The Blue Flamingo (Steam)

[CloudyMusic]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/302010/

Showed up on Steam today. Developed by Might & Delight, a studio that (as far as I can tell) seems to specialize in games with interesting art styles but simple gameplay. The game's big selling point seems to be that almost every element of the game's art was photographed from real-life models. It looks striking, certainly, but I'm not sure if it actually looks good for a shmup.

Aside from the art, the central element of the game seems to be a Spelunky-like scoring system where you can spend your points like currency on upgrades to make you stronger for the remainer of the credit, but that also obviously subtracts from your score. Maybe there's more to the game than the trailer shows -- the developers claim there's a significant difficulty ramp -- but the actual shooting action showcased in the trailer looks extremely simplistic.

[DestroyTheCore]

inb4 DRM becomes the main topic of this thread

[BareKnuckleRoo]

A quick skim of this video, and it looks like the main gun has problems dealing with popcorn. :/

[CStarFlare]

I've only seen those two screenshots but the title implies a much more colorful game.

[BIL]

Expected another new feathered friend for Chacker. 3;

[Pretas]

Tyrian HD: Hipster Edition would be a more fitting alternate title.

[Jeneki]

I have to admit "invest your score into upgrades" is a huge turnoff. And it looks like they are trying to push the artstyle more than the gameplay. But eh, it's five bucks so I'm sure I'll try it out sooner or later.

[Iron Peach]

Very cool aesthetic, though controls are obviously mouse based. Reminds me of Platypus a bit. Bravo and good luck to them!

[spadgy]

I too remain sceptical about the gameplay, but I love the physically-built element.

This is just a crappy Youtube video grab, but they built a 32 foot long model level for it. Even the explosions are made by filming fireworks, bangers etc.! Must have been great fun to do.

[CStarFlare]

OK, that's pretty cool.

[BIL]

Yeah, that at least is neat. Much like Psikyo's pioneering collaboration with Ray Harryhausen in Sol Divide!

[CloudyMusic]

Giant Bomb did a Quick Look if you want to see it in action. Don't expect pro play or shmup knowledge, obviously, but you've got 15 uncut minutes of gameplay there.

[spadgy]

Yeah, that at least is neat.

Yeah. I mean, I'd love to spend a few days building that. Must have been an amazing challenge.

[spadgy]

Here's a fairly rough round the edge video of the model's construction.

It does let you see the model in a little more detail. I love all the touches, like the way they've used 3.5" floppies as the floor of the hanger.

[Ed Oscuro]

That's got to be the limpest UI I've ever seen. And look, the gauge even gets painted over by explosions! (Or possibly gamma-flooded, whatever.)

Think the visuals look bad, myself, though perhaps they would be better if the thing you're moving around looked like it fit with the world's first kitbash shmup.

Isn't this just taking the photographed objects and painting them on polygons? The model layout suggests an almost Tetsuooo Gay Den-like AVI backdrop but I assume that's not the case here for the sake of using a modern scalable engine. Didn't notice obvious seams anywhere though. Of course this wouldn't be a problem if the world was entirely flat with no perspective / shadowing changes for tall buildings and stuff.

[genjuro]

Giant Bomb did a Quick Look if you want to see it in action. Don't expect pro play or shmup knowledge, obviously, but you've got 15 uncut minutes of gameplay there.

Watched that last night. Love the idea of it, but everything about it seems janky.

Only five bucks though.

[genjuro]

That's got to be the limpest UI I've ever seen. And look, the gauge even gets painted over by explosions! (Or possibly gamma-flooded, whatever.)

Think the visuals look bad, myself, though perhaps they would be better if the thing you're moving around looked like it fit with the world's first kitbash shmup.

Isn't this just taking the photographed objects and painting them on polygons? The model layout suggests an almost Tetsuooo Gay Den-like AVI backdrop but I assume that's not the case here for the sake of using a modern scalable engine. Didn't notice obvious seams anywhere though. Of course this wouldn't be a problem if the world was entirely flat with no perspective / shadowing changes for tall buildings and stuff.

It's clear from the GiantBomb quicklook that the backdrop is just a video they shot of the model. It looks compressed and artifact-y. Looks like they just rolled a camera flatly over the length of the models.

[Cagar]

The gameplay is pretty much as bad as a shmup can get

But holy actual & literal shit that is holy as hell, as a visual art project this gets a 10/10

[spadgy]

It does seem that all who play it find the gameplay shonky. I'm still beguiled by the model making process.

And it does seem from the video I posted above that they did role a camera along the model.

And the ship sprites are physical too; little clay models. But I agree; they do look a bit out of place.

[Doctor Butler]

I too remain sceptical about the gameplay, but I love the physically-built element.

This is just a crappy Youtube video grab, but they built a 32 foot long model level for it. Even the explosions are made by filming fireworks, bangers etc.! Must have been great fun to do.

but...

I have to admit "invest your score into upgrades" is a huge turnoff. And it looks like they are trying to push the artstyle more than the gameplay. But eh, it's five bucks so I'm sure I'll try it out sooner or later.

I really wish this great idea wasn't wasted on what appears to be a shallow mainstream shooter.

[Ed Oscuro]

Live Action Tetsuoooo Gay Den confirmed!

[mice]

So, doing the bkg like this can't have been cheaper than doing computer models, right?
Who took that decision? If I only had money to throw away like that.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Yet another sufferer of Sine Mora Syndrome. Spend all of your time hyping up the game art & music without spending any time actually making the game itself fun, and this is what you get. Welcome to the modern age of shmupping.

