Twin Tiger Shark - Android - PC - XBLIG - OUYA

[mice]

Any 4:3 fix(es) won't come in a near update. Needs some thorough thinking about as well as huge additions to the platform-dependent interface the game/engine is using.

The power ups need to hang around longer

Fixed.

Thanks all!

[Marc]

Mice, just had to post to congratulate you on a quality game. I hear and understand the arguments against always online, but for the price of a packet of crisps? This was a £40.00 MegaDrive game when I was a teen.

I will say though, with such an old-school graphical style, sprites doing the mode 7 thing is like catching your parents at it - WRONG. Superb stuff though in seriousness, and shows up a lot of the Shmups on Live.

[TransatlanticFoe]

I'd rather see traditional power ups alongside weapon swaps, like it's done in Twin Cobra. Having to collect the right colour to power up your gun is almost as annoying as dodging green power ups in Fire Shark!

[tikipod]

Bought this on XBLIG on Sunday, and really liked it.
Only slight grumble was that for me, the support planes seemed a bit too many - would prefer say two, that I can look after more easily.
And bosses felt the least polished in art terms, if you had time would be cool to beef up their art a bit I think.

Really liked the trains in the last level, they were a nice dose of variety to what was going on.

[spadgy]

Get yourself to the second loop then mate! Support plane numbers dwindle (I can't remember if that's only when you start in hard mode).

[mice]

Again, thanks all!

they were a nice dose of variety to what was going on

Yeah, enemy variation could have been done a bit more. Had some, self imposed, limitations to work against which led me to running out of graphics space (I need the limitations, otherwise I'd never be finishing a game).

(I can't remember if that's only when you start in hard mode).

It's for all difficulty settings.

sprites doing the mode 7 thing is like catching your parents at it - WRONG

I got a suggestion, before release, that I'd simulate transparancy by flickering and have rotation in set angles (16 per 360deg for instance) but I never did that because it would quite require some work to get right. But I do kind of agree.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Bought this Twin Tiger Shark on the USA Xblig site yesterday...it's a mere dollar purchase btw. TTS certainly does pay homage to the old-school Taito/Toaplan arcade shmup titles that were a staple at the local mom 'n' pop owned arcade hangouts during the late 1980s era (aka the Silver Age of arcades worldwide).

A suggestion to include a slick opening intro to draw the player into depositing that "hallowed" quarter/yen/pence/krone would be most welcome. Plus a sample demo cycle that alternates between the main title screen & the obligatory high score screen is a must to replicate that spot-on look & feel of a typical late '80s arcade shmup PCB title.

Shall fire up TTS on the ol' Egret 2 candy cab via a Ultracade uVC setup & see how it'd look on a proper low-res arcade monitor setup (with the usual scanlines in place, of course).

Yeah, it'd be ace if 4:3 tate support was offered from the get-go...it's a pleasure to to play it in 16:9 screen aspect ratio indeed.

Another welcome suggestion is to come up with a semi-animated developer logo (that if placed on random parts of a given stage, will yield a nice hefty bonus) would certainly be cool. Trying to locate hidden icons in a given stage was a staple with the classic Capcom arcade titles.

Konami experimented with such sprite scaling effects for good measure with it's A-Jax (aka Typhoon in the European arcades) shmup Jamma PCB release back in 1987 (this certainly predates the SFC/SNES console's Mode 7 capabilites by a good five years easily). The actual PCB has support for both traditional upright cabs & cocktail-table styled cabs via dipswitch settings for both players taking turns.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[neorocker]

sprites doing the mode 7 thing is like catching your parents at it - WRONG

I got a suggestion, before release, that I'd simulate transparancy by flickering and have rotation in set angles (16 per 360deg for instance) but I never did that because it would quite require some work to get right. But I do kind of agree.

It's not wrong at all. The part of it that pulls the believability away is the fact that the sprite rotations happen at the native HD resolution, rather than whatever the game's native resolution would be. If everything was done at a low resolution and the entire game was scaled in post, it'd be a lot more on-point.

[tikipod]

Get yourself to the second loop then mate! Support plane numbers dwindle (I can't remember if that's only when you start in hard mode).

Got to 2:4! And yes planes are just 2 in 2nd loop.
Actually didnt mind them so much being so plentiful in the 1st round this time round - I think I just initially found them distracting.

[mice]

Again, thanks for all of the kind words!

