Duality ZF (Xbox LIVE Indie Games) coming soon...

[Jason]

We have to be reasonable. Duality ZF is an Xbox 360 game, and it is designed from scratch to take advantage of the Xbox 360 controller. Being released later on PC is an after thought, and we will do what we can to support all control methods possible via PC. But this wasn't something we were going to jump into until we worked on the PC release. So if you have a strange controller for your Xbox 360, you may be out of luck. At some level, I believe the controller should at least emulate the official controller in some manner just in case of things like this.

Having said that, we could program in a control scheme to allow for usage of unique controllers, even allow Dual Play with the control stick = fighter 1, and the buttons = fighter 2, but consider time doing this is time not spend on more important features, such as improved enemies, bullet patterns, graphic effects, etc. For the few people who will lose out, and be forced to plug in an official Xbox 360 controller to use the game, I believe it's worth it for every person gaining all of the additional efforts placed elsewhere in the game.

[ncp]

Personally it's of little concern to me as I would just want to play arcade mode or whatever the hardest forward-shooting single-ship mode is. However there are viable ways to do directional shot with only 1 stick. For instance, make the shot move toward the direction you're shooting (and go back to straight when not moving or going up/down), with a button to lock it in place, as in PCB's Sakuya B

edit: @Jason this dilemma is pretty common though, and dual play is basically never supported with a single stick as far as I know. To be completely honest, I wouldn't really worry about it, because 1) most of the people intent on using sticks will likely stick to the regular arcade-style mode(s) and 2) there's no practical way to implement dual play for a single stick, especially not without sacrificing 360-controller functionality. Many players here use sticks, but in the end, the "average" player will be using the regular 360-controller, I would think.

[Xonatron]

Duality ZF update:

1) We are still persuing an XBLA contract. We cannot get into the details of it, and we will not celebrate until Microsoft gives a green light to a publisher whose contract we have signed, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

2) The game, whether it makes it to XBLA or not, has improved greatly with its visuals. It was the number one thing interested XBLA publishers asked for. And they asked for improvements in a manner that we were able to answer. We hope to post some video footage soon. Our lives have become ever increasingly more busy.

3) We have entered Duality ZF into the 3rd Independent Game Developer's Competition. Please sign up and vote for us (and a runner up). You can also rate and comment on our game, which will help push other gamers to vote for us. I have posted more details here:

Vote for Duality ZF in 3rd Independent Game Developer's Competition
http://xona.com/2010/08/02.html

We appreciate anyone who takes the time to sign up to a new website and vote for us. Please let us know if you do. I know what it's like on Facebook and whatnot when friends get into competitions and hardly anyone takes the time out of their day to vote for them.

[Kaspal]

any words on a possible PC version, thru steam or something? i cannot get the game on XBLA, but i'd gladly pay some bux if you go the PC way too...

[Xonatron]

any words on a possible PC version, thru steam or something? i cannot get the game on XBLA, but i'd gladly pay some bux if you go the PC way too...

If we get an XBLA contract it may include an exclusive XBLA-only clause (along with other "additions" known to increase the chances of Microsoft accepting the game proposal from the publisher). It's just the game we have to play. But, we want everyone to play Duality ZF, so we'll see what we can do. The chance of a simultaneous XBLA and PC release is slim to none. Who knew. We are still learning. I guess this is why they tell dev's to not discuss deals publicly. Right now we are willing to sacrafice a PC and PSN releases (easy to come by) for XBLA (near impossible to come by), and hopefully the future will let us expand onto other platforms, but, if so, they'll have to wait.

[Matsunaga]

Why not just put it out on PSN, if Xbox is such a problem?

[Xonatron]

Why not just put it out on PSN, if Xbox is such a problem?

Because then we'd never make it to XBLA. This way, we can make it to both.

[nash87]

bump, what's the new word?

[Xonatron]

XBLA negotiations still under way. Two bits of unrelated news, though:

1) Duality ZF a semi-finalist in 3rd Independent Game Developer's Competition for technical excellence. Give Jason kudos for this one, as his Duality Engine brought this prize in.

Duality ZF - All of the detail involved in building a 4-player shmup (with two simultaneous fighters per person) introduces a lot of technical challenges. Duality ZF does this smoothly, and manages to stay fun and easy-to-play even with the millions-of-bullets covering up the screen.

