Force Majeure - Indie shmup demo

[junkboy]

Here's a game that me and two other fellows (Surasshu and fsFreak) have been working on as an entry to Autofire 2007, a game making competition hosted over at shmup-dev.com.




We released the demo last night so if you've got the time, feel free to download it right here (11 mb).

Feedback is, as always, much appreciated!


Credits go as follows
Code: fsFreak
Music: Surasshu
Graphics: junkboy

[9_6]

Holy shit this is hot!
You did a great job on the graphics, the gameplay is smooth and the music fits perfectly.
Great job!

[snake]

Excellent work. It all works and the retro tunes really give it that little extra.

Hard as hell though. If it wasn't for the unlimited lives I'd be done for before I reach the shore. (woodchuck...) Only thing I feel it lacks are hyper upgradable weapons OF ULTIMATE POWER!11! You really didn't get much of an advantage or change of tactics with the little missile. It took a while to get it as well. Didn't hurt the gameplay though. I'm going to do a second run with the 2 player mode.

Great job so far.

[Helm]

Hello. Good job so far. I have the following critique:

The aesthetics are extremely derivative. Of course I can't blame you for emulating your favourite games, but it's a bit too much for me when I see something that wants to be Progear and a host of general capcom and cave games so badly, artistically. Down to the busty females for pilots, I just don't see the point of you know, that sort of artistic incest. The concept could stand to be a lot different, the art direction not as tired as that, the sources of inspiration not that clear (In the Hunt, Metal Slug, Progear) and generally, more YOU than '90's coin op'.

Art-wise that's my biggest concern. It's too late to change now, I know, but I just had to say it.

Code-wise:


When stuff blows up on the air, the explosion still carrying horisontal velocity is okay, but not on the ground, it seems as if the explosion is travelling.

Bullet patterns are aimed streams and some very basic carpets, we've seen all that before a million times since 1985 to 1995. Now for most non-shooter fans, that'd be fine. For people that actively play and call themselves fans of shmups, that sort of barrage simply is boring and one-trick. I suggest you break out the stops and put creative, colorful and challenging patterns on-screen. Perhaps on next levels.

I see no point at attacks from the rear in these games, and not many good ones have them in. Take a cue from them.

Fast bullets. This is a bit of a matter of preference, and only ground units use them which can be dispatched easily, and they're not aimed at you, but still, fast bullets for me, spoil a shooter mostly. Just a thought.

The ship doesn't control quite cleanly. Does it move one pixel at a time? If not, it should, and it should be as responsive as possible. There's also some flicker and stuff going on, is the engine suffering from too much on screen? That would be needing of sorting. It just doesn't feel smooth enough at the moment.

The sideweapon is not very useful at this time.

Music-wise:

I find that old-style amiga dance beat type of music very boring, and not fitting to this game. Also, sound-effects I guess are placeholders? You're missing a lot that will make the action very much more happening.

Congrats on having something in your hands that's better than most amateurs do in terms of presentation. But the gameplay needs a lot, still.

[Soup]

It looks quite a bit like Metal Slug.
But very nicely done otherwise.

[pkmays]

Game looks fine, but the game play is way too sluggish. Takes a full 4 1/2 seconds to move from the top of the screen to the bottom. Urg. This has all the makings of a great twitch shooter, except for the twitch part. The ships basically need to be fast enough to dodge normal bullets at point blank range. Funnest thing about shooters is pulling off that hairy escape only to find yourself in another mess. Ships need to be at least 2X faster, if not 2 1/2 or 3X faster.

There's also some balance issues. The flamethrower enemies bottleneck your ship very early in engagement, and the speed of some of the enemy bullets are too fast considering the player's lack of speed. Bullets also seem a pixel or two too large in general compaired to most shooters.

Ground enemies are mostly just a chore, due to the slow vertical movement.

The first ships secondary weapon is very useful, whereas the second ship's is borderline useless. At the very least it should pack a bigger punch.

Again, it looks great, but right now it's challenging in a frustrating way, not challenging in a fun way.

