Author Topic: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ version 1.50 released ]  (Read 73442 times)

Helepolis

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance
« Reply #150 on: June 16, 2015, 01:57:58 PM »
Thanks for the support and cheers.

Not exactly what I expected but I am quite getting a lot of signals that the game is difficult on Normal. Also as there is no continue system, the player is quite burdened for failing. Originally I didn't want to put in a continue system because it is only 3 stages. I will see what I can do about this.

Seems Nue is quite erotic received by many people. Keep in mind that I didn't ask anything at all in terms of looks/design/poses for the portraits. I just asked for the expressions and Warugaki was free to do the rest. Yet, he chose to make an erotic Nue. I think many are pleased :V. (Except for the "panty showing", I requested that).

The game is more of an eye candy due to the many things but that is fine with me. My goal was to mainly entertain but I will try to make it also better.


Right, I think it is time to slowly re-pick a leisure development pace to work on several things for the game. The replays will break/desync with the current plans I have that is why I will probably "take some time" to get it done.

The bugs / glitches reported will receive high priority. I've picked up quite some through feedback and also discovered myself while playing.

As for new content, thought about the following roughly:
- Last Words
- Sanpo Mode
- Redesign some parts(?)
- Rebalance gameplay(?)
- Continue system(?)
- Scoring(?)
« Last Edit: December 09, 2016, 06:33:59 PM by Helepolis »

Ruka

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Seeing as I haven't gotten past Stage 1 yet, I can't say anything about rebalancing. However, a continue system would be nice since the game is pretty brutal. 3 coins tops.


TalosMistake

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Seeing as I haven't gotten past Stage 1 yet, I can't say anything about rebalancing. However, a continue system would be nice since the game is pretty brutal. 3 coins tops.

I want to see continue system, too, but it might be hard to implement cuz it will break the replay if you don't do it right.

Helepolis, if you don't have a time. I suggest allowing players to choose their initial life (from 3-8) would be a good way to help them survive the earlier stages, and it can be done easily.

The game is pretty neat so far. Hope to see it get better and better. xD

Been saving up my reaction for awhile now.  But wow.  A damn fine piece of work you and people in the credits put together. 
I can't quite articulate how excited I was when I heard Disco Inferno on the main menu.  The music selection is pretty great.
The art, visuals, and character interactions are superb.

There are a few considerations to balance though.  I've only made it to the 2nd Stage on Normal, but I find Stage 1 harder than 2.  I haven't played much on the harder difficulties.
There are a lot of death fairy patterns on Stage 1.  Stage 2 seems like its shorter too.
Border Team's spread is so much more useful than the slight power and speed MariAli have, considering how much the 1st stage bosses move around.
I think Alice's bomb could use an additional explosion in the center.  If lives could be earned through score, like in EoSD, that would help a lot.
I noticed there are extra bosses according to Warugaki's comic.  Are those in?  What are the criteria for those to unlock?

Anyway, thanks and congratulations for releasing your game Helepolis.  Really excited to see you make the best game as you see fit.

KaiserKnuckle

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I noticed there are extra bosses according to Warugaki's comic.  Are those in?  What are the criteria for those to unlock?

From what I could guess with the term 'high result', it either means you have to get through the stage without a certain number of deaths or by collecting enough Fever points.
░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

Helepolis

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I have been bashing my head for making the "Ex" bosses bit more obvious in how/where they appear when I had already launched the game. Even though I have a solid plan in my head on making this bit more easier to discover with the next update, I will try to hint a bit without plain spoiling it:

Hina, Iku and Tewi
These bosses are not really "Extra" but are the actual Owner/Master of each area and usually don't bother with the management. The bosses you face and challenge, like Pierre, are underlings and operate under their owner/master. They won't show up to waste their time on a lousy dancer like you. Unless...

...you somehow manage to "lure out" or "piss off" the owner/master of each stage. So you will need to shine with Fever and also cause a lot of trouble by performing almost perfectly against their spell cards! 

Maybe then the owner/master might notice you.

Rumours also say the owners are aware of each other's business. So they will keep an eye on the news.


Note
- The reportmanga-like advertisement of Warugaki actually spoiled the owner/master. Initially we planned on hiding them so people had to discover them, but eventually we didn't care :V
- Well, not that it would stop people from simply browsing the folders and notice the portraits :V
- Also clever programmers can seek out the information anyway.

« Last Edit: June 24, 2015, 08:48:58 AM by Helepolis »

Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ full release v.1.11 ]
« Reply #156 on: January 06, 2016, 08:21:43 AM »
I found this game recently on the Doujin Style website on the front page. I'm glad I did because I find this game quite enjoyable!

Everyone who worked on this game should give themselves a pat on the back. The backgrounds look just like ZUN's, the music fits the game like a glove and the character art is fantastic. Great work all around!

Pierre Fromage honestly had me in stitches and fighting him with Beethoven's Virus in the background really got my blood pumping like playing ZUN's games douse. Great choice for a boss theme. Ero Nue was great, don't nerf the sex appeal there ; P.

