Graze Counter [Steam]

[tate]

Mecha Ritz: Steel Rondo developer @hey1230 retweeted the release of GRAZE COUNTER LITE, which was enough to make me check it out. Well that and the polished spritework in a 240x240 frame. Notice the afterimage of the player's ship; it kicks in whenever focused movement is invoked.



In addition to contributing to the score multiplier, grazing fills a counter attack gauge. Each counter attack in turn is used to collect gold stars to fill a break gauge. Here's a YouTube video from a month and a half ago, where the score multiplier is missing. The demo can be accessed from this page on the developer's site.

The demo is only a single level, with the full game not due until 2017. There's some balancing work yet to be done, but I think the foundation is solid.

Two things to note in the demo: 1) the default TYPE-1 ship's speed is quite slow, whereas the TYPE-2 rated at 50% faster seems more normal and 2) consider going straight to the HARDCORE MODE in the CONFIGURATION menu.

BTW, what's with the recommendation "to beginner” of the INCLUDE control option that combines "Auto Fire & Slow" into a single button?

[MathU]

Notice the afterimage of the player's ship

Well I was optimistic about this game until you made me notice it.

[Squire Grooktook]

Notice the afterimage of the player's ship

Well I was optimistic about this game until you made me notice it.

???

Game looks great visually.

Will try it out later when I have some free time.

[MathU]

Seems like this is made in the same engine as MECHA Ritz. Once again the ability to fully reconfigure keyboard inputs is a huge breath of fresh air from the doujin scene.

[KAI]

No collision damage=doujin of the year

Looks very promising.

[Lord Satori]

Looks neat, but I could do without the red crystal from Raiden.

[Shepardus]

Seems like this is made in the same engine as MECHA Ritz. Once again the ability to fully reconfigure keyboard inputs is a huge breath of fresh air from the doujin scene.

The config program even has the same bug where screen scalings beyond x2 are all listed as x1.

[Zaarock]

The same developer made KIRISAME BLADE 1 & 2, those are good fun.

[tate]

PSA: The reset button has to be pressed for 3 seconds. Takes you back to the opening screen, but it's better than having to actively suicide.

[xy2_]

Some important things:

- while you are grazing, score increases by 10 per frame (600/s) and multiplier increases by 1 per frame (60/s). It does not matter how much bullets you are grazing, you will always get this result.
- counter attack lasts exactly 120 frames (2 full seconds.)
- the break laser only cancels green bullets.

[tate]

I just noticed that the demo was updated to ver.1.11 on 27 Sep. Changes include two new difficulty levels, each a step above one of the originals; a TYPE-3 ship that is an amped up version of TYPE-1, according to the specs; and a Pacifist Mode that disables shot and break. Full release is targeted for Spring 2017.

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Square aspect ratio just seems so odd.

[Special World]

Don't much like grazing as a scoring mechanic usually, but this seems to integrate it a lot better than other games. Either way, looks really rad.

[Despatche]

Cool, an update.

Square aspect ratio just seems so odd.

Many old conversions (Toaplan on Mega Drive) use a near-square ratio, as do all of the Touhou games. I guess it makes more sense when there's a big status menu to the right, though.

[tate]

Now on Steam Greenlight. The associated PV shows lots of interesting bits. Release target is this summer.

[Despatche]

Sweet. Glad to see this nearing completion.

[AxelMill]

The associated PV shows lots of interesting bits.

Why, hello, Rayforce's second stage.
Even though grazing isn't exactly my thing, I kinda like this game's premise.
Mecha Ritz's artstyle was so much better, BTW.

[Despatche]

Yes, but this is a different dev. Seems to take somewhat after Konami, particularly with earlier games.

[AxelMill]

Oh, OH.
I somehow missed the "retweeted the release of" part of the opening post.

[M.Knight]

I was quite fond of Kirisame Blade 2 from the same developer, so I'll support this release's Greenlight. (if I ever remember to do it)

[Meseki]

So there's a version 1.20 of the demo out now, but I can't seem to actually download it and was wondering if it was just me having the problem (it's been saying something about not allowing more than one download at a time since yesterday, and no one else on this network has been using this site).

[tate]

So there's a version 1.20 of the demo out now, but I can't seem to actually download it and was wondering if it was just me having the problem (it's been saying something about not allowing more than one download at a time since yesterday, and no one else on this network has been using this site).

The dev acknowledged the problem in a tweet less than an hour ago. Of course it's now after 1 AM in Japan, so there probably won't be a resolution for a bit. I wonder if freegame-mugen.jp is no longer an option because the game is now commercial.

[NeoStrayCat]

Well, besides the demo situation, at least now the game now has its store page up, with a release date of 7/28, no info on price. But you can try the demo from there. (Though its more likely the 1.11 version with English on it, since 1.20 didn't have English.)

http://store.steampowered.com/app/629440/Graze_Counter/

[BulletMagnet]

Aaaand it's out, price is ten bucks, get a buck off if you buy at launch.

[Klatrymadon]

I love the game and will talk more about it at some point, but I encountered a glitch (or secret?) seconds into the full version, in which my ship sped off as if I'd cleared a stage, and the rest of the level just proceeded without me.

[STGAlmond]

I'm finding this to be pretty fun. I only played easy and arcade at the moment, and it seems pretty easy. It is satisfying to be aggressive and collect stars. Score boards don't have any initials, and there is no separation of scores by ships. I wish it had steam leader boards.

Quirk I noticed was that if you use the shield sub weapon it charges during cut scenes. You can just wait on a dialog and let shield charge if you need it, but I think graze boost is the best sub type.

[drunkninja24]

Yeah the game is definitely quite easy, least on arcade, I literally got a 1cc my first time playing

but I can definitely see coming back for scoring potential

[M.Knight]

It defintely is a scoring-oriented game. I reached the last boss on my first try and got the 1CC on the second, but that was very fun nonetheless!
For more challenge, there is an unlockable mode where rank is maxed for the whole run.

It is satisfying to be aggressive and collect stars

Agreed! The Grazing => Counter Beam => Yellow Stars => Hyper => Red Stars game flow is quite exciting and seems to offer many scoring opportunities. I just wish the multiplier didn't decrease during the few moments of respite before a boss approaches.

The missions come in handy to learn the scoring system's intricacies and some of the various ships play quite differently from the others.

All in all, I can easily recommend this game.

[Klatrymadon]

I didn't find the game quite so easy at first - it seems to bear its teeth around the end of stage two - but it quickly becomes clear that the solution to most sticking points is to Counter the fuck out of them, heh. I'm looking forward to playing for score in the hard mode and finishing off the missions. It's incredibly satisfying to play regardless of the difficulty level...

[Redfox]

Rated for Switch Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassss!!!! (Screw Steam )

https://gonintendo.com/contents/11502-b ... ch-release