Eugene Jarvis working on a new game with Housemarque

[CRP]

http://www.housemarque.com/housemarque- ... -together/

They havent said what type of game, but it dosent feel that far fetched that it will be a some kind of shmup.

[arcadehero]

I reached out to Eugene for comment - since pretty much everything he has done is arcade related I'm wondering if he's hired these guys to do something for Raw Thrills but he won't be back in the US until Monday. Hopefully I'll find out then

[Dave_K.]

Looking forward to hear more on this. Also glad to see Mr Arcadehero out of shmup lurker mode.

[Skykid]

Sounds like a legendary team up. Interested!

[CRP]

I reached out to Eugene for comment - since pretty much everything he has done is arcade related I'm wondering if he's hired these guys to do something for Raw Thrills but he won't be back in the US until Monday. Hopefully I'll find out then

This new venture is in essence Housemarque making a game with one of their all-time heroes.

From the link i posted above, it seams rather that housemarque hired him.

More details about the game will be released in the upcoming months.

Hope it will be before E3.

[Sinful]

I can never get into Defender. Despite hearing one Gradius III AC fan saying it's his favourite STG ever. I just can't get into Defender... am I seriously missing out?

[Kollision]

Defender is too primitive imo.
I'd go for some Fantasy Zone for more exciting two-directional cylinder shooters all day. Hell, even Astro Tripper is more fun than Defender.

[arcadehero]

Eugene responded with we can talk early next week when he gets back to the US but nothing else to share yet.

You are right CRP, I imagine they will be consulting with him as they go about it. That would make the most sense.

A few years ago at a trade show I asked Eugene about the possibility of trying a joystick or a twin-stick shooter in arcades in these days but he doesn't believe that those games can make anything for operators anymore. It would be cool if he changed his mind but they do have their winning formula for now. I recall he mentioned trying to find good programmers though which is where I had been thinking of the hiring going the other way around

Looking forward to hear more on this. Also glad to see Mr Arcadehero out of shmup lurker mode.

Thanks for having me

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Were any of the Raw Thrills games any good though? I haven't played any of them. They mostly did racing games right?

[system11]

Well I'd hope they won't make another Defender clone, perhaps a voxel Robotron or something?

[opt2not]

I'd love to see an updated Robotron. OR even an updated Smash TV!

[arcadehero]

Were any of the Raw Thrills games any good though? I haven't played any of them. They mostly did racing games right?

It depends on what you like. They have drifted more towards casual/scripted experiences and I've heard them use the term "skill kills", in regards to skill arcade games don't make a lot of money these days.

For a brief history on Raw Thrills, they are heavy on the racing games - they have done 3 Fast And Furious car games and 3 related motorcycle games (one was snowmobile but it played like Super Bikes 2 with snowballs you could throw); RT has contracted out companies like Specular Interactive to make H2Overdrive (pretty much new age Hydro Thunder), Dirty Drivin and BATMAN. They own Play Mechanix which is led by George Petro (and staffed by several ex-Midway guys who worked on some of their 90s arcade stuff) which pretty much leads their light-gun developments: the Big Buck series, Terminator Salvation, Aliens Extermination and Armageddon. One exception is the new Jurassic Park light-gun game that is shipping in a couple of weeks. RT also has been doing work for Bandai Namco, developing the new Super Alpine Racer game among some others. They did attempt to do something a little different for themselves when they did Guitar Hero Arcade but thanks to ASCAP, that project died off early. They were going to release a drum set add-on to it among other things to make it more like Rock Band.

I have been told numerous times that they have worked on some new concepts behind the scenes but they never come to light for various reasons. One in particular that is mentioned often is some sort of VR fighting game that they were kicking around for a few years before Oculus Rift was on anyone's mind. I also know for certain that they shot down a TRON-based racing game from Specular, they felt that TRON Legacy was a bomb so it wasn't worth the trouble. I was walking around a trade show last year in Vegas with the VP of the company who was approached by two of the Dave & Busters purchasing guys who asked them point blank to bring Konami's Silen Scope Bone Eater over to the States but so far I've not heard of any developments on that since.

One thing that is certain however is that their games make money. At the moment I would say they are the #1 arcade maker in the world. At my arcade, I have 4 of their games, all of which are my top earners every week. Sega was in that spot a few years back but now they are following RTs lead in licensing content from other entertainment sectors and making an arcade version out of it.

