mices - Gun.Smoke tribute, Broken Pearl, Twin Tiger Shark

[mice]

TTS 2000:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2efK5IgaMw

[emphatic]

TTS 2000:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2efK5IgaMw

[mice]

Spiritual successor, I think the word is.

Same color for explosions, enemy bullets and main bullets because I can get away with it. Yes.
Not being limited to biplanes and such is so much fun.
Ground enemies and the shadow effects are up next.

[emphatic]

Spiritual successor, I think the word is.

Some kind of scoring system, or a straight Toaplan space shooter? I've always liked the Twin Cobra scoring system, collecting stars from ground enemies - collect 95% in a stage = receive a 1UP. This requires really long stages though. Also, no-missing a stage gives bonus x collected stars.

I had some ideas for a Twin Cobra arrange mode hack here, feel free to use them if you like 'em: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 0&start=62

[mice]

Some kind of scoring system, or a straight Toaplan space shooter?

When you wrote "bonus x" it hit me that I've always wanted to do a pinball-kind of scoring mechanic. Like, get bonus and bonus-x coupled with playing modes somehow.

Maybe, collect stars as raw bonus and have the pickup-dropper have a "bonus-x" pickup. So, you choose between power ups and the bonus-multiplier.
This is brilliant, makes you want to play naked if you play for score. God, what a good idea.

[emphatic]

Maybe, collect stars as raw bonus and have the pickup-dropper have a "bonus-x" pickup. So, you choose between power ups and the bonus-multiplier.
This is brilliant, makes you want to play naked if you play for score. God, what a good idea.

How about adding a "star power", like the lard gun in Muchi Muchi Pork? This would be a one-off type of deal that's piercing and I have some pinball style ideas for it here:

* When you collect enough stars (20+?) the words "star challenge ready!" appears on screen

* When the Star Power is available, formations of otherwise hidden ground targets (pinball style pop-up ones?) become visible and if you position yourself correctly so that if your star attack is fired just as the first one is about to go off screen, it will eat it's way through all targets and as long as the attack is on screen, more of these targets will turn up, like a jackpot of sorts

* Mimicking a multiball challenge, the star power will linger after being fired when a jackpot is scored and another line of targets will pop up, but if you miss them, the star power can't be accessed for the rest of that stage, collected stars or not, making planning and skill a necessity to score well

* The words "hurry up" can flash as the lingering is about to end

* Using the regular shot on the special targets only shows sparks and a flashing B button

* Firing the Star weapon on regular enemies causes them to always leave stars, so it can be used to gain extra points + recharge the star power while saving the challenge for later in the stage (for advanced score players)

* Saving the star weapon past the stage boss gives the player a secret bonus that combined with a much higher star count than what the regular shot allows will reveal a really colourful, flashy secret bonus stage (in a pinball setting?)

* Firing the star power at a boss will kill it instantly and give a rain of stars

^This is all brainstorming, so if something doesn't make sense, you'll know why.

[mice]

Ha, super! All good ideas!

I thought that the modes would be the "stage select" (of 3) at the beginning and the mission objective for each mode would be to clear out some special enemies (as briefed at the stage start) a long the way. Successful completion (not just clearing) of the stages would render you the "grand finale" (true last stage as well as TLB) instead of the "not so grand finale".

And multiball would be activated when releasing 3 caged hostages (or the like). The multiball would be two side kicks helping you during a "space invaders" type timed battle (starting seamlessly during normal action).

[mice]

We got "tanks"!

[spadgy]

So much work this past week-and-a-half I've barely touched the forum or shmups themselves; delighted to return to see there's a new mice game inbound! Glad to hear you've been busy too mice!

[mice]

Thanks spadgy!

In other news, it looks like I will be having a stand* at the http://www.retrospelsmassan.se/ , May 3rd. \o/

Big fat arse TV, tated, and a cheap Dilong arcade stick in front of it, running the expo-version of TTS.
That's it, I think. Maybe some framed pictures (screenshots) of Broken Pearl and a few photo copied TTS "operator manuals" for people to take. Oh, and QR codes going to the XBOX download page.
Was thinking about having a small competition as well...but that might be too much work.
Will be so much fun to play a real business.

*= a table...

[emphatic]

^^Great! I wish I could be there and say hello.

[mice]

Noooo...my xblig dev account has expired...that's like, not fun. Thought it would expire in April.
That means that there won't be a xblig patch for TTS in the near future beacuse, right now, I really don't feel like renewing it.
This is really bad so I'm really, really sorry about it.

