Astroforce Uchusentai - new version of my shmup live!

A place for people with an interest in developing new shmups.
Post Reply
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Astroforce Uchusentai - new version of my shmup live!

Post by lkermel »

Image

Hi everyone!

I released a new retro-style game to the Google Play Store and I'm excited to share it with you here! And it is free!

It is not a secret that I love shmups! I've been playing (and collecting) them since the 1990s (I literally own hundreds of them, much to my wife's chagrin). I've always wanted to create a procedurally generated Gradius, Darius or RayStorm (to only name a few). Astroforce is my first attempt at creating a shooter that never ends. The game is based on a game I developed for the Atari ST in the 1990s (imho, I was a teenager and it was far from a masterpiece), but I borrowed a lot of ideas and concepts from it to create Astroforce. Don't hesitate to let me know if you'd like to hear more about my old games, I'm always game to discuss this part of my past :)

Astroforce Uchūsentai is a vertical and fast-paced fixed shoot'em up in the tradition of the arcade classics like Galaga or Space Invaders... but on STEROIDS! Fight endless waves of enemy ships, fly through a rain of bullets and take on challenging boss battles. Increase your firepower by collecting Victory Points and use them to activate and upgrade heavy weaponry! Time your shots and cancel enemy bullets for maximum rewards! Unlock new ships as you progress through the game! Fire away!

If you have an android phone, please give Astroforce Uchusentai a try. I hope you'll like the game, and it will help me decide if this is something worth pursuing - I have so many ideas and I'm dying to create more complex procedural shmups in the future!

Here is the latest trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryY_5LFGj0

Download it for free on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... astroforce

If you're interested in the project, here is the official page for Astroforce Uchusentai :
http://www.squidbeamgames.com/astroforce

Thank you all for your help and support, and please don't hesitate to let me know what you think, being positive or negative :)

ImageImage
ImageImage
ImageImage
ImageImage
ImageImage
Last edited by lkermel on Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:06 am, edited 9 times in total.
User avatar
heli
Posts: 585
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:58 pm

Re: Astroforce - my new Android shooter is available for fre

Post by heli »

Looking great.
Only the download link dont works, and i dont want anything from google.
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce - my new Android shooter is available for fre

Post by lkermel »

heli wrote:Looking great.
Only the download link dont works, and i dont want anything from google.
I'm so sorry, I had to temporarily pull the game from the store. For some obscure reasons, Google terminated my ad account. I was back at work and didn't have much time to take care of this issue. I'm now going to look into it and will hopefully reactive the game soon. Sorry for the inconvenience... :(
User avatar
sebnec
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:42 am
Location: Marseille, France

Re: Astroforce - my new Android shooter is available for fre

Post by sebnec »

Wow, that looks like a nice game, with a sweet design. I'll download it as soon as it's available again. Don't hesitate to share an apk. :wink:

Didn't know you developed some games on your spare time, Laurent. Congrats, another string to your bow !
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce - my new Android shooter is available for fre

Post by lkermel »

Hi everyone!

The game is back on the Google Play store! Sorry if I had to remove it a couple of months ago, but a major issue came up and I had to unpublish the game for a short while.

But it is now back! And I've used that opportunity to add all eight unlockable ships (only four were initially available), add a couple more power-ups and to also design a handful of new enemies, and tune-up things here and there.

If you had the game already installed on your phone, please update it to the latest version :)
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce - my new Android shooter is available for fre

Post by lkermel »

sebnec wrote:Wow, that looks like a nice game, with a sweet design. I'll download it as soon as it's available again. Don't hesitate to share an apk. :wink:

Didn't know you developed some games on your spare time, Laurent. Congrats, another string to your bow !
Yo Sebnec!!! So cool to see you here!!! Astroforce is finally back on the Google Play store if you want to give it a try :)

I'm usually anxious to share my apks online because of piracy - mind you, the game was already available on pirated website less that a week after the official release on the Google Play store. Amazing.

