Kenta Cho interview, anyone have questions for him?

[schnoo]

Dev and fan questions welcome. I have received a good amount of tube racer related questions from Dyad's creator.

Thanks guys! Hope I make it an interesting read!

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Randomisation in shmups is a topic that has been popular in this forum recently. Some members have a problem with the fact that scrolling shmups are too repetative and rote memory based (when it comes to enemy placement and bullet patterns been the same each game). They argue that introducing randomisation might be the answer. Other members argue that randomisation destroys the competative nature of shmups as it can replace skill for luck, eg the random 1ups in Xexex. Also too much randomisation in things like bullet patterns just creates a game with ugly mess of bullet spam that is both hard to dodge and master by pratice.

Ive read that Kenta Cho uses randomisation in his own games but only at a minimum so not to destroy the gameplay. My question to him is what forms of randomisation does he use and how does he balance the gameplay. Also ild like to know any of his own views on the subject. Is its a good or a bad thing?

[sikraiken]

Does he have any plans to make another game like A7Xpg? What gave him the idea in the first place?

[Dale]

Randomisation in shmups is a topic that has been popular in this forum recently. Some members have a problem with the fact that scrolling shmups are too repetative and rote memory based (when it comes to enemy placement and bullet patterns been the same each game). They argue that introducing randomisation might be the answer. Other members argue that randomisation destroys the competative nature of shmups as it can replace skill for luck, eg the random 1ups in Xexex. Also too much randomisation in things like bullet patterns just creates a game with ugly mess of bullet spam that is both hard to dodge and master by pratice.

Ive read that Kenta Cho uses randomisation in his own games but only at a minimum so not to destroy the gameplay. My question to him is what forms of randomisation does he use and how does he balance the gameplay. Also ild like to know any of his own views on the subject. Is its a good or a bad thing?

I think you should mention this debate as a precursor to the question. It's lets them know about whats going on in the general community a bit and I think will get a better answer for the question.

[schnoo]

yeah i tried to search the term randomization in japanese crossed with shooting. I haven't found a genre specific word that equals randomization so i am going to have to give him context.

[drei :3]

What do you think of mouse control for shmups?

When somebody complains that a shmup is unfair because not every single enemy is signalled before entering the screen in some way, do you think that person has a point or do you think what a whiny noob -___-? What if that person goes on that also all enemy shots should be signalled in some way?

If you could have 1 person as a slave doing graphics for you who would it be?

Suppose skimming a very popular professional video game review site your eyes come across this bit by a professional reviewer in a test of a game where you shoot monsters and tear them apart and stomp on them: "I'm going to write about its scary moments, cool kills, and how much I dig the main character's internal struggle..." What's your reaction?

[Davey]

I haven't really been keeping up with shmups, so maybe some of these are already known:

C#/XNA vs. D/SDL
His last two games have been made with C# and XNA. How does this compare to using D and SDL?

Will he continue using XNA in the future? If so, will he be releasing anything on XBLA or XBLIG? I believe he has already said that he's not interested in this, but maybe things have changed.

Development process
Do scoring systems and game mechanics change a lot during development?

Does he have a clear idea of how a game should play when he starts it, or does he start with a simple idea that evolves as he works on it? How closely do the completed games resemble his original vision? Has he ever had to totally scrap a game that just didn't work out for some reason?

Multiplayer
Has he ever considered creating a PvP shooting game like TSS or Senko (or... what other ones are there)?

I'm guessing not, since that'd be a huge undertaking for one person working alone, but how cool would that be?

Past games
Looking back, which of his games does he think have held up best over time? Which were the hardest to develop? Which did he spend the most time playing after they were completed?

[ZacharyB]

Is he alright? He hasn't released a game in a while.

[Davey]

Is he alright? He hasn't released a game in a while.

Yeah, development definitely slowed down. Being that he does this as a hobby, I assumed that he has less spare time these days or that maybe his interest is waning (possibly both). Hopefully it's nothing more serious than that.

I was thinking of asking "so when's your next game coming out?", but I figured someone else probably would. Plus the way I had it worded came off sounding impatient and unappreciative. My actual words weren't "Wah, why is it taking so long? Where's my free stuff?", but they may as well have been. It's far from the truth, actually, since I haven't really been paying attention to shmups. I had to check his site before posting here to make sure he hadn't released anything new that slipped under my radar.

TSS or Senko (or... what other ones are there)?

Reread my post, these aren't the best examples. I was thinking of something more like a hopped up Combat, which is far simpler and more in line with his past games.

[mjclark]

What are Kenta Cho's influences and inspirations in making his games?
And what games does he actually play himself?