In Extremis - Looking for Beta Players!

[helpleo]

Hey there, nice people of Shmups.com! I've been developing for the past two years a rather exquisite, unorthodox shmup named In Extremis. In fact, this is neither it's first or second mention in this forum, but it only goes to show how much work I've invested in it since I first came along here.

Game Teaser:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PM9GPOYhD8

Currently the game has:

.Eleven different stages, each one with a distinct themes, aesthetics and mechanics; including some ideas that really haven't been well explored in most arcade games. There are tons of surprises and curveballs in every stage, so watch out!. Each stages also has exclusive enemies, and different bosses, including ones that will force players to think outside of the box.



.Twelve weapon, dubbed "aspects" in game; each weapon is very flexible, allowing several different uses depending on button presses. Also, they can be paired any way players want to, making the game more replayable. Each weapon was inspired by different types of shmups, while also giving it's own twist to it's formula.



.Three difficulties (and I'm thinking of adding more), as well as a Zanac-inspired adaptive difficulty system (which is togglable). Also, the game posses a host of configurations for gameplay, in order for players to customize their own preferred challenges.



.A planned long-term game structure; the game structure has bifurcated paths, similar to Darius, so as to ensure variability in each run; though levels can be played individually to pratice, you can only reach the true end of the game by playing from the beginning. Also, the game has plenty of stuff to unlock: score are tabulated into an Xp and Level system (each level up gives you and extra Continue - no upgrade store bullshit here), and each stage has a optimal score named "Threshold" - beating it unlock a new aspect for you to use.



.Full controller support, as well an integrated tutorial for new players


As of right now, the game is in it's final stages of development; the whole game is already quite playable, and I left custom animations and graphical effects for the last part (as the screens might put into evidence), as I wanted to focus first on foremost on making a smooth, challenging and eminently accessible game as possible.

Also, I've been toying with the idea of making some extra stages based on the huge amount of assets produced for the main game, but honestly I don't think that, after a year

The main elements I would you like you guys to chime on are the aspect balance (there is a ton of different combinations, so balancing it out was quite a challenge), and the score system. In Extremis has a very simple, multiplier-based score system, and as of this version stuff like end-of-level bonus still haven't been implemented (it's been quite hard just ironing out all of the bugs).

Also, any opinions on visuals, effect, stage design, soundtrack, or the game cryptic-weirdo narrative are welcome. Hell, I've devoted this entire year to this project, so I'm starving for some good feedback!


Without any more delay, here is the download link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ihflgfwwv558a ... s.exe?dl=0


(And if any of you are interest in game design insights I had over the development of INX, please check the devlog!)


(And just a heads-up; if you're not interested in slaving way unlocking stages and aspects, just press "I" in the keyboard in the stage selection screen (the one with the little circles). It will unlock all the resources in the game!)

[Lord Satori]

Looks different. Different is good. Most of the time.

Not entirely sure having a shortcut to unlock everything is a good idea, but I can understand being so frustrated that something is simply too hard for you to unlock, having been there myself.

I haven't played the game yet, but I'll get back to you once I get the chance.

[BulletMagnet]

Okay, only played a handful of levels at this point, but here goes:

- Not everyone will feel the same way about it, but speaking for myself I absolutely love the crazy "why the heck not" aesthetic and kooky variety of themes and obstacles from stage to stage; it reminds me of both the surreal cartoons of my childhood and Radiant Silvergun, in a good way. The only thing I'd knock about it is that certain backgrounds can make enemy bullets a bit hard to see.

- I haven't unlocked any weapons past the original two yet, but am enjoying both the tap/hold dynamic and the scoring system, since deciding when to spend the special meter to lock the multiplier grants a bit of flexibility for both less able ("it's only up halfway, but I can save it") and more skilled ("No way I'm using it till I hit x9") score players.

- I also like the fact that you can adjust difficulty, continues, life refills, and the dynamic difficulty, though I'm tempted to suggest that you split certain settings into separate modes and/or high score tables; it's a bit pointless to put an easy/life refill/static difficulty score right up next to a hard/no refill/dynamic difficulty one in the same list.

- The initial tutorial when you first boot up the game got stuck on me partway through, but when I replayed it from the main menu it seemed to work fine.

Will hopefully find more to add as I play some more, but so far I very much like what I see here; cheers for both showing off your affection for the shmups of old and trying something a bit different.