[LordHypnos]

^That's really interesting to hear about the arcade industry. It's also just pretty wild to me that Jarvis could have been in the arcade business since almost its inception until the present day when arcades are all but dead. It's a shame that shmups can't even make much in arcades, though, these days, but I'm not really suprised. Seems like more experience oriented stuff like driving and lightgun games have been the dominant arcade games since way back in the late 90s, after all.
EDIT: Maybe it's more like games that have novel inputs, considering that rhythm games were pretty popular for a while.

[arcadehero]

^That's really interesting to hear about the arcade industry. It's also just pretty wild to me that Jarvis could have been in the arcade business since almost its inception until the present day when arcades are all but dead. It's a shame that shmups can't even make much in arcades, though, these days, but I'm not really suprised. Seems like more experience oriented stuff like driving and lightgun games have been the dominant arcade games since way back in the late 90s, after all.
EDIT: Maybe it's more like games that have novel inputs, considering that rhythm games were pretty popular for a while.

I like to think of it as showing that they aren't as dead as people think There are quite a few people that are still in the industry that have been around since the 70s - Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix has a bunch of guys from Midway; Specular Interactive was founded by two of the lead guys that created Hydro Thunder and everything they do is still arcade related; there are still people at Sega on the arcade side that have been there for ages; Namco has guys like Frank Consentino that worked for Atari Games BITD; GlobalVR has been a place for ex-Atari staff and their VP is Elaine Shirley who worked on Atari's production line and so on.

I think they stick around because of those aspects that arcades do well (as you mentioned, providing that experience of simulation, different controls, etc). Jarvis was interviewed for some video a few years ago and made that point while standing next to the Super Bikes game, that you couldn't "get" that experience at home, which I think he meant from both a physical and mental perspective. In addition to that, they are starting to go crazy with licenses as opposed to original developments since that saves a marketing budget as the game will pretty much sell itself.

Personally from my experience of testing Dariusburst at my arcade, for a time it was earning on par with Terminator. So I think that a shmup with the right design could do just fine. In that case, it has the multiplayer component, the dual screen and the unique sound system to enhance the "experience" side of things. The issues were the coin acceptor being too complicated so it was prone to jamming (I did get that figured out) and Taito wasn't willing to make some minor adjustments to the game that I think would have gone a long way in helping casuals. My suggestion was that for Easy levels like ADH, the game start off with some sort of Gauntlet Legend narrator/voiceover that just gives quick tips "shoot all enemies!" "collect power-ups!/Power-ups have a shared effect" "Use the Burst laser for crowds", etc. Something that would have not changed the game flow but it would have made enough of a difference for casuals so that they don't walk away from the game after 10 seconds of confusion (which happens far too often).

On Jarvis' new project, I did reach out again now that he is back in the US but waiting on a response. Hopefully I'll be able to spill the beans on something

[alamone]

Personally from my experience of testing Dariusburst at my arcade, for a time it was earning on par with Terminator. So I think that a shmup with the right design could do just fine. In that case, it has the multiplayer component, the dual screen and the unique sound system to enhance the "experience" side of things. The issues were the coin acceptor being too complicated so it was prone to jamming (I did get that figured out) and Taito wasn't willing to make some minor adjustments to the game that I think would have gone a long way in helping casuals. My suggestion was that for Easy levels like ADH, the game start off with some sort of Gauntlet Legend narrator/voiceover that just gives quick tips "shoot all enemies!" "collect power-ups!/Power-ups have a shared effect" "Use the Burst laser for crowds", etc. Something that would have not changed the game flow but it would have made enough of a difference for casuals so that they don't walk away from the game after 10 seconds of confusion (which happens far too often).

DBAC actually does explain item fields, burst mechanics, countering, etc. in the attract mode,
but because the highscore table takes so long to cycle through, you don't really get to see it that often.
Plus it won't show up if you are set to free play.
Maybe showing that attract part as a skip-able "how to play" tutorial would have been better.

Personally, I think having a voiceover would have detracted from the atmosphere they were aiming for,
especially for the upper ADH route where it's one long connected soundtrack.

[arcadehero]

DBAC actually does explain item fields, burst mechanics, countering, etc. in the attract mode,
but because the highscore table takes so long to cycle through, you don't really get to see it that often.
Plus it won't show up if you are set to free play.
Maybe showing that attract part as a skip-able "how to play" tutorial would have been better.

