Razor 2: Hidden Skies

[pacpacfujishima]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some feedback about this new shmup in development, initially for the PC/Windows platform, it's inspired by classics of the genre like Raystorm, Darius, Thunderforce, Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga. It's being made by independent developers Luis Carlos Zardo and Augusto Bülow, friends of mine, and it is in advanced Beta stage. It will feature 8 stages, several weapons to choose from, dozens of enemies and end level bosses. Estimated release time is March 2010, and although available initially for PC/Windows, possible ports for iPhone, X360 and Wii may be possible.

Some screenshots:



















It'll be released through a small publisher of casual games as a download-only release, and it will be priced accordingly, in the 5 to 10 bucks range, a bargain if you consider the overall quality of the game. We'll be needing testers to evaluate the level design, hunt bugs and give advice, preferably seasoned shmup players and veterans.

I'm uploading a 1GB video of the game in action to youtube, I may edit this post later featuring the link to watch the video as well.

thanks in advance!

[alastair jack]

That red ship at the bottom looks like something from homeworld.

If you need a tester, I'd be up for it.

[pacpacfujishima]

Thanks alastair jack.

I've posted a video showing the gameplay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMb5Q4GDb4w

[worstplayer]

The graphics are absolutely stunning! Seriously, this looks like something from Treasure.

Just don't use that regenerating shield as an excuse to put unavoidable attacks in the game, that's a surefire way to piss everyone here off.

PS: I don't consider myself a shmup veteran, but I can help testing it too if you want.

[Ebbo]

It indeed looks nice, I like the enemy design too. However, I find the way the viewpoint is slightly tilted extremely disorienting. The seperate shield and energy meters give the game rather - dare I say - "euroshmuppy" feel to it. But I guess it will manage as long they aren't used as an excuses to have unavoidable or cheap bullet and enemy patterns (just like worstplayer said).
The first boss battle seemed to last way too long (almost three minutes) and because its attack patterns felt a bit limited, the overall result seems rather bothersome and not funny at all.

Also, the enemy bullets really tend to camouflage themselves with the second stage's background.

[Gespenst]

D:
Looks awesome!
Wait, those numbers in the slot box, are they represent the weapons' ammo?

and would be better if there's more than a playable ship

[pacpacfujishima]

worstplayer: thanks, the aim is to make it look like something from Treasure indeed. Or lets say, j-shmup at its best. It'll feature hand drawn anime like characters in cut scenes and in the intro story plot, enhancing the j-shmup feel.

Gespenst: yup, they represent the weapons ammo. Indeed 2 or 3 extra ships to choose from would be awesome. Also I've suggested 2 players at same time (blue ship and red ship )

I'll prepare a new video later, showing better the weapon upgrades. There are more. The current video somehow looked too dark, video encoding tweaks needed.

[null1024]

I'm liking the graphics a lot, and that boss looks really cool.
On the other hand, that camera angle was bugging me the whole time I was watching, and some of the enemy movements looked way too stiff.

[pacpacfujishima]

Camera angle is now in a straighter perspective, new video below:

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

I've did some cuts in the video editing to fit it in the 10min limit of youtube, and the stages shown are ordered by the difficult I've had in beating them: it's actually

2nd (sky fortress)
1st (desert)
4th (space fortress)
and 3rd stages (deep space asteroid field)

- the third stage is indeed very hard to beat compared to the others, that's why I've edited that way. The original stages sequence is desert, sky fortress, deep space asteroid field and space fortress as the last in current beta version.

[null1024]

Niiiice. That was fast.
One quick note: those glowing white bullets seem awfully hard to see against that bright background in that sky section. It's not nearly as bad anywhere else in the video.

[Sasupoika]

Looks very nice. What kind of scoring system you have planned?

[lemonade]

This looks nice! May I ask what language/engine was used to code it with? And what modelling package was used for the 3d models? Knowing this might help me and others who are pondering what engine to use for their 3d shmup.

[emphatic]

One thing I don't like about the videos: Having popcorn enemies appear from behind during boss battles. That's just plain evil. Everything looks fantastic though. Gonna watch that new video now.

[pacpacfujishima]

Niiiice. That was fast.
One quick note: those glowing white bullets seem awfully hard to see against that bright background in that sky section. It's not nearly as bad anywhere else in the video.

Yup, the perspective in the new video is basically the same found in the PS2 game Silpheed the Lost Planet, a game by Treasure Co.

The bullets will be another color in the sky stage, but it is not that bad when playing 'live', the youtube encoding messes everything up, it is not THAT impossible hehehe...

[Herr Schatten]

Just watched the new video. Looks very promising. Great art/modelling!

Two suggestions:

- Mix in a few attacks targeted directly at the player (or at least patterns whose initial directions are seeded by the player's position). As of yet, the enmies give the impression that they are just minding their own business and are largely ignoring the player, because they just fire somewhere. This is especially apparent at the bosses. A healthy mix of patterned and aimed attacks is essential in invoking a feeling of threat. Right now, your bosses act a lot like the ones in Nanostray 2, which don't react to the player at all.

- How about an 'expert mode' whith one hit kills?

[Gungriffon Geona]

- How about an 'expert mode' whith one hit kills?

The hitbox for the ship is obviously larger than the ship itself. the game would play like a trainwreck that way. (not that it looks like gameplay matters from what I've seen in the videos.)