[BulletMagnet]

Tooled around a bit more during my break, a couple more things to add:

- The hitbox position near the back of the ship is playing with my head, as I'm used to having the hit area near the center in most shmups; if you really wanted to go whole hog on the customization thing you might include an option to adjust the hitbox location, like Keio Flying Squadron does.

- The shuffling enemy patterns when "variable difficulty" is turned on can make a big difference in your scoring potential, possibly more than you intended; off the top of my head, when one particular formation showed up right before the first level's boss I was able use it and the special meter to carry a good chunk of my multiplier into the boss fight, but a different formation made it (I think) impossible to replicate. Another reason to consider giving fixed/variable modes their own score tables, at least.

- I'll have to look again, but if memory serves I still started each level with three lives even after turning "life refill" off.

- I'd also guess that controller support isn't enabled yet, since I had to use Joy2Key to get mine to work. Or is the issue on my end?

- Wish I could offer more of the input you seek on weapon balance, but I've only currently unlocked the "toothpaste laser" variant - working on it!

- The "jazz" level is perhaps my personal favorite so far in terms of aesthetics...which of course means it also has to be one of the more memory-intensive ones, and thus leave me horribly conflicted, heh.

Will keep playing!

[helpleo]

continuar a escrever
Satori, the shortcut is there more because the unlocks are not properly balanced yet; they are probably going to be taken out of the final release, and right now I want players to see everything the game have to offer. So don't be ashamed to use it!

BulletMagnet, first of all, thank you so much for your input, which is very attentive and detailed; the whole "why the heck not" aesthetic is exactly what I was aiming for, as there is a lot of themes that long to be explored in a visceral, interactive form, and this game is an attempt to do this.

I'm happy to know that the scoring system is working in an interesting manner, as it was my main worry, since I've put little time to balance it. About the high scores, since there are multiple configurations and ways to play the game (aspect combinations, stage sequence, dynamic difficulty, and so on) I am planning on doing a tiered high score table for each config, in a way players can compete using their desired settings by filtering the high score table to their preference.

I don't know if you're familiar with Audiosurf, a puzzle//racing game that used songs from the player library; that game essentially made an individual table for every song played, which generated some very personal competition, as songs varied greatly in popularity. I want to try to reproduce that feeling of layered competition.

Over the player's hitbox, the ship design is not final, but the variable hitbox is a very good idea, and one might be implementing soon.

Also, about the shuffling enemy pattern, this is more a idiosyncrasy of the first level than an effect of the adaptive difficulty; all enemy appearances and wing formations are fixed, *except* in the first level. This is something I wanted to experiment with, since the first level in playing shmups to completion is always a bit of a boring slog, and the one you end up spending more time with than you like. So, the enemy waves in the first level are procedurally generated (with attention to make the same amount of enemies in the possible waves). The first level is also one you can't score attack with, and there is no threshold to beat. Enemies and bosses also always change their design, though I mainted the boss patterns of attack linear. This is one idea that is a bit unorthodox (as it might, as you mention, alter scores based on luck), so it's also anther one I would like your opinion.

Finally, the gamepad support is enabled (it is hard-coded in the game system), but Game Maker gamepad recognition is notoriously finicky, so I'll be sure to look into it; also, I'll be looking on the bugs you mentioned in the Tutorial, and on the life refill. Last but not least, the jazz stage does require a bit of memorization, so I'm thinking on manners to telegraph better the oncoming obstacles and enemies, especially on the maze section.

Again, thank you very much for you attention and support, it really means a lot to me!

[Lord Satori]

Tried to play and got "In Extremis is not a valid win32 application". Not sure what happened.

[BulletMagnet]

Couple more things to add:

- Earlier I was using a generic no-name controller and had to use Joy2Key to make it work; more recently I switched to a third-party 360 controller and the game detected it without J2K, so it appears that controller support is indeed there in some form.

- In similar fashion to my note about the life refill, it appears that the enemy formations in the first stage still vary when I turn "dynamic difficulty" off. While we're on the subject, the idea of sticking a lone random-ish stage in the middle of a bunch of "fixed" ones is intriguing (or, in this case, at the start, to alleviate start-up boredom), though I stand by my concerns in terms of scoring/earning extends. Definitely don't abandon the idea though, just tweak it to balance it out a bit.

