Xeno Fighters R (2019 GM Studio Port)

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:14 am

New ship select screen roster. Expect these ships (and more) to be in the next public demo:

I've also made the following updates:
*A "grace period" for popcorn enemies and lesser big enemies. This gives them a delay before your shots can hurt these enemies. This is done to prevent killing popcorn enemies so quick that they never attack.
*Major balance fix: Judge Spear and Miyamoto's overall firepower reduced.
*Vertical-to-horizontal movement factor reduced from 1.5 to 1.25. This setting gives more vertical mobility to slow ships (like the Raiden mk-II).

LtC · Post by **LtC** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:50 pm

Alluro wrote:I've also made the following updates:
*A "grace period" for popcorn enemies and lesser big enemies. This gives them a delay before your shots can hurt these enemies. This is done to prevent killing popcorn enemies so quick that they never attack.
*Major balance fix: Judge Spear and Miyamoto's overall firepower reduced.
*Vertical-to-horizontal movement factor reduced from 1.5 to 1.25. This setting gives more vertical mobility to slow ships (like the Raiden mk-II).

Wow. I was just about to write and suggest about balancing the ships current version and making enemies less vulnerable as they enter the screen. You surely know what you're doing and this makes me even more exited about seeing the full version in the future. Keep up the good work

By the way do you take any suggestions of ships you're going to add? Personally I'd love to see the Microcorp Stalker from Tyrian or the Kamui lightning ship from Kamui and RefleX. But this is just a tiny suggestion, there are already more ships than I'd have expected you would add.

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:40 pm

Alluro wrote:Feel free to help out with these sprites.

Like this?

monkeyman · Post by **monkeyman** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:43 pm

Just wanted to say great job so far - certainly puts my GM raiden game to shame!!

If you're getting someone to redraw the graphics, perhaps you could get someone to draw the R9 Arrowhead top down? Would make an interesting addition especially with force/bit wingmen

Skyknight · Post by **Skyknight** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 1:29 am

What coincidence? I referred to "Invade Your Mind" BECAUSE you'd used it in previous 8-1 recordings.

And sorry, but that whole "don't let Amondule change history" was just my understanding of why you were participating in the first place. Never mind that until I made it to the final stage, I was thinking of GYLEND (from Battle Field/Time Soldiers) as being the main villain, on account of the same publisher, similar time warp effects, &c. No, all I've seen beyond the instructions for plot was the American flyer's "Experience the past to prepare for the future" that I alluded to.

On the other hand, if anyone understands Japanese (and if this reproduction's resolution is good enough for at least reasonable guesses), maybe they can figure out what this is saying.

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer ... 76&image=1
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer ... 76&image=2

I haven't memorized a lot of katakana, but I'm pretty sure those furigana on the flyer's front are saying "Amondule". The "a" kana, followed by something I know is one of the "m" kana, followed by the "n" kana...

Now to hope the flyer really is describing a backstory.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:23 am

Love the sprite work for the planes, Alluro, but will you (or someone) be re-making the sprites of the original four planes? Not being rude, but they are quite different in quality and style compared to the other plane sprites.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:49 am

Skyknight wrote: On the other hand, if anyone understands Japanese (and if this reproduction's resolution is good enough for at least reasonable guesses), maybe they can figure out what this is saying.

http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer ... 76&image=1
http://www.arcadeflyers.com/?page=flyer ... 76&image=2

I haven't memorized a lot of katakana, but I'm pretty sure those furigana on the flyer's front are saying "Amondule". The "a" kana, followed by something I know is one of the "m" kana, followed by the "n" kana...

Now to hope the flyer really is describing a backstory.

My Japanese is extremely limited, but I know how to read all Hiragana, Katakana, and some Kanji. The furigana on the front page reads taimu sorujaa ("time soldier").

The second page of the flyer does seem to be talking about a backstory. A word I see repeated a lot is desumoura in Katakana, as well as the year 2110. Its first instance is preceded by the word SYSTEM, which could imply that desumoura is a sort of rogue computer system wreaking havoc in time. However, only a fluent Japanese speaker and reader can translate this for sure.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:21 am

BPzeBanshee wrote:Love the sprite work for the planes, Alluro, but will you (or someone) be re-making the sprites of the original four planes? Not being rude, but they are quite different in quality and style compared to the other plane sprites.

