Shoot 1up - XBLA Indie game

[MommysBestGames]

"Kollision" of these very shmups forums has posted a detailed look at Shoot 1UP on his excellent 1CC blog, check it out!
http://1cclog.blogspot.com/2010/11/shoo ... -live.html

And yes, I will certainly be taking his and other criticisms of the scoring system into future shmup projects.

[MommysBestGames]

Hi everyone, we're bringing Shoot 1UP to Windows Phone 7 very soon! And since it's a LIVE-enabled title, Microsoft wants 'full' language support, ie French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Anyone here able to help translate?
If so, email me, more info here: http://www.mommysbest.blogspot.com/2011 ... t-1up.html Thanks!

[Observer]

I can offer for the spanish version. Seeing I'm a professional editor and all the dice.

I don't have a Windows Phone 7 or any of those luxuries though, hope that isn't a problem. (Hopefully not?)

And if buying Serious Sam Double D and making as much noise about this release helps getting Shoot 1UP on the bigger Windows 7 (;D) I'm even more happy to help!

[MommysBestGames]

I don't have a Windows Phone 7 or any of those luxuries though, hope that isn't a problem. (Hopefully not?)

Nope, that's not an issue. I'll just send a doc and we talk through the notes.

And if buying Serious Sam Double D and making as much noise about this release helps getting Shoot 1UP on the bigger Windows 7 (;D) I'm even more happy to help!

Ha! Yes, S1UP for the PC is not quite a thing yet exactly, but I would like it to happen.

[hwl]

Just downloaded this game and wanted to say thanks for making this awesome little gem. Gonna keep playing this for a while I think. Absolutely worth it.

[MommysBestGames]

Just downloaded this game and wanted to say thanks for making this awesome little gem. Gonna keep playing this for a while I think. Absolutely worth it.

You're welcome, always nice to hear!

[MommysBestGames]

Note: This branched from the Duality ZF thread.

...Shoot 1up is excellent as is widely acknowledged on this forum and it's a surprise to see you dis it- have you actually played it?
Scoregasm on the other hand is a slightly dull vanilla arena shooter but with superb production values and pretty solid for what it is.

I actually beta tested both of them. Neither dev listened to my feedback (because basically fixing their games would require an almost complete overhaul of how they played ..) Shoot 1up just turns into a clusterfuck beyond a certian point, and Scoregasm fails as an interesting game first, so I don't care about the shiny visuals. I also found several infinite milking issues, which I'm sure there were more of before I stopped testing.

I just wanted to say that yes, Udderdude did playtest an early version of Shoot 1UP, and I actually did use some of his feedback in changing the game. It may not have been the parts that he felt strongest about but he had lots of good points about various enemy health balances, and I'm glad he tried it out. I realize he made XOP and I'm sure he'd agree Shoot 1UP and XOP are pretty different games.

I agree also with Alfred (as he mentioned in the branched thread) that developers should listen to gamers on the forums here if they are involved in playtesting. The biggest thing to keep in mind though is if you offer playtest feedback on a game, your feedback may not be incorporated in the way you think it should.

Speaking for myself and Shoot 1UP, I agree that the general of idea of the game (playing all your ships at once) can feel like a clusterfuck to some--and for those the game is obviously not for you. But since it is an unusual shmup, others may like it in a different way than a traditional high score game. The main campaign was built to let you sort of zone out while traveling through very strange lands, and may have a casual shmup feel.

[Alfred]

I was playing it today and i still enjoy it. It's fun playing with all the ships on the screen at once. I am trying to complete it on the hardest difficulty. I like what you said about strange lands i agree. It's your best game in my opinion.

