Cave x Steam teaser!

[Chacranajxy]

Based on Blackbird's comments, this is almost certainly SH-3, which combined with "fan favorite" means either Deathsmiles or Futari.

Deathsmiles seems more likely, since it's closer to the "correct" aspect ratio for most people's monitors.

I would guess Futari, given that the background of the caveshmups.com site is from that.


It's also the better game (and I love me some Deathsmiles.)

[mdsfx]

His comments about thinking that it wasn't just a packaged ROM + emulator based on what he had seen.

Since the pre-SH-3 games are pretty much perfect in MAME at this point, and the slowdown and audio emulation on the SH-3 games still isn't quite right, the fact that he could tell that it was "not ROM + emulator" means it's almsot certainly SH-3.

Interesting. Seems to make sense.

I thought slowdown was still an issue as of mame 142-ish for a lot of Cave games. Did that change?

[Shepardus]

Could this mean that we may have Mushihimesama HD in our PCs without the need for a Japanese XBOX 360?

That's about the gist of it, yeah.

I know it's early days but any rough time frames known? As awesome as all this steam shmup news has been in recent months it does feel like we are always stuck in waiting.

The site says Winter 2015.

[Special World]

If I had to guess between the two, I'd say Futari because Deathsmiles already received a donestic release. I'm not making any guesses yet though.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

Cave releasing its games on PC is nice, but it'll be nicer still when it's on a platform that isn't a rental service. GOG, please.

In terms of arcade accuracy, it'd be nice if they were close to the 360 ports. Having working ports of older stuff like Donpachi and even Uo-Poko would be cool too. My biggest fear is that it'll be partially botched by burdensome DLC like how the 360 releases were. Some of the best games were Japan-only like DDP DFK BL Arrange (Ketsuipachi), and in the case of Mushihimesama HD 1.5, came only as a pre-order DLC (that apparently was screwed up with some copies missing the codes). 1.5 and its Max modes were the real draw of that port, so it was absurd that it wasn't available more universally (at least Futari BL was easily downloadable).

I want to support Cave, but having bought all their region free releases and two PCBs, I don't want to feel like I have to dump tons of cash on the same games just to get them on another platform, unless they're really solid releases without a lot of the bullshit seen on the Xbox 360 ports. None of this preorder DLC nonsense for things like extra voices (Akai Katana, Deathsmiles) or even for game modes (1.01 Futari is fun to try and is only available as a preorder, even though it's on the game disc! 1.5 Mushi as preorder only was inexcusable). I understand that it's easier to entice players to buy a game if the initial investment looks lower and to offer the other game modes as add-ons... but it's really annoying to have to buy a copy of Futari, then buy the copy of BL, then install the 1.01 DLC, etc. If Akai Katana gets released for instance and has White and Red labels as bonuses, just make a bundle all together. The serious players would want the option of easily getting all the released game modes available anyways.

Also - please tell me you plan to actually advertise when the games being released are known. I want to think that Cave's stuff would have sold a lot better if they'd bothered to spend even a small sum or a bit of effort advertising their releases to a wider audience, and their lack of marketing for the few western releases like Akai Katana and Deathsmiles didn't help their mainstream appeal...

My biggest hope for initial release would be Mushihimesama, specifically because of how awesome 1.5 is, and how difficult it is to find ways to play it (you need to either have the super rare PCB, or a Japanese copy with the preorder DLC, or have that DLC cd that was sold with the Cave collection). Futari would be nice too, or an official Progear port (finally - hurry up Capcom!).

[Satan]

I think it's easier to just skip all the "maybe you could try" nonsense and just have a DRM-free installer. It solves the problem.

Assuming you're not worried about making most of your "sales" on torrent sites. Mind you, I like to buy DRM-free myself when given the option, but I also understand why many developers are leery of it.

I like to think of Warren Buffet nodding and saying "It's about fucking time" as he slips off for some Guwange.

I picture him as more of a Muchi Muchi Pork kind of guy.

Like DEL? Those two cancel each other out.

[jepjepjep]

This is some great news. I hope they release some of the inaccessible stuff like DDP Campaign, Ibara Black, Akai Katana Limited, whatever other matsuri versions they have. The 360 ports for the most part were excellent.

Great job bringing this to fruition Blackbird and shinimai! When you're done with this, can you get to work on a Raizing collection!!!

[drunkninja24]

I'm fairly certain Cave has mentioned that they no longer have any of the DDP Campaign code, so sadly unless the person who won that board submits it to MAMEdev or something, we'll likely not get any widely playable version of that

[supergrafx77]

Can they use the "too close for comfort," x-ray of the pcb and its blitter to make slowdown as perfect as the pcbs???

[Shepardus]

Considering it's their own hardware, I would hope that they don't need a third party's X-ray to learn how the hardware works.

[OmegaFlareX]

Can they use the "too close for comfort," x-ray of the pcb and its blitter to make slowdown as perfect as the pcbs???

