NYXX - New shmup out now

[infinitevile]

Hi everyone! We're a small group of guys who are heavlily into shmups and thus decided to create one on our own: NYXX. It's a classical maniac shoot'em'up (running on windows). Took ~2 1/2 years to develop. Original Soundtrack.



Have some Screens:






You can purchase the game at http://www.infinite-vile.com

Anyone who wants to do a review, send an email to info@infinite-vile.com

Best Regards,
Shaden

Infinite Vile

[BulletMagnet]

I watched the video on your site and the game looks solid at a glance, though I get the feeling that some of the old pros around here (though I'm not one of them) might find it a bit too easy. Do you have any more details to offer on how the scoring and other gameplay systems work?

[infinitevile]

Thanks for the feedback!

To answer your questions:

"Hard" is not the most difficult setting, there is also FUNNY. It's mostly the same as hard but adds suicide bullets. Also, the video probably makes the game look to easy 'cause it's played by a developer

Gameplay:
It's pretty straightforward. Shoot enemies and watch them explode.

• Ships can be moved slower by holding down the focus button (default shift) and then also shoot differently, more powerful.
  
  You have a tiny hitbox.
  
  You can bomb, which clears all bullets.
  
  If you make enough points, you get extends.
  
  You can pick up powerups which make you more powerful. Also, there's a burst function: if you pick up a powerup while being fully powered already, it results in a burst shot. Like this:

There's a lot of scoring mechanics, hope i don't forget something:

• Chaining
  Grazing (visually represented by white sparks)
  Point Blanking
  Bonus for No hit and No Bomb
  Bonus for leaving enemies alive longer...

Oh and you can enable scanlines, for those who want the extra tubey feeling

[RaidenViper]

Looks interesting. Is there a demo available?

[n0rtygames]

It's €4.99 - no demo needed. That is peanuts.

Gonna buy this and check it out.

[n0rtygames]

Pretty fun stuff.

If you're gonna be doing any patches to this in the future - please change Boese's bullet colour. Can't see shit vs enemies that fire those blue bullets :p

[zakk]

How is the gamepad support implemented? I'm trying to get this working under (admittedly unsupported) wine, and usually when gamepads don't work it's because of xinput, but the x360ce stuff isn't working here either.

[infinitevile]

I'm trying to get this working under (admittedly unsupported) wine, and usually when gamepads don't work it's because of xinput, but the x360ce stuff isn't working here either.

The game has been confirmed to work with gamepads such as the Logitech F310 in both DirectInput and XInput mode. Also with xbox 360 controller via xinput.

Does the game even work under linux/wine? That alone would be a success, since official support is for Windows only.

[zakk]

I'm trying to get this working under (admittedly unsupported) wine, and usually when gamepads don't work it's because of xinput, but the x360ce stuff isn't working here either.

The game has been confirmed to work with gamepads such as the Logitech F310 in both DirectInput and XInput mode.

Does the game even work under linux/wine? That alone would be a success, since official support is for Windows only.

It seems to work under OSX wine just fine, other than the gamepad thing. I'll see if it's specific to the madcatz TE or something. Although oddly even x360ce fails with it.

[Plasmo]

Why not call "funny" "motherfucker"? It would help us all.

[infinitevile]

NYXX Soundtrack:

Soundcloud: NYXX OST

[-S.L-]

This look solid, I didn't buy yet because...

...my only concern is the following, and I guess it's only a matter of (my) taste :

New shmup is always a good thing ! But to me, there is nothing new with space-shift, robots, space environment, stars and lasers...There are already hundreds of this genre, and a little bit more originality in the design would be awesome. Yes there aren't tons of alternatives, but with a little bit of imagination, we can get something fresh looking instead of the usual-classic space opera genre. We had insects, we had pigs, we had dolls, now we need something new and still eye candy

Now the whole thing looks really well done, no cheap touhou empty design, so on this, congratulation !!

The gameplay looks simple, which can be a good thing for some simple run and action without thinking too much.

[Lord Satori]

I understand what you're saying, but just because it takes place it space doesn't mean it has to be boring.

That being said, I'll say that if the setting WERE unique instead, it would certainly be interesting. As I'm typing this I came up with a couple interesting ones: a setting inside a virtual environment, battling against various computer viruses and the like, or perhaps playing as a micro organism (or a nanobot I guess?) fighting against plagues, diseases, and viruses.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Looks to be 3:4 ratio - is there a tate option?

[infinitevile]

Looks to be 3:4 ratio - is there a tate option?

The game's resolution is 320x360, to scale up nicely in 720p and 1080p.

