Graze Counter [Steam]

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tate
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Graze Counter [Steam]

Post by tate »

Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo developer @hey1230 retweeted the release of GRAZE COUNTER LITE, which was enough to make me check it out. Well that and the polished spritework in a 240x240 frame. Notice the afterimage of the player's ship; it kicks in whenever focused movement is invoked.

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In addition to contributing to the score multiplier, grazing fills a counter attack gauge. Each counter attack in turn is used to collect gold stars to fill a break gauge. Here's a YouTube video from a month and a half ago, where the score multiplier is missing. The demo can be accessed from this page on the developer's site.

The demo is only a single level, with the full game not due until 2017. There's some balancing work yet to be done, but I think the foundation is solid.

Two things to note in the demo: 1) the default TYPE-1 ship's speed is quite slow, whereas the TYPE-2 rated at 50% faster seems more normal and 2) consider going straight to the HARDCORE MODE in the CONFIGURATION menu.

BTW, what's with the recommendation "to beginner” of the INCLUDE control option that combines "Auto Fire & Slow" into a single button?
Last edited by tate on Sat Jul 29, 2017 1:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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MathU
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by MathU »

tate wrote:Notice the afterimage of the player's ship
Well I was optimistic about this game until you made me notice it.
Of course, that's just an opinion.
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by Squire Grooktook »

MathU wrote:
tate wrote:Notice the afterimage of the player's ship
Well I was optimistic about this game until you made me notice it.
???

Game looks great visually.

Will try it out later when I have some free time.
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MathU
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by MathU »

Seems like this is made in the same engine as MECHA Ritz. Once again the ability to fully reconfigure keyboard inputs is a huge breath of fresh air from the doujin scene. :D
Of course, that's just an opinion.
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by KAI »

No collision damage=doujin of the year

Looks very promising.
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Lord Satori
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by Lord Satori »

Looks neat, but I could do without the red crystal from Raiden.
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by Shepardus »

MathU wrote:Seems like this is made in the same engine as MECHA Ritz. Once again the ability to fully reconfigure keyboard inputs is a huge breath of fresh air from the doujin scene. :D
The config program even has the same bug where screen scalings beyond x2 are all listed as x1. :P
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Zaarock
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by Zaarock »

The same developer made KIRISAME BLADE 1 & 2, those are good fun.
tate
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by tate »

PSA: The reset button has to be pressed for 3 seconds. Takes you back to the opening screen, but it's better than having to actively suicide.
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xy2_
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by xy2_ »

Some important things:

- while you are grazing, score increases by 10 per frame (600/s) and multiplier increases by 1 per frame (60/s). It does not matter how much bullets you are grazing, you will always get this result.
- counter attack lasts exactly 120 frames (2 full seconds.)
- the break laser only cancels green bullets.
tate
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by tate »

I just noticed that the demo was updated to ver.1.11 on 27 Sep. Changes include two new difficulty levels, each a step above one of the originals; a TYPE-3 ship that is an amped up version of TYPE-1, according to the specs; and a Pacifist Mode that disables shot and break. Full release is targeted for Spring 2017.
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by Pixel_Outlaw »

Square aspect ratio just seems so odd. :shock:
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Special World
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by Special World »

Don't much like grazing as a scoring mechanic usually, but this seems to integrate it a lot better than other games. Either way, looks really rad.
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by Despatche »

Cool, an update.
Pixel_Outlaw wrote:Square aspect ratio just seems so odd. :shock:
Many old conversions (Toaplan on Mega Drive) use a near-square ratio, as do all of the Touhou games. I guess it makes more sense when there's a big status menu to the right, though.
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tate
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by tate »

Now on Steam Greenlight. The associated PV shows lots of interesting bits. Release target is this summer.
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Despatche
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlight]

Post by Despatche »

Sweet. Glad to see this nearing completion.
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Re: Doujin GRAZE COUNTER LITE

