Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Geo

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mtn360
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Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Geo

Post by mtn360 »

Hey folks,

just wanted to let you know that we just launched our Kickstarter campaign for Project, a new shmup for the Neo Geo AES & MVS that we're currently working on.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fu ... he-neo-geo

Happy to answer every possible question you might have!

Cheers,

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schleichfahrt
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by schleichfahrt »

Hi,

is there any more footage of the actual demo level gameplay? Those bits shown in the video reveal very little about how the actual game works, besides "you can shoot and collect coins".
Is the state of the artwork and presentation representative of the final product, or is this more like temporary teaser art?
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mtn360
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by mtn360 »

schleichfahrt wrote:Hi,

is there any more footage of the actual demo level gameplay? Those bits shown in the video reveal very little about how the actual game works, besides "you can shoot and collect coins".
Is the state of the artwork and presentation representative of the final product, or is this more like temporary teaser art?
The state of the artwork and presentation is not representative of the final product. The footage shown is from an early prototype, with just a handful of first gfx sprites and animations created, many of them not fully finished or implemented. The general style will stay like this tho, so we're not going to switch to 3d pre-rendered sprites or something. But be assured that we're going to sweat a fair of more details on things.

We should most likely have made that more clear, now that you've mentioned it.
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mikejmoffitt
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by mikejmoffitt »

I'm looking forward to seeing some more actual gameplay and providing some feedback. A vertical STG on Neo-Geo is an esoteric choice for sure, so I'm interested in seeing how it turns out.
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heli
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by heli »

€31,045 for this game ?
Dont aliexpress have neo-geo cartridges ?
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mikejmoffitt
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by mikejmoffitt »

heli wrote:€31,045 for this game ?
Dont aliexpress have neo-geo cartridges ?
$50 for a bottle of sake? Don't 7-11 have sake in a carton for $5?
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MJR
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by MJR »

Okeyy, I try to give some constructive feedback.. while it is always cool to see new Neo-Geo shmups being developed, and I would wish for this project to be success, I think you could do maybe a little bit more in order to sell this, as 450 AU is quite a tall order for a new game, even if it is MVS cartridge.

Some information that could help would be:
-What games have this team worked on previously?
-What new are you going to bring to the overcrowded shmup genre?
-Why you think this project is perfect fit for Neo Geo?
-What actual deeper mechanics are you planning to bring to the gameplay?
-Is it going to have any depth with scoring mechanisms like with Cave shooters? What is the closest existing shmup you would compare the planned gameplay to?

So far, while it's nice to see that you got fundamentals going, shelling out a huge amount of money for unknown and possibly unproven team to a game that seems to be in early prototype stage feels bit risky, for now. I am not sure if you can expect people to get that excited just because it is a shooting game and it is for Neo Geo.. if there was an option for cheap rom file, then I guess it would be fine to risk 10€ for that alone. Of course, I can only speak for myself. Maybe there are people here who got available extra money and are eager to try any new Neo Geo products.

If this kickstarter does not take off ground, I would advise to not give up. Just develop the demo further, polish graphics more, add more cool features and more depth to the gameplay, and then launch another kickstarter. I am sure folks here are always willing to take a second look.

Even shooter games today require lot of work. Shmup enthusiasts are very demanding about their loved games and therefore extremely picky that any new possible games will get things just right - and this will need lot, lot, lot of work and lot of polishing.

I hope I did not come across as too negative, it's just making shmups that can actually compete for people's time and money, in this day, can be incredibly challenging. I hope you will do well!
Last edited by MJR on Thu Nov 14, 2019 11:02 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Jeneki
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by Jeneki »

Hiya. Looks nifty. To be honest if I'm going to spend that much on an arcade game, I have several higher priority titles. But I wish you luck and hope this works out well for you.