[MoD]

There's a bug in the control setup. Attempts to change the start button change the fire2 one instead.

The graphics are beautiful (some of the enemies I thought were very Zero Wing-esque) and the gameplay is fun, but I need to echo pkmay's comment that she ship is too slow. There's nothing more likely to make a player stop playing the game than deaths he couldn't have prevented. If the ship's not fast enough to dodge all but one in a few hundred barrages of bullets with perfect skill it's just too slow.

EDIT: Oh, the other ship (pilot on the left) is a lot better about speed. You might want to tell the player the different stats for each ship before they choose, though, so they don't get stuck with a combination they aren't good at. Also, I'd like the customizable controls to be global so I don't have to switch control sets between gameplay and the menu. Great job with this all around; the player is really immersed in i with the faster ship (slower one just annoyed me); when I got to the boss and saw the word 'Warning!' I was thinking, "Oh... sh*t."

[shaheen]

I agree about the speed issues. I'm not super great at shmups, but I do play them pretty often. In this demo, I always see bullets coming and see what hole I want to escape through, but the ship is too slow to actually make it. In the end, it feels like the only way I can make it through those holes is to fully memorize the bullet patterns and to move way ahead of time which I think should only be a minuscule part of the shmup experience. I think it might be a wise decision to go with a speed option, or the recent trend of high speed along with a "slowdown" button for weaving through those extra tight spaces.

Great graphics, however I can't help but agree with Helm about them being a bit too similar to other games' graphics.

[junkboy]

9_6: Thanks! Are you the same 9_6 from shmup-dev.com?

snake: Thank you! Yes, indeed, the game is hard as hell. We're implementing a new side-arm system, with bigger and more powerful missiles/bombs, and smartbombs as well. So hopefully that'll take the difficulty down a notch or two.

The concept could stand to be a lot different, the art direction not as tired as that, the sources of inspiration not that clear (In the Hunt, Metal Slug, Progear) and generally, more YOU than '90's coin op'.

But that begs the question: What IS me? I practically grew up in the small crampy arcade sections of shopping malls, video stores and billiard halls, so the 90's coin-op aesthetic is something that lies very close to me. Not trying to defend me playing "monkey see monkey do", but still, the point of making it like this would be to give the player a positive gaming experience by feeding into a his nostalgia. I'm wired like that myself, so it felt natural to approach it this way.

I certainly appreciate your point of view on this though, however I can't help to feel that it's part of a more general frustration about pixel-artists sort of lingering around whatever Capcom did back in '96, without ever pushing forward?

Anyway, thank you, you raised some valid concerns about the gameplay that'll be taken into account.


Soup: Thanks.

pkmays: Thank you. We were pretty happy about the speed settings, but since that's being brought up quite a lot I guess we'll have to play around with it some more. Personally I'm doing fine with both ships, but then again I know the stage inside out by now.

MoD: Thank you. That bug has been taken care of now. Did you manage to beat the boss?

Khris: Thanks. I don't think we'll be adding any more buttons, but speed issues will be looked at.

[9_6]

9_6: Thanks! Are you the same 9_6 from shmup-dev.com?

Yeah that sucker over there is me... or let's say one of my personalities. :)

I have noticed another thing. The altfire button is pretty much useless.
I just keep it pressed along with the primary fire button.
Get rid of it, letting the secondary weapon shoot with the primary weapon button or let secondary weapons have limited ammunition.

[Helm]

But that begs the question: What IS me? Wink I practically grew up in the small crampy arcade sections of shopping malls, video stores and billiard halls, so the 90's coin-op aesthetic is something that lies very close to me.

Same here, but it's not all there is - or should be - when you make a video-game, is it? There should be conscious art-direction, not just 'what I grew up with'... I explain below.

positive gaming experience by feeding into a his nostalgia. I'm wired like that myself, so it felt natural to approach it this way.

Nostalgia will occur anyway because as you said these things are within you anyway and if you make a videogame it'll have your experience with them in it. Do you *really* need generic anime boob females for pilots? Do you *really* need a Capcom font? Do you *really* need Metal Slug explosions?