[pacpacfujishima]

new video on Hard settings, meaning much more enemies and bullets on screen, and impression of more intense pacing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkzzyLgl7Hc

still need to fix the hitbox size on player ship (too large, as Gungriffon Geona commented).

[emphatic]

You should make an "Arcade mode" for this game that totally dismisses the weapon upgrades between stages, and just powers up the fighter with pick ups. As much as I like the looks of the game, I really hate using menus, especially during gameplay.

Also, are the controls gamepad or analogue (mouse)?

[pacpacfujishima]

You should make an "Arcade mode" for this game that totally dismisses the weapon upgrades between stages, and just powers up the fighter with pick ups. As much as I like the looks of the game, I really hate using menus, especially during gameplay.
Also, are the controls gamepad or analogue (mouse)?

Yes I did that I think in the second Youtube video before this one, just kept going without worrying about the unlockable weapons. Although an "Arcade Mode" without menu intrusion is a good idea.
But it is ok to use menus to some extend, think Axelay for example...
I'm playing using keyboard (cursor keys, Z, X and C for shot normal fire, special weapon and switch weapon, respectively).

[emphatic]

I'm playing using keyboard (cursor keys, Z, X and C for shot normal fire, special weapon and switch weapon, respectively).

The reason I asked is because the ship seemed to drift somewhat. I hope you're not using inertia, as it's very much frowned by most shmup fans.

[pacpacfujishima]

The reason I asked is because the ship seemed to drift somewhat. I hope you're not using inertia, as it's very much frowned by most shmup fans.

Yes, we're aware that inertia is a no-go in a shmup, we'll try to make sure there is no trace of inertia remaining in the final release.

[ZOM]

If you do this:

You should make an "Arcade mode" for this game that totally dismisses the weapon upgrades between stages, and just powers up the fighter with pick ups.

you can count one interested consumer more than you already have.

[replayme]

what's the official website for this project? how does one contact the developer?

[Meyers07]

The graphical style of the game looks alot like Ikaruga, but with more colors and, of course, a system more to original shmup rather than color-matching ships.

When the game will be released?

[Observer]

Holy shit! bumping this. I just saw this on my recently reactivated Steam acccount. Insta-buy.

Release date appears to be this month!

This could truly mark the beginning of the STG presence on Steam with Beat Hazard port, Bullet Candy (probably getting a re-release with Bullet Candy Perfect) and the possible/upcoming re-releases of Shoot 1UP and Vampire Rage.

As a PC grunt, this could turn to be quite awesome in lack of proper retail releases and most things gearing towards consoles...

edit: The achievements list is already up, for those who care about that. Although it appears not to be loading as of yet. Comes with 10.

Site is: http://www.invent4.com/razor2/

[pacpacfujishima]

Official release day I got today from the developer is July 19, it's already showing up in Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/34920/

Congratulations to the devs for completing and delivering this impressive shmup!

[Topshmups]

Well I've finally got round to trying the demo after waiting such a long time and Im a little disappointed maybe it's because it was just one level in the demo and it may get better as you progress but there just doesn't seem anything new or exciting which there has to be in this kind of game. The level which you get in the demo just seems bland and even when you destroy the boss at the end of the level there is no hugh explosion it just kind of falls over and ends also the music just doesn't seem right it's not the kind of thing you expect in a shooter and I did really try to like the game maybe I've been spoiled by all the japanese shmups which are big and colourful and have big booming explosions I sure a lot of people will love it but it's just not for me.

I can see a lot of effort has been put into the game and it's good to see a new vertical shooter but I was left feeling I wanted more from the game.

It will be interesting to see what people who have bought the full game have to say?

[Alec44]

I purchased the full version and i'm quite embarrassed :

The game is very nice, full of effects, nice ennemies, various and interesting attacks and big bosses, ennemy waves are coming and i must say this is fun !


but, my feeling is that the use of a shield exists to hide bad difficulty settings, maybe i'm wrong !

In radiant silvergun or even in silpheed, a good player can dodge almost everything, here and expecially at boss 2 i was taking heavy damages without hope to survive (i can finish silpheed with 1 credit) !

In my favorite shmups, one damage taken = 1 ship lost !!!

But i will try and try again, maybe i missed something....

[Jeneki]

I picked this up over Steam yesterday. Only had time to play the first level, but seems good so far.

Is the first boss supposed to be a really long fight, or is there a trick to taking it down quickly?

I noticed my rate of fire seems to vary a bit immediately after switching weapons, or tapping then holding fire. Is this intentional, or is there a "correct" way to use this to increase your firepower?

[bsidwell]

I tried the demo on Steam. The graphics, music and overall presentation were very nice. Navigating the menus is a bit annoying because the fire button does not double as a select button, so I have to take my hands off my stick and go back to my keyboard. This is annoying when you have a TE that dominates your entire computer desk.

As for the actual gameplay, I was not impressed. The level in the demo had basically no sense of progression or structure whatsoever, you simply blew through seemingly random waves of enemies for five minutes. The boss had far, far too much HP and didn't do anything terribly interesting, just repeated the same pattern over and over while the waves from the rest of the level continued to spawn. To be quite honest I didn't think it really showed much understanding of shmups at all.

I wish I could be more positive but the demo did not give me any desire at all to pay money for this game.