My GM shmups - Last Chance,MEGATANK, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 2:19 pm

Yes, I have Illustrator on here, rasters wouldn't hurt though. If they're all vector, maybe I could just do something quick and dirty with Flash.

raigon50 · Post by **raigon50** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:10 pm

Rozyrg wrote:Also, if you have time to do any more music, I was thinking about having something short and simple for the continue screen and maybe a little game over jingle (which could be just a few seconds long.)

I've already been working on those. lol
Doing jingles are a lot harder than you'd think though, since you have to get the entire mood of a song said in just a few seconds. It may be awhile before I come up with something that works.

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 4:02 am

No problem at all. Take your time. Music making is practically sorcery to me... lol.

At the expense of other responsibilities, I've been tinkering with XYX again. There's now a 4th level (which has about a minute worth of gameplay so far), and I've been trying to improve the powerups. They can no longer change right as you fly into them (getting with in a certain radius stops an internal timer), and killing them point blank always gets you the same weapon as your current one unless it's an option/bit pickup.

Speaking of that, they were practically disabled in the last version.. you now have about a 1/5th chance of getting one and the maximum number you can have is back up to 6 (3 on each side.)
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Working on it again has also made me think about the whole 'what to do if/when I ever finish it' question (obviously applying to ZPF as well.) I don't intend to necessarily 'sell' either game; but I might decide to make some 'bonus' stuff for whoever would be willing to give me a few bucks for it.

At the least, it'd be something as simple as the game on a cd, a jewel case and manual with some new art in it. What do yall think?

raigon50 · Post by **raigon50** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:55 pm

Rozyrg wrote:At the least, it'd be something as simple as the game on a cd, a jewel case and manual with some new art in it. What do yall think?

Maybe T-shirts? Shmup logos almost always look awesome when on clothing.

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 2:32 am

Also not a bad idea. Getting them made AND breaking even on the deal (assuming people bought them) would be the trick though; but it'd probably the same with printing decent quality manuals. That's business for ya..lol. At least the art side of it wouldn't be too difficult and I'd have a while to figure it all out.

There's also the whole thing about licensing the sound plugins... I figure that'd be a tad sketchy if I said I wasn't really selling the game to try to get around that, and of course I'd have to compensate anyone who's helped with the music if I made a profit.

profit....yeah right

SenpaiSamaKun · Post by **SenpaiSamaKun** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 6:04 am

Well there's always shared donations for a premium build and all that nickle and diming.

raigon50 · Post by **raigon50** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 2:13 pm

I don't really look to make a profit off music at the time being, so don't worry about the music.

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:24 am

Suit yourself if you don't want any of the ENORMOUS MOUNTAINS OF CASH that are destined to come my way soon.

Lol...I'm just thinking about the potentialities. I just thought it wouldn't be prudent to talk about any of that stuff without considering my collaborators, anyways.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:39 am

To bad you can't get a sponsor like Flash games can. Otherwise, I think asking for "donations" and then raffling off a premium CD with soundtrack in jewel case and artwork might be neat.

raigon50 · Post by **raigon50** » Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:26 pm

Rozyrg wrote: ENORMOUS MOUNTAINS OF CASH

If that happens, I may change my mind. lol

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:28 pm

Dave_K. wrote: Otherwise, I think asking for "donations" and then raffling off a premium CD with soundtrack in jewel case and artwork might be neat.

I think I like this idea the best so far.

I've already started drawing some black and white shaded stuff for the manual. I haven't done any page layout since I was in college; but that part ought to be fun to put together nonetheless. :3

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 3:14 am

(XYX)

Going good so far, a handful of the illustrations are done... right now I'm painting the cover art. My awesome artist friend Al is contributing some stuff for the manual too, so it should be a nice treat in the end. I had a thought, though. Would yall prefer a DVD case or regular CD jewel case? Printing wise, I imagine DVD cases being a tad easier (and cheaper too perhaps.)

Anyways, even when this is all done, there's still a bunch to do. Such as:
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- Finish the ****ing game. Right now, I'm thinking it'll be 6 levels rather than the 5 I had thought about earlier.

- Rip out Bassmod and put SuperSound in it's place. Why?

a. bassmod needs to be licensed for commercial use
b. I doubt I could get permission to use what I have now (several of the tracks are pretty famous)
c. I'm guessing that skilled tracker musicians aren't *as* easy to come by

- Have a new soundtrack made. I might try my musician friend again for this.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:22 am

Rozyrg wrote:(XYX)

Going good so far, a handful of the illustrations are done... right now I'm painting the cover art. My awesome artist friend Al is contributing some stuff for the manual too, so it should be a nice treat in the end. I had a thought, though. Would yall prefer a DVD case or regular CD jewel case? Printing wise, I imagine DVD cases being a tad easier (and cheaper too perhaps.)

Anyways, even when this is all done, there's still a bunch to do. Such as:
----------------------------------------------------------------
- Finish the ****ing game. Right now, I'm thinking it'll be 6 levels rather than the 5 I had thought about earlier.

