Life After XCOM (ft. Jake Solomon) - Dear Dwyery #03

Jake Solomon spent his entire career at Firaxis making the games of his dreams. So why did he leave to start working on a new type of Life Simulator? In this episode Danny talks to Jake about his career in Baltimore, working on XCOM, the ups and downs of Marvel's Midnight Suns, and what the future holds for Midsummer Studios.
Support Dear Dwyery and all of Noclip's work over at / noclip
iTunes Page: podcasts.apple...
RSS Feed: deardwyery.lib...
Spotify: open.spotify.c...
Produced by Jesse Guarascia
Podcast Art by Jeff Delgado
Watch our docs: / noclipvideo
Crewcast channel: www.youtube.co...
Learn About Noclip: www.noclip.video
Become a Patron and get early access to new episodes: / noclip
Follow @noclipvideo on Twitter

[@mupod]

There is a very short list of people in the industry that I'll unquestioningly show up for any game they work on - Jake Solomon is one of them. And I've always loved all of the interviews he's done for XCOM and Midnight Suns. It was a huge bummer to hear he was leaving but it sounds like he's working on what he wants to, and that's what's important in the end.

[@Rendaro]

Hearing how close we were to XCOM 3 makes me want to cry. Oh what could have been!

[@joenarrf6501]

I love XCOM 1 and 2 and find it very sad that Jake stopped working on part 3. Unfortunately I'll never find out if Midnight Suns was a game for me, because I'm just tired of anything related to superheroes. Anyways, I wish him all the best and a lot of success with his new game.

[@briandaniels2408]

If you liked xcom 1 and 2 (two of my favorites), you should definitely give midnight suns a chance. I am also so tired of superhero stuff but I ended up loving Midnight Suns.

[@skiddyskiddz2]

What I would do for Midnight Suns sequel or Season 2 DLC… like honestly I would do anything for it and it sucks knowing there’s a 0% chance of either happening.

[@johnnyexponential7229]

More excellent work from Danny & Jesse. Can't wait for the next one now lads, keep it up!

[@Gnomable]

Procedurally generated narrative is fascinating to me and I'm glad someone is taking another swing at it.

[@KhalilArafan]

Fantastic stuff ! As a smôl dev aiming for the same space, this was very juicy to say the least :) Thank you fellas.

[@deanjenkins3077]

21:00 "and you throw the Marvel IP... no, I'm just kidding" Marvel Midnight Suns: *exists*

[@fleetadmiralj]

Him "leaving" I think is doing a lot of heavy lifting, heh

[@cyberspace_man9722]

I’m pissed XCOM 3 is likely never coming since he left Firaxis.

[@briandaniels2408]

I dont get that midnight suns sold poorly. Game was honestly great. The Abbey i found charming because it made me feel like they acted like comic book characters and i really enjoyed the side conversations.

[@malevellysian]

hey Danny something wrong with the signal in your sunglasses!

[@fjkladsj3424]

I hate Marvel now Solomon is awesome

[@ccgear4367]

Jake was so nice when we had the pleasure to meet him at a Firaxicon. So thankful he helped bring back XCOM. Would love another game in the series but wish him well on his future games!

[@jesseguarascia]

Where my Marvel's Midnight Suns fans at?

[@Tibore_]

Season pass 2 hopium

[@kuku7732]

Here!

[@brucewayne404]

Present.

[@TehPwnographer]

I read the comment before the screen name and thought “Did Jesse post this? and sure enough!

[@ChristopherOdd]

👋

[@Vub.]

These have became my favorite. Keep expanding Danny, love all the new stuff your doing!

[@edpistemic]

I'm gutted that Jake won't be involved with XCOM3 :(

[@suplextrain]

As a designer myself that has designed tactical turn based combat, Midnight Suns easily has one of the best designed turn-based combat systems where it's very clear that the people that made it understood turn-based combat, RNG, the common pitfalls of turn-based combat, etc. Top class work. Granted, while I do think the card system worked well for several reasons (like giving input randomness, with some control to correct it), I also think the game would've been better received and probably have worked better if and alternate solution was selected for this style of game.

