Skyravens - Dev Log

[emphatic]

Looks great, yess!

[n0rtygames]

Not messing about with bullet density as well i see

lol, yeah - I did something right with this. Supporting over a thousand bullets all with their own update logic and then rendering those out with special shader effects on top before the game even hints at going 'eurgh' has worked out pretty nicely.

Thing is, a thousand bullets isn't actually fun. In fact it's just bullshit... lots of slow moving bullets on screen isn't fun either and god forbid should I even think about making fast bullets

So I had to speak to trap15 with regards to slowdown and have now implemented some sort of transitioning slowdown system that does it raizing style and only cuts to harsher levels of slowdown when the bullets are in excess of about 1200 projectiles on screen

where:
- = frame of logic
_ = wait

at 400+ you get:
---_---_---_---_---_---_

at the next tier about 800 you get:
--_--_--_--_--_--_--_--_

then at 1200+ you just get:
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_


Anyway, expect some futari levels of bullets to be occurring with puzzle bullet cancelling elements.

[Reiko]

Looks really nice, cant wait to play

[n0rtygames]

I want to try out a new system in this game which I'm considering using in other shooters. Now, recently I've fallen in love with the route/rank selection of Deathsmiles as many people know. So this is something I'll be hoping to incorporate in to all shmups in the future... forever. I think its a level of depth people should just embrace and stop being idiots about.

For this though, it's just going to feel like a DS clone because of the directional firing and such - but there is something else I wanna try out. KINDA inspired by playing Batrider.

Team order. Instead of having lives, you build a team. Cycle between your team at will - but if that ship gets hit, you lose it until you get an extend to restock it.

So essentially, if you chose a team of "ABC" we'd be looking at:
Ax1, Bx1, Cx1

Assuming no miss up to the first extend, you'd get:
Ax2, Bx1, Cx1

To the second:
Ax2, Bx2, Cx1

And the third:
Ax2, Bx2, Cx2

If you died before the first extend and you had character B out, your lives would be:
Ax1, Bx0, Cx1


There's a lot of stuff I REALLY like about Yagawa and there's a lot of stuff I hate. His style of game is definitely something worth exploring more, without excessive and borderline psychotic wank rankery that only makes sense in an arcade setting.

[trap15]

\o/

[malchitos]

I want to try out a new system in this game which I'm considering using in other shooters. Now, recently I've fallen in love with the route/rank selection of Deathsmiles as many people know. So this is something I'll be hoping to incorporate in to all shmups in the future... forever. I think its a level of depth people should just embrace and stop being idiots about.

For this though, it's just going to feel like a DS clone because of the directional firing and such - but there is something else I wanna try out. KINDA inspired by playing Batrider.

Team order. Instead of having lives, you build a team. Cycle between your team at will - but if that ship gets hit, you lose it until you get an extend to restock it.

That's pretty inventive...I like it. Makes sense kinda...like you have this team...and if they die that's it for them. To further that, what if the restocks were characters you didn't choose for the team at first? Would make you fear for your favorite's life for sure.

[Reiko]

The character lives thing reminds me a bit of Hitogata Happa. I didn't play the game much (another one on the "go back and play eventually" list), but I believe you could only choose your next character. So when you died, you'd get the character you had chosen as the next, and you aren't able to switch out as you please. Also you could buy character lives in a shop between stages (which got increasingly expensive each time you bought one). To be honest I would prefer being able to switch at will. There are probably some other games I've played (non shoot em ups) that worked the same as the way you described it, but I can't remember any right now.

Also, perhaps I'm just simple, but I usually rather a static route than being able to pick the levels you want out of a bunch of them. That being said, it suits Deathsmiles and I have no problem with it, since you visit all stages anyway, going around the continent cleaning up the monsters, except the extra scoring ones if you don't want to do them. So as long as it suits the game I wouldn't mind it really. I think what I actually wouldn't like is if there were like 10 stages and you can pick the 5 you want, since I feel that at some point you will end up having a favourite route and the remaining stages will just go to waste. Either cause a particular route has the best scoring potential, or is just the easiest to clear since I suck at these games even though I like playing them.

