Prismatic Solid [Xbox Live Indie Games]

[Lavis]

I found this game by chance some days ago -- looks like a blend of XEXEX, Every Extend Extra and Radiant Silvergun.
The developer said is coming to 360 at the end of this month. Here's some media and an interview.

http://www.armlessoctopus.com/2010/05/2 ... tic-solid/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OHO-1oihDc&




Any thoughts?.

[MX7]

I never understood why smothering everything in gold glitter is so in vogue these days. I mean, obviously it's because of the success of Geometry Wars, but still, I'm thoroughly bored of it.

[Jeneki]

That second screenshot definitely needs some disco music.

[ZOM]

Feeeveerr!

[worstplayer]

Hard to judge gameplay from a video, but it sure looks pretty.

[ZOM]

^If I were to judge it from the two screens, It looks like just radial beauty-but-boring crap to dodge. Look at that first shot, we don't even see any trace of a directed shot coming out anytime soon. Just dodge the sakura and you're done.
But then again, looks can be decieving. hohoho

No bullet-vomit, no buy!

[Kollision]

I like!
Will get this!

[Jeneki]

Finally got home to watch the video.

It looks like the game has more to do with managing shield drones than dodging bullets. It doesn't look all that exciting when the video shows you blocking gigantic portions of the screen and nullifying what would otherwise be an interesting bullet pattern.

I'm usually not a fan of environmental hazards, but this game looks like it does something interesting with them. The hex maze that spontaneously builds in front of you is nifty looking, and the Frogger part made me laugh.

[Klatrymadon]

This looks like it could be great, but I can't help thinking that giving you three X-Multiply tentacles is overkill. One seems more than sufficient for dealing with everything happening in that video.

Loving the homage to Xexex's ball pit stage, anyway.

[Sined]

Hello,

Release today for 80 MSP

Marketplace link : http://bit.ly/9W0NTS

Dev. website : http://www.heloli.com/PrismaticSolidTop.htm

Good shmup, with innovations... I like it For 80 MSP, it's a very good deal Don't hesitate !

Maybe online scoreboard will be nice for next update...

Prismatic Solic won the 2nd prize at DBP2010 challenge: http://bit.ly/cMIsHW

Bye and good game

Sined
________________

http://www.xbla360.fr
http://twitter.com/XBLA360_Fr

[Alfred]

I like it. Looks great. Feels ok. It's only 80 MS points. I don't think folk on this site will like it. Anyway try the demo guys and tell us what you really think.

[MommysBestGames]

I think the particles, polygon count and framerate are amazing. It's super pretty color and style wise, though the enemies are a little simple in terms of design.

As for play, I'm still getting the hang of it, but it's pretty fun. The satellites block bullets and are super important quickly on (the second stage has enemies that simply bathe the screen in bullets, hundreds and hundreds). Between the perspective, and getting my ship confused by satellites in the heat of it, I die a little too often than feels right. I made it through to the third level and will play more later.

The way the guns change and the satellites move about is neat, but I'm still trying to understand the actaul differences between the 6 weapons. Especially if any of them are doing much more damage than others.

It's funny, though the shading on the polygons is very simple (no usual textures from what I've seen), I can't really think of a shmup that draws more polygons (at least from the looks of it) on screen at any given moment (especially the first level mountain background with lots of enemies moving about). I usually only like 2D sprite games, and the polys are simple here, though nicely rounded and it's pretty impressive. Framerate is silky smooth too.

[Kollision]

Downloaded this just now, and I liked it.

Visuals are definitely impressive. It seems to be easy, so I guess there should be some depth in how the weapons are used.

[Klatrymadon]

I'm enjoying this, aye. The way the camera and HUD seem to pan around according to where you are is a bit distracting at first, and there are a few too many weapons to cycle through when you want to quickly change the positioning of your drones, but otherwise it's a great little game.

[Elixir]

So, Shinji Hosoe did the music?

[Klatrymadon]

Apparently so, but it's been pretty generic and not very memorable, so far...

[njiska]

I have top say I don't really know how to feel about this one. It's very pretty and the bullet harvesting mechanic is nice, but at the same time something just feels off. Maybe I need to give it some more time. Any one figured out the purpose of the X-Y-B attacks yet?

[MommysBestGames]

I have top say I don't really know how to feel about this one. It's very pretty and the bullet harvesting mechanic is nice, but at the same time something just feels off. Maybe I need to give it some more time. Any one figured out the purpose of the X-Y-B attacks yet?

The X, Y, B attacks are super bombs tied to your button and color-coded satellite. The strength of each satellite (and length of their arms) is shown on the thing itself via the tentacles, but also on the HUD in the upper left. When you use a bomb for any given satellite, it's arms shrink a little, and you gain a super bomb attack, but lose some tentacle/bullet coverage. I think the bomb strength is static as is your weapon's strength--you only increase the number of bombs and length of tentacles with powerups (which is pretty cool actually, to upgrade and get a bomb).

I haven't seen any score penalty or anything else when using them, other than the issue of losing bullet defense coverage. I think the red one is easiest to use, the yellow one seems more powerful based on how long it swirls on screen, and the blue one seems most useless since it disappears so very quickly.

Once I got the hang of the game, I don't really use them except in the gumball level (stage 4?). There's a point where 3 of those balls-with-rainbow-arms come out. From what I can tell your 'rainbow helix' weapon works best on them. But when those 3 bad guys with arms come out, I just say 'screw it' and start bombing. Those enemies are pretty annoying--probably most bastardly in the whole game.

