Survey: best looking starfield?

[wondersonic]

Hi all,
according to you what is the best looking starfield you've ever seen in a shmup?

Please provide a link to a video (youtube...).

Thanks in advance!

[wondersonic]

Possible answers:
- plain 2D
- plain 2D with parallax
- "SkyBox" like
- Stars "on" 3D sphere
- a mix of some/all above

[BPzeBanshee]

I like this one as seen here in RayForce - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPls-23OPmY

I think that would fit TF4R perfectly with some adjustment - the backgrounds perfectly tell you you're in space without burning your eyes out in an attempt to simulate the sun.

Sometimes, however, simpler is indeed better - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cy7q1tiysI

[louisg]

Traditional 2d starfield with planets slowly parallaxing across the background. By starfield I mean the effect where you randomly generate dot locations and move them at varying speeds, and the slower dots are shaded darker to imply that they're farther away. I guess that's pretty much the RayForce style linked above (though I'm assuming this is done with tile hardware, not dot generation..?)

The Thunder Force 4 one is damn impressive though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXbwXJ5qJUs#t=15m

I also kind of dig the C64 style, where they had a cluster of tiles they animated. It's very surreal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvUDFRhWSLg#t=20s (on the title screen). I think Armalyte does it too and you can switch patterns, but I couldn't see it on the video.

[wondersonic]

I like this one as seen here in RayForce - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPls-23OPmY

Yes, the nebulae are fine! I remark there are not too much stars appearing at the same time.

I think that would fit TF4R perfectly with some adjustment - the backgrounds perfectly tell you you're in space without burning your eyes out in an attempt to simulate the sun.

Sometimes, however, simpler is indeed better - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cy7q1tiysI

You are right about the background that must not hinder the player in any way.

Traditional 2d starfield with planets slowly parallaxing across the background. By starfield I mean the effect where you randomly generate dot locations and move them at varying speeds, and the slower dots are shaded darker to imply that they're farther away. I guess that's pretty much the RayForce style linked above (though I'm assuming this is done with tile hardware, not dot generation..?)

"slower dots are shaded darker to imply that they're farther away": good point!

The Thunder Force 4 one is damn impressive though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXbwXJ5qJUs#t=15m

Yes! This starfield is a background by itself; stars and nothing else!

I also kind of dig the C64 style, where they had a cluster of tiles they animated. It's very surreal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvUDFRhWSLg#t=20s (on the title screen). I think Armalyte does it too and you can switch patterns, but I couldn't see it on the video.

Again, the simpler, the better especially for performance purpose

[ZacharyB]

It would be interesting to see a more realistic approach... where the background doesn't scroll, it's just a static image of stars. You could have space dust and debris that scroll by and pass the player.

[wondersonic]

It would be interesting to see a more realistic approach... where the background doesn't scroll, it's just a static image of stars. You could have space dust and debris that scroll by and pass the player.

That's an element I took care of with the remake of TFIVR, see the WIP.

Maybe some degrees of rotation for the "SkyBox" (more a spaceBox here )
along the Y axis (Upward) only for the whole level.