indie shmup blog w/ XONA and udderdude, show some love :)

[microcosm]

If you really want to read some ranty BS I made about shmoops, here you go. It's unfinished though

http://rydia.net/udder/!crap/eykasiw.txt

The unfinished section:

3 Your favorite childhood shmup (probably) sucks

3.1 Tyrian
3.2 Raptor
3.3 Every euroshmup ever

Please take the time to complete this. The more rants we have about euroshmups, the less likely it will be that someone will spend the time writing an indie one, just to become aggrieved when people on this site deride his work.

[schnoo]

hey all. the hard work is over and I believe finally paid off.
http://indiesuperstar.com/archives/1081
check out our own udderdude and matt from Xona giving us some great discussion points.

I really think this is a very different shmup article that few if any have done.
Please share your comments on the site, on registration required

OH YEAH, I am not an avid poster in other shmup or retro forums, so I don't want to spam them.
If you guys like what you read though, please share it throughout your communities.

[codergames]

I don't like it because you don't mention me and my games.

[worstplayer]

That was one fantastic article. More please

[TMR]

I don't like it because you don't mention me and my games.

i doubt that'll come as a surprise to most people...

That was one fantastic article. More please

What he said, a very good read and it's great to see something outside of the more specialist sites that treats the genre well. Oh, and my inner child giggled at the space invasion too. =-)

[codergames]

Its great being a part of this little shump community, I feel the love! ... with a big L

[TMR]

Its great being a part of this little shump community, I feel the love! ... with a big L

Saying you don't like an interview with Matthew and udderdude because it doesn't mention you or your games is just egomania on your part, what exactly are you expecting with statements like that?!

[codergames]

... things to change ... eg. mentioning my games and my ego over there.

[ShmupSamurai]

I don't like it because you don't mention me and my games.

That's a REALLY stupid reason not to like somebody's article.

[codergames]

Before this I didn't know any shmup fan without a sense of humor ... now I do

[TMR]

Before this I didn't know any shmup fan without a sense of humor ... now I do

Oh dear, the old "it was a joke" line... does that ever work?!

[codergames]

It works on me all the time

[doctorx0079]

Before this I didn't know any shmup fan without a sense of humor ... now I do

Oh dear, the old "it was a joke" line... does that ever work?!

You could take a cue from Seanbaby and offer to let him kick your ass.
(See Total Recall episode of Broken Pixels.)

[TMR]

It works on me all the time

Yeah, that says a lot... Y'know, if "I don't like it because you don't mention me and my games" hadn't been your only reaction to the article then calling it a joke might've been plausible, but you didn't... but okay, if it was a joke, try actually commenting on the article without bringing yourself or your games up like most jokers would've already done.

Oh dear, the old "it was a joke" line... does that ever work?!

You could take a cue from Seanbaby and offer to let him kick your ass.
(See Total Recall episode of Broken Pixels.)

i don't think i've felt the need to make that kind of offer... ever! i wonder how many people Google themselves and then take pops at reviewers who slagged their games off though? =-)

[Xonatron]

codergames, I totally support you, but I just don't get you! I think you need an all-out shmup initiation! These forums have never been known to be welcoming to newcomers! udderdude's txt file rant is great. Not sure how you could misread that to be from a hater. There's pure love and defense of the genre we all know and love in there.

I think the indiesuperstar article was great. Awesome formatting and presentation! I wish we could have gone back and forth more. I would have liked defending that Duality ZF doesn't come off as a game you'd want to compete on the scorebaords with. We feel it is. But we also feel it lacks the visuals (or something) that shows it off as a score-based game, so we are working on that. The eyes of the critics are always a good thing. You always learn from each rip. I hope you see this codergames, too... you'll come a long way if so.

[schnoo]

I wasn't sure how long to bug udderdude and XONA for the back and forth, but I am glad they did a couple rounds as it was better than straight Q and A.

I am glad there is a lot of feedback being posted to the indiesuperstar site. If the web traffic and comments keep going (hopefully some other forums have seen this by now), we can do another shmup related article sooner rather than later.

[codergames]

Thanks Matthew! I just figured out we subscribed to each other on the YouTube ... thanks for the support mate! So, you're a fellow developer? Its really nice to see a friendly fellow developer, for a change.

[TMR]

Thanks Matthew! I just figured out we subscribed to each other on the YouTube ... thanks for the support mate! So, you're a fellow developer?

He's the same Matthew who was interviewed in that piece you didn't like because it didn't mention you or your games. i'm beginning to think you didn't actually read it properly before being so unsupportive.

Its really nice to see a friendly fellow developer, for a change.

If you want support, try being supportive first.

[Xonatron]

I wasn't sure how long to bug udderdude and XONA for the back and forth, but I am glad they did a couple rounds as it was better than straight Q and A.

It was a great idea, and well executed, so don't take my criticism too harshly! I actually had a chance to defend my game a bit, but chose not to because I thought it was out of place. Now, i think it would have worked. We all learn! I think it worked well, when it was all said and done! I loved it! A lot of my non-gaming friends said they read the whole thing, and I'm sure it was because of your entertaining presentation. Job well done.

