My GM shmups - Last Chance,MEGATANK, Flying V, XYX, ZPF

[BPzeBanshee]

I don't even rotate with VirtualDub, but if you encode the video with XVid like I've done in my recent videos you *should* have nothing near the butchery with the Last Chance video.

[Rozyrg]

Will do. I do remember it being fairly sensitive about which format you use, so that seems a perfectly sensible solution.

Anyways, I recorded a bunch more stuff - all in TATE, no skimping on file size (I knocked the scaling down to 75% for the last rip), so it ought to come out a lot better just on that. I didn't get any GMOSSE footage since I figured I didn't have a proper up-to-date version; but I'll probably get some when I record the next batch of games.

[BPzeBanshee]

In that case I'll send you a build some time today. I'd make it official but I want Stage 2 done first which I've been busy with procrastinating/schoolwork/radical core changes.

I still haven't done the transition to the new sound engine because I've discovered a bug with SuperSound (it really doesn't like restarting) but you should notice a significant difference in the sounds already as they aren't filtered (or did I put that in for MK-VI, I don't remember anymore).

[mice]

And when we post new videos we update this thread and post a link, ok? Yeeesh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcSNskup ... re=g-all-u

[Rozyrg]

Sorry, sort of just let Youtube do it's thing while I goofed off elsewhere.

This one's nearly 1:1 with the DVD footage; but I have no idea why the transitions are screwed up, nor why it cut the first few seconds off of the intro. Still, a huge improvement. Once I'm done with the rest of the stuff that was on the disc, I'll give GMOSSE the same treatment. I'll have something else to show by then too (although it's not a shooter.)

[BPzeBanshee]

Regarding the transitions, the fade one worked fine and for shmups it's probably the best one to use anyway so I'd stick with that.

I'd use it all the time myself but I don't actually have a decent video editor (yeah I know, VirtualDub, but for some reason I can't seem to get it to actually edit anything because it goes weird - still swear by it for screen captures though).

[Rozyrg]

Yeah, I noticed that watching it through again...weird.

My plan was just to use WMM; but it kept throwing a fit over the video codec and crashing (something specific to the WinXP version, oddly enough.) After losing a whole night trying nearly every similar piece of software I could find, each having it's own annoying Achilles heel, I was more than happy to put down money on the first one that just worked.

What's weird, I've used the same software (Wondershare Slideshow) to burn a whole stack of video discs and never had the transitions screw up before. :/ Should be easy enough to prevent next time, though.

[Lord Satori]

I understand this is a big request, but could you change it so that when you die, you respawn where you are instead of starting over? I'm aware of how terrible I am at these games, but I don't think this is an unfair request.

[BPzeBanshee]

I actually found the checkpoint-based respawning annoying myself but that's personal taste. Fortunately in XYX it's switchable though I have no idea how you could make a scoreboard around it on these forums.

@Rozyrg:
Would that take a significant amount of recoding? If it's not already implemented and just not enabled I can see it being a pain but across all of your games the actual 'engine' of it seems pretty similar if not the same (a testament to good programming code) so maybe that might make things easier...?

[Rozyrg]

Yeah, it's a fair enough feature to ask for, as so many arcade games have used it; but... no. Sorry.

I think it's the part of me that prefers an arcade game that's been properly 'consolized' to it's bigger, badder, quarter-sucking cousin. It's similar to why I still hold Contra or Super C on the NES above any of the Metal Slug games. I've always thought it was an improvement for arcade ports to enforce limitations (lives/continues etc.) so that you're more encouraged to actually master it rather than just paying your way through; but that seems to have gone away as soon as it became feasible to just dump them as-is onto home gaming hardware. Yeah, I'm rambling; but it is 4am >_>

Honestly, unlimited, on-the-spot continuing always felt to me like the game letting you cheat your way out of it's difficulty for the sake of extracting just a little more cash out of you. It might just be me (like with the checkpoints issue); but I think certain features are best left in the arcade.

Don't worry, though, as I have no control over any of this for the NGDEV stuff I'm helping out on.

------
@BPzeBanshee

It would be pretty easy to do, actually, especially as none of my games are sophisticated enough to synch enemy spawning with the position of the background maps.

If you watch the step timer in XYX when it goes to the continue screen or stage end screen, you'll notice it jump up to around 99999. That and a few other variables are literally all that keep the stage from progressing as normal. Resetting everything for continues/checkpoints takes a bit more work since you need to know what all needs to be reset (and you probably know how ass-backward some of my variable naming schemes are).

Heck, I dealt with all kinds of headaches implementing checkpoints; but it was well worth the trouble, even knowing no one else would want them. You could probably say my decision to split Last Chance's levels in half was partly from a longing to include them in that, too.

[mice]

I hope you're sucking it all up from this thread:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 2&start=30

You're so worth it!

[Matskat]

HOLY SHIT!

I just read on Kotaku.com that there is a new NeoGeo game coming from NG Dev team...

and it's FUCKING XYX!?!?!?!

OMG I want it.

Too bad it's prohibitively expensive.

Man...XYX is my favorite Gryzor game......good luck dude!