I guess I was one of the rare ones who made it past the first stage but I still have yet to make it to Amakasu Barley Tenji on stage 2. I really think this game can do with at least a set amount of continues (3 at most I would think) just so that people who are not as experienced at Danmaku can experience the whole game for themselves instead of replaying stage 1 over and over. Make a bad ending for if people do continue as well, just to keep them on their toes.

The game can use a little more polish though. The sprites for the in game characters could use some animations besides just being 1 frame as they are now. A small music room could be a good addition as well so some people won't bombard you with "OMG, What music is this. Sauce plz!" Apart from that, I'm loving the game.

Thanks for making an English option for your game and I will definitely look forward to seeing what additions you will put in the game later on. Keep up the good work! ; )

*Edit*

I made it to Amakasu! Seriously, I love that guy ^^.

Yukari's Laser bomb sounds so powerful and destructive. it gives me shivers every time!
« Last Edit: January 06, 2016, 09:26:45 AM by HalfGrand »

Helepolis

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ full release v.1.11 ]
« Reply #157 on: January 07, 2016, 02:10:59 PM »
I am glad you experienced it here and there as we intended. I have to thank of course Koutaq, ExPorygon for their help with music (more people offered but due to time constraints I had to make some choices).

Your feedback is interesting. I am not saying this because "I have to say this and you have to accept feedback regardless". No I really mean it. And I will tell you all why. First of all the feedback I received from various choices indicates that several things are missing or need to be done differently. This made me brainstorm a small list of things to-do to improve the experience.

Of course I am very proud of the overall result / art. I love Ero-Nue. I love to entertain. And it seems this love and entertainment has reached the players. Good! However! Yes, there is a classic 'but'. Work needs to be done. Sprites, music perhaps more ZUNish, continue system and the list goes on.

I do have also immediately a small announcement to make.


People who roam/lurk the Cafe section probably discovered that I have a new job which made me very happy. After a month of holiday and heading out for a week to embrace Letty in Iceland, I feel completely recharged. Not just in my life but also for possible Danmakufu work. You might have noticed the three tutorials I suddenly summoned within just a week period. That is the effect of inspiration bombs and energy fuses. However, for Danmakufu they still lack a little bit. As in, I don't have the exact urge yet to start steaming again. Though I think that might change if I realise my Reitaisai 2016 visit.

I don't intend on re-releasing the game on CD (well, not yet so far) but I do intend on releasing an update by that time and just be circle-space seller for the fun. (I love the Doujin community activities for some reason).

Anyway, there are some things being planned. Not going to sum them up down here as in "Do A, Do B". But do expect an update for Touhou Hou Enbu, with both new content to play as well as fixes/changed. There won't be new stages like Stage 4, 5 or 6. I am suspecting Warugaki wants to work very hard on his own personal work so therefore I am not going to burden him with more requests for portraits or sprites. (That is also the reason why the attack animation sprites are only 1 sprite). We simply did not have the time and doubting will have them now. Unless I learn to do it.

Therefore the version might be magically upped to v1.2 due to this. Or if something big happens version 2.0 :V  We'll see.

Funny how you also noted Bad Endings HalfGrand, those were originally planned for the initial release. Including the ending screens. So that is something you can definitely expect in the upcoming update.

--Helepolis

Sparen

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ full release v.1.11 ]
« Reply #158 on: January 09, 2016, 09:42:32 PM »
So after seeing the recent posts, I decided to give this game another shot (I never made it past the Stage 1 boss on my previous playthroughs).

The game is in fact significantly more balanced than I had initially expected, though the general lack of extends and extra bombs can be painful. The main complaint I have, however, is the Stage 2 Boss. But not the boss - the background, or something. Because the moment the pre-boss dialogue started, the FPS went straight from 50+ to a solid 10, and remained that way through the non spell and into the next spell. Since it did not fix itself upon the start of Nonspell 2, I suspect you have some kind of extremely expensive task running in the background.

This seems to be more of a potential flaw in object and resource control since the danmaku is not to blame. I personally believe it to be an issue with the background at that point but it could also be an issue in regards to something the boss is doing (that other bosses are not doing).

Just wanted to point it out, because a captured spell card at 10 FPS is not rewarding in the slightest.

Edit: For some reason, it mysteriously fixed itself halfway through Spell 2.



Other concerns
-FPS Bug - FPS of 8 will left-align, FPS of 09 or above will right-align and have two digits, ex: 09
-Spellcard Practice HighScore issue - shows the high score for the difficulty. Better to have the high score for the spell itself or simply 0s.
-0 position Enemy Marker - when an enemy is defeated, the enemy marker, instead of deleting right away, first moves to (0, bottom of screen), as can be seen in spell practice. Not really a problem but after clearing a spell card, you can see the enemy marker, which may or may not be optimal.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2016, 09:58:38 PM by Sparen »

Helepolis

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ full release v.1.11 ]
« Reply #159 on: January 10, 2016, 12:29:04 PM »
The dialogue pre-fight is indeed something that has been bothering me. Good point being raised here. Troublesome to hear the FPS lags at 10. Even though you're the first one to suffer from it. I shall take a look into the process in which the dialogue is handled. Perhaps it is the BG.