And yeah! You already know that I love playing games, but I also love making them! As a teenager, back in the 1990s, I used to make games for the Atari ST. Astroforce is actually based on a small game I did back then. I've always been making games on the side, but I decided in 2016 to be a little more serious about it. I started my little studio and have been making/publishing my games since then. Haven't found a way to make a living from them yet though ;)

Take care mate! Hope you're doing great!!!
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce - my new Android shooter is available for fre

Post by lkermel »

Hi everyone!

I did a little more work on my Android game Astroforce and I just released a new version with some cool updates! Some are minor (such as small visual effects) whereas others, such as the ominous segmented snakes, really spice up the game!

Here are a couple of GIFs showing some of the new updates in action!
Image Image

Thank you all for your help and support, don't hesitate to let me know what you think, be it positive or negative :)
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce Uchusentai - my free Android shooter is live!

Post by lkermel »

Hi everyone!

I just released a new update for my Android retro-style shooter Astroforce Uchusentai! In this update, I tweaked the look and improved some of the visual effects, added new enemies, two boss designs, new power-ups (grand total of 20!). Most importantly, I changed the way how power-ups appear in the game and you now collect Victory Points in order to unlock them!

You can watch the latest dev-log if you're interested!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO85Bn0yxk

Here are a couple of GIFs showing some of the new updates in action!
Image Image Image

Thank you all for your help and support, and please don't hesitate to let me know what you think, being positive or negative :)
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce Uchusentai - my free Android shooter is live!

Post by lkermel »

Hi everyone!

I just published a new trailer for Astroforce Uchusentai! The game has evolved so much since the first release and to be honest, the first trailer wasn't really showing what the game had in store anymore... so a new and more exciting trailer was in order!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdxnANTIU4U

Thank you all for your help and support. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think :)
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce Uchusentai - my free Android shooter is live!

Post by lkermel »

Hi everyone!

I just release a major update for Astroforce Uchusentai! Here is a devlog video showing some of the new features you will now find in the game! First of all, you can now move your ship around the screen! This new control system has been on the back-burner for a long while and I'm really excited to finally release it! I have also entirely redrawn all of the background graphics as well as some enemy ships. I am a little ashamed to say that some of the graphics were still borrowed from Atari ST games I made as a teenager... it was seriously time for an upgrade! Finally, I also composed my own music which was long overdue! There are also a bunch of new things here and there, but I won't spoil them here! More to come soon, stay tuned!

Youtube link to the devlog video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3fpT9FnUDU

As always, Astroforce Uchusentai is available for free on Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... astroforce

Thank you all for your help and support! Please don't hesitate to let me know what you think, being positive or negative :)

Nb. By the way, I just noticed that none of my images in this post show up in Chrome... is it also the case for you? I wonder if it is because Chrome can't now load mixed content... blarf...
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce Uchusentai - my free Android shmup is live!

Post by lkermel »

Hi everyone!

I just published a new trailer for Astroforce Uchusentai! The latest update introduced several new major features, one of them being the highly anticipated ability to move around the screen! The update also brought new and improved background graphics and a new soundtrack! This is why a new and more exciting trailer was in order!

Youtube link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryY_5LFGj0

Thank you all for your help and support, and don't hesitate to let me know what you think, being positive or negative. And please, if you like the game, don't hesitate to give it a nice rating, they greatly help :D
User avatar
lkermel
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 11:06 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Re: Astroforce Uchusentai - my free Android shmup is live!

Post by lkermel »

Hi everyone!

I recently released a major new update for my (humble) shmup Astroforce Uchusentai! I listened to your comments and tweaked the difficulty curve! Additionally, I wrote a second in-game music track as well as boss-battle musics! I've also improved the 'divers', these pesky enemies that move out of formation. Some enemies can also now fusion into larger foes! Finally, I tuned up the bullet cancelling system and you can now also see how many bullets you turned into victory points, which can be intensely satisfying! This update has TONS of other improvements such as new animation cycles, backgrounds and more!

Here is a dev-log video showing some of the new features in action!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c_pps_nrJs

Astroforce Uchusentai is available for free on Google Play!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... astroforce

Thank you all for your help and support, and don't hesitate to let me know what you think, being positive or negative. And, if you enjoy the game, please don't forget to give it a nice rating, they greatly help :)

Cheers!
Post Reply