Post by AxelMill »

tate wrote:The associated PV shows lots of interesting bits.
Why, hello, Rayforce's second stage.
Even though grazing isn't exactly my thing, I kinda like this game's premise.
Mecha Ritz's artstyle was so much better, BTW.
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Despatche
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlight]

Post by Despatche »

Yes, but this is a different dev. Seems to take somewhat after Konami, particularly with earlier games.
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AxelMill
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlight]

Post by AxelMill »

Oh, OH.
I somehow missed the "retweeted the release of" part of the opening post.
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M.Knight
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlight]

Post by M.Knight »

I was quite fond of Kirisame Blade 2 from the same developer, so I'll support this release's Greenlight. (if I ever remember to do it)
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlit]

Post by Meseki »

So there's a version 1.20 of the demo out now, but I can't seem to actually download it and was wondering if it was just me having the problem (it's been saying something about not allowing more than one download at a time since yesterday, and no one else on this network has been using this site).
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlit]

Post by tate »

Meseki wrote:So there's a version 1.20 of the demo out now, but I can't seem to actually download it and was wondering if it was just me having the problem (it's been saying something about not allowing more than one download at a time since yesterday, and no one else on this network has been using this site).
The dev acknowledged the problem in a tweet less than an hour ago. Of course it's now after 1 AM in Japan, so there probably won't be a resolution for a bit. I wonder if freegame-mugen.jp is no longer an option because the game is now commercial.
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlit]

Post by NeoStrayCat »

Well, besides the demo situation, at least now the game now has its store page up, with a release date of 7/28, no info on price. But you can try the demo from there. (Though its more likely the 1.11 version with English on it, since 1.20 didn't have English.)

http://store.steampowered.com/app/629440/Graze_Counter/
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlit]

Post by BulletMagnet »

Aaaand it's out, price is ten bucks, get a buck off if you buy at launch.
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Re: Graze Counter [Greenlit]

Post by Klatrymadon »

I love the game and will talk more about it at some point, but I encountered a glitch (or secret?) seconds into the full version, in which my ship sped off as if I'd cleared a stage, and the rest of the level just proceeded without me. :lol:
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Re: Graze Counter [Steam]

Post by STGAlmond »

I'm finding this to be pretty fun. I only played easy and arcade at the moment, and it seems pretty easy. It is satisfying to be aggressive and collect stars. Score boards don't have any initials, and there is no separation of scores by ships. I wish it had steam leader boards.

Quirk I noticed was that if you use the shield sub weapon it charges during cut scenes. You can just wait on a dialog and let shield charge if you need it, but I think graze boost is the best sub type.
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Re: Graze Counter [Steam]

Post by drunkninja24 »

Yeah the game is definitely quite easy, least on arcade, I literally got a 1cc my first time playing

but I can definitely see coming back for scoring potential
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M.Knight
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Re: Graze Counter [Steam]

Post by M.Knight »

It defintely is a scoring-oriented game. I reached the last boss on my first try and got the 1CC on the second, but that was very fun nonetheless! :D
For more challenge, there is an unlockable mode where rank is maxed for the whole run.
STGAlmond wrote:It is satisfying to be aggressive and collect stars
Agreed! The Grazing => Counter Beam => Yellow Stars => Hyper => Red Stars game flow is quite exciting and seems to offer many scoring opportunities. I just wish the multiplier didn't decrease during the few moments of respite before a boss approaches.

The missions come in handy to learn the scoring system's intricacies and some of the various ships play quite differently from the others.

All in all, I can easily recommend this game.
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Klatrymadon
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Re: Graze Counter [Steam]

Post by Klatrymadon »

I didn't find the game quite so easy at first - it seems to bear its teeth around the end of stage two - but it quickly becomes clear that the solution to most sticking points is to Counter the fuck out of them, heh. I'm looking forward to playing for score in the hard mode and finishing off the missions. It's incredibly satisfying to play regardless of the difficulty level...
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Re: Graze Counter [Steam]

Post by Redfox »

Rated for Switch Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassss!!!! (Screw Steam :D )

https://gonintendo.com/contents/11502-b ... ch-release
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