Personally, I think having a voiceover would have detracted from the atmosphere they were aiming for,
especially for the upper ADH route where it's one long connected soundtrack.

The control panel explains it and for a time I had the Dariusburst Players Guide attached to the cabinet. The problems:

1) Way too much information on the control panel that no one reads because it just becomes noise. Otherwise, it is all there and clear
2) The attract mode explanations on how to play appears infrequently as you mention and no one pays attention to that anyways
3) Even the quick loading screen tutorial on how to use the burst laser gets ignored
4) Pre-game Tutorials are an option however casual players also tend to skip those(then complain about how it s the game that sucks and not them). The industry currently considers any game with a pre-game tutorial DOA thanks to spectacular failures like Sega's fun and innovative 2Spicy from 2007.

I know it sounds completely unappealing to even suggest that sort of thing for hardcore players but for the casuals, if you want to get them into the game and keep playing, an integrated solution is the sort of thing needed in this day and age. Otherwise it is usually myself leaving the front desk to walk over and explain it to them anyways. Unfortunately, most arcades don't have anyone interested in doing that and I can't be around all of the time. I would think only level A would have needed that as a minor change and as an operator option so that locations could shut it off if they so desired. Not that it matters now...

[rjosal]

This thread is awesome.

[spadgy]

I too would like to see something more interesting than another Defender thing, but I trust Housemarque enough that if it does turn out to be 'Resogun X Defender' they will do something superb. Great studio (lovely people too, which is always a bonus - I've visited their studio once and seen them at various events and their enthusiasm is always infectious) that manage to consistently make shmups I adore despite them sitting outside my typical tastes.

[LordHypnos]

@arcadehero: Out of nothing more than curiosity, what other shmups to you guys have, if any, and do any of them get repeat plays? Which ones (if any, I guess) seem the most popular and all that?

[Sinful]

@arcadehero: Out of nothing more than curiosity, what other shmups to you guys have, if any, and do any of them get repeat plays? Which ones (if any, I guess) seem the most popular and all that?

Great question. But lets not make this question exclusive to just his STG Arcades.

[arcadehero]

@arcadehero: Out of nothing more than curiosity, what other shmups to you guys have, if any, and do any of them get repeat plays? Which ones (if any, I guess) seem the most popular and all that?

Sorry for the delay. I did ask Jarvis about the Housemarque thing and he is being tight-lipped. The twin stick console thing he mentioned though seems to indicate leaning towards Robotron.

I currently have in cabinets:

Dariusburst Another Chronicle
1945 Strikers II
Armed Police Batrider
Asteroids Deluxe
Zaxxon
Phoenix
Assault
Blazing Star
Centipede/Millipede/Missile Command combo

Just PCBs:

Macross Plus
ESP Ra DE
1942 (board is fried I think)
Guwange (some garbled graphics)
Mars Matrix
Last Resort
Smash TV
I almost bought Raiden IV recently but I want a good JVS cab to put that into first; also almost bought a XEXEX but the board isn't working after some testing.


Out of all that, Dariusburst does the best followed by Strikers although the CRT on strikers went out last week and I need to figure out the model of the flyback to get a new one. The rest will make $3-$4/wk if I am lucky, sometimes less. DBAC usually outearns my Super SSFIVAE game and all of the other fighters I have.

I didn't expect the Centipede machine to do so poorly when I got it but that usually makes .50¢-$2/wk. I have an original Mars Matrix cab but it never did well, usually making 50¢ a week so I have APB in there right now and its doing slightly better. Going to swap out with Macross Plus here soon to see how that does. As such, most of those games are filler. I would like to build a special cabinet for shmups that can draw attention to itself just by the cab design, something with 4 screens that would be an "island cabinet" and one shmup per screen, in the hopes that might increase some interest.

I've seen talk on arcade collector forums that they are under the impression that old stuff does well, I just don't have a clue where unless you are talking exceptions to the rule like Galloping Ghost or Funspot, which gets plays from having 400+ games on-site.

All-in-all, the shmups pale in comparison to my racing and light gun games. Those are pretty consistent in being above $100/wk. I am going to find a way to get Time Crisis 5 this year, which I am pretty sure that will become my #1 game in no time (at least its kind of a shmup )

[1up]

Recently John's Arcade went to 1up arcade who's got 2 locations in Denver, I think it was. He was given a tour and the operator talked about which games did well. As I recall he said that multiplayer games like Mortal Kombat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did well and also the lightgun games.

http://youtu.be/X4uT_C6fSBw

I'm really interested to see what new games Jarvis is working on.

