Well sometimes background art could be a design decision, not a purely artistic one. Depending on the appearance and variety of bullets the game throws at you, making backgrounds look faded or minimalist can improve playability (so the player can focus their eyes on the bullets without getting tired).
"Thunder Force VI does not suck, shut your fucking mouth." ~ Shane Bettenhausen
Thunder Force wrote:Well sometimes background art could be a design decision, not a purely artistic one. Depending on the appearance and variety of bullets the game throws at you, making backgrounds look faded or minimalist can improve playability (so the player can focus their eyes on the bullets without getting tired).
Good point, TF. I've played old-school and bullet hell shmups where there's so much crap flying around, either in the background, or with weapons, power-ups, etc. that it's easy to get killed simply because you can't tell what's what.
"Farewell to false pretension
Farewell to hollow words
Farewell to fake affection
Farewell, tomorrow burns"
Interesting to note though, that Taito have designed Type X to be upgradable and changable per game as PC technology improves. They are already proceeding with "Type X+" boards for games like Battle Gear 4, surpassing the first generations Type X boards... So it doesn't seem like this will be a true standard like Naomi was/is.
"Thunder Force VI does not suck, shut your fucking mouth." ~ Shane Bettenhausen
i dont know if it ever really was a true 'standard.' type x specs always said something like '2.8ghz celeron to 3.2ghz p4' and 'ati x300-ati x800 (entire radeon line)'. i have no clue what configuration the current type x games use, or what the x+ is using.
and ibara is caves custom sh-3 board, same as mushi (and probably galuda 2). and there was another discussion about it in another thread a few days ago (i forget who started the ibara=type x in that thread though).
Sorry of course you are corrrect. I remember RFK's video where he got Ibara, which also showed him installing Type-X...but for Raiden III. I remember now where he pulls out this TINY board which was ibara and hook it up.
Thunder Force wrote:Interesting to note though, that Taito have designed Type X to be upgradable and changable per game as PC technology improves. They are already proceeding with "Type X+" boards for games like Battle Gear 4, surpassing the first generations Type X boards... So it doesn't seem like this will be a true standard like Naomi was/is.
That's what kills me about Type-X; Taito's not publising any of these shmups on PC's or on Microsoft consoles, so I don't know how the hell it could've sounded like a good idea to them to build arcade hardware based off a Microsoft DOS.
That's what kills me about Type-X; Taito's not publising any of these shmups on PC's or on Microsoft consoles, so I don't know how the hell it could've sounded like a good idea to them to build arcade hardware based off a Microsoft DOS.
the basic hardware is cheap and available in mass quantities, as opposed to designing and manufacturing their own custom system which may not even perform up to the same level and possibly cost more. doesnt really have anything to do with microsoft, until you get to the software side, in which case taito probably got a mature sdk to work with and distribute.
sega probably went for the intel/nvidia setup in lindbergh for similar reasons, but theyre probably using their own sdk.
as for type x ports, just wait some more. they might just be delaying stuff so each version gets some exclusive time to itself. or they just wont port them. who knows for now.
That's what kills me about Type-X; Taito's not publising any of these shmups on PC's or on Microsoft consoles, so I don't know how the hell it could've sounded like a good idea to them to build arcade hardware based off a Microsoft DOS.
the basic hardware is cheap and available in mass quantities, as opposed to designing and manufacturing their own custom system which may not even perform up to the same level and possibly cost more. doesnt really have anything to do with microsoft, until you get to the software side, in which case taito probably got a mature sdk to work with and distribute.
sega probably went for the intel/nvidia setup in lindbergh for similar reasons, but theyre probably using their own sdk.
as for type x ports, just wait some more. they might just be delaying stuff so each version gets some exclusive time to itself. or they just wont port them. who knows for now.
Gotcha-but haven't there been problems with Type-X arcade cabs, due to the fact that they're supposed to be left on most or all of the time, like a PC?
As far as waiting for more Type-X ports, I think plenty are coming for the PS2; I just wanna hear about some more DC shmup ports! How many Naomi-based shmups have we heard about in the past year...so where the heck are the release dates!
dave4shmups wrote:Gotcha-but haven't there been problems with Type-X arcade cabs, due to the fact that they're supposed to be left on most or all of the time, like a PC?
the problem seems to be the hard drives failing iirc. naomi gets around drive reliability issues by doing a complete initial load into ram and retaining it until its powered down for >72 hours (or so system16.com says). im guessing lindbergh may have a similar setup, although one issue would be that it uses dvds instead of gds. no clue how big the games themselves are, but it could pose a problem with larger sized games.
japtor wrote:good to see the ps2 has enough power to display all the different shades of brown.
I haven't laughed so hard in ages!!
But seriously, the graphics look like ass. The sprites are about as big as my nan. I know it's not all about the graphics, but it definitely does help if a game has a bit of the visual wow factor. I'll still end up buying it because of my stupid collective trait...
For what it's worth, the trailer definitely looks better than the stills. Still not sure if it is MY thing (I'm starting to grow a bit tired of the whole bullet curtain thing...), but the video definitely raises my opinion of the game.
CMoon wrote:For what it's worth, the trailer definitely looks better than the stills. Still not sure if it is MY thing (I'm starting to grow a bit tired of the whole bullet curtain thing...), but the video definitely raises my opinion of the game.
I just downloaded the vid and it does look 100 times better than the screen capture. Looks fat, lots (and lots) of bullets on screen - looks like it's going to be a good one. All I gotta do now is fine some time to play these games!
JigsawMan wrote:the graphics look like ass. The sprites are about as big as my nan. I know it's not all about the graphics, but it definitely does help if a game has a bit of the visual wow factor.
The game looks a lot better in motion, than in screenshots. The combination of complex bullet storms layered on top of "ground fly-by" effects is pretty cool, imo.
"Thunder Force VI does not suck, shut your fucking mouth." ~ Shane Bettenhausen
The graphics are admittedly not as flashy as Psyvariar 2, but the gameplay looks like it will pick up the slack. Pictures don't tell the whole story- one of the scenes has some nice camera fly-by action in it.
sorry im not excited, im pretty sick of millions of bullets to avoid shoot em ups, and whats with the hugely powerful gun? i like to build up my gun and have a few options as to which way to power it, im hoping Raiden III will be the answer to all this bullet hell bullshit im coming to loath.
However the back grounds do look very nice just a shame it seems to be essentially another MM clone.
I reckon the exemplars of this genre are the first two pachi's once we get past them i dont find it fun any more.
I remember RFK's video where he got Ibara, which also showed him installing Type-X...but for Raiden III. I remember now where he pulls out this TINY board which was ibara and hook it up.
