Xeno Fighters R (2019 GM Studio Port)

[S20-TBL]

Where can I download a trial?

First post on the first page has the download. It's the last public beta version though (v0.06). Alluro has yet to announce when the next public beta (0.10) will be available for download.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Where can I download a trial?

First post on the first page has the download. It's the last public beta version though (v0.06). Alluro has yet to announce when the next public beta (0.10) will be available for download.

Cool. I wasn't sure if that was the newest version since it's 30 some pages back.

[EddyMRA]

I see that the medal value is kept when you continue. Is this by design?

It's the same way in Raiden Fighters. When in a stage that restarts (EX stages, 5-C, 8-2, 9) the medals will reset to 10pts upon continue.

And, wow, I actually got a useful suggestion on YouTube for once. Instead of making such strict requirements to branch to EX stages, such as the planned requirement to get a x10 kill on Teramanta in 3-B, the requirements will be made simpler. To reach an EX stage, just find all of the Micluses in the corresponding B stages and Stage 8. The last Miclus you find in the stage will spit out an EX medal upon death, needed to trigger the EX stage upon stage completion (objective pass or fail). Micluses are generally hard to find anyway. The number of Micluses in the stage will be reported in the Pause Screen.

[Baby Bonnie Hood]

Please continue!

I will if you'll let me enter my hi-score initials first like in Gigawing before you reset it, otherwise maybe I'll just restart the game over.

Speaking of game over, each ship has a distinct victory theme. How about a distinct game over theme too?

Edit: One more thing. I think the delay between your ship's death and its next appearance/continue screen is too short; there are instances where your next ship or the game over screen comes up while the old ship hasn't completely blown up yet.

[EddyMRA]

Putting game over themes for each ship will be too much. There are already distinct stage clear themes and even true final stage themes for certain ships.

[EddyMRA]

Screenshots will not do these features justice, so here's a new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30vtgfYOHj8

More new features for v0.10:
*End-of-stage briefing text. This will replace the old XF-EX briefing screens, as well as serving as a way to incorporate the story into the game. The text is displayed one character at a time, complete with sound effect, simulating an incoming transmission. What text gets displayed depends on whether you pass or fail a stage objective. When you fail an objective, a piece of music plays over the failure text. The game then transitions directly to the failure branch stage without the STAGE VICTORY sequence. This can be skipped by the player.
*EX Stage Warping mechanism implemented. To warp to an EX Stage, find all of the Micluses in a B stage. The last Miclus you discover will release an EX Medal. Collect the EX medal to gain access to an EX stage after completing the current stage you are on (objective pass or fail). The number of Micluses in a stage is reported in the Pause Screen.
*EX Stages now have Warping effects, along with strange and nonsensical objective text and end-of-stage briefing text. The Warp sound comes from Gekirindan.

[Twiddle]

this game = goty

[Twiddle]

ps alluro i am putting my droppings in your xfr wiki

[EddyMRA]

The more help on the Wiki, the better!

Stage 9 (BRES Colony) Update Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ-xek_93W4

This stage will be the most grueling and longest stage in the entire game, lastiing 7 minutes and 10 seconds from start to boss appearance. However, it is only accessible if you either:
*Pass all objectives in all B-stages or
*Clear Stage EX-6.

Since the first Stage 9 WIP video, the full basic layout of the stage is now complete. There are four distinct areas in this stage. Three of them have bosses. The final area after Jade Hydra's second appearance is incomplete, with a bunch of medal ships standing in for what will be placed there when the stage is complete.

In this video, that panda beeotch is a stand in for the true final boss. Teramanta remains as Copper Caoinaeg's stand-in. And yes, that is a RPG Maker 2000 RTP song that is the true final boss theme.

[Twiddle]

We also have a new TV Tropes page if you're into that sort of thing.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/XenoFighters

ps alluro check pms for IDERS

[Drum]

Been playing for score and I started to notice some minor screen-tearing. Is that something that's a general issue or is it just my pc? Took the liberty of looking around the interweb for different approaches to fixing screen-tearing in GM without slowing the game down and I found this thread on TIGSource: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=3711.0
Dunno if this is of any interest to you, but I thought I'd drop it here anyways.

