XOP Ultra and XOP Black Ultra thread

[Udderdude]

BTW, how many levels are in this thing? I've gotten as far as the Void so far.

There are 8 levels and 2 bonus levels, accessable from the Score Attack menu. One is just a goofy thing I put together with all of the game's enemies randomly coming at you. Another is a 'Miniboss attack' level where all the minibosses come at you with completely new (and difficult!) patterns. They both have a new boss at the end of them.

And, unless you changed something since the initial complaints, I can't see how anyone could mistake the medals for bullets.

They had been transparent since the 2006 re-release. Glad you like the effect.

Sorry to hear that you're no longer in the shmup-making business, but at least you left the genre with one more feather in it's cap. Again, thanks for that.

I uh .. changed my mind.

http://rydia.net/udder/prog/xopblack/ - XOP Black .. basically more XOP. :O

Nice little free game.

Feels alot like Hudson's Star Soldier games. only easier.

Have you tried Very Hard? The skill levels make a huge difference in challenge.

[nimitz]

just tried XOP: Black. The pace is much better (not as much no-action moments) and the game feels better quality overall. Is there a way to remove the scanlines?


Also wich difficulty setting the game/games were designed around? If it's the normal or default setting I don't see how playing on very hard will make the game better.

[Udderdude]

just tried XOP: Black. The pace is much better (not as much no-action moments) and the game feels better quality overall. Is there a way to remove the scanlines?

Also wich difficulty setting the game/games were designed around? If it's the normal or default setting I don't see how playing on very hard will make the game better.

You can set the screen res to 400x300 to remove scanlines.

It was designed around Very Hard (you see 100% of the bullets there) but I made Normal default to make things easier for non-shmup maniacs. On normal, you see 1/4 of the bullets. On hard, you see 1/2.

[nimitz]

I tried both on Very hard and with "Fast mode" (70 fps). and I have to admit the games get pretty intense and fun; Especially XOP Black which feels like an Ikeda shmup on the "Very hard" setting.

Kinda makes me wonder why there are all these useless difficulty settings instead of making it "Very Hard" only. I mean if you hadn't told me the games were designed around it I probably would never have tried. Most people alway play default settings because this is usually how the game is meant to be played (except games like mushi where the different difficulty setting are actually different games altogether).

Also, what exactly are the Maniac and Massacre modes? more enemies?

[shoe-sama]

turns into touhou

[Udderdude]

I tried both on Very hard and with "Fast mode" (70 fps). and I have to admit the games get pretty intense and fun; Especially XOP Black which feels like an Ikeda shmup on the "Very hard" setting.

Thanks

Kinda makes me wonder why there are all these useless difficulty settings instead of making it "Very Hard" only. I mean if you hadn't told me the games were designed around it I probably would never have tried. Most people alway play default settings because this is usually how the game is meant to be played (except games like mushi where the different difficulty setting are actually different games altogether).

The other difficulty settings are not useless, they are there for players who aren't manic shmup fans like us. And trust me, there are way more of them than there are of us. If I made Very Hard the default or only skill, the vast majority of players would just not even bother. I wanted to make the game enjoyable to manic shmup players, and friends who hardly play games at all.

I agree that I could have put more effort into the lower skills, though. As it is, the only real difference between them is less bullets flying around. If I make another game with skill levels, it will likely be set up like Mushi (3 skill levels).

Personally, if I played a game on normal and found it too easy, you can bet I'd see if there are other skill levels to make it more challenging for myself. I guess not everyone is curious about that, though. It's not like an arcade game where the skill levels hardly change anything, and everyone plays on the default settings.

Also, what exactly are the Maniac and Massacre modes? more enemies?

Maniac makes the enemy shots and your ship move faster, although there are less bullets. Massacre mode adds 2x the enemies and your ship fires 2x as much.

[bakaichi]

I wouldn't consider myself an manic shmup fan (haven't played it much), but I still found the normal setting really boring and far to easy. Very hard is nice though, sort of addicting. It's a kind of game thats easy to get into. It's possible to be very god at it instantly unlike many shmups I played that recure a lot of training to master (for me anyway).

[Udderdude]

I wouldn't consider myself an manic shmup fan (haven't played it much), but I still found the normal setting really boring and far to easy. Very hard is nice though, sort of addicting. It's a kind of game thats easy to get into. It's possible to be very god at it instantly unlike many shmups I played that recure a lot of training to master (for me anyway).

Keep in mind the original XOP was released back in 2002. XOP Black is much more difficult. Although I guess that's not much of an excuse seeing as CAVE released DOJ in 2003, which is considered one of the most difficult shmups ever made.

[nimitz]

turns into touhou

Even though i pretty much hate how slow the touhou games are. With the 70 fps "Fast mode" with maniac option turned on, XOP/XOB Black is nothing like touhou.

I wouldn't consider myself an manic shmup fan (haven't played it much), but I still found the normal setting really boring and far to easy. Very hard is nice though, sort of addicting.

Indeed, the Very Hard setting is pretty much what you would expect from an arcade game at Default or "normal" difficulty setting. The easier ones are pretty boring. That being said, I wonder how the later levels will look like at "very hard".

[Momijitsuki]

I'm very impressed. I like it!