Fixed a whole lot of things and here's an unsupported* PC version:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/457 ... 0309-2.zip

Would love if you could try it out just to make sure I haven't broken anything really bad.

*= If you can't run it or have other problems with getting it started, please let me know. But I won't, most likely, fix it.

The part of it that pulls the believability away is the fact that the sprite rotations happen at the native HD resolution

OUYA and PC version does this, yes.
XBOX version (the one to rule them all) runs the game area at intended resolution.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Nice one, thanks! My PC monitor/retro console display is going to be rotatable in the near future, so will probably play the PC version more (plus I have a better stick for it).

Doesn't seem to save scores locally though.

[disCorder]

The PC version seems to work very well, thank you very much!

[mice]

Doesn't seem to save scores locally though.

Thanks! God, I suck.
New version:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/457 ... 0309-7.zip

[soprano1]

Thank you for the PC version!

[spadgy]

Well, caved and climbed a couple of places with an 'Easy' score.

So you play Easy for score/position an Hard for fun?

As I think I missed this; Yes. But if it was capped at 2-loops (which was the original plan and is being implemented, right?), I'd certainly play 'Hard' for both!

[ptoing]

Good oldschool fun.

Bunch of crits:

• The lower case q in the name entry looks like the o. Now I am entered as *ptqing* and will have to beat my score!
• It would be very nice if you could somehow scale the gamescreen in a way that does not produce uneven pixels.(swimming)
• Can't say I am a fan of the star pickup sounds. They are rather shrill.
• Small gamefeel nitpick. When you are at the edge of the screen and press left or right the plane does not bank. I think it feels nicer when the input of the players gets acknowledged with graphical feedback.
• Control nitpick: Left overrides right, and up overrides down, in the case of pressing opposite direction cursor keys at the same time. I think best is if they would cancel out and make the plane stop in that direction.

That's all for now, pretty nice stuff

[Ed Oscuro]

I thought I'd play this for "just" a minute. 2.5M on my second play.

There really isn't anything about this I dislike. There is a lot I like: Flexibility in strategy (fly at the top of the screen and save your helper planes), choice of shots, good old fashioned bonus systems instead of hidden items and too much complexity (there's always Seibu for that).

Agreed with Ptoing about the star sound.

I don't really want to share my nitpicks, though I will say that I laughed the first time the GAME OVER screen appeared and that music started playing. It would actually be nice to be able to press a button there to pass this and go to the highscores, maybe. I can see a reason for leaving it as is though.
I am also the kind of person who lazily leaves his 360 stick plugged in too often, so the game grabbed that the first time I loaded it up. I'm just pleased for the flexibility in options, and the current setup, though it's not reflected in the menu (arrow keys + Z and X) is my preferred one.
The only time I noticed the scaling stuff really was during the first cutscene. Overall, I don't care when the game is so cute and nice.

In terms of gameplay, I did notice that things on the very edges of the screen can shoot at you immediately after you scroll over there. I'm not sure longtime shmup players will think of this as "bad" but it might take some superhuman reflexes to overcome if you aren't aware. Maybe some kind of delay after appearing onscreen, including on the sides, would fix that, if it needs to be.

I recommend any players on PC edit one of the batch files to their playing resolution.

[mice]

The lower case q in the name entry looks like the o. Now I am entered as *ptqing* and will have to beat my score!
It would be very nice if you could somehow scale the gamescreen in a way that does not produce uneven pixels.(swimming)

The "q" looks exactly like the "o", how have I missed this? Guessing I haven't used "q" anywhere in the menues.
XBOX version doesn't swim, that's all that matters. All hail the xbox!

edge of the screen and press left or right the plane does not bank.

Haha, I actually made an effort to make it like it is now. Because I've always had it like you want it in all of my games. Like players moving their feet although they're walking into a wall, and the like.
So the first time I actually fix it I get bashed for it. Thanks!

Can't say I am a fan of the star pickup sounds. They are rather shrill.

Agreed with Ptoing about the star sound.

It's the first time I hear about this (except for someone complaining about the same sound at the bonus screen).
I freakin love those sounds...what's wrong with me? Is it a "I can' stand it and must mute" kind of thing for you?

In terms of gameplay, I did notice that things on the very edges of the screen can shoot at you immediately after you scroll over there. I'm not sure longtime shmup players will think of this as "bad" but it might take some superhuman reflexes to overcome if you aren't aware. Maybe some kind of delay after appearing onscreen, including on the sides, would fix that, if it needs to be.

