Parsec47

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 10:48 am

Blue wrote:Here are my high scores thus far... Hopefully I'll have some decent "hard" scores to post in the near future.

Good job with the scores on normal. I've update the score board. Thanks for making that your first post!
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piyo

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:49 pm

I'm not very good at Hard yet:

Roll Hard
6 956 450 - Blue - keyboard

Lock Hard
6 248 500 - Blue - keyboard

Roll Normal
7 493 600 - Blue - 52 - keyboard

I'm not very good at weaving through dense fields of bullets. Does anyone have any advice? I'm basically just holding "slow" and aiming for the smallest openings I see.

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:27 pm

First of all, good job getting the top Lock - Hard score!

Blue wrote:I'm not very good at weaving through dense fields of bullets. Does anyone have any advice? I'm basically just holding "slow" and aiming for the smallest openings I see.

"smallest openings"

(boggle)
Usually I'd go for the biggest openings.

More margin for avoiding error.

Unfortunately, since this game throws combinations of bullet sprays that may or may not actually have openings (unlike commerically tested shmups, IMO), there's no one set advice.

You may have noticed that most bullet patterns have bullets that go straight toward your position. You can use that to your advantage by "aiming" or "clustering" the enemy's shots with careful and strategic movement. Of course, there are some patterns that don't aim directly at you. Hm.

Try moving up and down the field to dodge bullets. Stay mid-field most of the time, and if you need extra time to react, pull back to gain a little more time to see an opening.

Unlike Lock, Roll has that extra weapon if you scrape against an enemy with your rotating barrier shot. Try scraping it against bosses in "up close and personal" meetings.

The best advice is probably to anticipate the change in patterns (whatever that means) and hone your own skill for recognizing and adapting to bullet movements. Understand when to play risky and when to play safe. In other words, get faster? Try taking on Extreme and seeing what that does to your Hard and Normal scores.

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piyo

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Tue Aug 23, 2005 11:39 pm

I actually meant "largest openings". Whoopies. Thanks for the words of advice, Piyo! That was very helpful. I actually didn't know about the "scraping" attack- I'm sure that will come in handy.
I told myself I'd stop playing on Normal when I hit 10 million, and it finally happened!
Roll Normal
11 276 690 - Blue - 72 - keyboard
Now I 'll concentrate on Extreme and Hard.

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Sat Aug 27, 2005 1:13 am

Blue wrote:Now I 'll concentrate on Extreme and Hard.

Heh, leave some room for the "kings" aw yeah.

score table updated, because I know you like to see your name in red.

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piyo

BUHA · Post by **BUHA** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:19 pm

BUHA - 9869680 - Hard - Roll - Parsec 52

Edit: PS2 Pad

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 11:41 pm

BUHA wrote:BUHA - 9869680 - Hard - Roll - Parsec 52 - PS2 Pad

.
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piyo

BUHA · Post by **BUHA** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:33 pm

Hey Piyo, you made a mistake! My newest score was done in Roll mode, not lock!

But thanks for updating so quickly, anyway! It feels good to be on the top of the list

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 12:03 am

BUHA wrote:Hey Piyo, you made a mistake!

.

Good job on capturing top spot Roll Hard!

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piyo

BUHA · Post by **BUHA** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 12:58 am

BUHA - Roll - Extreme - 6,993,220 - Parsec 40

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:57 pm

BUHA wrote:BUHA - Roll - Extreme - 6,993,220 - Parsec 40

Ya, good job on the score and getting up to extreme! Hi scores post updated.

A witty anecdote about how you got that score would spice this thread up. Kinda like asking for not-so-mild curry at a Japanese curry shop... Oooh red-hot now, get me another glass of water.
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piyo

BUHA · Post by **BUHA** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:15 pm

Piyo, your last post didn't make any sense at all to me! But thanks for updating so quickly

hopefully I'll improve on it soon

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:01 am

Blue - Roll - Hard - 7, 646,900

I picked up the game again after a long hiatus. On a side note, I just found a copy of Tumiki Fighters. It has some nifty ideas in it, but I feel Parsec47 is a more polished game.

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 2:26 pm

Blue wrote:Blue - Roll - Hard - 7, 646,900
I picked up the game again after a long hiatus.

Good job on improving your score! I updated the score board (and noticed that BUHA was at two positions on the Lock - Hard score board, Sorry!)

Blue wrote:On a side note, I just found a copy of Tumiki Fighters. It has some nifty ideas in it, but I feel Parsec47 is a more polished game.

