I've just bought TF6 and to be honest, I've enjoyed it and its not too bad a shmup- bit easy, but its good to spend an hour or so playing it.
I've also enjoyed Gradius, R-Type and other so called 'franchises'
-My point is tho- why not something new?? -when you play R-type, you know what your going to get- dokteratops- gomander- et al
-when you play Gradius, you get moa - various other Gradius incarnations, instantly recognisable
-i noticed it too in TF6 - old enemies, given a lick of paint, a new look - but still, the same enemies.
-why not something new? -a new Rtype- with ALL NEW levels- a new Gradius, with nothing from the previous 5 or so games- new enemies -new graphics- same gameplay?
-How good would that be? -or do you guys want to play the same franchises with the same familiar enemies?
Time for something new?
Time for something new?
hoots mon- crivvens, help ma boab
Douuuujinz! 
But I think some spice would be nice.
Spice. Nice.
As for current franchises, I totally see what you are talking about. I just don't know how to make that happen. Part of what makes Gradius what it is is SHOOT BULLITS AT COAR.Yes, I know some dislike them (and sometimes for a decent reason) but there are doujin shmups being released ALL THE TIME. I mean, a constant flow....and some of it is VERY high quality.... Kamui, Armed Seven, Exception, Hellsinker, Samidare, RefleX, The Under Stellar 2, and End Effector are all good ones, ranging from fun to jaw-dropping. And that's just from memory.
But I think some spice would be nice.Spice. Nice.
So, where do i get a hold of em -download ??kozo wrote:Douuuujinz!
Yes, I know some dislike them (and sometimes for a decent reason) but there are doujin shmups being released ALL THE TIME. I mean, a constant flow....and some of it is VERY high quality.... Kamui, Armed Seven, Exception, Hellsinker, Samidare, RefleX, The Under Stellar 2, and End Effector are all good ones, ranging from fun to jaw-dropping. And that's just from memory.
hoots mon- crivvens, help ma boab
I think the whole point of a long running franchise is to provide both familiarity and nostalgia without too much innovation. It has to strike a fine balance so as not to upset long time fans but to also bring new fans under the umbrella of the franchise.
As far as shmups go there are only so many new features (at the expense of familiar features) you could bring to a game franchise before it begins to lose its connection to its previous titles.
R-Type Leo is a good example of a franchise changing too much
As far as shmups go there are only so many new features (at the expense of familiar features) you could bring to a game franchise before it begins to lose its connection to its previous titles.
R-Type Leo is a good example of a franchise changing too much
Now comes with Gaming Blog and Twitter:
http://mctgaming.blogspot.com/
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All Your Shmups are belong to us!
http://mctgaming.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/mr_m0nks
All Your Shmups are belong to us!
I'm sure someone in develop or some such place was saying this (so I can't take credit for this outlook) but when you make a sequel you're going to upset someone.
Either you upset one crowd of people by changing things or you upset another crowd of people by not changing things.
I only read edge late 2 nights ago... I remember it being quite frank but forget the details... i wish I paid more attention but I believe it backs up the following ...(maybe the opening phrase/sentiment was from that ... but I think not probably a gears2 article somewhere... i ramble)
Then - particularly with a niche genre - they're are two key questions: i) why do you want to make this game in the first place and ii) money - which could stop you making a profit, and which could maximise that profit ?
I believe its fairly well documented that this was always something of pet project - a little labour of love - for the creator(director?) in service to Thunder Force... He wanted to basically make a Thunder Force game - as, i'm sure were the opinions of those one the team. It was always going to be more of a remake than a revelation.
And then there's the commercial stakes... I know from personal experience that even pitching the idea of a shmup localisation is a tough (/impossible) task let alone developing a new project. I suspect that part of this whole deal must have come from a positioning of nostalgia, and the desire for a 'vanilla' addition for the Thunder Force series which could perhaps kick of this rumoured STG project ... Which would only seem a worthwhile gamble if you didn't alienate the old fans and if you didn't confound any possible, more casually interested people, who had their head turned simply by a name they recall, or a recent interest in the genre after seeing something on xbla/wii etc... And the only audience you could depend on was going to be old fans...
Finally, personally, I wanted something of a vanilla Thunder Force - it had been so long - perhaps after this someone can introduce something newer...
... ps. I'm not against change, but I certainly hate gimmicks, and it might be a bit safe to be a bit boring to begin with but its better than a good idea that simply didn't work to provide a good compulsive play... /post too long ending :p
Either you upset one crowd of people by changing things or you upset another crowd of people by not changing things.
I only read edge late 2 nights ago... I remember it being quite frank but forget the details... i wish I paid more attention but I believe it backs up the following ...(maybe the opening phrase/sentiment was from that ... but I think not probably a gears2 article somewhere... i ramble)
Then - particularly with a niche genre - they're are two key questions: i) why do you want to make this game in the first place and ii) money - which could stop you making a profit, and which could maximise that profit ?
I believe its fairly well documented that this was always something of pet project - a little labour of love - for the creator(director?) in service to Thunder Force... He wanted to basically make a Thunder Force game - as, i'm sure were the opinions of those one the team. It was always going to be more of a remake than a revelation.
And then there's the commercial stakes... I know from personal experience that even pitching the idea of a shmup localisation is a tough (/impossible) task let alone developing a new project. I suspect that part of this whole deal must have come from a positioning of nostalgia, and the desire for a 'vanilla' addition for the Thunder Force series which could perhaps kick of this rumoured STG project ... Which would only seem a worthwhile gamble if you didn't alienate the old fans and if you didn't confound any possible, more casually interested people, who had their head turned simply by a name they recall, or a recent interest in the genre after seeing something on xbla/wii etc... And the only audience you could depend on was going to be old fans...
Finally, personally, I wanted something of a vanilla Thunder Force - it had been so long - perhaps after this someone can introduce something newer...
... ps. I'm not against change, but I certainly hate gimmicks, and it might be a bit safe to be a bit boring to begin with but its better than a good idea that simply didn't work to provide a good compulsive play... /post too long ending :p
Perhaps the sad reality is that you need to go with an established series to make even a small amount of money developing in this genre.
That seems to be the opinion expressed in the recent article and interview about shmups in this month's Edge magazine, as scanned by rtw and linked to for us all in his post here...
And while there's a good case for originality within a series' newer additions, devs don't want to go and upset the kind of die hard fans who make far too many posts on niche interest gaming forums!
That seems to be the opinion expressed in the recent article and interview about shmups in this month's Edge magazine, as scanned by rtw and linked to for us all in his post here...
And while there's a good case for originality within a series' newer additions, devs don't want to go and upset the kind of die hard fans who make far too many posts on niche interest gaming forums!
If you want to buy doujin shmups, you have a few options. Either buy from paletweb, or use SMJ. You can ask SMJ to order from practically any Japanese online ordering website, as well as Yahoo Japan. So if it isn't on YJP, it might be on surugaya or something. Some of them are really hard to find though.
I would suggest looking up random doujin shmups on youtube to see if you would enjoy playing with them.
I would suggest looking up random doujin shmups on youtube to see if you would enjoy playing with them.
