GwangeDash Lives!! G-Wange Game On!!

[mjclark]

Someone on the old GwangeDash 2chan Board has picked up developement of the previously abandoned original game on which GwangeDash was based and brought out G-Wange v0.8.


Download here: http://www1.axfc.net/uploader/F/so/61675
Pass: GWA

The last publicly available build was v0.6 but whoever's picked this up is speaking of an imminent v0.9.
It still seems very overpowered but presumably will become more balanced with subsequent releases.
You know the drill by now!
Japanese speakers stand by

Update: The old 2chan thread has run it's allotted 1000 posts and has been superceded by a new G-Wange 2chan Board.

[manatworks]

wow!, thanks for finding this!
and pardon my n00bness , how can i download form this site?

[Observer]

That's awesome and all but, man, 370mb? Bloatware anyone?

What does it have to be so freaking heavy? Wav for music files?

I was really happy about GwangeDash but, after the previous incident, I'm all wary and kind of less interested if some sort of transnational-fascism ahoy begins. Hopefully, it won't happen, right?

[beatsgo]

wow!, thanks for finding this!
and pardon my n00bness , how can i download form this site?

First fill in box is the password, next fill in box requires to look at the image to the right of both fill in box. It will show numbers and letters which you will type in for the second box.

[hzt]

I forgot about this entirely. It's one of the original developers not anyone new. (Sort of, I think he took over part way through but definitely the same guy since we've known about it, he posts as あのさｱｯｰ!, the guy who posts as STUFF is the original original programmer as far as I remember which is not very well but I'm not figuring it out again.) I don't think they care who downloads it.

To be honest I don't actually like originalG-wange, it's a bit boring. Plus what Observer said about size.

[AuraDRGN]

will this game will has "over difficulties"? like the previous one? the one i need all my bombs to defeat the 1st end boss?

[BPzeBanshee]

Awesome find mjclark!

Let's hope we don't have yet another anti-westerner incident happen like last time eh?

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Thanks MJ for linking this, I never got around to playing it first time around.

[BPzeBanshee]

Downloaded.

Holy crap this thing is oddball. No wonder it's huge filesize - EVERYTHING is externalised. There's so much different stuff in it, and from what I'm getting there's meant to be something like three versions of stages you can pick at each time. The pictures are all in standard readable format and the code for the enemies appear to be readable as well.

Clearly GwangeDash is another person's take on polishing this engine source code mess into an actual game with a mixture of various content. That stuff about "not being entirely his own" is starting to make sense now.

[xris]

Woot! Thanks for the heads up, I lost my copy of this when my pc crashed last time. Currently sllooowly downloading this. Can't wait, really one of the best games out there!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Once this G-Wange file is unzipped, it weighs in at a whopping 542MB file size. I like how it plays with the different combinations of gameplay/game mechanics taken from various Cave games and other shmup titles for a unique spin on things.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[beatsgo]

For being such a hefty file, this game takes ages to load on my old laptop. I thought Crimzon Clover would take forever to load, but coding on this game is horrendous in optimization. I timed both games on loading, first called menu/selection load, then the actual level loading for the first level. G-WanganDash just wouldn't load for the first time (timed over 4 mins!), so I had to reload the program.

Crimzon Clover
Menu/Selection Loading: 12.8 seconds
1st Level Loading: 19.4 seconds
Total: 32.4 seconds

G-WangeDash
Menu/Selection Loading: 08.6 seconds
1st Level Loading: 26.2 seconds
Total: 35.0 seconds
Actual Total with first attempt plus second attempt: 4:35.0+ Mins

Gameplay wise not bad. Hate it how it's only one ship, zero credit. Just need to give this more time on it.

[BPzeBanshee]

For being such a hefty file, this game takes ages to load on my old laptop. I thought Crimzon Clover would take forever to load, but coding on this game is horrendous in optimization. I timed both games on loading, first called menu/selection load, then the actual level loading for the first level. G-WanganDash just wouldn't load for the first time (timed over 4 mins!), so I had to reload the program.

