Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
User avatar
Oniros
Posts: 794
Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2013 3:13 am

Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Oniros »

Squire Grooktook wrote:
Captain wrote:The future of shmups is the past.
*Yagawa smiles with the teeth of a shark*

*cue Heavy Day*
User avatar
Shepardus
Posts: 3505
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2014 10:01 pm
Location: Ringing the bells of fortune

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Shepardus »

People seem to like the Danmaku Unlimited games quite a bit, but what I've seen of them has always left me unimpressed. Something about them strikes me as solid and functional but bland, particularly the bullet patterns and enemy movements, which give me the impression of a ballet dancer simply walking across the stage as opposed to dancing. Having never actually played the games, is there something I'm failing to see in them? Please tell me what I'm missing.

Also, STG Weekly episode coming soon? :wink:
Image
NTSC-J: You know STGs are in trouble when you have threads on how to introduce them to a wider audience and get more people playing followed by threads on how to get its hardcore fan base to play them, too.
1CCs | Twitch | YouTube
User avatar
rjosal
Posts: 298
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 5:27 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by rjosal »

Love the guitars. DU2 was a big step up from the first. The controls on mobile are the only good implementation I've ever seen, and the engine is solid in general.

For some gripes, 1) the look and feel of each stage has always been exactly the same. And here it looks like the stages in DU3 look and feel the same as all of them in DU2. I think some variety and actual backgrounds would really take the series to another level.

2) It's more like listening to a soundtrack than listening to shooting and blowing stuff up. That's just the style of the game, but personally I love a crisp loud satisfying explosion and some cool sounding guns. The enemy bullet waves in DU, if they do make a sound, sound like someone threw a playing card at you.

DU2 should be required shmupping on mobile if you shmup on mobile at all.
User avatar
Necronom
Posts: 990
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 10:36 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Necronom »

Oniros wrote:Been a long time coming but here it is!
Awesome. Loved the second one. Imo still the best shmup on Android.
Any chances for a mobile release? :wink:
User avatar
kid aphex
Posts: 1058
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 8:24 am
Location: Moai Zone
Contact:

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by kid aphex »

Awesome.
No MAC release?
Bummer.
IOS release?
Doragon_Foxbat
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Doragon_Foxbat »

- Android/iOS ports are definitely planned, though I'm going to try for console releases first :)
- May consider mac release when I get some new hardware as my only mac is a decade old potato.
- I've hired some help to work on some of the SFX for DU3 so they should be an improvement from some of my DIY efforts for 2.
- Background designs are def something that I need to continue to improve on, I've tried to put in more varieties of scenery for 3 but I'm limited by my artistic abilities haha

Please feel free to ask anything regarding DU3, though I usually respond a lot faster on twitter :)
User avatar
BulletMagnet
Posts: 13888
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 4:05 am
Location: Wherever.
Contact:

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by BulletMagnet »

Will there be a stand-alone release as there was with 2, or Steam-only this time around? If the latter, will the game be playable without the Steam client?
User avatar
kid aphex
Posts: 1058
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 8:24 am
Location: Moai Zone
Contact:

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by kid aphex »

Awesome, thanks for responding.
I should probably just dual boot at this point, anyways.
Doragon_Foxbat
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Doragon_Foxbat »

Steam is confirmed but I'm working on other distribution methods (eg:Humble) as well, though the Steam copy should work just fine without the cilent!
User avatar
Rayge
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2016 6:16 am

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Rayge »

What's the price of admission? I'm looking at buying some additional copies to do some giveaways.
User avatar
clippa
Posts: 373
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:30 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by clippa »

$9.99.
edit: Oh, you're the guy who does the pc shmup thread on neogaf! Thanks for the effort you put into that, it's a great source of info.
User avatar
Bananamatic
Posts: 3530
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Bananamatic »

Shepardus wrote:People seem to like the Danmaku Unlimited games quite a bit, but what I've seen of them has always left me unimpressed. Something about them strikes me as solid and functional but bland, particularly the bullet patterns and enemy movements, which give me the impression of a ballet dancer simply walking across the stage as opposed to dancing. Having never actually played the games, is there something I'm failing to see in them? Please tell me what I'm missing.

