XOP Ultra and XOP Black Ultra thread

[Mischief Maker]

Link to purchase page plz.

[Udderdude]

Here's the new page with demo download/purchase link. I'm hoping to get a URL for it at some point, but it's all set up here for now.

http://rydia.net/udder/prog/xopbundle/

[Battletoad]

Bought. Too much of a fan of soundtracks for not buying this. And it's for a good cause, so...

[Mischief Maker]

I thought XOP Black Ultra Special Champion Edition was going to be included! With the new popcorn spam!

No offense, but I prefer the level pacing in that version.

[Udderdude]

That version is included. To avoid cluttering up the page with too much text, it's only mentioned in the Buy Now section.

Edit: It's now mentioned under XOP Black Ultra Features also

[Drachenherz]

Hmm.. Looks really, really tempting. Consider me sold - but I have to get home, atm I'm in a hotel, surfing with my phone. :-/

[BPzeBanshee]

Here's the new page with demo download/purchase link. I'm hoping to get a URL for it at some point, but it's all set up here for now.

http://rydia.net/udder/prog/xopbundle/

The purchase page looks quite straightforward and convenient, I wish other websites were this easy to understand...and this is coming from a man who's paranoid of any online purchases.

Does XOP Ultra Special include the last fix you mentioned for keeping bombs between boss stages? I redownloaded when you'd first mentioned you 'put up a new version with that change' but they still disappear. I presume I've lost my brains somewhere and getting it from the wrong place or something but I just wanted to be sure before I go ahead and buy it.

[Udderdude]

I just tested and while it does save bombs from one boss fight to the next, the meter (which builds up to give you another bomb) is still reset .

[stuntman]

Bought. At that price it would be rude not to

[Drachenherz]

Bought and downloading right now.

Now let's look what this fuss is all about.

[TheSoundofRed]

Just purchased.

Curious as to what the turnaround time on processing orders is. Excited to try this out!

[Udderdude]

Apparently the order delay is because my account with them is new. You can expect to wait 7-8 hours. I may switch to Regnow or some other order site. :/

[TheSoundofRed]

Apparently the order delay is because my account with them is new. You can expect to wait 7-8 hours. I may switch to Regnow or some other order site. :/

No worries. Thanks for the quick reply

[Drachenherz]

Made some publicity for you on a swiss gamer forum, hope it brings some revenue...

http://www.lostgamers.ch/showthread.php ... #post43899

[Udderdude]

That's cool, thanks.

I got my old Regnow account back, so I may be switching back with them.

Too bad the old URL is lost for good. Been domain squatted for ~5 years and now leads nowhere. Maybe I can use another URL or something. lol

[BPzeBanshee]

Purchased!

Eight-hour-waits suck, but that's still a lot better than importing a retail game (another thing I purchased today, I expect either a messup or a two-month wait) plus my easily-confused mind didn't get confused with the page.

EDIT: Got the email for the download info already and it was more like 2 hours. I guess I'm lucky this time around. Merry Christmas guys.

[Udderdude]

rancor has set me up with some webspace and a URL, I will be setting it up at some point. Big thanks to him.

Also, the Mac version is now available! Because I know there's so many Mac users on here .. >_> Big thanks to Todd Cope for going through the effort of porting it to Mac.

I'm trying to push for XOP Ultra/XOP Black Ultra to be in the next Humble Indie Bundle. It would help if some people here contacted them and told them you want to see it in there (Of course, assuming you actually like the game .. I know there are still some people around here that can't stand it, lol)

I previously contacted them about getting it in there, but at the time I was giving it away for free, and they said no because of that .. now that I'm selling it, hopefully they will reconsider. I only ever advertised it here and one other forum, so it's certianly not well known and I doubt many people got the free version.

They've already accepted Jamestown, so hopefully they're more receptive to more shmups in the future.

http://www.humblebundle.com/contact

[BPzeBanshee]

I sent an email to the Humble guys. Not sure if comparing this to Jamestown is a good idea though - let's face it, Jamestown not only has the popularity backing it but the 'indie' prettiness in its art style too.

