Chronoburst development thread

[n0rtygames]

We are pleased to announce that Chronoburst will continue production. No guarantee on release date, however rest assured the "Negotiators" have been sent in and after many bombas, the results have been satisfactory.

We are in the process of converting the game from old XNA 4.0 over to Unity 5 - this will require extensive work and overhaul but will allow us access to more modern platforms. So for those of you asking "Will it be possible on PS4, XBONE, WiiU" - the answer is YES it's possible, but please give us time to get the PC release done.

It's been a very long process, but ladies and gentlemen please hold on to your butts. Chronoburst is on its way.

https://soundcloud.com/n0rtygames/sound-demo

Watch this space... again.

[trap15]

[n0rtygames]

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- Base game loop done

- Tate support, screen scaling

- Scrolling camera (horizontal and vertical)

- Parallax

- Score counter (with letter score overflow up to Z999,999,999)
Note, this means 34,999,999,999 because we skip "O" as that's just visually confusing to go from N999999999 to O999999999 :P
I am not expecting anyone to get in to letter scores, but since there are some real lunatics here... adding another 24 billion point buffer seems sensible.

- Player ship, lives, gameover conditions

- funky trigger system which gives callback based per level, high level scripting system for cutscene/event type things (boss coming out from behind scenery, triggering secrets etc). Event/trigger area comes on screen or player collides, make set series of things happen all very tidily contained away in its own map script

not worrying too much about graphics right now - will tweak so things look pixel perfect as I implement things. Bit of aliasing on stuff right now in this screenshot

[n0rtygames]

Oh and this, because you need this in your life.

https://soundcloud.com/n0rtygames/keep- ... ass-rookie

[nZero]

Dis gonna be the ChronoBlest and not the ChronoBlurst

[n0rtygames]

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Bullet manager and bullets in. Yay!

[emphatic]

Exciting.


Posted from my portable device using Tapatalk

[Rozyrg]

hold on to your butts.

I personally like to believe I look as cool as Sam Jackson in JP when coding.

Good to see you're still working on this, looks (and sounds) pretty freaking great.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Glad to hear this is still in the works!

[n0rtygames]

Fragment based "Burst" / Bomb system.

[n0rtygames]

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 Been fiddling around with scaling of textures, having to use textured quads for certain stuff to get it to scale right.. more of a polish phase thing for the hud, but laser textures now loop nicely

[n0rtygames]

Lots of design talk on how to KISS (Keep it simple stupid!) and design this game to be good, something I realize I've not actually spoken about here is the original intention to make every ship (or faction ) have a unique playstyle.

Let me explain the basic mechanics of the game first.

This time, I want go further. Make this game *different* to the first game after some feedback that it kinda felt like a rehash of a game people had played before (which is fair criticism). Obviously as many know I went through a big Raizing phase and I've learned some good and bad things from there aswell as other classic shooters.

Simply put, Chronoburst will be a three button game

A = shoot (rapid)
B = special function (laser/other shit)
C = bomb/hyper

Our 'special' attack basically means you won't have a permanent laser like DDP. Your options may change formation. The difference is, this 'burst' weapon will be visually indicated by an aura that charges in front of your ship - it recharges, you won't have to collect tokens.

Yes, this basically means your alt fire has "limited ammo" - but will also be key to scoring. Not necessary, but good to know.

Upon unleashing the special weapon, if you think of the animation of DDP lasers - they start with an initial "burst" effect as the laser starts up. We'll have this in front of your ship and this will be usable as both a defensive and aggressive weapon for scoring purposes.

The emphasis is on constantly switching between shot and special weapon, simply come from some of my favourite games and I want to take that further. None of this will be necessary for survival, fun or casual play - but it'll be there. You're not FORCED to do it, like any good game - the intention is that there will be underlying mechanics for those who wish to play for score.

Additionally, some minor chaining when using the special shot will be present in the game. Up to x16 in normal mode, going all the way up to x64 in hyper mode. This won't mean stage long chaining, because that's shit - but it will certainly mean a few "destroyed at a time" moments. Quick kill bonuses may also be a thing.

Finally, "Combat Rating" - the more aggressive you play, the harder the game will get. No, it's not a "wank the rank" game - it's a sort of normal to clear, hard to score approach.

