Xenocell: Step forward, Avatar!

It's been a while since I told you about what's going on with my game, Xenocell, so I'm trying to catch up now. Warning, long post! Really long. So long, that I think I'm losing my last reader with this, but what the hell.. I've got plenty to tell!

But first, let me tell you the big news: I've got a son! He was born last Wednesday with over 10 pounds - huge baby! His name is David. (Do I get admin rights now?) He and my wife are doing great. Some of you were with us virtually, which I'd like to thank now.

Things slowly start to get back to their everyday routine - as much as you can talk about everyday routine with two kids continuously tearing down the house with their carefully chosen special abilities like savage shout, innocent look and tainted diapers. But they are definitely great kids!

Back on to the original topic! Recently, the character creator screen has been finalized in Xenocell. The base male and female character meshes that the player can customize were created by Maxim Lyulyukin. (Thank you so much!) We've been working on the characters in Xenocell together with him for a while now, and he's been creating some amazing models! I'm sure these will soon be made available in his store. He is fixing the remaining small glitches even as I write this.

As far as I know, his new basemale and basefemale models make their first appearance in Xenocell, which I'm very proud of. He has provided me with a control texture for the face and armor, but I did the texture painting and shadow baking onto both the face and the armor. I've learned a lot in the process, and I'm becoming more confident about texturing (not UV mapping though, never).

Note, that the below model does not yet have normal or specular maps on its textures. So really, this is just a montage preview of the avatar feature in Xenocell, but I felt like it was time to show something.


The face is customizable in the game's avatar creator, while the armor is dependent on the class you choose. Some classes begin with the above medium armor, while others are able to wear light armor only. Combat classes get the option to learn to use a heavier armor type as well.

The game revolves around energy. If you have (enough) energy, you can use your rifle, defend yourself better, use attenuated cerebral abilities (psi) or simply run faster. Energy regenerates over time, but the rate of regeneration and the charge that can be stored is given by your armor suit. So your suit plays a very important role in the game.

I've wanted to avoid the hassle with a gazillion number of items that can be equipped. You have a suit and a helmet. Best of all, the helmet comes with the suit, so while there are many many types of suits that you can encounter in the game, you will always look stylish in your gear, and possibly rarely similar to another player. (The helmet however can be hidden if you'd rather have others look at your avatar's head instead.)

Since Xenocell starts off with the survivors of a failed terraforming mission on Ibelis, Alpha Centauri, your starting class is one that was a role on your ship when you arrived into the system. These roles evole later on however, and you can further specialize your character. Here's a quick rundown of the classes in the game:


A Marine is the tank who hands out brute force. Like every other class, the marine has three subclasses which you need to choose from once you are worthy.

Special Ops - This is a unit that is best used when playing in a team with friends.
Paratrooper - I've always wanted to honor players who like to play alone, and don't necessarily want to join a team to fight with. A Paratrooper has got the best chances of surviving on the planet alone.
Bionic - Biotechs are genetically and biologically engineered organs that can supplement human organs. A Bionic is a mixture of real and artificial biology with some electronics added (of course).



A Scout is a very hard to play and versatile class. Even its subclasses are entirely different in their nature. Xenocell builds upon three base statistics: BODY, PERCEPTION and MIND. The Scout is the only class which needs a delicate balance between all three stats to achieve the best results with this class. Subclasses are:

Sniper - A long range marine, really.
Infiltrator - The class that always wins at hide and seek.
Decker - A decker is a programmer and is able to spy into electronic defense networks or hack any kind of robot or electronic device. I've previously made a game that revolved around famous deckers that programmed robots to fight each other in arenas. I'm happy that this class is able to make a comback.



Xenocell by design is a game where every single character has a number of vehicles. Some can be for fast travel, others carry passengers while there are those that carry troops, other vehicles or are a moving team base themselves. Because of the vast diversity of uses of vehicles, there is a license system that takes care of who is able to drive what. Single and 1+1 passenger and generic armored ground vehicle licenses can be acquired by all classes, but the real fun begins with pilots, who have the option to acquire licenses for other vehicles. Subclasses are:

Combat pilot - Combat pilots can drive vehicles that carry troops. Very nice to have when you plan to rush an enemy base, and it's not in the neighborhood. Combat pilots are also the pilots who you can thank for air superiority (that is - when you're the one who's got it).
Carrier pilot - Carriers are huge flying behemoths that carry other vehicles. When ground troops are not what your team is planning to use, some tanks might come handy. This is the guy that gets them to the battlefield.
Navigator - Navigators are a very special class. Some teams (clans) will be able to afford titan class vehicles in the game, like airship bases. These are team bases that move when a Navigator is in control.




Like most games, Xenocell is no exception that there is some kind of magic in it. Being a sci-fi game, this is psi that is attenuated by the right devices using your energy. So in essence, your psi is infinite, it is just too weak and needs to be tuned up a notch. A scientist is a class where the advanced usage of psi is possible through a subclass. Mostly all other classes and subclasses have only a very limited usage of psi. They rather rely on real-world skills coupled with some gene therapy. Subclasses are:

Researcher - Creates plans from just about anything for buildings, weapons, armor suits, vehicles and other technologies.
Engineer - This is the guy that crafts stuff. Although limited crafting will be possible with all classes, the Engineer is the one who is able to craft larger vehicles and bases.
Adept - Adepts are scientists, who have managed to refine their psi skills and use them in combat. The Adept class is an offensive psi user class with many abilities that affect a target area rather than a target entity.



The healer. Mostly. The medic in Xenocell is a very potent fighter in battle, and as such, its combat abilities are not to be neglected. Its ability to quickly heal allies in combat makes it an invaluable class to have on any team. Subclasses are:

Combat Surgeon - The Medic on steroids.
Biotechnician - The Biotechnician creates Biotechs (mostly for Biotics - still reading this?).
Mentalist - The Mentalist class is a defensive psi user class with many team protecting abilities from playing with how the enemy observes reality to inflicting injury halucinations.



Wow, that was a long thing to write down. If you are still reading this, I bow before you. Like my class backgrounds? I've got the character images from Dreamstime. They have many royalty free images that are really cheap, and some make great backgrounds for your guis. There are some free images too. Definitely worth checking out. Eventually, I plan on using my own avatars, because I think they will look at least that good if not better - but until then, these are excellent placeholders - even for some early promo action.

Alright, thank you very much for reading through, as always, I appreciate it a lot. Next blog, prepare for some truly unique Torque3D pinata! (And huge towering monsters, OmegaDog! :)

I'll say good night with a night image of a Starfall outpost in the game. (a Torque3D Beta 2 screen)


-- Konrad

@konradkiss
KonradKiss @ GitHub
konradkiss.com