Xymati - New PC-Engine vertical shmup from MindRec!

[FraGMarE]

So what are you guys using for dev exactly? Obviously I assume it's an old second hand Hudson/NEC dev board, but how do you go about hooking it up to a PC and using it, ect.?

Also, do you think it'd be possible to use the dev kit to make scaled down/modified arcade ports on PCE that never made it to the system using dumped roms? Like say, would it be possible to use the dev kit to make a PCE CD port of say, Raiden II?

Mostly we use Magic Engine to do quick tests with, and when it comes time to test on real hardware, we typically burn to a cd and play it on a Duo. BT also owns a dev HuCard that hooks up to your pc via parallel port and you can load it up with any valid ROM image, so if we needed to go that route, we could. Tototek also makes one. I think it costs about $115 USD.

As far as the arcade ports, I suppose it depends on the individual arcade game you're trying to port. Raiden II would be tough, but it could be done with some sacrifices, i'm sure (missing parallax, flicker tricks, etc. see PC-Engine/TurboGrafX-16 version of Raiden).

[Dylan1CC]

Thanks for the info, Frag. I am seriously getting more excited for PCE homebrew all the time.

[ill6]

Rock and Roll.

Looking forward to seeing this and the new Neo Shmup!!

[FraGMarE]

I'd like to introduce the basic weaponry of Xymati here. Yes, you'll notice we're taking a page straight from the Compile/Hudson school of shmuppery, so don't be surprised if these weapons look and sound familiar.

There will be 3 primary power-up icons... red, blue, and yellow. Red is the standard vulcan, blue is the laser, and yellow is the wave. Each ship will start out with a "pea-shooter" weapon version of it's own respective color, but will be able to collect up to 3 additional power-up icons and use them the same as the other ships. For example, the red ship would begin each life with the minimum level vulcan, but if you picked up a blue Laser power-up icon, you would switch to having a level 2 laser. We have not yet decided as to if there will be any advantage to fully powering each ship's respective weapon color (ex., blue ship with max power Laser) versus fully powering a weapon that does not match the ship's color (ex., blue ship with max power Vulcan). We must be careful not to unbalance the gameplay with things like this.

Now, here's the twist... when you pick up multiple power-up icons of a different color (ex., red Vulcan + yellow Wave), they will combine to form new and different weapons, somewhat like Spriggan on the PC-Engine CD-ROM. We are still hammering out all the different weapon combinations, but there will almost certainly be things like ring lasers, power grenades, homing shots, etc. I know that many have said that there are only a few weapon combos in Spriggan that are actually useful, but we will try not to fall into that same trap. Through careful balancing and playtesting, I'm fully confident all the weapon combinations can have some sort of practical use.

Here are the 3 power-up levels for each of the 3 basic weapons, plus the "pea-shooter" weapons as being fired by their respective colored ships. Comments and suggestions are welcome here...

[SFKhoa]

The classic Soldier weaponry. I like that.

[Nate]

Ahh.

So, the Red is more like that of SSS than any other title, but with (I would assume) a larger and more effective bullet. It'll also look much cooler than the plain ol' white bullet. This was always my favorite weapon in that game. Perfect for "rear attacks" (for the lack of a better term). Also, to me it just "felt" the best, like you were playing a classic, cause it was fun to "work" the patterns - not to mention it was fun (w/ any color, really) to "bulk-up" your ship's resistance easily with red power-ups the most available - and with the green weapon a close second...IT was most effective in the "crystal" stage, w/ the blue dragon thingys that were fun to kill - that's the only stage that comes to mind right now where the green bolts were best...of course you would have to imagine that if the green bolts shot out diagonal rear as well, it would give your ship an unfair advantage...while the "blue rings" and the "wavy fire" were absolute crap. It's going to be interesting how you work all this stuff out...Balance of weapon effectiveness...availability of power-ups (without revealing their vitality through said availability)...

Then you have the blue laser from Soldier Blade, and it's looking less "liney". Here's a "cosmetic" suggestion...you could add an occasional (or frequent) shimmer of light moving quickly upward? Or maybe some "crackling" light residue around it depending on its strength...? I dunno...I've got Trizeal on the brain.

The yellow wave is like the green wave in Gunhed/BL ... Most effective in the "sand" level w/ the Moai heads...did you notice that or was it just me?