[Observer]

I like the idea! My only worry is the retarded fucking idiots who will go "no Steam = no buy". See if you can convince them to put it as a bonus for beating the minimum or something, I don't know, whatever to diminish that idiocy.

Yes, I know the bundles have non-Steam stuff. But go tell that to the Hive Mind.

I'll contact them too.

[Udderdude]

I haven't really seen any 'No Steam = No Buy' type discrimination, but then I don't reguarly browse gaming forums outside of this one.

Jamestown's art style is actually not very indie IMO. It's very traditional looking pixel art with a different theme. When I think indie art style, I think some abstract/minimalist type thing (Limbo) or hand-drawn art (Braid) etc.

Thanks for contacting them, anyway.

[Udderdude]

I've got a reply from them, they said they'd be checking it out. Keeps your fingers, toes, and whatever other appendages you happen to have crossed!

[damakable]

Good luck with that Mr. Dude. I think the only thing that might hold XOP back is how low-res it is. Other than that it's a fantastic series of games. I bought the full collection yesterday and beat XOP Ultra with all default settings (beginner difficulty, original mode) on my 3rd try. Of course I realize that's not the most challenging mode... maybe the default should be harder. ^_^

Actually, on that note -- are there in-game explanations of what all the various modes and difficulties mean? I'll go play more tonight and see if I can figure them out on my own. Otherwise I wonder if new players will see all the modes and wonder "how do I play the real, ultimate XOP challenge?"

[Udderdude]

I think the only thing that might hold XOP back is how low-res it is.

From getting in HIB? I'm not too sure about that, they've accepted fairly low res games before (It's retro! :3).

Other than that it's a fantastic series of games. I bought the full collection yesterday and beat XOP Ultra with all default settings (beginner difficulty, original mode) on my 3rd try. Of course I realize that's not the most challenging mode... maybe the default should be harder. ^_^

Glad you like it. The default should be Medium difficulty, actually (I just tested it). Not sure how you ended up with Beginner. The default for the demo versions is Beginner, though.

Actually, on that note -- are there in-game explanations of what all the various modes and difficulties mean? I'll go play more tonight and see if I can figure them out on my own. Otherwise I wonder if new players will see all the modes and wonder "how do I play the real, ultimate XOP challenge?"

The difficulties are fairly straight-forward. Higher difficulty = enemies fire more rapidly. On XOP Ultra, however, they don't fire faster on the highest skill, but instead fire 2x to 3x as many bullets.

I think most new players are going to be stumped trying to get through Medium mode .. lol.

The extra modes are described in detail in xop.txt and xopblack.txt. The "Ultimate challenge" for each mode is of course Master skill level, which is around the difficulty of Cave's harder 2 loop games (DOJ loop 2, Ketsui Ura, etc.). You shouldn't expect to beat them in a weekend. They're meant to be a long lasting challenge (XOP Black on Insane took SAS something like 3-4 months to clear!)

[damakable]

Bah, I was at work and forgot what the defaults were. It was on Medium, it just felt like Beginner to me. Original, Medium, Set 1. Of course there's still Set 2 to complete and I doubt it'll be as easy. And then there are all those modes -- there's definitely a lot to do in XOP -- but still, the default "jump into the game!" mode felt easy to me. Then again, so did Jamestown on Legendary and below so I shouldn't complain. Now that I'm reading the text file I have fewer questions, especially about scoring and so on. I guess I'll figure the rest out by playing, like what makes XOP Black Ultra Special so special.

Anyhow, best of luck again. Would be awesome to see you get some mainstream exposure since you've already got all the indie cred you'll ever need.

Edit to add: Okay, your default difficulty is definitely way too easy. I just beat XOP Black Ultra on my first try (default settings of course). I'm watching my replay in disbelief. ^_^ I mean, I even just had a glass of wine!

