Kamui Analysis Project 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Super Butterfly]

Because I'm stupid, I forgot to mention a few things. This entire thing is a pilot for what could turn out to be a much larger project. If things go right, this could lead to Kamui being analyzed to the same extent as Battle Garegga, producing a pool of data that would be useful to players and developers alike.

Again, if you have any more questions or feedback, please post them.

[Squire Grooktook]

Other than autism

Go back to 4chan with the autism/aspergers bullshit.

I like Rayforce considerably better than Kamui, but Kamui is not a clone and the two play quite differently (Rayforce's emphasis on a close range targeting reticule makes for a completely different playstyle than Kamui's timing based charge with infinite reach, and the bullet cancelling also marks them as a world apart), and Kamui (while definitely not perfect imo) is far from mediocre.

I agree that it's probably going to be difficult getting people to spend their time working this, but the guy is just working on a school project and wants to make a spiritual sequel to a game he likes. He's probably better off just playing the game a ton himself and watching some high level replays while taking notes if he wants to make a game based on it. As for the school project, I know the feeling of being handed a stupid project and having no choice but to go through with embarrassing efforts. No sin there.

[Shepardus]

Other than autism, what's the point of this? Video games lose all their appeal with non-spergs when played on a dissection table, and Kamui is hardly deserving of such effort, being a mediocre amateur clone of Taito's RayForce. You're not even analyzing something as worthy as, say, Virtua Fighter frame data, or Alltynex Second (Siter Skain's best game by far).

If this is for a college course, as it seems to be, I shudder to think how far Western higher educational standards have fallen.

I had no idea diagnosing autism was as simple as seeing whether someone's interested in analyzing a game you don't like. You ought to publish a paper recommending that as the new diagnosis standard.

[the_last_shmupper]

I enjoy the fact no one talks about the topic.

I'll throw in two cents.

Its a game that hangs its hat on scaling and paralax. To really nail the feel of the game, you need to focus on that.

Its a pretty game that Final Boss took boss inspiration from for one of its bosses.

There's a lot going on with the clouds, extending arms and tails. Other than what's on the surface, there's not that much different or unique to set it apart from other games. That doesn't make it a bad game, its still fun and easy to play and its pretty forgiving.

[Squire Grooktook]

Other than what's on the surface, there's not that much different or unique to set it apart from other games.

Disagree strongly. The huge amount of hp, the three weapons (two of which have cooldowns to manage) that fufill different roles (background attack or defensive/offensive bullet cancelling), and the combination of background and foreground multitasking borrowed from Rayforce and Soukyugurentai, all give the game a unique playstyle. Kamui is a very unique game.

IMO a superior "black label" of Kamui would fix two things for me:

-Revise the health/armor system so that you aren't pretty much unkillable for the first half of the game. Perhaps go for a Batrider-esque 3 live limit with frequent extends so that it has the same generous recovery window, but with chain deaths being appropriately punished.

-Revise the bullet cancelling beam and boss attacks so that survival oriented play isn't as braindead (ie bosses come down to more than just waiting for the right moment to cancel all the bullets). No idea how you'd do this without nerfing the beam (which is a no-no imo because it's fun to use as is).

[juonryu2nd]

Kamui isn't perfect.
It's too short.

[the_last_shmupper]

Other than what's on the surface, there's not that much different or unique to set it apart from other games.

Disagree strongly. The huge amount of hp, the three weapons (two of which have cooldowns to manage) that fufill different roles (background attack or defensive/offensive bullet cancelling), and the combination of background and foreground multitasking borrowed from Rayforce and Soukyugurentai, all give the game a unique playstyle. Kamui is a very unique game.

IMO a superior "black label" of Kamui would fix two things for me:

-Revise the health/armor system so that you aren't pretty much unkillable for the first half of the game. Perhaps go for a Batrider-esque 3 live limit with frequent extends so that it has the same generous recovery window, but with chain deaths being appropriately punished.

-Revise the bullet cancelling beam and boss attacks so that survival oriented play isn't as braindead (ie bosses come down to more than just waiting for the right moment to cancel all the bullets). No idea how you'd do this without nerfing the beam (which is a no-no imo because it's fun to use as is).

I suppose by pretty forgiving I meant enough health to choke a horse.

[Squire Grooktook]

I feel like it's a solid enough possibility to die late game, especially if you're playing on menace difficulty, but my issue is it takes a bit of the tension out of the first 2-3 stages. Even if you're playing menace blind, it's hard to die on stage 2.

[Super Butterfly]

Thanks to those who filled out the questionnaire.

Following my professor's advice, I'm no longer dividing the documents by stage; instead, I made "stage in which they appear" one of the table categories. To make contribution easier, the information no longer has to be in order of appearance; I'll sort the tables myself.

I gathered the data for stage 1. Would anyone be willing to take one of the other stages (or a fraction of one) and acquire the relevant data? If it's more comfortable, you can post the information in this thread instead of the Google Sheets. I'd be immensely grateful.

[Frenetic]

Great to see you are progressing with your project, Flubman.

Come on guys, can't we get along? I really enjoy coming here for analysis and intellectual discussion.

It's one thing to share an opinion on a game you like or dislike. It's another thing to resort to distasteful ad hominem attacks.

--F

[Ed Oscuro]

More data is always good. Out of curiosity, what major / studies program is this for?

[Super Butterfly]

More data is always good. Out of curiosity, what major / studies program is this for?

It's for a crowdsourcing course that's part of my computer science major.

[Super Butterfly]

Thanks for your responses.

I admittedly play shmups for catharsis, so of course I like a game that focuses on the fun of destruction. Kamui's solid music, sound design, and classic sci-fi atmosphere also help. It's not the deepest shmup, but it's well-balanced and enjoyable.

As for things I'd change, a boss practice mode would be nice, and I'd give the stage 4 and 5 bosses more obvious damaged states. I actually don't mind the Kamui's high hp too much because it's a super fighter; however, I would've made a less forgiving design decision.

As for my game, it's an incomplete concept that I'll flesh out over summer, and I'll post my work once it's presentable. Finding artists and composers will be a challenge though.