[Hydeux]

Would someone know how to get to the extra stage ?
I finished the game after level 5, the game looped and I've lost on the stage 4 bosses...

EDIT : I've played to loop 4 (lost on the first bosses, yes bosses as there are actually four of them at the same time), still not seen the 6th extra stage mentioned on the official website...

And here is a sentence about level 6, taken from the official website, but I don't get Japanese... Maybe a clue about how to get to that level :

[Klatrymadon]

I still can't really tell whether or not the weapons deal differing amounts of damage. I don't normally like using weapons with very wide spreads, but they seem to be just as expedient at dispatching enemies as the straight ones, here, and their 'option' arrangements are the most protective...

[MommysBestGames]

And here is a sentence about level 6, taken from the official website, but I don't get Japanese... Maybe a clue about how to get to that level :

Yes, I would love to figure out how to unlock the 6th stage (and what the japanese means there). I played to loop 3... didn't see anything either. Maybe it's a play style or score thing instead?

I still can't really tell whether or not the weapons deal differing amounts of damage.

I agree. At this point my guess is they do very close damage, but it's whatever blocking formation works best with the situation. Though the rainbow helix gun works best for me in level 4 on some enemies (and the boss).

[originalz]

Would someone know how to get to the extra stage ?
I finished the game after level 5, the game looped and I've lost on the stage 4 bosses...

EDIT : I've played to loop 4 (lost on the first bosses, yes bosses as there are actually four of them at the same time), still not seen the 6th extra stage mentioned on the official website...

And here is a sentence about level 6, taken from the official website, but I don't get Japanese... Maybe a clue about how to get to that level :

I haven't played the game very much so this doesn't really make much sense to me, but maybe someone knows what it means?

The picture says "gimmick and barrage" (use the game's system with a barrage of bullets, I'd guess). "Go to the very limit, break through and emerge from the opening."

[MommysBestGames]

Cool, thanks for the translation!

I actually cheated a little and just emailed the creator of the game about the 6th level(he's very nice btw). I asked for a hint... he said there's something to collect in the 5th level, always in the same spot (so it's easy once you spot it). I'm at E3 right now, but will definitely be playing it when I get back. After all the pretty looking levels I'm excited to see what the 6th one looks like.

[Hydeux]

You ARE a naughty boy !
But this can help ! I'll give it a try as soon as possible (gosh, probably tomorrow night then...).

EDIT : Found it !
You have to collect the green star in the last section of stage 5, it's on the right side of one of the turnstyle. Then, the star will be displayed down your score and after the 5th boss, you'll get to stage 6 (quite a good stage by the way).

[Klatrymadon]

Got around to playing this again, today. Scored about 500,000 before spunking the rest of my lives away in one spot in the second loop. Does anyone know how many loops there are? I feel like I could play it almost indefinitely, in spite of my earlier bunglings. Good stuff.

I still can't see much of a difference in power between the weapons, other than that the weak-looking "Snow" one is absolutely devastating up-close, and that the straight "Rainbow" one isn't as useful as it looks.

Edit: I've just noticed the game doesn't save your top score. I wish I'd noticed this before I got to loop cunting five.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I like how stylish the name logo looks. The particle effects shown behind the title logo is very impressive. Would seem to be a professional developed XBox indie game IMO. Reminds me of the polygonal-based Squaresoft's Internal Section shooter. The framerate is super silky-smooth running at an arcade-spec 60fps in 720p format. It works just fine with the Hori Real Arcade Pro EX-SE joystick for that proper arcade feel. The inital asking 80 MS points pricetag is well worth it indeed.

After reading the interview with the Prismatic Solid creator/developer, he's mentioned that he had a hand in creating the famed PSX shooter, iS: internal section. So no wonder why PS would take some influence from the simple but very stylish lighting effects used in iS. Makes me wonder if a PS sequel is in the works. Would be nice if one was planned.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[MommysBestGames]

Wow, neat! Thanks PC Engine fan... I'd never heard of Internal Section before (I see it wasn't released in the States, so that didn't help). From a video, it looks really slick, and I agree, I can see a PS similarity.

As for PS proper, I made it to level 6 finally, but man, those enemies halfway through that start pumping out bullets really kicked by my butt. A buddy told me the weapon to use against them. Spoiler--Spoiler: (((he said use the homing shot))). I haven't played there yet with that knowledge. Looking forward to finally beating the real game.

[FIL]

I've been playing this recently. It sure do look purdy but there isn't much to it. Loving the Chuck E Cheese ballpit stage though.

[ShmupSamurai]

Oooooooh, second pic screams Dangun Feveron!!!

gotta...catch...dancing...MEN!!!!!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Prismatic Solid finally gets a much needed Update to make up for it's initial shortcomings upon it's debut.

Several new options appear on the Main Title screen including:

* "Storge" option to save/load PS game data to your respective 360's storage medium (HDD, memory card, or USB thumb drive).

* By selecting "Information" option catergory brings up a submenu with two new options titled "Score Board" & "Star Collection". Score Board option has the ability to display the Top Ten Ranking with all the usual 411 associated with a typical PS scoring run session & even includes Time & Date listings as well. Star Collection features 3 major goals unlocked on default settings + 15 more "locked" goals to unlock for more PS gaming replayability.

So if you haven't played PS in a while, you're in for a special treat courtesy of PS's developer indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~