How many hours per week do you practice/play shmups?

Post by **Dave_K.** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:45 pm

Ok, there have been a bunch of new personal bests, and amazing feats posted recently, and I really want to know how many hours are you guys are actually putting in to these games (or shmups in general) per week to have to pull stuff like this off?

Plasmo · Post by **Plasmo** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:51 pm

i used to play 20h+ per week but now its down to 1h per day.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 9:52 pm

Dave_K. wrote:Ok, there have been a bunch of new personal bests, and amazing feats posted recently,

Name 'em (so I don't have to go digging).

This question is obviously not for me since I have no new personal bests or anything, averaging 0 hours a week for most weeks. I did play Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth recently. Terrible game!

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:03 pm

Copy/Pasted from Triggerzone.de;

Seven Force Zitat:

How long did you play this game, btw?

DEL Replied:

Just a few credits over a few evenings, spread over about 2 weeks. I find Batsugun quite easy - it must be my old Toaplan skills (as I mentioned on shmups; Counter Stopping Truxton/Tatsujin was much harder).
The only hard part is the step from 75mil to 99.99mil. This last 25mil requires you to play about 8 lives better than the requirement for 75mil.

Batsugun went down within hours^, but it totally varies from game to game. ie. It took me 10 months of 1 or 2 credits per day to put up a 170mil Border Down 6D ALL. It took The Old Mills 1 year to master both loops of Strikers 1945.
The only constant thing with me is; I never rinse-off credit after credit. Usually 2 credits per night of any game and no more.
I'm not Japanese, "everything in moderation" as they say.

Cheers Dave

DEL

Post by **Dave_K.** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:24 pm

Rob wrote: Name 'em (so I don't have to go digging).

Icarus, Del, Triple Lei, MrMonkeyMan, Cigs... Some more recent than others.

DEL wrote: The only constant thing with me is; I never rinse-off credit after credit. Usually 2 credits per night of any game and no more.
I'm not Japanese, "everything in moderation" as they say.

Del, with your talent, I'd think you have some dormant Japanese genes.

So I guess you don't fall into the "restart trap" limiting yourself to only 2 credits per game per night, but how many different games do you play a night?

Post by **Icarus** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:40 pm

Depends on if I have anything important to do during the day (study, work, socialising etc). Usually 2-3 hours per session, and usually one gaming session at least every two days, normally done at night during twilight hours. A lot of it includes constant restarting though (a habit difficult to break), as some games have really frustrating first stages (Ibara! I'm looking at you!).

I like to play for a while, as even when I'm not doing well, I can discover new tricks and strategies to use in an eventual high scoring attempt.

landshark · Post by **landshark** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:48 pm

I throw around 1 or 2 hours hear and there. Usually less than 5 hours a week. It ramps up if I buy a new game (like Gradius V ).

DEL wrote: It took The Old Mills 1 year to master both loops of Strikers 1945.

Man I wish. I'm on 3 years for Strikers 1999 and am yet to see 2-4. Though I usually only play 1 game at a time, once every few weeks. But still - 2nd loops of psikyo just slaughter me.

tekneekz · Post by **tekneekz** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:50 pm

7-10 hours sometimes more

rolins · Post by **rolins** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:56 pm

I get about 1 hour of play at least everyday. It really depends how much freetime I can spare between college and my job. I used to rack up 20+ hours a week, but lately it's been more like 5 to 7 hours a week.

Frederik · Post by **Frederik** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:09 pm

DEL wrote: I'm not Japanese, "everything in moderation" as they say.

Doing something in moderation but over a long time is the best thing to do in my opinion. I guess the brain needs to adjust to it over time and not getting overkilled with it. Anyways I could never play a certain shmup for more than 1 hours max. I just burn out after that. There is a lot of power in getting better not by brutal changes and stubborn exercise but forming habits and sticking to it.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:34 pm

In the summer, I can usually find time for 2-3 hours at least a few days a week (though some days I'll play more), barring those days/nights I spend with my girlfriend or I'm busy with my research, or when I'm out with friends. When school (and my accompanying work) start up again, I'm lucky to find 20 min a day. I spent last summer mainly playing Galuda, this summer I've been playing Mushi. I hope by next summer there'll be a Galuda 2 port and I can play that (which is actually when I start on my PhD dissertation, so maybe I won't have that much time afterall)!

malcolm · Post by **malcolm** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:55 pm

Easily 7-10 hours. And that's after working all day for the man, mountain biking and lifting, making the wife happy(if you know what I mean), and playing with my cats. You see I don't watch television at all, none.

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:06 am

lately it's one or two credits per day of a little roulette of shooters i cycle here:

Radirgy
Raiden Fighters Jet
Battle Garegga
Shikigami no Shiro 2
Samidare

and three hours of Pangya a day

Middlemoor · Post by **Middlemoor** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:09 am

I usually play for a few hours each day.

Bkeela · Post by **Bkeela** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:03 am

I play until I push the envelope slightly. I feel kind of drained after a good run and prefer to end on a high note. So that equates to about 5 credits or about 40-50 mins per day. Civilization IV consumes most of my gaming time.