- Rip out Bassmod and put SuperSound in it's place. Why?

a. bassmod needs to be licensed for commercial use
b. I doubt I could get permission to use what I have now (several of the tracks are pretty famous)
c. I'm guessing that skilled tracker musicians aren't *as* easy to come by

- Have a new soundtrack made. I might try my musician friend again for this.

What about GMFMODSimple? Or does that need to be licensed for commercial use too?

S20-TBL · Post by **S20-TBL** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:49 am

BPzeBanshee wrote:What about GMFMODSimple? Or does that need to be licensed for commercial use too?

Actually it needs to be licensed, to the tune of around $3K USD for a single commercial product, with a requisite $1500 for subsequent platforms. And that's just for low-budget PC and mobile titles--big-budget games are more unforgiving with licenses worth $9,000 USD (refer to here for the rates). Only hobbyist and freeware games can get away without licensing FMOD. By comparison SuperSound is free for commercial use.

BPzeBanshee · Post by **BPzeBanshee** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:54 am

S20-TBL wrote:
BPzeBanshee wrote:What about GMFMODSimple? Or does that need to be licensed for commercial use too?
Actually it needs to be licensed, to the tune of around $3K USD for a single commercial product, with a requisite $1500 for subsequent platforms. And that's just for low-budget PC and mobile titles--big-budget games are more unforgiving with licenses worth $9,000 USD (refer to here for the rates). Only hobbyist and freeware games can get away without licensing FMOD. By comparison SuperSound is free for commercial use.

Fuck me, I didn't know that! That's just evil.
If SuperSound has sufficient functions I'll be replacing GMFMODSimple with SuperSound real soon in GMOSSE and my secret game project.

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:05 am

I remembered the ones for Bassmod being a bit higher than I'd like (their 'hobbyist' price range isn't bad to be fair, though); but that is INSANE. Other than dialing back 10+ years when those music formats were still popping up in huge multi-platform titles (Unreal Tournament comes to mind), I can scarcely imagine the kind of diabolical reasoning that's behind that. Just the game biz I guess. *shrug*

I adore the tracker sound, I'd seriously love to keep it in there, the main issue is I just don't expect to find someone who's adept enough at the format, can nail the feel I want for the game, plus do it for cheap (or free) and in the time frame I'd like. I've always heard making music that way is kind of a pain in the ass to begin with, too...lol. Not that it isn't worth the extra effort.

S20-TBL · Post by **S20-TBL** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:21 pm

Un4Seen's BASSMOD is a little bit more forgiving. The low-budget license for a single product is only worth half of what FMOD offers at approximately $1472.50 or £950, with the rate for extra iOS platforms worth 50% of the main price. A lifetime license is worth $4262.50 or £2750, for an unlimited amount of commercial products. It still weighs in a bit too much if you ask me, though, but if one plans to go fully commercial (and has the pockets for it), I guess the lifetime plan doesn't hurt--at least compared to FMOD.

I'm personally trying to use PXTone for what it's worth and have managed to sequence a fan MIDI, but I don't know if it has any stipulations for commercial use since Daisuke Amaya's website doesn't list anything much on it.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:27 pm

Why not just use DUMB? I use it for XOP and it's great. I dunno about commercial license, though. http://dumb.sourceforge.net/index.php?page=licences

I have edited the art Gryzor sent me and it's looking good. Hope to have something cool to show off at some point. XOP Gryzor crossover? :P

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:06 pm

Awesome... glad you could make use of them. It might be partially because I'm using an older version of Illustrator; but I couldn't convert any of that stuff without getting awful antialiasing fuzz.

A crossover would be quite cool, even if it's just something quick and dirty. I could probably punch up a logo if you come up with a name, too.

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XYX

- Bassmod is out, Supersound is in (wasn't as big a nuisance as I thought it'd be, thankfully.) I'm using Raigon's music as placeholders for now.

- Added a horizontal 'wobble' so the screen scrolls a bit when you move left and right. Considering this is in practically every vertical scrolling shooter ever, I can't believe I didn't put this in sooner.

- Added some difficulty settings, although it only effects bullet speed and enemy rate of fire at the moment.

- Game can now loop (you can set this on or off.) Finishing the game with this on notches up the difficulty and extend amounts and increases certain values on the end level tally. There's no maximum loop, it's not too balanced right now and I honestly don't like the thought of someone slogging through the game an infinite amount of times to get the highest score; but it's there in it's most basic form at least.

Post by **Dave_K.** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 3:57 am

Rozyrg wrote: - Added a horizontal 'wobble' so the screen scrolls a bit when you move left and right. Considering this is in practically every vertical scrolling shooter ever, I can't believe I didn't put this in sooner.

I'm curious, how much extra did you expand on each side? Is there a standard ratio or something according to how fast your ship moves horizontally per frame?

