An Interview with XCOM's Lead Designer

[@ThatMepperGuy]

This guy's passion for this game is amazing. I will definitely be buying this.

[@TheIbney00]

Watched this as I was playing Xcom 2. My how far we have come.

[@NewHopeGames]

I totally agree. Our indie studio was born from some of the very reasons you mention. Oh and all of us at NewHopeGames want to say congrats to Firaxis as we love XCOM and we are also life long Civ players and currently playing Civ 5! Great job to Firaxis and team!

[@KyleTheSesquipedalia]

I love Mr. Solomon's passion for X-COM. Friaxis is reviving the turn based strategy genre. we need more of these types of games. I love XCOM enemy unknown. but the best game of all time will always be X-COM UFO Defense :)

[@gameinformer]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the interview. Jake was great to talk to.

[@sphoney]

What I'd seen of the gameplay had me hopeful, but I've just watched a few interviews with this guy, and his passion for the original is really reassuring. It sounds, unbelievably, like he loves it as much as I do, and has spent even more time thinking about why he loves it so much. If I could pick a guy to remake it, it'd probably be this guy and the remains of Microprose. I hope they've succeeded. I love that he got his entire office playing the original. :)

[@ReinaHW]

Another ten days or so to go until XCOM arrives in the UK, looking forward to giving it a good play through. I've watched a lot of game play videos and each one I've seen has shown a game that has clearly been made with a lot of love and care by fans of the original games. It's good to see the lead designer having faith in the game, many developers and publishers these days tend to have very little faith in their games, they just want the money instantly than to earn it.

[@PrinceBishop3]

I worked as a tester for 4 years and all I can say is that I wish there were more LD's like this. And great questions too, I'll be buying this tomorrow.

[@Chropoles]

Now that's an interview and that's a lead designer who knows what he is talking about. I know a game will succeed when the developer has focus and philosophy behind the game they are making, Jake has that and it shows in their game. Truly "made by gamers for gamers".

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

yes I did watch them. In the long list of things essential to any good X-Com game, they have: 1.) cover and hiding 2.) shooting walls and terrain

[@CatfishBigg]

Big fan of the original and so pumped for this game. Jake and his team will do a great job

[@ghost2031]

Love Jake Solomon. XCOM is great.

[@marcuswhite438]

I can understand his passion as I have clocked over 20,000 hours into the original title alone not including post microsoft titles in the series. not sure if he is as passionate about it as I am. In fact I didn't know there were many people other than the staff that still played it.

[@rainmakerman71]

My only knitpick on this video is that at the 1:41 min mark he says, "(XCom: EU) takes place in our world; it's modern times." It seems more like a parallel type universe because everyone still dresses (and kind of acts) like it's the 50s. 'It takes place in a retrofuturistic time...' would be more accurate, or to leave that part out entirely. Anyhoo. Oh, and I just read Sid Meier is from Michigan, yo. Woot! Woot!

[@SilvioHalt]

I have purchased the game 2 days ago, love this game. Firaxis with Jake did amazing job. Me and my friend talk about it years ago, we had wanted a good remake even then,finally it's really here. Multilayer option is also a huge plus, and i played the demo, watch the gameplay I really think they captured great deal of the essence this game had. XCOM in that low resolution, poor graphics was awesome...u had to use ur imagination lol... with that poor graphics u could still be scared. Thank u Jake

[@Akbal25]

This game is awesome, old school feeling, and beautifully presented. Reminds me a lot of Fallout Tactics another jewel!, great interview!.

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

Yeah it looks much better in the gameplay videos. Still, I'm a bit disappointed over the general lack of customization options. I think it's cool that there are soldier classes, but there's very little room to customize their gear. In the original X-Com, I could access a full inventory with all sorts of slots on a character and I could choose exactly what I wanted them to carry. I could have a guy carry 30 grenades if I wanted. Or whatever.

[@midraw1]

Did I just hear X-com, Minecraft, Demon Souls, and Dwarf Fortress all in the same sentence? AM I in love?