It's my personal opinion that Mr. Kenta Cho should make another Parsec47-type game. That would be like totally sequel-itis. The later games from Mr. Kenta Cho don't do IT for me.

We're coming up on two years of Parsec47... Can your PC still hack the Parsec47?
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piyo

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 8:16 pm

Roll - Extreme - 8,568,380 - 48 -USB pad (Saitek P880)

I just got a new PC, which unlike my old one, can actually handle this game. Pure bliss.

I don't see how anybody can play this with a keyboard...

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:57 pm

Davey wrote:Roll - Extreme - 8,568,380 - 48 -USB pad (Saitek P880)

I just got a new PC, which unlike my old one, can actually handle this game. Pure bliss.

I don't see how anybody can play this with a keyboard...

Good job and congrats on the new PC. Yeah, sweet sweet controllers.

Have you tried playing window mode and maximizing the window? (p47.exe -window) Super duper sharp, so crispy it burns.
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piyo

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:07 am

piyo wrote:Have you tried playing window mode and maximizing the window? (p47.exe -window) Super duper sharp, so crispy it burns.

That is fantastic. Any way to make it look that good in fullscreen? I'd rather not have the taskbar on the screen while I'm playing, even though I end up tuning it out altogether anyway.

Roll - Extreme - 12,580,200 - 65

EDIT -
Roll - Extreme - 13,345,240 - 74

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 3:42 am

Roll - Extreme - 16,714,440 - 89

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:06 am

Davey wrote:Roll - Extreme - 16,714,440 - 89

!?!?!

Maybe I should wait a bit more because you're going to kill the top score pretty soon? Heheh. Congratulations! Board is updated, sir!

(sorry to delay the updates to the board. I know it is good motivation to see your name in lights!)

Davey wrote:That is fantastic. Any way to make it look that good in fullscreen? I'd rather not have the taskbar on the screen while I'm playing, even though I end up tuning it out altogether anyway.

Without modifying the game, you could try hiding the taskbar? That still doesn't get rid of the window frame and the title bar, but it works?

Looking at the source code itself, 640 by 480 is the standard resolution, lowres gives you 320 by 240. Just change the values in /src/abagames/util/sdl/Screen3D.d:22,23 and recompile:

Code: Select all

  static int width = 640;
  static int height = 480;

(While you're fixing that, could you add a command line option to set it variably? And also how about output sound effects only without the music? (Workaround: Loop an silent .mp3))

Of course that's easy to say, but I haven't even figured out how to compile it yet!
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piyo

shiftace · Post by **shiftace** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:44 am

Roll/extreme: shiftace - 15,240,350 - 64 - keyboard

I'll catch you people yet... Maybe...

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:27 pm

shiftace wrote:Roll/extreme: shiftace - 15,240,350 - 64 - keyboard
I'll catch you people yet... Maybe...

I need to buy this keyboard... Heheh...

Score is updated. Great!
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piyo

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:45 am

Heart racing... hands trembling... I'm such a junkie

Roll - Extreme - 19,116,500 - 106

piyo wrote:I need to buy this keyboard... Heheh...

Seriously. If I played with a keyboard, my score would go down by an order of magnitude or so.

rmg · Post by **rmg** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:50 am

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 6:19 am

Davey wrote:Heart racing... hands trembling... I'm such a junkie

OMG. How many minutes of non-stop, frantic playing is that?! 20, 25, 30? Fantastic job! We have a new number one score!

Score table updated. To celebrate the new high score, I added a graph to scores post.

Do you like what you see?

And here's the lesson: Get a new computer, it does wonders for your score.

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piyo

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:55 am

Ah, crap. It appears I inadverently cheated on this one... I never noticed this until now:

Discouraged program options (please add comment if used): -nowait -lowres -window

I used -window. Just curious, why this is discouraged?

As for the ? on the score board, yes, I'm still using the Saitek P880. But I plan on blowing my tax refund on a custom Sanwa PS2 stick sometime soon.

piyo wrote: And here's the lesson: Get a new computer, it does wonders for your score.

Playing a lot of Dangun Feveron helps too.

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:56 am

Davey wrote:I used -window. Just curious, why this is discouraged?

I'm going to keep your score up there, but add a "-window" note. I don't consider -window "cheating", just "discouraged", because it could make a difference in game difficulty level.

I'll explain each one:

-nowait :: makes the game go faster, makes it "harder".
-lowres :: could make the game go faster (resolution at 320x240), makes it "harder".
-window :: could make the game go slower (resolution >640x480), makes it "easier".

