Project: SPARK (XCOM 2 Mod Project) · 11:20pm Dec 26th, 2015
I meant to post this yesterday but had a splitting headache. :S
As most people who will be reading this are aware, XCOM 2 will be coming out in a little over a month. With it comes a promise of mod support that is extremely reassuring. As more and more news comes out, my plans have been solidifying. I now feel confident enough to share in greater detail the mod I hope to create with the help of some others.
[Project: SPARK]
Shortly after the Commander's recovery, XCOM receives word from a mole within ADVENT of another potential windfall: A near-mint condition XCOM research facility has been discovered, and ADVENT forces are scrambling to secure the site. A Strike team successfully infiltrates the base and extracts the mole as well as a hard drive supposedly containing research conducted by the original XCOM twenty years earlier. The hard drive's contents are encrypted and corrupted to a staggering degree, but the researchers aboard the Avenger are able to decrypt the files and partially rebuild them. They find reports related to a 'Project: Stardust', as well as psionic mastery, devices and weapons powered with elerium... and notes from the original XCOM research and engineering staff regarding the impossible.
Everything in the hard drive was created with the help of 'Spark', an alien that helped in the defense of the Earth.
That's the 'back-of-the-book' blurb. I am going to be going out of my way to not make this an obvious MLP mod. Those of us who are fans of Stardust and Mente Materia will know what's going on, and those who aren't can enjoy it without getting their jimmies rustled by the presence of ponies.
And I should also say this now: XCOM 2 and Stardust are two separate universes, and this mod should not be taken as a Word of God indication as to how Mente Materia will end. Now that that's out of the way, the next question: if they are two separate universes, how does this hard drive get to the XCOM 2 universe? Answer: Shenanigans. 
This will NOT be a total conversion mod or anything of the like. The overall story of XCOM 2 will remain as it is now, but [Project SPARK] will in theory include the following changes:
1.) New missions -- At least one mission will be added towards the start of an XCOM 2 playthrough and will function much like the first mission for the Zhang/Durant DLC packs for XCOM EW. Complete the first mission and further stuff is unlocked. Fail it... and you're missing out.
2.) New Research/Story based reports -- As things are researched from the Stardust hard drive and breakthroughs are made, the research staff of the Avenger slowly unravel the mystery behind 'Project Stardust' and the creature known as 'Spark'.
3.) New Equipment -- Weapon mods, armor, grenades, etc... ideally. The scope on this part will vary wildly based on how the modding will be when the game comes out.
4.) PSI powers rework -- This will also depend greatly upon what PSI powers and mechanics there will be in game. Either way I fully intend to expand upon whatever is there.
Now, I have absolutely zero chance of doing all of this myself in a reasonable amount of time. In the future, I may post a blog asking if anyone has experience in certain fields to help with the mod. For instance, I'm confident that after playing around with the mod editor, I can create the maps and missions necessary, as well as the reports and flavor text for everything that this mod will entail... but it has been a -very- long time since I've programmed and I have no experience with putting mods onto Steam Workshop, assuming there's Workshop support.
I don't want to ask for volunteers just yet until we know the scope of what we're trying to make.
For now though, I just wanted to finally get this off of my chest. Merry Christmas folks!
Oh, snap! Multiverse in XCOM confirmed!
And it sounds like you're taking a page from Cave Johnson's book : "Your Money and the Multiverse : How To Con Every Universe You Encounter." Its a pretty revolutionary business strategy.
As for psionics and XCOM 2, from that brief clip in the "Retaliation" trailer, it seemed like a human in a test tube was either phasing in & out of reality or showing off some form of psionics we haven't seen before. Its probably tied to the Ethereals' Avatar project (which, for everyone who beat XCOM on any difficulty, is obviously their plan for turning mankind into their new host bodies). Or, if my multiverse theory for XCOM pans out, it might be the Volunteer after transcending their physical form and arriving in XCOM 2's timeline to help mankind go further than they thought possible.
At least, I'm hoping its scenario #2.
Heh, I and a few other editors already know how all this will work out. How?
I ain't telling! Nan nan nan nyah nan!
Oh, and a belated Merry Christmas, Arad!
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That is the first (and may well be the last) time i have ever used that emote in that way.
Because this sounds So! Awesome!
Oh goodness, this would certainly be interesting. I've been re reading Stardust and Mente over the holidays because XCOM 2 has hyped me up something fierce, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed those stories. It's been a very XCOM-y X-mas for me.
Unfortunately, I know nothing about moding, so there's nothing I can really offer except for maybe some hype.