Its really nice to see a friendly fellow developer, for a change.

If you want support, try being supportive first.

Good advice!

codergames, this is one of the best places to test your game, because nobody here is going to kiss your ass just because you are a game dev. These are real fans, lots of them who make their own games, and they're clearly not afraid to rip your game to pieces. If you can survive the "attack", you'll come out stronger. By being unsupportive first, you are asking for no respect in return. Plus they are not too into casual shmups, I guess I could call them, which your game seems to be. As soon as I see inertia in the player ship I think this. I wish I could think of thread where the shmup members here were ripping on this flash game (based on bees, butterflies, or birds or something) in a IRC chat... it was brutal!

[codergames]

Good point. (I'm not kissing ass while saying this)

I haven't really expected anything here, on this forum. Invader Attack is made to be realistic not to kiss someone's ass by being the usual shmup everyone's used to. I wanted to make a realistic game with physics, full collision (even invaders can shoot and destroy each others, which is even a part of some invaders tactics and AI), make realistic graphics that are good looking, cinematic music and a lot of different behaving invaders that think and build experience (a self learning AI). All invaders have an AI of their own, but there's also a shared "consciousness", sort of speak. Anyway, its not something you encountered so far, quite original, both in features and presentation. Except the name, it suggests game like Space Invaders, but its far from it.

The Galaxide is not having any inertia, its not that realistic in terms of controls, there's no physics, no AI, but some vessels do detect your movement and move toward you. Its quite a different type of shooter, its vertical scrolling shooter, fast-pace. As opposed to Invader Attack, which is fully tactical and strategic shmup game, where you got time to think it through, Galaxide will only be tactical in some small number of levels. You will be able to use strong structures to hide behind to gain advantage. But other than that the game is pure and very ordinary shmup with accent on graphics, particle effects and music.

The game will be released in 14 days or so.

[Xonatron]

I'm going to try Invader Attack... what's the latest version?

[codergames]

The latest is the one on my site. I thought you played the game since you spoke about inertia?

I saw your games, you're obviously into retro shmups. I've spent whole childhood playing such games, and spent fortune on arcade machines. I like your style, it has accent on game-play and music. I generally love space shoot-'em-ups, so can't really say anything bad. You could improve graphics a bit, but still quite ok for shmups, in my opinion. (*kissing ass*)

[worstplayer]

I think Duality graphics look great as it is. Unique style, everything's easy to see and identify, and that's IMO more important than having hybrid inferred lighting with screen space radiosity and 6005 polygons per krundle.

[Xonatron]

The latest is the one on my site. I thought you played the game since you spoke about inertia?

I saw your games, you're obviously into retro shmups. I've spent whole childhood playing such games, and spent fortune on arcade machines. I like your style, it has accent on game-play and music. I generally love space shoot-'em-ups, so can't really say anything bad. You could improve graphics a bit, but still quite ok for shmups, in my opinion. (*kissing ass*)

I watched your videos!

No need to be gentle with my game. If the graphics suck, tell me! lol

[Xonatron]

I think Duality graphics look great as it is. Unique style, everything's easy to see and identify, and that's IMO more important than having hybrid inferred lighting with screen space radiosity and 6005 polygons per krundle.

This is EXACTLY what we are going for. We have actually taken samples from 10..20 artists, and have talked it over with XBLA and PSN publishers, and so far they like our graphics the best. In fact, no publisher ripped us on our artwork, but they did want improved visuals, which we have been adding in (such as "fog" layers, pixel shaders, more particles, more colors, more explosions, more intense and extreme effects essentially, to pit you back into the arcade experience).

That said, the art would have been better if we were better at it. But, who knows, maybe our lack of skill actually tipped us onto something that sets our game apart.

[Xonatron]

For those of you interested, we have some new screenshots up here:

Duality ZF's Bullet Hell Game Mode
http://xona.com/2010/08/19.html

[codergames]

It depends on what you wanted with Decimation X. If your intention was retro, you did it good. Duality ZF looks better, but if you just move around firing its not something I'm into, because I need to see the enemies and I must have missed something on your video, can't see the enemies, just four spaceships firing different weapons at something invisible. (*definitely not kissing ass*)

My goal with graphics was original, not retro. I make everything original for all my games, since I got music school and art school background as well.

[RHE]

I think Duality graphics look great as it is. Unique style, everything's easy to see and identify, and that's IMO more important than having hybrid inferred lighting with screen space radiosity and 6005 polygons per krundle.

http://xona.com/2010/08/images/bullet_h ... ell_52.jpg

[worstplayer]

Exactly! Bullets have thick black outlines so you can see them on top of explosions like this.
It's just less noticeable when you pick a screenshot without bullets...

[RHE]

Ah okay, still I find the game looks quite confusing. The colors of the bullets are very close to the other stuff splashing around: http://xona.com/2010/08/images/bullet_h ... ell_41.jpg

Overall I like the look of it though.