Yeah, maybe the wave could be most effective on surface installations, while the red could knock out your basic schools of enemies and slow-moving homing thingies while the blue could be a great "boss-whacker"...then you could set up all kinds of relevant situations...

Again. Don't know.

BTW how are you going about doing SFX? Will some be "loaded" ala GATE or LORDS?

The music is really coming along BTW...

-Nate

[pixeljunkie]

Okay, I have started drawing the red ship. I remember requests for a more streamlined, less weird looking ship so I drew something a bit more standard looking. I kind of went for a little bit of a Raiden ship look here with maybe a little Soldier Blade and Blazing Lazers mixed in. I'm still tweaking it a bit, so it's not completely done. I've also tweaked the yellow ship a little too. Here are both pics, please leave feedback:

(3x normal size for easier viewing)

[edit] I drew the blue ship in quickly and added it here just as a reference. It, of course, is still a work in progress.

Whats the pixel dimensions for those ship sprites?

BTW: emailed you [chad ballew]

[tonto]

The blue ship kinda looks like that red one from Star Control that shot flames and could go invisible, it was cool, i like the design. I'll hold out any view of the new game 'til i finally get the chance to play it. Is it gonna be a mixture of old school/new school play dynamics/manic pattern based or what? Sorry if this has already be answered before i'm a bit drunk...

[Stormwatch]

What about the hit box? Old-skool (whole ship) or modern (center only)?

[FraGMarE]

Then you have the blue laser from Soldier Blade, and it's looking less "liney". Here's a "cosmetic" suggestion...you could add an occasional (or frequent) shimmer of light moving quickly upward? Or maybe some "crackling" light residue around it depending on its strength...? I dunno...I've got Trizeal on the brain.

The yellow wave is like the green wave in Gunhed/BL ... Most effective in the "sand" level w/ the Moai heads...did you notice that or was it just me?

BTW how are you going about doing SFX? Will some be "loaded" ala GATE or LORDS?

The laser is designed to be kind of flipped and flickered at a high rate of speed (every 1/60th of a second) so it kind of scintillates, and looks more translucent, and generally looks more alive. The right side is brighter than the left for this reason. As far as extra graphical effects for the laser, I have considered spicing it up a little bit later on, if possible. I like the crackling/shimmering light idea. One thing we were planning on doing with it is having the laser "open up" when you press the fire button, and "close up" when you release it... i.e., when you begin firing the max power laser, it would start out using the skinniest laser sprite and cycle through the sprites until you reached the widest laser, so as to give the impression of the lasering opening up. Should be a neat little effect.

The wave weapon is indeed inspired by the wave weapons from not only Blazing Lazers, but also Soldier Blade, DonPachi and DoDonPachi. I liked how Blazing Lazers had two waves drawn into one sprite to make it look like there were more on the screen, but I liked the shape of Soldier Blade's better and i liked the intricate shading in (Do)DonPachi's blue wave. I tried to blend all 3 into something that worked well.

By "loaded", I'm assuming you mean ADPCM sound samples. Yea, BT plans on trying to get the PC-Engine CD-ROM's ADPCM channel fired up for both Xymati and PC-Gunjin. No specific plans for it or sound effects just yet, though.

Whats the pixel dimensions for those ship sprites?

The actual in game ship sprites use the PC-Engine's 32x32 sprite size. The ship's themselves are roughly 24x24. Anything much larger than that looks a little too big, imo.

Is it gonna be a mixture of old school/new school play dynamics/manic pattern based or what? Sorry if this has already be answered before i'm a bit drunk...

Yes, we plan on icorporating some newschool concepts, such as chaining and rank into Xymati, while maintaining basic oldschool gameplay. I don't know about all-out manic. We're certainly going to push the little PC-Engine as much as we can with this, but I just don't think any of the 16-bit era systems (except maybe the Neo-Geo) are powerful enough to handle the amount of bullets on screen it would take to be considered "manic" by today's standards. I'm not saying it won't be hard, I'm just saying the bullet count would be more on par with something like Space Megaforce than DoDonPachi.

What about the hit box? Old-skool (whole ship) or modern (center only)?

Glad you asked that! The hitbox will be 10x10 for all of the ships. Kind of a halfway point between "oldschool" and more modern shmups. I think this is really the perfect hitbox size for the ships i drew. Subsequently, there will also be a secondary power-up shaped like a 4-leaf clover that will make your hitbox significantly smaller (6x6). Here's the kicker... that power-up will be called the Clover-TAC. Yes, the pun is intended. It's an homage and a small tribute to the Japanese high-score shmup player of the same name.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you recall that the only 6-button arcade shmup PCB ever released was none other than American Sammy's Daioh PCB for the U.S. arcades (hence the six button layout -- three buttons for the three different main weapons & three buttons for the three different "Bomb" types).

