Crisis Wing - Released!

A place for people with an interest in developing new shmups.
User avatar
Despatche
Posts: 4196
Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:05 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update and stage 5 sneak pe

Post by Despatche »

Oh dear, we have another Gryzor. Universe ending much sooner than I thought. I like how the player ship and main shot are based on Grind Stormer's.

I don't really understand how to play this caravan stage though, I always feel like I'm being punished for trying to do anything properly...

Some sort of notification for off-screen medals would be extremely helpful, but it probably won't work with your game area scheme.
Rage Pro, Rage Fury, Rage MAXX!
PC Engine Fan X!
Posts: 8415
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 10:32 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update and stage 5 sneak pe

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Downloaded this ace Crisis Wing caravan demo -- Wow, the sprite artwork is spot-on in regards to the classic Toaplan arcade shmups of lore.

A cool slick arcade attract demo sequence should be included that leads unto the main title screen for that unmistakable arcade Toaplan-ish vibe to seal the deal. I think running CW on an Airframe pcb setup would be ace -- it's good enough to play on an actual candy cab with the usual low-res 15.7kHz arcade monitor setup.

The catchy chiptune matches the gameplay of the first stage.

Do you have any plans to release CW on the Nintendo Switch platform? It'd be awesome to play it in tate on the Switch's screen with a proper arcade stick for the win (with some scanline support for that classic arcade Toaplan feel).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
User avatar
Stevens
Posts: 3799
Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 11:44 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update and stage 5 sneak pe

Post by Stevens »

Every time I see a new post I am secretly hoping it is pieslice saying the game is finished. I want to play this yesterday, but know patience will be rewarded when he is finally ready for the game to drop.

Think this one is going to be a bit special.
My lord, I have come for you.
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update and stage 5 sneak pe

Post by pieslice »

Project status updated in the opening post.
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update and stage 5 sneak pe

Post by pieslice »

PC Engine Fan X! wrote: Do you have any plans to release CW on the Nintendo Switch platform?
Porting this game to a console is still a very open question to me. It depends how easy it is to port the game to switch; I assume it's relatively easy if Unity support for the switch is done well.
PS4 and XBOne are probably out of question at this point (as I'm just a single man indie "team"), and I think TATE games on widescreen TV:s are rather lame anyway.

The gameplay probably needs some adjustment if I decide to opt for the switch's native aspect rate instead of 3:4. Originally CW was meant to support both widescreen and 3:4 letterbox from the get-go but I decided to use 3:4 only, because the game was considerably easier on widescreen tate mode.

-pieslice
User avatar
CBM
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Nov 07, 2017 12:26 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (25th december)

Post by CBM »

I missed the earlier discussion, so my comment is based on this recent video update:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thPTqRpEfDo

A couple of things that stuck out (to me, might not necessarily to everyone):

- The background repeats pretty quickly. It may be a good idea to loop it only every other screen, to avoid repetitiveness.
- It seems like every shot of every enemy has a sound. I would consider not doing this and only give major enemy shots a sound, and leave the rest quiet, especially those from the popcorn enemies.
- some enemies (the yellow bars for example or the mid-boss) have a very.. noisy texture. Not sure if this really helps.

Other than that it looks really solid and I'm looking forward to the release.
User avatar
blackpawn
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:42 am
Contact:

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (25th december)

Post by blackpawn »

duuuude I really dig those rolling fire sounds. god this game is looking great!
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (25th december)

Post by pieslice »

*Bump*
Project status update in opening post
User avatar
MrJBRPG
Posts: 231
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2017 10:42 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (26th april)

Post by MrJBRPG »

That seems to be great news. Do you plan on making a trailer when close to launch? Perhaps you can find team duo to have a play on 2 player.
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (26th april)

Post by pieslice »

MrJBRPG wrote:That seems to be great news. Do you plan on making a trailer when close to launch? Perhaps you can find team duo to have a play on 2 player.
I will start to gather media closer to launch. I just removed old gameplay video and screen shot from the opening post, as their quality does no longer correspond with the finished product.
User avatar
Stevens
Posts: 3799
Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 11:44 pm
Location: Brooklyn NY

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (26th april)

Post by Stevens »

Whoa. This is great news!
My lord, I have come for you.
User avatar
blackpawn
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:42 am
Contact:

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (26th april)

Post by blackpawn »

Really looking forward to it!!
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (26th april)

Post by pieslice »

Project status update and Christmas screenies in the first post!
User avatar
hechelion
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2019 2:19 am

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by hechelion »

We need a demo as a christmas present :P

seriously, great job, the game look amazing.
User avatar
EmperorIng
Posts: 5065
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:22 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by EmperorIng »