Well I must buy X-com 2 when it comes out, not just because I'm a XC fan but now because of this. (The company should be paying you for selling their game)
Also a merry Christmas to you as well (even though it's a bit late
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Plus when can we be seeing the next mente materia (hopefully soon)
i would love to see this become a reality. sadly, I have no way of helping that happen
Project: SPARK research found in X-com 2 world
sending info to Spark....done
scanning for WID.....done.
Earth-23566979 found.
Sounds like a worthwhile project to me!
Well, if you need some project management assistance, I'm willing to help out. Also have some coding experience, but my skill set falls more on Business than CompSci.
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Amen. While I know all XCom fans look at the Bureau like the red-headed, inbred step-cousin four times removed at the family reunion, it'd be nice to see that something from that game gets acknowledged in main-line cannon. Sure it was never explained very well, and the endings made no logical sense, but at least it wouldn't have been a failure for nothing.
Those shenanigans wouldn't happen to include Starlight Glimmer's messing with the timeline would it? Because if that were the case, Twilight might not have ever gotten tricked by Discord, and therefor the humans would never have developed Elerium Circuitry, not would they have developed 'gifts'. And if that never happened, then they would have lost the war with the aliens (a conclusion based on the direction the war was going when Twi arrived in the Stardust). And is they lost the war, then.... oh, that's X-COM 2 right there.
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Its a damned shame it turned out the way it did. I honestly don't think its as bad as others make it out to be. The gunfights lose their magic quickly and the last act feels rushed, but I feel like it did some things really well. The 50's era art direction was spot-on and the characters, while not terribly original, did well enough to keep me invested.
And, of course, there's the reveal that makes the whole experience memorable.
This moment alone has given me several story ideas for an XCOM / MLP story of my own. Well, that and Arad's own works as well.
I know Firaxis has said they build their stories around the gameplay, but I feel as though they're hindering themselves. This isn't the Civilization series, where alternate history and outcomes is the order of the day. Its XCOM, and the victories we have provide should provide the means for going forward and exploring what else lies in the universe, both friend and foe alike. When the Ethereal master talked about preparing humanity for what was to come, it made me excited to see what forces exist that could make these psionic prodigies seem inferior.
To have us travel the same ground in XCOM 2 feels like an unnecessary narrative hurdle. We already know what the Ethereals' plans for mankind are from the first game, so there's not much surprise. Unless they throw something like the True Ethereals into the equation at some point, they're going to risk telling the same story again from a resistance perspective.
I'm still going to have a riot playing it, but if we keep retconing our victory scenarios so they never happened, I'm worried this series revival may grow stale just as its first incarnation did before.
Consider me interested and intrigued~
will there be a toast mission?
Discord?
3645414 Definitely Discord. Or possibly Pinky Pinkie Pie because Pinkie Pie
Have you ever been to Nexusmods? I get almost all my mods from there. They have a forum you can use to ask for help. I'm sure some people would be interested and able to help you make this.
I can't wait to see this happen. I'm already hyped for the game as is, this just makes it better.
images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/images_users/tiny_mce/December_TwentyNine/phpX5u7jT.jpeg
I've kinda wished for Stardust themed mod for Enemy Within for a while, which makes this SUPER AWESOME!
I know very little about programming, but I'll see what the mod tools are like. Maybe, very maybe...
I wish you luck and oodles of fun! (I feel bad for saying oodles...)
Gentle breeze guide you, a warm smile welcome you home.
This sounds amazing!
However, I would change the project name, as 'Project Spark' refers to the Arc thrower already in XCOM EU.
Maybe 'Project Starchild'?
Will you have many unique psionic power sets that soldiers can choose from, but only one soldier can know a particular moveset at a time? (Tools permitting, anyway)
So looking forward to this game, even planning out my new pc at this moment.
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On that note, I actually had a bit of a plan regarding that. Screenshots have shown that the skills are laid out in a similar manner to XCOM, where each rank has two options to choose from in two different columns. I intend to do something similar, but -far- more involved.
As I mentioned earlier, I had plans to rework the PSI game, depending on what PSI there will be in the base game. Rather than having two rows to choose from without much logic going into the rows (from classic XCOM:EW), there will be four rows; one for each 'school' of power. Telekinetic, Perception, Teleportation, and Mental. I'll go into each of the trees in just a moment, but I wanted to point out another mechanic I had in mind: The first talent in each tree is a passive ability that improves as you invest in abilities within that tree. You can make a jack of all trades... or make a precise power house.
Telekinetics is fairly straightforward, it's the application of force to objects through willpower alone which can be used to attack enemies or protect allies. The passive ability would be a damage increase for any ability that uses kinetics to do damage (Ranger sword strikes, projectile weapons, TK abilities) on a cooldown. Damage increases and cooldown decreases based on the number of 'TK' abilities you invest in.