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

Yeah, and you know what else I've noticed? They never did say there would be items, equipment, base control, or geoscape control. I just assumed those things would be there because the crew making the game seemed aware that those things were important. Perhaps I was wrong.

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

likewise, and thanks for the input!

[@IsawUupThere]

Well in every strategy game you should be thinking at least a turn ahead. If you're in a position where you have to be able to shoot and move to survive, you screwed up earlier. You can always play it on easy first. It has great replay value.

[@muzboz]

Great interview. Nicely done all! :)

[@Deaznkid280]

The demo isn't a mirror of the finished product. You are able to equip your soldiers, move the globe around, expand your main base as well as choose what kind of expansion you can have, place interceptors in regions around the world, choose research, choose productions, etc. But you can not create new bases is what I believe.

[@SilvioHalt]

I felt the same way when first played this game, even skipping gaus technology to go for sonic weapons lol in terror from the deep..I hope they will make that remake also as a sequel to this new awesome game

[@Deaznkid280]

Ah, I see. Well, it was nice conversing you.

[@andreathompson9188]

XCom - "Dark side of the Moon", as DLC would be awesome! :D

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

If that's true, then I'm interested in seeing all of that. It's just not very effective to offer a demo which makes it appear to not have those options. They could at least let me click to open a screen that says 'Feature not available in Demo' but what I saw was an empty game, just like so many before it. I really hope it's more, but I just can't expect it anymore.

[@RazgulTheKind]

Hahaha that poster at 0:24 is too cool!

[@AceSimGaming]

Right when Adam said the moon, I was like DLC? Then I laughed when Jake said DLC as a joke :P

[@luckygozer]

i think you can find some mods that allow you to choose the class your soldier turns into

[@SilvioHalt]

it was seen before in x com Apocalypse, I would like to see after this one, remake of terror from the deep...check it out on youtube. U had these amazing battles on the ocean floor, submerged ships, underwater spaceships, plus land battles

[@lilgamerguy]

this could be game of the year

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

Everything I'd heard about this game sounded great. Then I got the demo and I have to say, it's really missing a lot of the things that made the original great. There are no items, you can't equip your soldiers. You can't view the geoscape. You apparently cannot create new bases. And there is less control within the main base than I'd thought there would be. It seems all this game consists of is just running missions that you pick from a list and killing aliens while gaining experience.

[@matthewjs11]

correction is not done by a gaming studio.

[@luckygozer]

that removes part of the strategy i think right now if your unit is not in a good position to shoot dont shoot either get him in a better position get him out of there or find a way so that the rest of your squad can cover him

[@GulfCoastTim]

Excellent and easily game of the year

[@Deaznkid280]

Sometimes demos have this message that say "Does not reflect final product." I do not believe that the XCOM demo had that message and I can see where you are coming from. Perhaps watching some current Gameplay that reflects the final product can reinvigorate your hopes for the game :).

[@BJAGOGO]

Great interview. How can any real gamer not buy this game after watching this?

[@VaSoapman]

*coughs* In the original Xcom you could send in over 25 soldiers on a single mission. I've watched over an hour watching interviews with Jake Solomon. It is going to be good.

[@matthewjs11]

The is a game called UFO: AI that is free to download if made by ppl who loves the original. its done by a gaming studio, but they were making the game for fun.....any way its alright, fun and all and there perma death i think, i like that though, makes the action feel real e memorable.

[@episode555]

This game will have it ups and downs, but I doubt it will be a rushed, underdeveloped piece of cyberwaste. Everyone who played the old XCOM games (especially Enemy Unknown) will have his own expectations and hopes, but on average, I think and hope this will be a solid title.

[@AngelusDarkshadows]

Adam: Soooo... I saw in the geoscape a beautifully rendered moon... When are we going to go there? Jake: To the moon??? Adam: Yeah! Jake: hummmmm DLC??? *laughs* epic stuff right there! devs are learning to manipulate publishers in order to truly develop great games... Publishers are always worried about the "expansion" of the franchise, devs are worried about making a good product... when you mix those two, you get a truly great game, with truly great DLCs (hence devs and pubs are happy!)