Will the upcoming Xymati take advantage of the NEC Avenue 6 gamepad in terms of being able to choose any of your three "main" weapons on the fly (or even choose your "bomb" types)?

I don't recall any PCE shmup ever taking advantage of the NEC Avenue 3 (with the exception of Capcom's Forgotten Worlds Super CD-Rom2 version for the PCE Duo & Turbo Duo consoles) or Avenue 6 gamepads...would've been cool if they did though. I do have the cool Hori Fighting Stick PC that is all-solid metal joystick base that has the 6-button layout. It'd be cool if a modern-day PCE shmup could take advantage of a six button scheme (i.e. -- Daioh type of gameplay, perhaps modified a bit further). It would be cool to mix 'n" match different "main" weaponry along with different bomb types...the key is to balance the awesome electic mix of upgradable firepower with gameplay, game design & enemy placement for a cool shmup.

This reminds me of the cool Gameshark trick that allows one to "turn on" all the weaponry & bomb types on the Raiden II game in The Raiden Project for the PSX...playing a session with a maxed out three main weaponry endowed "Super Raiden" fighter craft will make the end-stage bosses "go down" much faster than say with a single Raiden II aircraft maxed out with just one main weapon. (Of course, the Raiden II programmers hadn't thought about endowing a Raiden II fightercraft with "all three" main weapons maxed out at the same time...now that would've be cool to see done on an actual Raiden II arcade PCB.) ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[zubiac]

Dunno why but this one reminds me of the "Crisis Force" ship....when it is mutated you know.

thumbs up.
u rule

[ccovell]

Reminds me of Galvatron. C'mon Fragmare, tell me it ain't.

[GateofThunderforceIII]

Sorry, but I've never really payed attention to homebrew stuff. But I just decided to check out this thread and I'm extremely interested. So how can I get my hands of a copy of both games when they become available? Thanks!

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

^
www.tzd.com

here...at Shmups
or us, at Vodkatron

Even better,
www.mindrec.com

[zubiac]

mmmhh.....just "tested" the demo(rom).
Unfortunaly you are only able to in/decrease speed of your ship and nothing else.

now my question: Should this mean that the speed of your ship will be infinitely variable(means: not in 1-2-3 steps like other shmups)?

and will there be a demo rom avaiable(i.e. one stage only) before release?

I really can't wait for the game.
Hope Twichdoctor puts some metal in it.
rocking'

[FraGMarE]

If you recall that the only 6-button arcade shmup PCB ever released was none other than American Sammy's Daioh PCB for the U.S. arcades (hence the six button layout -- three buttons for the three different main weapons & three buttons for the three different "Bomb" types).

Will the upcoming Xymati take advantage of the NEC Avenue 6 gamepad in terms of being able to choose any of your three "main" weapons on the fly (or even choose your "bomb" types)?

I don't recall any PCE shmup ever taking advantage of the NEC Avenue 3 (with the exception of Capcom's Forgotten Worlds Super CD-Rom2 version for the PCE Duo & Turbo Duo consoles) or Avenue 6 gamepads...would've been cool if they did though. I do have the cool Hori Fighting Stick PC that is all-solid metal joystick base that has the 6-button layout. It'd be cool if a modern-day PCE shmup could take advantage of a six button scheme (i.e. -- Daioh type of gameplay, perhaps modified a bit further). It would be cool to mix 'n" match different "main" weaponry along with different bomb types...the key is to balance the awesome electic mix of upgradable firepower with gameplay, game design & enemy placement for a cool shmup.

