Decimation X3 (Xbox LIVE Indie Games)

[Xonatron]

Official Site: http://decimationx.com/
Download: http://marketplace.xbox.com/Product/Dec ... 0258550717 (support indie: please rate)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEWWHUUJvxk&hd=1
Developer: http://xona.com/

1. 20,331,071 - level 107 - Dzag - Challenge mode - (vid)
2. 18,947,789 - level 104 - Dzag - Challenge mode (?) - (pic)
3. 17,144,936 - level 107 - Dale
4. 15,813,891 - level 100 - HugeJuge - Challenge mode
5. 13,461,806 - level 92 - HugeJuge - Challenge mode - (vid)
6. 13,060,791 - level 91 - Dale - Challenge mode
7. 11,684,482 - level 79 - HugeJuge - Challenge mode - (vid)
8. 11,506,301 - level 84 - HugeJuge - Challenge mode - (vid)
9. 10,633,080 - level 85 - Dzag - (vid)
10. 9,822,609 - level 86 - SinedX360
11. 8.417,662 - level 79 - Xonatron - (vid)
12. 7,888,251 - Level 73 - Phoenixma - Challenge Mode
13. 6,697,741 - level ??? - rancid3000 - Challenge mode

Note: I've duplicated scores when they have videos, for those who want to watch the highest video runs.

Cool vids:

Dual Play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHieAl3qp4M

[Sined]

a little bit better...6.235.885 LEVEL 75 (5.221.099 without using LB/RB but with, I don't improve a lot )

[Jason]

You should try CHALLENGE mode, since while it has no shields, those power-ups are REPLACED with offensive power-ups. The update I will release will make this more clear.

My top score (although, as you can see, I haven't really been playing it much):

HugeJuge, 9,263,407, level 72

[Jason]

Ok so I just tried again, and really concentrated this time, in CHALLENGE mode, so I'd have more firepower at the end, and so I'd be more used to the bullet rain for the crazy bosses. Using LB/RB is absolutely critical for navigating the bullet rain:

15,813,891 -- Level 100 -- HugeJuge

[rancid3000]

Just got 6,697,741 in challenge mode. I like that mode a lot by the way!

[Xonatron]

List updated!

[Jason]

A video of how I play: Challenge mode, 11,684,482 pts, Level 79 -- shoulda done better, but oh well.

[Jason]

Another video, 13,461,806 points, Level 92, Challenge mode.

[Sined]

Normal mode, Christmas score

[Xonatron]

Normal mode, Christmas score

Moving on up!

[Xonatron]

Check this out:

http://twitpic.com/3j3t9s
18,947,789 Level 104
by: http://twitter.com/_dzag_

[Sined]

Challenge mode - No Shields

step by step...

[Xonatron]

Challenge mode - No Shields

step by step...

Very impressive, Sined!

[Jason]

Great job Sined! Onward to 10,000,000!!

[Chaos Phoenixma]

First score submission on this site.

Phoenixma- 7,888,251 - Challenge Mode- Level 73


My main problem with the higher levels is that it's easy to get walled. Not sure if it's just because I'm doing something wrong that makes it always avoidable or if I'm just getting bad luck with randomness.

[Xonatron]

Chaos Phoenixma, that's a good score. You can avoid getting walled, just watch some of the higher runs. Of course it gets harder and harder to do this and sometimes it's impossible due to randonmess, but you usually have more power than you first imagine. You'll find the bosses the toughest challenge, forcing you to really look and work for the break through.

[Dale]

Dale-10,872,819-88-Challenge mode

I actually find challenge mode to be easier, the shields mess me up.

[Xonatron]

Some cool Decimation X3 vids:

Dual Play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHieAl3qp4M

20,000,000 pts (level 108):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhPk-7yKlU0

[Xonatron]

And, btw, the 20M barrier has been broken. Congrats to Dzag! Amazing player!

[Jason]

Dale-10,872,819-88-Challenge mode

I actually find challenge mode to be easier, the shields mess me up.

You get more offense firepower in challenge mode too, since the defensive power ups are replaced with offensive ones.

