I am an artist and designer and am working on my first vertical scrolling shoot-em-up with a programming friend. We have worked on many games in the past starting with C64 and Megadrive and we have always wanted to make a shmup.
To get the ball rolling I wanted to post a youtube video of an early version of the game in action, with a view to posting a link to a playable some time down the line.
Even though we've never made a vertical scrolling shooter before, we are big fans of the games released in the 80's and 90's in the arcade and some of the excellent conversions that were produced on the PC Engine in addition to the original shooters on that system.
Games like Starforce in the arcades and Toaplan games like Truxton are games that have influenced and inspired me and the game is a sort of homage to those types of games, created in their spirit.
I would welcome comments and initial thoughts on the game so far.
Many thanks in advance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBWY22_VJgw
Chaos Moon
Chaos Moon
Last edited by RetroZ on Mon Jun 17, 2024 12:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: New vertical scroller in development - Chaos Moon
Reminds me of the early days of the Amiga computer.
For an individual developer that's an accomplishment since it looks like a vintage classic computer shmup.
For an individual developer that's an accomplishment since it looks like a vintage classic computer shmup.
Fan of Transformers, Shmups and Anime-styled Girls. You're teamed up with the right pilot!
Bringing you shmup and video game reviews with humorous criticism.
STG Wikias: Thunder Force Wiki - Wikiheart Exelica - Ginga Force Wiki
Bringing you shmup and video game reviews with humorous criticism.
STG Wikias: Thunder Force Wiki - Wikiheart Exelica - Ginga Force Wiki
Re: New vertical scroller in development - Chaos Moon
Yes, you're right, it does look like an Amiga style game.
I am a pixel artist that was making games for the Amiga in the 80's and 90's.
The game has many influences from arcade games and PC Engine, but although I'd not consciously thought of it, games like Hybris, Battle Squadron and Xenon 2 Megablast may influence. I was a big fan of Battle Squadron at the time.
I am a pixel artist that was making games for the Amiga in the 80's and 90's.
The game has many influences from arcade games and PC Engine, but although I'd not consciously thought of it, games like Hybris, Battle Squadron and Xenon 2 Megablast may influence. I was a big fan of Battle Squadron at the time.
Re: New vertical scroller in development - Chaos Moon
It looks good. I'll buy it when it comes out.
I did great so much water and milk that I threw up when I was little.
Chaos Moon - Free Playable (Web Demo)
This is a free playable demo (runs in a web-browser), the full game will be available soon on Steam (sometime in July).
The game is the sort where you have to learn the patterns and strategically use your Smart Bombs and Overdrive power-up.
Rewards for being more efficient and saving all Astronauts, collecting Medals and working your way through the ranks to achieve Fleet Admiral.
There are online Leaderboards and plenty of ways to better your score each time you play even when you have completed the demo.
Lots of hidden Easter Eggs with nods to Sci-Fi movies.
https://chaosmoongame.com/
The game is best played with a controller (such as XBox or PlayStation Dual Shocl), however there is a keyboard option too:
W, A, S, D to move (can also use Cursor Keys)
Q and E to switch Weapons
Enter = Fire
R/Shift = Overdrive (when meter is full of power-cells)
SPACEBAR = Smart Bomb
R/Ctrl = Start / Pause
BackSpace = Back out / GUI nav
Escape = Pause (in game)
The game is the sort where you have to learn the patterns and strategically use your Smart Bombs and Overdrive power-up.
Rewards for being more efficient and saving all Astronauts, collecting Medals and working your way through the ranks to achieve Fleet Admiral.
There are online Leaderboards and plenty of ways to better your score each time you play even when you have completed the demo.
Lots of hidden Easter Eggs with nods to Sci-Fi movies.
https://chaosmoongame.com/
The game is best played with a controller (such as XBox or PlayStation Dual Shocl), however there is a keyboard option too:
W, A, S, D to move (can also use Cursor Keys)
Q and E to switch Weapons
Enter = Fire
R/Shift = Overdrive (when meter is full of power-cells)
SPACEBAR = Smart Bomb
R/Ctrl = Start / Pause
BackSpace = Back out / GUI nav
Escape = Pause (in game)
Re: Chaos Moon
RetroZ,
It's a very good classic style shmup and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Heavy Truxton / Raiden vibes with Amiga'esque asthetics and some decent scoring. Congrats on the release !
