Terra Galactica Trailer

This is the main shmups forum. Chat about shmups in here - keep it on-topic please!
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Terra Galactica Trailer

Post by Dave »

We have been in the process of developing Terra Galactica on the GBA for some time now. For those that aren't yet aware of the project, it's a horizontally-scrolling shoot-'em-up that we've coded from the ground up. Anyway, over the past couple of months we've been hard at work on the game, completely overhauling the website, starting a development diary and releasing lots of lovely new screenshots and information for you. All the work has culminated in today's little release - the first trailer showing the GBA game in action.

Click here for the streaming version (requires Windows Media Player 10, may not work with Firefox)
Click here for a downloadable version (requires the XviD codec - 4MB LQ / 8MB HQ)

Feedback on the game so far would be greatly appreciated, as we're striving to make this an enjoyable game for as many people as possible.

Image Image

Image Image
User avatar
FRO
Posts: 2274
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:25 pm
Location: Nebraska, USA
Contact:

Post by FRO »

Looks good - I can't wait to play it!
User avatar
Shatterhand
Posts: 4124
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 3:01 am
Location: Rio de Janeiro - Brazil
Contact:

Post by Shatterhand »

Do you guys already have a publisher for it, or is it going to be released as freeware or something ?
Image
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

We're currently talking to a publisher.
User avatar
dpful
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: SLC, UT, US
Contact:

Post by dpful »

From the trailers, it looks like you take a lot of hits and deplete an energy bar- you should minimise that aspect. It's always most fun to try an get hit the least (as in, traditionally, you just get hit once).
Although, I can see that perhaps the flashing and chaos in the clips supports an energy bar kind of feel.

different modes with more and slower bullets is also a good idea. Perhaps to give it a range playability for people who like manic shmups as well as old-school.

I'd also suggest, make the harder modes the default. Let the easy modes be the extra options- that makes a big difference in how people will feel about the game.
User avatar
system11
Posts: 6325
Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:17 pm
Location: UK
Contact:

Post by system11 »

dpful wrote:I'd also suggest, make the harder modes the default. Let the easy modes be the extra options- that makes a big difference in how people will feel about the game.
No, I think we can do better than that :) Making the hard modes the default makes a big difference to how /idiots/ and /elitists/ will feel about the game.

Pet hate of mine. Games should be pitched to be taxing but beatable after practise by someone of average skill within that userbase. Yes, that means a few optional easier ones, and a few optional harder.
System11's random blog, with things - and stuff!
http://blog.system11.org
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

dpful wrote:From the trailers, it looks like you take a lot of hits and deplete an energy bar- you should minimise that aspect. It's always most fun to try an get hit the least (as in, traditionally, you just get hit once).
Although, I can see that perhaps the flashing and chaos in the clips supports an energy bar kind of feel.

different modes with more and slower bullets is also a good idea. Perhaps to give it a range playability for people who like manic shmups as well as old-school.

I'd also suggest, make the harder modes the default. Let the easy modes be the extra options- that makes a big difference in how people will feel about the game.
Thanks for the suggestions.

a) I'll bear this one in mind. It was one of the twists in the game design to have it more oriented around the fact that you can take a few hits. However, this doesn't mean you have to take hits - we suck at shooters, so we take a lot of hits, but I imagine for some of you pros out there it'll be piss easy to those shots as there aren't that many. Which brings me onto the next point;

b) Well, we're not necessarily going to have modes with slower bullets, but we're having 5 difficulty modes, and each has its own quirks. Easy is for the novices, and means they have more health (essentially). Normal is the default. Same game as easy, just less health. Hard will have some changes to the enemy attack patterns as well as how the enemies themselves act - there will more than likely be more bullets here, as well as more difficult enemy formations. Extreme will be for the challenge seekers or the experienced - even more damage, even more and harder enemies, and bosses will be much more difficult, and the last difficulty mode, Insane, will be pretty much Extreme with *almost* one-hit-kill (that is, lots of damage).

However, you'd given me a good idea, we might have a challenge mode or option for one hit kill, if there's people out the mad enough to try it.

c) The 'default' mode will be normal, however, you'll get to choose a difficulty before you start the game, so odds are people will choose the one that suits them best anyway.
User avatar
dpful
Posts: 1205
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 5:19 pm
Location: SLC, UT, US
Contact:

Post by dpful »

bloodflowers wrote:
dpful wrote:I'd also suggest, make the harder modes the default. Let the easy modes be the extra options- that makes a big difference in how people will feel about the game.
No, I think we can do better than that :) Making the hard modes the default makes a big difference to how /idiots/ and /elitists/ will feel about the game.