Perception abilities revolve around the process of altering the senses of both allies and enemies to buff/debuff and maintain concealment. The passive ability would be (if game mechanics allow it) returning the soldier to concealment after X number of turns if you aren't in sight of an enemy (aka, Wallflower). The number of turns is reduced for every Perception skill taken.
Teleportation skills involve the creative use of non-newtonian travel to attack or advance in unexpected directions. The passive ability would be akin to the the Ethereal's portal ability that opens a portal to block incoming fire once every few turns. Further ranks into the Teleportation tree would reduce the cooldown, give the ability to return the attack back to the shooter, and maxed out would work like Overwatch: The first enemy attack made would be returned to the shooter, regardless of who they were shooting at.
The last tree is the Mental tree, and most closely resembles the classic XCOM PSI tree. Talents involve reading and influencing the minds of other beings directly, as opposed to Perception. Rather than a passive talent, Mental gets an active one: Command. Functionally similar to the Long War ability, this will allow a soldier within line of sight to take one extra action before ending their turn. Uses are limited and the cooldown is long, but with enough Mental talents both of these can be alleviated.
Of course... all of this depends on the PSI abilities that make it into the game and the difficulty in which it is to add new ones.
XCOM 2... can't wait, I've already pre-ordered it a while back...
I'd love to see your mod and how far you'll take it. I've got some programming skills, though I have very little experience in modding, and none in XCOM, though I'm willing to try and help make that Spark mod.
Query: Will you have additional dialogue/plot points from the DLC char (for those who pre-ordered to get it?) its my understanding that its supposed to be a old XCOM operative who might've been around during the project.
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It depends on how that character works. My first thought was like yours, that the character would be unique, but I've been hearing that the character in question will just be another random rookie with xcom armor.
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Would make more sense to make it a low-mid level officer with old XCOM gear/equipment (chances are it would be MUCH better than what youd get now). Unless they also opt to give you support personnel which would give you possible access to old research/tech.
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I'm inclined to agree but I'm only sharing what I've heard.
3648935
ze rumormill is just that until ve get proof herr Arad
I had some thoughts on this:
Keep everything as vague as possible; outright saying that it's an XCOM facility right off the bat may not be the best idea. Make it a 'secret pre-Ethereal military research facility' or something and, through the various research/story based reports, reveal small bits of info on the facilities affiliation and purpose. Start it of by only saying something like; 'Advent is raiding this unknown facility and if they think there is something worth having then we can't let them have it.'
Continue for example with one report mentioning 'Commander David Bradford' which would make Central Officer <Cannon first name not yet known> Bradford think; 'Well it seems I had a relative who led an anti-Ethereal force similar to XCOM'. Then later a 'Dr. Moira Vahlen' or 'Chief Engineer Charles Shen' working on this 'Stardust project' which would seem awfully suspicious to Bradford, for this organisation to have important figureheads with the same last names as XCOM's important people. The 'co-operative alien' will obviously be mentioned somewhere along the line.
In the end you can decide if you want to do a reveal like; 'This is an XCOM facility from a parallel timeline in which XCOM won' or you could leave it up to the players to decide for themselves what is going on.
Just some random ideas... at two AM. Sorry if I rambled.
Stardust and Mente Materia got me into Xcom. I had no idea what Xcom was when I started reading Stardust. also Can't wait for this mod it sounds awesome!
3651241 Kinda the same. I knew of XCOM before Stardust, but it was Stardust that got me more interested in it. It wasn't until I started watching Arad's LP of Enemy Unknown that I felt like I wanted to buy it, and I just got it on Steam during the holiday sale.
More relevant: SHUT UP AND TAKE MY ATTENTION!
"But sir, we're already giving Arad 100%--"
I DON'T GIVE A DAMN, GIVE HIM ALL THE ATTENTION YESTERDAY!
3666932 Arad deserves 200% attention!
3645902 If you or anyone else hasn't already seen or heard about this, here's a good video demonstrating XCOM 2's psionics:
From what Commander Beagle has shown us, XCOM 2 seems to be terribly easy to mod, so I don't think you'll have many problems. Good luck with this project.
For this mod alone I would totally buy XCOM 2. I planned it anyway and upgraded my pc for it (and other games). I so loved your stories and to be able to experience this in the actual game /)
(\ (had to borrow this, yrfoxtaur. it's just perfect)
I think there won't be any ponies in your mod?
3689337
No ponies. Only folks who are familiar with Mente Materia and Stardust will be aware of what's going on.
OMG yesssssssssssss now please now Discord is pleased
Any news on this? Sounds pretty awesome!
EDIT: Just noticed the other blog entries.