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No Earth Slime has destroyed Mukor...

So I scratched the surface on this question last week on my blog:

PipForPresident.Org/blog

the gist of which is:

"I dream of helping to enable everyone in the world to create and play their own video games together."

so... I want to eventually write (or contribute to) tools that enable people to reconstruct or derive any possible game... assisting with:

• fighting genre:
  • has good presets for minimal-latency head-to-head online setups
  • the most complex library of input patterns to click into place (i.e., visually associative system for connecting high-order input events to game-specific functions)
  • templates for playable character rosters with knowledge about likely associations with functional systems like back-end tunable data and the cosmetic front-end of profile data, portraits, voice audio, costumes, endings, etc.
  • knowledge of minutia in the formula of character pre-round, post-round, post-match, etc. introductions and taunts
  • supports selecting the nuanced behavior of 2-D power-bars, super-meters, victory icon placements, etc. as options
  • adapts the general AI mental-model into a fighting mindset
  • maybe specialized child modules for 2-D vs. 3-D conventions
  • etc.
• puzzle genre:
  • has good presets for minimal-latency head-to-head online setups and also more casual rooms with lots of participants or observers
  • general systems for 2-D basins (optionally rectangular or hexagonal) catching falling pieces (like Tetris, Lumines, and Bejeweled)
  • options for known line/block effects, clearing, and scoring systems
  • easy level creation tools for any requiring designer setup (like Arkanoid or Frozen Bubble)
  • etc.
• FPS (First-Person Shooter) genre:
  • assume 3-D for everything but the HUD (Heads-Up Display is the whole set of 2-D images which overlay any 3-D action)
  • small database for enemy unit hierarchy, behavior, and upgrades data with both spreadsheet-like and graph-like editable data views
  • small database for weapon behavior and upgrades data with both spreadsheet-like and graph-like editable data views
  • preset gravities, jump and run impulses, and explosion concussions
  • teleporter/portal mechanisms
  • team-oriented objective specification
  • during-play database to track kills/deaths/suicides/flags/headshots/movement/mar ksmanship/etc.
  • maybe network model optimized for dedicated server connectivity
  • etc.
• shooter (Shmups) genre:
  • beefs up sprite system to handle millions of bullet trajectories, collisions, etc.
  • describes wave and boss formulas
  • has options for known special-shot/power-up/defensive variations
  • interactive flight-path editor to easily add new movements to enemy ships or bullets
  • maybe has general cooperative or competitive multi-player models
  • etc.
• RTS (Real-Time Strategy) genre:
  • editable technology-tree systems of building and unit build-order dependencies
  • huge database for unit hierarchy, behavior, and upgrades data with both spreadsheet-like and graph-like editable data views
  • adapts the general AI mental-model to optimized path-finding and simple threat/promotion prioritization systems up through heuristics to game-wide complex strategic analysis potential
  • etc.
• RPG (Role-Playing Game) genre:
  • basically the same stuff as the RTS genre but with more attention given to the depth

Look no further than:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puzzle_Fighter

This game strikes an amazing balance by being both compelling for serious competition and entertaining for casual play. David Sirlin has a relevant article (http://sirlin.net/archive/slippery-slope-and-perp etual-comeback/) describing "perpetual comeback" as it pertains to Puzzle Fighter and why it makes that game so very fun.

Are you still looking further?

Well then...

Another example of perpetual comeback is the fighting system in Battle Arena Toshinden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Arena_Toshind en) where each character has usually two special moves (in addition to their normal repertoire) that they can only perform once their health gets very low (i.e., they are about to be knocked-out). These moves (sometimes referred to as "desperation moves") usually do a great deal of damage and can easily turn the tide of a round or just win the round outright so they add cool intensity to the conclusion of many matches (even when one player is notably superior because they need to be extra careful to avoid getting hit by one or more of these "come-back" moves). These moves can be difficult to perform for those uninitiated to the common fireball and yoga-flame joystick movements they typically require but they totally have the best risk-vs.-reward benefit when a player is learning the game. I'd recommend studying and practicing the execution of those moves first to new players. Additionally, some characters have very easy ones like (if I remember correctly) Ellis and Sophia only need to press back, forward, back, forward + Triangle to do theirs. Choose an easy and fast character to start with until you learn enough to venture out.

Of course there are some fun cooperative experiences (like Halo or MMOs) but if your partner shows an affinity for, and appreciation of, games requiring increasing reflexive (a.k.a. "twitch") skill, I would highly recommend the plethora of http://shmups.com/ out there. Ikaruga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikaruga) must be mentioned as one of the greatest here. All threatening bullets and beams are either white (with blue highlights) or black (with red highlights). Similarly, each players' ship can flip over to alternate between those colors as well. When you're the same color as bullets, you absorb them into your shield and they store in a meter which can be unleashed as homing shots. When you are the opposite color of enemy ships, your shots do double-damage (but you're vulnerable to their bullets because they are the same color as them). It makes for awesome tension because the whole screen can be completely covered in bullets but at least half of it is always survivable space if you're the same color as the bullets occupying that space. Check out "bullet-eater" mode too. You can beat lots of levels without firing a shot (i.e., by just alternating to the right colors and dodging terrain features).

Another great one is Raiden Project (http://gamespot.com/ps/action/raidenproject/index .html) if you can find it for the old original PlayStation. That game had very interesting cooperative properties where certain shots would change characteristics and trajectory if they hit your friend's ship so sometimes it would be strategic to try to stay vertically aligned together (or overlay each other) to benefit from these special shots.

