Questions for G.rev? Submit them here! Dec. 1st deadline!

[STGWeekly]

**Please respond by Dec. 1st so we can submit to G.rev and give them time to translate and respond**

STGWeekly is planning to do another episode on Strania, in the wake of G.rev's releasing it on Steam.

We are currently in correspondence with G.rev. Since they are Japanese and it would be difficult to do something live, please feel free to post interview questions here. We'll select them and then submit them to G.rev for review. They'll then send their answers back and we'll read aloud during the episode.

Would anyone be willing to be in the Skype call to translate for G.rev's president, Maruyama-san? Please get in contact with us! Also, we'd like if someone can translate interview questions that we can send ahead of time to G.rev.

--The STGWeekly Team

[GSK]

Would this be a paid gig? If so, I might be able to hook you up. PM me if you like.

Here's a question: is there any chance they might put Kokuga on sale at some point? It doesn't worry me either way as I already own it, but I don't think it's ever been discounted and I think putting it on sale every now and again is an easy way to bring it to peoples' attention.

EDIT: another Q: I'd like to hear about Genso no Rondo, the Touhou Senko no Ronde clone that got an official license from G.rev.

[drunkninja24]

Assuming things go well with Strania on Steam, would there be plans to potentially bring other titles such as Border Down over in the future as well?

[Stevens]

They can have my first born if they do another helicopter game. I suppose to phrase that as a question:

Do they have any plans to do another helicopter themed shooter?

[Obiwanshinobi]

The two longest cutscenes in Gradius V take place at stage's roughly the same spot (revisited at a loop's end). Do both disguise extensive data streaming necessary at this point?

What's the purpose of screen wobble in Under Defeat? Is it to make the game look "retro"? (I mean the way smoke and bullets follow the helicopter's movement while the background stays still.)

[MathU]

What is G.rev's opinion of DRM, its effect on pirates and legitimate customers, and the general impact of PC game piracy? Preface this with the simple fact that anything using Steam CEG gets cracked literally within days of release if you could please.

[vector7]

What is G.rev's opinion of DRM, its effect on pirates and legitimate customers, and the general impact of PC game piracy? Preface this with the simple fact that anything using Steam CEG gets cracked literally within days of release if you could please.

Assuming that there is some interest for it. I didn't searched too hard but i didn't found deltazeal and xiizeal. Sure, raiden4 and mushihimesama were cracked fast but looks like they are old unupdated versions. Not to mention that it's useless to ask someone about drm and pc piracy who never developed or published for pc.

[Battlesmurf]

The two longest cutscenes in Gradius V take place at stage's roughly the same spot (revisited at a loop's end). Do both disguise extensive data streaming necessary at this point?

What's the purpose of screen wobble in Under Defeat? Is it to make the game look "retro"? (I mean the way smoke and bullets follow the helicopter's movement while the background stays still.)

Exactly one of my only concerns with UD- I *hate* screen wobble and I don't understand why it is even a thing still.

I came here to ask about Border Down- I'd wager a lot of people are curious about that one.

[Gamer707b]

What was your exact role on Ikaruga? How many people on the team and how long did development take? Also are you planning to do anything upcoming with Treasure again? Anything in general you can talk about that you might be working on?

[Heavy Viper]

"Are you planning on bringing your entire STG back catalog to PC? Which titles are of highest priority?"

[antares]

Are you planning to develop a new STG for Steam soon? If yes, will it be PC only or would you also port it to home consoles? Which consoles?

And, what are the chances for Border Down 2?

[Bonus!]

How do you guys stay financially afloat between shmup releases?

[T4N3]

G.rev is definitely my fav STG dev, but I can't think of any question that hasn't been asked already.

-What are the chances of seeing more G.rev games on 360 ported onto Steam? Considering Strania did poorly on 360 and will probably bomb on Steam as well I hope they expect little to no feedback from westerners and overall underwhelming sales (especially considering DBCS is around the corner and most people I asked seem to want to skip Strania for that)

-What about Border Down and Kokuga (not on 360), are there chances to see these games ported as well? (I know the former has been asked numerous times, especially by me, and the latter is most unlikely because 3DS platform, but still.)