Lets get this very clear here - this is the original game that GwangeDash is derived from, not GwangeDash itself. I think you'll find that if you got hold of GwangeDash instead of this your old laptop MIGHT have better load times. Furthermore "G-Wange" which mjclark has spotted is also obviously a WIP project and kinda feels like a MUGEN engine for shmups considering how much of the actual code is externalised and easy to read for someone with Japanese skills and a bit of English.

Your results aren't exactly surprising considering this is an "old laptop" you're running these games with. I have a legacy machine with I test GMOSSE on and I have been at times waiting up to 30 seconds due not to the engine itself but the computer's processing times. There's only so much you can blame on the engine and not your own hardware.

[mjclark]

There's now a new 2chan G-Wange Board now which has taken over from the old Gwangedash Board ( which has run to it's allotted 1000 posts)
And it's getting deeper! There's a webpage for those who want to get involved in developing the game which breaks down all the building tools used and invites contributions:
http://f1.aaa.livedoor.jp/~otakutwo/g-wange/index.html

[beatsgo]

For being such a hefty file, this game takes ages to load on my old laptop. I thought Crimzon Clover would take forever to load, but coding on this game is horrendous in optimization. I timed both games on loading, first called menu/selection load, then the actual level loading for the first level. G-WanganDash just wouldn't load for the first time (timed over 4 mins!), so I had to reload the program.

Lets get this very clear here - this is the original game that GwangeDash is derived from, not GwangeDash itself. I think you'll find that if you got hold of GwangeDash instead of this your old laptop MIGHT have better load times. Furthermore "G-Wange" which mjclark has spotted is also obviously a WIP project and kinda feels like a MUGEN engine for shmups considering how much of the actual code is externalised and easy to read for someone with Japanese skills and a bit of English.

Your results aren't exactly surprising considering this is an "old laptop" you're running these games with. I have a legacy machine with I test GMOSSE on and I have been at times waiting up to 30 seconds due not to the engine itself but the computer's processing times. There's only so much you can blame on the engine and not your own hardware.

Ah I see, I stand corrected. Helps to read everything carefully beforehand. ^^;

[Udderdude]

"I live .. again!"

1cc with ESPStream ship on my first attempt with it. It was pretty damn easy. I guess other ships make it harder though.

If anyone is bored enough to see the replay it's here (Requires version 0.8) http://rydia.net/udder/!crap/replay00.zip

So .. what's to stop Cave from poo-ing all over this version of the project as well? :/

[BPzeBanshee]

Thought some of you guys might be interested in this:

The website which had everything for this is now down but I managed to find a Wayback Machine backup of it which goes from 2009. A little bit of research shows that this actual project goes back to about 2004 and even earlier.

Furthermore, I've figured out how to do a little bit of programming in it. It seems there's unfortunately a fair bit of the core stuff like the highscore interface, ship selection screen and intro/main menu which is hardcoded into the engine itself, but there's a lot of material here which isn't obvious from playing but has been altered/improved/kept intact which is used in GwangeDash.

For example, I got Black Heart MK-II to actually appear and work (and the stage 5 midboss in GwangeDash? The one that's like DDP's stage 1 boss? Found that too, but it has no apparent intro animation so it just appears on the screen). It's nothing like the Black Heart in GwangeDash - this one's not only more closer to the original Black Heart MK-II but it seems the original developer has gone through painstaking efforts to get it to behave pretty close to the original including the weird 'around the world' stuff where it goes halfway off the screen distorting some patterns. For the record, this video of an even older version of the releaseshows an earlier WIP of Black Heart MK-II which isn't as good, though watching the entire vid reveals that the three-way-level-select structure isn't implemented. I hope to find a way to get rid of the structure in v0.8 but it's looking pretty grim.

If anyone still cares, I hope to figure out a lot more about how this thing works and maybe even make a polished game based on the material here - but considering the parts that are hardcoded there's no way this will come close to having the core functions of GwangeDash (notably screen rotation, CPU priority and vsync stuff) which I believe has been hacked in/added on later, although the filesize can certainly be cut back a bit. If anyone can help with stuff like translations of the site and in-game stuff or sprites, let me know.

