![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Hopefully will be posting details about it soon. At least a demo will be completed for Dream Build Play (September 23rd, 2008).
[EDIT:]
Here is the offical page of our shmup, Duality: ZF:
http://xona.com/dualityzf/
Pixel_Outlaw, we have thought of every one of these, and have implemented them all with exception to the "enemies firing as they leave the bottom of the screen", which we have full plans to implement.Pixel_Outlaw wrote:BAD IDEAS:
Bullets that are too small
Hitboxes that are too big (many modern games have small hitboxes on the ship we are talking like 2/3 of the ship's sprite area at the largest)
Lifebars that compensate for undodgable bullet patterns
Enemies that fire as they leave the bottom of the screen (you need a dead zone where enemies cannot fire after)
Realism (most shmups are not too real looking they are meant to escape reality not jump from one to another)
Ship inertia . (inertia will give you an instant F because we need to put our ship in position right away, not wait for it to stop)
I also agree with all of your tips. I've seen shooters where the bullets are just 'bullet spam', and it shows. The Raiden series is great for decent bullet patterns.Pixel_Outlaw wrote:Tips:
Put out some serious bullet patterns all being completely dodgeable but challenging. Don't make the bullets too sparse and also don't make them nonsense and just bullet "spam". Aim for a difficulty curve between the first and last level. The first level may be an entry level but the last level needs to ask something of the experienced player.
Make the game have a stylized color palette. Enough of "the ground is brown sky is blue and land is green". Pick a color palette and go with it. Really use some thought and create a mood with your saturation levels and also you intensity of colors. Try not to use too many hues and saturation levels at once. Elements that share no color palette will just break the visual flow of the game and feel thrown together,
Ensure that your background layer is not as visually demanding as the obstacle and sprite layers. The background needs to take a backseat to the foreground. We need to be able to focus on the meaningful objects first the background is just icing.
Shmups are a very simplistic genre. Whistles and bells will detract if you really go crazy with extra features. We don't need much story we just need some innovative patterns to dodge and a way to return fire while being challenged in a completely reasonable way. Every bullet barrage has a path. The game MUST be clearable on one credit. You should NEVER trap the player in a hopeless pattern of fire and use a lifebar as a cop-out.
The Japanese have set the definition of a good shmup. They know what they are doing and it would be wise to take a page from their book while furthering your style and idea.
I forgot to update this thread. There are screenshots and videos on our official Duality: ZF webpage, as well as links to our YouTube channel and Facebook group:Udderdude wrote:Screenshots .. kthx >_>
My impressions from watching the Oct 2008 video:Matthew Doucette wrote:I forgot to update this thread. There are screenshots and videos on our official Duality: ZF webpage, as well as links to our YouTube channel and Facebook group:Udderdude wrote:Screenshots .. kthx >_>
Duality: ZF
http://xona.com/dualityzf/
http://forums.xbox.com/23504455/ShowPost.aspxThe November 19th, 2008 launch date has not been met. DUALITY: ZF is not finished. The current launch date is set for the end of November, 2008.
DUAL PLAY lets you control both fighters with the left and right thumbsticks. The d-Pad also controls the "left" fighter.
DUAL PLAY is optional. Use it only if you want. Solo play is default.
DUAL PLAY is for beginners and experts alike. Beginners should dual play in the easy modes. Our weakest beta tester, who never plays video games, beat stage one with dual play.
DUAL PLAY is not difficult to grasp in gameplay. All our beta testers managed it within a few game plays. Most Xbox gamers are already used to controlling each thumb independently for separate purposes.
DUALITY: ZF is not an expert-only bullet hell (danmaku, bullet curtain) shoot'em up. Anyone can play it. A four year old beat stage one in the easiest mode, including the intimidating boss you see in the YouTube videos.
DUALITY: ZF grows to match the skill of every player on the planet with unlimited unlockable difficulty modes. Elite players will have a "bullet hell" style experience, but this is out of the ordinary. We are excited to see gameplay captures of these most elite players.
DUALITY: ZF allows eight independently controlled fighters on the screen at once. This is possible via four players each playing "dual play". The impact of eight times the firepower blew us away, and forced us to offer additional unlockable difficulty modes to challenge such extreme gameplay.
The DUALITY: ZF scoring system awards points proportional to the enemy strength and attack. The same scoring formula used for all difficulty modes. If the enemy is twice as hard to kill, you get twice the points. The scoring system does not "care" about the difficulty mode, only how tough the enemies are. It was important to make scores from all difficulty modes compatible, and we acheived this.
DUALITY: ZF will sell for 200 Microsoft points, unless we cannot meet the (difficult) 50MB size limit and are forced to sell for 400 points. We will do everything we can to meet that limit. Please understand the game is still in development.
Thank you all for your interest. We hope to offer one of the more exciting and fun shooters on the Xbox 360, not just counting Community Games.
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Matthew Doucette / Xona Games
game: Duality: ZF
It is much more than just that. The speed of kill is only one multipier of the enemy score. Others are based on strength and attack, which are difficulty mode independent, and make sense across difficulty modes, thus making all scores compatible no matter what mode you are in.Udderdude wrote:So basically the scoring system is like Raiden 3, where you get a score bonus for blowing up enemies as soon as possible?
Now I know what you mean. You want to be able to play DUAL PLAY on two controllers. Well you can already do this with any Xbox game, as with ours, but the game will think of you as two players and thus two scores. Combining of such scores will probably not be implemented in our game. Is this something we should concentrate on? It will greatly complicate our menu systems, and our introduction of DUAL PLAY to players who know nothing about it. Should we look more into this, or is DUAL PLAY on one controller good enough for now? With HRAP I do not see a right thumbstick, so maybe DUAL PLAY will be impossible on just one of them.Udderdude wrote:HRAP is a kind of arcade stick, Hori Real Arcade Pro. Here's the 360 version .. http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-dd-70-2xsv.html
Here's an example of the kind of play I was thinking of with two of these .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToBdzV7w5Pc
The cap will be the difficulty mode that you cannot complete the game (or maybe just the first stage) in. It will be different for everyone. If we were to cap the difficulty modes, I cannot see why someone who can complete the game in the hardest mode should not be offered an additional mode to test out.Udderdude wrote:Also, I don't really like the idea of infinite difficulty modes .. there really should be a cap at some point.
Good call. You are right. The explosions have been changed already. Check the screen shots: http://xona.com/dualityzf/ We are doing everything we can to make the distinction between enemy fire and everything else as great as possible.landshark wrote:...it looks like the explosion particles closely resemble the projectile shapes.