XOP Ultra and XOP Black Ultra thread

[Udderdude]

You mean thiiiiiiiiiis?

[psoslayer]

perry at best

[Udderdude]

Some more XOP G stuff : I'm planning to have several level goals. Not every level is going to be about killing a boss at the end. I'm hoping this adds some more variety to the game.

Destroy Targets : Medium sized targets will slowly move down or across the screen. They won't fire anything. However, if they move too far across the screen w/o you killing them, they will explode and kill you. You'll have to choose between shooting down enemies and getting damage in on the target. And killing it won't trigger a bullet cancel, so don't think that'll save you either.

Protect Friendly : A friendly ship will appear in the bottom-middle part of the screen. Most enemies won't fire on it, but if you're in front of it and move out of the way, their shots will hit it. It can only take so much damage before it dies. You have to avoid being in front of it and lead enemy shots away from it. In addition, some enemies will charge up and release powerful shots at it. You have to destroy them before they can fire. If the friendly ship dies, it's explosion kills you, and another friendly ship will re-appear eventually.

[Lord Satori]

Some more XOP G stuff : I'm planning to have several level goals. Not every level is going to be about killing a boss at the end. I'm hoping this adds some more variety to the game.

Destroy Targets : Medium sized targets will slowly move down or across the screen. They won't fire anything. However, if they move too far across the screen w/o you killing them, they will explode and kill you. You'll have to choose between shooting down enemies and getting damage in on the target. And killing it won't trigger a bullet cancel, so don't think that'll save you either.

Protect Friendly : A friendly ship will appear in the bottom-middle part of the screen. Most enemies won't fire on it, but if you're in front of it and move out of the way, their shots will hit it. It can only take so much damage before it dies. You have to avoid being in front of it and lead enemy shots away from it. In addition, some enemies will charge up and release powerful shots at it. You have to destroy them before they can fire. If the friendly ship dies, it's explosion kills you, and another friendly ship will re-appear eventually.

thats a horrible idea. things like that will start to look gimicky and be a pain in the ass to play. if I were playing, I'd start wondering why in the fuck I'm supposed to protect this guy/blow that random thing up(by the way, shouldn't blowing it up cause said deadly explosion anyway?). the beauty of bosses is that the goal is simple and obvious: kill it before it kills you. and remember, it still has to feel like an xop game.

an example of great games that are too different are samidare and refrain. both great games, but you'd have absolutely no idea they took place in the same universe, or even made by the same people if it didn't say so, because the gameplay and general mechanics are so different.

of course this is just my opinion.

[trap15]

As much as I hate to agree with you, yeah, this sounds like a terrible idea. Don't do it udder!

[Udderdude]

Yeah, good to get some feedback on these ideas before I go nuts with it.

[ciox]

The ideas aren't bad, it's just that I would replace the player death with a scoring penalty.
Still I feel you want to make all players participate in the challenges and not just scorers, maybe if the warnings and instructions are large enough they'll give it a shot.

Then they would basically be the 'saved the house!' or quick kill challenges from Raiden Fighters made into bigger sequences, something that's a lot easier to swallow.

[BPzeBanshee]

Yeah I'm with ciox on this one, make it more like how Raiden Fighter's challenges work and reward with either score or even survival-related items. For instance your buddy fighter whose ass you just saved could fly off, come back, drop a bomb/extend for you to pick up and then take off again towards the end of a stage or certain segment.

Punishing by death does seem a bit extreme.

[Jeneki]

As I recall, set 2 has some background features that feed bonus items when you are close to them. I remember milking them to recharge the shield in Doom mode.

A "friendly" that feeds point items doesn't sound like a bad idea. That would also make it harder to keep alive, if you want to be close enough to get items but not so close to draw fire.

[Udderdude]

Yeah, it's probably better to make them extra score objectives.

For reference, the extra score things in XOP Black Ultra EX course

EX 1 : The big sphere thing that slowly moves down the screen after the midboss. If you blow it up, it bullet cancells.
EX 2 : You can avoid destroying popcorn while the large bullet cancel guys are on the screen. Their shots will add more to the bullet cancel.
EX 3 : If you go into overdrive and move around in the speed-up section while enemies are hitting the walls, you can get a lot more bonus items.
EX 4 : The big enemies that let out loads of little guys can be milked for points before they reach the bottom of the screen.
EX 5 : The slow-moving statues will let out bonus items if you sit on them.

[SeraphXion]

I'll try the demo, I'm interested in your project depiste graphics or whatever, I'm sure it'll be fun and I'm convinced it's worth trying

[Lord Satori]

Yeah, it's probably better to make them extra score objectives.

For reference, the extra score things in XOP Black Ultra EX course

EX 1 : The big sphere thing that slowly moves down the screen after the midboss. If you blow it up, it bullet cancels.

oh you mean the thing thats nearly impossible to destroy, and is better off left untouched while you destroy the enemies around it?