[EddyMRA]

Thanks for the heads up, Drum. Yeah, I've been getting some screen tearing as well. I've put in an option to wait for vertical sync for people who get this problem severely.

[Drum]

Blarg, I'm going to put in an order for a new keyboard - never buy a cheap wireless keyboard unless you hate videogames. Wireless delay + conflicting z and x (!) + Mk II's bomb delay and I am getting murdered in my bed by bosses. Not strictly Xeno Fighters-related, I am just randomly venting.

[BPzeBanshee]

On the subject of screen tearing I believe checking your monitor settings may help as well. Mind you, I still get screen tearing despite 60 Hz on newer monitors like my Mac.

Hey Drum, try using Shift and Control for firing keys instead of Z/X. Depending on the keyboard it may help avoid the rollover issue until you buy a replacement.

[EddyMRA]

Hey Drum, try using Shift and Control for firing keys instead of Z/X. Depending on the keyboard it may help avoid the rollover issue until you buy a replacement.

But also keep in mind using the SHIT key to fire will cause your autofire to stop when the music changes. When that happens, press the key again to resume shooting.

[EddyMRA]

The updates keep coming

Difficulty selection has been implemented.


The description for each difficulty setting is as follows:
NOVICE: Enemies do not shoot at you at all. No rank increase. Recommended for players completely new to SHMUPS.
EASY: Enemies shoot minimum amount of bullets with very sparse patterns and at the slowest speed. Rank increases slightly. Recommended for beginners to SHMUPS.
NORMAL: Enemy attacks are neither too lax or too aggressive. Rank increases somewhat higher. Recommended for players comfortable with SHMUPS.
HARD: Enemies attack with increased speed, denser patterns, and more sustained rate of fire. Rank increases to maximum. Recommended for SHMUP players looking for a challenge.
EXPERT: Enemies attack with maximum ferocity, speed, and pattern density. RANK ALWAYS STAYS AT MAXIMUM. Only veteran SHMUP players need apply. (This is the current difficulty level in v0.6)

Extends have been implemented. Extends are given out depending on how many medals you collect in one play session. Medal counts are reported on the Pause screen:


Once you reach the extend milestone, a 1-up icon will appear:


Extends are given out at 150 medals for the first, 350 medals for the second, and one for every 400 thereafter.

Rank system has been implemented. It uses Twiddle's scale of 50000 for the maximum. Rank information is displayed on the HUD:

Here are the rank-modification factors as programmed:

The following INCREASE rank:
-Survival Time: +(1 / (6 - survival multiplier)) per frame. From start to finish, rank increase at maximum rate of 1 per frame is a hair under 10 minutes of only survival time to get to maximum rank.
--Survival Multiplier: Initially 1x, but increases by 1 upon completion of any stage, while it decreases by 1 when continuing and dying. Will not fall below 1x rate, maximum rate capped at 5 ( 1 / (6-5) = 1 per frame, which is the maximum rate).
-Discovered the Miclus: +2500
-Fairy collection: +500
-Fairy dropping bomb: +3000 (For sacrificing score multiplier on Fairy pickup and gaining a Bomber)
-Objective completion: +5000
-B-stage completion (objective pass or fail): +7500

The following DECREASE rank:
-Medal collection: minus # total medals collected in a given stage * 2
--Example: A player who has collected 45 medals in a given stage will lower their rank by 90 on the next medal they collect.
-Chaining: -15 x chain multiplier
-Discovered the Fairy: -2500 (effectively cancels out the Miclus discovery rank increase. This encourages beginner to intermediate players to hunt down Fairies more actively in order to manage rank, especially during a chain that includes discovering Micluses. With Fairies being tough to uncover in the first place, higher-skilled players who forego the Fairies will be treated to a higher rank, and even if expert players do uncover fairies, collecting them or letting them drop a Bomb will raise the rank right back up).
-EX-stage completion: -4000 (Offers a brief respite from the brutal EX stages upon completion in the next stage)
-Objective fail: -5000
-A-stage completion (objective pass or fail): -7500
-Death: -10000 (LOWERS SURVIVAL MULTIPLIER when lives > 0)
-Continuing: -35000 (LOWERS SURVIVAL MULTIPLIER)

