Xeno Fighters R (2019 GM Studio Port)

[BPzeBanshee]

Indeed emphatic, and guess what? I'm finishing and releasing my Thunder Force Music Compilation when the new release comes out so you can jam to songs like this.

And Cave style you say Alluro? Having played "ESP. I forgot. The Rest", it seems a much better idea than mine. :/

[Udderdude]

the Ketsui lady

The what? The boss announcer is from Dodonpachi

[Skyknight]

{thinks} Battle Bakraid has an option to change enemy bullet colors, right...?

{whistles innocently}

[Twiddle]

Can you rename "Defense" to "Range"? Defense might confuse some people into thinking ships with high defense rating can take multiple hits.

[EddyMRA]

Can you rename "Defense" to "Range"? Defense might confuse some people into thinking ships with high defense rating can take multiple hits.

That makes better sense too. Don't know why Raiden Fighters used DEF as an attribute when it really means weapon coverage.

Skyknight: Great idea. It will be an option menu setting.

[emphatic]

Skyknight: Great idea. It will be an option menu setting.

Will this option be "theme" based? Like "DOJ" would give you pink and blue bullets? Or "Twin Cobra" would give you orange bullets? Or will it be based on enemy size, perhaps:
Popcorn enemies | green, red, yellow, pink, white
Powerup ship | green, red, yellow, pink, white
Etc.

[Skyknight]

Bakraid's mechanism was that you could cycle through six different colors for each of the three types of bullets in-game (normal, ballistic, missile; I think "ballistic" means "slow" and "missile" means "destroyable". HERE, though, we have ordinary flak, accelerating (think the aimed streams Teramanta uses), ballistic pulse (unaimed in Teramanta's first phase's second attack pattern), narrow shell, fireball...). Not that I'm sure what colors would be good candidates; I just got startled by the sudden switch to blue/purple/light gold, and wanted a way to have the original colors back, along the lines of being able to toggle the boss warning styles. {thinks} Blue, purple, light gold, green, red, burnt orange? (If you want to limit it at six, anyway. I don't fancy black, though, certainly not for 7-A or 8-2...And you thought Garegga bullets could be tough to see at times...)

[EddyMRA]

Bakraid's mechanism was that you could cycle through six different colors for each of the three types of bullets in-game (normal, ballistic, missile; I think "ballistic" means "slow" and "missile" means "destroyable". HERE, though, we have ordinary flak, accelerating (think the aimed streams Teramanta uses), ballistic pulse (unaimed in Teramanta's first phase's second attack pattern), narrow shell, fireball...). Not that I'm sure what colors would be good candidates; I just got startled by the sudden switch to blue/purple/light gold, and wanted a way to have the original colors back, along the lines of being able to toggle the boss warning styles. {thinks} Blue, purple, light gold, green, red, burnt orange? (If you want to limit it at six, anyway. I don't fancy black, though, certainly not for 7-A or 8-2...And you thought Garegga bullets could be tough to see at times...)

The current plan is to set the colors of the bullets individually in an option menu setting. I'll be practical and use sensible colors like cyan and magenta, along with green and purple. I'll include the original Psikyo red bullets too.

Boss warning styles are set in an INI file setting. I will also make this setting available in the option menu.

[BPzeBanshee]

Will there be a sound test and music being played in the Options Menu or will it be quiet with a sound test or nothing? (preparing for music mod, here)

[Twiddle]

reminder post for alluro to add "rfj dialog" mode by way of putting the story text through google translate's english to japanese then putting the result into the japanese to english translator

[EddyMRA]

Slave formations have been implemented: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MipmE0tc-Y

Coming to the next public beta, v0.4, will be this highly-requested feature.

There are three formations from the Raiden Fighters series, plus one original formation:

*Front formation (Raiden Fighters): Fixed 30 degrees in front of the ship. Slaves fire 2-way spread shots.
*Crossing formation (Raiden Fighters): Slaves cross back and forth behind the ship, firing 3-way spread shots. This formation greatly increases the defensive coverage of front-firing ships such as the Judge Spear and Zapdos, but the Slaves are much more likely to be destroyed.
*Shadow formation (Raiden Fighters 1 and 2): Slaves trail slowly behind the ship, firing powerful double shots. This is the most powerful formation, but all that power is focused straight ahead.
*Orbiting formation (original): Slaves slowly orbit around the ship. Slaves fire single shots.

