Xeno Fighters EX is back!

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Mon May 28, 2007 10:04 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuLxLYxRXP0

I also put up the game (complete with high-quality 192Kbps MP3 music) for download. The link is in the video description. It is an 87 MB download.

If you'd like you can customize the music for your own tastes by replacing the existing MP3 music.

Be aware that I have not worked on this game in a few years, so there are some issues unresolved in the game.

Fudoh · Post by **Fudoh** » Mon May 28, 2007 2:00 pm

Sendspace is crappy. Any chance someone could provide a download mirror ?

the2bears · Post by **the2bears** » Mon May 28, 2007 4:19 pm

Or have a separate download for the music? 87M is pretty big. Downloading anyway

Bill

RotateMe · Post by **RotateMe** » Mon May 28, 2007 7:10 pm

Looks great, DLing right now. Thx for developing such a nice game!

EDIT:

First thoughts:

-Nice in general but it's clearly visible that the graphics are taken from everywhere using different techniques. The different styles don't work too well together.

-Starting the game normally makes it appear in a very small window, which scares away people who don't want to spend time on changing the options.

-Easy difficulty seems a bit too easy...

-I like medaling but I didn't really get how this one works... if it's supposed to work like raizing-style medalling it's bugged (plus the values you get seem a bit low when compared too how many points you get for other stuff).

-I like the very different selection of ships and I LOVE the vertical Vic-Viper!

-The font used for menus and stuff is SWEET!!!

-The music is very nice, too!

All in all you should spend some more time on overall issues instead of designing so many wonderful levels! ^^

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Tue May 29, 2007 7:51 pm

RotateMe wrote:Looks great, DLing right now. Thx for developing such a nice game!

EDIT:

First thoughts:

-Nice in general but it's clearly visible that the graphics are taken from everywhere using different techniques. The different styles don't work too well together.

-Starting the game normally makes it appear in a very small window, which scares away people who don't want to spend time on changing the options.

-Easy difficulty seems a bit too easy...

-I like medaling but I didn't really get how this one works... if it's supposed to work like raizing-style medalling it's bugged (plus the values you get seem a bit low when compared too how many points you get for other stuff).

-I like the very different selection of ships and I LOVE the vertical Vic-Viper!

-The font used for menus and stuff is SWEET!!!

-The music is very nice, too!

All in all you should spend some more time on overall issues instead of designing so many wonderful levels! ^^

Point 1: Yes, I agree some of the graphics clash, if that's what you are criticizing. A few people tend to criticize the mash-up of sprites and graphics from different games, which I do not understand.

Point 2: It's a one-time thing. Change the options to alleviate this in the future.

Point 3: That's why it's called EASY. Many people in this forum are shmup veterans, but I have to make this game approachable to everyone. Shmup veterans find Easy Mode very easy, while people new to the genre will find it quite challenging.

Point 4: Have you played any of the Raiden Fighters games? The medaling system behaves almost exactly like it. In fact, the medal graphics in the game are from Raiden Fighters.

Point 5: The hardest part about the ship roster was balancing out every one of them so that none of them were too powerful or too weak.

Point 6: Those fonts are from Dodonpachi, with the exception of the item descriptions in the Options, which is from Strikers 1945.

Point 7: One of my most important criteria for good gaming is good, appropriate music. The soundtrack underwent several evolutions before I arrived with what you hear now.

Your overall point: Like I mentioned in the original post, I have not worked on this game in several years. Many issues went unresolved. However, I did what was most important and released a stable version of the game that PLAYS WELL above anything. That factor alone outweighs the minor issues you just mentioned to start your post.[[/i]

califoreigner · Post by **califoreigner** » Wed May 30, 2007 5:32 am

wow, many thanks.

i've been looking for this recently and was a bit dissapointed to find out that rfemporium is no longer w/ us.

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Wed May 30, 2007 6:10 am

Did it take a lot of work to duplicate the curling beam from Raiden? I've used this program before and I have nooo idea how you begun to do that part...

