was already chopped into the early version of the game, and the reviews were very good. I liked the general idea and Libra Spins sister sites plot. When they showed the schedule and gave me to play myself, I remained completely delighted, inspired by the project ".
“For a strategic map, I tried to write music that would create a feeling of time and atmosphere of anxious expectation. It seems that strategic music turned out to be gloomy and serious. Separate bright moments skip, but in general everything is very sad-the situation is critical, the earth is at risk ”.
“In the tactical part, the music is minimalist, inspiring a feeling of growing tension. Sometimes there are times when a very short sample is so suitable for gameplay that it does not matter that it is repeated countless times. In tactical music for UFO, I managed the main thing: the constantly repeating audiimum bulb has become the fundamental part of the game. To make tactical music even more frightening, I slightly varied the pace of pulsating sound. I hoped that this would somehow influence the player's subconscious ".
“For the screensaver, I wrote a completely simple melody, helping to tell the story. I still like the way the outgoing motive sounds in the original format on old sound cards. I tried to squeeze out the maximum from the sound. It is still amazing me that on YouTube this topic is played on an electric guitar, like Hevi-Metal. Amazing, in my opinion ".