Man, I can't wait! This has really come along and it looks excellent!
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by pieslice »

Yay! All stages are done!
I only need to create unique boss for the caravan level (instead of recycling st1 boss)

Then it is testing and bugfixing, setting up the steam page etc...
Last edited by pieslice on Thu Feb 20, 2020 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
ciox
Posts: 1001
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 5:29 pm
Location: Romania

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by ciox »

pieslice wrote:Yay! All stages are done!
I only need to create unique boss for the caravan level (instead of recycling st1 boss)

The it is testing and bugficing, setting up the steam page etc...
Sounds like great progress, good luck with the rest of the way!
User avatar
clippa
Posts: 373
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:30 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by clippa »

Yeah, good luck man. Really enjoyed the caravan stage demo you put out. Looking forward to picking this one up!
User avatar
Flobeamer1922
Posts: 127
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2019 4:01 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by Flobeamer1922 »

Best of luck! I'm looking forward to this one!
User avatar
EmperorIng
Posts: 5065
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:22 am
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by EmperorIng »

I'm highly anticipating this as well. The aesthetics are on point. Good luck!
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by pieslice »

Some new screens
I put these under spoiler tags as they are large
Spoiler
Image
Spoiler
Image
Spoiler
Image
Spoiler
Image
Spoiler
Image
User avatar
clippa
Posts: 373
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:30 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by clippa »

Gorgeous! Really love the subtle neon glow, the porridge is just right.
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by pieslice »

User avatar
mice
Posts: 829
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:50 pm
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by mice »

Again, this looks awesome! Well done!

Two issues I had with the demo:
- My NES usb controller didn't work properly. No vertical movement, only hori. And just the bomb button. Options screen needs a joy-input config option, I guess.
- The small ship hitbox is also used when collecting the pickups. Really bugged me. :)
Despatche wrote:Oh dear, we have another Gryzor.
Pretty sure Gryzor is smiling a bit over this. :D
Ixmucane2
Posts: 760
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2009 3:26 pm
Location: stuck at the continue prompt

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by Ixmucane2 »

The sprites are very good, but please don't draw them rotated: it destroys the illusion of low resolution with conflicting pixel grids (all fake).
Instead, you might prepare spritesheets with multiple orientations (and possibly multiple faux-subpixel offsets) of your bullets, properly aligned to a consistent pixel grid.
Tools like Rotsprite (and more generally the technique of upscaling the sprite by a large factor, translating and rotating, and downscaling to the regular size) can help you obtain a reasonable starting point for rotated and offset sprites with little effort.
Bassa-Bassa
Posts: 1161
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 5:18 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

Ixmucane2 wrote:The sprites are very good, but please don't draw them rotated: it destroys the illusion of low resolution with conflicting pixel grids (all fake).
Instead, you might prepare spritesheets with multiple orientations of your bullets, properly aligned to a consistent pixel grid.
This, please. The game seems to be drawn at 320x240 (rotated), you should keep the pixel grid and visual effects strictly forced to this resolution. Also, keep in mind that many people here still use CRT monitors for gaming which are easily tate-able, so allowing them to display your game at full screen will always be welcome.

Looks awesome, other than that. Good luck.
pieslice
Posts: 200
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by pieslice »

game is actually drawn with highest integer multiple of 320x240 that can fit to your resolution; for 4x displays each 'pixel' is actually 7x7 or 8x8 pixel square.
Some effects like the light bleed use full resolution; also movement and scrolling are sub pixel accurate and use all available pixels.

For CRT displays you can always crank the resolution to 640x480 :)
Bassa-Bassa
Posts: 1161
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 5:18 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

With "drawn" I actually meant "pencilled", the native resolution you designed the graphics at - sorry for the misunderstanding. Wouldn't the scroll and sprite movement be smooth enough for you if they were restricted to the art's native resolution, like any old game you can think of? Also, you can get a Windows or Linux PC running at 320x240 on a 15khz CRT, not few people do that these days and your game would be perfect for these setups (and viceversa). Though this suggestion may come a bit late now, sadly?
User avatar
mice
Posts: 829
Joined: Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:50 pm
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by mice »

You could render to a 240x320 buffer and then scale it to the nearest / highest integer multiple as you do now and render that in the window.
Will boost performance as well (not that you seem to have an issue with that).

Illusion-destroyed-image:

Image
Bassa-Bassa
Posts: 1161
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2019 5:18 pm

Re: Crisis Wing - project status update (20th dec)

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

Yep. That's awful, I'm sorry. Particularly in this game with such stellar pixel art.


OT: Is your game called "Dancer" in Japan, mice?
Locked