NYXX does not have a TATE option build in, but you can have most grapics cards do the job to turn your screen, that's supported. Usually Ctrl-Alt-Left. Change that before starting the game though.

[BulletMagnet]

Decided to give this one a shot, here are some early thoughts:

- The site you buy the game from only allows 5 downloads, but I'm not sure if there's a limit to the amount of times/computers you can use the installer on once you've downloaded it.

- Had a bit of trouble configuring my USB pad - some remappings seemed to work, but other times it'd list my choice as "any key" and wouldn't respond. Might have to mess around with Joy2Key...

- No tate option, for those wondering; also no option to run in a window, which I tend to look for as it tends to make stuff run better on my not-so-impressive laptop. That said, the game doesn't run badly even on my machine, though it started to wheeze after a bit of playtime.

- Allow me to be the first to say that yes, the game is tougher than it looks at first, heh. Visuals and sound are, yes, a bit generic, but not to the point where I feel they detract appreciably from the experience.

- Having to balance the higher fire rate of "focused" shots and the higher speed of "normal" fire feels pretty well-tuned, though I would have appreciated a visible hitbox option.

- While I could see enemy bullets without too much trouble, I found power-up items weirdly tough to pick out amidst the shrapnel (which in itself looks nice without being obtrusive otherwise) - as such I'd often unintentionally allow "post-death" pickups to float offscreen and wind up underpowered. I'd suggest more visible items, a longer "remain on screen" time for them, and/or a lack of post-death power-down to mitigate this.

- I also found the post-death invincibility window a bit short, and "re-died" more than once trying to track down the aforementioned power-ups after biting the dust.

- Bosses have extra bits to blow off, which I like to see, though I found it tricky to go for them without damaging the core part, since all three ships have a pretty wide fire spread even when focused.

- It appears that the "chain" bonus, unlike the DonPachi games, isn't awarded with a per-enemy multiplier but as a one-time point boost after the chain ends by dying/bombing/not shooting stuff for a moment or two, so there's no need to prioritize small fry to earn a bigger boost from larger enemies (and you've got extra incentive not to die or bomb during boss fights, which will net you the biggest potential bonus); I also appreciate that even if you screw up and bomb too late you can still get the "no bomb" bonus even if you foul up the "no miss", heh.

- On the whole, I think there needs to be a clearer onscreen indication of exactly what's going on with the various scoring systems at work - while a shmupper will get the basic idea of what they need to do by reading off the list you posted above, even for a genre regular it can be tough to figure out what kind of benefit they're getting or how to improve their performance. There's no indicator of how long you have to keep a chain going between hits, no readout of how close you have to be to an enemy to earn the proximity bonus (or how much that is), and no way to tell if you've left something alive long enough for that award (which I find the most unusual of the bunch, though it probably conflicts with the others at certain points). I understand that you probably don't want the screen cluttered with messages and meters and whatnot, but even if you don't want to change the game itself a tutorial or even a guide on your site would go a long way towards making the game less opaque, especially to non-shmuppers.

EDIT: It might be my configuration, but whenever I hit "shot" during the post-stage roundup it'd apparently interpret that as some manner of "cancel" command and take me back to the menu screen, though if I hit 'focus" it'd take me to the next stage - I'd definitely add some kind of confirmation prompt if it's possible to instantly end a game like that. Also, the "restart?" message after a game over is more of a "continue" feature, since it starts you at the beginning of the most recent stage (though it does reset your score), so you might want to clarify/change that.

Overall a very solid foundation, though it still needs a coat of polish to truly realize its potential.

[infinitevile]

Hi BulletMagnet,

thank you for your honest thoughts! Some valid points you make we have to think about. And maybe put them into a patch once accumulated.

A few of your topics may be helped with:

Sellfy might only allow 5 downloads, but the game has absolutely no restrictions as where to install it or how often.

NYXX can be switched to windowed anytime by pressing F4, it then resorts to it's native resolution, so it's quite smallish. You can then also safely loose focus of the window and do other stuff as it automatically goes into pause.

The powerups are attracted by your ship, so you needn'd fly all the way to get it. There is also the possibility to attract powerups shortly after they moved off-screen.

The proximity bonus can be seen, as the actual "kill" value will shows like this (if it exceeds 100):



You will see this value increase the nearer your ship is positioned.

Regards,
shaden

[Enemy]

Vile, why the hell is this at 30fps, i paid the 4.99 euros for a game in 2d this day and age that runs at 30fps on a pc! please tell me there is an option to get this at 60fps?