- To segue further from there, I find it a bit odd that you place so much emphasis on maintaining the multiplier during a stage, but pretty much toss it out the window during boss fights, via both the long "gonna lose your chain" stretches of dead space leading up to them and the lack of means to build it back up again during the fights themselves (at least the ones I've seen so far). I'd suggest either 1) Making it more possible to carry a chain into a boss fight and try to maintain it until the boss is dead, or 2) Making use of popcorn toadies, destructible parts, etc. to actively build a chain while you battle the boss, to make the fights more involving from a scoring perspective, especially since I've found many of them notably easier than the stages themselves (maybe that's just me though).

- Still have a ways to go when it comes to unlocking weapons (can't seem to crack 85K or so on the musical instruments stage), though the default two currently remain my favorites.

Again, thank you very much for you attention and support, it really means a lot to me!

Glad to be of some help: again, while the approach you're taking probably won't be for everyone, it happens to be right up my particular alley, and I'm glad it's seeing the light of day.

[helpleo]

Lord Satori, that error happens because the version I made available only works in win32; while I do have a 32-bit machine available, it is currently in maintenance, so I can't build a new version just right now. As soon as it gets done, though, I'll hit you with a PM and post the new download link here.

BulletMagnet, I've been worrying about the socring in the bosses too, since, as you mention, it basically throws out of the window the previously established scoring logic; the window before bosses is intentional, as my initial plan was to base the bosses score tactics on length of completion of, rather on the maintaining of the multiplier (I considered having the multiplier slightly increasing by maintaining shot contact with the bosses, like it happens with the drive bar, but gave up on the apprehension that it would lead to fairly dull scoring techniques). Sadly, I haven't implement end of level bonuses yet, so right now I can't know for sure the impact that would have on scoring, and if it would be an effective solution in the first place.

Also, I've been exhaustively testing the game at a public event in my city, and have noticed that current threshold values are quite spartan, so I'm probably going to lower them considerably; so, please don't see any issue in unlocking everything from the hub menu. I would love to know your opinion on the different weapons available.


Finally, there are two game breaking bugs on the demo posted up there; the boss of stage 3 - Ewige Blumenkraft can't be beaten, and selecting the aspect Salamander Tail causes the game to crash; I'm uploading a new version now, so if you downloaded before this post, please change your versions!

[Lord Satori]

Lord Satori, that error happens because the version I made available only works in win32

My computer IS a 32-bit system. Also, if you don't have one available, then shouldn't it not work on yours either, considering what you just said?

I don't know what was up before, maybe the download got corrupted or something, but the new version is working.

[helpleo]

Yeah, sorry, got a little confused here; that version was built in win64. But if it's working now, hey, that's fine then! If you have any further issues please do tell me though.

[BulletMagnet]

please don't see any issue in unlocking everything from the hub menu. I would love to know your opinion on the different weapons available.

Finally got around to taking you up on your offer, heh. Here are my thoughts on the weapons, at least as far as I could tell...I'm sure I'm missing something on a few of them, so feel free to enlighten me where I screw up.

Force - Not a heckuva lot to say, the classic "hold to condense, tap to widen" shot; not particularly powerful even when "hypered", but handy for keeping a chain alive. This being the case I might suggest tweaking how long it takes for the shot to widen after letting up on the trigger, I've found myself dropping a chain level or two while waiting for it to spread out and tag a target.

Drum - A personal favorite, a splash-damage bomb you can detonate early. Good power and fun to place in just the right spot.

Burst - The ol' DDP laser, but gets temporarily stronger as you rack up kills with it. Good strength and easy to use, though not as useful on bosses, since there's no way to power it up very much there.

Aura - Short range and will kill you if you keep it on too long, but does constant damage in any direction and VERY powerful. Another favorite, though it's perhaps the one weapon I'd be tempted to say is just a smidge too strong.

Sword - The Silvergun Special, short-range and strong. I found it most effective when I kept a charge, even a short one, available at all times, as constant slashing could get tiresome. Keeping the blade pointed to the left when charging is a bit awkward (perhaps intentionally?), though perhaps I'm just used to "dragging" it around in RSG.

Tear - A needle laser that seems to gain strength as it passes through enemies. Good strength, but very narrow range, and can't be auto-fired; the manual fire rate is increased a lot in "hyper" mode, but I found it tough to take full advantage of while also using weapon number two.

Shadow - An invincible body double with a weak shot; not much damage, but can keep shots trained on distant enemies and save a chain if you maneuver it right. Moves the opposite of your motions, which means you can only "condense" shots on targets in the center of the screen; I wish I had a bit more direct control over it, perhaps holding its weapon button down would "lock" it in relation to you or something like that.