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:14 am

It's not much, maybe 45 pixels on each side? Right now I have it to 'wobble' at something like 1/4th or 1/5th or your current speed. Airborne enemies, powerups and bullets move at half that rate, though. I don't find it too distracting and I haven't noticed getting killed or missing my mark on some ground unit because of it yet; but I guess yall will have to be the final judge on that.

I can't remember if I mentioned this before or not; but I fixed the ship speed thing awhile back, too... I noticed that the difference in settings was way too drastic as soon as I started playing it with a gamepad again. There's a much better range now.

I'll probably put up a new demo once levels 3 & 4 are done so you can see yourself.

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New shots:

The last two difficulty settings are pretty much fake bullet hell modes, upgrading almost every single shot enemy up to a 3-way spread shot and similarly jacking up the rest. There's already a few places that seem like you can get stuck with no way out, though; but not being too sure how much/little 'squish' room you can get away with, I might need some help getting the kinks out.

I can usually make it out of these problem areas after a few lives; but I honestly can't tell if it's just because I suck. <_<

raigon50 · Post by **raigon50** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 4:36 am

Rozyrg wrote:the main issue is I just don't expect to find someone who's adept enough at the format, can nail the feel I want for the game, plus do it for cheap (or free) and in the time frame I'd like. I've always heard making music that way is kind of a pain in the ass to begin with, too...lol. Not that it isn't worth the extra effort.

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't tried those trackers before, but the truth is they are really hard to use, especially when you're used to using the piano roll. If I do make music for you in the future however, I can hit the more "home-ish" feel for the music, all I'd have to do is sample. Btw, I think I'm getting ready to close up the victory jingle. Were you wanting just the jingle itself, or have a small tune tail along with it?

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 11:34 am

raigon50 wrote: Were you wanting just the jingle itself, or have a small tune tail along with it?

Cool! Yeah, just the jingle itself... don't need anything too fancy, really.

As far as more music goes, I'd want to keep a fairly consistent sound for the rest of the game; but I'm all for experimenting and keeping it interesting on your end.

Right now there's just two more stages on the drawing board, the gothic horror one and the ancient greek/roman one.

For XYX, I dunno though, I'm trying to get my friend Jamie to help with it (he's already looking into some printing solutions for the disc version); but he's a hard guy to keep up with, so if you want to try some stuff for that too, I'd be overjoyed. I really want more of a straight-up 80's arcade, heroic, 'let's blast off and fight the bad guys!' Raiden kind of sound for it, though.

Going through some random SNES stuff the other night, this song and this song really clicked with me playing along with the game while testing.

raigon50 · Post by **raigon50** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 5:24 pm

Rozyrg wrote:
raigon50 wrote:For XYX, I dunno though, I'm trying to get my friend Jamie to help with it (he's already looking into some printing solutions for the disc version); but he's a hard guy to keep up with, so if you want to try some stuff for that too, I'd be overjoyed. I really want more of a straight-up 80's arcade, heroic, 'let's blast off and fight the bad guys!' Raiden kind of sound for it, though.

Going through some random SNES stuff the other night, this song and this song really clicked with me playing along with the game while testing.

Ah. Blazeon

I could try at something like that. 80's style stuff is fairly easy to do, so it shouldn't be much problem.

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:25 pm

@Udderdude:

Just a preview.. doing a bit more editing to these than I initially though I would... whatever magic you worked on them, it's made them much easier to play around with. I've got most of the larger stuff done (minus the backgrounds.)

raigon50 wrote:I could try at something like that. 80's style stuff is fairly easy to do, so it shouldn't be much problem.

Excellent to hear.

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:45 pm

Wow holy shit that looks amazing I just came :3

emphatic · Post by **emphatic** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:46 pm

Amazing indeed.

renardqueenston · Post by **renardqueenston** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 9:33 pm

Rozyrg wrote:(XYX)

Would yall prefer a DVD case or regular CD jewel case? Printing wise, I imagine DVD cases being a tad easier (and cheaper too perhaps.)

jewel cases are more expensive and break easier, but look classier. DVD cases are definitely cheaper and usually don't get mutilated during shipping. if you can get some of those transparent DVD cases and have art on the reverse of the covers, i think that would be the absolute best way out - it looks class and allows for a more unique package while maintaining durability

S20-TBL · Post by **S20-TBL** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 2:25 am

I'd go with DVD cases as well. Jewel cases...urgh. 50/50 chance of snapping right at the hinges and the rest goes downhill from there.

Rozyrg · Post by **Rozyrg** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:31 am

My thoughts exactly! If it weren't so easy to break those things, a slightly more 'authentic' presentation might be worth the extra expense involved.

Oh! Anyone remember those cd-sized clamshell cases AOL discs used to come in? That would also work really well, assuming you can even find them out there.

In any case, I've already eyed up some clear DVD ones on Amazon. Just have to wait for the bad news from my friend (printing/CD pressing costs) to know if this'll even be feasible at all. >_>

shmups.system11.org

My GM shmups - Last Chance,MEGATANK, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

Re: My GM shmups - ZpULTRA, Flying V, XYX, ZPF