This reminds me of the cool Gameshark trick that allows one to "turn on" all the weaponry & bomb types on the Raiden II game in The Raiden Project for the PSX...playing a session with a maxed out three main weaponry endowed "Super Raiden" fighter craft will make the end-stage bosses "go down" much faster than say with a single Raiden II aircraft maxed out with just one main weapon. (Of course, the Raiden II programmers hadn't thought about endowing a Raiden II fightercraft with "all three" main weapons maxed out at the same time...now that would've be cool to see done on an actual Raiden II arcade PCB.) ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

The weapon/bomb system we have planned for Xymati only calls for one fire button, one bomb button, and one speed adjust button. If we can think of a good use for the other 4 face buttons on the six-button pad, without alienating the standard 2-button pad users, then we'll do it. Right now, however, we only have plans for the standard pad. In making a commerical PCE game, you're catering to a pretty limited niche audience, and it tends to be best to not further alienate that audience. That's why MindRec tries to keep it's games accessible to the largest possible cross section of PC-Engine users by making Super CD-ROM2 games that mainly use the standard 2-button pad. It's not out of the question, but it just seems unecessary, give the weapon system that is planned.

Reminds me of Galvatron. C'mon Fragmare, tell me it ain't.

Galvatron, no. Cyclonus maybe?

[TWITCHDOCTOR]

mmmhh.....just "tested" the demo(rom).
Unfortunaly you are only able to in/decrease speed of your ship and nothing else.

now my question: Should this mean that the speed of your ship will be infinitely variable(means: not in 1-2-3 steps like other shmups)?

and will there be a demo rom avaiable(i.e. one stage only) before release?

I really can't wait for the game.
Hope Twichdoctor puts some metal in it.
rocking'

Oh, I'll be ready to do so. Vodkatron will be ready as well. As far as the tunes go...well, we haven't gotten that far yet.
Although, PC-Gunjin (spelling) will more than likely be rocking with some Metal as well. I doubt there will be any "techno style" stuff like in the Vokatron CD....but you know what, its all good. So give it a listen anyhow.

Whats the latest word, as far as development goes?
Either let me, or Nate know how things are going. Thanks.

[FraGMarE]

mmmhh.....just "tested" the demo(rom).
Unfortunaly you are only able to in/decrease speed of your ship and nothing else.

now my question: Should this mean that the speed of your ship will be infinitely variable(means: not in 1-2-3 steps like other shmups)?

and will there be a demo rom avaiable(i.e. one stage only) before release?

I really can't wait for the game.
Hope Twichdoctor puts some metal in it.
rocking'

Ah... that ROM is more of a proof of concept than anything else. It was basically made available to get the idea across, that our next project is definitely a (vertical) shmup. As you guessed, a *real* one-level demo will precede the actual release (same goes for PC-Gunjin).

As for the speed adjustment, I have been mulling the idea of a system like that of Thunderforce IV, where when you tap the button, it adjusts the speed in increments of 50% (0%, 50%, 100%), and if you hold the button, the speed adjusts in increments of 1%. I always liked the freedom in TFIV of setting your ship for any speed you wanted. I can't confirm, for certain, that Xymati will have this feature (or need it), but it's something I have definitely been considering bringing up to Bt.

[ST Dragon]

Here are the 3 power-up levels for each of the 3 basic weapons, plus the "pea-shooter" weapons as being fired by their respective colored ships. Comments and suggestions are welcome here...

The blue laser of the blue ship looks cool and very similar to the laser of the blue ship in Baryon (1995 Acro studios PC)
http://www.juegomania.org/pc/4085

You might want to change the shape of the laser just at the ship's tip to an oval shape like the blue vertical laser in Zanac X Zanac PS-1:


That way it looks more powerfull as if it's really blasting out of the ship's front cannon.

But I’ve never liked the “wave” weapons in shooters. Somehow they look more fitting in a “sorcery & magic” themed game, rather than a shooter. Just because most PCE games have it, doesn’t mean you should also implement it.
I suggest that it would be best to replace the yellow wave weapon with a twin, triple / quad, homing type laser like the one used by the red ship in Baryon.

The red wide spread Vulcan weapon is a must in any self respecting vertical shooter, but it would be best to make it look more like the one in Raiden I & II or Shienryu, rather than copying the Soldier Blade Wide shot Vulcan.
I find the “back-fire” in wide shot weaponry utterly useless, ineffective and cause confusion; where as the classic wide spread in Raiden was just perfect.

The Thunder Force II & III weapons are some of the most effective and cool looking old-school weapons. Especially the Saber Laser, the Lancer Back-fire laser & the homing Hunter plasma spheres.
You might want to check the Gaiares weapons too, especially the T-Braster or F-Formation.

