A pretty big Shmup Demo in the West

[man9child]

Yeah. I was kind of cringing when people started clapping during a few of the boss battles. Audience noise is sabotage!

[emphatic]

But playing Dodonpachi on a keyboard must be insane lol

[Aquas]

Gave it a watch and damn, that was brilliant.

I think... STG may do better in popularity years to come since the rise of streaming in the last couple years. I would like to see STG in some of the streamed marathon charities and such.

Commentary really does help. For example, one night I was watching a stream of alamone play Gradius IV and I invited a couple of my friends to watch on Skype with me. I was naturally commentating on the hard parts, nice moves etc (since I bloody love that game) and my buddy (who really doesn't play them) said it really helped him enjoy and gain interest. Maybe the STG community could bud up with another community for youtube superplay commentary videos or something?

[blackoak]

Commentary really does help. For example, one night I was watching a stream of alamone play Gradius IV and I invited a couple of my friends to watch on Skype with me. I was naturally commentating on the hard parts, nice moves etc (since I bloody love that game) and my buddy (who really doesn't play them) said it really helped him enjoy and gain interest. Maybe the STG community could bud up with another community for youtube superplay commentary videos or something?

I like this idea. Even just a regularly scheduled or more publicized "STG livestream w/commentary" night would be nice.

[trap15]

That would indeed be very very awesome. I'd love to watch you destroy Gradius III, Aquas

[Acid_Rain]

I would definitely watch more streams/videos if they had (english ) commentary.

_basics of shmupping (u, bullet heard, point blank, …)
_basics of a game
_advanced strats
_hidden secrets
_scoring tricks
_funny stuff (pacifism, nodragonshot, …)
…

[O. Van Bruce]

hey japanese, please pressure Cave to make then include an arranged soundtrack on the SaiDaiOuJou port for XBOX 360.



Now, talking about streaming, we need lots of viewers since the begining to create a popularity aura. Seriously, let's plan a permanent stream with some good comentators in english. Most of the good ideas that come out from this forum end in nothing.

[gct]

Great job, Prometheus. I was hypnotized by that DOJ performance. Way to go being able to pull that off live.

I'm kind of amused to see the response here, trying to gain mainstream recognition. Isn't this the same place where a few years back generally had the feeling "Nooooo we mustn't let our pure hobby be contaminated by the masses of unwashed n00bs!" Just another swing of the pendulum I suppose.

It really grates me to read those Touhou fanbrat comments saying DOJ is a piece of cake in comparison though.

[O. Van Bruce]

I'm kind of amused to see the response here, trying to gain mainstream recognition. Isn't this the same place where a few years back generally had the feeling "Nooooo we mustn't let our pure hobby be contaminated by the masses of unwashed n00bs!" Just another swing of the pendulum I suppose.

Well.. desperate times require desperate measures

[PROMETHEUS]

I think... STG may do better in popularity years to come since the rise of streaming in the last couple years. I would like to see STG in some of the streamed marathon charities and such.

Commentary really does help. For example, one night I was watching a stream of alamone play Gradius IV and I invited a couple of my friends to watch on Skype with me. I was naturally commentating on the hard parts, nice moves etc (since I bloody love that game) and my buddy (who really doesn't play them) said it really helped him enjoy and gain interest. Maybe the STG community could bud up with another community for youtube superplay commentary videos or something?

I like this idea. Even just a regularly scheduled or more publicized "STG livestream w/commentary" night would be nice.

I would definitely watch more streams/videos if they had (english :wink: ) commentary.

_basics of shmupping (u, bullet heard, point blank, …)
_basics of a game
_advanced strats
_hidden secrets
_scoring tricks
_funny stuff (pacifism, nodragonshot, …)
…

Now, talking about streaming, we need lots of viewers since the begining to create a popularity aura. Seriously, let's plan a permanent stream with some good comentators in english. Most of the good ideas that come out from this forum end in nothing.

We are already doing this in France! Several youtubers/bloggers used showprime until now (it is now closed), or just youtube videos and skype to create shoutcasts of runs or introduce games. Just tonight I did a commentary of my DOJ run with 2 guys who run a weekly show. You can start your show small and it will only grow, slowly or fast. If you're lucky one day it may grow crazy fast because something happened and people turn their attention on to you.