Also, STG Weekly episode coming soon? :wink:
pretty much how I feel about it

doesn't look bad, just ridiculously bland and vanilla
User avatar
drunkninja24
Posts: 1802
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:27 am
Location: MO

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by drunkninja24 »

My only real complaint with DU2 is that there's very little sound effects to the action on screen. The soundtrack is great, but there's next to nothing when a boss blows up or an enemy is destroyed, which makes it lack a good bit of punch. I still enjoy it overall though.
User avatar
kid aphex
Posts: 1058
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 8:24 am
Location: Moai Zone
Contact:

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by kid aphex »

Bananamatic wrote: doesn't look bad, just ridiculously bland and vanilla
I felt the same way when I first looked into DU2; honestly, I'd say the soundtrack is 50% of the game (at least) and really adds, atmospherically, to whatever visual complexity it might be (subjectively) lacking in.
User avatar
Squire Grooktook
Posts: 5969
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:39 am

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Shepardus wrote:People seem to like the Danmaku Unlimited games quite a bit, but what I've seen of them has always left me unimpressed. Something about them strikes me as solid and functional but bland, particularly the bullet patterns and enemy movements, which give me the impression of a ballet dancer simply walking across the stage as opposed to dancing. Having never actually played the games, is there something I'm failing to see in them? Please tell me what I'm missing.
+Art style is unique and looks nice in motion
+Warinsides soundtrack is great
+A few creative patterns here and there (I like the asteroid based cover shooting in stage 4 of du2)
+technically solid

-Broken scoring in DU2 iirc
-Fairly standard Cave-like in terms of patterns/enemies/mechanics

Overall mostly notable for the presentation and for being a solid traditional game on IOS. Not much more to it then that, and on Steam it's facing steep competition.
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
Aeon Zenith - My STG.
User avatar
Despatche
Posts: 4196
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:05 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Despatche »

Or at least it would be facing steep competition if it wasn't $4.99, a price:value range only met by certain doujin titles and the hilariously underpriced Crimzon Clover. Even Alltynex Second is $7.99 (it really needs to be more). DU2 also tends to go on sale more than any of these games, further devaluing the whole concept.

This also assumes this genre can even recognize the concept of competition, which it really can't. Not anymore. None of these games compete with each other because since there are so few of them, the people actually buying them will buy all of them if they can help it.

Haven't heard anything about broken scoring... there are two modes for what it's worth, hopefully only one is broken if so.
Rage Pro, Rage Fury, Rage MAXX!
User avatar
astroid
Posts: 184
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:01 am
Location: Russia

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by astroid »

ImageImageImage
User avatar
Zaarock
Posts: 1877
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:18 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Zaarock »

Is it just me or does Graze mode punish playing aggressively? feels like most of the stages you just want to stream graze at the bottom of the screen and most of the weapons auto-aim so the 'shooting' element is low and there's no bonus for getting up close. Haven't made it past stage 3 boss yet though.. bosses phases can also take ages with some weapons and there's little technique to shoot them down faster (you want to milk them anyway).

Like many people have said on twitter, the laser sound is sorta obnoxious. Seems like a good game in general, really want to like it.

edit: Stage 4 on graze mode Image
when's psyvariar mode

Replays would be nice..
Last edited by Zaarock on Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Bananamatic
Posts: 3530
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Bananamatic »

is there honestly any reason why graze mode has to be locked to true only?

spirit mode is just poorly balanced and pretty crap overall, if you can't handle true (which is the vast majority of players tbh) then you're stuck playing that
User avatar
drunkninja24
Posts: 1802
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2009 3:27 am
Location: MO

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by drunkninja24 »

Picked this up today, having a blast with it myself

I'm just kinda happy that somebody took the Bullet Soul idea and actually fucking made the dead enemy's leftover bullets actually, you know, do something that makes you want to collect them (that always bugged the hell out of me in Bullet Soul) and the overall game feels much more polished and better presented. Also dropping the somewhat euroshmuppy upgrade system from Danmaku Unlimited 2 was also a very good move imo.

I think the criticisms in the above posts are somewhat warranted, I do wish Graze Mode had lower difficulty levels available, but hopeful that that and other things can be fixed up. Even as the game stands now, its still well worth the 10 bucks imo
User avatar
Saikyoh
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 10:29 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Saikyoh »

Bananamatic wrote:spirit mode is just poorly balanced and pretty crap overall
I wish people could elaborate on such claims, especially when the developer is fairly active on the board and open to feedback.
User avatar
Bananamatic
Posts: 3530
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Bananamatic »

Saikyoh wrote:
Bananamatic wrote:spirit mode is just poorly balanced and pretty crap overall
I wish people could elaborate on such claims, especially when the developer is fairly active on the board and open to feedback.
Everything cancels bullets, stages become piss easy for survival (except for stage 5 with enemies that have ridiculous health and trap you regardless of difficulty setting if you don't know what you're doing) with bullets disappearing before they can reach you

the bosses in graze mode are way harder than the stages, why would you keep the difficult thing intact for the "beginner" mode while removing any difficulty from the easy part?
if you can't handle graze mode which is locked to the hardest mode for no real reason and you don't want to play the mode where you barely dodge anything on the stages, you might as well go and refund the game now
User avatar
Despatche
Posts: 4196
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:05 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Despatche »

What he means is that Spirit isn't really made for him, and he doesn't really know how people are gonna deal with the weird per-stage difficulty jumps. I have no idea why he's looking out for consumers anyway, because he clearly doesn't understand that people hate dodging things or caring about game mechanics at all.