Quoted from: http://www.indiepubgames.com/news/3rd-i ... -finalists
Here's our blog post: http://xona.com/2010/09/26.html

2) We are entering Duality ZF into the Indie Game Challenge 2011, which requires a 60 second pitch. We uploaded our long cut (before we cut it down to 60 seconds) pitch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C0xpzb7tqI&hd=1 (I wish these forums had youtube embedding.)

[DJ Incompetent]

CONGRATURATION!!



CELEBRATING 1 YEAR GET HYPETRAIN IS BEST NEGOTIATE!!!

[emphatic]

Duality Forever.

[Jason]

Ha ha... awesome. Thanks guys.

[Ebbo]

I think you forgot one quote from that video:
"Duality ZF: The most award winning game (which hasn't been released) EVER."

[Xonatron]

I think you forgot one quote from that video:
"Duality ZF: The most award winning game (which hasn't been released) EVER."

LOL!!! Maybe our mission statement should include surviving by winning indie game contests year after year on the promise of a game.

[`Throwdown]

Game looks amazing. You and your brother? Are putting alot of these fellow indie companies in their places with solid releases. Best genre as well... Def. will purchase.

[Xonatron]

Game looks amazing. You and your brother? Are putting alot of these fellow indie companies in their places with solid releases. Best genre as well... Def. will purchase.

Thank you Throwdown. That means a lot to us.

[spadgy]

Finally getting round to playing Score Rush tonight (and adoring it) has really fueled my excitement for Duality ZF again.

I was lucky enough to play it on a trip to Nova Scotia, and for some reason forgot to feedback here and say how much I enjoyed it (and I've got a woody for double-playing Raiden III and IV, so I went in as a harsh critic). I enjoyed it a hell of a lot.

How's things going with Duality ZF guys? Any new news?

[Xonatron]

Well the Xona Games crew just got back from an awesome trip to San Francisco for GDC.

Some pics:

http://facebook.com/xonagames/

Some vids:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxIV9nk3Gq4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgfrjqkxR_o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVcpXrTX7SQ

Some of the guys in those vids you already know, they are the famed (or soon to be famed) creators of Jamestown, better known as Final Form Games:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32074

[Evilmaxwar]

This game looks like its gonna be the best thing on XBLA, i can barely wait.

[Xonatron]

This game looks like its gonna be the best thing on XBLA, i can barely wait.

Thanks so much. We are pushing for it...

[Sumez]

Why not just put it out on PSN, if Xbox is such a problem?

Because then we'd never make it to XBLA. This way, we can make it to both.

From everything I heard, most of it second hand, Sony are much, much, much harder to negotiate with when it comes to games for their online service, especially 2D games (even Braid got turned down at first, and I got a story directly from the Limbo guys when I met them, but I can't go into details)

[Xonatron]

From everything I heard, most of it second hand, Sony are much, much, much harder to negotiate with when it comes to games for their online service, especially 2D games (even Braid got turned down at first, and I got a story directly from the Limbo guys when I met them, but I can't go into details)

Really?! When we submitted our Duality ZF concept to PSN we received a warm welcome, but didn't push it due to our XBLA heading. I'd be curious to know the story you heard. We want to take our games to both XBLA and PSN now.

[Sumez]

That sounds incredible I think, I've only ever heard the opposite, but it's definitely positive. Did you approach Sony directly, or did your publisher already have a contact within their ranks, or something similar?

I respect if you can't spill all the beans for business reasons.

[Xonatron]

I'll reply by saying both! I contacted Sony first though! I can't really go into too many details of course.

[sorhp]

http://www.youtube.com/user/XonaGames

hopefully it's closer to release?

[MauJustice]

Just wanted to say I've always enjoyed your Indie games. Played them all.

Hopefully one day I will get to play Duality Best of luck.

[Xonatron]

New trailer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fipIqeqVjlY&hd=1

[nash87]

explosions remind me of the ixion missiles from raiden fighters. actually, there seems to be a couple of things raiden fighters influenced...

[Xonatron]

explosions remind me of the ixion missiles from raiden fighters. actually, there seems to be a couple of things raiden fighters influenced...

I just began to play Raiden Fighters Aces (the compilation of all 3), trying to complete it on Xbox 360. Nothing from the game is inspired from it. Mostly Raiden II and Thunder Force II influences. Although the fireball and trail smoke explosions are similar to the Raiden Fighters Jet's boss explosions, it was an idea I had separate from it. Of course, every shooter we've played has honed our vision of Duality ZF.

[Moniker]

So are you still pursuing XBLA or is XBLIG on the table? Love Score Rush; can't wait to get my hands on this. Though judging from the range of dates in this thread, it seems to have spent quite some time in the oven...