[@Alex.Holland]

It is truly a masterpiece. Its wild how well all the pieces come together while still embodying the diff character personalities.

[@fivemonkeees]

I really enjoyed the tactical dating sim that was Midnight Suns. I'd never even heard of Magick before. It sent me on a deep dive into early New Mutants comics. However, the idea of Midnight Suns seemed really weird when it first came out. I didn't even consider buying the game until after it was significantly discounted. I even finished it, which is rare these days. It must have been a difficult game to market. Also, I really appreciated the fact that Hunter was a customizable PC. I really like superhero genre games, but I much prefer the games where the PC is an original character you can customize.

[@joered1249]

So Sad jake left firaxis i fear if they ever release xcom3 it will be some cartoony type game, or worse something like Chimera Squad and as for midnight sun totaly hate it

[@Moonsbro]

makes me so mad midnight suns sold like shit. unironically insanely good game. instantly shot up into my top 20 all timer list. my dream game is basically x-men focused midnight suns sister sequel

[@smaspa8627]

Man Danny these interviews are incredible. Love this one most of all. Incredibly insightful and fascinating

[@RudeCanine]

Thank you for EQing down the high end. This is way more pleasurable to listen to.

[@joshuataylor77x7]

Shouldnve named it life after midnight dei XCOM reigns supreme

[@simday1396]

Geez I already need this game, I’m at 0 in the games department. Especially as a Life Sim lover.

[@TheSpectator64]

I liked Midnight Suns but I wouldn't revisit it because of simply the abbey, even though amusing in some cases the social the aspect of the game just drags the game in some occasions.

[@kuku7732]

This unfortunately. I like the writing but I’d like to spend more time in fights. Persona 3 has just the right balance.

[@emilymitchell6823]

oh this is what i need to finally play persona 3 then, thanks@@kuku7732

[@emilymitchell6823]

I really wish the abbey was a lot more streamlined, and encounters could be chained multiple times. The 'once per day' lock out was rough

[@suplextrain]

It's mostly a pacing issue, I think. There are times where the game basically forces you into longer stretches of Abbey gameplay and when doing skirmishes it can feel like you "should" hang out with other characters, explore the grounds, etc. while those parts eating up a little too much time for how basic they are. Might've benefitted from a slightly different structure. Like the way you rank up your allied bonds is by bringing them on missions, not give them gifts or play a game with them where the characters just say "Hunter, you're an ok gal/guy". Eventually you keep unlocking more major events that could also have a follow-up specific mission tied to it. The combat is the best part and connecting it more to the combat would've worked better.

[@austinshea]

Jake Solomon is a hero. I hope he is super proud of his body of work.

[@BigFresh37]

I badly wish Midnight Suns had a Roguelite mode. After I finished the campaign, I wanted more of the combat. It was so good.

[@dkyzar]

There is a New Game Plus after you finish the campaign. After I finished first time, I didn't do it since I wanted to run through it again on the other path (light/dark). Didn't wind up doing that either, and currently running through it again and will start the Plus. EDIT : I just read about New Game Plus and it sounds horrible. LOL. But there is an option to continue playing after you win. You go to the mission before the final mission and just keep fighting apparently.

[@BigFresh37]

@@dkyzar Yeah, I know. But I didn’t need to do all the story stuff again. Just wanted the punchy-punchy.

[@dkrumpenstein2370]

much love

[@chevkoch]

Creating a physical game in pre-production to figure out mechanics makes total sense to me. Great episode, love the easy conversation vibe. Thanks Danny, and thank you Jake for sharing so freely.

[@psihypo]

The social sim they are working on sounds really interesting!!

[@briandaniels2408]

I appreciate Jakes honesty here, what a humble and cool guy. Everything he went with on Midnight Suns worked. I can hear a bit of doubt in his voice about some of the decisions but i really feel Midnight Suns is a great game that i have sunk over 100 hours in. ALL the design choices were awesome in my opinion.