What to do in a slump?

[ratikal]

Does anyone else have those times where you feel like you're not getting any better and actually feel like your getting worse? You keep dying to that one section you know you've done hundreds of time, and you keep dying way too early than you should?

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm in a slump and not exactly improving in the way I want. I personally think I'm dying way more often than I should. So, has anyone else experienced being in a slump or am I alone here? If so, what do you do to get yourself to improve again?

[Evilmaxwar]

Get a hold on yourself man! Thats what you do!

Usually this happens to me when i am playing like a score perfectionist and will take great risks to scrounge more points and die. Considering im not such a skilled shmupist, i would probably be better off playing for survival first, but i cant help myself im too greedy.

I usualy never die at the same place, its like always a random stupid mistake or a bullet i did not see. If i really have a hard time at a specific spot i just bomb there and get over it, or grind it till i nail it. When you just cant help it, take a break, do something else.

[dan76]

Forget about playing for score and enjoy dodging through bullets. That usually works for me - or play something else for a while.

I remember seeing an interview with a top Ketsui player where he said he didn't even think about score until he'd got the 1cc (it might've been in that Frence doc... can't remember). Basically don't run before you can walk - there's no rush.

[rancor]

Happens to me when I play late at night at the end of a long day. Best thing to do is get some rest and try again the next morning when you're feeling refreshed. I also do really bad when I can't get my mind into the game - my thoughts wander and I end up making ridiculous mistakes - again, this usually happens at night. I've been trying for the last few weeks to 1cc Fast Striker and I'm almost there! Just get some rest. Always works for me.

[t0yrobo]

Chill out, drink a beer, maybe play a different game or just credit feed through something for awhile. Or just plain take a break from games for a bit. Some combination of those always works for me.

[Evilmaxwar]

Forget about playing for score and enjoy dodging through bullets. That usually works for me - or play something else for a while.
I remember seeing an interview with a top Ketsui player where he said he didn't even think about score until he'd got the 1cc (it might've been in that Frence doc... can't remember). Basically don't run before you can walk - there's no rush.

Thats what i keep telling myself, thats what wisdom would suggest, but whenever i see a shiny medal, i find myself dashing for it lol.

[Blackbird]

If I'm in a slump, I switch games for a while then come back to it. I was in a slump in Advance Wars, so I put it on hold and played some different strategy games for a while. I've quit the game several times, and every time I've come back with better and better strategies.

It might work for you too =).

[ratikal]

Forget about playing for score and enjoy dodging through bullets. That usually works for me - or play something else for a while.

I remember seeing an interview with a top Ketsui player where he said he didn't even think about score until he'd got the 1cc (it might've been in that Frence doc... can't remember). Basically don't run before you can walk - there's no rush.

I know of that, but then trying to play the game feels wrong. It only really works if you don't figure out how to score beforehand, since you don't know what the hell is going so you just roll with it. I 1CC Futari Maniac arrange that way on my first playthrough.

[brentsg]

Happens to me when I play late at night at the end of a long day. Best thing to do is get some rest and try again the next morning when you're feeling refreshed. I also do really bad when I can't get my mind into the game - my thoughts wander and I end up making ridiculous mistakes - again, this usually happens at night. I've been trying for the last few weeks to 1cc Fast Striker and I'm almost there! Just get some rest. Always works for me.

This has been my thing for several months now. If I play it's late at night and then it's a poor effort. Hoping I can get out of the rut soon.

[Kollision]

Drop it and go do something else completely different.
Get back with a fresh mind and the slump will melt into better performance.

[J-Manic]

I agree with Kollision.

You're probably too frustrated with yourself. And you'll drive yourself nuts if you keep at it. I've been there. Step away for a while...get your mind off it. Then when you go back, you'll have a whole different mentality and you'll be totally focused.

[Deca]

Happens to me when I play late at night at the end of a long day. Best thing to do is get some rest and try again the next morning when you're feeling refreshed. I also do really bad when I can't get my mind into the game - my thoughts wander and I end up making ridiculous mistakes - again, this usually happens at night. I've been trying for the last few weeks to 1cc Fast Striker and I'm almost there! Just get some rest. Always works for me.

Interesting, I'm kind of the opposite. I make my best progress late at night when I should be asleep and find myself making more mistakes playing during the day when I should be alert and in prime condition.

I also have a tendency toward my first credit (or at least one of the first 2 or 3) of a given session being my best, which is frustrating in its own way.

[Aisha]

Happens to me when I play late at night at the end of a long day. Best thing to do is get some rest and try again the next morning when you're feeling refreshed. I also do really bad when I can't get my mind into the game - my thoughts wander and I end up making ridiculous mistakes - again, this usually happens at night. I've been trying for the last few weeks to 1cc Fast Striker and I'm almost there! Just get some rest. Always works for me.

Interesting, I'm kind of the opposite. I make my best progress late at night when I should be asleep and find myself making more mistakes playing during the day when I should be alert and in prime condition.

I also have a tendency toward my first credit (or at least one of the first 2 or 3) of a given session being my best, which is frustrating in its own way.