[shoe-sama]

turns into touhou

Even though i pretty much hate how slow the touhou games are. With the 70 fps "Fast mode" with maniac option turned on, XOP/XOB Black is nothing like touhou.

Well one of the modes felt slow to me.
It wasn't maniac iirc though

[Udderdude]

turns into touhou

Even though i pretty much hate how slow the touhou games are. With the 70 fps "Fast mode" with maniac option turned on, XOP/XOB Black is nothing like touhou.

Well one of the modes felt slow to me.
It wasn't maniac iirc though

That's sludge mode. Ship and bullets move slower, and there are 2x as many bullets. Definitely feels like Touhou, although when I added it I had never played a Touhou game before.

[X-Tech]

Cool game. Great replayability.
I like come back to this title.
Sounds of fruits splash when we shooting non machine enemies is avesome.
Good stuff and freeware.

[Sasupoika]

Just to mention it here; I recently 1cc'd Insane-mode of XOP Black. Took so long. Atleast I did it before Plasmo.
Video:
Part 1
Part 2

[Udderdude]

I am working on yet another update to XOP, since the 2008 update. This is an expanded version of the 2010 update, which was only very minor changes. Adding some new modes, you can see video of them here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3M8lfO_OOs Absorb Mode Preview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XJ9TF7Os8o Death Mode Preview

Also, top secret footage of XOP 3, DO NOT SHARE IZ SECRET :O http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY8dq6hW0m0

[Plasmo]

Good thing you're improving the original XOP. XOP Black is a solid game as it is now, it doesn't need to be altered any more. I was always feeling that XOP had much more potential than Black, but unfortunately was broken and boring. The stages/backgrounds/enemies are all much more interesting than in Black. What's missing is a solid system, more action and shorter passages.
I once fell asleep while playing XOP for 30mins and I wasn't even halfway through the game...

[Battletoad]

I agree with Plasmo, the graphics in XOP offer much more regarding backgrounds and effects, Black seems to be rather thrifty with it. The new modes are awesome so far, Absorb is cool and has some depth, Death Mode on higher difficulties feels like Psikyo on speed.

By the way, is forum member louisg the credited guy who has made some of the music?
Also, lol XOP 3.

[NAVVARR]

Was XOP not released for the Amiga- way back?

-I seem to remember a game for XOP for the Amiga- or was it XOR - or something similar?

[Udderdude]

Plasmo: I agree older versions of XOP were pretty retarded. One of the big changes is the arcade mode now has 5 stages instead of 8. And there's no loops. The levels in arcade mode are now 1,3,5,6,8. I hope you agree that I picked the better ones.

Battletoad: Yeah, that's Louis.

NAVVARR: It was never on the Amiga. You might be thinking of some other game, maybe Xenon?

[Udderdude]

The preview for the third and last Extra mode is up. It's pretty wierd, in that it involves chaining and making a power circle (that replaces reflect shields) which you stay in to blow stuff up for more points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boxzuzP1UzQ

[Shatterhand]

Was XOP not released for the Amiga- way back?

-I seem to remember a game for XOP for the Amiga- or was it XOR - or something similar?

XP8 maybe? Excellent graphics, horrible gameplay. It's the opposite of XOP

[Drum]

The graphics in XOP are awesome you charlatans. It perfectly captures the feel of what it meant to pull off graphically: Poorly emulated Korean bootleg of a Toaplan game.

[Battletoad]

Who said something bad about XOP's graphics?

[jonny5]

The graphics in XOP are awesome you charlatans. It perfectly captures the feel of what it meant to pull off graphically: Poorly emulated Korean bootleg of a Toaplan game.

[Udderdude]

Get it right man, it's a Canadian bootleg. >_>

I'm also updating XOP Black a bit, adding a new course that lets you play only the 2nd loop. 1st loop and/or 2 loop game haters rejoice ;P

New shot patterns for bosses/midbosses, too : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CsOzn-ENog

[Drum]

Get it right man, it's a Canadian bootleg. >_>

Well, Canada is to the US as Korea is to Japan (Full disclosure: I'm from New Zealand, which is basically the Canada of the South Pacific).

New bullet patterns look spicy!

[Udderdude]

XOP's level 1 was by far the least visually consistent and worst looking level in the entire series. While the other levels had a consistent style and theme (or at the very least, didn't look like they were slapped together with sticky tape, glue and unfinished programmer art), XOP level 1 never really gelled into anything other than "blah". Although it kind of makes sense, since level 1 was the first level I ever tried making with the game engine, so it was always a test level that just sort of stuck around longer than it should have.

So I thought I would go back and fix things up. The result isn't amazing, but at least now it looks visually consistent and doesn't look like half the art is unfinished. You'll also notice those stupid blocks are now destroyable, and there's a lot less of them. You even get some coins out of them. Yay!

Also, you can see the new V.Cannon weapon, which was changed to fire a small projectile that explodes in 5 shots. Previously the V.Cannon was pretty much useless except for bosses, where it was massively overpowered. Now it's actually useful! :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4uqES6FItE

[Udderdude]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQpSJqRAAU

:D :D :D

[Plasmo]

Looks awesome! How to reach it??!

[Battletoad]

Yep looks great, especially the boss.

But why another revision of XOP Black with the new patterns?
I don't want to play everything again.