Blue Revolver

[Van_Artic]

for some reason the game interprets some keyboard shortcuts as actual game buttons (like vol up, vol down or mute)

but the problem was solved the moment i rebind the keyboard controls

[Danbo]

I bought Blue Revolver on Itch yesterday and have had a blast with it so far! My initial impressions:

I'm not usually a fan of chaining systems for scoring, but am really enjoying Blue Revolver's “micro chaining”, where the chain maxes out at 8 and can be cashed-in for a temporary multiplier at any time with your special weapon, after which the chain and multiplier reset. This means that a good scoring route is made up of many small chains rather than a single gigantic one, taking the emphasis off memorisation and allowing for more improvisation.

I've only played the game with a keyboard and an Xbox One controller so far, but custom layouts for both worked perfectly and there was no noticeable input lag. The main game has 5 fairly lengthy stages with lots of variety in backgrounds and enemy types, from lines of tiny popcorn tanks in snowy mountains to enormous flying fortresses in stormy skies. I agree with trap15 that it's odd for some smaller enemies to have collision boxes while others don't though – personally I'd make it all one way or the other.

There's also a mission mode with lots of bite-sized challenges that put a new spin on segments from the main game, which is actually my favourite part of Blue Revolver so far. My only complaint here is that the letter grade you get for completing each mission isn't very obvious: the text colour of each cleared mission's name changes to reflect how well you did, with gold being best (for an A+), but the actual letter grades aren't shown for some reason.

Completing missions or stages in the main game gives you stars that can be spent on unlocks such as artwork and remixed music, which is a great feature: drip-feeding goodies like this will be very encouraging for newcomers, or anyone that isn't interested in scoring, since you get tangible rewards for gradual progress other than a big number. Although if you are shooting for a big number then your score can be tweeted directly from the game, which is a nice convenience feature.

In terms of audio the music is stellar (seriously considering buying the OST) but some sound effects lack punch and all are very quiet even when the music volume is lowered. Graphically I haven't encountered any visibility issues and I like the overall style. My only real complaint in this area is that some cool effects like the water ripple shader in stage 2 are so subtle that they may go unnoticed by many players. Tate mode and various screen scaling options are also available, which is always good to see.

tl;dr
Blue Revolver is a very finely-tuned shmup, definitely one of the better indie efforts to be released this year. Well done to Danbo and the rest of Stellar Circle!

glad you enjoy the game! for reference there's not actually a letter grade for missions. you either clear it, or you clear it with the bonus condition, which is an A+.

for some reason the game interprets some keyboard shortcuts as actual game buttons (like vol up, vol down or mute)

but the problem was solved the moment i rebind the keyboard controls

someone else had this problem too and its super strange but i guess it can be worked around

[max2016]

My only problems:
Sometimes bullets blend into the background
The game doesn't recognise the top two shoulder buttons on my controller (They usually appear as the Z axis)

[Van_Artic]

tried setting up a dual monitor to play this in tate when this greeted me



edit: this only happens if i change the main monitor and start the game from there; if i start the game from the first monitor and then switch it over in the game's options, it works fine

[Cata]

Bought this game yesterday and am loving it so far!

Only question I have is how am I supposed to get the break bonuses? Was trying the third mission a few times to see if I understood that mechanic but apparently I don't. Don't think I saw anything about it in the tutorial, either

[Van_Artic]

Bought this game yesterday and am loving it so far!

Only question I have is how am I supposed to get the break bonuses? Was trying the third mission a few times to see if I understood that mechanic but apparently I don't. Don't think I saw anything about it in the tutorial, either

the conditions are different for each enemy/boss phase that does have the break bonus

[Danbo]

Bought this game yesterday and am loving it so far!

Only question I have is how am I supposed to get the break bonuses? Was trying the third mission a few times to see if I understood that mechanic but apparently I don't. Don't think I saw anything about it in the tutorial, either

there's usually a hint where a distinct beep sound plays and reticles appear over things, also look out for a green impact effect when you hit stuff. one of the first features we'll be adding is a "break gallery" where you can view clips of each bonus occuring but for now we want to see if people can figure them out on their own

tried setting up a dual monitor to play this in tate when this greeted me



edit: this only happens if i change the main monitor and start the game from there; if i start the game from the first monitor and then switch it over in the game's options, it works fine

noted, thanks!

[STGAlmond]

Bought this game yesterday and am loving it so far!

Only question I have is how am I supposed to get the break bonuses? Was trying the third mission a few times to see if I understood that mechanic but apparently I don't. Don't think I saw anything about it in the tutorial, either

If I've got the wrong mission in mind, then all of my below tips are useless.

I don't have it in front of me, but I think that is the mission where the boss has four options floating around him. There are two on each side. I believe the break is you have to have all those destroyed at the same time and it has to cause the phase or pattern to change. If it is the mission I'm thinking then you can just use the laser and just keep destroying the options over and over. After about 6 it'll cause his pattern change and get the break bonus. If you want to not use the special I wait until the health is almost to the dash "-" in the patter name. CR-19 I think. I then start focusing on the options trying to keep damage balanced by switching sides until one blows up and then try to quickly finish the reset off.

[Eaglet]

I gotta say this looks really good and the music is fucking incredible!
Good job!

[Danbo]

I gotta say this looks really good and the music is fucking incredible!
Good job!

thank you!

[Oniros]

I bought the game to take advantage of the launch discount and to show support. Looking forward to the online leaderboards!