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but on the other hand, I want an option to disable the slowdown altogether. Don't care if it's not accurate or imbalanced, I've always hated slowdown and I always will.

[vector7]

On the general DRM-free front, maybe it's more worthwhile to ask Degica to make the Steam copy itself DRM-free?

I guess not many people here know it but steam now allows a refund if you played the game less than 2 hours and bought it earlier than 2 weeks ago. So maybe it's not the best idea to have a completely drm-free copy there.

I am aware of that, but I don't think it really matters. Buying the game (spending actual money), installing it, making a copy, asking for a refund, and then waiting for Valve to process it (which I assume they're not very prompt about, as with most of their processes), is, all in all, more work than just torrenting the GoG version. So if they're actually willing to have it on GoG, the "easy piracy" angle is already covered.

I tried to request 2 refunds and got a reply for both in 24 hours (both were declined though) so i assume that they are actually much faster with refunds than they are with support tickets. And i see refunding drm-free game on steam as a semi-legal way of getting it, i mean at least you downloaded it from official place and not all people use torrents to pirate something. That said i'm not defending the drm, i would prefer drm-free games on steam too, but i don't mind it much either. Unless in addition to standard steam drm it has another one like denuvo, securom etc.

[emphatic]

I just hope we get HQ stereo sound, no lag and a game that is arcade accurate.. Everything else is just a bonus. I remember preferring playing the PS2 port of ESPGALUDA even when I had the PCB, for the much better sound quality and the fast reset option.

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

Hopefully they will (eventually) port all the games with original res and HD options (but in HD versions all graphics should be HD if any are unlike some 360 ports) and all the sound quality should be high like you said. If they do a controller then that would even out the playing field and also promote keeping games being made for that controller instead of something wack like everything else.

There's tons they could do with the games (new modes) and really re-release all the games (since Donpachi) over time in the sickest packages ever.

[Chacranajxy]

I just hope we get HQ stereo sound, no lag and a game that is arcade accurate.. Everything else is just a bonus. I remember preferring playing the PS2 port of ESPGALUDA even when I had the PCB, for the much better sound quality and the fast reset option.

The sound quality part of it gets ignored a bit too often. That's a big part of the reason why I prefer Donpachi on PS1 to the PCB -- the sound quality makes it all a bit of a garbled mess on the board, but the PS1 version sounds pristine.

[Cagar]

Holy shit the anti-DRM tinfoiling is spreading like cancer.
It's such a shame that many people are missing out on such an excellent damn service for completely overblown reasons. (absurdly unrealistic fear of valve somehow suddenly closing and stealing youe games or not wanting to accept the terms of service, rofl)
Whatever, Blackbird and the rest of the degica, please understand that these people are the loud 5%< minority.
Please do not spend a minute worrying about the non-steam version for now, and try to focus on integrating the game fully on steam. (working overlay, achievements, trading cards etc.) I'm pretty sure that's required for the game to loik proper in the eyes of outsiders and reviewers, instead of seeming like a rushed 'japanese doujin game'. CAVE has to look as professional and big as possible.

However, I guess I shouldn't worry too much, seeing how well you handled CCWI!

Also, I hope that this means that CAVE has got their arcade staff hands full, and possibly with extra time on the games, we could see a new arrange mode even.

[Eaglet]

+1 Cagar.
This is a great opportunity for shooters in general and I'm sure that Blackbird & Co. will make as much of it as they can. Will support from day 1, guaranteed.

[Satan]

I'm glad I bought that rotating Dell monitor, but in the same sentence I'd like to say that I hope Deathsmiles 2 sees a UK release. I think the first one did OK here? If you'd like to specifically cater to me, I'd be happy to command you.

[Blattdorf]

Perhaps a Cave PC release could be a good opportunity to create a tutorial video on how to approach a bullet hell game? And perhaps a video on the health benefits of playing bullet hell games?

The latter might seem like a joke, but I found, and many people here will probably agree with me, that having a deep run in an intense game serves as a really good stress reliever. You just feel energized after some hectic weaving and dodging through a flurry of bullets. Such a video could convince those sitting on the fence to check the game out.

I'm just putting this out there.

Looking forward to all shmup releases this year! You got me day one on everything here.

[CRP]

Blackbird comments on neogaf http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread. ... 509&page=6

@Smite Epic memes, bro! As for the OSTs, I can't confirm yet, but we've done OSTs for CC and Eschatos, so it's likely.

@LiK Tate is in the game.

@Dachande There are a lot of rumors about this. Only one game is 100% confirmed for now. There's been talk about a second game, but it's not set in stone by any means and I don't want to make promises I can't keep later (hence "a" game).

Beyond that, it really depends on how well this release does. In a perfect scenario, the game would be a smash hit and we'd get the opportunity to localize more games. Expecting the entire library is a tad ambitious though ^_^;

[dan76]

Well. I didn't think we were going to announce this quite so quickly, but here we are. Shin is one of my co-workers, and this announcement is for real. CAVE is developing a game for PC. Without giving away too much, it's a real arcade game and a fan favorite, so you can put your fears of bad mobile ports or freemium games aside. You can expect the same level of high quality seen in our other shooters like Crimzon Clover and XIIZeal.

