antares wrote:
I don't meant it literally I just wished he would have worked on the new game instead of rereleasing an old one.
I understood that all right And since I don't intend to buy an xbox, I'm really glad that he spent some time on porting this over. I loved SG quite a bit on 360, when I was playing it at my friend's place.
Last edited by MJR on Mon Dec 15, 2008 3:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
It's perfectly understandable that they want to earn a little cash on a pc version too. I have a feeling they wanted to focus on just the 360 though, concidering the time it took before they released this version (and the fact that the specs are so that I can't even run a 'simple Temepest-clone' on my computer).
As an aside, what's up with the British obsession with early arcade shmups? They keep on churning out versions/rip-offs of Space Invaders, Galaga, Tempest, Asteroids, Robotron and Defender like there's no tomorrow. It's like every other shmup developed since then is 'just another R-Type clone' to them.
320x240 wrote:It's perfectly understandable that they want to earn a little cash on a pc version too. I have a feeling they wanted to focus on just the 360 though, concidering the time it took before they released this version (and the fact that the specs are so that I can't even run a 'simple Temepest-clone' on my computer).
To be fair to the developers, much of the dev time on the PC version was spent making it require as little hardware as possible. Some people are reporting that it runs well on less than the recommended specs, so in that respect they succeeded.
320x240 wrote:As an aside, what's up with the British obsession with early arcade shmups? They keep on churning out versions/rip-offs of Space Invaders, Galaga, Tempest, Asteroids, Robotron and Defender like there's no tomorrow. It's like every other shmup developed since then is 'just another R-Type clone' to them.
Sigh. Rip offs? What, in the way that Cave keep ripping off earlier verts? You obviously haven't played Space Giraffe much if you think it's a rip-off of Tempest. The two games are very very different. What fascinating new shmups are emerging from Norway these days?
E. Randy Dupre wrote:It's also amusing that you think it's a British "obsession". Besides Llamasoft, who else is there developing and releasing this stuff commercially?
Maybe you should check out the indie scene? Start with Puppygames and work your way from there.
You basically listed most types of shumps in your list. 99.9% of shmups could basically be traced back to those games, so it's a bit daft to say that it's just the British that are using those genres as inspiration.
bcass wrote:To be fair to the developers, much of the dev time on the PC version was spent making it require as little hardware as possible. Some people are reporting that it runs well on less than the recommended specs, so in that respect they succeeded.
Maybe it's just something to do with directx. I'll try again later.
320x240 wrote:Sigh. Rip offs? What, in the way that Cave keep ripping off earlier verts? You obviously haven't played Space Giraffe much if you think it's a rip-off of Tempest. The two games are very very different. What fascinating new shmups are emerging from Norway these days?
There's a difference between refining what you have had a part in creating earlier yourself and basing you're life's work on other peoples ideas. Besides, I wasn't critisizing Minter, it was just a general comment, though some of his (better) games are total rip-offs.
I dunno. I find it to be disappointing. All these months of hype and reviewers saying that the game is INDESCRIBABLE and now that I finally play it I get... a tube shooter with a tension bar that allows you to ram basic enemies for a multiplier bonus. Was that so hard?
I already ranted at the2bears about this, but I find the visual noise to be a pointless irritant. It does nothing to affect the gameplay and doesn't look any more impressive than a windows media player visualization. Yes, it makes you rely on the various animal sound effects to keep tabs on what the hell is going on, but that's like making a game designed to be played blindfolded.
Compare this with a bullet hell shooter, like a Shanghai Alice spell card, forming a gorgeous kalidoscope of colors and sound, and forming it from the game's bullets and requiring the player to maneuver through the visual spectacle. SG is just visual mess whose only purpose is to obfuscate. And if that's the main draw, it's already been outdone years ago by Spheres of Chaos.
Mischief Maker wrote:And if that's the main draw, it's already been outdone years ago by Spheres of Chaos.
Also made by a Brit, interestingly. First released on the Acorn Archimedes.
A number of things make SG great IMO. It isn't all just about bulling, multipliers, minimising jump use, or actually anything to do with scoring (although those elements are as deep and involved as anything you'll ever find in a JPN shmup). It really comes alive in the 2nd half of the game, where there is so much tension and chaos, it just all melts together in probably my favourite ever shmup experience. When I say intense, I mean a kind of tension that magnifies event Caves best efforts, but without the difficult. Surprised you're having difficulty with the new NUXX mode. It's substantially dumbed-down (visuals-wise) compared to the 360 original.
The other problem is that while the tutorial levels ran smooth as silk, level 2 ran slow as molasses. Hard to get any tension when the whole game's running like it's underwater. They should have added a Frame skip option.
The other problem is that while the tutorial levels ran smooth as silk, level 2 ran slow as molasses. Hard to get any tension when the whole game's running like it's underwater. They should have added a Frame skip option.
I'll take your word for it on the later levels.
Frame skip would ruin the playability. There is an option to scale down the resolution. This being said, the game does not even need a high end PC to run properly.
The most interesting part when asking about Gridrunner:
Eurogamer: Oh! Have you got a release date?
Jeff Minter: No. We sent it off to [Microsoft] months ago, but they've just not said anything - we're just waiting for them. Basically I'm going to carry on with the PC version of it if I don't hear from them soon, because they're just sitting on the demo we sent them three or four months ago. We haven't heard a thing.
Doesn't sound like we will see the game anytime soon
WTB: Arkanoid II Revenge Of Doh PCB, Outzone PCB, Fixeight PCB
And since I don't intend to buy an xbox, I'm really glad that he spent some time on porting this over. I loved SG quite a bit on 360, when I was playing it at my friend's place.
