東方莫斯科 ~ Placement of Russian Shenanigan

[Flan27]

東方莫斯科 ~ Placement of Russian Shenanigan is a stage script which expands upon the Louis Hendrik Potgieter boss script made by Beef Owl.  I've been derping around with Danmakufu for a long time, and suddenly I felt like doing something a little more serious.  I always loved Beef Owl's script, but thought that it could be a lot more fun if not for the fact that most every spell was purely random.  Thus, I decided to try my hand at it.

I know that some of you may raise your eyebrows at me, wondering if I got Beef Owl's permission first.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to contact him at all.  I talked to Helepolis about my situation, and he told me that it would be fine to release the script.  So if you have a problem with all this, please direct your complaints to Helepolis.  As I said before, this is an entire stage script, so there is a lot of entirely new content.  I'd like to say that it's more than just a modified script.

But anyways, onto the stage itself.  As for difficulty, well, there's only one this time.  I tried to make it about the difficulty of a Touhou extra boss. (As if that was anything to go by.)  Perhaps less ambiguously, it's supposed to be between normal and hard mode of the original script.  I made sure that all the spells can be captured and overall it's not too bad, so I'm sure you'll be able to 1cc it with some practice!

With the original script focusing so much on the song, it was hard to find a song that fit the stage portion.  In the end, I found a song that is well known in Russia.  It might be a little dramatic, but I like to think of it as a Russian spaghetti western, if that makes any sense.  It has a decidedly different tone from the boss theme, but I think it works out in the end.  The transition is like coming in from the wilderness and onto the dance floor!

Oh, so without further ado, here's the link: http://www.bulletforge.org/u/flan27/p/placement-of-russian-shenanigan/v/11 (newest version)

I hope you have fun!  Oh, and of course, criticism is welcome.  And I'll say it one more time just to make sure, the original boss script is by Beef Owl.

[Flan27]

Ah, well, it's been a week now and there's still no response.  I added a couple of pictures to bulletforge, which makes the project look a bit more attractive.  I would have uploaded a video too, but unfortunately recording videos is my worst enemy.

Um, but, well, this certainly is a cold reception, isn't it? -_-;  It seems that the number of people who have downloaded it is average compared to other projects recently uploaded, but people haven't had much to say about it.  Is it the elephant in the room?  Perhaps people think badly of me for 'stealing' this instead of making something from scratch.  Well, I just got the inspiration to work on it, and by the time it was done I thought it was good enough, and distinct enough from the original, to release.

Actually, it was a good transition for me to take, methinks.  I've gotten a little more serious about scripting now, and I'm already working on my own script.

Anyways, I don't really know what to think of this anymore.  I guess if people downloaded it and enjoyed it then I'll be happy.

[EthanSilver]

Don't worry too much about it. Sometimes projects take a little while to get noticed. I myself have two fairly aged project threads without any replies and quite a few views - anyday now they'll be bursting with activity, I just know it! Can't say I'm very big on danmakufu projects ('more of a programming language kinda guy...) so don't expect a very solid and well-put together review from me. But hey, maybe it'll stimulate a few people who've downloaded this out of their silence.


First, I have no idea what this is based off of (never played it) so I'm not sure what's you and what's the original script. Sorry man, not gonna track down and download the original script. So some of this may apply to what was already there rather than your work, I dunno. Actually, how is the script modified over the original version? I'm a little unclear on what you did...

The patterns you use for enemies are pretty neat - they're simple but hard enough to deal with to be fun. I especially liked the little lasers-and-round-bullets segment right before the midboss - that was fun and easy enough to do casually. But there's too little variation IMO - the same types of patterns are re-used in rapid succession and often with little variation. I often just want to tell the script, "Yeah, ok, I get it, these fairies shoot bullets like that, can we move on?" The repetitive music doesn't do much to help in this regard...

The midboss was pretty fun. The red arrow spellcard looked impossible to do at first but the gimmick behind it is simple enough and actually quite fun to do. I didn't care as much for uninherited folk dance, what with forcing me around the screen and into long periods of "inactivity" during which I can't shoot at the boss. It seemed to last much too long because of this. Overall though, the midboss was fun and colorful, but disproportionately difficult compared to the stage itself.

Unfortunately I died shortly after and accidentally chose not to continue (damnit Danmakufu, wait until the shot key's been released before you start monitoring it!) so.. that's as far as my journey goes it seems. My overall first impressions are that of a nice and well-scripted stage with several fun portions but that could do with more variety and a better balanced mid-boss (or a slightly tougher "stage" segment). Caaaaan't say I care for the music used much, but maybe that's just me.


Don't be discouraged by the lack of replies - this was quite fun and you should continue working on it or other scripts. Good luck!

[Flan27]

At first I thought I'd just move on from this project, but after seeing some feedback I was motivated to come up with a new version, and so I did.  You can find it here: http://www.bulletforge.org/u/flan27/p/placement-of-russian-shenanigan/v/11

It's by no means a huge update, but I tried to make some changes here and there to address some problems.  I tried to respond to some criticism, but at the same time I found some criticism unfounded in the first place.  People can be quite blunt, comparing it to "a complete troll script" among other things.  The stage has been called repetetive, too, but I think it's not so bad.  I think if someone were to release a level similar to those in EoSD they'd get nothing but harsh criticism and accusations for trolling.  Even Zun's newer games have a number of levels that would be called 'way too repetitive' if a level with the same design were released around here.  I recognize that there were some problems with the stage portion, and so I did try to improve upon them in the update.  Nonetheless, I'm not interested in catering to an audience that demands a new fairy type every three seconds, so don't expect huge changes.

I'm disappointed by the tone and focus of some of the criticism, but I'm still glad to hear people's opinions.  I'll say 'thanks' to EthanSilver, for your nice, long review.  You really should play danmaku more than once before you review it, though, because there are lots of things you may not understand without some practice.  It's sad to hear that you dislike Uninherited Folk Dance, since I think it's such a fun and unique card.  It's ironic for you to say that you were "inactive" during the card, since spinning cards like that prevent you from turtling and make you move around more than any other card.  Also, you can clear it in one round pretty easily, but apparently you were too busy being "inactive" to try to shoot the boss.  :derp:

Oh yeah, and the stage portion and midboss are by me.  Beef Owl made the original boss, although that's been edited by me too, so now you know.

Anyways, there are various other small changes in the update.  The yellow and green fairies early on are harder (hopefully people see them as more of a little puzzle instead of just charging through them), Red Arrow starts slower to make it easier to understand, along with a number of other things.  One of the spell cards is pretty much completely new, so look forward to it!  Anyways, I'm happy with the way the script is now, so I won't release another update.  I'm happy to hear people's opinions as always,

[KrackoCloud]

It's been a long time since I've had a run with Danmakufu, much less played Touhou in general, so my skills are really shabby. That being said, I think the concepts behind most of your spell cards are actually pretty great! The stage as a whole feels very chaotic though, and in many cases there's just a little too much going on at once. Again, I could just be really bad :U
Often times, an easy way to increase the difficulty of an attack is to add a spiral or sunburst, but if it's not executed right, it feels very out of place. I think you could simplify a few things, remove these excess "bursts," and emphasize an attack's "key concept" more.