RUSHmup - audio responsive boss rush (bullet patterns plz!)

[XYX]

Hi guys, I've been slowly (very) working on this idea for a shmup coded in Java with the awesome Libgdx framework, it's a Boss Rush shmup (maybe with some bonus 'waves') that triggers events based on audio analysis (using Minim at the moment)

The idea is that players can play their own tracks and compete on the scoreboards, included tracks will be written by my friend Vex Primate/Autyren and have the trigger events imported from .midi files for much more accuracy

I've finally fixed the .jar errors so it is runnable on export now and I'm getting close to having a runnable alpha completed

There is a major flaw at the moment with it using .mp3s, it doesn't work at all, so for now you'll need to convert a song or mix of your choice to .wav, save as "rushmup.wav" and place it in C:\Users\<username> this obviously will keep the file size down alot, and you can pick your own tracks

While I'm finishing up the alpha I'd very much appreciate any pattern scripts you guys can lend me or contribute to the project. My aim eventually is to have a nice pattern framework using TinyXML so that people can create scripts and save them to the server, difficulty will be calculated based on number of shots and density (some how), I'm also looking for someone to actually help with the patterns please, if any of you feel up for it

Theres an old video over at Shmup-Dev, this is the closest I've got to a playable game so I'm a little pleased with that, however there's still a long way to go

Happy shmupping guys, and take it easy

[DJ Incompetent]

I approve everything about this. Especially kicking the shit out of Symphony's design.

Will be watching yer project and how you wield libGDX closely.

[XYX]

Ha thanks! If it eventually all comes together as planned maybe it will hopefully with similar visual flair too! I do need a coding partner though to help out. I can tell you now the libgdx isnt being weilded too efficiently, the android version will come later after completion and MUCH optimisation

[Lord Satori]

I approve!

are the boss designs randomly generated as well?

[XYX]

Thanks, and yes they are your ship was going to look similar but visibility was a problem

The idea was to allow the player a 'hull point' at certain points during progression so your ship gets customized as you go along, but for the size of the player ship, it didnt work out too well (there isnt enough pixel room)

[Atomhead]

Hey wow! Hold on a minute, this is pretty much what I've been doing!
I too have been searching for an ideal way to translate music into shmup. In fact, that's what the next installment of HI is about.
Our approach is different though (I'm also working in GameMaker) but the similarities are pretty obvious to me.
However I'm not going to try and do audio analysis stuff, it'll be all manual level design.

I haven't tried your game yet but I intend to do so asap!

I approve everything about this. Especially kicking the shit out of Symphony's design.

Amen to that!

I wish you the best of luck with it! The world needs more audio-based shmups! (ok that's probably not true but I sure want one.)

[XYX]

Haha awesome, another shmup fan after the same thing as me I love how smooth and fluid HI is, id like to see how you translate the music stuff in your new one (just got the demo now)

Theres lots you could do thats beyond me, for instance certain noises conjure up certain colors, so in game pallets can be generated from frequencies etc

It DOES need more audio based shmups, ones that give you the same intense rushing concentration that Wipeout does!

Im having a little trouble with my patterns:
I was using these sketches as a base
http://studio.sketchpad.cc/sp/pad/view/ ... UX/latest? -initial experiment where mouseX changes the pattern
http://studio.sketchpad.cc/sp/pad/view/ ... 5sF/latest -second try using 2 emitters and generating patterns, this is the method i want to use

Problem is the patterns only really work with lots of shots, these use 400 each time, so thats WAY too many to dodge in game, and the patterns loose their shape with lots less

edit//

So i've tried to give the shots a life time, which resets when the same beat happens again, this is represented by their alpha value in this test here http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... index.html wait a while, it takes a bit to load the mp3

See links here to latest test:
Win: http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... 00-win.zip
Mac: http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... 00-mac.zip
Linux: http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... -linux.zip
////

Also control system has now changed:
Hold Z to fire
Release to charge (graze shots)
Press Z again when bar is in bottom area to fire charged laser
Letting bar run down cancels this
Pressing it before cancels this too
Pressing it before but ON a beat fires charged shots instead

[Drachenherz]

Hmmm... Would you consider releasing this for the upcoming Ouya, when you port it to android?

[XYX]

Sure! Ouya seems perfect for shmups

[Drachenherz]

Sure! Ouya seems perfect for shmups

Great, good to know!