This is one the things that have been added (or rather removed) to this version. The released version has a non-firing zone around the edges.
All for the evil!

It would actually be nice to be able to press a button there to pass this and go to the highscores, maybe. I can see a reason for leaving it as is though.

You can, just press "A" (which is simulating the Start button on the controller, so it pauses an ongoing game as well).

in the menu (arrow keys + Z and X) is my preferred one.

Good. Because adding support for keyboard config is in the realm of PC supporting. Which I won't do, like ever, I think.

Again, super thanks for your kind words!

[ptoing]

No, I don't have to mute it, I can still play. I would just wish those pickup sounds were a bit more subtle and softer.

And about the edge of the screen thing, it is just a feedback thing. I like to have visual feedback for what I do in a game.

The _ stuff in the PC highscore board is also a bit odd. That you have that instead of proper spaces. There is also no space in the name entry symbol matrix. Maybe fix that

[KennyMan666]

fly at the top of the screen and save your helper planes

Saving them is actually a thing you don't want to do since you get points when your helper planes are shot down and none for keeping them alive.

This always felt rather weird to me, would make more sense if you got the 1000 points for each helper plane that was still alive when they fly off and nothing for one being shot down.

[spadgy]

I don't know; It encourages a bit of risky play if you have to try and get them shot down.

Going back to the 'always-on' conversation from a few pages earlier, I fell foul of it this weekend (through my own stupidity). Visiting my parent's place for a few days, so I set off home with my 360 and everything else. Then when I got there I realised with no with no ethernet cable I was unable to play TTS, despite having the console, stick, HDD etc. Screw you XBLIG (obviously it was my fault). But it does go to show consoles do end up places offline, and it's painful to own a game and not be able to play it when there's no online elements.

[Van_Artic]

should add at least one or two power up planes before the last stage boss; dying at it means fighting it again at minimum power and its damn impossible

[LordHypnos]

Just thought people might be interested to know that the unsupported PC version will run in Linux. Just type in a terminal or something (in the directory that you extract everything to) "java -jar ./TwinTigerShark.jar x y" where x is horizontal resolution and y is vertical resolution.... I'm gonna have to play this game some more. BTW, is the stage 1 music actually exactly the fire shark stage 1 music?

[trap15]

Works in OSX too

[LordHypnos]

Works in OSX too

that's java for you, I guess.

[spadgy]

Works in OSX too

Wow! Wicked. That's Mice's publicly available test of the updated TSS, right? So the 'x' and 'y' values are the resolution of my Mac's screen? Now to work out just where I have to type that in.

[CMcK]

I picked this game up last night and I am seriously impressed. The best way to sum it up is that it feels authentic. It has all sorts of little details that remind you of games from the late 80's to early 90's. The resolution, the artwork, the Toaplan style FM synth soundtrack and the simple presentation. Even little touches, like the way your plane rotates as it lands between levels, take you back to that great era.

And to echo earlier posters it's a really solid game as well. More please.

[tikipod]

No, I don't have to mute it, I can still play. I would just wish those pickup sounds were a bit more subtle and softer.

And about the edge of the screen thing, it is just a feedback thing. I like to have visual feedback for what I do in a game.

The _ stuff in the PC highscore board is also a bit odd. That you have that instead of proper spaces. There is also no space in the name entry symbol matrix. Maybe fix that

I didnt mind the pickup sounds so much ingame, but on level completion when you total up bonuses it begins to grate.

[guigui]

Just thought people might be interested to know that the unsupported PC version will run in Linux. Just type in a terminal or something (in the directory that you extract everything to) "java -jar ./TwinTigerShark.jar x y" where x is horizontal resolution and y is vertical resolution.... I'm gonna have to play this game some more. BTW, is the stage 1 music actually exactly the fire shark stage 1 music?

Second that, works perfectly on my Ubuntu.

Game is good, congrats.
Why the heck do I have to loose firepower on death is a silly question ?

[LordHypnos]

Works in OSX too

Wow! Wicked. That's Mice's publicly available test of the updated TSS, right? So the 'x' and 'y' values are the resolution of my Mac's screen? Now to work out just where I have to type that in.

You should be able to open a terminal in OSX, however, I don't know how. hahaha. Maybe look it up online?

@guigui: I tested using Archlinux. I'm guessing that it will run as long as java is installed, though.