-Can we have a list of some of the games they have worked on for other developers besides Ikaruga and Gradius V? (Surely they must have done uncredited work for some games)

-Knowing that they most probably won't release new arcade games for NAOMI, do they have plans for other arcade titles in the future at all, or will it be consumer/digital only with eventual NESiCA ports?

-Do they have/had plans for a third Senko no Ronde game? I remember reading somewhere that if they had to work on a new STG fighting game, they would probably make a new IP and rehaul the whole game mechanics instead of having a third senkoro.

[Xyga]

- do they have plans for a new STG, horizontal or vertical (not something hybrid/multi/arena).
- chances for it on PS4 ?

[Stevens]

What's the purpose of screen wobble in Under Defeat? Is it to make the game look "retro"? (I mean the way smoke and bullets follow the helicopter's movement while the background stays still.)

Mildly OT -

UD has screen wobble? HD version? Edit - Got my answer! Thanks Google.

I'm only asking because I've never noticed it in the DC version. As opposed to something like Raiden IV where it is really obvious.

And it would annoy me too.

[Van_Artic]

can we expect any Senko no Ronde title on PC?

(also afaik the netplay for DUO on 360 was shit, they could polish it with a new port)

[NeoStrayCat]

Well, any questions that I would have liked to answered have already probably been posted by others (like this topic, lol. Mostly about Steam ports of their back catalog, and probably new titles if they can do it) or from that one interview from shmuplations (especially about that story voices bit that could have happened, but didn't due cost/budget), but yeah, I got nothing, lol.

Either way, speaking of which, the Strania site (http://grev.co.jp/str/index.html), even though is mostly dual language (JP/EN), there's a mention about inquires from outside japan (overseas) with an e-mail link, so I doubt someone at G.Rev knows English there, that might help, but yeah, unless otherwise from STGWeekly will probably can handle stuff their way.

[ATTRACTS]

What's the purpose of screen wobble in Under Defeat? Is it to make the game look "retro"? (I mean the way smoke and bullets follow the helicopter's movement while the background stays still.)

Mildly OT -

UD has screen wobble? HD version? Edit - Got my answer! Thanks Google.

I'm only asking because I've never noticed it in the DC version. As opposed to something like Raiden IV where it is really obvious.

And it would annoy me too.

the wobble is in all versions of the game. people fail to understand that the "wobble" is there is to keep the interesting perspective you have of the ship and being able to see ahead/over/under terrain changes. When an enemy fires from the top of a cliff versus right underneath you, it looks and feels totally unique. If they got rid of how the screen and bullets move, then they might as well just make it a top down 2D shooter. The perspective and having to think about how incoming fire will get to you is one of the reasons UD is awesome. There are plenty of "dodge this straight curtain of bullets" games out there but this one challenges you to think about positioning, spacing AND depth. Part of the reason why it's AWESOME.

[Blinge]

What's the purpose of screen wobble in Under Defeat? Is it to make the game look "retro"? (I mean the way smoke and bullets follow the helicopter's movement while the background stays still.)

Mildly OT -

UD has screen wobble? HD version? Edit - Got my answer! Thanks Google.

I'm only asking because I've never noticed it in the DC version. As opposed to something like Raiden IV where it is really obvious.

And it would annoy me too.

Uhh.. I've never noticed anything like this in either UD or Raiden IV. Does Raiden Fighters have screen wobble?
=/

[Stevens]

it's the same in the DC version. people fail to understand that if it didn't wobble, you'd be stuck to the confines of the screen without any freedom of movement. the reason the wobble is there is to keep the interesting perspective you have of the ship and being able to see ahead/over/under terrain changes. If they got rid of how the screen and bullets move, then they might as well just make it a top down 2D shooter. The game is fantastic and it takes all of about 20 minutes to get used to it. One of the best shooters in my opinion because it challenges you to think about your placement in relation to enemies on all levels, not just "dodge this thing that's coming directly at me".

Raiden IV has screen wobble, I think everyone here agrees on that. You move, the screen moves, the bullets look like they're shifting, but they're really not. It is distracting as fuck.

I've got 200+ hours on Under Defeat and I have never once noticed anything like that. Can someone show me what they are describing?