[XYX]

Well the patterns have lost ALOT of their shape now, i've got this test down to seem like you might be able to dodge them still

This is just a prototype with Processing, i code up parts in that to save messing up the Eclipse project

Press any key to clear the shots
Press - / + to change level (1 to 5, determines number of shots)

Please have a quick run and see what you think, i know theyre not great so far, but if itll be playable like this ill add this code into the project and get that very early demo on here

Included MP3 is "Crushed" by the awesome Ovey, free download there of other tracks too

To try any track you want (.mp3) rename it "1.mp3" and go into 'lib' (windows & linux), or '.app/contents/resources/java' (mac) and open "AudioResponsivePatternsV2.jar" with winrar, just replace the "1.mp3" inside there

Win: http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... 00-win.zip
Mac: http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... 00-mac.zip
Linux: http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... -linux.zip

Red is bass, green mid, blue treb, beat indicators at top of screen, along with beat sensitivity mod (makes it less sensitive during quiet parts etc) and level

edit//
Fixed the links (and .htaccess screwup) should download fine now

[nasty_wolverine]

Sure! Ouya seems perfect for shmups

Great, good to know!

beware the input lag, dont know how bad timing issues are...
ask trap15 on a lowdown...

[BPzeBanshee]

trap15 who's never made an Android game in his life and can't even reference a source for his claim? Yes I'm sure his view is very valid.

Friendly jab there: point being the jury's still out as to whether this input lag even exists let alone how severe, so until there's some hard facts either way I wouldn't worry about it too much, still it's something to keep at the back of the brain somewhere.

As for alternative platforms to consider, being in Java I suppose homebrew conversion to something like the Wii isn't possible, but the Raspberry Pi is becoming more and more popular each day. Otherwise, regardless of input delay a game like this is most likely to do well on iOS or Android.

[XYX]

i dont think there is much input delay on droid, ive played alot of shmups on my tablet (that isnt great) and ive not noticed any

i did want to not really have any button press inputs but theres 2 now, Z-shoot and use ability, X-Rush

also guys, ive taken that bullet patterns test down, id VERY much appreciate it if you guys all grab the new one when im done, its got the slowmo (thats in the full game) in it to make it a little easier, it also posts your scores and sessions best to my server, as well as your mp3 metadata

im going to use this to see how difficult it is for people and how far you can all get (as well as which genres might be easier)

so look out for that later today

[mice]

trap15 who's never made an Android game in his life and can't even reference a source for his claim?

Friendly jab or not, is that statement true?

[XYX]

Hey guys! PLEASE can you go here http://www.spacedcat.co.uk/RUSHmupPatte ... index.html and grab the prototype and give me some feedback on the patterns & difficulty





It comes with that included .mp3, press 'O' to select one of your own (make sure its an mp3 or it'll crash, i didn't add in the file filter)

If you have a net connection it posts your stats to that page

Also a bit of a bug, but one i might keep in, the first time you play a song, the max volume is 0, if you retry it, it starts with the maximum value of where you got to. What this means is the beat sensitivity gets more appropriate the more times you retry a particular song, so first time, its alot harder

Any feed back would be great thanks, i've made this to get the patterns down right before implementing them in the actual project

So any time you have a spare moment, please keep trying it, massive points to you if you get to the end of a song!

edit///
if you downloaded this, get it again, fixed an error with the mp3 metadata having spaces, and fixed the collisions a bit(ish)

[BPzeBanshee]

trap15 who's never made an Android game in his life and can't even reference a source for his claim?

Friendly jab or not, is that statement true?

Fairly confident he hasn't touched an Android development-wise himself. I spoke with him on IRC when he brought it up on the Ouya thread, and the most I got out of him is something to the words of "I know people who have developed on it" via IRC and that's all. Not a whole lot considering how factual he likes to go about it, but it's certainly plausible, I'll give him that.

Note that someone else other than I queried about input lag evidence and has not gotten anything solid as a response. Sure it's quite likely there's developers out there that know about this issue but no one here has seen any mention yet, and it's not the first time trap15's gone all factual blowhard based on second-hand "knowledge" which is why I'm inclined to believe it's another one of those Estebang-like myths.

[mice]

Thanks for clearing that out!

[XYX]

if there was much input lag, you wouldnt have games like http://androidandme.com/2012/08/games/t ... r-android/ because they just wouldnt work properly

[nasty_wolverine]

acutally no, FPS and TPS dont suffer much even if there is input lag, unless its very fast paced, something like quake arena...
android does have lag, i play alot of stuff on my phone (htc sensation) and there is a slight input lag on most of my games..
try playing danmaku death on an android handset and tell me the ship does exactly you want it to do..

[XYX]

i have on my tablet and havent noticed any. This isnt something you can time with code is itr?

[nasty_wolverine]

you probably can, but the method is borrowed from something else...

code side:
just measure how time it takes for input to change, meaning for an ever changing input, difference of t2 - t1, where t1 belongs to initial state and t2 to for a changed state. average it out over a long duration and check how many input polls per second is done by android to update its internal buffer, and do some statistical analysis to see what the standard deviation is and how many such polls take longer or shorter.

test side:
just keep moving your finger on the tablet without stopping...

I used something similar to measure timing accuracies in window, which is horrible btw, it will really be interesting to see what the output of the test will be, be sure to choose the most accurate timer not the most precise timer...