[Udderdude]

Yeah, it's probably better to make them extra score objectives.

For reference, the extra score things in XOP Black Ultra EX course

EX 1 : The big sphere thing that slowly moves down the screen after the midboss. If you blow it up, it bullet cancels.

oh you mean the thing thats nearly impossible to destroy, and is better off left untouched while you destroy the enemies around it?

Oh really? http://youtu.be/7YaxmoaCgMg

[Lord Satori]

well I did say NEARLY impossible.

[Plasmo]

But that doesn't even look close to "impossible"?

(What's "impossible", we're talking shmups.)

[BareKnuckleRoo]

As soon as I started playing this, I realized I was playing something that is guaranteed to suck my time away. WHY HADN'T I BEEN PLAYING THIS SOONER?!


I love how XOP Ultra's visuals kind of remind me of older euroshmups, or Amiga stuff, and yet the gameplay is the complete opposite: it's modern, it's slick, it's awesome. It's what euroshmups could only dream of playing like. The huge number of difficulty/mode settings is nice, as is being able to experiment with various weapon sets.

Yeah, it's probably better to make them extra score objectives.

Strania actually does this pretty well in a couple levels, where you have to protect a friendly ship (namely shooting down missiles fired at it and speedkilling enemies) as well as destroy specific targets in another level. The better job you do, the better the score, but there's no instadeath penalty for failure (the points help towards getting extends though). The concept would work as long as it's implemented well.

[Udderdude]

You know it's bad when you go back to play your old games, to research on what to do with the next one, and your thoughts are "Jesus fucking christ, how am I supposed to top THIS?" D:

[Lord Satori]

You know it's bad when you go back to play your old games, to research on what to do with the next one, and your thoughts are "Jesus fucking christ, how am I supposed to top THIS?" D:

storyline.

[trap15]

You know it's bad when you go back to play your old games, to research on what to do with the next one, and your thoughts are "Jesus fucking christ, how am I supposed to top THIS?" D:

storyline.

autism.

[Udderdude]

You know it's bad when you go back to play your old games, to research on what to do with the next one, and your thoughts are "Jesus fucking christ, how am I supposed to top THIS?" D:

storyline.

I actually linked the original planned storyline for XOP a few pages ago, and if I had managed to add it, I probably would have removed it when I updated it. D:

[BPzeBanshee]

XOP Raiden Fighters

- bonuses for performing objectives (PROTECTED THE HOUSE, DESTROYED AT A TIME, DISCOVERED THE XOPBLOB, ETC)
- chaining, approx 150/180 frames (I think that's what RFJ did)
- medalling
- less clusterfuck of bullets, more speed
- large bosses for 3/6, shorter stages
- bomb deploys from an orb shot out from the player, hold down bomb button to increase distance, nice damage
- faster pace overall

Throwing some ideas around.

[Udderdude]

Those are some cool ideas, but ..

- less clusterfuck of bullets, more speed
- faster pace overall

Just pointing out this is basically Maniac mode. D:

.. and holy fuck, fast bullets in a vertizontal is like an unending rain of death :3

[Jeneki]

DISCOVERED THE XOPBLOB

I just wanted to say that made me chuckle.

Also, seeing trap15 and Udderdude's avatars right next to each other is pretty cool looking.

[trap15]

I do think that Udderdude's cat-donuts would probably go nicely with my cat-latte. Of course, I'd feel absolutely horrible eating or drinking either, but you know

[KAI]

Why Do Several People Here Use Cat Avatars?

[Lord Satori]

You know it's bad when you go back to play your old games, to research on what to do with the next one, and your thoughts are "Jesus fucking christ, how am I supposed to top THIS?" D:

storyline.

I actually linked the original planned storyline for XOP a few pages ago, and if I had managed to add it, I probably would have removed it when I updated it. D:

Yeah, I remember that. I was saying that you could top the previous two by putting in a storyline, as the final versions of the previous two had none, even if they might've had one at some point.

Why Do Several People Here Use Cat Avatars?

You mean Cat-vatars? Because they're awesome!

[trap15]

Why Do Several People Here Use Cat Avatars?

You mean Cat-vatars? Because they're awesome!

[Udderdude]

notgettingit.gif

I think I went cross-eyed trying to read that D:

Yeah, I remember that. I was saying that you could top the previous two by putting in a storyline, as the final versions of the previous two had none, even if they might've had one at some point.

I'm not so sure, to be honest, storywriting is not my strong point. And I don't do story-driven games well, or at all. I'd have to take an entirely different development approach. And if I did make a story-driven game, it'd have to be something less action-y and more puzzle-y. Otherwise, the only thing the story can really do is lead to more action!

[Dave_K.]

[Udderdude]

I have started working on something, but not ready to show it just yet.