XOP Ultra and XOP Black Ultra thread
XOP Ultra and XOP Black Ultra thread
I wrote a 2D overhead shooter called XOP, and released it in 2002. I attempted to sell it for 4 years, then released it as freeware in 2006.
In 2008 I made XOP Black, which was a free sequel to XOP. I updated it several times over the years with new levels and content.
In 2011, I updated both to XOP Ultra and XOP Black Ultra. They're now both free and available from my website.
http://sk8tokyo.com/udder/prog/xop/
http://sk8tokyo.com/udder/prog/xopblack/
Last edited by Udderdude on Tue Mar 13, 2018 9:00 pm, edited 21 times in total.
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Fighter17
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Re: XOP, a 2D shooter
I can't fucking believe it that this game didn't sold well, because XOP is one of the best PC shooters I played for a long time.Udderdude wrote:I wrote a 2D overhead shooter called XOP, and released it around 2002. It took me close to 1 1/2 years to make.
I attempted to sell it as shareware; however, this failed. Mostly due to the game's difficulty, low-res graphics, the fact that shareware shooters don't usually sell well (kiddie puzzle games sell much better), and my complete lack of any real marketing skills.
I am now releasing it as freeware. I feel this is better than letting it collect dust behind a $20 shareware fee. Download it and give it a try.
This download will stay up as long as I feel like it. I may remove it at some point in the future. Consider it a $20 discount on an old shareware shooter.
Graphics, sound, and the most important, gameplay were all good.
My only problem with the game was a lack of an controller menu. I'm playing this with my PS2 controller and since I can't config my controller (I can only select joystick), I'm playing XOP a little weird. Other than that, this game is great.
9/10
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BulletMagnet
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Fighter17
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Sad but ture.Udderdude wrote:Shareware games that sell do so because they're really, really easy. What we look for in a game, and what they look for, are entirely different things.
Look at Bejewled. It's so easy it's pathetic. Yet it became immensely succesful. Casual gamers don't want a challenge .. they want to be mindlessly placated for awhile, doing a repetitive task. Almost like squishing a stress ball.
Games like XOP, which are so difficult only hardcore shmups fans can play it at the hardest difficulty, just don't work for them. Therefore, I get no money.
BTW your bullet patterns reminds me a lot of the Cave shooters (DoDonPachi). Your Stage 2 boss patterns said so.
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Shatterhand
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okay, first of all thanks for releasing the game as freeware. I´ve known the demo since it came out, but actually found it too easy to consider registering the game. Now I played the full version, I think it gets interesting from level 3 onwards.
When Xop was new, the average quality of amateur shmups wasn´t very exiting. There were already hundreds of games out there, and I tested almost all of them, but 9 out of 10 just made me yawn, if they didn´t crash immediately. Since then, things have improved incredibly, though, and while Xop was certainly above average back then, it isn´t anymore, I think. You´re probably not interested in developing the game any further, but in case of any future projects I´d like to mention a few things intended as constructive criticism:
- bullets and medals look too similar in shape and color. I´ve got a bigger screen than I had back then, but I remember being hardly able to distinguish them on a 15" monitor.
- the game seems to use internal coordinates geared for lo-res display. Although it´s possible to switch to 800x600, all objects move a few pixels at a time, making it all look rough instead of smooth.
- weapon balance isn´t too good. Some weapons are pretty useless, 2 are almost identical. Sometimes less is more.
- am I right in assuming you´ve drawn all the graphics by yourself? Well, they may look acceptable for coder art, but if you want to sell a game, you should find someone with at least a little talent for that part. This applies to the sound part as well.
When Xop was new, the average quality of amateur shmups wasn´t very exiting. There were already hundreds of games out there, and I tested almost all of them, but 9 out of 10 just made me yawn, if they didn´t crash immediately. Since then, things have improved incredibly, though, and while Xop was certainly above average back then, it isn´t anymore, I think. You´re probably not interested in developing the game any further, but in case of any future projects I´d like to mention a few things intended as constructive criticism:
- bullets and medals look too similar in shape and color. I´ve got a bigger screen than I had back then, but I remember being hardly able to distinguish them on a 15" monitor.
- the game seems to use internal coordinates geared for lo-res display. Although it´s possible to switch to 800x600, all objects move a few pixels at a time, making it all look rough instead of smooth.
- weapon balance isn´t too good. Some weapons are pretty useless, 2 are almost identical. Sometimes less is more.
- am I right in assuming you´ve drawn all the graphics by yourself? Well, they may look acceptable for coder art, but if you want to sell a game, you should find someone with at least a little talent for that part. This applies to the sound part as well.
What part of the level did it crash at? I guess these stability problems are appearing because I recompiled it for the latest Allegro ..
What kind of error message did the crash produce?
What kind of error message did the crash produce?
Last edited by Udderdude on Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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battlegorge
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I guess you did not do enough advertisement, because i never heared of your game.