Horn - Limited range, not much power and can't be auto-fired, but becomes a strong, constant stream when "hypered" - seems to be an "all or nothing" weapon unless I'm missing something. Also, I think you spelled "toot" wrong in its description.

Wand - The "spread/direction changes as you move" weapon. Kinda weak and not as useful for chaining as the Force by default, but covers most of the screen when Hypered.

Friend - A little rotating helper drone which fires weak shots at nearby enemies, but is most useful when tossed at enemies with its designated button, as it pierces and does "boomerang" damage on the way back. Can be handy, but the recovery time between tosses drags a bit if you can't maneuver yourself to take advantage of the boomerang effect.

Aegis - Twin short-range hammers that smack together to do strong close damage and can knock enemy shots away. I couldn't tell if the deflected bullets could damage enemies, as they flew off in odd directions, and found the hitbox for the weapon a bit hard to deduce. Maybe having deflected bullets (semi-)home back in on enemies a la Giga Wing would help to define it a bit more.

Salamander - The toothpaste laser, but tougher to use since it doesn't "wiggle" as much, and only does mild piercing damage. Makes up for it with high damage to enemies that it "locks on" with its tip, though it takes a bit of time to re-deploy if you miss.

Those were my impressions of the arsenal; let me know if you need further clarification, etc. on any of them. I also tried the later stages, of course, and love most of the crazy stuff going on, though some of the attacks/formations thrown your way in them can be frustrating to handle until you've been squished a few times and/or figured out which weapon set to bring along. Looking forward to the next revision!

[Ikazu-san]

K, I don't think that's very healthy.

Spoiler

Considering how you beat this boss, being locked in there basically means you HAVE to die. Or just sit there and waiting game of watching score go up.

[helpleo]

BulletMagnet:

Thanks again for taking the time to test-drive the *whole* arsenal; as I previously mentioned, the game went through some extensive testing since I first posted, so there where a lot a bugs ironed out, such as:

-there was a particularly difficult-to-spot bug involving projectile weapons, in which the projectile was destroyed before it could do any damage; this seriously affected their effectivity, such as the spread F.Many, H. Horn and W. Wand. This is currently being corrected, and will be followed be a rebalancing of all aspects damage outputs.

-F.Friend wasn't meant to work boomerang-like, as it was designed to be like R-Type forces, in the sense that you can throw it and let it stay on a position in the screen, or use it as a helper . This is happening because the internal working of the aspects considers both primary and secondary button inputs (due to some bad code on my part) so with some aspect combinations it is constantly called back and forth.

-the deflection in A.Faith was also broken, sending the bullets in the Wong angles; this has been remedied, as well as widening the window for reflection (it was previously only one frame, which made its utility questionable).

-S.Tail did not had collision detection in it's body, making it a tad frustrating to use; this was corrected too, but made it horribly overpowered! So it has been considerably nerfed since.

-I'm considering changing S.Tear input to autofire, since it it's narrow area of contact make it a tad boring to use. It is one of the most problematic aspects to balance, though, since it's particularities make killing some bosses an easy task, while dealing with popcorn quite complicated.

Also, nice of you to notice that several aspects make homages to specific weapons of shmup canon; Aura of Fury self-explosion effect, for instance, its the single most damaging entity in the game, a cue that I took from Battle Garegga (which I'm awful at, but I always loved damaging enemies with my constant deaths). Since this was initially though as a entry-level shmup for a wider audience, an eclectic rooster of weapons was always a priority.

Also, chain maintenance; in the next version I will change a bit some variables like multiplier decay and accumulation, since those test I mentioned showed that scoring is a bit wonky; also, all levels are in a dire need of revision, not just for the unbalance and unpredictability you mentioned, but they are also suffering from lots of dead air.


Ikazu-san:

Yeah, old Bloom of Babylon it's possibly one of the most incomplete bosses in the current version, due to his out-of-the-box, experimental nature; not only the spawn point presents the problem you brought up, but the timing of the grazeable bullets is all wonky; I'm probably going to mix up those set-path bullet with some aimed shots, and remodel the positioning of the ornament bullets.

Fun fact, the original prototype I made while in college had even more insane ideas like that, such as a mini hori shmup you played on the Superinformation Avatar face, and a audio-only section in the end of the Danse Macabre stage; they had to be cut to make a leaner, more replayable experience.