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blue_knight · Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 34

I originally posted this on Dev-Scene.com but here it goes:

Has anyone started an XCom 1 clone for DS?
I ask because I've been working on an X-Com clone. It's a clone because I am not using the original source code but will be as close to the original as possible including using the original game data.

I can currently load MAP,PCK,TAB,MCD and LBM files, can load in and create tilesets, render Battlescape maps (where each 10x10 or 20x20 area is randomly chosen from a set of maps depending on terrain type) with up to 4 height layers (the same as the original game) and of course show vehicles like the Avenger and UFO's.

Anyway you can currently show different heights (which displays like the original game) and scroll around the maps with either the d-pad or by touching near the screen boundaries. Animating tiles work and I'm currently working on doors and such. Here are some cheesy JPG screenshots running in an emulator (it works on the real hardware too):

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Lighting and "fog of war" are not in yet and the top screen is currently used for debugging but will be used (most likely) to display the map. Since I'm using the GPU as a fast hardware blitter, lighting/"fog of war" will be pretty easy and shouldn't have any impact on speed.

OOPMan · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:36 am Post subject:

Hmmmmmmmmmm, I'll be keen to see where this leads, as I'm a big X-Com fan :-)
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tepples · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:58 pm Post subject:

It looks like you could almost make an Animal Crossing clone with this kind of engine.
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vuffi_raa · Joined: 20 Jun 2007 Posts: 2

I am definitely down for trying this out when you are done- the only other option for portable xcom right now is psx on psp

Liquidnumb · Joined: 16 May 2006 Posts: 52

Going directly from XCOM to Animal Crossing in three posts makes me sad.

I really look forward to seeing progress on this project. Keep up the good work!

blue_knight · Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 34

Thanks for the replies. I never considered doing an Animal Crossing clone but I'll make the source code available when I'm done so who knows. As for progress I've got the ground selection cursor working (the cubic looking one that selects the current tile), doors working and am now working on getting XCom agents and aliens working and controllable. I'll also be putting in the UI and map so I'll post some new screenshots soon :)

Anyway thanks for the interest, this game - especially with the touch screen - should work quite well on the DS.

OOPMan · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:04 am Post subject:

Visually it looks very impressive...

Have you referred at all to the UFO2000 project for any help on this. They've implemented a multi-player version of UFO on PC, but they seem to have stalled when it comes to handling single-player.

Hopefully you'll have better luck, as I think X-Com on the DS would be insane :-)
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"My boot, your face..." - Attributed to OOPMan, Emperor of Eroticon VI

You can find my NDS homebrew projects here...

melw · Joined: 20 Apr 2005 Posts: 342 Location: Helsinki, Finland

Sweet! I hope you'll get this one finished... X-COM was one of my favourite games back in the 90's on the PC, and DS is pretty much a perfect platform to port the game.

Shtroodle · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 23

Great news blue_knight, looking forward to see how it turns out.

Never had a chance to properly play X-Com on PC so I'd love to give it a try on the DS :)

Reppa · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 7

XCom on ds, it's a dream come true. I spent so many hour on it on my pc :D.

blue_knight · Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 34

As for UFO2000, I looked at it a little bit but chose (for various reasons) to implement everything from scratch. I, of course, use the information out there, file formats and game information, just not any source code. Currently I'm focusing solely on single player, once that is finished (and as close to the original as I can get) I'm considering doing an "enhanced" version with WiFi multiplayer support, smoother lighting, etc.

If you want to play the original game you can get a version that works under XP if you don't want to run DosBox. The animations tend to play too fast though.

Dan2552 · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 698

OOh I still have X-COM CDs somewhere :) can't wait

1st an official theme park by EA, and now this :D

Darkflame · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 1058

I absolutely love Xcom.

Rebelstar Tactics is good, and so is Lazer Squad Nemsis, but I really miss the good "capture and research" side of things.
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OOPMan · Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:19 am Post subject:

blue_knight · Joined: 05 Jun 2007 Posts: 34

An update. I have tile selection working on the map, doors working and a work in progress version of the UI. I provided some screenshots showing the UI, tile selection and working door. I need to resize the UI, but would prefer to use the original art without actually shrinking it. I'm thinking of removing the weapon slots on the sides and doing something else for the weapon select. I also should compact the height somehow in order to have more map space. What do you guys/gals think?

Edit - looking at it again, the verticle space isn't that much smaller then the game, you lose about as much space with this UI (percentage wise) as horizontal space (due to screen width difference). So I'll probably keep the height of the current UI and just put in alternatives for the weapon select on the sides.

I'm also working on getting the soldiers/aliens working, as I said before, I'll post some screenshots of them soon :)

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