[PC] [360] Decimation X

[icycalm]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29632

A 1-4 player intense retro shmup, by Xona Games

Decimation X:
Official Site: http://decimationx.com/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy9bcEU_a3Q

UPDATE: Now on Xbox LIVE (80 Microsoft Points):
http://marketplace.xbox.com/games/media ... 025855040a

What do you think?

Should be out this week on Xbox LIVE Indie Games for 80 Microsoft Points ($1 USD), with a planned free update of online scoreboards very soon afterwards.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 65#p545165

Tried the demo. As I figured, the firepower just makes it feel sloppy. Barely had to move, barely had to aim. If a shooter doesn't make the player move, it is failing. The enemy dust-fire isn't fun to dodge if you even have to dodge any of it. Felt like it was there just to chew through the unnecessarily large bases.

Side note: played through tons of single screen shooters last year and noticed few had directly copied Space Invaders. Probably why - typewriter enemy movement is boring. As soon as games like Galaxian were out, who wants to play that? It's worse when you have extreme firepower for them scroll straight into.

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 75#p545675

Unreal! Decimation X is the highest rated Xbox LIVE Indie Game in Japan:
http://marketplace.xbox.com/ja-JP/games ... 3&rl=0&p=1

The thread might be worth reading to see people using, misusing, or failing to use my arguments from the Retro and Value for Money articles. It is a perfect case-study for both issues because it is a $1 game, so people are bound to try to defend it with the value for money fagotry (instead of sticking to their guns and demanding value for TIME, regardless of price), and also because the developers are claiming that it is retro, which it may or may not be depending on the nature of its mechanics -- I haven't played it so I don't know.

[icycalm]

Video of a high-scoring run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFZ9E4sDLJw

Here's what I think of it: It is indeed retro in both mechanics and graphics. A weird retro mix though, since mechanically it blends late 70's with early- to mid 90's and graphically early 80's with, well, with contemporary resolutions at least (720p).

I think Rob was right. I have no interest whatsoever in playing this game -- highest ranking indie XBLA game in Japan or not.

It's real ugly too, and the music is aggravating.

[icycalm]

This is a new and very funny phenomenon, by the way -- I mean how indie (i.e. crap) developers end up developing an affinity with crap players. Check out the guy who made the video I linked above:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.ph ... 93#p558693

just put up a new high score; 7.30 million AND got it on film with my digital camera!!!! The footage will be up on youtube tomorrow. Good thing I stayed up til 3am decimating rather than getting rest for class.. lol

Also, I ordered a capture card today. Nothing special, just an inexpensive usb one. It'll be better than rigging up my digital camera tho. haha

onward

Here is the videoooooo

7.3 million points, level 79 run

@Doucette Brothers

As you know I just posted a 7.3 million scoring run for Decimation X on youtube. I am going to keep filming and will break this high score in the future. I would love to get to like 10 million; that would be sick.

My questions is this. Is there any way you guys can add my videos to Xona.com or your youtube channel? Any extra game footage, especially if its a nasty run, will help with your games publicity. Having additional public exposure to these videos will hopefully increase popularity and sales.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

So this is what happened here. Basically, at a time when Espgaluda II has just been ported, and when one can play any of the hundreds of STG masterpieces of the past for free via emulation, no self-respecting decent player would possibly spend more than two minutes with a POS like this. And this is where the second- or third- or even lower-rank players come in. They pick up the latest indie POS, post a high score that sends them very near the top of the leaderboards (because no good player is wasting his time on the game), and then think: "Hey, with a little bit more effort I could become no. 1 on this cheap POS indie crapfest!" So they put in the extra effort and eventually become no. 1 or no. 2 or whatever.

At this point, of course, they feel the desire to BRAG about this "accomplishment". Nothing wrong with that: it is only too natural to want to share your achievements with others. HOWEVER, to brag about being good at a shitty game kind of diminishes the value of the accomplishment, both in one's own eyes and in those of others -- not to mention that it also makes you look stupid, for putting so much time into it. So they CONVINCE THEMSELVES that the game is not actually crap, but perhaps at the very least decent, though more often than not they go as far as to call it "solid", or "good", or the more idiotic or shameless among them even "great".

And there you go. Finally every POS indie crapfest that allows some sort of player ranking ends up having its own little set of "expert" advocates.

It goes without saying that if the REAL experts in the genre decided to enter these little competitions they would entirely DECIMATE (lol) the little self-deluding pseudo-experts -- but, to repeat, with so many genuinely awesome games easily available for play today they never end up doing it.

There are some parallels, by the way, between the above phenomenon and what happens with women's sports, etc. See WNBA and the like.