Degica Shmups Thread

[Bonus!]

PIn general I found that older shmup 80-90-00 are a lot more successful than the newer ones. Gradius/parodius/DDP are constantly played. Ikaruga/battle garrega too. Classics I would say. Cave games are also hugely popular, psikyo/raizing: not so much.

What is the audience like? I mean, did you see many older folks playing their favorite games over and over, just like I've been coming back to Super Mario World for about 20 years now, or do the younger ones also seem more attracted to classic shmups?

[-S.L-]

In my opinion and based on what I see, I would judge that the average age of a Japanese shmup player (in arcades !) is 30+ to 40+

The olders plays the older games (8bits style), I have not seen much really young player on shooting cabs. By young i mean 18/20+

The young players are full on fighting games (and maybe shmups at home ? Touhou ? 360 ? this I can't say)

I won't even go on UFO catchers territory. I still wonder how come Japanese people (smart people) can put coins in those shit with a 99% chance of wasting money / time.

[Bonus!]

It could well be that the younger generation has largely been lost due to smart phones/tablets, both here in the Western world as well as in Japan.

[Brainpalace]

If anyone from Degica is still reading this, I have one small feature request that would be wonderful:

Separate bindings for keyboard and joystick controls.

It always messes me up when I set up the game to use my 360 pad and then switch to keyboard or vice-versa. Having the keys labeled too would be another nice feature.

Other than that, I want to say that Yotsubane made an incredible shooting title. Certainly among the very finest shmups of the last decade.

[Blackbird]

Yep, I'm following. I've mentioned it as a feature request but it's up to Yotsubane to decide if he'd like to add that feature. Glad you liked the game!

[Warp_Rattler]

I don't check the board on a daily basis, but I wanted to express my gratitude to you, Blackbird, and everyone else who was involved in securing the future GOG.com release. I use and enjoy Steam quite a bit--cloud saves and automatic updates are some of the excellent benefits of the platform--but if there's a release both on Steam and GOG, I'll go with the GOG purchase every time because I support their DRM free approach to gaming, and believe as they do that it is both a sustainable model and a better alternative than encumbering releases with DRM schemes.

With a game I really enjoy--like Crimzon Clover--I don't even mind double-dipping, since I bought it on Steam on day one (technically, I guess I'm triple-dipping since I owned the original release before that). It would have been better to see a simultaneous release on all platforms, but I understand that sometimes these things aren't considered until later.

In any case, thank you (and everyone involved in the decision). It is very much appreciated.

[MathU]

I feel similarly, but it really needs to be noted that a Steam release does not mean developers need to cripple their game with its DRM. It is still a choice, and they chose poorly.

I am very glad they've decided to change their minds on this and applaud them for it. If such a high-profile release like this can manage to turn things around then I'm less fearful for the future of PC shooters. Now only Ikaruga is the major harmful element able to influence future publisher decisions.

So does this mean that the Steam release will be "unlocked" from Steam CEG as well? Or is the absence of DRM going to be exclusive to GOG?

[Blackbird]

Well, I can't take too much credit for the incoming GOG release, haha. Although I encouraged them to release the game on that platform, they were already planning to do it before I signed up with them. I get the impression that the inclusion of the Steam DRM was a concession made in order to enable other features like the global leaderboard. For now, I think the GOG version will be the only DRM free one.

[MathU]

Is forced Steam use really a requirement for optional online score boards though? I know for a fact it isn't the case with Steam's Achievements system at least. The remake of La-Mulana sold over Steam incorporates this while still allowing you to run the game without Steam if you don't want it.

[Bananamatic]

any new replays?

[Milspex]

xbla release?

[Bonus!]

I've now had a few runs where the frame rate noisedived at either the stage 2 or the stage 4 boss, invalidating my runs. It seems I'm getting better at blowing stuff up in this game. I'd like to keep submitting valid scores, though.

I've been putting off buying a graphics card (running on Intel HD now), but I was wondering: will a better graphics card affect 2d performance, or should I instead pour some money into a better CPU (right now running on a Pentium with Intel HD 2500), with a better version of Intel HD graphics (like an i5 with Intel HD 5000 or whatever it's called)? Cost-wise, it wouldn't be that much of a difference, and I've been thinking of upgrading the CPU anyway.

Opinions? Note that I would find it much easier to justify paying > 100 for a new CPU than a graphics card, since all I'm playing on PC are shmups anyway. But if you told me that a graphics card for 50 or 60 bucks would do, I'd probably go for that instead.

[Blackbird]

Generally speaking, an upgraded GPU gives better framerate gains (and is easier to install) than a new CPU. Just do your research to make sure that the GPU you're looking at is actually an upgrade. Hardware nomenclature can be confusing.

If I haven't seen any new replays in a few days I'll remind my colleagues, haha.

[Warp_Rattler]

I've been putting off buying a graphics card (running on Intel HD now), but I was wondering: will a better graphics card affect 2d performance, or should I instead pour some money into a better CPU (right now running on a Pentium with Intel HD 2500), with a better version of Intel HD graphics (like an i5 with Intel HD 5000 or whatever it's called)? Cost-wise, it wouldn't be that much of a difference, and I've been thinking of upgrading the CPU anyway.