There are lots of great cooperative Shmups but the only directly competitive one I have yet encountered is astonishingly fun. It is called Twinkle Star Sprites (http://en.wiki

The post filtered out my link... http://www.shmups.com/

When it comes to console shooters, I'm terrible.

Who else HATES when people say "shooter" meaning first-person shooter, rather than a shoot 'em up?

There are alot of other uses for mod chips. Personally, I am a big fan of Japanese shmups. Most jap shmups are never released in the US, so the only way to play them is with a mod chip! Also, alot of fighting games like tekken/soul calibur are released in japan many months before the US release. I agree that the majority of mod chip users use them to play pirated games, but "99.9%" is just ridiculous.

I don't know how well the device works, but I seem to recall that, for some oddball reason, the device uses a "standard" Sega Saturn controller. This controller, btw, still seems to be one of the favorite controllers of the shmup crowd, as well as a lot of 2D fighting game fans.

*There's the problem that creative individuals aren't being drawn to the medium. Or, dare I say, the problem that individuals who lack vision and ambition aren't being drawn to the medium. Folks who are satisfied to re-create the simplistic games that fascinated them as children, rather than explore the full potential of the medium. (Boy that one's going to get me in trouble.) I think we all fight this one within ourselves, and it's a worthwhile fight.

There's the problem that people mistake complexity (as in anti-simplicity) as a requirement for good art. :)

I may be reading into your words a bit (we probably need an actual game example), but doesn't a game design that has the ability to captivate a child suggest it has some kind of basic power that is worth paying attention to? Plenty of 'adult games' in meatworld also have analogues in children's games - sports, theater, music (sing-alongs, etc.), and card games, for example. Theater may be a much more intricate (and expensive) form of the child's 'dress up and pretend' game design, but it still follows the basic principles and the goal to explore an element of the world.

I think innovation (as commonly discussed) is massively overrated in gaming, especially when it comes to discussing its ability to be art. A painting isn't art most of the time because it is innovative alone - it is enough that it is just a 'good painting'. Likewise, you don't invent a new language every time you write a poem or a book, but I think that is what a lot of people are suggesting when they talk about innovations in gaming. Early game types like shmups or side-scrolling platformers have seen only a fraction of their potential as an artform, but are already being (figuratively) thrown in the fireplace by publishers and gamers alike because they are "just not innovative enough".

New features and 'wrinkles' are certainly welcome (how about a shmup where one player assembles the level on the fly using some kind of interface similar to a card game?), and I think they are the real innovation we want in gaming. Not brand new genres or game styles (that don't even work/play as well their ancestors) every year, which is what so many gamers mistakenly complain they do want. Most of the time they certainly don't buy from the developers that do just this.

The tools (game types) we have already developed are amazing - there is no harm in using them a lot more!

Just in case you haven't figured it out yet. You can find out a great deal more about 2d shootemups on
www.shmups.com

Yes, the Saturn has a complicated architecture, but then so does the PS2 and it doesn't seem to have mattered in its case. Developers will develop for a system no matter how hard it is if they believe it's viable. In fact, the Saturn was viable for a while, and was actually quite successful in Japan (like the TG-16) - which is why it doesn't belong on this list. Sega and other developers continued supporting the Saturn in Japan until after the Dreamcast's release.

As an avid console gamer who had stopped gaming for a couple of years after the PSX succeeded the throne of console dominance from the Super NES, I understand _exactly_ what you're talking about. In my absence from the gaming world, I lamented the "death" of 2-D at the hands of ugly, boring, primitive 3-D graphics. Even within the SNES era, people raved over games like StarFox, a 3-D game which had very little appeal for me, but which for many was a vision of how games should look and play. Meanwhile, I foresaw that it would be many years before 3-D graphics would even approach the beauty of sprite-based graphics, and that's turned out to be true IMO.

However, it should be noted that there are examples of games that utilize 3-D graphics while maintaining 2-D gameplay and feel to great effect. One example that comes to mind for no real reason is ThunderForce V, which is a great horizontal-scrolling shooter (aka shoot-em-up or "shmup") that uses 3-D graphics which are small enough to be somewhat detailed. The kicker comes when encountering boss enemies, where the camera seamlessly zooms and rotates around the scenery from the standard side view, taking obvious advantage of the 3-D nature of the graphics.

I now happen to enjoy a lot of games that have made the switch, in all sorts of genres. Some quick examples include Mario (platformer), Zelda (action RPG/platformer), Final Fantasy (RPG), Hundred Swords (SRPG), etc. Street Fighter EX in any incarnation will never be able to replace its 2-D progenitor for me, but in many other ways, I've come to tolerate 3-D graphics in games where its usage adds more to the gameplay than it detracts from the visual appeal.

In this last regard, I think Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was revolutionary for me (as it's the one game that brought me back to console gaming). It was full of rough graphical edges, but to be fair, its immediate 2-D predecessor on the Super NES used graphics that were small and fairly undetailed, and in comparison were less impressive overall at the time. Ocarina of Time is still beautiful, and 3-D graphics helped that game achieve incredible depth, as well as a fantastic sense of the sheer vastness of the game world.

< tofuhead >

A friend on the SHMUPS! forum works at a repair shop, and noted that they'd gotten in a lot of DCs for repair that had had extensive CD-R playing. As in, playing-nothing-except-CDrips(not just using a boot loader to play imports). I suppose this might wear on it a bit quicker.
A friend of mine used to play a buncha rips like DOA2 and GGX for a few months; he switched back to real GDs and his DC seems fine. YMMV may vary, as always...