Use of resources such as bombs, hypers, special weapons is not punished - it is encouraged. Buttons. Push them.

Finally, for anyone worrying about too much loli



So there you have it, Chronoburst in a nutshell. More to come. Believe me this has taken MANY iterations to come up with a solid fun design and a LOT of experimentation has been done on the old XNA version. This time it's being ported over and rebuilt with a solid design document and goal in mind.

[S20-TBL]

A minor question I've been toying with in the back of my head: will you be encouraging some form of boss milking in Chronoburst--e.g. at least allowing for some measure of milking strategies--or will you go the straightforward route? This is something I'm trying to play around with currently.

Yes, this basically means your alt fire has "limited ammo" - but will also be key to scoring. Not necessary, but good to know.

You mean like the recharging burst shot in E.S.P. Ra.De.?

Additionally, some minor chaining when using the special shot will be present in the game. Up to x16 in normal mode, going all the way up to x64 in hyper mode. This won't mean stage long chaining, because that's shit - but it will certainly mean a few "destroyed at a time" moments. Quick kill bonuses may also be a thing.

Coupled with the above, this reminds me of the multiplier chain from Blazing Star. Didn't really force anything like "stage lawng, gayme lawng chainin'" (blast you, Rob! ) but rather encouraged timing your charge shots carefully to take out the optimum amount of popcorns and destructible projectiles, racking up those x128s whenever possible.

Finally, "Combat Rating" - the more aggressive you play, the harder the game will get. No, it's not a "wank the rank" game - it's a sort of normal to clear, hard to score approach.

Use of resources such as bombs, hypers, special weapons is not punished - it is encouraged. Buttons. Push them.

I'd love to see how this plays out in a demo or the final product. As much as I appreciate Raizing shooters, having to micromanage rank inflation is such a bother...but then again I've always hated intensive micromanagement in almost any game genre I play. This is also a current experiment of mine in my own game (and the next one after that, hopefully).

Finally, for anyone worrying about too much loli

<snip>

The samurai needs 100% more 5 o'clock shadow.

[n0rtygames]

A minor question I've been toying with in the back of my head: will you be encouraging some form of boss milking in Chronoburst--e.g. at least allowing for some measure of milking strategies--or will you go the straightforward route? This is something I'm trying to play around with currently.

Actually this is a definite no. But it really depends on your definition of "milking" - if you mean elongating play for tick points on indestructible parts then no. Milking scenarios would really be risk reward based. Destroying boss parts increases intensity of the fight, which in turn generates more bullets on screen leading to more potential points when you kill the next part.

Strategic destruction for maximum gains is how I'd put it - but definitely no long winded milking. In fact, bonus timers may be included to encourage speed killing. Of course if you CAN find a way to milk out those extra points, by all means - but there will be no milking by design.

Milking opportunities may be more like repeating a pattern for increased density once or twice, but beyond that it gets too dangerous and you're forced to kill the boss - but nothing snooze worthy.

You mean like the recharging burst shot in E.S.P. Ra.De.?

Sort of - I actually had a good conversation with Trap15 and this post was edited afters some valid points. I was making a lot of comparisons to other games and Esprade is certainly a good comparison for the recharging alt fire, but I'm hesitant to say "Like this game" as to not set expectations that the game should behave exactly like that. But yes, that sort of thing!

Coupled with the above, this reminds me of the multiplier chain from Blazing Star. Didn't really force anything like "stage lawng, gayme lawng chainin'" (blast you, Rob! ) but rather encouraged timing your charge shots carefully to take out the optimum amount of popcorns and destructible projectiles, racking up those x128s whenever possible.

Yep, that's the trick. I've heard a lot of people complain about things like SDOJ where the player MUST save hypers for THAT specific spot in the game, but the fact of the matter is when you have things like multipliers and weapons that give you nice flashy score - there will always be optimal places to use these weapons. So if you're just blasting away and having a good time you might see a flashy x16 come up, but if you really know what you're doing and have the stage memorized and conserve your weapons til the right moment - yeah, expect the big multipliers.