The Orbiting formation replaces the highly unpopular Tracking formation from Raiden Fighters. That formation causes Slaves to seek out enemies, often resulting in their quick destruction.

The formation is determined by the sum of lives and bombers modulus 4 plus 1. No matter what the lives and bomber sum is, the modulus with 1 added always gives either a 1 (Front), 2 (Crossing), 3 (Shadow), and 4 (Orbiting).

Other guest fighters can use Slave formations, as long as their Slaves share the same standard behavior.

Also in the video: a preview of Stage EX-6, which is the new home for Battle Garegga boss Black Heart.

[BPzeBanshee]

YAY

Looking forward to a new release soon buddy!

Oh by the way, interesting tweak you've done with the Raiden MK-II, it looks a lot more responsive to the movement of the ship. Is this because the previous setup was too slow for Stage EX-3 or am I missing something?

[lilmanjs]

love the videos but there are a couple stages we haven't seen in the new video. are they all from the stage that is shown at the end.

[BPzeBanshee]

@lilmanjs
Coming from a guy who's seen every Xeno Fighters EX-R video since release of v0.1a, all levels featured are accounted for besides the preview of Stage EX-6 (which Alluro did mention in his blurb).

[EddyMRA]

With help from Twiddle, Skyknight, and nZero, an updated stage progression chart has been created:
http://www.drawanywhere.com/live/56b142178c51b.jpg

This is a work in progress, and is subject to change. However, it is a general representation how stage progression will pan out.

[Udderdude]

With help from Twiddle, Skyknight, and nZero, an updated stage progression chart has been created:
http://www.drawanywhere.com/live/56b142178c51b.jpg

This is a work in progress, and is subject to change. However, it is a general representation how stage progression will pan out.

That is some crazy shit. 20 stages? Well, at least you're taking most of the content and shot patterns from other places, so it can't be that hard.

[Skyknight]

A quick note for anyone who hasn't checked the YouTube page of late: Some ships are going to have alternate versions (if they HAD an alternate version, anyway, meaning that Zapdos and the four originals won't be subject to this treatment). The cardinal example would be the newly revealed alternate: Raiden Mk. II Beta as the Raiden Mk. II's alternate. Spread Vulcan, Incendiary Missiles, Cluster Bomb, just like in RF2.

[Ultimate Gamer]

Wonder if the Blue Javelin has a possibility of getting in. Other than that, the game looks really great so far. Can't wait for the next release.

[lilmanjs]

what about ships that had alt. versions but behaved different than the main ship. I can't remember the name but one of the RF games had a black version of the raiden mk II if I remember correctly

[Ultimate Gamer]

what about ships that had alt. versions but behaved different than the main ship. I can't remember the name but one of the RF games had a black version of the raiden mk II if I remember correctly

The only recolor of the Raiden mk. II that I recall was just the Raiden mk-IIß. The Judge Spear had 2 recolors: The Blue Javelin, and its black twin, the Dark Sword. I believe that's what you meant...

[BPzeBanshee]

@lilmanjs:
Hate to seem like I'm throwing a spanner in the works, but be sure you're not mixing up Raiden X either (a flash game tribute based on the original Raiden series not related to RF at all).
In that game the Raiden MK-II comes in three colours - red, blue and purple, to correspond in colour with each of the three weapons.

[EddyMRA]

@lilmanjs:
Hate to seem like I'm throwing a spanner in the works, but be sure you're not mixing up Raiden X either (a flash game tribute based on the original Raiden series not related to RF at all).
In that game the Raiden MK-II comes in three colours - red, blue and purple, to correspond in colour with each of the three weapons.

Hypothetically, if I were to add in a third Raiden alt, I'd add in the purple one and call it the Raiden mk-IIγ (Gamma), giving it the straight Blue Laser and the Raiden X fullscreen beam storm as its Bomber. Don't know what missile to give it.

This would be more of a Raiden X reference than a reference to any official Raiden game. It would also stay consistent with how Raiden Fighters handled the Raiden mk-II and mk-IIβ:
*mk-II is red, but has the Raiden II purple weapon (toothpaste)
*mk-IIβ is blue, but has the Raiden II red weapon (spread vulcan)
*the hypothetical mk-IIγ would be purple, and would have the Raiden II blue weapon (straight laser)

Again, I'm being hypothetical. It does not mean I will actually do this.