Sorry for the website - web design is not one of my strong points -_-.

When I first read that I thought it sounded like a new game. I guess I'm wrong, but above any ports of existing games I'd like to see Cave develop something new, a game that stands up to their previous arcade releases. Mushi 3?

[CStarFlare]

Tate confirmed, so not Deathsmiles. Guessing a Mushi, then.

[CWM]

Perhaps a Cave PC release could be a good opportunity to create a tutorial video on how to approach a bullet hell game?

Way overdue on that one in general. At the moment, the number one resource for learning what "streaming" is in a shmup, is shrinemaiden.org, to give a simple example.

Can they use the "too close for comfort," x-ray of the pcb and its blitter to make slowdown as perfect as the pcbs???

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but on the other hand, I want an option to disable the slowdown altogether. Don't care if it's not accurate or imbalanced, I've always hated slowdown and I always will.

I don't like slowdown either, but I don't think it's reasonable to ask a developer to provide the option, given that some of the more slowdown-reliant games (like Futari) would be a complete mess without it. By providing that option, they'd acknowledge no slowdown mode as a legitimate way of playing the game, and open themselves up to complaints about how bad it is.

Ultimately, you'll probably be able to get what you want from Mame. It almost works like that currently, I think.

[Stevens]

This will be Cave's best opportunity to reach a larger audience.

And I believe it will ultimately be a good thing for them, the genre as a whole, and by extension us.

[Chacranajxy]

Holy shit the anti-DRM tinfoiling is spreading like cancer.
It's such a shame that many people are missing out on such an excellent damn service for completely overblown reasons. (absurdly unrealistic fear of valve somehow suddenly closing and stealing youe games or not wanting to accept the terms of service, rofl)
Whatever, Blackbird and the rest of the degica, please understand that these people are the loud 5%< minority.
Please do not spend a minute worrying about the non-steam version for now, and try to focus on integrating the game fully on steam. (working overlay, achievements, trading cards etc.) I'm pretty sure that's required for the game to loik proper in the eyes of outsiders and reviewers, instead of seeming like a rushed 'japanese doujin game'. CAVE has to look as professional and big as possible.

However, I guess I shouldn't worry too much, seeing how well you handled CCWI!

Also, I hope that this means that CAVE has got their arcade staff hands full, and possibly with extra time on the games, we could see a new arrange mode even.

Yes, in the scramble to release a DRM-free version of the game, how will they ever find the time to create a working overlay for Steam?

The mind boggles.

[Cata]

Callin it now, games are going to be $20 each

And I'm totally ok with that

[Blattdorf]

Callin it now, games are going to be $20 each

And I'm totally ok with that

Just don't do 20 dollars = 20 euros. Regardless of the price-point, please make sure to announce it well before release. The less unknown factors, the better.

Perhaps a Cave PC release could be a good opportunity to create a tutorial video on how to approach a bullet hell game?

Way overdue on that one in general. At the moment, the number one resource for learning what "streaming" is in a shmup, is shrinemaiden.org, to give a simple example.

It might be a simple example, but I can't find it on the site.

Anyway, what I mean is to be a bit more in-your-face with helping people learn the ropes. It won't hurt to create a five-to-ten minute video on this. Also, you can use the opportunity to preview the port!

[Udderdude]

You guys know it's entirely possible the games won't have any DRM tied to Steam, right? Like you can just copy the game out of the Steam folder, quit Steam, and it still works? Even if they do tie the game to Steam, there's always going to be someone who finds a way around it ..

Anyway, this is exciting news, I'm hoping if the ports sell well enough, they'll consider some new stuff. Of course, they might have to build up their arcade division again from scratch ..

[CWM]

Perhaps a Cave PC release could be a good opportunity to create a tutorial video on how to approach a bullet hell game?

Way overdue on that one in general. At the moment, the number one resource for learning what "streaming" is in a shmup, is shrinemaiden.org, to give a simple example.

It might be a simple example, but I can't find it on the site.

Anyway, what I mean is to be a bit more in-your-face with helping people learn the ropes. It won't hurt to create a five-to-ten minute video on this. Also, you can use the opportunity to preview the port!

If you google for some combination of "shmup" and "streaming", first result is the live stream thread here on system11, second is a "How to get to grips with Touhou" guide on shrinemaiden, which begins with an explanation on streaming, notable because it actually includes youtube links to illustrate the idea. The best "guide for beginners" I've read was Blackbird's blog post here, but its main problem is that, in this case, it's much easier to show, rather than tell. Which is why I agree that a video would be the best format for such a tutorial.

[ProjectAKo]

You guys know it's entirely possible the games won't have any DRM tied to Steam, right? Like you can just copy the game out of the Steam folder, quit Steam, and it still works?

If they do that I can just buy all the games, copy them, and steam refund them all.