Interesting that you're only at ~11M at level 88. I get around 14M to 15M at levels 92 to 100. Others get 18M to 20M at levels 92 to 108. The slightly more levels beat do not properly explain the higher score, which means it comes from the bonuses.

There is a level complete bonus that is based on a 20-second kill time. Kill the wave/boss in 20 seconds, and your bonus is the standard bonus. If you kill it in 10 seconds, you get 4 times the bonus. If you kill it in 5 seconds, you get 16 times the bonus. If you kill it in 2.5 seconds, you get 64 times the bonus. And it's proportional, every fraction of a second faster or slower matters. So sometimes 'decimating' the wave (i.e. killing it before it touches the edge) can drastically increase score.

Also higher score means the 1UPs and Icon Showers come faster. Although the additional 1UPs and Showers come increasingly slower and slower, so I don't believe this is a determining factor. I believe everyone is getting their full share of 1UPs and Showers regardless if they are at 10M or 15M or 18M when they reach level ~90. The most it will be off is one 1UP or one Shower, and that's not enough of a difference.

[Dale]

I'll haft to try killing the waves faster as you've mentioned.

[Dale]

Dale-13,060,791-91-Challenge Mode

I feel that the hitbox should be smaller, when two to four enemies stack bullets vertically near the end of the round, patterns that are un-dodgeable come out in the later rounds. What would also help is having an even slower movement speed option when you press and hold both bumpers.

[Jason]

Good job, Dale.

The problem is that the hitbox could always be smaller, all the way to a single pixel in size. I believe it's already 3x3 pixels in size, which is tiny.

For stacks of 2 to 4 enemies at the end, please note that you're in control of causing this to happen. The key to survival at this point is avoiding those circumstances. You have no choice of bullet patterns from bosses, but you control the wave destruction for waves of enemies.

The total firepower of a wave is constant regardless of the number of enemies, so they shoot more *per enemy* as the wave is killed off, but the total amount remains constant EXCEPT that each individual enemy cannot shoot more than 90% of its frames (60 frames per second), and can only shoot once per frame. So that's the limit. 2 or more enemies together are almost like a single enemy shooting 100% of the time, so that's when things get rough.

Further, enemies almost shoot on the frame, not between frames, so fast moving enemies, even IF they shoot every frame, will give a lot of space between bullets (i.e. their movement rate per frame), where as slow moving enemies (i.e. when there are many more than 1 remaining) will leave far less space (and with multiple enemies firing at once, likely filling up that space as well).

I like the idea of double bumper = even more slow speed. I will implement this, and for Score Rush as well. Thanks for the idea.

[Dale]

I don't think the player should be punished for that mistake but it's your game after all. It's not much different then a lot of pre-83 arcade games I know.

It's really cool to actually talk to really great shmup developer and give them input they'll actually use. I can't wait for your next game.

[Jason]

Well to be honest, I've wondered that myself. I didn't know if I should fix the 'bug', or if it's even a bug at all. After all, the game eventually has to get too hard and overpower you, but at what point? It may seem wrong if the game suddenly becomes impossible. But some people think it becomes impossible by level 50. But they are wrong, since you can destroy the enemies in such a way to avoid this. And that's why I'm not sure if this is a real issue. However, I've thought about fixing it without really knowing how. I implemented the maximum shooting at 90% per enemy to prevent a single enemy from dominating you, and perhaps I should also have such an implementation of a maximum shooting per wave, to prevent the entire wave from dominating you. I will mark this as a "todo", or at least a "to test" for the next iteration of Decimation X.

Thanks for the input, we are listening, and appreciate it.

[Xonatron]

The double bumper reminds me of a control idea I had for a proper breakout clone, using a gamepad. Use one thumbstick to move the paddle and add it onto of the other thumbstick. So using both doubles the speed. You could have a bumper that doubles the speed too. No one has done this, and that's why most breakout clones are very bad.

[je_apostrophe]

I don't understand the in-game leader board. I am at the top of mine, but I have a measly score compared to these. What's the deal?

[Jason]

It's a local scoreboard. I am working on online scoreboards now.

[je_apostrophe]

Owowimadum Thanks

[short sean]

I always play Decimation X3 3 player with friends and the most we can get is 11 million on level 93 is the scoring split multi player as I am struggling to see how multi player scoring works.