Someone has offered to revamp the sprites of the original four ships in pixel-art. The Amada Vipros, Zaiva, and Xelcor were all rendered by a contributor a long time ago using 3DSMAX. The Phyxius is a ship from Multimedia Fusion's graphics library.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:10 am

Ah, I see. Thanks for the info!

On the topic of the music behind Xeno Fighters, I'm a rather avid user of GarageBand if you needed a particular replacement.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 2:48 pm

Quick update: several bugfixes and balance fixes:

*BUGFIX: Getting two of the same bonuses at a time (Quick Shot, generic chain extenders) would cause the chain counter to go up by only one instead of two.
*BUGFIX: Grabbing a powerup on the exact frame it is spawned (from a powerup carrier) does not upgrade any weapons at all.
*BALANCE FIX: Popcorn enemies shoot only once in their appearance. They now shoot earlier however, 5 frames after their "grace period" is over.
*COSMETIC: Bosses now flash when hit by Bomber attacks.
*BALANCE FIX: Stage 1 Boss' second form's hitbox increased in size horizontally. This allows weak fighters (like Miyamoto now) to point-blank it and deal maximum damage to the boss.
*BALANCE FIX: A-10 Thunderbolt striker planes in Stage 3, HP increased slightly.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 10:19 am

Herr Schatten is revamping the sprites of the four original ships. The older versions were pre-rendered by a friend who contributed these ships when I made the original XF-EX. Herr Schatten is redoing them in cleaner pixel art. Here's the first ship done: the Zaiva:

Before:

After:

Also, here's his Vic Viper revamp:

I'll keep posting updates as Herr Schatten finishes his excellent revamps.

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 6:38 pm

the remakes look amazing. I can't wait to see them all.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:25 am

I second that, although I personally think the Vic Viper seems rather fine as it is. Great stuff, guys!

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:23 am

There are some stage design considerations I've been exploring for the remake. One pet peeve I had with the original that I never had the time to address is the enemy wave layout on certain stages. Some enemy waves ran too long, especially the common endless popcorn enemy waves.

Stage 2: This stage will stay largely unchanged, even the random missile waves will remain. One change will be to refine the boss attacks, especially its final phase where it unleashes a bulletspam attack without warning.

Stage 4: Here's a list of the changes I'm thinking about:

*Redesign the end boss (the giant bomb power complex) so that it's less tedious. One approach is to consolidate the whole boss into a one-screen affair.
*Scrap the whole timer gimmick with the endboss.
*Introduce a new miniboss that would attack while you are descending into the hole in the earth.
*Another possible location for a miniboss: late in the level before the boss where those blue domes come up from behind and attack.

Stage 5:
*When the screen starts scrolling to the upper-left, I will put in a new miniboss fight. The submarines will remain in this section, but there will be no more endless waves of medium enemies and popcorn enemies like in the original.
*Shorten the amount of time to destroy the endboss. This means less planes to shoot down and make crash into the boss.

Stage 6: This stage really needs no changes in design.

Stage 7: This stage is also quite tight in design terms. I may put in a miniboss in the asteroid field section.

Stage 8: Fix the imbalanced difficulty in the Normal Mode. This is partly due to the 32-direction limitation, where the fast 3-way bullets shot by the popcorn enemies would aim off-center, resulting in cheap deaths.

Final Boss Area (Stage 8-2): This level actually never received an Expert Mode version.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:28 am

I just expanded the total ship slots from 20 to 27. If you have any more ship suggestions, there's room!

You read it right. It's the Pokemon Zapdos as a cameo fighter.

Zapdos' Slaves:

Zapdos is about 10% complete. It is just a clone of Miyamoto at the moment. None of its weapons have been coded in yet.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:29 am

LOL Zapdos!

Actually, quite a genius idea. Will you have something like Thunder for his Bomb and just some simple lightning effects for his main fire?

EDIT: Whoops, just saw the picture. ><
Still, I find this hilarious, next thing we know you'll have those weird Parodius thingys, eh?

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:49 am

BPzeBanshee wrote:Still, I find this hilarious, next thing we know you'll have those weird Parodius thingys, eh?

Bring on Michael and Hikaru!

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 11:37 am

Herr Schatten wrote:
BPzeBanshee wrote:Still, I find this hilarious, next thing we know you'll have those weird Parodius thingys, eh?
Bring on Michael and Hikaru!

Don't forget Twinbee!