It's the same with me. At night everything is quiet and there are no distractions. And when I'm tired, but not literally falling asleep on the spot, everything just feels so slow and mellow, so I feel that I can really fixate on the game. My schedule doesn't allow me to play games like this anymore, though.

When I'm slumping I start an RPG or some shit, or just occupy my free time with another hobby. I just have to take time off from the genre. When I return to the game I was working on, I'll be rusty, but that will cause me to look at it differently and try new things, which may ultimately help me improve.

[Hair]

I definitly go through periods of success and slump. Sometimes I think I am good at shmups for like three months, and then I start sucking. I find I do better when I am just playing to have fun dodging and not trying to "master" a game. I have "whoops... did I just 1-all that?" moments as well as "I play this game 4 hours a day, why can't I no miss stage 5!?!?!?!?!" frustrations. Good months and bad months.

There is a certain mental place I need to get to in order to focus enough to have a great run, and it is hard to get there. Sometimes I forget how...

Since Ketsui hit Mame, it has been my go-to. For whatever reason that game is fun from the first second, and while it is very hard and kills me often, it instantly gets me into a zone which I can use as a reference when playing another game. ABA games work for me as well as a great warm-up.

Sometimes a 6 hour shmup session with beer and smoking, plus lots of sucking at shmups, will end with a great run that will keep me going for weeks or months to come. When in a slump those sessions end with more sucking.

[PROMETHEUS]

Happens to me when I play late at night at the end of a long day. Best thing to do is get some rest and try again the next morning when you're feeling refreshed. I also do really bad when I can't get my mind into the game - my thoughts wander and I end up making ridiculous mistakes - again, this usually happens at night. I've been trying for the last few weeks to 1cc Fast Striker and I'm almost there! Just get some rest. Always works for me.

I really agree with this, it often happens to me when I'm even just slightly tired. You need to have energy to be focused enough and think fast enough to play well.

[TodayIsForgotten]

I don't think it matters how you play; whether its 1cc right off the bat or trying for score, first. You're still going to mess up as you become more aggressive scoring until you perfect it. Its the way of the beast.

I think the problem comes from too much thought after you die on a part you never die on. Then you'll start to think maybe there's better ways to manage this area and you continue to die. Other times you'll find a better way and have to work on perfecting it and thus dying on spots you didnt before.

Then comes the burden of having to get there again only to die and repeat the process all over. Now your full attention becomes less and less and less and you start thinking and thinking about what you're going to do tomorrow and ...take a break. Come back or force yourself to play one way.

[gray117]

Play with a different setup - preferably different stick.

Think of it like playing on a different machine/different arcade.Think of it like playing on a different machine/different arcade. Much like playing just for the fun rather than score, it will make the games feel different and quite probably inform you of alternative ways of playing.

[ratikal]

Play with a different setup - preferably different stick.

Think of it like playing on a different machine/different arcade.Think of it like playing on a different machine/different arcade. Much like playing just for the fun rather than score, it will make the games feel different and quite probably inform you of alternative ways of playing.

I play with a pad. I used to have a stick but I sold it. Though, that might actually work. Some of my best scores and playthroughs were ones where I decided to play with a pad rather than the stick after using it for like a week.

[hzt]

I've been having this problem the last week or so on Futari. I made a massive jump in performance not long before that, but then started feeling like I'd hit an even bigger wall to progress than before. I tried playing a different character every few credits (Reco instead of Palm) and that helped for a bit, but I know the game well enough now I was able to progress to the same wall in just a couple of days...

Then when I went down to the arcade today a guy who can score so high on stuff like Mr. Do! and Pacman he only stops playing when the arcade closes gave me some advice about how you've just to persevere until you get through it, and there was a good atmosphere in the arcade where you could tell people where having fun, and on my very next credit I got a new high score whereas before I'd been struggling to make half my normal score (which is not very high).

So I guess the moral of the story is that positive thinking and just enjoying the game really does make a difference! (Although it's slightly undermined by the fact that that credit was when the energy drink I'd just drunk really kicked in and I got extremely focused.) I'm sure it's a big part of why I suck at shmups, I'm such a negative person in general.

[harrihaffi]

Take a break! That's probably the best solution. Once you come back to the game failing is more accepteble and you can focus better. Failing is a big part of the fun for me, but once it gets to a to high level it breaks me. I got sick of arcade games when I was trying to beat the boss of king of fighters 94 a month ago, but because I stoped playing and because I got sick of RPGs again, I'm now back to playing arcade games. Im not gonna try beat that boss yet, but I will take on the challenge that other arcade games do offer.
To sume this up failing is fun cause it challenges you, sometimes even to do things you think you know are imposible, but failing without succes will soner or later break you.

MVHH

[iconoclast]

This happens to me. I think it's usually caused by frustration or impatience. A few days ago I choked on the last boss in Ketsui, and then for the next 15-20 credits, I could not get past stage 2 without dying somewhere, which is normally not a problem. Taking a break for a few hours and clearing my head usually solves this problem for me.