[Udderdude]

what makes XOP Black Ultra Special so special.

It's XOP Black Ultra with all 10 stages in a row, all stages being twice as short, and no skill/mode select - it's permanently set somewhere between Expert and Master, with bullet speeds somewhere between Original and Maniac. Also there's some scoring mechanics that revolve around converting bullets into popcorn enemies .. >_>

Anyhow, best of luck again. Would be awesome to see you get some mainstream exposure since you've already got all the indie cred you'll ever need. :P

Thanks, although I don't think I'd consider shmups fans to be "indie cred". I would of course much rather have "shmupper cred" than "indie cred" .. lol

Edit to add: Okay, your default difficulty is definitely way too easy. I just beat XOP Black Ultra on my first try (default settings of course). I'm watching my replay in disbelief. ^_^ I mean, I even just had a glass of wine!

Yeah, keep in mind that while the default skill is really easy to shmuppers with some experience, it's still tough for mostly anyone else playing. And there's still a high score potential. See Plasmo's 235m run on Original Medium here : http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 47&start=0

I've always set up my shmups this way; if you want it to be a challenge to survive, and you're already good at shmups, you gotta set it harder.

[damakable]

Fair enough! I like playing shmups mainly for survival so I'll keep the difficulty turned up to Expert for now. Once I get a 1CC I move on unless I'm really into the game or there's a second loop to unlock or something. So the original course at max enemy firing rate makes sense as a starting point. I have a feeling Master difficulty will feel like a whole other game, a Cave second loop like you say, whereas Expert will feel like the same game but just a whole lot more of it at once. Would you say that's about right?

It's a shame that high score thread hasn't filled up a bit more. I think I'll make it a goal to submit something to it this weekend. Who's with me? Even if I can't get an ALL I'll start the Arcade Original Expert table. Same goes for the XOP Ultra thread.

[Plasmo]

It's really a shame indeed. I never understood why XOP (and all of it's variations, especially the Ultra ones) was so unpopular even on this very forum, while it's clearly a very good shooter gameplaywise. It's variety is outstanding and most of the modes play so differently. Nearly all of the modes make a lot of fun to play and the scoring feels natural.

I'm always up for a challenge in whatever mode you want to play. Just gimme a call.

[Udderdude]

There are a number of reasons ..

The biggest is that there is a definite bias against western made shmups, and there's really no blaming anyone for this - there are so many poorly made, garbage western shmups that the default position is "It sucks" rather than anything else.

There's also the fact that most people around here prefer games that were on PCBs/in an arcade at some point. Even average arcade games get highscore threads that see more action than most PC games.

That would finally be followed by not liking the art style/quality, not liking that I updated the same games like 200 billion times, not liking the amount of skill levels/modes the game has, and not liking bullet hell shmups at all.

I can't force anyone to try it or play it, and I don't want to end up turning into one of those ridiculous self-promoting assholes that never shuts up (I imagine I'd get unpopular rather quickly if every other post I made around here was talking about how everyone should play my games, lol) .. so that's just how it is.

[Moniker]

I think the multitudes of options may have a larger effect than you might guess. It certainly put me off the first time I booted the game up. One problem is that there's no in-game explanation of the various modes, or of the mechanics in general. Having to refer to a readme isn't ideal. You might also hide some of the options, like difficulty level, in the options menu, and either have a single ship speed or make an in-game toggle for it. While being able to tailor the game to your tastes is great, people also like to have a unified, "standard" game experience. Something that tells you "This is XOP."

Throwing in gimmicks like making the modes/difficulties unlockable would be palatable to Western tastes as well, even if such things aren't as desirable around these parts.

[Kaiser]

Important rant

Arcade players, just like gamers, most of them can't appreciate man's hard work for various retarded reasons that makes them retarded in first place, if I ever get an internet card that works with paypal, you got my money friend. This game fucking rocks, it's underappreciated too much. I spent hours on XOP and Black enjoying it!