[nZero]

Hypothetically, if I were to add in a third Raiden alt, I'd add in the purple one and call it the Raiden mk-IIγ (Gamma), giving it the straight Blue Laser and the Raiden X fullscreen beam storm as its Bomber. Don't know what missile to give it.

Raiden III/IV Radar Missile of course

There are already a ton of ships with linear fire though, so my opinion is that your time is better spent elsewhere unless you really get the itch to add a 3rd variant. Maybe I'm just biased because my favorite ships are already in, though!

[EddyMRA]

The remaining 2003 XFEX ships are now 100% complete!

Phyxius, Xelcor, Solvalou, and a small Zaiva update: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cFsg3vRaYw

Blue Javelin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuHqZnZz7_8

[BPzeBanshee]

Hypothetically, if I were to add in a third Raiden alt, I'd add in the purple one and call it the Raiden mk-IIγ (Gamma), giving it the straight Blue Laser and the Raiden X fullscreen beam storm as its Bomber. Don't know what missile to give it.

This would be more of a Raiden X reference than a reference to any official Raiden game. It would also stay consistent with how Raiden Fighters handled the Raiden mk-II and mk-IIβ:
*mk-II is red, but has the Raiden II purple weapon (toothpaste)
*mk-IIβ is blue, but has the Raiden II red weapon (spread vulcan)
*the hypothetical mk-IIγ would be purple, and would have the Raiden II blue weapon (straight laser)

Again, I'm being hypothetical. It does not mean I will actually do this.

Funny you should say "Raiden MK-II Gamma" - I made a concept drawing of such a thing a few years back, but the ship was shaped differently and was green instead of purple. If anyone's interested I'll upload all of my Raiden MK-II drawings for all to see.
I wasn't actually suggesting that you go along with this idea, although it would make the Raiden MK-II series a more viable option as the general gist I get is that it is a difficult plane to use for beginners anyway. Having alternatives in terms of changing speed and attack could give more leeway in terms of strategy, but frankly I'm happy with the existing ships.

@nZero:
I also thought of Radar missiles, but having not actually played Raiden III/IV I have no idea how they work.
Also, is this yours? I presume it is, since it rocks almost as much as your Ship Select theme featured in the new videos. =D

[Skyknight]

Radar Missiles are a compromise between the normal and homing missiles. What they do is slant toward the nearest forward enemy while moving upwards, and I think it's possible for them to re-aim if their current target is destroyed prematurely. (I think Kohful's Metal Storm worked this way in the first Sonic Wings? Well, without the re-aiming...) Their power is midway between the other two missiles.

I do seem to remember the Raiden X bombs being derived from Shienryu, by the way...

[BPzeBanshee]

A little research tells me Go0gley wasn't exactly completely unique with his inspirations (listen to menu music in Raiden IIS Part A and you'll see what I mean), so I wouldn't be too surprised.

[EddyMRA]

A little research tells me Go0gley wasn't exactly completely unique with his inspirations (listen to menu music in Raiden IIS Part A and you'll see what I mean), so I wouldn't be too surprised.

Also, listen to the intermission cinematic music between stage 5 and stage 6 in Raiden X. That's my Raiden Densetsu "Rough and Tumble" MIDI there.

[nZero]

@nZero:
Also, is this yours? I presume it is, since it rocks almost as much as your Ship Select theme featured in the new videos. =D

Yes, that's my sequence, thanks

[BPzeBanshee]

Also, listen to the intermission cinematic music between stage 5 and stage 6 in Raiden X. That's my Raiden Densetsu "Rough and Tumble" MIDI there.

#*&^#*&%^#*&^%#*&#^%#*&^!!!!!!!!!!!
He gave me the impression it was all HIS work! I'll be having a word with him the next time he shows up on MSN.
[Note that this is highly exaggerated and politically incorrect post made purely for fail humour]

In other news, having stumbled on Thunder Force MIDIs (including nZero's) I've been separating them with Dent du Midi, importing them into GarageBand and tweaking it all to my custom software instruments and making a "remake" out of them. I'll put thanks to original sequencers in the ID3 comments, and using some of these remixes for newly made stages such as 3-A and possibly the EX stages.
Would anyone be interested in hearing what I've done so far? I've done the intro, Stage 2 and Stage 5 Boss (the MIDI for that wasn't too great though, I had some trouble with working out which part was for which and will probably tweak it further) and plan on doing nZero's Stage 8 along with most of the ones I don't have "remixes" for already.