But I have to say ... spinning "420" coins, really?
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by mtn360 »

Thanks for your feedback and sorry for the delay in response, we were heads down addressing some of it right away :)
mikejmoffitt wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing some more actual gameplay and providing some feedback. A vertical STG on Neo-Geo is an esoteric choice for sure, so I'm interested in seeing how it turns out.
Cheers Mike, we've just published our video update #1, which covers a bunch of stuff that has been brought up here and elsewhere:

- End to end gameplay recording of the current, early state of the game!
- Quite some additional info on current state and plans as part of commentary
- The "Caravan Demo" you see in the video will be made available for everyone to try in a few days from here.. The demo will work on MVS/AES with Multis, as well as NGCD, MAME & MiSTer. Final game still only for MVS & AES for initial release.
- Pre-orders are now directly available at fullset.io, as Kickstarter was still at 42% 6 days before ending and extremely unlikely to succeed.
Jeneki wrote:Hiya. Looks nifty. To be honest if I'm going to spend that much on an arcade game, I have several higher priority titles. But I wish you luck and hope this works out well for you.
Cheers mate!
Jeneki wrote:But I have to say ... spinning "420" coins, really?
Really 8)
MJR wrote: -What games have this team worked on previously?
Not many. You can actually read more about this here: https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/project- ... e-feature/

If that's still a concern for you after reading the interview, watching the early stage gameplay and actually try the demo yourself.. then I'd recommend simply waiting for the final game to arrive :)
MJR wrote: -What new are you going to bring to the overcrowded shmup genre?
Quite a lot. We're aiming for a great story (sorry, I don't think not many have), lots of humour and real world references, a "mega man style" of progressing through the first 4 of the 5 levels, collecting new weapons from the stage bosses, co-op mechanics, and so on and so forth. You could summarize it as real character instead of a copy of what has already been there.
MJR wrote: -Why you think this project is perfect fit for Neo Geo?
The Neo Geo hits exactly the sweet spot in terms of spec and what we're aiming for. Genesis/SNES would not be able to cut it in terms of specs and wouldn't cater great for an Arcade first experience. Naomi would be too much. It's also the most accessible to program for at the moment from all arcade platforms.
MJR wrote: -What actual deeper mechanics are you planning to bring to the gameplay? Is it going to have any depth with scoring mechanisms like with Cave shooters?
See above. Additionally from what you can see in our "caravan demo", there will be (perfect) swarm combo bonuses.
MJR wrote: What is the closest existing shmup you would compare the planned gameplay to?
Not comparable ;) Well, in terms of style we're mostly inspired by TOAPLAN and Raizing titles I would say... Maybe a bit Parodius. That's admittedly a high bar of course (at least to us) .. but we'd rather aim a bit too high then too low :)
MJR wrote: So far, while it's nice to see that you got fundamentals going, shelling out a huge amount of money for unknown and possibly unproven team to a game that seems to be in early prototype stage feels bit risky, for now. I am not sure if you can expect people to get that excited just because it is a shooting game and it is for Neo Geo.. if there was an option for cheap rom file, then I guess it would be fine to risk 10€ for that alone. Of course, I can only speak for myself. Maybe there are people here who got available extra money and are eager to try any new Neo Geo products.

If this kickstarter does not take off ground, I would advise to not give up. Just develop the demo further, polish graphics more, add more cool features and more depth to the gameplay, and then launch another kickstarter. I am sure folks here are always willing to take a second look.
That already happened :) We shifted from Kickstarter to offering pre-orders via our own store at https://fullset.io and after a few hours have a good chunk of what had been raised so far on Kickstarter in again. So yeah, we won't give up on this one!
MJR wrote: Even shooter games today require lot of work. Shmup enthusiasts are very demanding about their loved games and therefore extremely picky that any new possible games will get things just right - and this will need lot, lot, lot of work and lot of polishing.
*nodding*
MJR wrote: I hope I did not come across as too negative, it's just making shmups that can actually compete for people's time and money, in this day, can be incredibly challenging. I hope you will do well!
Cheers man, didn't come up too negative at all. I hope we could address some of your questions/concerns here!
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schleichfahrt
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Re: Kickstarter for Project Neon, a new shmup for the Neo Ge

Post by schleichfahrt »

There's a demo version now, with instructions, accessible via Trello:

https://trello.com/c/zuXzAswu/12-mame-m ... d-attached
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