Perhaps even when using old-style restrictions for graphics, the intention should not to go for a 'retro' feel but go with that art style because it accentuates other, quantifiable qualities you want in your game besides 'it's nostalgic!'... Nostalgia, and appeals to such should be the work of the subconscious I feel much more than direct intent. Having said this I've made a game that looks exactly like a c64 game, so perhaps it's not so much the 'I go for nostalgia' that annoys me as it is how extremely tired the specific art-style is. I didn't make the c64 game because it's nostalgic (I never had a c64 at home as a child) but because I felt the gameplay would benefit from those limitations and so on...

But this specific art-style just seems really boring to me and all I can think about someone copying it is because 'it's cool!'. Take it like the opinion of one of your audience, I'm sure thousand others will find it awesome, look anime pilots that wink at me when I select them and Progear brighty bullets!

I wish more shooters had atypical aesthetics, and that doesn't mean just go abstract vectory on me. How about a shooter with graphics that look like Herge's Tin-Tin or something?

I certainly appreciate your point of view on this though, however I can't help to feel that it's part of a more general frustration about pixel-artists sort of lingering around whatever Capcom did back in '96, without ever pushing forward?

In the end I guess it's more this than anything else. Metal Slug and Street Fighter (and SNK fighters) being considered the pinnacles of 2d visual aesthetics in action games and so on in this forum for a long while and I guess I'm finally knee-jerking over this limitation. I love the hell out of the original Metal Slug games and I like SFII a lot etc, but do we need to see copies? Because art-wise, your game looks like a copy, I'm sorry to say.

[sharprm]

Managed to beat the boss. Its got really good graphics and sound but the movement is tooooooo slow.

[pkmays]

Despite my issues with the game, I've been playing it a lot. Difficulty issues are resolved playing on an arcade stick. Can beat the level with three credits on the fast ship, 5 credits on the slow one. Having the ship move slower when the gun is jammed down is a nice touch, and I like the risk vs reward medal system, but again, with the speed issues, I find the risk is usually too high.

So the second plane's bombs actually do pack more of a punch, and they are effective against ground enemies and the occasional weak goon who ducks under you. I think the angle could be a little less steep though, they seem to lose trajectory a bit too early to be really useful.

There's something funky going on with the boss's sprite (who's a chump once you learn his pattern). It's got an ugly broken line somewhere towards the front.

Playing through the level several times, I'm impressed with the amount of detail. The ship in the ocean and the birds flying away from the coast are especially cool.

I can see how playing this a lot can make you overlook the speed issue, but it's still there.

Funny enough, I happen to know the guy who is doing the graphics on Shining Storm, another Autofire 2007 entry.

[Chris_Alex]

Unlike everyone here, im afraid i just dont have anything bad to say, even less regarding the graphics; i think they are superb, and the detail that Pkmays mentioned above, striked me on the first run.

I love the feel, and look of the game to the very bone, and dont find it boring at all, like Helm, and, yes it brings all sort of sweet game memories to me.

All i could offer are some gameplay features,

Like making the chain system more noticeable, in fact, that was something i didnt noticed until the second run, and even then it distracts me to look to the bottom left of the screen, to check the screen status; it should be above, next to the power up energy, or shown on screen when a ship is destroyed (despite it may look a bit more crowded).

The slower speed of the ship when the gun is jammed should be even more noticeable than right now, theres not enough difference right now.

Add a laser beam (blue for nostalgia sakes) and a homing missile as a sidearm, and i will be in heaven.

Im eagerly awaiting for a full release, and really you should be proud of what you have in your hands.

Cheers, and kudos to ya!

EDIT: 484.085 and lost only one life against the boss right before the end!, wich reminds me, when you start gaining up lives (wich i think are a bit too much) they become unvisible because of the power up bar.

[junkboy]

9_6: Indeed it doesn't do much right now, but this will be rectified for the full-version (or if we decide to release a meatier demo later on).