[ATTRACTS]

it's the same in the DC version. people fail to understand that if it didn't wobble, you'd be stuck to the confines of the screen without any freedom of movement. the reason the wobble is there is to keep the interesting perspective you have of the ship and being able to see ahead/over/under terrain changes. If they got rid of how the screen and bullets move, then they might as well just make it a top down 2D shooter. The game is fantastic and it takes all of about 20 minutes to get used to it. One of the best shooters in my opinion because it challenges you to think about your placement in relation to enemies on all levels, not just "dodge this thing that's coming directly at me".

Raiden IV has screen wobble, I think everyone here agrees on that. You move, the screen moves, the bullets look like they're shifting, but they're really not. It is distracting as fuck.

I've got 200+ hours on Under Defeat and I have never once noticed anything like that. Can someone show me what they are describing?

They are using poor terminology to explain it. They are just talking about the way the bullets open up at various angles and how your ship and the screen move (the background moves when you move as opposed to some shooters where you move but the background and angles stay the same perspectively). And I agree with you, it's not a problem. It's awesome but some folks can't deal with anything different than a straight ahead 2D perspective which is a shame because the game is superb.

You can see it here. The ship moves, the screen moves, the background moves, perspective changes a bit depending on levels and what you are looking at. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfyqYDMoQg

[Obiwanshinobi]

people fail to understand that if it didn't wobble, you'd be stuck to the confines of the screen without any freedom of movement.

I understand THIS. What I don't understand is why the bullets and smoke are glued to the helicopter's movement like that. I assume with raster graphics it was due to some technical limitation, but with vector graphics it makes no sense to me.

They are using poor terminology to explain it.

Then come up with any richer. I have no stamina to use more than two words for it every single time (when the problem - to me - stays the same). Again - by "screen wobble" I don't mean player-induced horizontal scroll in vertical scrollers, but the way bullets (or/and the smoke in case of Under Defeat) ignore said scroll.

[ATTRACTS]

people fail to understand that if it didn't wobble, you'd be stuck to the confines of the screen without any freedom of movement.

I understand THIS. What I don't understand is why the bullets and smoke are glued to the helicopter's movement like that. I assume with raster graphics it was due to some technical limitation, but with vector graphics it makes no sense to me.

They are using poor terminology to explain it.

Then come up with any richer. I have no stamina to use more than two words for it every single time (when the problem - to me - stays the same).

The bullets aren't glued to your movement. They are independent. You move, the background moves, the bullets stay on trajectory. Your entire description is backwards. Watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bfyqYDMoQg
No need for me to come up with any "richer" terms when I'm not the one complaining about it.

[Obiwanshinobi]

The bullets aren't glued to your movement. They are independent. You move, the background moves, the bullets stay on trajectory.

The trajectory shifts sideways as the background scrolls horizontally. What need is for that?

[Stevens]

Also I totally derailed the topic. My apologies.

Thanks for the explanation guys! I'll peep the link when I get home - stupid DOE firewall.

[ATTRACTS]

The bullets aren't glued to your movement. They are independent. You move, the background moves, the bullets stay on trajectory.

The trajectory shifts sideways as the background scrolls horizontally. What need is for that?

It doesn't. Your vantage point of the bullets shifts sideways because you are moving away from them. If I throw a ball at your face and you move sideways while keeping at eye on it, did the ball trajectory change? If they didn't do that, your ship would be confined to the rectangle you see that defines the borders of your screen and you would have an even more difficult time trying to judge where incoming bullets from anywhere other than right in front of you were going to pass. It's not a static 2D plane.
Moving right along.

[Kollision]

what are your plans on releasing completely NEW, FRESH STG?

[Obiwanshinobi]

The perspective looks fake to me then, because there seem to be only two layers of scrolling and even bullets shot by tanks from the ground are immediately on higher plane. Smoke looks even more fake (well, place anything smoking on the ground, such as incense stick, then look from above shifting your vantage point and see if it's anything like Under Defeat depicts it.

[antares]

Obviously some people notice it and some not. I for myself never had a problem playing Raiden IV, Under Defeat or any other game.
I always thought of this screen wobble thing like some people getting motion sickness in fast ego shooters and some not. It's hard to explain to the other side what the problem is, if you are on the other side from their perspective.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Well, I'm not sayig it's absolutely right or wrong in shmups, but I'd like to hear from devs why they do it.