Twiddle · Post by **Twiddle** » Wed May 30, 2007 7:41 am

I hope you fixed the timing issues with firing and movement this time

Also is the medal activation system changed from the last version? The last version had a very random system.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Wed May 30, 2007 8:36 am

szycag wrote:Did it take a lot of work to duplicate the curling beam from Raiden? I've used this program before and I have nooo idea how you begun to do that part...

Let's put it this way. The entire game engine took me about four weeks to make. The plasma lock-on beam from Raiden II took me just as long to make in MMF.

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Tue Jun 05, 2007 2:09 am

It took that long to set up the Plasma Laser? I'm starting to wonder if my request to put in one of the Varth ships--with smart pods--was a good idea...(Now if I could just get enough experience to reach phase 5...you didn't stick that phase at 500,000, did you?)

On a side note, I'm pleasantly surprised with how apt my Silver Banshee name was for the second boss. I was just thinking in terms of "ghost-like monster". Then I got the chance to play the game...and see/hear the satellite "scream" for its missiles (which certainly heralded death for that poor city).

On the music side...Are you still using "Beyond the Black Sky" for the first part of the Echidna fight? I remember you saying that you had come to dislike it. If you're still interested (and haven't listened to it yet), I can directly e-mail you J.B.'s remix of "A Poisonous Snake" from Grindstormer, which I've found to be very fitting for that part of the game.

And speaking of Echidna...I just noticed that the Normal and Expert versions of it are exactly the same. How come? (Let me guess--time constraints)

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 1:38 am

Skyknight wrote:It took that long to set up the Plasma Laser? I'm starting to wonder if my request to put in one of the Varth ships--with smart pods--was a good idea...(Now if I could just get enough experience to reach phase 5...you didn't stick that phase at 500,000, did you?)

On a side note, I'm pleasantly surprised with how apt my Silver Banshee name was for the second boss. I was just thinking in terms of "ghost-like monster". Then I got the chance to play the game...and see/hear the satellite "scream" for its missiles (which certainly heralded death for that poor city).

On the music side...Are you still using "Beyond the Black Sky" for the first part of the Echidna fight? I remember you saying that you had come to dislike it. If you're still interested (and haven't listened to it yet), I can directly e-mail you J.B.'s remix of "A Poisonous Snake" from Grindstormer, which I've found to be very fitting for that part of the game.

And speaking of Echidna...I just noticed that the Normal and Expert versions of it are exactly the same. How come? (Let me guess--time constraints)

Again, I have not worked on Xeno Fighters EX in almost three years. When I can find time to work on it again, I'll implement the ideas suggested long ago. If you can bring up your suggestions once more, it will be great.

I remember you had a nice track listing for this game using music from other shmups. I don't know if it's still here on this board, or was lost from that old board fiasco.

SteevTee · Post by **SteevTee** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 2:21 pm

That is a really good example of a game made in Fusion. I have been working on a game in fusion for an eternity, but it is making progress. It just takes so damn long to do all the graphics, music and programming though.

What software did you use to capture that video? I've tried a few but ended up using my mobile to get a vid. Needless to say it's not great.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 5:46 pm

SteevTee wrote:That is a really good example of a game made in Fusion. I have been working on a game in fusion for an eternity, but it is making progress. It just takes so damn long to do all the graphics, music and programming though.

What software did you use to capture that video? I've tried a few but ended up using my mobile to get a vid. Needless to say it's not great.

I used SnagIt 8 to capture the video. Then I used Ulead VideoStudio to edit everything together and keep the vertical aspect ratio for upload to Youtube.

FatCobra · Post by **FatCobra** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 10:49 pm

I love this game; it's awesome!

But it needs autofire!

Damocles · Post by **Damocles** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 12:10 am

Alluro wrote:
SteevTee wrote:That is a really good example of a game made in Fusion. I have been working on a game in fusion for an eternity, but it is making progress. It just takes so damn long to do all the graphics, music and programming though.