Helm: I didn't go with this "style" on a whim or just because I thought it was "cool" (even if I do think it is ). It was in fact a very conscious decision that I arrived at (believe it or not) after months of conceptualizing. Style-wise this game has been all over the place. The furthest away it got from the inital concept was probably when it was all going to be hand-drawn and dystopian, similar to Moebius' "Arzach", with a dude flying on a lizard and all. That would've been diffent and kinda interesting, but for various reasons (some of wich I don't wish to go into detail about on a public forum) it became this instead. And, well, I'm pretty happy about it.

sharprm: Do you think it's too slow even for Bravo/Red ship?

pkmays: I'm glad you kept playing I agree about the bomb angle, it feels a bit too steep ATM. This among other things will be fixed.

Broken lines in the boss sprite? Do you mean after you've destroyed him or while he's still active? The "destroyed"-frame was just a quick butchjob on my part to make it to the deadline, so there's a lot of work to be done there for sure. I can't find any broken lines on the other sprite-frames though.

Chris_Alex: Congratulations, my friend. To my knowledge you currently hold the World Record in this game! You beat the previous score by 11285 points.

And thank you for your comments and gameplay suggestions. There won't be any lasers since we're going for a chunkier low-tech feel with the weapons, but homing missiles is defenitley on our to do-list. Also, I liked your idea for making the chain system more noticeable. Might be too busy, but I think it's worth a try.

[Helm]

All that I can say on the subject is that if this looked like a Moebius comic or something it would be infinitely more interesting in my eyes, but as I said, I'm just one guy on a forum. Others I'm sure will like it as it is more.

[sharprm]

I read through the topic again and so now I know that holding the fire button makes you slower. I'm used to games where it doesn't
matter if you hold it continuously. Now that I know I played through and didn't find speed an issue anymore.

I like the bomb because its good for when you're on top of those slow planes. If its fired forward (like it looks like it is) it can
land in front of the plane but if it is just dropped it should land directly below or behind (behind if take into account air resistance). I'm
just saying maybe where it lands makes it looks odd but then again it could be the way it rotates.

This game has really great graphics but they are really hard to notice because the gameplay is really engrossing. The music is also really
good, at first i thought it was adlib or something but later i realised it was mod. The character select screen music has good music. Specially like the music when you have to continue but
you have no credits.

The gameover screen (the pale one with the smoke) is really boring. I'm sure you'll replace it and I was thinking it would be good to
have two different game over screens, one for each pilot with them climbing out of the wreckage all bloody and stuff like when you
lose at street fighter.

Look forward to the full version hope it has forest levels and stuff.

[Xion]

Great game. I like the slower controls. Personally, it makes dodging much easier.

[junkboy]

The gameover screen (the pale one with the smoke) is really boring. I'm sure you'll replace it and I was thinking it would be good to
have two different game over screens, one for each pilot with them climbing out of the wreckage all bloody and stuff like when you
lose at street fighter.

That's a great idea, I'll probably steal it. 

And yes, the second level will be set in the wilderness. Forests, lakes, mountains. Pretty much a complete nature reserve tour, with the added enjoyment of blowing it all up.

[Opacus]

The gameover screen (the pale one with the smoke) is really boring. I'm sure you'll replace it and I was thinking it would be good to
have two different game over screens, one for each pilot with them climbing out of the wreckage all bloody and stuff like when you
lose at street fighter.

That's a great idea, I'll probably steal it. 

And yes, the second level will be set in the wilderness. Forests, lakes, mountains. Pretty much a complete nature reserve tour, with the added enjoyment of blowing it all up.

Bloody and stuff should include shredded clothing

[loempiavreter]

The gameover screen (the pale one with the smoke) is really boring. I'm sure you'll replace it and I was thinking it would be good to
have two different game over screens, one for each pilot with them climbing out of the wreckage all bloody and stuff like when you
lose at street fighter.

That's a great idea, I'll probably steal it. 

And yes, the second level will be set in the wilderness. Forests, lakes, mountains. Pretty much a complete nature reserve tour, with the added enjoyment of blowing it all up.

Bloody and stuff should include shredded clothing

+1

Is there a slim possibility of an dreamcast port?