[Knockworstface]

@arcadehero: Out of nothing more than curiosity, what other shmups to you guys have, if any, and do any of them get repeat plays? Which ones (if any, I guess) seem the most popular and all that?

Sorry for the delay. I did ask Jarvis about the Housemarque thing and he is being tight-lipped. The twin stick console thing he mentioned though seems to indicate leaning towards Robotron.

I currently have in cabinets:

Dariusburst Another Chronicle
1945 Strikers II
Armed Police Batrider
Asteroids Deluxe
Zaxxon
Phoenix
Assault
Blazing Star
Centipede/Millipede/Missile Command combo

Just PCBs:

Macross Plus
ESP Ra DE
1942 (board is fried I think)
Guwange (some garbled graphics)
Mars Matrix
Last Resort
Smash TV
I almost bought Raiden IV recently but I want a good JVS cab to put that into first; also almost bought a XEXEX but the board isn't working after some testing.


Out of all that, Dariusburst does the best followed by Strikers although the CRT on strikers went out last week and I need to figure out the model of the flyback to get a new one. The rest will make $3-$4/wk if I am lucky, sometimes less. DBAC usually outearns my Super SSFIVAE game and all of the other fighters I have.

I didn't expect the Centipede machine to do so poorly when I got it but that usually makes .50¢-$2/wk. I have an original Mars Matrix cab but it never did well, usually making 50¢ a week so I have APB in there right now and its doing slightly better. Going to swap out with Macross Plus here soon to see how that does. As such, most of those games are filler. I would like to build a special cabinet for shmups that can draw attention to itself just by the cab design, something with 4 screens that would be an "island cabinet" and one shmup per screen, in the hopes that might increase some interest.

I've seen talk on arcade collector forums that they are under the impression that old stuff does well, I just don't have a clue where unless you are talking exceptions to the rule like Galloping Ghost or Funspot, which gets plays from having 400+ games on-site.

All-in-all, the shmups pale in comparison to my racing and light gun games. Those are pretty consistent in being above $100/wk. I am going to find a way to get Time Crisis 5 this year, which I am pretty sure that will become my #1 game in no time (at least its kind of a shmup )

How does Phoenix and Asteroids Deluxe do?

[arcadehero]

How does Phoenix and Asteroids Deluxe do?

Almost exactly the same. For the entire month of Feb. Phoenix has made $9.75, AD has made $9.50. On AD I do give two credits per one token though. Both will probably pass the $10 mark by the end of the day today but that pull doesn't really justify keeping them around in case I find something else :/

[Knockworstface]

How does Phoenix and Asteroids Deluxe do?

Almost exactly the same. For the entire month of Feb. Phoenix has made $9.75, AD has made $9.50. On AD I do give two credits per one token though. Both will probably pass the $10 mark by the end of the day today but that pull doesn't really justify keeping them around in case I find something else :/

Damn. People of today just don't appreciate great games like those two.

[arcadehero]

How does Phoenix and Asteroids Deluxe do?

Almost exactly the same. For the entire month of Feb. Phoenix has made $9.75, AD has made $9.50. On AD I do give two credits per one token though. Both will probably pass the $10 mark by the end of the day today but that pull doesn't really justify keeping them around in case I find something else :/

Damn. People of today just don't appreciate great games like those two.

Honestly I thought that Atari games like Asteroids would do better, at least compete with Donkey Kong but that never has been the case. Despite the vector monitor being unique, it just isn't enough to draw attention. My thought is that certain games are available on too many platforms, not just via emulation but official releases or clones. Thus there just isn't a draw there to play it on original hardware.

[CRP]

"spirit of arcade gaming" panel talk with Eugene Jarvis + Mikko Hyppönen + Harry Krueger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbxYiTjTY9k

[DoomsDave]

This thread is awesome, I really enjoyed reading it.

Here is a vid of him playing the prototype. The audio is from Resogun so you can't really confirm anything other than it's definitely twin stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5d5FcSAyGo

[spadgy]

I've heard nothing official through my work, but I have spotted public mentions on Twitter from games industry people that this is a Smash TV reboot. But I thought it was a totally new game IP?

[Bonus!]

That would be amazing! I was thinking of Smash TV when I watched the video of Eugene Jarvis playing the prototype, since he remarks that it was gory, and that he was taking men down, or something like that.