I've been playing on a laptop with an i3-4000 (Haswell) CPU and the HD 4600 Intel graphics, and I've never once had my framerate drop below 59FPS. Though I don't expect great results from anything really 3D intensive, I have been constantly surprised at the general performance of the GPU in these 4th generation Core processors--in most cases (Minecraft being one odd exception) this system feels like it runs rings around my older Core 2 Duo laptop with a discrete, 256MB Radeon GPU. An i5 with the HD 4600 or better graphics would probably suit you just fine for this game, and it sounds like your CPU is probably in greater need of upgrade at this point anyways.

[Bananamatic]

Does anyone have the artwork with all the enemies and their point values? I remember seeing it somewhere but I can't find it anymore

[ciox]

Does anyone have the artwork with all the enemies and their point values? I remember seeing it somewhere but I can't find it anymore

It's on the Nesica version's website http://www.bouken.jp/pd/cc4n/stage.html

[Bananamatic]

damn, considered looking there but had issues searching in japanese

so the big ships on st3 give 25k for the side parts, but only 15k for killing the ship itself? unintuitive yet interesting(and easy to pull off)
fully taking advantage of the of the optional parts of the bosses is pretty damn hard to do properly on unlimited though

[-S.L-]

Well, here is a request now for Blackbird

English website please for Bouken.jp

[Blackbird]

English website please for Bouken.jp

I've recommended this so hard, you don't even know. There is a bit of a rights hurdle because Bouken is actually a different company entirely from Degica; ideally, we could just "borrow" the website from them and translate it into English and it would be an ideal website, but first we must obtain permission.

[-S.L-]

Good English please. No typical "Japanese English" aka absolutely non sense translation

[Blackbird]

Is anyone on here fluent in Spanish? I would like to present Crimzon Clover to gaming review websites vandal.net and 3djuegos, but I'm not super confident in my Spanish skills. A little translation assistance would be helpful.

[Oniros]

Is anyone on here fluent in Spanish? I would like to present Crimzon Clover to gaming review websites vandal.net and 3djuegos, but I'm not super confident in my Spanish skills. A little translation assistance would be helpful.

Shoot me a PM, I'd be glad to help!

[-S.L-]

I'm fluent in French, in case you need it.

[Blackbird]

^Thanks folks, I'll PM you in a bit.

Small announcement today: Patch 1.03 is live! This patch adds more robust keyboard configuration options and a lot of bug/crash fixes.

v1.03 Patch Changelog:

Keyboard Config: The option to configure freely P1 and P2 keyboard was added to Key Settings. At the same time, the glitch where keyboard was controlling both ships has been corrected.
Controller Config: The controller config has been expanded, allowing for better setting of P1 and P2 controllers (Key Settings/Controller Settings).

FPS Display: An option to show or hide the FPS has been added to System Settings.
FPS Gauge Display: An option to show or hide the gauges has been added to System Settings.

Training: Fixed the bug in 2P training where the ship would not appear when starting at BOSS 1.
Training: Fixed the bug in 2P training when choosing Boost Mode and Break ON, restarting the training would remove the Break status on.

Online Leader-board: Fixed the bug where pressing START just after changing Mode/Ship would crash the game.

Replay: Fixed the Replay bug where the resize operation would make the replay data incorrect and impossible to accurately replay. Sadly, this cause most replay made with ver1.02 and before to become inaccurate.
We are truly sorry for this, however for the replay you cannot correctly view using v1.03 game, a tool based on old logic was added to the game folder: oldVerReplayPlayer.exe
Using that tool should allow to watch the old replays.

[Domino]

The patch is great so far. I just wish in the future there could be one more update on the controller settings.

Even with the new patch you still aren't allow to assign keys to the X360 RT/LT (the analog Trigger buttons or the Z-Axis in Windows). It would be great to allow the game to assign buttons on those two buttons as well. ATM I have to use Joy2key to use the keyboard Lock button on RT to get it to my liking.

[Mischief Maker]

Every Tuesday and Thursday I've been loading gog expectantly, only to see garbage like Superfrog HD today. Blaaaah!

[Chacranajxy]

Every Tuesday and Thursday I've been loading gog expectantly, only to see garbage like Superfrog HD today. Blaaaah!

Lol, glad I'm not the only one. Doesn't particularly help that they've also ventured into the completely frivolous and utterly uninteresting DRM-free movie biz. Just give us Crimzon Clover, dammit.

[Blackbird]

I kinda wish I knew when the release was going to drop myself ^_^;

[-S.L-]

Every Tuesday and Thursday I've been loading gog expectantly, only to see garbage like Superfrog HD today. Blaaaah!

Lol, glad I'm not the only one. Doesn't particularly help that they've also ventured into the completely frivolous and utterly uninteresting DRM-free movie biz. Just give us Crimzon Clover, dammit.

If I may, this might sounds silly (or not), but if you really want that game, just do like me, open a free account on Steam and get it in 5 minutes.

And this is coming from a guy who doesn't even have a PC, opened a steam account just to get that specific game, and for the little amount it cost, it's a bargain really, you'll have such a high quality game.

[emphatic]

f I may, this might sounds silly (or not), but if you really want that game, just do like me, open a free account on Steam and get it in 5 minutes.

And this is coming from a guy who doesn't even have a PC, opened a steam account just to get that specific game, and for the little amount it cost, it's a bargain really, you'll have such a high quality game.

Exactly what I did. Would love a 360 port though.