In the last two months, X-Com creator and XCOM fan Julian Gollop has gathered a gaggle of programmers to put together a working prototype of Chaos Reborn, the contemporary remake of the spell-flinging tactics title he built in his youth. They’re doing pretty well, and there’s a screenshot to prove it.
“One thing we decided to do is not worry about graphics and animation, but focus on game play,” says Gollop, apologetically. “So everything in this prototype is placeholder only (although I think Felix did rather too good a job on the placeholder graphics!). Testing is underway and a few bugs are being fixed.”
The game already works in multiplayer with up to six players online or in local hotseat mode, which might make Worms its gateway drug. Map layout varies according to the number of players.
Spell selection is currently random, but there’s nearly 30 of ‘em implemented and listed on Gollop’s site, ranging from ‘Summon Unicorn’ to ‘Gooey Blob’.
“One major change from the original game is that successful magical attacks on a wizard don’t dispel all his creatures,” explains the developer, “but instead cause two spells to be lost. The [illusion destroying] disbelieve spell can be lost this way.”
Sounds promising, doesn’t it? XCOM’s multiplayer timer gives me The Fear, but I’ll definitely walk the grids once more in the name of Chaos.