I get the impression that Graze True was designed first, and everything else came later.
Rage Pro, Rage Fury, Rage MAXX!
User avatar
Bananamatic
Posts: 3530
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Bananamatic »

I really have no idea why it's marketed as a "beginner friendly, accessible game"

the bosses are full of death trap attacks, stage 5 attempts to bring back the laser wheels with nearly indestructible enemies blocking a ton of the screen and the scoring system is way more punishing than your average doujin with ddp-like chaining where if you drop the graze chain once or take a hit, your scoring for the rest of the stage is done

not to mention you get only two extends (haven't seen any more at 5bil score) which are pretty damn hard to get (I was the only one yesterday who got a single extend on Spirit Hard, the other 48 players didn't even get halfway to the first extend), your bombs are weak and you get only 2 of them per life+1 per stage clear and some of the boss attacks are so long that unless you figure out the gimmick you just get hit 3-4 times before the attack ends

it's a way bigger memorizer than your average doujin shmup, and if laser wheels are anything to go by, casual players hate bullet hell with traps like that
Despatche wrote:people hate dodging things or caring about game mechanics at all
I think you have a good point there
User avatar
Cee
Banned User
Posts: 380
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2013 9:14 pm
Location: Taunton

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Cee »

Is my pc a shitter or is this game meant to have a bum load of slowdown?
User avatar
Bananamatic
Posts: 3530
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Bananamatic »

probably the former

also, the chaining is harder on easier difficulties due to enemies being less aggressive, you really need to plan a route to keep your chain in the first place
no idea why this is a thing either
User avatar
clippa
Posts: 373
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:30 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by clippa »

Zaarock wrote:there's no bonus for getting up close.
Yeah, this was favourite thing about DU2, the risk/reward of getting in close to the larger enemies and bosses to build up your hyper meter quicker.
Shame it was done away with and replaced with bullet grazing, which I've never liked.

Still having fun with the game, hoping it'll grow on me a lot and I'll finally learn to love grazing.

I remember DU2 taking a while before it clicked with me so maybe I just need to play more. I was expecting more of the same, mechanics-wise.
User avatar
Bananamatic
Posts: 3530
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Bananamatic »

Cee wrote:Is my pc a shitter or is this game meant to have a bum load of slowdown?
now I remember, are you playing in fullscreen or not
it seemed to lag a bit for me when windowed
Doragon_Foxbat
Posts: 27
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2013 7:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Doragon_Foxbat »

I'll look into unlocking the Hard difficulty for Graze Mode once I play around with it a bit more to see how the game mechanics holds up with less bullets feeding the Graze High -> Trance cycle. As far as being catering to the wider range consumers it's always been my goal and wish to let the genre get more exposure aside from just STG fans and enthusiasts. Spirit Mode was created so for players with no STG experience can be eased into learning some mechanics beyond "shoot and make everything explode" and hopefully get players interested in improving to take advantage of those mechanics and maybe even look out for other games that have their own unique mechanics as well. While I would love to just focus on the core audience as a small indie dev I'd starve otherwise :(

Really thankful for all the feedback so far (even the more critical ones!) It's always good to know that there is room for improvement!

PS. While most of the proximity based bonus from DU2 is gone, during Graze High, being closer to the boss and damaging it will fill up the Trance meter faster :)
User avatar
Bananamatic
Posts: 3530
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:21 pm

Re: Danmaku Unlimited 3 - Releasing 2017/03/09

Post by Bananamatic »

Doragon_Foxbat wrote:once I play around with it a bit more to see how the game mechanics holds up with less bullets feeding the Graze High -> Trance cycle
they already seem to fall apart a bit with chaining being harder on easier modes and scoring lower the easier the game is, yet keeping the extends at the same score value for every difficulty, resulting in beginners getting absolutely no extends

why not just scale the graze high/trance gain according to the difficulty, same with how fast the gauge drops? (easier difficulty = drops slower obviously)
the game is already hilariously punishing for a doujin if you're playing for score, your score absolutely snowballs out of control if you manage to play flawlessly (way more than in a CAVE game I would say) and a single mistake reduces your point gain basically to zero

hell, I'd drop the whole chaining/losing everything on hit for spirit mode entirely as it's way too discouraging and strict for the intended audience
Doragon_Foxbat wrote:While I would love to just focus on the core audience as a small indie dev I'd starve otherwise :(
I think that's the audience you managed to focus on the most...if by "core audience" you mean someone so good at these games that maybe only 1% of this forum would be good enough, and that's being generous

graze mode is pretty legit but barely anyone can handle it properly
Post Reply