Okay, I have started drawing the red ship. I remember requests for a more streamlined, less weird looking ship so I drew something a bit more standard looking. I kind of went for a little bit of a Raiden ship look here with maybe a little Soldier Blade and Blazing Lazers mixed in. I'm still tweaking it a bit, so it's not completely done. I've also tweaked the yellow ship a little too. Here are both pics, please leave feedback:

(3x normal size for easier viewing)

[edit] I drew the blue ship in quickly and added it here just as a reference. It, of course, is still a work in progress.

As for the ships, they would be better if you made them look like the red & blue Baryon, RayForce, RayCrisis, RayStorm type of ships. Those are the coolest, most agile looking ships and ideal for any vertical shooter.



But if you decide to stick to the three that you made, it would be best to use darker shades of colour on the tip of the ships’ nose, rather than the light grey, green, white shades, which you’re using on the tip.
Somehow they look weak, not powerful enough and not convincing that they could take on an intergalactic war.
The blue ship looks the best out of the 3 imo.

A few other ships you might want to borrow elements from are the ones in:
Raiden
Vapor Trail
Zanac X Zanac



I noticed that the stage with planet & sun you posted is very similar to the one in Zanac X Zanac (PS-1).
It would be cool if you added an asteroid belt around the planet & some green nebula in the background rather than just the blackness of space.
The sun looks excellent though!
It would also be cool if you added a lens-flare as the light strikes the planet.

Xymati


Zanac X Zanac


Keep up the excellent work!

[Dylan1CC]

Just wanted to say if Frag is reading that the updated ships/power ups look amazing. I love how the first ship mimics the Star Soldier standard shot, the other lazers look ace as well. Count me in for a purchase when this is finished.

[FraGMarE]

The blue laser of the blue ship looks cool and very similar to the laser of the blue ship in Baryon (1995 Acro studios PC)
http://www.juegomania.org/pc/4085

You might want to change the shape of the laser just at the ship's tip to an oval shape like the blue vertical laser in Zanac X Zanac PS-1:

That way it looks more powerfull as if it's really blasting out of the ship's front cannon.

But I’ve never liked the “wave” weapons in shooters. Somehow they look more fitting in a “sorcery & magic” themed game, rather than a shooter. Just because most PCE games have it, doesn’t mean you should also implement it.
I suggest that it would be best to replace the yellow wave weapon with a twin, triple / quad, homing type laser like the one used by the red ship in Baryon.

The red wide spread Vulcan weapon is a must in any self respecting vertical shooter, but it would be best to make it look more like the one in Raiden I & II or Shienryu, rather than copying the Soldier Blade Wide shot Vulcan.
I find the “back-fire” in wide shot weaponry utterly useless, ineffective and cause confusion; where as the classic wide spread in Raiden was just perfect.

The Thunder Force II & III weapons are some of the most effective and cool looking old-school weapons. Especially the Saber Laser, the Lancer Back-fire laser & the homing Hunter plasma spheres.
You might want to check the Gaiares weapons too, especially the T-Braster or F-Formation.

As for the ships, they would be better if you made them look like the red & blue Baryon, RayForce, RayCrisis, RayStorm type of ships. Those are the coolest, most agile looking ships and ideal for any vertical shooter.

But if you decide to stick to the three that you made, it would be best to use darker shades of colour on the tip of the ships’ nose, rather than the light grey, green, white shades, which you’re using on the tip.
Somehow they look weak, not powerful enough and not convincing that they could take on an intergalactic war.
The blue ship looks the best out of the 3 imo.

A few other ships you might want to borrow elements from are the ones in:
Raiden
Vapor Trail
Zanac X Zanac

I noticed that the stage with planet & sun you posted is very similar to the one in Zanac X Zanac (PS-1).
It would be cool if you added an asteroid belt around the planet & some green nebula in the background rather than just the blackness of space.
The sun looks excellent though!
It would also be cool if you added a lens-flare as the light strikes the planet.

Keep up the excellent work!

As for the laser, I have created a "muzzle flash" sprite that is to be used to for all weapons. This flashes a small animation at the front of the ship whenever a weapon is fired. It's purpose is to both mask the weapon projectile coming out of the front of the ship, and to also lend to the impression of "blasting" weaponry. Not quite what you had in mind, but similar concept.

Sorry if you don't like the wave weapon, but it's gotta stay in. You see, the power-up system that we have for this game allows you to combine weapons to make other weapons. This means that the three base weapons must be just that... basic. What's more basic than a vulcan, laser, and wave?