Triple Lei · Post by **Triple Lei** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:14 am

7-10 hours seems about right. Some days I don't play at all, but on others I can play for a surprisingly long time. I usually don't quit unless I end on a high note or I think of a new and better way of approaching a section.

IlMrm · Post by **IlMrm** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:53 am

5-7 hours per week. Usually around two hours during the week, and the rest on weekends.

~Kid Icarus~ · Post by **~Kid Icarus~** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:11 am

A coule of credits a night for me usually. Sometimes on a couple of game if I'm lucky enough to have the time. Currently, I'm playing Mushi and Galuda.

RFL · Post by **RFL** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 10:08 am

Nowadays I'm playing for like maximum an hour per night, if even that... I used to play a lot more but now I play a couple of credits per night... If I get my hands on a new Shmup I usually play more, perhaps an hour to two per night for a period, but after a while (like 2 weeks) it usually goes down to a couple of credits per night again....

Fenrir · Post by **Fenrir** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:39 am

I play half an hour every day at least. Could even be more than 1h occasionally if I manage to get to a particular stage.
Nonetheless, when I was a wee younger I played a lot, lot more. Even 6 hours a day if it was necessary.
Of course, when I buy new games or revamp old, old ones the time may rise. For example, last Sunday I dusted off Project X on my Amiga and played it for at least 3 hours.

APPROACHING ASTEROIDS BELT!
Such vividity ahhh.................

Edge · Post by **Edge** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:11 pm

At the moment 0 hours in a week.

But when I settle with a game I like to have long sessions, like 2-3 hours. I am having those sometimes a few days in a row sometimes with breaks up to 3-4 days. I have no usual pattern there.

Edit:
And i tend to get most "active" during nighttime, dunno why.

cigsthecat · Post by **cigsthecat** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 9:35 am

I am probably in the 7-10 range. It varies of course but that sounds about right if I'm not too busy.

Post by **system11** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:41 am

There needed to be a <1 hour per week option.

tekneekz · Post by **tekneekz** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 1:14 pm

ill be stacking alot of hours when metal slug 6 arrives, trying to 1cc that game, i do that with all new metal slugs but never 1cc'ed any of them but its fun trying or playing 2 players.

DC906270 · Post by **DC906270** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 4:08 pm

im not really playing a lot of shmups at the minute, but when i do go through a serious shmup phase, i will play up to 1.5 hrs per day+ (which would mean 10 hrs per week on average). problem is, i pretty quickly hit a wall and/or get bored, and move onto another game, say after 1-2 weeks, this prevents me from progressing from anything but average player on most shmups.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 4:41 pm

When I'm practicing a game-- like I am now with DDP-- I'll try to find about 30-60 minutes a day. But there are some times in the year where that's impossible and I have to wait for the weekends. Right now level 3 of DDP is kicking my ass. I end up using a ton of bombs and losing a bunch of lives. It's a shame because level 4 is one of my favorite levels in any game and I don't get to see it that often.

When I'm done practicing, if I still have some time for gaming, I'll usually turn to non-shmups, usually in handheld form. The DS completely kicks ass on the PSP. I even tend to prefer old GB games over PSP games, though Segoku Cannon is a bit better than expected.

tiktak · Post by **tiktak** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 5:22 pm

You mean level 3 in DDP or DDP:DOJ? Stage 4 in both of them is amazing!:D I am practicing Stage 4 in DOJ and it consumes at least 3h a day, yesterday it was much more but there are some months in a year when I don't even turn on a console (time...) I voted 7-10h per week nonetheless.

PS. Thanks Triple.Lei for encourage!

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 7:05 pm

tiktak wrote:You mean level 3 in DDP or DDP:DOJ? Stage 4 in both of them is amazing!:D I am practicing Stage 4 in DOJ and it consumes at least 3h a day, yesterday it was much more but there are some months in a year when I don't even turn on a console (time...) I voted 7-10h per week nonetheless.

I only dream of getting to level 4 in DOJ. I can get to the level 4 boss in DDP, but I haven't gotten familiar with its patterns yet. It seems like getting to level 5 is going to be manageable. I love when I can get to level 5 in a game and it's not boring-easy.

DEL · Post by **DEL** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:09 pm

Dave_K wrote:

but how many different games do you play a night?

= 1 game per night. 1 game per week. 1 game per month and in the case of Border Down, almost 1 game per year exclusively.

landshark wrote:

I'm on 3 years for Strikers 1999 and am yet to see 2-4. Though I usually only play 1 game at a time, once every few weeks. But still - 2nd loops of psikyo just slaughter me.

Notch up a few more credits on Strikers 1999! I reckon the distance will come if you play some more and think about what your brick wall is?! ie. come back each credit with a fresh idea to try.

oxtsu · Post by **oxtsu** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:41 am

Back when I had time and could do some damage, I'd spend 2 or 3 hours a night playing and strategizing. Now I'm lucky to get 30min a night.

shmups.system11.org

How many hours per week do you practice/play shmups?

How many hours per week do you play/practice shmups?

How many hours per week do you practice/play shmups?

Re: How many hours per week do you practice/play shmups?

5-7 per week

Re: How many hours per week do you practice/play shmups?

Re: 5-7 per week

Re: 5-7 per week

focus