Pet hate of mine. Games should be pitched to be taxing but beatable after practise by someone of average skill within that userbase. Yes, that means a few optional easier ones, and a few optional harder.
I agree. I am into shmups that have a little more action even if it kills you sooner- The worst thing is when a shmup comes out and you DON'T get killed quick enough and get bored. (I'm not real good at shmups myself). I guess there's shmup fans who are into surviving and those who are into dying. I'm more into dying (like you, I wan't to survive with practice).

Just don't make the default difficulty the "play through" difficulty.
User avatar
The Coop
Posts: 2948
Joined: Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:57 am
Location: Outskirts of B.F.E.

Post by The Coop »

Looks interesting, but I have to ask... why is there a black outline around all the ships?
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

The black outlines are to increase visibility. This is a GBA game - the oriignal GBA lacked a backlight, so the black outlines help to distinguish sprites from backgrounds.

Plus I think it looks good :o
User avatar
Nate
Posts: 531
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:16 am
Location: Corpus Christi, Tejas
Contact:

Post by Nate »

I'm wondering if there will be a variable ship-speed control feature? Darius (all of them) was fine without it. TFIV would not have been. So far this baby looks like it's moving at a TFIV/V pace - w/ lots of screen to cover...but, I saw some tight little places in there.

*ducking to avoid flying sharp things*

*scampering back to the studio*

-Nate
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

Eeeh. We ran out of buttons. XP
User avatar
Nate
Posts: 531
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:16 am
Location: Corpus Christi, Tejas
Contact:

Post by Nate »

...a little update in the Dev. Diary!

New ship designs etc.! Ungh! I needs me a flash cart!!

http://www.shadowsoft-games.com/diary/
User avatar
Daigohji
Posts: 1291
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:09 pm
Location: England

Post by Daigohji »

It's looking good. Is the ship customisation purely cosmetic or do different parts alter your ship's speed/armour rating/weapon load-out?

My only concern with the game using an energy bar is that it needs to be highly obvious when you've taken a hit. I noticed from the trailer that the surrounding chaos of flashes and explosions can mask when your ship has taken a bullet and the energy bars are the only indicator. Shmups rarely give you a moment to safely take your eyes from the action to check you energy, and I often find that it can be difficult to gauge which shots are causing damage and which aren't connecting with the hitbox. This makes it difficult to guess the size of the hitbox and contruct strategies accordingly. If the energy bar is definitely staying in this game then there should be an obvious sound effect and/or distinctly different visual flash when your ship takes a hit.
User avatar
Dylan1CC
Posts: 2325
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 12:23 am

Post by Dylan1CC »

Nice, looks good so far (the animated blue circuit background is ace). I dig the alternate cannon and the big red boss scaling the wall and ceiling. How many features are available in single cart multi?

edit: btw on the red boss, was he by any chance inspired by a similar looking baddie from Gate of Thunder? :)
Image
User avatar
Nate
Posts: 531
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:16 am
Location: Corpus Christi, Tejas
Contact:

Post by Nate »

Daigohji:
My only concern with the game using an energy bar is that it needs to be highly obvious when you've taken a hit. I noticed from the trailer that the surrounding chaos of flashes and explosions can mask when your ship has taken a bullet and the energy bars are the only indicator. Shmups rarely give you a moment to safely take your eyes from the action to check you energy, and I often find that it can be difficult to gauge which shots are causing damage and which aren't connecting with the hitbox. This makes it difficult to guess the size of the hitbox and contruct strategies accordingly. If the energy bar is definitely staying in this game then there should be an obvious sound effect and/or distinctly different visual flash when your ship takes a hit.
I actually thought the flailing ships were falling on your ship and causing damage at first glance...turns out that's not the case. I think the game will be "learnable" in a manner of speaking, personally. TFIV had a kind of "what the hell hit me and how" element to it that forced you to learn certain patterns (especially in the desert stage).
These are all good points. But, that last point you made is a damn good one! I'll remember that when I'm stringing together some SFX...and since that's my dept. (along w/ music), I can't really answer much. I think Dave's on his way over to shed some more light...
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

Yo. Nate told me you guys were asking me stuff ;P

The ship customisation is purely cosmetic - this is because while playing FFXI I wanted a certain look, but the armor that had the look sucked, so I was forced to go with an undesirable look to be competant in the game - I hated this. I think this way it'll be a truly customisable ship in that you can have whatever parts you want without worrying about your ship's abilities.

