Who is going to take the first plunge on Soldner X?

the2bears · Post by **the2bears** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:28 pm

soniq-man wrote:Maybe you should just wait until the game is out.

Rafael

Or maybe when the demo's out? Or at least some game play videos? Because you have to admit those screen shots aren't enough...

Bill

Necronom · Post by **Necronom** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:55 pm

Yep, a demo would be nice...especially considering the rather hefty price.
Or do I have to get my "demo" from the Usenet first?

Lawfer · Post by **Lawfer** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:41 am

Necronom wrote:Yep, a demo would be nice...especially considering the rather hefty price.
Or do I have to get my "demo" from the Usenet first?

LOL! Usually it comes down to this, when demos never get released.

Never_Scurred · Post by **Never_Scurred** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:45 am

I dunno if this is a good time to ask but..
what is a Soldner?

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:59 am

Never_Scurred wrote:I dunno if this is a good time to ask but..
what is a Soldner?

"Söldner" is the German word for "Mercenary".

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 8:41 am

Herr Schatten wrote: what is a Soldner?

"Söldner" is the German word for "Mercenary".[/quote]

Don´t take away the magic...

It makes the game look "cheaper" than it probably is....

For reference (and just plain coolness

), the Dutch title of this game should be "Huurling X" btw

Herr Schatten · Post by **Herr Schatten** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:47 am

Super Laydock wrote:Huurling X

Awesome!

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:18 pm

I'm rather shocked at all the dissing and negative vibe.

I think it looks the nuts.

Never_Scurred · Post by **Never_Scurred** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:30 pm

Afterbirth wrote:I think it looks the nuts.

cosign. this game looks like wet babyballs. Hope it plays well.

Necronom · Post by **Necronom** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 5:34 pm

@Afterbirth
Don't take the shittalking too serious. That's just the way elitists express their love for everything that isn't called "Thunderforce" or done by "Cave". Once it's available I'm sure there will be some people who have an opinion based on facts instead of just talking out of their arse;-)

iatneH · Post by **iatneH** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:48 pm

I think it is reasonable to be apprehensive about purchasing indie developments that are being sold for money without releasing a demo or even gameplay videos first.

People bought Last Hope and it turned out (to most people) to be a complete turd. Same with Broken Thunder.
And once again the developers here are not releasing a demo or videos. WIP screens don't tell much about how the game behaves in motion.

The situation is different from "something called Cave" because we have plenty of loketest footage and anecdotes from players themselves.

All we have here is the developers' word that the game looks great and will have good music. The baby is always beautiful in the parents' eyes, and we do have some screens but the point is basically that the devs are asking us to give $50 based purely on their word.

It's going to take a lot more than that. It's like buying a $50 CD from a band you've never heard of, have never heard any sample clips and none of your friends have heard either, and all you know about the band is it has a guitar and a bass and a drum and maybe a singer, and the band members themselves saying they are the greatest ass kicking band on the planet.

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:12 pm

Actually i see Play-Asia have something do with with this - and didn't they sponser Late Hope as well (i thought this was something to do with Hudsonsoft but i must have be thinking about something else)

I can kinda see where the vibe comes from as i too thought Last Hope was dire.

I find it hard to think that some Dev will put all this fantastic effort (well in the graphics, weather systems and weapons) into a game and then completely leave out the gameplay.

I mean yeah, as someone else said - look to titles like Gradius, Darius or even Progear and ensure that the ship control is nice and tight.

yojo! · Post by **yojo!** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:57 pm

I don't understand why it's a PC release instead of PS2 or DC. I'm not buying this game.

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:32 pm

Oh dear.

Everyone on here hates PC games as well???

PC games are kinda like sex man...

They're not arcade but you gotta get it while you can.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:25 am

Super Laydock wrote:
Herr Schatten wrote: what is a Soldner?
"Söldner" is the German word for "Mercenary".

Don´t take away the magic...

It makes the game look "cheaper" than it probably is....

For reference (and just plain coolness ), the Dutch title of this game should be "Huurling X" btw

or in swedish "legosoldat X"

Afterbirth wrote: I find it hard to think that some Dev will put all this fantastic effort (well in the graphics, weather systems and weapons) into a game and then completely leave out the gameplay.

there are more than a few shooters of that kind around, especially for the PC

eight · Post by **eight** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:24 am

iatneH wrote:I think it is reasonable to be apprehensive about purchasing indie developments that are being sold for money without releasing a demo or even gameplay videos first.

People bought Last Hope and it turned out (to most people) to be a complete turd. Same with Broken Thunder.
And once again the developers here are not releasing a demo or videos. WIP screens don't tell much about how the game behaves in motion.

The situation is different from "something called Cave" because we have plenty of loketest footage and anecdotes from players themselves.

All we have here is the developers' word that the game looks great and will have good music. The baby is always beautiful in the parents' eyes, and we do have some screens but the point is basically that the devs are asking us to give $50 based purely on their word.

It's going to take a lot more than that. It's like buying a $50 CD from a band you've never heard of, have never heard any sample clips and none of your friends have heard either, and all you know about the band is it has a guitar and a bass and a drum and maybe a singer, and the band members themselves saying they are the greatest ass kicking band on the planet.