Flying enemy patterns in this game are not going to be much like Raiden. Flying enemies will come in formations and move swiftly, sometimes encircling you, and occassionally coming from behind. This means that you will have to either use the backfiring shots, or come up with creative ways to dodge. Also, backfiring weaponry allows you move up the screen to shoot larger enemies (mid-bosses, etc) at point blank range, while still shooting smaller enemies you might have missed that are about to leave the screen. Now, I'm not saying Xymati will be throwing hoardes of enemies at you from behind. I'm just saying there will be opportunities to put the backfiring weapons to good use.

The ships' general shapes are pretty much finalized. i might tweak the colors, and a few pixels here and there, but the overall shape of each ship will basically be as seen above. Sorry if they don't look sleek or agile enough, but there is only so much that can be done in a 24x24 square (the size we settled on using for each ship).

The planet/sun background may or may not make it into the final game. In the pic seen here, it's just a simple stationary background that i put there so it wouldn't just be darkness. In the final game, the sun will likely
"rise" behind the planet gradually, evenatually cresting above the horizon line and causing lens flare. This is what I had envisioned for it, anyway.

Just wanted to say if Frag is reading that the updated ships/power ups look amazing. I love how the first ship mimics the Star Soldier standard shot, the other lazers look ace as well. Count me in for a purchase when this is finished.

Great! Glad you like what you see so far. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

[Dylan1CC]

Frag: Aint seen nothin' yet, huh? Sweet. BTW, not that I care about the story in shmups, but what is the "plot" in this one? Humans vs space invaders or more along the lines of one lone ship VS. "military-techno brain network gone awry"? Also (since I am too lazy right now to re-read and need to go to bed), any projected release date yet?

[ST Dragon]

The planet/sun background may or may not make it into the final game. In the pic seen here, it's just a simple stationary background that i put there so it wouldn't just be darkness. In the final game, the sun will likely
"rise" behind the planet gradually, eventually cresting above the horizon line and causing lens flare. This is what I had envisioned for it, anyway

If you really want to make your shooter stand out from the crowd, then may I suggest that you definitely not remove it, as it's one of the most striking backgrounds (If not the best) on any vertical PCE shooter. Adding the animation of the sun rising behind the planet (Like in the ending cut scene of Strider Genesis) and some cool lens flares (Like in Project X-2 (PS-1)) will be an awesome addition.

I would also add two huge battle fleets shooting lasers at its other in the far background next to another planet at a later scene, like in the end of the 2nd stage of RayForce / Layer Section - Saturn / Arcade, or the 3rd stage of Border Down - DC.

A similar scene (but in horizontal perspective) is in the 1st stage of Eliminate Down (Genesis) and is mixed very well with the asteroid field.

Also it would be original to add a few detailed "ground" levels with interesting structures & water (similar to some of the Raiden II or Baryon levels) as most vertical PCE shooters take place solely in the blackness of space and have very little detail in comparison to the Genesis / SNES vertical shooters (Maybe some floating metal structure in space but nothing special).
I would try to add as much detail as possible to the space levels (Asteroid belt, planets, stars, nebula, a space armada flying by, etc...) as most PCE space stages are just too empty and... So... black!

Also, a vertical fiery stage or water stage similar to the ones seen in Axelay (SNES) would be an original addition.

Adding over-weapons like the ones in Thunder Force V, or the cool thermo-nuclear bombs in Raiden I & the Napalm Raiden II would be so cool, as most PCE shooters don’t have a cool secondary bomb weapon.

Also, those large Yellow-Blue score numbers on the top-right, are too large & the colours look wrong & misplaced. Not quite fitting for a space shooter (for a magical themed shooter like Cotton maybe…)

What's more basic than a vulcan, laser, and wave?

The laser is fine, but the front-fire of your Vulcan weapon looks too weak and not wide enough compared to other shooters & just follows the foot steps of the Soldier Blade Stereo types.
As for the wave, it would be better if you used a missile weapon (Another very basic weapon) or some homing lasers like in Axelay (Only thicker & more colourful:
1st row 3rd weapon)

I only mentioned all these quotes because it would be nice to see something completely different on the PCE, (Rather than the Star Soldier themed games that flooded the console), but then again, if you want to just continue the PCE vertical shooter stereotypes, well… it's your hall and I can't argue with that!

Keep up the good work!

[FraGMarE]

Frag: Aint seen nothin' yet, huh? Sweet. BTW, not that I care about the story in shmups, but what is the "plot" in this one? Humans vs space invaders or more along the lines of one lone ship VS. "military-techno brain network gone awry"? Also (since I am too lazy right now to re-read and need to go to bed), any projected release date yet?