[@ShykinArcana]

He just name dropped dwarf fortress... I'm genuinely surprised.

[@Finsternis..]

11:18 Ya, sure. THAT is the reason. It is not like people saw how pissed people were with the new Jagged Alliance and knew to do better (that and RTTs suck). 13:13 Hello DnD 16:34 Haha. Nice phrasing there. 18:00 That was sarcasm there, wasn't it? I'm really interested in how close they really gonna be to the original. Though, knowing my luck it's gonna be one of those "need to use Steam" games, so I won't get it anyway.

[@MrRadskee]

Did you see that video where Jake Solomon goes to the store and tries to sell the game to people. Epic. It seems like something that an indie dev would do! Yet there are a AAA studio.

[@Deaznkid280]

Perhaps the limits implemented in the remake must be there for a reason. Nonetheless, I recommend renting XCOM if that's possible. But I'm guessing that you only play on PC and I'm not sure if you can rent games for the PC.

[@midnightshade32]

yeah, and the game is fantastic too!! Firaxis make the best games...there just isn't many in this genre anymore and it's a pure shame. Everything is FPS for the twitch , no attention span michel bay, dudebro -cod player.... Turn based strategy and party based/turn based RPGS need a comeback!

[@shelbytimbrook2095]

"Most elite soldiers in the world" misses a shot 2 feet away. Yup, totally believe my soldiers are the most elite in the world.

[@MisterGency]

I'd buy me some moon DLC

[@CallingOfTheTiger]

you didnt watch the released gameplay videos didn't you?

[@pibbleton]

I played xcom when it first came out and you know what I think about those people who play COD "games" being gamers? They're playing video games, of course they're gamers, it's not like we have elitist hobby. It's just video games man.

[@XMG3]

the game is near perfect, only thing they desperately need to add is the ability to shoot first and move second on all units, the game is already hard enough, this shoot and retreat ability would make it more fair.

[@WilcoCharlie]

20,000 hours?

[@NodDisciple1]

Yeah, and MULTIPLE BASES! Not forcing us to have one only! :(

[@Fischar99]

I just cant wait any longer man...ffs its gonna be epic...cant wait to lit ma J and start building my base up and smack some alien ass!! great interview btw.

[@InkubusGames]

With all due respect, I really think Sid is not that nice boss as this guy portray him. Yes he is the creator of my favorite games like Civ 1,3,4 and original XCom (no I don't like Civ 5 as for some reason it doesn't have replayability for me) but still, looking at Sid now makes me feel he is not easy going man. As for new XCom, yes I like it a lot. Even more than original (new technology implemented, better interface IMO, added story...).

[@WilcoCharlie]

This guy is almost as passionate as Randy Pitchford. Or maybe just as passionate, just not quite as... giddy.

[@jaredstarr1]

i don't remember not calling them gamers....? anyway, sounds good

[@zanetusken]

There is one thing to blame in XCOM... the random number generator.

[@luckygozer]

its the world we live in except in this world people all speak in the same american accent

[@marcuswhite438]

$10 says this guys has played some tabletop too.

[@jaredstarr1]

yea. a real gamer can't turn this up. not for the fake COD gamers

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

nah, I'm not interested. It's just not the kind of thing I want to play.

[@massissues]

clicked this hoping to see interview with original xcom designer... not anyone who has "designed" a sequel. when it comes to this game, the whole foundation is what the original was, not something that was designed in the years after. thank you.

[@morgurthion]

Not looking to start a conversation by the way. I saw on your channel that you have been trolling with this stupid comment on any video you watch, no matter what the video is about. I'm not stupid enough to think that I could gain anything by conversing with you - you do not have anything to offer another human being. I just thought I'd point out that there are benefits that comes with knowing what you are talking about. But then again, knowing facts could change your mind. And that's scary!