@BPzeBanshee: Zapdos' Bomber, Aerial Ace, will be similar to the Strikers 1945 series' Samurai Sword special attack. Zapdos shoots a big plasma copy of itself forward at high speed. It is highly damaging, but gives little protection from bullets and covers only the front of Zapdos.

It will look something like this:

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 1:59 pm

Another update:

Herr Schatten's revamps keep coming!

Amada Vipros:
Old:

New:

Phyxius:
Old:

New:

The original pre-rendered graphics are too difficult to simply clean up into pixel art, so Herr Schatten had to reimagine them. I love the Phyxius' new mini Big Core look.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:39 pm

Zapdos should rightfully have Articuno and Moltres as his slaves.

Aru-san · Post by **Aru-san** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 4:48 pm

Elixir wrote:Zapdos should rightfully have Articuno and Moltres as his slaves.

Three legendaries in one character.

...

That just screams cheese ship right there.

Even though it probably might not be all that cheesy in the end.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 7:37 pm

The Xelcor gets a Herr Schatten revamp:

Old:

New:

That's all four original stock ships revamped.

I will ask the spriter of Zapdos to make Articuno and Moltres for sprites so that I can make them Zapdos' Slaves. Hehe, Zapdos will not be cheesy. They way I have it planned, it will play like a combination of the Eraser from Raiden Fighters 2 and the Shinden from Strikers 1945 II.

lilmanjs · Post by **lilmanjs** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 8:57 pm

these revamps are amazing looking.

emphatic · Post by **emphatic** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:11 am

May I suggest the Flying Shark plane as a cameo ship? Preferrably with the original powerup shots? Or the Tiger Heli helicopter, as that already has helper 'copters?

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:22 am

Not sure if anyone agrees, but I think the Phyxius sprite by Herr Schatten could use a bit more grainy feel. It kinda looks like 1970's anime right now. The other sprites are great though, keep up the good work Herr Schatten!

Btw, great work Alluro, youre working fast

.

Gungriffon Geona · Post by **Gungriffon Geona** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:25 am

nimitz wrote:It kinda looks like 1970's anime right now.

This is a bad thing?

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 4:30 am

Hey, I'm just loving everything that's being done, although I'm looking forward to the next release with the Raiden MK-II's Plasma Beam fixed.

Actually, now that I think about it, I'm not really so sure that Articuno and Moltres should be slaves, rather be actual planes if it isn't too time-consuming. Or at least Articuno, for him I'd recommend an Ice Beam that works like the Proton Beam out of Raiden III. It'd do high damage and be difficult to move, while Moltres could have weak easy to move Flamethrower maybe.
Still, either way it'd be cool, and I'm REALLY looking forward to a release soon.

Although, if I may make a suggestion as for another Cameo ship (I think I already mentioned this before), I'd like to see the Raiden MK-IIB as an alternative strategic choice to the red plane.

I also have a plane concept of my own, Alluro, that I think would be an excellent addition to the story and the game itself, although the only sprite I've done of it is terrible and needs resizing and revamping. I largely based its own storyline on the Xeno Fighters concept. Care to have a look?

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:42 pm

More revamps by Herr Schatten:

Lord British:

Vic Viper:

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 2:01 pm

Zapdos' weapons are now complete! Zapdos is a powerful, but slow, character. It fires only straight ahead, leaving it very vulnerable to the sides. Its weaponry:

MISSILE: AncientPower
Zapdos summons rotating rings of rocks straight ahead towards enemies.

LASER: Thunderbolt
Zapdos fires powerful bolts of thunder forward.

BOMBER: Sky Attack
Zapdos conjures up a plasma copy of itself and shoots it forward. Zapdos is immobile for a moment after it does this attack, and this Bomber attack has a 5-second cooldown time. However, using this attack on top of a boss can deal massive damage. Compare to the Samurai Sword special attack from the Strikers 1945 series.

Zapdos behaves like a Raiden Fighters stock ship. It can only use either the Missile or Laser subweapon at any one time. However, it needs only four powerups to reach maximum power.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re9Vv1EyKkk
For some reason, YouTube screwed up this video's frame rate.

EddyMRA · Post by **EddyMRA** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:30 am

Another quick update (and triple post):

Scoring system refined. I got rid of the DDP-style chain bonus, since it adds unnecessary bloat to the score. Now, the bonus score counter simply shows the score you earn during your chain.