As for the "getting hit" thing - you're 100% right, and we've fixed it! A few weeks ago we decided the exact same thing and made it so the black outline of the ship flashes white when you're hit. The boss's black outlines flash when they're hit too, making it very clear when you've been hit or when you've hit a boss. In addition, the time taken for the flash to fade when you're hit depends on how much damage you took from the hit. If you get hit multiple times the damage count adds up =P

Gate of Thunder... I'll have to ask the artist that, but as far as I know his inspiration came somewhat distantly from some red enemies in level 1 of Sol Deace. Graphically, any way - in terms of how he acts, I don't think I can name any particular game that inspired it, but it probably takes ideas from a slur of them.

Thanks for the feedback people, glad to see that there's still interest floating around. It makes me want to work on it more and more ;P
User avatar
dave4shmups
Posts: 5630
Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2005 2:01 am
Location: Denver, Colorado, USA

Post by dave4shmups »

Dave wrote:Yo. Nate told me you guys were asking me stuff ;P

The ship customisation is purely cosmetic - this is because while playing FFXI I wanted a certain look, but the armor that had the look sucked, so I was forced to go with an undesirable look to be competant in the game - I hated this. I think this way it'll be a truly customisable ship in that you can have whatever parts you want without worrying about your ship's abilities.

As for the "getting hit" thing - you're 100% right, and we've fixed it! A few weeks ago we decided the exact same thing and made it so the black outline of the ship flashes white when you're hit. The boss's black outlines flash when they're hit too, making it very clear when you've been hit or when you've hit a boss. In addition, the time taken for the flash to fade when you're hit depends on how much damage you took from the hit. If you get hit multiple times the damage count adds up =P

Gate of Thunder... I'll have to ask the artist that, but as far as I know his inspiration came somewhat distantly from some red enemies in level 1 of Sol Deace. Graphically, any way - in terms of how he acts, I don't think I can name any particular game that inspired it, but it probably takes ideas from a slur of them.

Thanks for the feedback people, glad to see that there's still interest floating around. It makes me want to work on it more and more ;P
Please do keep working on this shmup, it looks great! :D
"Farewell to false pretension
Farewell to hollow words
Farewell to fake affection
Farewell, tomorrow burns"
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

No worries about that, this is a game we intend to finish. All I meant by that was when I'm not working on the game, and I'm instead on these forums or doing something else, thinking about all these comments makes me want to go back to my computer and get working again XD
JohnnyUK
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2005 2:19 pm
Location: Manchester, England

Post by JohnnyUK »

Dylan1CC wrote:edit: btw on the red boss, was he by any chance inspired by a similar looking baddie from Gate of Thunder? :)
Hey, I'm the artist working on this game. To be perfectly honest, the art style kinda developed from what we were originally doing - which was a sol deace/feace fangame (sounds cheesy, doesn't it? But this was about 4 years ago - we've obviously moved on from then =P) - I'm not entirely sure what made me dream up that boss, but it just kinda suited the level. I must pick up a copy of Gate of Thunder though - got any screenshots from the point in the game in question?
User avatar
Nate
Posts: 531
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:16 am
Location: Corpus Christi, Tejas
Contact:

Post by Nate »

http://www.classicgaming.com/shmups/rev ... index.html

7th pic down - 1st column...

I think that's the one Dylan1CC was referring to...

The top part breaks off of the base and lunges forward? Then you have to fly around a whirling bullet and attack the base part quiclkly...timing is everything.
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

Aha, I see. That is quite similar!

A question I missed before but picked up this time; for single cart multiplayer we're *hoping* to be able to have the entire game fully playable, in the same way it is for multicart, with a few exceptions - obviously, loading time will be increased by a large amount as data has to be sent to the slave GBA after each level. In addition, the slave GBA will not have a full pause menu, instead just having a pause screen. Any functionality in the pause menu will be accessible from the master GBA. Also, the slave GBA will have no sound, because cramming entire levels into 256 KB is hard enough, without having to fit sound data in there too ;P
User avatar
D
Posts: 3853
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 3:49 pm
Location: Almere, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by D »

Dave, first of all congratulations on the project, looks OK.
I've got lots of tips, but I guess to each their own. And lots are also matters of taste, I don't think you'll be throwing alot of things around so I'll congratulate you with the project.
If and I mean if at some point at the last minute the game seems slightly too hard, at the last minute you can make the ship a little less high. To illustrate:
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?a ... B6716D351A
And in some pictures I see gray and yellow bullets. Keep in mind that bullets are what shmups are about, they could be very bright colored, pink, bright green, bright red to maximize visibility. As far as being hit. Instead of the outline brighting up why work with a little exlplosion a la UN Squadron/Area 88. Working with this forum and your own expertise we are unstoppable :wink:

Great job
User avatar
Middlemoor
Posts: 247
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2006 9:45 am
Contact:

Post by Middlemoor »

That looks cool!
"Just one more game..."
Image
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

Thanks for the tips, D!