What software did you use to capture that video? I've tried a few but ended up using my mobile to get a vid. Needless to say it's not great.
I used SnagIt 8 to capture the video. Then I used Ulead VideoStudio to edit everything together and keep the vertical aspect ratio for upload to Youtube.

How did you keep your FPS up during recording? I'm trying to record footage, but even when I disable compression I'm still about 5-6fps lower than the original feed.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:06 am

Damocles wrote: How did you keep your FPS up during recording? I'm trying to record footage, but even when I disable compression I'm still about 5-6fps lower than the original feed.

It depends on your computer's power and your capture settings. My computer is a laptop with a 2.0 GHz Intel Centrino and a GeForce Go 6600 video card. I capture at 30fps using on-the-fly DivX 5.0.5 compression.

I haven't yet tried to capture at 60fps with my current setup. However, 30fps works fine for me, especially when I upload my videos to YouTube (they max out at 30fps anyway).

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 2:27 am

My current playlist for the game is as follows...

St. 1: "Fear the Fukagu!"
St. 2: "The Ritual" (Blast Wind, st. 3)
Boss 2/7: "Sodom" (Blast Wind, boss 3; provisional name "Bloody Hands")
St. 3: "Water Splash" (R-Type II, st. 2)
Boss 3/6: "Terrible Object"; considering "Calling on the Dark Dragon King" (Elemental Master, boss 5)
St. 4A: "Gallantry"
St. 4B: "Sea of Flame" (Thunder Force IV, st. 7)
Boss 4: "Parapsychology"
St. 5: "Desert Dirge" (was this composed expressly for the game? The title makes it sound that way...); possibly "Chaos Breaker" (Blast Wind, st. 4)
Boss 5: "Black Wind"
St. 6: "Gray Stream"; considering "His Behavior Inspired Us with Distrust" (Thunder Force AC, st. 6)
St. 7: "Steel of Destiny" (Thunder Force V, st. 5)
St. 8A: "God Breath" (Blast Wind, st. 6A)
St. 8B: "A Poisonous Snake" remix (Grindstormer, st. 6)
Final boss: "The Last Grains" (my provisional name for what you used)

{sigh} Note to self: Make the list less TecnoSoft-heavy...

What I remember of the ideas that I and others had...

--Extra RFJ vessel (you were mostly considering Flying Ray)
--One-ups from Micli. One for every ten or fifteen unveiled.
--Other ship suggestions: Sabre from Varth (Wide Shot with associated bomb, Napalm; might reconsider depending on what the other ships are capable of. I only have a little over 300,000 experience right now.), Warlord from S1999, Shinden from S1945. Maybe you should consider a purple or green Raiden Mk. III with Proton Laser and Radar Missiles...

You mentioned on the Emporium about hidden stages as a possibility. I'm already thinking of boss ideas...

--Iron Dullahan. Attack train (Germany, 1943). When the locomotive is destroyed, part of it detaches and becomes a medium fighter.
--Ruby Scylla (Micronesia, present). Sea vessel. Can summon upgrade units as the battle progresses.
--Copper Barghest (Korea, 1952). Land speeder. Can create resistance fields that prevent your ship from entering certain parts of the screen.
--Typhon (Alien homeworld). True final boss...Battleship? Fortress? Idol? Take your pick...

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:33 pm

As an excuse for shifting this game back to the front page, I adjusted the playlist as follows...

Boss 3/6: "Chaos Oppression" (Mahou Daisakusen, boss 5)
St. 4A: "Deadline" (A-JAX, st. 4)
Boss 5: "Dusky" (Last Resort, boss 4)
St. 8A: "Twilight Sight" (X-Multiply, st. 6)

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 4:02 pm

For Alluro,

Could you provide a direct link to your demo?

Thank you for your time...

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~