I'd love to see how this plays out in a demo or the final product. As much as I appreciate Raizing shooters, having to micromanage rank inflation is such a bother...but then again I've always hated intensive micromanagement in almost any game genre I play. This is also a current experiment of mine in my own game (and the next one after that, hopefully).

There will be no micromanagement of rank. It's pretty simple, you push the game - it pushes back. Pushing combat rating (It's not rank!) will be encouraged for score, as this will give you quite a meaty multiplier when you start getting in to the big figures. It is pure risk/reward. No management of item collection, no hidden rank increases - I'd say if you want something that would be a better comparison think of playing Crimson Clover boost mode (in terms of how the difficulty goes up), while this isn't an exact idea of what I'm going for - obviously just no miss no bombing through that game is ideal and it really starts to jack it up the longer you stay in boost mode. That's essentially what we're going for.

You should keep in mind that my favourite game (and mode) is Mushimesama Futari Black Label Original Mode. That big counter in the top left? That's basically the kinda thing our combat rating is.

edit: with the exception that use of resources is encouraged to score, rather than punished.

Basically if it turns out to be tedious, we'll ditch it and make something that isn't tedious. Rules for reworking this game:

1. Is it fun?
2. Is it awesome?
3. Is it intuitive, but can through exploration and repeat play lead to depth?

The samurai needs 100% more 5 o'clock shadow.

Beard and mankini coming up.

[S20-TBL]

I think I get what you're aiming for, and to be honest I like the idea behind it.

Of course, given the limitations of game design, there will always be an optimal method to play any game out there...but given your example of SDOJ being criticized for the absolute restrictions it places on resource usage, the image I'm getting is one of a game where a measure of freestyling is allowed, is this correct?

edit: with the exception that use of resources is encouraged to score, rather than punished.

I like this. Since you had a "Raizing phase" I think I know where you're going, although this also harkens back to more straightforward shmups like Hyper Duel where the special weapon is needed to quick-kill certain enemies, or something like Strikers 1999 / Dragon Blaze where you needed to bomb boss cores for the special bonuses...although again, I'd imagine you want something a bit more freeform than the latter.

I never did like the idea of hoarding resources because the game was forcing me to conserve them for score--I think DFK 1.5 had this going on with a No Miss No Bomb being required for the red loop or something? My memory is fuzzy at this point.

Beard and mankini coming up.

Blast it all. Where's Aine when you need him?

[brokenhalo]

So glad to see this thread up. Shame the old one disappeared, as it was fun to watch you go all mad scientist, norty. Looking forward to seeing where you take it this time.

[n0rtygames]

Mad scientist you say?

Our Samurai now has a voice

https://soundcloud.com/n0rtygames/samurai-audio-demo

This should answer plenty of questions

[Enemy]

Best news this year ... hope it gets released as day 1 purchase!

[brokenhalo]

So we've gone from all female pilots to all male pilots. Will this have an unlockable bikini difficulty? And approximately how many BPM (bombas-per-minute) are you shooting for?

[tiaoferreira]

Very impressive and beautiful environment maps.

[n0rtygames]

Just a brief update

Because you lot wouldn't leave me alone..

https://youtu.be/Hs4geOTiQi0

Kappa.

[brokenhalo]

So you're making a sequel to pilotwangs?

Nintendos going to c&d your ass.

[Kaiser]

So you're making a sequel to pilotwangs?

Nintendos going to c&d your ass.

What drugs are you smoking? He clearly stated this was an example test project somebody else made. So stop smoking and think twice before posting.

[trap15]

It was a joke, chill the fuck out.

[Kaiser]

It was a joke, chill the fuck out.

Fine, I apologize for the reaction, now I get what it sarcastically means (Nintendo suing everyone ) and now that joke actually works. Consider this, a massive backwards brainfart that resulted in me posting a load of unnecessary posting, sorry.

[Kaleb Parham]

Cool. I liked Chronoblast and enjoyed it a lot. Do you still have the Batrider placeholder music

[n0rtygames]

https://gyazo.com/8cfb26969858bad3b27ea8615a85b9ca

So, rather than Unity we decided to convert over to UE4.

Working with this on some other people from the shmup community now, so hoping this will go a bit quicker now.

[emphatic]

Neato.