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nexic · Post by **nexic** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:58 pm

As a follow up from my 'Market Research' thread I want to try and find out the how likely one of you buying a PC shooter would be. (should really have done this on the last thread, but I kinda didn't realise I could do a poll ^.^)

If you can be bothered please also mention what kinds of shmup you prefer. Examples would be good.

Thanks in advance for all your votes

Danny · Post by **Danny** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:17 pm

I voted for the top one, just ordered Shoot the Bullet and Perfect Cherry Blossom from Palletmail yesterday.

Hope that helps!

rib · Post by **rib** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 3:30 pm

"i play pc freeware or demo shmups sometimes and i never bought one"

mannerbot · Post by **mannerbot** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 4:18 pm

used to really like playing doujin shooters
then I woke up and realized how much the whole experience sucks

I guess for those who normally just emulate everything they wouldn't really notice a difference though

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 4:30 pm

I voted the second option because I would buy a PC shooter if it wasn't such a pain to get them in the US.

nexic · Post by **nexic** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:13 pm

used to really like playing doujin shooters

Can anyone explain to me what doujin means?

Metal Gear Okt · Post by **Metal Gear Okt** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:44 pm

doujin generally means "fan made", but some of the doujin outfits our there are fairly professional.

raiden · Post by **raiden** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 5:45 pm

doujin means amateur or peer. dou=equal, jin=human.
I voted the 2nd option. Bought about 7 or 8 PC shmups until now, but haven´t in a long time, because my quality demands have risen considerably since I started buying them. Which means I don´t want any PC shooters where I always just think "this or that console/arcade game is so much better, why am I even playing this?". I want fresh ideas that also work practically, games that are easily accessible yet hard to get good at, smooth controls (including an intuitive GUI), and also a certain level of presentation, but that doesn´t have to top everything. The last shmup on PC that really thrilled me (and continues to do so) is Gridwars. Everything works like a charm, there´s lots of gameplay depth to it, and the newest version even has a musical style of its own. If I ever get to see something new on the level of Bike Banditz, I´ll definitely buy it again.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:02 pm

I've bought a few fan-made PC shmups, and it's likely to stay that way...while the ones I've liked enough to buy were really great imo, the vast majority of them don't compare too well to professional stuff, so I don't see buying doujin stuff as a very regular occurrence for me, though it'll probably happen again at some point.

it290 · Post by **it290** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:07 pm

I don't play PC shooters a lot, but I have bought a few. I don't care how professional the game looks, I'll only purchase a PC shooter if the gameplay is excellent. I also prefer small games that don't require an installer and can be easily transferred from place to place on a USB stick, as I usually play PC shooters when I'm away from home.

Randorama · Post by **Randorama** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:34 pm

I have a few suggestions as i am somewhat of an "hardcore fan"...

let's see:

1) You may want to put more difficulty levels, so beginners and casual fans may just switch to "Easy" mode, and making the game slightly more complex on higher difficulty levels. For instance, on "hard" you can out a extra mechanic to make more points and make the game more difficult.

2) One good way to give a game replay value is using the "all scoring opportunities are important and none is fundamental". Games like Rayforce, Shikigami no Shiro and countless many others use this approach. For instance, if killing enemies with the secondary weapon will give you a multiplier per number of enemies killed with a blast (so, 8 enemies killed gives a x8 on the points gained), put a limit to the amount of points done.

Following this example, you may not kill more than 8 enemies per blast, for instance, so the player will aim to find as many occasions to kill 8 enemies in a row, but doing more than that will be uncessary.

3) A blend of gameplay and design.Ikaruga is the perfect example, or also Rayforce, or whatever. In both games you have a graphical and design aspect that visually realizes the elements of gameplay (In Ikaruga you can switch between white and black and two types of invulnerability, in Rayforce you lock down enemies below you while the hardware uses a lot of scaling effects).

4) Good musics. It seems like shmuppers really like their soundtracks, and if they can provide the right atmosphere, it really helps to mentally enter in the right mood

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:18 pm

i dont play games on my PC at all, no emulators either.

would it be so hard to make a PS2 release? it seems alot of "lighter" games get released (simple 2000, 505 gamestreet etc) these days, might be worth looking into?

in any case developers taking the time to talk to the players when making games is an admirable feat indeed!

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:35 pm

I guess I'm #4, as I just bought Darius Gaiden's Windows port. PC's more convenient for me than consoles, actually. Sharper screen too.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 10:49 pm

I voted for: I play PC shooters often but never buy them. I only like freeware.

Except, in my case, I'm on a Mac and only typically play games that get a Mac port. I prefer arena shooters (i.e. Robotron, Smash TV, and Crimsonland). However, as far as traditional shooters go, I like games with a simple but engaging scoring technique and graphics, made to be played in extremely short bursts.

Parsec47 is a game that fits that criteria wonderfully. I hope that helps you out some.

magnum opus · Post by **magnum opus** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:37 pm

Andi wrote: Except, in my case, I'm on a Mac and only typically play games that get a Mac port. I prefer arena shooters (i.e. Robotron, Smash TV, and Crimsonland)

hey on that note could you check out the demo of kill monty (and it's predecessor http://www.justinfic.com/killdrcote.php )? it looks like a wasd+mouse control which isn't exactly my preference so i'm not heart broken but still i'd like to know how it plays, i've been compiling a list of arena shooters and would like to be able to put down a bit more than a name, control scheme and level structure in particular
also just incase you don't already know puppygames ultratron and puppytron both work on mac both are fairly good.

as for me
the shanghai alice games and the Platine Dispositif shumps are the only one's i've bought and i probably would have bought radio zonde, well thats a tough call its almost too hard to really be accessible in a demo. not sure if that really means anything on a broader scale but it's sort of a target i guess
also it needs redifinable controls i can't deal with the ctrl,alt,shift,space buttons of most western casual shmups

basically if you plan on making money, or breaking even, off a hardcore shmup, we are your audience so just browse through the last dozen or so pages and especially the strategy section (we don't write that shit up about games no one plays) and look for what we rave about. then download the demos or roms or whatever and play them until you can see common elements between them.

nexic · Post by **nexic** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:58 pm

would it be so hard to make a PS2 release?

Umm yes. The PS2 SDK costs around $20,000 - money which I don't have spare, and it probably wouldn't be worth the investment. Sorry ^.^

basically if you plan on making money, or breaking even, off a hardcore shmup, we are your audience so just browse through the last dozen or so pages and especially the strategy section (we don't write that shit up about games no one plays) and look for what we rave about. then download the demos or roms or whatever and play them until you can see common elements between them.

Yeh that's what I have been doing

Getting a pretty good idea of what you like.

magnum opus · Post by **magnum opus** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:20 am

nexic wrote:
would it be so hard to make a PS2 release?
Umm yes. The PS2 SDK costs around $20,000 - money which I don't have spare, and it probably wouldn't be worth the investment. Sorry ^.^

well thats not entirely true.

i don't know if there is a homebrew sdk but there is a ps2 homebrew scene (http://ps2dev.org/) so there's gotta be some way of doing it.
that said chances are you'd end up with a much lower quality than you would for PC and wouldn't end up getting sales from the ps2 crowd anyway.
of course if you want a console base theres always KallistiOS for dreamcast devel.

LSU · Post by **LSU** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 11:27 pm

Voted for option (4), generally speaking I only really play console games or emulated arcade games. As far as purchasing your potential game goes, I'm also on a Mac, so would only really be interested in a Mac port. I do download doujin shmups though, rRootage and Noiz2sa are my favourites.

shmups.system11.org

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