[mjclark]

If anyone still cares, I hope to figure out a lot more about how this thing works and maybe even make a polished game based on the material here - . If anyone can help with stuff like translations of the site and in-game stuff or sprites, let me know.

[BPzeBanshee]

Well as I just sent you the PM but should mention anyway, it looks like the guys at 2ch might've beaten me to it, and now there's a G-Wange v1.01.zip available for download: http://kohada.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/gam ... 034353/l50

Download: http://www1.axfc.net/uploader/F/so/73442

Top password is GWA (all of the downloads which have passwords use GWA), and the bottom one is a image checker where you put the letters on that screen in the right etc etc.

I haven't tried it yet but will do so in a minute. I doubt it'll be too different from v0.8 besides fixes/introduced bugs but who knows eh.

EDIT: There's a bunch of new ships but they're a bit weird as they don't seem to do much. There's three 'Ikaruga' ones but one is a blue XII-Stag clone that uses the old XII-Stag ship code (small sidelasers that do buggerall), a red one that just has homing lasers that have to be tappressed to work, and a white one that seems to have a ring around it that changes colour if you hold down Z but doesn't do anything to bullets. In addition, the Guwange ship has been altered to work almost nothing like the characters of Guwange, the ESPStream got nerfed, there's a Radiant Silvergun ship now and this weird flying chick who has one life, uber attacking power and ridiculous speed (and no speed at all if you hold down Z).

As for the actual stages, some have been improved, a lot of the test stages and stuff that added unnecessary bulk have been removed, Black Heart MK-II is properly finished and is accessible via normal means (it has the mini-Black Hearts that spawn before it now on stage 7) and graphics that were placeholders have been replaced or at least partially.

Overall this still looks like a work-in-progress but much less so than what it used to be. There doesn't seem to be any changes to the interface or the actual EXE itself so I'm guessing whoever's the main guy working on this doesn't actually have the source code for the engine itself but is just finalising the levels and stuff. Also, some new music here and there.

[BPzeBanshee]

I've gotten some level of communication going at the 2ch thread regarding the possibility of changing the healthbar position (not the box, the red bar) and it's hardcoded unfortunately. Furthermore, gauging the idea of a new G-Wange engine created with Game Maker (and/or by a Westerner) seems like a bad idea according to them lot.

Well, I tried. Guess I'll just stick with editing what they've got.

[AttObl]

So far, the game is looking great! It's Show time!

But I have one question... How you select a stage? I tried pressing some buttons, but it seems that I only go to the first choice that is presented.

[beatsgo]

So far, the game is looking great! It's Show time!

But I have one question... How you select a stage? I tried pressing some buttons, but it seems that I only go to the first choice that is presented.

Just press either left or right to select 3 of the possible stages.

[BPzeBanshee]

Furthermore you can select any stage in particular by going to the first option in the Main Menu and hitting left/right, but you'll have to check the numbers of the stage folders in /gamedata/ or use trial and error to figure out which ones will actually respond otherwise it'll just sit there instead of going to the Ship Selection screen.

From memory all of the stages 1-12 and 16-18 and 30 are what's in the current release (v1.01). There was others in the previous releases but they were either carbon copies for experimental tangents (one of them was Stage 1 but GwangeDash Death Label difficulty) or testing stages.

I've actually been working on making a stage of sorts of my own in this, it's a bit of a Death Label Boss rush but without the Death Label difficulty (but I am rebalancing the ships, ship hitboxes and bullet hitboxes so one could argue that the difficulty will jump around a bit). Currently there's:
Boss 1: the DDP stage 1 midboss featured in one of the final stages
Boss 2: the weird platform with ball thing
Boss 3: the twin Silverguns and the carrier ship
Boss 4: Black Heart MK-II
Boss 5: one of 'Scarlet Stone-Like's (as seen in stage17 I believe, it has red flames and spams so much bullet shit it's beyond the joke)
If anyone wants one of the others in let me know. The last one I'm willing to change because the difficulty jumps up a shitload versing that piece of work.