The plot? what plot? lol. Seriously, it's just the standard 'Aliens invade Earth, man builds starfighter(s) as last hope" plot. Bt has the details to it, I've honestly never really bothered to ask. I do know that the game title 'Xymati' is the name of the alien homeworld (and probably the last level of the game too).

The release date is far off, I'm afraid. PC-Gunjin will take priority until it's complete. So for Xymati, i would probably say like maybe a year away from now or so.

If you really want to make your shooter stand out from the crowd, then may I suggest that you definitely not remove it, as it's one of the most striking backgrounds (If not the best) on any vertical PCE shooter. Adding the animation of the sun rising behind the planet (Like in the ending cut scene of Strider Genesis) and some cool lens flares (Like in Project X-2 (PS-1)) will be an awesome addition.

I would also add two huge battle fleets shooting lasers at its other in the far background next to another planet at a later scene, like in the end of the 2nd stage of RayForce / Layer Section - Saturn / Arcade, or the 3rd stage of Border Down - DC.

A similar scene (but in horizontal perspective) is in the 1st stage of Eliminate Down (Genesis) and is mixed very well with the asteroid field.

Also it would be original to add a few detailed "ground" levels with interesting structures & water (similar to some of the Raiden II or Baryon levels) as most vertical PCE shooters take place solely in the blackness of space and have very little detail in comparison to the Genesis / SNES vertical shooters (Maybe some floating metal structure in space but nothing special).
I would try to add as much detail as possible to the space levels (Asteroid belt, planets, stars, nebula, a space armada flying by, etc...) as most PCE space stages are just too empty and... So... black!

Also, a vertical fiery stage or water stage similar to the ones seen in Axelay (SNES) would be an original addition.

Adding over-weapons like the ones in Thunder Force V, or the cool thermo-nuclear bombs in Raiden I & the Napalm Raiden II would be so cool, as most PCE shooters don’t have a cool secondary bomb weapon.

Also, those large Yellow-Blue score numbers on the top-right, are too large & the colours look wrong & misplaced. Not quite fitting for a space shooter (for a magical themed shooter like Cotton maybe…)

The laser is fine, but the front-fire of your Vulcan weapon looks too weak and not wide enough compared to other shooters & just follows the foot steps of the Soldier Blade Stereo types.
As for the wave, it would be better if you used a missile weapon (Another very basic weapon) or some homing lasers like in Axelay (Only thicker & more colourful:
1st row 3rd weapon)
I only mentioned all these quotes because it would be nice to see something completely different on the PCE, (Rather than the Star Soldier themed games that flooded the console), but then again, if you want to just continue the PCE vertical shooter stereotypes, well… it's your hall and I can't argue with that!

Keep up the good work!

I do plan on level 1 being a very detailed ground level, a bit like Raiden. It will start out over the ocean, and progress to a city harbor, then fighting over the city, with the city eventually giving way to countryside where the boss battle takes place. Commonly seen ground enemies will be found on this level, such as enemy alien tanks and gun turrets hidden in "sliding" bushes.

If by "over-weapons" you mean add-on missiles, options, and that type of thing, then yes Xymati will have those. I just haven't drawn them yet, so they're still just pictures in my head. There will also be bombs. Each power-up orb color (red, blue, or yelow) will have it's own corresponding bomb effect when used. Red being the standard Raiden-style explosion bomb. Blue and yellow being undecided still.

Those big yellow and blue numbers are not the score. They're basically just there as a test and keep track of the number of scrolling screens that have elapsed in the test ROM. The score/status display in the game will be much smaller, and will be overlaid similar to as in Blazing Lazers or Soldier Blade.


Here soon I'll post pictures of all the rest of the main weapons in the game, so everyone can get a better idea of how the power-up system works in Xymati.

[ST Dragon]

If by "over-weapons" you mean add-on missiles, options, and that type of thing, then yes Xymati will have those. I just haven't drawn them yet, so they're still just pictures in my head.

No, I mean a secondary more powerful variation of the primary weapon by pressing the 2nd button...