The gameplay is very good. I reached the end of stage 4 and got some awards.
My favorite weapons are missiles,bots and velocity cannon.
The best part so far was the 3rd boss with the homing lasers!
Most graphics are good if you like the style but some where annoying.
Especially the "walls" in stage 4.
And the scrolling and the movements are not perfect. It pauses once per second for several milliseconds. I dont know why because my screen refresh rate and the fps are both 60.
You dont really notice it during the action but it makes the game look less smooth!
Music and sound effects are really good.
All in all it is a very good and fun shmup with small weaknesses.
The gameplay is very good. I reached the end of stage 4 and got some awards.
My favorite weapons are missiles,bots and velocity cannon.
The best part so far was the 3rd boss with the homing lasers!
Most graphics are good if you like the style but some where annoying.
Especially the "walls" in stage 4.
And the scrolling and the movements are not perfect. It pauses once per second for several milliseconds. I dont know why because my screen refresh rate and the fps are both 60.
You dont really notice it during the action but it makes the game look less smooth!
Music and sound effects are really good.
All in all it is a very good and fun shmup with small weaknesses.
Seconded. At times there's also a huge amount of shrapnel flying around which makes it even worse. It would also be nice to be able to configure your joystick buttons. I got around this by using a joy2key program.raiden wrote:bullets and medals look too similar in shape and color.
Aside from those, I'm really enjoying this. The gameplay is fun and the scoring system is just the way I like it - it's intuitive, it gives room for players with different levels of skills and it doesn't force you to find "one true path" through the stages.
The Score Attack mode is fun too, the different awards you can win seem cool (I got Perfect and Slaughter on my first attempt at 1st stage). Upping the speed to 80 FPS makes for a fun ride, but the game seems awfully jumpy and the aforementioned problem with bullets and medals is highlighted here.
Oh, and it has crashed once for me too - midway or so into Stage 3. Lost my highest scoring run so far there.
No matter how good a game is, somebody will always hate it. No matter how bad a game is, somebody will always love it.
My videos
My videos
I have this on Live Arcade, to actually do well enough to unlock the other game modes is actually incredibly difficult.Udderdude wrote:Look at Bejewled. It's so easy it's pathetic.
System11's random blog, with things - and stuff!
http://blog.system11.org
http://blog.system11.org
i remember buyin this game about 2 years ago, so now you owe me 20 bux!... (jk)
when i bought it, i thought it was one of the best shmups i had in my collection for the PC made by westerners... now, i still think its pretty good, runs smooth, and its worth every penny i put on it when i bought it... now, you're releasing it as freeware... well... thats good, so other ppl who NEVER heard of the game, or never got to try the full version, can enjoy this lil gem... and i play it on my kb (i dont like controllers... just my good old kb!).
are you gonna develope another shmup? ...
when i bought it, i thought it was one of the best shmups i had in my collection for the PC made by westerners... now, i still think its pretty good, runs smooth, and its worth every penny i put on it when i bought it... now, you're releasing it as freeware... well... thats good, so other ppl who NEVER heard of the game, or never got to try the full version, can enjoy this lil gem... and i play it on my kb (i dont like controllers... just my good old kb!).
are you gonna develope another shmup? ...
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MASTER SATAN
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TerminasluT
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Wow, it's cool. Thanks for sharing. It's easy for me and I like it so much!
Last edited by 0adoncia on Tue May 13, 2008 1:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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elfhentaifan
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Necronopticous
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Krooze L-Roy
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Damn, this is really great stuff. Thanks!
And, unless you changed something since the initial complaints, I can't see how anyone could mistake the medals for bullets. The medals are practically invisible and when the bullets start getting thick it's easy (if not automatic) for me to tune out the medals altogether. In most of the medal-collecting shmups I've played this is significantly harder to do, so I really like how you made them so transparent. It's a damn good solution.
Now I did have an instance where I dodged around like a spaz cause I though my bots were homing bullets chasing me, but that was just me being dense.
BTW, how many levels are in this thing? I've gotten as far as the Void so far.
Sorry to hear that you're no longer in the shmup-making business, but at least you left the genre with one more feather in it's cap. Again, thanks for that.
And, unless you changed something since the initial complaints, I can't see how anyone could mistake the medals for bullets. The medals are practically invisible and when the bullets start getting thick it's easy (if not automatic) for me to tune out the medals altogether. In most of the medal-collecting shmups I've played this is significantly harder to do, so I really like how you made them so transparent. It's a damn good solution.
Now I did have an instance where I dodged around like a spaz cause I though my bots were homing bullets chasing me, but that was just me being dense.
BTW, how many levels are in this thing? I've gotten as far as the Void so far.
Sorry to hear that you're no longer in the shmup-making business, but at least you left the genre with one more feather in it's cap. Again, thanks for that.