Lifebar shmup. Ick. Almost no action onscreen at any given point, action. Ick. Every single review talks about how the game art was filmed instead of focusing on what the gameplay itself is like. Ick, very bad sign. I'm not sure if the gameplay video I saw was on super easy mode or if it actually gets somewhat interesting later in the game (I doubt it), but this makes older DOS shmups like Raptor and Tyrian 2000 look amazing by comparison. Graphics also look boring, it's dirty browns and greys as far as the eye can see. The video I saw seemed to be mouse controlled (ick), but I also bet keyboard/controller play has inertia. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

Anyone else notice the money counter is displayed as "$.1111"? What's with that decimal point there? THAT'S NOT HOW MONEY WORKS.

I don't know why anyone would want to play this when Crimzon Clover World Ignition is also on Steam. Maybe if you like fancy art projects masquerading as "games", but there's much more artistically interesting shmups out there that are actually enjoyable so why waste your money?

[Kollision]

so much potential, wasted

[Doctor Butler]

...Maybe if you like fancy art projects masquerading as "games"...

Unfortunately, much of the gaming market consists of people with this mentality.

[Ed Oscuro]

Anyone else notice the money counter is displayed as "$.1111"?

Yeah. Probably "becuz alternate history lolol" or some such.

It's also not how highscores work. They are pretty high level trolls, getting the highscore wrong in two pretty obvious ways in just one number.

[spadgy]

I don't know why anyone would want to play this when Crimzon Clover World Ignition is also on Steam. Maybe if you like fancy art projects masquerading as "games", but there's much more artistically interesting shmups out there that are actually enjoyable so why waste your money?

I don't mind the odd art-wank/gallery wall game, but only if the experience of the interaction is of a good quality. I should say I'm still yet to play this, but if the gameplay is as shallow and empty as everybody says, it seems such an odd design choice; to go so far into the design/aesthetic, and be bold and interesting on that front, and then (apparently) seem to give a passing glance to the mechanics, interaction and gameplay. When developers do this it seems to totally undermine the good stuff, if what is at the core of games is given little attention (if that is what happened here). If I were ever to make a visually distinct project like this, I'd be very keen for those visuals to serve as dressing for an equally great – or better – game.

If it really is this bad, what happened, I wonder? Did they just not research shmups and think this was what the genre was about (surely not!), or look at the diversity of the genre and decide something shallow and Euroshmuppy was best (seems odd?). Or just decide good gameplay wasn't right for giving the look attention? None make sense to me.

Of course, I'm basing the above on what I've heard from others (and it should be said some out in the mainstream seem to enjoy The Blue Flamingo's simplicity and such). I loath people who blast a game or film as being harmfully violent or whatever when they've not seen it. So I reserve the right to change my mind entirely! And you can completely ignore me!

I really wish this great idea wasn't wasted on what appears to be a shallow mainstream shooter.

I really wish 'shallow' and 'mainstream' weren't bedfellows in the shmup genre! Of course, the deep, tough and intricate shooters are tough to get into. It's just a shame the likes of Sine Mora (which I do have some positive things to say about) are often the genre's mainstream representative.

[CloudyMusic]

I haven't played it, but the videos sort of give me the impression of a game made by people who don't have much experience with the genre, or much knowledge of what goes into a fun STG. Enemies just sort of come in periodically in various recurring formations (3-4 in an offset line, 2 mirrored on both sides, etc), and after a while, the stage just...ends. Seemingly no real sense of buildup or structure. The player's weapon is a pea shooter, and enemies sometimes just dive down the screen without firing a single shot. It almost seems like they're going for a fixed shooter feel at times, except with a scrolling background.

[Ed Oscuro]

[...] it seems such an odd design choice; to go so far into the design/aesthetic, and be bold and interesting on that front, and then (apparently) seem to give a passing glance to the mechanics, interaction and gameplay.

But they're using an FMV - same as TETSUO GAYDEN and the same as the laserdisc games of old. I'm sure you can make a great shmup with prerendered stuff entirely, but this is still limiting from the start. Easier just to shovel any old thing on top of the background than to try to mesh the fore and background.

I also think this is just the wrong choice for a shmup in 2014 - maybe, with adaptive sync technologies and variable framerate displays, and consoles still dominated by 30/60Hz, not as bad a choice - but it is a bad choice for Steam and anybody whose system might render better framerates than this. I suppose this is an issue that has mostly been avoided by technological backwardness in the genre, but I doubt this will help the future longevity of this release. Just as importantly, I doubt that they have really good footage for 4K displays or anything a nudge above 1080p. Unless they have a higher resolution this is going to start to look dated from day one.

Sometimes great things happen when you just say "to hell with the technical problems." But sometimes it's a sign of lack of foresight or reasonableness. I suspect that this is a vivid case of the latter.

[Doctor Butler]

I haven't played it, but the videos sort of give me the impression of a game made by people who don't have much experience with the genre, or much knowledge of what goes into a fun STG.

This is surprisingly common amongst western-indie titles. They have this rudimentary understanding of the genre that doesn't really progress past the gameplay of 1942. Their game is visually impressive, (or at least the stages are, those sprites are ugly as hell), but the gameplay looks more like a Game-Maker demo.

They don't know how to make shooters.