[BulletMagnet]

NYXX can be switched to windowed anytime by pressing F4

Unfortunately this doesn't work on my laptop, as F4 is what's used to project onto separate screens...there might be an alternate function that I'm not aware of, but in any event an optimized "play in a window" option (or a couple of options, so as to adjust the resolution to your liking) would be a nice touch.

The powerups are attracted by your ship, so you needn'd fly all the way to get it. There is also the possibility to attract powerups shortly after they moved off-screen.

This is true, but they're still very easy to lose track of: more than once I'd be flattened by an enemy barrage, and by the time the bullets left the screen the spawned powerup would have vanished completely. The small invincibility window, as mentioned earlier, doesn't help when you do have to chase it upscreen, and even if you drop a bomb (which really shouldn't be necessary), that doesn't protect you from collisions.

The proximity bonus can be seen, as the actual "kill" value will be shows like this (if it exceeds 100):

Okay, so that's what that number meant, now it makes sense. If you ever do put up a fuller explanation of everything let us know!

[zakk]

NYXX can be switched to windowed anytime by pressing F4

Unfortunately this doesn't work on my laptop, as F4 is what's used to project onto separate screens...there might be an alternate function that I'm not aware of, but in any event an optimized "play in a window" option (or a couple of options, so as to adjust the resolution to your liking) would be a nice touch.

There's usually a key for toggling between 'special' and 'function' keys on laptops. May be called 'Fn'

[DestroyTheCore]

If it came out in 1995 in a limited edition of 100 PCBs, this forum would be all over it.

[kevinmaccioly]

I didn't buy it yet, but I think that, if it's possible to recieve constructive feedback and improve the game with it, there's nothing wrong.

[Cagar]

Vile, why the hell is this at 30fps, i paid the 4.99 euros for a game in 2d this day and age that runs at 30fps on a pc! please tell me there is an option to get this at 60fps?

WHAT?

[Lord Satori]

There is. Theres a button you click right on the main menu that turns your shitty low processor laptop into a high powered gaming machine.

[Cagar]

There is. Theres a button you click right on the main menu that turns your shitty low processor laptop into a high powered gaming machine.

I don't get it.

[Enemy]

Vile, why the hell is this at 30fps, i paid the 4.99 euros for a game in 2d this day and age that runs at 30fps on a pc! please tell me there is an option to get this at 60fps?

WHAT?

Cagar . What I said above. It runs at 30fps on my pc. Is this a problem with my pc then and it runs at 60fps on everyone else's ?

[-S.L-]

No same here. Seems to be the native resolution for this game.

Which I can't play for other reasons that irritates me to a really high level, such as:

* Way too short invincibility post-death. Same issue as BulletMagnet.
* Patterns in game are really unreadable due to colors way to similar from your ship itself's shots. (for example it's like shooting some dark pink shots into a Mushihimesama, you wont see shit)
* Can't see the hit box, resulting to some random crash...
* Music is, I choose my word carefully, very average if not horrendous, not even talking about the FX's, that sounds like 4 bits. For me, 50% of a game is great music and FX.
* it is completly unclear of why you are chaining, what's going on on screen from what you see and what you actually do is actually really unclear.
* I found the maneuverability of your ship very hazardous, I won't even try the point blanking due to the problems I spoke above. (hit box / patterns colors)
* where are the scanlines you are talking about ? On/Off activated, there is no difference at all, it's all very pixelised.

Ok I think I'll stop here

I'm very sorry to tell you my honnest and brutal opinion, some of these can be improved by a patch I guess.

To resume, I guess this games would fit players who likes to kill standard robots in standard space environement, with an old school feel look a like, but with moderns patterns, without all the eye candy that a modern shmup could offer you (no items / flashing stars or fireworks visuals).

Still after that, I'd encourage people to play this game and try to have their own opinion on it !

[Doctor Butler]

Review is live, IV - http://doctorbutler.blogspot.com/2014/05/nyxx.html

[amerrykan]

Bought this today, really enjoying it! Still figuring out the mechanics and timing. Playing on Normal and haven't seen stage 2 yet. Maybe I should drop a few bombs once in a while.

Also tried to run it under WINE. Sent a bug report off to the devs in email.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Any plans to release NYXX on the indie Ouya console platform? A tate option + scanline option would be cool to see implemented if so. Most low-res based Ouya games don't have the usual scanline option to use anyways.

Of course, running NYXX on a traditional low-res arcade monitor/candy cab setup with an Ultracade UVc setup sounds like the "golden ticket" to replicate that ol' school arcade pcb vibe/feel (albeit with a proper arcade-spec 60fps framerate is obligatory).

PC Engine Fan X!