+1

soniq-man · Post by **soniq-man** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:49 pm

Afterbirth wrote:Actually i see Play-Asia have something do with with this - and didn't they sponser Late Hope as well (i thought this was something to do with Hudsonsoft but i must have be thinking about something else)

I can kinda see where the vibe comes from as i too thought Last Hope was dire.

I find it hard to think that some Dev will put all this fantastic effort (well in the graphics, weather systems and weapons) into a game and then completely leave out the gameplay.

I mean yeah, as someone else said - look to titles like Gradius, Darius or even Progear and ensure that the ship control is nice and tight.

Play-Asia merely sold Last Hope. The company behind Söldner-X is easasiasoft. eastasiasoft and Sidequest Studios will probably release a video, why is everyone thinking they wont?

And yes, the development team is most definitely balancing, testing, fine-tuning. You can be assured of that. It's weird that people would actually think that you'd spend a part of your life developing something you can't be proud of. This is a first release, so it is supposed to leave an impression.

All the best,

Rafael

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:11 pm

Hey dude, how about you give us the staff list for this game, and also tell us which other games these people have worked on.

I would really appreciate that at this point.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:52 pm

icycalm wrote:Hey dude, how about you give us the staff list for this game, and also tell us which other games these people have worked on.

I would really appreciate that at this point.

soniq-man wrote:NDA's and my contract prohibts me from saying more

icycalm · Post by **icycalm** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:00 pm

I see.

In a way, it's better that we won't know who the developers are. Perhaps they've worked on some pretty mediocre games in the past, and if this became known people would be only too quick to jump to conclusions.

Afterbirth · Post by **Afterbirth** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:37 pm

It's weird that people would actually think that you'd spend a part of your life developing something you can't be proud of.

Well, i DO agree with the guys about Last Hope as it played rather dire despite having some rather nice backgrounds.
The gameplay wasn't balanced with the graphics sadly. And the explosions were lame as well.
It felt very unprofessional - the ship control had loads of inertia for example.
Now yeah, fine, i've never flown a real spaceship, but Gradius, R-type, and Pulstar have none of that.

there are more than a few shooters of that kind around, especially for the PC

Yeah, there is on most consoles but its mostly homebrew stuff and most of it (if you visit STC) has demos anyway.

That said i could list around 3 shmup demos from this years comiket alone that actually play really well...

Trouble Witches, Mountain of Faith and Hellsinker are prime examples.

What really hums is the fact the PC homebrew seen supports shumps moreso then anyone else.
Bloody right the PC should get a version.
(i don't have a PS3 for a start).

ROBOTRON · Post by **ROBOTRON** » Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:16 am

BTW...I recently bought a fighter from play-asia (spectral vs generation) and got a new Soldner X Sticker...alot cooler art than the last one. Got a strike-bang sticker too a booster for their forum based website.

Necronom · Post by **Necronom** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 10:38 am

First trailer online

http://www.soldner-x.com/index.php?opti ... 7&Itemid=1

Looks nice though I wish the enemy shots would stand out a little bit more.
Definitely above the amateur league of Broken Thunder or Last Hope...

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:01 am

Thanks for the heads up Necronom!

Just watched it and must say it DOES look very nice indeed, as expected after seeing the screenshots. And nice work again on that soundtrack Rafael, great stuff.

But I agree on the enemy bullet visibility... there almost isn´t any.
Is it a new trend to release lots of same-color-as-enemy-bullets particals after every explosion? This troubled many people with Last Hope as well (and rightfully so in the Arcade mode).

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:10 am

The game looks nice, but I don't like the style of the explosions. They look too much like bullets.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:14 am

Ceph, Thu Sep 20, 2007 wrote:Shots and items are not distinct enough. Use brighter / more visible colors and reduce transparency. And yeah, the designs and shot patterns look dull (like spraying water). And make the enemies more visible.

Play some Gradius V to see how it's done.

Why listen to stupid criticism, eh?

Post by **Ghegs** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 11:42 am

Awfully bright 'n shiny, that was. Burning, my retinas are. Talking like Yoda I will stop now.

I also found it amusing that the invincibility-cheat was on the whole time, or at least that's what I'm assuming that blinking "Invincible!" text in the top middle means.

DeBurgo · Post by **DeBurgo** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:20 pm

Yeah okay criticisms just from looking at the video:

The bullets look way too similar to the explosions or your own bullets. The rapid fire looks horrible and way too slow. Ship movements look way too floaty (if you want to simulate inertia in a a 2d shooter DON'T put in any kind of acceleration or deceleration time on the ship movement. Just delay the input response). There wasn't enough contrast between the backgrounds and the foreground.

Basically it looks like a western scrolling shooter.

JJG · Post by **JJG** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:29 pm

Too many particles....

Sword · Post by **Sword** » Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:33 pm

DeBurgo wrote: if you want to simulate inertia in a a 2d shooter punch yourself in the face a couple of times and think about it some more.

Fixed. Anyway, it doesn't look like inertia to me but more like analog control. Also, the game seems to lack the best part of the typical euroshmup: the ten thousand different screendestroying weapons.

Not that i like euroshmups that much, but if i'm gonna play one i at least want a lot of overpowered weaponry. (Points at Jets'n'Guns)