Bullet speeds and rates of fire by enemies are affected as follows, where 1.0x is the speed in Expert mode:
-Sniper rate of fire: 0.8x-1.0x
-Sniper bullet speed: 0.5x-1.0x

-Spammer rate of fire: 0.4x-1.0x
-Spammer bullet speed: 0.9x-1.0x

-Regular enemy rate of fire: 0.6x-1.0x
-Regular enemy bullet speed: 0.7x-1.0x

Different difficulty settings set the lower bounds and upper bounds of the rank system:
Novice: N/A (rank is unused)
Easy: Initial 10000, Lower bound 0, Upper bound 25000
Normal: Initial 20000, Lower bound 0, Upper bound 35000
Hard: Initial 35000, Lower bound 25000, Upper bound 50000
Expert: Always locked at maximum rank (50000)

I estimate to have a version of v0.10 ready for private beta testing within the next 24-72 hours. PM me if you are interested in privately testing the game.

[Drum]

So wait ... Micluses didn't already increase rank? I could have sworn I noticed things were getting rougher after I started actively finding them (I've found four in stage 1 - how many are there on that stage?). I guess it was just my fevered imagination?

[Twiddle]

collecting a mass of medals makes dodging bullets slightly harder

[Drum]

Yup, that would be it. Thanks for clarifying.

-Discovered the Fairy: -2500 (effectively cancels out the Miclus discovery rank increase. This encourages beginner to intermediate players to hunt down Fairies more actively in order to manage rank, especially during a chain that includes discovering Micluses. With Fairies being tough to uncover in the first place, higher-skilled players who forego the Fairies will be treated to a higher rank, and even if expert players do uncover fairies, collecting them or letting them drop a Bomb will raise the rank right back up).

I like this a lot.

[emphatic]

Very cool.

Suggestion to consider:
Having the pause screen display number of Micluses available on a stage, perhaps with a #/# if you've already found one.

Question/suggestion: Does the extend icon linger until picked up, or will it fall off the screen if ignored? It could be a cool gimmick. Say you get an extend very early on a stage, and you manage to avoid it for the duration of the stage, it'll split in two and award not only one but two extra lives?

[EddyMRA]

Suggestion to consider:
Having the pause screen display number of Micluses available on a stage, perhaps with a #/# if you've already found one.

Look again. It's already there.

Question/suggestion: Does the extend icon linger until picked up, or will it fall off the screen if ignored? It could be a cool gimmick. Say you get an extend very early on a stage, and you manage to avoid it for the duration of the stage, it'll split in two and award not only one but two extra lives?

The extend icon will eventually fly away if left alone long enough. Hmm, awarding two extra lives might be too generous, even though they're rare. We'll see what others say about this idea.

[BPzeBanshee]

Stupid question:

When the 1-up icon "appears" do you have to destroy an enemy like in Batrider Japan versions or does it just pop out of nowhere?

[Twiddle]

Question/suggestion: Does the extend icon linger until picked up, or will it fall off the screen if ignored? It could be a cool gimmick. Say you get an extend very early on a stage, and you manage to avoid it for the duration of the stage, it'll split in two and award not only one but two extra lives?

No, because it would hamstring the already existing optional mechanics such as chaining and medal collection if the player chooses to engage in it. You'd have to redesign their placement and the 1up's movement to get that to work.
If the stages and point mechanics aren't redesigned to accomodate for this, the player will end up doing something stupid and counterintuitive for the duration of a stage and that's just not entertaining.

And I feel the extends are enough, since we're not Touhou.

Also, I suggest an "arcade" difficulty that spans the entire 0-50000 range. It could start with the same difficulty as Normal and have the same base boss pattern density settings, but have a higher potential maximum difficulty.

I also suggest removing the guaranteed -7500 and +7500 rank modifiers from the A/B stage completion events, the objective completion thing pretty much serves that purpose already... you could probably increase the objective rank influence scales for objective fail/pass to -10000 and +10000 to compensate for this.

Since some people playing the EX stages will probably elect to fail the B stage objective anyway to control rank, you could add a small but significant score incentive (1 million?) for completing B stage objectives, more than the standard (?) 100k bonus for completing an objective on A stage. (also bonus enemies that can be used to link separated chains at high rank pls...this could also be an incentive to play the game on Expert since you'll always see them in that mode)

[emphatic]

Look again. It's already there

facepalm.jpg

The extend icon will eventually fly away if left alone long enough. Hmm, awarding two extra lives might be too generous, even though they're rare. We'll see what others say about this idea.