[Lord Satori]

no way... it can't be THAT xyx. it has to be some sort of freakish coincidence

[Rozyrg]

freakish coincidence

Nope. I know because I've been working on it all summer.

I haven't got to play it myself yet and I don't really have final say on these things; but I do know the gameplay won't be identical. I'm confident it's in very capable hands, though.

Anyways, thanks for the feedback and good vibes in general, guys. TBH, the first few days I was too nervous to check the thread at all.

[Lord Satori]

oh wow! in that case, congrats and good luck!

[BPzeBanshee]

I like how everyone pretty much ignored that I said you had a hand in this in the thread and forgot that shmups.system11 actually has a Development forum. >_>

I hope it plays and sells well. If by some freakish streak of awesome it ends up on XBLA or something I'd definitely buy it.

[Rozyrg]

Thanks, I definitely hope it does, too. I love my Dreamcast as much as the next guy; but XBLA/PSN is really the way to go these days.

Oh yeah, figured I might as well do this.
I'm still pretty damn busy with NEO; but I've started on a fifth ship for Last Chance and have a ton of boss ideas for it to work on whenever I get the time.

Still haven't got that GMOSSE footage, though. Sorry.

[railslave]

Just playing your demos for the first time, and wow , inspirational stuff, did you draw all this ? serious talent, love the shading . As for the gameplay, well i dont have a degree in this stuff and i suck at it , but it certainly looks the part!!!

[Matskat]

Just installed Last Chance in my cabinet.

Plays great - looks great. Thanks for 'tate!

Looking forward to maybe a physical copy release of some of your games.

Keep it up - really promising stuff!

[Rozyrg]

@railslave - Yes all of the art in my games is mine, and thank you very much! I tend to suck at them plenty myself.

@Matskat - Awesome, I'd love to see a shot of it in action! Glad you enjoyed the game, too... I've honestly been pretty eager to get back to work on it.

I had originally made the game with mouse/touch control in mind (back when a non-castrated HTML5 version still seemed viable), so I'd be curious to see how it fares with a trackball in an arcade cabinet setup. Not that it's ever likely to be used; but I even included a specific control setup for that purpose.

I'm planning on putting out an updated demo soon, probably once I finish up the weapon system for ship #5.
Speaking of which:




Note: the blue squares are the actual 'bullet' part of the laser; but I haven't tested any of this in the actual game yet, so some changes are likely to be made by then.

[n0rtygames]

Glad this thread got bumped. Don't think I've seen it til now!

Dude - your games are genuinely pretty awesome. Loving your art style and the gameplay is fast and mental. I dont know if the bullets are MEANT to be that fast on the HTML5 version of Last Chance as it's borderline inhuman.. but dear god it's fun.

I loves me some satanically fast bullets <3

[Rozyrg]

satanically fast bullets

I would so quote that for a box blurb.

...and even more fitting since LC's last boss is basically Satan.

[BPzeBanshee]

I loves me some satanically fast bullets <3

Sig'd.

That weapon looks quite impressive from stills. And you think I'M the one doing dark magic with GM.

[Rozyrg]

Well I guess that makes us both it's unholy practitioners now. I swear I just seem to be able to think up solutions for this kind of stuff at completely odd or inappropriate times (in the shower, etc.)

The key to this was establishing the entire path the beam follows right when it's created. Go horizontal so many steps, go vertical so many steps, change horizontal direction and so on, then assigning the proper image for each 'block' of the path depending on it's orientation. After that, it will only draw part of the beam at any given time, with the first part always being replaced with a 'head' image and the last a 'tail.'

video

Just successfully transplanted it into the game, too. My solution for the actual bullet/collision part of it was for there always being ones positioned exactly at the head, middle and tail sections of the beam. The bullets can still be destroyed on impact like any others and if all three are destroyed, the beam vanishes. Seems to work pretty good so far.

[nasty_wolverine]

I just played a few of your demos...
Rozyrg is GOD

I am changing my sig too...

[mice]

I just played a few of your demos...
Rozyrg is GOD

I am changing my sig too...

What he said.

[Rozyrg]

I do appreciate the sentiment; but y'all need to HUSH with that stuff.

Here's a fun little side project I've been working on, just a simple timed survival /caravan kinda thing, I'll put it up on YYG once the backgrounds and a few other things are tidied up.

[mice]

New hash tag created: #rozyrgisgodlivewithit

[PC Engine Fan X!]

It'd be great to try out Fire Arrow on a proper low-res arcade monitor setup...will this FA shmup be a Windows demo d/l as well?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Rozyrg]

Yes.

I was aiming to get it out the other week; but perfectionism set in soon after, deftly preventing that. Also, the 3 and 5 minute modes will pretty much be the entire game, somewhat in line with the ultra-short Megatank, with the difficulty (hopefully) being just about as high.

This one started as a GM tutorial for a friend - I was just tossing in whatever I thought he might like to use; but the more I played with it, the more it became it's own thing. The idea of making it into a short timed survival/caravan shooter just gave me an excuse to try and finish it, I've got enough 'big' game projects to suck up just about all of my free time as it is. It's possible I'll re-use some of this stuff later on though.