It sounds like Starcraft from miles
Well, it is more an observation that an appealing GPL project will live forever. It is a gift to eternity.
Put it another way: All appealing GPL projects will eventually make their way to any possible GPL platform.
The current set of UFOAI capabilities are tuned for a single, specific type of experience. It is a good experience. It is good game design.
In the far future, the UFOAI capabilities will probably be much more mutable. I expect that the evolution will be somewhat along the lines of:
1) Localization to many popular languages.
2) Easily Mod-able research tree and effects.
3) Localization of graphics and story elements to suit different cultures.
4) Modification of Input and output methods to suit a variety of platforms. It's the same game on a cell phone/tablet/Rockbox/Tricoder/Holodeck. Just smaller/bigger/immersive/whatever.
5) Modification of tactical abstractions to make the strategic story accessible to new audiences.
So, in my speculations I was jumping ahead to that 5th stage. At that stage, many strategy games start looking similar. They all have the same strategic underpinings. They all feature:
- Combat Resolution.
- Resource aquisition.
- A research tree.
- Asset production.
- Asset deployment.
They mostly differ in the containing/constraining meta-story. And in the level and types of tactical abstraction.
XCom was somewhat unique in that it featured 'interrogation of prisoners', but recent Civs have added an abstraction for this as well.
In the long run, GPL strategy game projects will probably all accrete each others tactical abstractions. That is, they will expand their audience by allowing the meta-story to be told via a variety of methods.
So, yes. There may be a future UFOAI with an option for an RTS (Starcraft) resource aquisition abstraction. Though, this is a painful stretch for the meta-story. Still it would be a fun option for the initial invasion stages of the Alien home. Way before RTS abstractions, I expect we will see:
- Many alternate combat resolution abstractions.
- Alternate resource aquisition abstraction and deployment options. A FreeCiv overlay on the Geoscape seems like an obvious thing. The strategic elements of both projects are very similar.
Miles