I know what you mean with the bullets. To be honest Johnny and myself really wanted to make glowing shots like in ikaruga and other such games, but the problem is that's only possible with per-pixel alpha or antialiasing. What I mean is the kind of whiter-than-white effect.

However, I assure you that bullets are a lot more visible in game - bear in mind that the quality of the video obscures things - believe you me, if this game didn't play to the best it could, I wouldn't be making it ;P

As for matters of taste - do you mean classical shooter conventions? Hmm... TG may have some problems with that. Most of the game design is really a load of ideas built up over time to create a good game play experience - to be honest, we haven't really concentrated on recreating a classical shooter experience.. at least not as much as creating a fun game.

More explosions are a bit of a problem due to technical limitations - this game is really already pushing the GBA to the absolute limit, which is why we've had to think outside the box a bit and do the outline thing. I'm sure you'll like it when you see it, it works surprisingly well.

I would love to hear more suggestions - even if I don't seem to easily take ideas on board, rest assured that if you grab my interest on something I'll see it through.
User avatar
D
Posts: 3853
Joined: Tue Feb 01, 2005 3:49 pm
Location: Almere, Netherlands
Contact:

Post by D »

What I mean with matters of taste is that everybody has their favorite shooters and themes and everyone could say: "do it like this, do it like that". But ultimately it's your vision. I have about 1 million ideas/solutions for games and concepts on any hardware. I have design skills with hardware limitations in mind and not just for shmups. I am not really seeking a job in game development, but it will probably remain a fantasy of mine to be in the game. I guess the quality of a game also depends on:
-money/resources/skils
-time limit
My wish is that a Capcom or Sega president would ring my doorbel and get on his knees and beg me to design games for them. If anybody needs any help let me know. But I guess there are not that many programmers that seek somebody to design what they should build, I guess the urge to code software is to make your vision come to life. I have lots of visions on all genres, but who will code for me? I feel I would have to invest so much time into coding myself and I don't think that that is where my skills are. I do have VBA coding skills and can provide solutions for coding issues, but I guess design is really where my skills are and not sprite design, that is a whole other ball game. I can comment on your sprites if you like with arguments like use of colors/symetry/animation. But ultimatly I'd like to hear somebody wnating to make a game in a certain genre and I can take it from there. I will design the structure of the game, the game engine, playing system, options, difficulty, everything apart from coding and sprite design and music/sfx design.
Can I compete in contests somewhere? what can I do with my game designs.

I guess I'm just very envious.
User avatar
eretsua
Posts: 326
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:53 am
Location: ~bordering on reality
Contact:

Post by eretsua »

Dave wrote:
dpful wrote:c) The 'default' mode will be normal, however, you'll get to choose a difficulty before you start the game, so odds are people will choose the one that suits them best anyway.
that's an excellent idea!

the video looked nice though i do feel that the craft(s) are a bit too big / screen filling. also the bullets looked rather small which seems a bit problematic to me. but like you said it may be the utube compression that makes it look worse than that it would be on a gba/ds. the shield idea doesn't appeal to me. not that i'm any good at shmups but i kind of like the one-hit-wonder idea. having a shield kind of takes the edge of a shooter game, at least that's how i feel.

the grey-ish background with the blue moving lines looked way cool!
warning: a huge warning sign is approaching fast!
http://community.livejournal.com/the_dump_ever/profile/
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

OK, Thanks for the feedback. The crafts are made large to make them more visible on the small screen... however, worry not - there's still plenty of space to move around!

I thought there would be many shooter fans who wold disagree with the shield/energy idea, and I can see their point - it's not done often. Which is precisely why we did it; it's not an overdone way of doing things, and it allows the beginners to get into the game a bit before they die. However, I'm considering having a 1-hit death mode anyway, though that would make the game very, very difficult, so some modifications in that mode would probably have to be made. If I do it =P

@D: There's plenty of space for designers in the industry - in fact, maybe even moreso than programmers, but you have to be careful about how you get in. What I'd do is come up with some designs for game - write a full design doc, and submit it to a developer for review. See if that gets you anywhere, and don't give up =p
User avatar
Nate
Posts: 531
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:16 am
Location: Corpus Christi, Tejas
Contact:

Post by Nate »

Dave:
However, I'm considering having a 1-hit death mode anyway, though that would make the game very, very difficult, so some modifications in that mode would probably have to be made. If I do it =P
I have it!!!

You complete the game on normal mode...you UNLOCK "1-hit death mode"...and it can be immediately played as a 2nd LOOP! However far you get in said mode adds to your initial score after completion! Of course 1hit mode stays unlocked... or no?

Your welcome!
Dave
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 11:39 pm
Location: London, England
Contact:

Post by Dave »

That's more or less what we had in mind =P
Post Reply