Legendary Civilization creator, Sid Meier himself, made a cameo appearance in an E3 trailer for XCOM: Enemy Unknown - now the lead developer Jake Solomon confirms he will not be the only game industry stalwart to turn up as a playable character.

"We call them heroes," says Solomon. "We've only shown one, we've only shown Sid - and so yes there are some other heroes: friends of XCOM that may make an appearance if the player can find them. But we're not going to reveal who they are yet. Somebody will find them probably in the first day!"

We suggest he could have a role to play in the game himself.

"No, not me," says Solomon. "Nobody wants to play as me. I wanted to put Sid in the game because I've worked with Sid forever. For 13 years. I owe Sid everything and this was the first time I've worked on my own. So I told Sid, 'I want to put you in the game. We've got these heroes. Do you want to be a sniper, a psionic warlord or a heavy?' And Sid was like, 'Can I be a diplomat?' Sid's just... he's probably not as into the mature themed games as I am. I'm sort of the Annakin to his Obi Wan. When I showed him he was a little taken aback, but he now has the poster in his office, so I think he likes it."

Find out about XCOM: Enemy Unknown's PC-exclusive features here .