Odonata Playable Demo Release!!

[sam fisher]

Business.

 

[Shikaku]

Make an online petition from GP2X users saying "The signed will buy a GP2X version of "Sky Force" if it was ported to the GP2X and sold as a GP2X game"

Also (I have no idea if this is true) probably a reason it isn't ported is because it has assembly?

 

[IntenseWage]

The gameplay is tight. I'll say that.

The graphics are definitely 90's shareware, though. The backgrounds are ugly, the animation is lacking, etc. That's too bad because graphics have always been an important factor with a SHMUP. It gives it the flair it needs, especially when it's as generic as this one.

 

[Aninhumer]

@Shikaku: You'd better put in something about price, otherwise they could sell it for $50 and we'd all be obliged to buy it.

 

[Huxley]

I've only had a quick blast but I quite enjoyed it. There's room for improvement, as others have already said, but the basics of a decent shooter are there.

Speaking of which, Bolcataxian was an ecellent homebrew vertical shooter on the GP32. I'd love to see that one make the jump to the 2X sometime...

 

[craigix]

This would look SO good if they had used a high colour mode.

 

[DaveC]

I'll try and contact them too (business or support?), it's an awesome game on my zodiac.

Yeah a bunch of us could e-mail them and ask to have some of their games like Skyforce ported. Be polite and don't be annoying and they might consider it if the interest is there.

Watch the video of Skyforce too it looks great with all of the effects.

 

[x68000]

I am yet to play it, but the image on the first page is a complete rip off from the start of level 3 on Layer Section Aka Rayforce from Taito!

If we get a 100% CPS2 emu in the future, then games like this will pointless when we can play far superior titles such as Mars Matrix.

EDIT: just tried it, and agree with the other criticisms mentioned. The version i tried is one of those generic, nothing to offer shooters, with boring gameplay and very dated graphics (dated in a bad way). Many homebrew devvers have made better looking and playing shooters in the past.

Making a quality shoot-em-up is a very difficult process for any non japanese developer, especially a small one such as this. But it is plain to see that this lacks any imagination and needs some serious development time before a release.

 

[Epicenter]

I am yet to play it, but the image on the first page is a complete rip off from the start of level 3 on Layer Section Aka Rayforce from Taito!

If we get a 100% CPS2 emu in the future, then games like this will pointless when we can play far superior titles such as Mars Matrix.

EDIT: just tried it, and agree with the other criticisms mentioned. The version i tried is one of those generic, nothing to offer shooters, with boring gameplay and very dated graphics (dated in a bad way). Many homebrew devvers have made better looking and playing shooters in the past.

Making a quality shoot-em-up is a very difficult process for any non japanese developer, especially a small one such as this. But it is plain to see that this lacks any imagination and needs some serious development time before a release.

Heheh, being Japanese makes you a superior shooter developer automatically? I know lots of great shmup devs who are European, American, Korean ...

I was pretty disappointed with this release, as were a lot of people clearly ... but I think you'll be impressed with what we're achieving with Stargazer. The GP2X is capable of much more in terms of graphics, audio, music and the sheer intensity of gameplay possible-- Odonata in its present state does not really scratch the surface. We're also keeping to a unique, creative design with unconventional unique gameplay elements, characters, storyline and depth not found in your average generic space shooter. I think you'll soon see the GP2X is capable of far more than any CPS2 game can throw at it! Keep an eye out!

 

[Ravnos]

I think you'll soon see the GP2X is capable of far more than any CPS2 game can throw at it!

How soon?

 

[DaveC]

Yeah how "soon" (I hate that word when referring to release dates, that can mean anything from one day to 5 years ) Duke nukem forever - "comming soon"

How about at least one in-game screenshot ?

 

[x68000]

i'm pretty baffled trying to think of any good 2d side perspective shooters from anywere bar the far east! Williams' Defender being one of the few exceptions.

Considering the lack of any notable 3rd party support, expecting games of the quality that capcom could produce on cps2 hardware is an unrealistic expectation, but much more should be expected than the commercial efforts we have seen so far.

 

[Epicenter]

Oh, we're just rather secretive since we like to have the best showing we can, not release a flood of media like most games these days that fails to impress at all. Perfectionistic? Maybe .. We expect to be making an announcement inside a month.

 

[ste_167]

I don't think the graphics are *that* bad really. Certainly the Megadrive would struggle outputing such large background imagery such as when the motherships glide past in the background. Yeah, they jerk a bit, but it still has a nice feel about it.

I wonder why they have gone for the low-colour dithered graphics though. Is there any technical reason why they have done this?

 

[Squidge]

The graphics jerk a little too much for my liking (maybe they need my mmuhack )

Also, the fact that they have put the volume options in a seperate screen rather than using the dedicated volume buttons seems a little silly. It's a commercial game, gph provided volume buttons and use them as such, so I'd expect consistency.

 

[DaveC]

I don't think the graphics are *that* bad really. Certainly the Megadrive would struggle outputing such large background imagery such as when the motherships glide past in the background. Yeah, they jerk a bit, but it still has a nice feel about it.

I wonder why they have gone for the low-colour dithered graphics though. Is there any technical reason why they have done this?

Lazyness probably. Hand drawing the graphics for less colors would take more work. You can do good art with not alot of colors you just have to take more time. I think the dithering ruins the look of the game.

 

[Epicenter]

The backgrounds were definitely not drawn pixel by pixel; they must have had more colors originally and were dithered to take them down to a lower amount. It's my theory the game was originally being developed many years ago (the 256-color days..) and is just now seeing completion on the GP2X with the aged graphics.

 

[sam fisher]

The backgrounds were definitely not drawn pixel by pixel; they must have had more colors originally and were dithered to take them down to a lower amount. It's my theory the game was originally being developed many years ago (the 256-color days..) and is just now seeing completion on the GP2X with the aged graphics.

I agree with you there.

 

[DaveC]

The backgrounds were definitely not drawn pixel by pixel; they must have had more colors originally and were dithered to take them down to a lower amount. It's my theory the game was originally being developed many years ago (the 256-color days..) and is just now seeing completion on the GP2X with the aged graphics.

Either that or they just imported stock pics of space, planets, etc and converted the 24 bit digitized images to 256 with massive loss in color depth.

Hand drawn pixel art would have taken more work. Look at NeoGeo games, the backgrounds don't have a massive amount of colors but still look great as they were hand drawn for the system rather than converted from stock footge and images.

That "Stargazer" logo in your sig probably doesn't use alot of colors but still looks very good because it was hand drawn with a certain palette in mind rather than downconverted from something else.

 

[ste_167]

Either that or they just imported stock pics of space, planets, etc and converted the 24 bit digitized images to 256 with massive loss in color depth.

Good theory. If they had graphics from different sources, lowering the number of colours would allow them to blend together with a less of a clash of art styles.

Having played this demo a few more times, I kind of want to see the next level now! It reminds me of an Archimedes game where they didn't always have the best of artists. It's grown on me!