OpenApoc - X-Com Apocalypse Dedicated to Fans

Hello!
X-COM 3: Apocalypse, was not as popular as the first two parts, and it turned out to be quite controversial. On one side of the scale, there was a physics that was amazing for those years and total destructibility, tactical capabilities, a vibrant city, social interaction, corporate wars, an economic model. On the other - problems with AI, balance, the futility of many types of weapons and equipment, the extreme limitations of social interaction, a boring war on the territory of aliens and many exploits.

But not everyone knows that many of the problems of the game were due to the fact that it came out long before it was ready, despite 3 years of development. Many mechanics and capabilities were only partially realized, and some remained only on paper. However, fans of the game are on the alert - recently an alpha version of OpenApoc has been released. The alpha version is playable and allows you to go through the game from start to finish. More than 40 various optional improvements, the mode of a skyrmish, translations into several languages, etc. are added.

Development by forces of enthusiasts proceeds already the fourth year. Alpha release timed to the 20th anniversary of Apok. In the main branch, 2282 commits were made. OpenApoc Source Codewritten in C ++ using the SDL2 library, licensed under MIT. The resource description language is XML. The current version is 0.1. Reverse programming of the release and beta versions written in assembler is carried out in the IDA environment, manual testing during the game using memory modification tools, game files (Apoc'D, Midnight Editor).

Major OpenApoc enhancements:

1. Multi-platform;
2. Improved performance and ease of launch on modern platforms;
3. Support for modern permissions and windowed mode;
4. Image scaling (under development);
5. Extended support for modding; in the original, modding was more complicated;
6. Full debug system ;
7. Skirmish mode (quick battle);
8. Switching between translations in the game interface, teamwork on translations.

There is already an analogue for the first two parts of X-COM - OpenXcom, whose popularity among the community is obvious. But the design of X-COM 3: Apocalypse was much larger than the first two parts. The concept conceived by Gollop was so ahead of his time that to this day nothing has been released that is comparable in scale to the original ideas that were mentioned in interviews, memoirs, various reference books on the game. However, only a small part of what was conceived was implemented, which means that, unlike OpenXcom, when developing OpenApoc, it is necessary not only to restore the game to the new engine, but also to implement the plan of Julian Gollop, which he failed to realize or did not manage to implement in the game.

The game was planned to reproduce in detail events, organizations and personalities in conditions of war with an external enemy in the megalopolis of the future:

• Each corporation should have a leader who could be detained, arrested, interrogated, or killed;
• X-COM operatives could act as spies, performing intelligence operations in other organizations to obtain more detailed information about what is happening in the organization and the city;
• Organizations had to conduct real economic activity, compete in markets, could sell and buy buildings at auctions;
• It was planned to introduce a developed system of diplomatic relations, within which the player could enter into alliances with other organizations, provoke the beginning of corporate and gang wars, etc.
• It was planned that the game will have several procedurally generated measurements that aliens captured during the game if X-COM did not help their inhabitants in time;
• In the beta resources, 9 planet icons were discovered - it was possibly planned that there would be several planets in the game. This is also confirmed by the fact that the articles of Ufopedia mention space pirates, as well as a large number of space technology, forced and completely artificially limited by flights in the atmosphere in the release version (Valkyrie, Hawk, Transtellar ships);
• According to the interview of the developers, it was supposed to develop a system unique to a series of skills: forensics, interrogation, control of ground and flying equipment. Also, in addition to those actions that are present in the release version of the game, the developers were going to add swimming and climbing;
• At the initial stages of development, there were many outline models of monsters that did not reach the release. In general, it was initially assumed that sprites of people and technology would be created by scanning plastic figures, but due to the imperfection of 3D laser scanners of that time, developers were forced to create two-dimensional models from three-dimensional ones created in 3D graphics editors, which also did not affect the best way their quality.
• Various objects and technologies were found in the game’s resources that were not used in the game (some of them could later be seen in a few modifications of the original game):
  Zorium, Tracker Gun, Tracker Gun Clip, ForceWeb, Energy Pod, Dimension Destabilizer, Psi-Grenade, Multi-Tracker, Mind Shield, Alien Detector, Dimension Force Field, Dimension Shifter, Cells, Advanced Alien Containment, Live Overspawn, Walls, One Way to Win, CEO of organizations, Soldiers;