Biggest criticism: sound effects are incredibly underwhelming and quiet; explosions are nearly inaudible, damage sounds nearly inaudible. Only sound effects I really hear are the ones for new boss parts appearing, which is fairly loud. Overall leads to a very weak feedback feeling.

In terms of audio the music is stellar (seriously considering buying the OST) but some sound effects lack punch and all are very quiet even when the music volume is lowered.

Add me to the "everything is awesome except for the sound effects camp". Using the laser feels super underwhelming.

[cul]

I bought the game to take advantage of the launch discount and to show support. Looking forward to the online leaderboards!


Add me to the "everything is awesome except for the sound effects camp". Using the laser feels super underwhelming.

Tbh, I like discrete SFX in my shmups, especially if the music is great (as it is here)-

[Cagar]

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[clippa]

Just for balance, I think it's perfect as it is. I like the subdued sound effects and the emphasis on the music, and screenshake can get to all buggery. Having my eyeballs rattled never makes me feel excited.

[Cagar]

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[STGAlmond]

I'm enjoying this game, but my first complaint was how I couldn't just hold rapid and then hold the normal shot for focus when I needed it. Seems to not work like I'd expect. I like the challenges.

I can't make it to the TLB yet. Jaimers NBNM TLB video makes it look easy, but I know its not going to go that smoothly for me.

[Friendlyfriend]

That's how I'm currently playing and it works fine. Holding rapid and then holding normal will give me a focus shot. I did rebind my buttons initially and someone else mentioned having a problem where they had to rebind before things worked correctly so maybe try that.

[Danbo]

I'm enjoying this game, but my first complaint was how I couldn't just hold rapid and then hold the normal shot for focus when I needed it. Seems to not work like I'd expect.

this should definitely work, i catch myself doing it all the time. it was a very early point of feedback in the v0.1 days and we were sure to get it right

[STGAlmond]

I'll have to try it again tonight to be certain. Perhaps it is just something with my controller, or I could just be crazy. I'll be certain to try rebinding. Thanks for the responses.

[clippa]

I wonder how much shittier a lot of known and loved shmups (or heck, any action games) would feel like if we theorized every "it might be intrusive! ;_;" element out of them.

Hehe, I have to admit to being a bit of a sensitive flower when it comes to screenshake.
A lot of directors nowadays shake the camera about during action scenes, it doesn't excite me, it just makes me feel nauseous.
If it's a game I'll be playing on mouse and keyboard, I'm always the guy on the steam forums asking if there's an option to turn it off or at least down.
Screenshake is fine but the problem is that it's mostly way overdone.

It's good for adding a sense of impact, gives nice feedback when shooting guns, but there's a balance you have to get right. A lot devs take it too far, crank it too high and use it too much.

I don't mind it so much when I'm sat back with an arcade stick or a pad but if it's in a game like nuclear throne where I'm playing with mouse and keyboard in front of my monitor, I always have to turn it off.
It's OK in small doses but I have an obsessive streak as I imagine most shmup fans do and if I'm playing for a long time, I get eye fatigue much earlier than I would have done otherwise and after the novelty wears off, it's just an annoyance.

I think leap of fate does it really well.

You said though "I wanted some screen shake to not intrusive parts like boss explosions" and I wouldn't mind that. Just not something like nuclear throne where the screen shakes every time you shoot a bullet.

[Durandal]

I wonder how much shittier a lot of known and loved shmups (or heck, any action games) would feel like if we theorized every "it might be intrusive! ;_;" element out of them.

I know that the HUD in the lower left part of the screen in Dangun Feveron shrinks and becomes transparent once you get near the bottom left corner, which I thought was fairly nice.

[Cagar]

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[Glick]

I agree with subtle screen shaking really adding to the experience when implemented correctly. Juicing up games in general has a surprisingly positive effect as long as you don't overdo it.

[G3n3raL86]

Just got the game through HB Stellar Circle people:3

I was drawn to it from the art and stuff and i love shmups, sooo...:3

[tjg92]

I'm quite enjoying the game I still haven't cleared stage 3 of normal, because I'm shit. I have one suggestion: can there be an option to go back to the stage select screen when you entered a stage through stage select? And upon getting game over can it go back to stage select instead of the main menu? That would be nice.

[system11]

This is some nice work and runs great on my old laptop

[Danbo]

I'm quite enjoying the game I still haven't cleared stage 3 of normal, because I'm shit. I have one suggestion: can there be an option to go back to the stage select screen when you entered a stage through stage select? And upon getting game over can it go back to stage select instead of the main menu? That would be nice.

noted, thanks! we got a similar feedback point re: missions which we'll fix shortly

This is some nice work and runs great on my old laptop

great! we've had a few issues with older hardware, particularly on the device select screen for whatever reason, so good to know it works for you

[NickPalmerDegica]

I picked this up today. Haven't gotten to play very much, about 20-30 minutes or so (been busy with DDPR launch and other stuff), but so far really enjoying it.

I like the aesthetics and soundtrack, and the gameplay is simple enough to jump into without a guide (or with just the short tut at the beginning anyway), and I like the short chain mechanics and variety in special attack and shot style.

So yeah. Cool game.

[tjg92]

Sweet baby jesus I made it to the stage 4 boss. This game is a blast.

[Illyrian]

Yeah I got this last night. It is really good.

The only criticism I would personally make is that the wide shot seems a little weak and takes a long time to kill stuff. I realise it is meant to take longer than the direct shot but it still feels a bit unsatisfying.

Could just be me though.