[n0rtygames]

That's pretty inventive...I like it. Makes sense kinda...like you have this team...and if they die that's it for them. To further that, what if the restocks were characters you didn't choose for the team at first? Would make you fear for your favorite's life for sure.

Yo! Just read this. This is a pretty neat idea. Seeing as we have 5 characters in total - having 2 fixed extends that add the remaining characters to your team order and a 1up in the stage that simply resurrects a dead character (or adds another depending on circumstance)

Since CB2 is going to have team customization in it - the current build of SR basically has you picking two characters and a meter based tag system. So really, you have to find a team where there's a synergy between the two characters you pick. Which brings me on to Reiko's post:

To be honest I would prefer being able to switch at will.

This is sort of how it is at the moment, but I want to keep an element of having to sacrifice something in order to make a tag-out. I'm a big fan of Crimzon Clovers meter system and I'd like to try and bring in some elements of meter management in fighting games. At first it'll seem like this glossy and flashy tag system with explosions and screen effects happening all over the place, but the end goal is that when you step back and look at attacking the game with a high scoring 1cc in mind - you have to start planning your route selection through the game and you may start to find in certain sections you want a different character. So managing your meters and tag outs for an optimal run is going to be a big thing.

Also, perhaps I'm just simple, but I usually rather a static route than being able to pick the levels you want out of a bunch of them. That being said, it suits Deathsmiles and I have no problem with it, since you visit all stages anyway, going around the continent cleaning up the monsters, except the extra scoring ones if you don't want to do them. So as long as it suits the game I wouldn't mind it really. I think what I actually wouldn't like is if there were like 10 stages and you can pick the 5 you want, since I feel that at some point you will end up having a favourite route and the remaining stages will just go to waste. Either cause a particular route has the best scoring potential, or is just the easiest to clear since I suck at these games even though I like playing them.

This. You'll have to play through all the stages, so really you can just pick which stages you want to practise and also because of the meter management - you'll get that Deathsmiles thing going on (hopefully) where you use one of the easier stages to charge up your meter and then go in to one of the really enemy heavy stages with a full meter and rake in the points from a level 3 super.

One thing I don't like about Deathsmiles is that if you're aiming for a clear, the EX stages are really a big risk to take if you're not very good at the game and it kinda creates this divide between players who are able to 1cc the standard route through the game and godlike players who can snore their way through it without worrying and can handle the EX stages too.

But this might be a good thing, I've yet to decide if I want bonus stages for super good players..

[BareKnuckleRoo]

One thing I don't like about Deathsmiles is that if you're aiming for a clear, the EX stages are really a big risk to take if you're not very good at the game and it kinda creates this divide between players who are able to 1cc the standard route through the game and godlike players who can snore their way through it without worrying and can handle the EX stages too.

But this might be a good thing, I've yet to decide if I want bonus stages for super good players..

The problem with Deathsmiles isn't the fact that there's a bonus stage (or two in MBL), it's that choosing it bumps the difficulty immediately up to the max rank with revenge bullets everywhere. I lent Deathsmiles to a friend and when I came over to watch him play because I figured he's new to shmups and Deathsmiles would be a good, easy entry... he was on the final stage with revenge bullets everywhere. I was like "wtf, that's not supposed to happen if you're going for your first clear", then he told me he picked the EX stage (he was in Xbox 360 mode, so it was selectable even without meeting the requirements you'd normally need in arcade). Understandable - he didn't know the Canyon was extremely hard, there wasn't any warning, so it's not surprising he picked it.

