Thunder Force Heaven - Need Feedbacks

[WitnessOfTheFall]

Hello to all the shoot ‘em up fans in the community!

I’d like your help by getting some feedback on my game : Thunder Force Heaven. I’ve been developing it for two years now.
When I first started the project and released the very first version, few people were quite enthusiastic. So, I took a bit more time to add content and polish everything.

I mostly reused graphics from Thunder Force IV and other 16bits games, mixing them with some assets I found on Itch.io.
I integrated a few gameplay gimmicks from Thunder Force into my game, and I think it’s starting to resemble a Thunder Force-like.

I need your help because I’d like to know what gamers think of the game—whether it appeals to shoot ‘em up fans.
This would help me see if I’m heading in the right direction.

The game is currently at version 4.3, which I released a week ago, and it’s playable on Itch.io. This version has 5 levels and is actually a mockup I'm using to make the real final game.
https://triganov.itch.io/thunder-force-heaven (Vidéo : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaIhP5uIqnk)

But here is the new version of game, version 0.1, the real version of the game ends up as I originally thought (only 1 level available)
https://triganov.itch.io/cursed-brother ... er-legends

(Sometimes, on the first launch, the Enter key might not respond on the title screen. Just press Control + F5 to refresh the browser, and then it should work. Don’t ask me why—this issue only appears on the Itch.io platform.)


*(Something pretty crazy: I noticed another Thunder topic was created just before mine, and it’s a surprise because I’ve been looking for a Thunder Force fan game for years without finding anything. And now that I want to share my own Thunder Force fan game, someone else is already launching their own Thunder Force project… So cool!) *

[WitnessOfTheFall]

Is my game is so lame ?

In the last days, I translate all the javascript code into c# (with Raylib framework) in order to build it as an application.
If it's need some big readjustment, please tell me

[loucious]

Great job !

[PisfoolStuffs]

First, Thunder Force fangames usually never gets finished to the playable state, so thank you for making one!

Second, I think the controls are very unintuitive? maybe changing the scheme so that it would only use the keyboards would be much better.

[WitnessOfTheFall]

Thank you for your feedback loucious and PisfoolStuffs

As I need some more precise feedbacks, I have made the same request in another shmup community (the french one). One member, which creates a good vertical shmup game (Nanoforce), gave me a detailled feedback. Like PisfoolStuffs says, it was a bad idea to use mousse + keyboard to play.

But the biggest problem of my game is that it has several bad clichés of euroshmup...
Before I launched a dedicated topic on this forum, I was not sure of the meaning of Euroshmup label.
viewtopic.php?t=75573

Now, with your very detailed answers, I know the problem of my game :
*Too difficult. A Thunder Force game, especially the third one, is not so difficult in the first levels.
*Some ennemies have too much life point. I should add many ennemies but less resistant. If I manage to do that, the game will be more satisfying

For now, I need to do a break in order to focus on my work. I hope I will come back in the next month with a translated code version in C# (harder than I think)

[WitnessOfTheFall]

Hi everyone !

Ok, here is the version 4.2 ! This version 4.2 is the first step of a de-euroshmupization process (Yeah, that’s a word now)
https://triganov.itch.io/thunder-force-heaven


I’m moving away from overly complex controls and layered mechanics that slow down the fun.
Instead, I'm focusing on making everything simpler and arcade-clean—like.

Here’s what’s new:

-> Mouse? Out. Pure arcade controls in.
No more mouse for playing—only keyboard or gamepad. It’s how it should’ve always been.

-> Hunter Shot upgrade
You now get a guiding line showing exactly where your Hunter Shot will go. It disappears as soon as you fire, keeping the action clean and immediate.
Visual clarity = better decisions in the heat of battle.

-> More lives
To make the game more welcoming (and less punishing), I’ve increased the default number of lives.
You’ll have more chances to enjoy the levels without feeling like the game hates you.

For the next version, I will take care of balancing the difficulty and the life points of the enemies.

[WitnessOfTheFall]

Just finish the De-Euroshmupization process

The version 4.3 is here : https://triganov.itch.io/thunder-force-heaven

Difficulty Rebalancing (Levels 1 to 5)
Enemy Bullets Are Slower
Persistent Lives, Score & Weapons
More Bonuses

As a reminder, Game is totaly playable with Keyboard or GamePad

[To Far Away Times]

I wasn't sure if that was Highway Star at the beginning with the first couple chords, and then the melody kicked in and I was like, oh yeah.

Keep going, we need more Thunderforce-like games!

[BareKnuckleRoo]

The only thing I'd point out is Spacebar to shoot creates problems with older, or non gaming oriented keyboards. Inexpensive keyboards have a problem called keyboard ghosting where holding down certain keys will prevent other buttons from being registered. So you won't be able to move up and to the left while holding Spacebar unless you're using a pricier gaming keyboard with anti-ghosting features: viewtopic.php?p=1549626#p1549626

This is why most doujin games use some combination of Z X C for the controls as you can hold any combination of those on older keyboards without interfering with the arrow keys.

[WitnessOfTheFall]

This is why most doujin games use some combination of Z X C for the controls as you can hold any combination of those on older keyboards without interfering with the arrow keys.

Noted! I’ll update the ship controls to use Z, X, and C—thanks for the suggestion!

I wasn't sure if that was Highway Star at the beginning with the first couple chords, and then the melody kicked in and I was like, oh yeah.

Keep going, we need more Thunderforce-like games!

Thank you for your words! It really gave me the energy I needed to finish the demo of the new version of my game.

Nice catch with Highway Star! Later in the game, I actually use a 16-bit version of Paranoid by Black Sabbath, as well as Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf

[WitnessOfTheFall]

Hey everyone!

Here’s a playable demo of my new project: Cursed Brotherhood – A Thunder Force Legend.
https://triganov.itch.io/cursed-brother ... er-legends

It’s a much more polished version of my game Thunder Force: Heaven, with more equilibrate difficulty, higher resolution, and a clearer vision.

So why a new project?
When I made Thunder Force: Heaven, I was still learning game design. The resolution was super low, and the gameplay improved little by little as I figured things out. By the time I reached halfway (5 out of 8 levels), it became a real headache to add new mechanics into the old code.
So I decided to start fresh—with clean code and bigger ambitions.

Tunder FOrce : Heaven is still playable on Itch.io, but Cursed Brotherhood is the real deal I want to take to completion and eventually release.

Feel free to try the demo and let me know—do you prefer this new version or the original?