I understand, and reading Twiddle's argument makes a lot of sense. I just hope my good ideas outweigh the bad ones.

[Drum]

And yes, I will put in a rank display option too. I want to see where my rank is as well during gameplay instead of finding out the hard way.

Ran a search to see if rank display had been covered ... yay @ this. Nice feature.

I do want to play the beta asap, but I'm on the last few of days of my break and I swore to myself I'd keep busy on my own project. When I'm back at work I can play videogames as much as I want, better to wait and play the beta with the rest of the hoi polloi.

[EddyMRA]

Arcade difficulty has been implemented:

Arcade difficulty uses the full EXPERT bullet patterns, but rank starts all the way at minimum, with rate of fire and enemy bullet speed heavily nerfed. Once rank reaches the maximum of 50000/50000, it's essentially the Expert difficulty level. On a test of this difficulty level, I reached maximum rank near the end of Stage 3 with no deaths suffered and a full medal run. When I started dying one life after another, rank dropped so quickly that the game took another 2 stages for it to reach maximum rank, due to the survival multiplier decreasing by 1 per death.

I have revised the rank system a bit more. Stage clears no longer affect rank, since objective fails/clears affect them anyway.

Also, a fun little option has been implemented: a Zero Wingrish mode that mangles the objective and briefing texts into broken English:


Other fun Engrish translations:
"We are relieved to hear from you again. What? If you have advanced functions in hell. What? Ballerina panda? Pastry demon? Are you thinking about blueberry pie? But that is where?"
"Summon the strength to be there-dimensional beacon. Return to this summons BRES missile attack in the Midwest of America will now intercept beacons."

I'm doing the final testing phases. Once that is done, I will send out the private test beta to those who have requested it.

[Despatche]

That's really good Engrish, I approve.

[Avalon]

Woohoo, registered just to post to this awesome topic about this awesome game that is... awesome. Wait, I already said that.

So, a couple of quick questions, comments about the game so far: WOW. I almost gave up on the original EX due to some nasty bug at the start of some of the levels causing a CTD (hint: Readme's are your friends) and doing a search a few days ago for some hints on the game turned this up - and I must say you have bested yourself by leagues.

My opinions on ships being over/underpowered: Kinda hard to notice differences with an OMGWTFBBQ load of bullets coming from all sides. I did think Michael's Wave Laser was a bit too wide when you powered it up, but his other traits balance it out a little. Let's see... MK-IIB was sorta the same way, but you would have to park yourself near the top to do it.

New Ship suggestions: Well, I noticed you have included "Shudder" in the soundtrack -- which means you should probably include one of the Einhander ships. I suggest the standard Astrea, with unlockable Selene as an alternate (and hey, you can make it just as hard to unlock in this game too!) It would use the normal gun until powered up, the SPREADER weapon as its' weaker attack and possibly GRENADE for the stronger one. Cannons attach to the ship sides instead of slaves (can you have them move rigidly with the ship?) and for the Bomber attack, perhaps a spread of twirling PYHTON charges.

One more question, concerning the original EX game: I have unlocked the RaidenMKII and Judge Spear already, but the readme file mentions a "Phase 3 Ship Select Screen". I am on Phase 2, and cannot find any FAQ's on the game, so I ask: How does one unlock Phase 3 ships?

[EddyMRA]

Oh wow, I haven't touched the original EX in a very long time. To unlock Phase 3, you need to get your experience level up to 50000. You gain experience in EX by destroying enemies.

The phases:
Phase 1: <10000
Phase 2: 10000-49999
Phase 3: 50000-99999
Phase 4: 100000-499999
Phase 5: 500000-999999
Phase 6: >=1000000

There's a cheat to unlock every ship (including the game-breaking Ultima-X). It involves editing an INI file that XF-EX generates (XFCONFIG.INI stored in your Windows folder), where the experience level is stored, and changing it to 1000000 (one million).

EDIT: Updated XF-EX unlock info

[Twiddle]

for those recording with the new version of fraps it works for all of 3 minutes then slowdown happens again

orz