I believe "-window" that on a new computer (2004 and later), there is no perceptible slowdown, and therefore there shouldn't be any difference in difficulty. My own experience bears this out.

You just got a 2006 computer, so it probably means it is the same difficulty at any sub-2000x2000 resolution. (WAG, though)

Just so I can compare, what is your -window resolution? I usually play mine at 1280x1024 minus the Windows XP toolbars.

Davey wrote:Playing a lot of Dangun Feveron helps too.

I really gotta look this game up.

Okay, things on my wishlist: shiftace's keyboard, davey's computer, some Dangun Feveron... ;-P
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piyo

Davey · Post by **Davey** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:21 am

piyo wrote:Just so I can compare, what is your -window resolution? I usually play mine at 1280x1024 minus the Windows XP toolbars.

Same here. I do occasionally see slowdown when there's big, thick clouds of bullets, but it's really smooth and controlled so I'm guessing that's the way it's programmed (plus I'm pretty sure it also did that in fullscreen mode). If the computer was really choking, the slowdown would be rough and choppy (like on my old PC).

Actually, playing the game on my old computer doesn't really feel slower, just choppy from all the skipped frames. If anything, it's probably harder because of the jumpiness and irregular timing. But it's hard to say for sure because I never played a full game because it wasn't enjoyable.

piyo wrote:Okay, things on my wishlist: shiftace's keyboard, davey's computer, some Dangun Feveron... ;-P

You really haven't played Dangun Feveron? They play almost identically, Parsec47 is more or less its clone. If you like Parsec 47, you'll probably like it too. Besides...

Which of your own games do you like the best, and why?

PARSEC47. Simple, fast and I can play it like my favorite game, 'Dangun Feveron'.

shiftace · Post by **shiftace** » Wed May 17, 2006 10:43 pm

Lock/extreme: 12 992 360 - shiftace - 63 - keyboard
Roll/extreme: 18 456 640 - shiftace - 79 - keyboard

I seem to get all my high scores at school. The keyboards there are some standard Dell model, just not old and sticky. They seem more responsive than the Vaio keyboard I have at home, and they're nicer than my Model M for tiny movements. I think screen size is a bigger factor for me than controller type.

Other stuff: I think -window is fine, but I'd discourage -slowship -- it doesn't clearly affect the difficulty of scoring, but I think it affects gameplay significantly (harder to collect stuff, maybe easier to dodge). That's just a thought though, not a complaint.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu May 18, 2006 7:52 pm

I just DLed this recently, believe it or not...scores are pretty awful, but I might as well throw my hat into the ring:

Lock (Extreme)

3,328,130 - BulletMagnet - 22 - cheap-o USB controller

(Hard)

4,191,030 - BulletMagnet - 30 - cheap-o USB controller

(Normal)

3,438,230 - BulletMagnet - 31 - cheap-o USB controller

(Practice)

9,943,280 - BulletMagnet - 91 - cheap-o USB controller

Roll (Extreme)

2,942,580 - BulletMagnet - 22 - cheap-o USB controller

(Hard)

5,459,300 - BulletMagnet - 33 - cheap-o USB controller

piyo · Post by **piyo** » Tue May 23, 2006 3:15 am

Oh yeah, I forgot to update the score board, sorry. It's still within a week, so the customer support is good enough, yeah?

shiftace wrote:keyboards there are some standard Dell model

Dell!?!? Is that the base configuration or did you have to go "+100 USD" for that?!?! Hahahaha. OMG, is that Dell guy making a comeback? "Dude you're getting a Dell."

Good job with the scores. I can't say I'm feeling the pressure, *snicker*.

Actually I haven't been playing so my shmup skills are shot. I can't get more than 5 mil these days... Will Lock Extreme position 1 still be mine this time next month?!?

shiftace wrote:Other stuff: I think -window is fine, but I'd discourage -slowship -- it doesn't clearly affect the difficulty of scoring, but I think it affects gameplay significantly (harder to collect stuff, maybe easier to dodge).

Yeah, I agree. The point of listing those options is to show which options affect scoring, since this is a score board thread. I mean it could be possible that one couldn't get an item in time because the ship is slow, but then again it is possible to get all the items if there were no bullets. So I wouldn't say it would affect the score. Does that make any sense?

BulletMagnet wrote:but I might as well throw my hat into the ring

Welcome to the Parsec47, is it in you?!?
(Looks at BulletMagnet's score count) Whoa, do you have time to play shmups?

Well you got position 1 in Practice. Shouldn't you try a harder level?

Kidding aside, good work on the scores. We're probably going to hear more from you, right?

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piyo