[trap15]

I'd be willing to pitch towards a "get mice another year of xblig" fund. Could probably toss in $25. Anyone else? :3

[mice]

You're too nice trap!
Maybe I should create a kickstarter-thing...or use all of the monnies from the sales...

I just paid the "stand" at the expo now, wohoo! And I made the first 4 pages of the operator manual.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/457 ... Manual.pdf

Will photo-copy a print of it and print out those, for that extra, extra retro PCB feeling.

Edit: Aaah, I need flyers as well...forgot about that.

[emphatic]

I'd be willing to pitch towards a "get mice another year of xblig" fund. Could probably toss in $25. Anyone else? :3

[mice]

The Japan-marketing thing (yay!) just got live so now I'll have to pay for another year to be able to release another game so I'll get those funds earned now from MS...this is becoming a catch 22 kind of thing.
We'll see when this happens. Not before May, that I know.

In other news:

• * I ordered a bunch of merchandise to give away as a prize in the TTS compo at the expo.
  * You can now select mission at the start of each stage in Broken Pearl.
  * Just started on a beastiary (beasts locked up after killing them) so you know what the different missions are really about.
  * Each ship will have it's own smart bomb animation (see screen).

Claw smart bomb (yeah, blue bkg and blue claws clashed a bit...) coming in from the sides:

[emphatic]

Claw smart bomb (yeah, blue bkg and blue claws clashed a bit...) coming in from the sides:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45790588/claws.png

Wouldn't it make sense to have the claws under the player sprite?

[mice]

Wouldn't it make sense to have the claws under the player sprite?

True.

Mission select screen, different missions for each stage planned. See? This really needs a beastiary.

[KennyMan666]

the TTS compo at [Retrospelsmässan]

Bring it on.

[mice]

Bring it on.

Just got the merchandise to use for the compo, a coffe mug and a t-shirt (L). Looks OK. \o/
Will do a special PC/MAC/LINUX version (on a USB stick or CD) with a nice insert for the winner as well.
The compo version is set to Easy for the first stage but as soon as stage 2 starts it's cranked up to Insane.
Really looking forward to retrospelsmässan now!

But the flyers that came in the packet were bent and the cut was kind of off..

Broken Pearl now has a beastiary as well, cool as h**l.

[ciox]

Broken Pearl now has a beastiary as well, cool as h**l.

I support this, they're a good fit for shmups where enemy types are numerous and have quirks you need to remember. There's a nice one in R-Type Final (Bydo Lab) which also has something similar for the 100 or so player ships in the game (R Museum) but I can't think of any other examples really, they must be pretty rare.

[mice]

where enemy types are numerous and have quirks

Or to get to know their names, which is a must here. Don't know if that's good or not, yet.

Current flow. You get to select ship only once per game, though. Also, the stage select is gone.
Ship -> Map -> Mission -> Play -> Bonus -> Map -> ... etc

-> -> ->

[BPzeBanshee]

Cue Raiden Fighters Mission Briefing music.

[mice]

Cue Raiden Fighters Mission Briefing music.

160+ bpm ftw!
I've "ordered" that before from Hans, but I always end up getting larghissimo.

New mission select screen and a proper HUD impl:

[emphatic]

Cool!

[mice]

New vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc1nZC8NyrY

God I (still) love that tune...

[emphatic]

Looks fun! I like the tune too.

[Dave_K.]

Slight layer priority issue with select vessel screen, but everything else looks amazingly good! Great work so far.

[mice]

Seeing how crappy the videos turn out, I implemented "xuggler" to have the game make a MP4 video for me now instead.
Best idea I ever had. Super crisp 60fps stuff! Going to record a new one and make public tonight.
A side effect is that I will look like a shmup-masta dodging bullets since the frame rate will drop while recording...

[HonestFlames]

Hi! New to the forum. Registered purely to comment here.

Bought Twin Tiger Shark on Xbox today and myself and my friend have been cursing at the TV and each other this afternoon, trying to best each other's score. Great game! Even though you say it was 'thrown together', it's nice and simple and it means average folk can enjoy it (I love bullet hell, but I'm not so good at them).

I know you also let your Xbox dev account slide, but I would be happy to pitch in a little for you to patch so that easy and hard mode scores were put in a separate hiscore board. We've been switching between the two, but keeping track of scores is a challenge.

There's also some weirdness when signing in/out of profiles to switch between players, but that's not a terrible problem.

Thanks for a great game. Please keep up the good work!