Those shows we have been doing for about a year now have certainly helped popularized the shmup genre around France this past year. Some funny events have been noticed which are probably linked to the shows. I was told for example, that one week after Yace&BOS did a show about ZANAC, which was pretty much unknown and is a 20years old game, it was suddenly released on the PS Store. Sometimes a game's price on the market goes down by a lot right after they do their show too. They're not too sure if it's just coincidences but they have a bunch of examples like that.

Doing youtube/showprime shows is also how Sephyross developped his shmup-commentator's skills. Those online shows and shoutcasts definitely play a role in the global effort to get shmups to become more popular.

[PROMETHEUS]

These are pretty rough, but basically:

1: A french player who attended this year's Wasshoi at GSF2012, ran a similar event in France! That's a huge crowd! The event is packed!

2: At at event called Montpellier in Game, a skilled player did a live run in front of an audience on a big screen. There were two commentators, one of which did comedy and one which went over the game system. The event looks amazing! But playing Dodonpachi on a keyboard must be insane lol

3: I think it's a blog about organizing the event? There's a bunch of photos of the venue! And the crowd is completely packed! The venue's filled with people just standing and watching!

The guy seems really impressed by how many people are there 8)

Thank you for translating marus.

[PROMETHEUS]

Clover-TAC has written an email in reaction to seeing this post, the pics and the videos, and agreed that it be posted here :

Wow, it was really lively for both Dodonpachi and Daioujou lol
The amount of people watching is amazing, and more than anything the way people engage with the show (watching with mouth open -> player dodges a bullet-> OOHHH, or when he dies they say "Awww") is just like Japan and that impressed me.
This is the proof that superplays of bullet hell shooters communicate as a universal entertainment around the world.
I think Koizumi (who founded Wasshoi) would be really happy to see this (I already forwarded the mail to him)
I think it might be tough in the west but it would be even better if people could play on cabinets/consoles instead of emulators.
I'm hyped that an event like this took place overseas. Looking forward to what else develops!

[Weak Boson]

Mr TAC's comments are very nice to read and it seems you've done us proud, Prometheus. The cockles of my heart are not used to this much warming.

[CIT]

Great stuff! And also shows that France is clearly the best place to enjoy Japanese games outside of Japan.

[PROMETHEUS]

More pics of the event (all the other demos & more) : http://damdamprod.over-blog.com/article ... 82065.html

[Dave_K.]

Congratulations Prometheus! As with the other comments here, this will hopefully propel more streaming of shmup plays and appreciation for the skill involved (regardless if keyboard or joystick ).

Now all we need is a supervillan (i.e. Billy Mitchel...Sikraiken?) to challenge Prometheus to a live battle of shmup abilities to send this into the next level of viral awareness!

[Animaitor]

Now all we need is a supervillan (i.e. Billy Mitchel...Sikraiken?) to challenge Prometheus to a live battle of shmup abilities to send this into the next level of viral awareness!

That would be awesome

[Kollision]

Indeed.
I would love to see all them superplayers perform as Prom did.


EPIC WIN

[PROMETHEUS]

Congratulations Prometheus! As with the other comments here, this will hopefully propel more streaming of shmup plays and appreciation for the skill involved (regardless if keyboard or joystick :D ).

Now all we need is a supervillan (i.e. Billy Mitchel...Sikraiken?) to challenge Prometheus to a live battle of shmup abilities to send this into the next level of viral awareness!

Hahahaha thank you and I'd take Sikraiken at DDP live any freaking day ;D ;D

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

Cool to see all the audience reactions. But yeah, anybody can appreciate that there is some heavy skill and intensity involved in playing shooting games. I remember having a pretty good run going on Gradius V in front of a few of my friends once. They do not play shmups at all but were nonetheless pretty impressed.

[Matskat]

Just read this.

Good work.

Keep up the faith. These games are GREAT for spectators, provided they get a little explanation.

really really cool work guys...

[hail good sir]

keys

[PROMETHEUS]

Were you nervous as hell playing for a crowd like that?

I got nervous a few minutes before playing as usual (need to go pee lol) kind of like before an important and difficult exam or something, then I figured best way to play well would be to isolate myself so I used the headphones and kinda forgot where I was during the game. Sometimes I heard the crowd shouting and thought "oh shit, that's pretty crazy where I am playing right now" >.<