One question. How do we select hard mode? The leaderboards highlight normal difficulty so I assume there is also a hard difficulty to be found. I also noticed there is a difficulty mode selection that is greyed out in the options menu.
A few minor critiques:
1. Diagonal ship movement is slightly faster than vertical and horizontal movement. This is a common error many developers overlook at times. It's a minor complaint but might be something you wish to look into.
2. When using overdrive a small score multiplier could be beneficial so there is even more nuance to players score. Timing the overdrive weapon use could thus become more crucial. (No multiplier for bosses of course though)
3. Is the game merely one really long stage that loops twice? Hope there is more to it than that though what's here is really good.
4. Keyboard and joystick mapping ability would be a great addition.
Thanks,
Fish
It's a very good classic style shmup and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Heavy Truxton / Raiden vibes with Amiga'esque asthetics and some decent scoring. Congrats on the release !
One question. How do we select hard mode? The leaderboards highlight normal difficulty so I assume there is also a hard difficulty to be found. I also noticed there is a difficulty mode selection that is greyed out in the options menu.
A few minor critiques:
1. Diagonal ship movement is slightly faster than vertical and horizontal movement. This is a common error many developers overlook at times. It's a minor complaint but might be something you wish to look into.
2. When using overdrive a small score multiplier could be beneficial so there is even more nuance to players score. Timing the overdrive weapon use could thus become more crucial. (No multiplier for bosses of course though)
3. Is the game merely one really long stage that loops twice? Hope there is more to it than that though what's here is really good.
4. Keyboard and joystick mapping ability would be a great addition.
Thanks,
Fish
Re: Chaos Moon
Hello,
Thanks for your feedback. Apologies for late reply I have only just seen your comments.
Happy that you like the game and draw comparisons with Truxton and Raiden which was the intention when creating the game.
In answer to your questions:
Hard Mode was originally in the mix, but we realised that it was a large time commitment to balance the game for multiple difficulties so we decided to put Hard mode on the future features list. We plan on doing an update on the Steam release with Score Attack and Hardcore mode coming up.
1) I see your point regarding vertical movement and will speak to the programmer about implementing an adjustment to a diagonal speed that is not just a combination of Horizontal and Vertical Speed.
2) I like the idea of score multiplier during Overdrive. However making this not be effective during boss encounters and also in light of the planned Score attack (which is going to be a multiplier) we need to think of how this could be implemented.
3) Yes, the game is one long level. It seemingly loops twice, but there are differences second time round with more enemies, extra objectives such as protecting escape pods, and some areas that are more specific to Minefields and other extra enemy attacks, waves and more difficult multi-hit enemies. In addition, there is a surprise to the second round leading to more gameplay. But ultimately the game was intended for replaying the same stretch to be more completist and get high-scores. The game works out to be around 25 minutes in length.
4) Point taken, we were aware that Keyboard and JoyPad remapping would be a requirement. We wanted to get the game out and price it accordingly, knowing we would be intending to support the release with future upgrades.
Many thanks,
Thanks for your feedback. Apologies for late reply I have only just seen your comments.
Happy that you like the game and draw comparisons with Truxton and Raiden which was the intention when creating the game.
In answer to your questions:
Hard Mode was originally in the mix, but we realised that it was a large time commitment to balance the game for multiple difficulties so we decided to put Hard mode on the future features list. We plan on doing an update on the Steam release with Score Attack and Hardcore mode coming up.
1) I see your point regarding vertical movement and will speak to the programmer about implementing an adjustment to a diagonal speed that is not just a combination of Horizontal and Vertical Speed.
2) I like the idea of score multiplier during Overdrive. However making this not be effective during boss encounters and also in light of the planned Score attack (which is going to be a multiplier) we need to think of how this could be implemented.
3) Yes, the game is one long level. It seemingly loops twice, but there are differences second time round with more enemies, extra objectives such as protecting escape pods, and some areas that are more specific to Minefields and other extra enemy attacks, waves and more difficult multi-hit enemies. In addition, there is a surprise to the second round leading to more gameplay. But ultimately the game was intended for replaying the same stretch to be more completist and get high-scores. The game works out to be around 25 minutes in length.
4) Point taken, we were aware that Keyboard and JoyPad remapping would be a requirement. We wanted to get the game out and price it accordingly, knowing we would be intending to support the release with future upgrades.
Many thanks,