1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

Phoenix Point - Survey Results

Discussion in 'Game/SP News & Comments' started by RPGWatch, Apr 21, 2017.

  1. RPGWatch

    RPGWatch Watching... ★ SPS Account Holder

    Joined:
    Jul 28, 2010
    Messages:
    30,191
    Likes Received:
    30
    [​IMG]Snapshot Games published the results of their Phoenix Point survey:

    Phoenix Point Survey Results
    Here are the results of the Phoenix Point survey. There were 1861 replies. Thanks to everyone for participating. I will be doing an analysis for the next newsletter.

    Question / Importance (1-5)
    • How important is it for the aliens to have a good AI in tactical battles? 4.6
    • How important is it to have a large variety of mission objectives 4.4
    • How important are destructible environments? 4.4
    • How important is it for to have a mutation/evolution system to generate a large variety of aliens? 4.2
    • How important is multi-level terrain (e.g. multiple floors in buildings)? 4.2
    • How important is it to have interesting story elements and plot twists? 4.0
    • How important is it to have a large variety of weapons and equipment compared to modern XCOMs? 4.1
    • How important is it to have procedurally generated battlefields? 4.0
    • How important is it for you to fight tactical battles to defend your base from alien assault? 4.0
    • How important is it to have extensive skill trees for each character class? 4.0
    • How important is it to have other human factions to trade/ally/fight/interact with? 3.8
    • How important is it to have a detailed resource / economic system? 3.8
    • How important is it for the shooting to have a more realistic model for hit probabilities? 3.8
    • How important is it to have a wounding system that can disable different body parts? 3.7
    • How important is a detailed geoscape reminiscent of the original X-COM? 3.7
    • How important is it for the game to feature fights with huge monsters? 3.7
    • How important is it to have modding? 3.6
    • How important is it for soldiers to have inventory management in battle? 3.5
    • How important is it to build multiple bases around the world? 3.5
    • How important is a modern Lovecraft/Cthulhu style theme and story? 3.5
    • How important is it to have a stealth system and stealth abilities for soldiers in battle? 3.4
    • How important is it to have drones/mechs/mini-tanks in tactical battles? 3.4
    • How important is a Time Unit (Action Point) system in tactical battles instead of a 2-action system? 3.2
    • How important is it to have larger squad sizes (8 or more) in battle? 3.3
    • How important is it to have less RNG dependent shooting compared to the modern XCOM? 3.2
    • How important is it to have a detailed air interception system? 3.2
    • How important is it to have a soldier class system instead of flexible soldier development? 2.6
    • How important is co-op multiplayer (e.g. some kind of horde mode)? 2.4
    • How important is it to have a pod activation system as in modern XCOMs? 2.4
    • How important is it to have controller support on PC? 1.9
    • How important is PvP multiplayer? 1.7
    • How important is it to have a console version of the game? 1.6
    Thanks to all of you who took part in our survey. Now I want to share the results with you and discuss some of the interesting points.

    Good AI tops the poll, and this is slightly, but pleasantly, surprising. For me it is always important, but I also want enemies to have distinct behavioural traits and a bit of unpredictability (i.e. randomness) thrown in.

    A large variety of mission objectives comes second, and this is understandable. This is one of the key mechanisms which can make missions interesting over the long stretch of a campaign. I also want missions to have a meaningful context in the wider, strategic level of the game - and I want them to have their own unique stories. It's a tall order, but clearly a high priority.

    Fully destructible environments rank 3 in importance. It's great to know that people still want to blow stuff to bits. I was a little disappointed that in XCOM 2 I could barely raze one building to the ground with a squad of grenadiers. I want to see structures toppled crushing monsters beneath them. I want enemy cover obliterated. I want mass destruction to be a possible strategy - at least in some situations. Bring it on.

    At number 4 the mutation system for the aliens is a key new and unique feature, so I am pleased that this is rated so highly. But, as they say, the devil is in the details. We have a basic system working already and it is already proving interesting. However, we found that it is important to convey visually in some way all the key abilities that an alien may have, and to let the player get used to a certain type before mutation occurs. You will be able to name the alien mutant variants yourself, by the way, which can help with your battle field assessments e.g. the next time you come across 'vomiting b*****d' you know not to get too close to it.

    Multi-level terrain at number 5 is a mild surprise, especially given the difficulty of navigating a more vertically complex map. We will have to strike a balance between interesting topology and usability here. Good level design is key.

    For the 6th most important feature It's great to see value attached to interesting story elements and plot twists - and you can be assured that with the extensive world building we have been doing with our writing team (Jonas and Allen) you will not be disappointed on this score.

    It's nice to see base defence missions ranked high at number 9. I missed this with the new XCOMs. In Phoenix Point your bases can be attacked by other human factions, not just aliens. Furthermore, the aliens will steal technology from you and other human factions. This should spice things up a bit.

    Pleasantly surprising for me was the desire to have a more detailed economic system. Phoenix Point has some distinct 4X like elements to the strategic side of the game. The human factions gather resources, build structures, establish new havens, build tech and enter into alliances. From the player's point of view, exploration, resources and diplomacy are important. I am very excited by developments in this part of the game.

    The bottom end of the table reveals that you clearly want the focus to be on a PC based, single player experience. It would definitely be wise of us to place our limited resources in this direction.

    Finally, thanks for your support - and look out for some major news very soon.

    Julian Gollop​
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2017
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.