[MommysBestGames]

In anticipation of the Windows Phone 7 version coming out pretty soon (probably March/April) I made some Shoot 1UP wallpaper of a giant battle:
http://www.mommysbest.blogspot.com/2012 ... orama.html

[MommysBestGames]

Shoot 1UP is out on Windows Phone 7! I know no one owns one, but hey, we made a crazy video to celebrate the release.
Game was published by Microsoft, so it has real Achievements!
Game details and video here:
http://www.mommysbest.blogspot.com/2012 ... -odds.html

[Guardians Knight]

will it appear on steam any time soon? ta

[MommysBestGames]

will it appear on steam any time soon? ta

Two parts there, 1. be allowed to put it on Steam, and 2. the development of the port itself. We're looking into both now, but when it happens it may still be a while. I definitely want it on PC at some point.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

shouldn't it be not much of an issue to port it over to PC due to XNA?

[MommysBestGames]

shouldn't it be not much of an issue to port it over to PC due to XNA?

If we did a straight port, but even still dealing with various resolutions and honing keyboard/mouse input takes some time. We'd like to dress it up too, so that goes a little further (depending on how much dressing is involved.

[MommysBestGames]

In other news, we're running a fun 'n' wacky ConTeST!
Check out how to win a groovy Shoot 1UP themed skin for your phone! (Most any phone, not just WP7!)

I'm giving away several this week if you can answer some Shoot 1UP trivia questions.
http://www.mommysbest.blogspot.com/2012 ... -skin.html

[n0rtygames]

shouldn't it be not much of an issue to port it over to PC due to XNA?

If we did a straight port, but even still dealing with various resolutions and honing keyboard/mouse input takes some time. We'd like to dress it up too, so that goes a little further (depending on how much dressing is involved.

Graphics aren't terribly hard. My experience has been that any sort of threading or timestepping that I've specifically written for the xbox doesn't carry across as well and that's the part that can require major work.... Chronoblast will already support whatever resolution you throw at it. The game was originally designed to run at 720p due to the evil checklist guidelines. It was even vertizontal at one point.. yuck!

Over time I ended up rendering everything to a single render target and pulling out the users resolution when the game started up, then scaling everything to be a percentage of the users resolution (allowing for 10% each side) for safe area compliance. This was mostly to allow the guys on here to play on 480p tate configurations.

For resolutions higher than 720p, that's what background art is for - to fill the space. If the user really wants to scale up to a higher resolution than the game was originally designed for, use point clamp filtering to retain the pixel look and job done. Most people won't care

Which brings me on to another point: Have you considered, for a PC release - clamping your playing area to a 4:3 space, so that enthusiasts can easily play S1Up on their own custom kit? I think Trouble Witches did this quite effectively. Just make sure if you do have background art as a filler, you make the final boss available as a wallpaper. Pretty sure a giant naked lady firing lasers out of her nipples was the main thing that got my attention when I first bought S1UP!

Good luck with the ports. Keep us posted.

[SuperGrafx]

Just wanted to say, I'm really loving this game on the Windows Phone platform! Much needed alternative to DoDonPachi Maximum.
Well done. Plays great!

[MommysBestGames]

Just wanted to say, I'm really loving this game on the Windows Phone platform! Much needed alternative to DoDonPachi Maximum.
Well done. Plays great!

Good luck with the ports. Keep us posted.

Thanks for the advice and I shall!

[MommysBestGames]

Hello everyone, I'm super pumped to say that Pocket Arcade has nominated Shoot 1UP for a mobile award!
If you have 5 spare seconds in your life, could you give a vote over here? It would mean the world to my little circle of game-making existence and I'd be forever in your debt.
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/pgawards2014.asp
Go to the "Windows Phone Game of the Year" section
Then Vote for "Shoot 1UP"
Proceed to a nearby mirror, smile, and give a big thumps up. I'm doing that too, right now for you. Thank you!

[n0rtygames]

and I'd be forever in your debt.

Voted. Genuinely think the game is good.

Also go help the lovely people currently stuck in XNA peer review. What goes around...

[MommysBestGames]

Shoot 1UP is on sale during a special promotion, on Windows Phone--only a dollar!
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store ... 9bdeddc467
Microsoft calls it a 'Red Stripe' sale... probably not related to this.



And if you've not yet, please vote for the game over on Pocket Gamer. An award from them would be a H-U-G-E deal.
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/pgawards2014.asp
Three simple clicks and you're done:
Closes March 7th. Thank you!