Being able to choose an extra stage for the risk vs. reward factor is nice, but Deathsmiles' issue is that if you're playing Xbox Mode it allows you to select it even without meeting the basic requirements you'd need in the arcade mode to see it, making it possible for new players going through at low rank to unexpectedly make the game into a massive clusterfuck without warning (Xbox Mode also lets you pick level 1 difficulty for every level if you want). Normally, only really good players would even see the Canyon at all anyways. The best way to implement an extra level would be to have its difficulty be selectable (so it feels about the same as a 'standard' stage if you want and not a massive leap in difficulty) or you could make the extra level's difficulty be based on the average of the levels you selected before (so the only way to see it at its hardest is to beat all the other levels at the hardest).

As long as you don't make selecting it punish you by putting the game in Super Hard Mode, it won't feel as jarring a difficulty leap.

[Tyjet]

One thing I don't like about Deathsmiles is that if you're aiming for a clear, the EX stages are really a big risk to take if you're not very good at the game and it kinda creates this divide between players who are able to 1cc the standard route through the game and godlike players who can snore their way through it without worrying and can handle the EX stages too.

But this might be a good thing, I've yet to decide if I want bonus stages for super good players..

A No-EX run in Deathsmiles is also considered a clear too (and a game in itself). The only reason one would need to go through the EX stage is to increase the rank for scoring purposes. Which is why the stage is optional. Deathsmiles does not force you to go through the EX stage. However, it does not do a great job in telling the player that it will make the game harder. I mean, it is only label “EX” and the other path is labeled “Final.”

If you do want to base the game on having the extra stages optional then I would recommend you put a warning label somewhere in the game stating that rank will be increased if selected.

But if the game requires the player to go through the extra stages then, Roo’s suggestions work. (Is it considered an extra stage if you are required to go though it?)

[trap15]

Do a True Last Stage

[pbsk8]

Is it still going to be released in full version?

I liked so much the video on previous page.

[Enemy]

given my love for this as well as i would purchase day 1 as well .... sorry felt guilty as posted on chronoburst

on a sober moment ... i would love another horiz ... go norty!

[nasty_wolverine]

given my love for this as well as i would purchase day 1 as well .... sorry felt guilty as posted on chronoburst

on a sober moment ... i would love another horiz ... go norty!

day 0 purchase...

[n0rtygames]

Yep, still gonna be finishing this too. Got some art help to get it finished.

Too many effing games.

[Enemy]

think of me as your wife/partner ...... "CAN'T find the chronoburst thread ... why are you not posting/working on this and posting to us ... your true number 1" ok .... think of me as the "OPPOSITE" of your wife/partner.... i cant find the thread though ...

[n0rtygames]

It's all on the facebook page and hasn't been abandoned at all

I will post back here when there are significant advances. The thread was deleted on request - which is why you cannot find it. Lots of reasons!

It will be worth the wait though. Lots of cool things possibly likely to happen which I will remain secretive about - like a submarine.

[brokenhalo]

It's all on the facebook page and hasn't been abandoned at all

I will post back here when there are significant advances. The thread was deleted on request - which is why you cannot find it. Lots of reasons!

It will be worth the wait though. Lots of cool things possibly likely to happen which I will remain secretive about - like a submarine.

noticed that your site is down and you haven't been on in a while. hope everything is ok.

[n0rtygames]

Well, my job has gotten crazy and we're in serious crunch mode so I don't have anywhere near as much time as I would have liked.

Also came to unexpected blows within the team that involved lots of crappy throwing back and forth of legally threatening nonsense so we have a game without all the required assets and no real way to finish it to the standard necessary because people simply can't be bothered any more - life stuff and other priorities do have to take over. Such as earning a living!

Sadly it's not something that can be fixed so I'm unable to create the kind of shooter I would have liked - which means I would have to compromise and create the kind of game that I don't feel I want to make.

Just being honest..

[mice]

Good to hear from you, at least.

[Lordgalvar-II]

Best of luck to you n0rty!

[tiaoferreira]

Incredible game, man! Who's the artist?