This is the over-weapon of the 1st TFV primary weapon, which looks very similar to your blue laser weapon:



Yours could become thicker when ever you press the 2nd button, provided that you have enough energy of some kind…

From Wikipedia:

A new feature in Thunder Force V involving the CRAWs is the use of the "Over Weapon". By pressing the appropriate button, the player's CRAWs will combine with the currently selected weapon to create a more powerful version of that weapon. Over Weapons can only be sustained for a limited period of time by using CRAW energy. As an Over Weapon is used, the CRAW will shrink in size and gradually change color from blue to red, indicating its energy is being depleted. Once all CRAW energy is depleted, an Over Weapon can no longer be used. CRAWs will recharge their energy automatically over time when not being used for firing the Over Weapon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder_Force_V

You could add satellite circling pods like in DonPachi & Thunder Force that will power up in time & you could use the their power by pressing the 2nd button to unleash a more powerful blast, different for each weapon.
This would last only for a few seconds & it would recharge in time.

It adds a lot to the wow factor & gameplay, so try out TFV and see for your self.

There will also be bombs. Each power-up orb color (red, blue, or yelow) will have own corresponding bomb effect when used. Red being the standard Raiden-style explosion bomb. Blue and yellow being undecided still.

A shooter with 3 different bombs, depending on the primary weapon used, is very cool indeed!

[FraGMarE]

Okay, time to introduce you to all of Xymati's primary weapons. Xymati will have three basic weapons (vulcan, laser, and wave) which can be powered up by collecting power-up orbs. Much like Spriggan, if you collect orbs of different colors, it makes all new weapons. Many people have complained that Spriggan's power-up system is coo, but many of the combinations are useless. We will strive to avoid that folly in Xymati. Some of these weapons will be more advantageous to use in certain parts of the game than others. Careful weapon balancing is the key here. So without further adieu, here are the combo weapons of Xymati...

(BTW, don't mind the generic backgrounds used. These are just quickly made mock-ups using the actual game sprites, so I just dropped any old background in there.)


Angle Laser (Vulcan + Laser)

Pretty much just how it looks here. Will shoot forward, unless it passes by an enemy, in which case, it will take a 90* turn directly towards them.

Super Seeker (Vulcan + Vulcan + Laser)

The physics of this weapon are basically identical to the Hunter weapon from Thunderforce 3/4. Also similar to the T-Braster from Gaiares.

Plasma Tracer (Vulcan + Laser + Laser)

This weapon is kind of a mix between the purple "toothpaste" laser from Raiden 2, and the green homing laser from Blazing Lazers. Moves very fast and chases enemies around the screen.

Thermal Flare (Wave + Vulcan)

Sort of a flamethrower/fireball weapon here. We might make it drift towards enemies, a bit like the flamethrower of the Iron Mackerel from Battle Garegga.

Napalm Grenade (Wave + Vulcan + Vulcan)

Slow moving, and hard hitting. They tumble forward, and when they explode, they cause proximity damage within a certain radius around them. An effective boss killer weapon.

Arrow Smasher (Wave + Wave + Vulcan)

A very wide frontal spread weapon. Will perform similar to the fully powered vulcan from Raiden, or the F-Formation from Gaiares.

Ring Laser (Laser + Wave)

Much like the ring lasers from Gradius games, except far less useless. Makes a tight spread pattern.

Terra Beam (Laser + Laser + Wave)

Remember those crazy looking spiral lasers from R-Type Leo? Same concept here, except these are a little fatter and a little greener. Essentially, this is just a fancy looking wide-laser pulse shot, somewhat like the Giga Beam from Gaiares (hence the word play with the name).

Bubble Guard (Laser + Wave + Wave)

This one is interesting. It works like a cross between the classic Compile defensive weapon featured in so many of their shmups, and the the rotating powerful shot in Dangun Feveron. If you hold the button down, it acts as seen here, rotating around your ship, protecting from bullets and popcorn enemies, and shooting a rather meager forward shot. If you release the button, however, it unleashes a barrage of forward fire that does massive damage.

Event Horizon (Vulcan + Laser + Wave)

A black hole cannon! It draws in smaller enemies and inflicts massive damge to anything it touches.

[undamned]

Neat!

[No_not_like_Quake]

I'm interested in both games. A few questions regarding Xymati:

How many layers of parallax scrolling are you shooting for at max, if any at all?
Will the screen be fixed, or will it scroll sllightly to the left right?
Is getting 2 player co-op to run on the PCE difficult?


Oh and the link to PC Gunjin doesn't work. Got another?

Thanks

[Dylan1CC]

Those new weapon screens are very nice. At least a year wait, you say?