Other concerns noted for research and fix where possible.

Helepolis

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ full release v.1.11 ]
« Reply #160 on: December 24, 2016, 07:27:12 PM »
Hello everybody. Merry Christmas first of all to those living in GMT+++ time zones.

Perhaps some people might have caught a glimpse on my twitter about progress for a future update. If not, then let me announce it again here. Again. Because if I read back my initial response in January, I was a bit too over-confident that I would get an update going for 2016 Reitaisai. Silly me. With a job-change around that time and lots of RL stuff, it was a terrible promise to make. I should slap myself multiple times for that. Making promises and unable to meet up is something I dislike personally. I sincerely apologise for this.

So, without further false promises but possibilities: I intend on attempting to release an update for this game in 2017's Reitaisai. Initially I also said I wouldn't release it on CD. That might be reconsidered, depending on whether Warugaki has the time to draw me new art. I will discuss this with him.

So is there a point to this post? Yes, there is:

What is done?
- Continue system has been implemented. Undecided how many you get and whether this will be hard-defined in code or user-defined through options menu.
- Some nifty HUD improvements have been made to aid the player and make things bit more flashy. This includes the aid through hints of unlocking the true bosses.
- Yukari's Ran have been edited to make it as close as similar to Imperishable Night.

What is being made or ongoing?
- Sanpo Mode have been initiated. Work in progress. (Series of small fights or stages. Until I have a better name for describing: "Going for a walk" I'll call it さんぽ 'Sanpo'
- Stages and fairy patterns.
- Edit/adjust players
- Potential boss attacks / spell card rework.
- Reworking Spell Practice.
- Scoring
- Spelling / English / Grammar where encountered.
- Bugs and glitches, where reproduced have been tackled / are being tackled.

No promises but once above done, then I will try to do:
- Allow single girl to be selected instead of forced teams (like IN)
- Add ending art.
- Replacing the music.
- Reworking SFX.

I have a full list composed from e-mail, PM and forum post which shows exactly what is done and not. Expect a full list like those developers where each change is reported somewhat in a fashionaaabluh list. Because we all love lists, right? Right!?

That is all for now. Merry Christmas!
« Last Edit: December 27, 2016, 09:12:21 AM by Helepolis »

Sparen

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ working on new version ]
« Reply #161 on: December 24, 2016, 08:42:02 PM »
It's nice to see that work is still being done to improve this project. Hope everything goes smoothly!

Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ working on new version ]
« Reply #162 on: December 27, 2016, 08:24:09 AM »
I'm looking forward to your work Hele. Admittedly, I will be sad if Disco Inferno isn't the menu music anymore. Also, what's Sanpo mode?

Helepolis

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ working on new version ]
« Reply #163 on: December 27, 2016, 09:10:20 AM »
Woops, why do I keep using the Japanese name for that. Will edit that out.

Sanpo Mode is an adventure mode with boss only fights (with limited attacks/spellcards) or very short stages. See it as 'Going for a walk'.




Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ working on new version ]
« Reply #164 on: December 27, 2016, 09:22:54 PM »
I would really like an easy mode. I liked the style but lack the patience to get good enough to even get past the first stage. :ohdear:

Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ working on new version ]
« Reply #165 on: January 07, 2017, 10:19:21 AM »
A bit late to the party perhaps, but I'm oh so glad to see the things in store.
Especially Sanpo mode and scoring mechanics. Would be fun to try out both~
And despite playing the game so much and still finding it interesting, I bet those two will make things even better.

Also good to see bugs and glitches being fixed. Sure most of them were minor ones, but things like dying to an invinsible star on the second boss (the first run getting to them on hard mode even) or things not unspawning on the final boss are still painful memories.

I already bet changes being made on (non)spells and fairy patterns are really gonna throw me off. Darn muscle memory.

I wonder if someone will be able to beat lunatic someday.

Anyway, good luck on the hard work! I'll be very much looking forward to see the results~

Helepolis

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ working on new version ]
« Reply #166 on: January 08, 2017, 12:35:26 PM »
I would really like an easy mode. I liked the style but lack the patience to get good enough to even get past the first stage. :ohdear:
Easy mode is something has been crossing my mind a lot of times. Except I don't think I will implement it, as for a 3-stage game it would be too much coding. If I do ever intend to expand up to six stages, perhaps considerable. I hope the continue system will somewhat grant the players the ability to reach at least stage two, so it can be unlocked for practise.

I already bet changes being made on (non)spells and fairy patterns are really gonna throw me off. Darn muscle memory.
There won't be drastic changes on existing patterns. They might be fully be changed (so it becomes a new spellcard / nonspell). The most bothersome thing for me personally is the flow of the stage patterns. I feel like there is too much idle sitting or less excitement through some parts. Especially stage one is problematic.


Adventure Mode will be minor addition to the game, so don't expect it to blow away your mind. The real value hopefully will be realised through Last Words and Scoring system.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2017, 12:37:17 PM by Helepolis »

Helepolis

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Hey there everybody. Reitaisai is closing in fast on me and therefore it is time to update on this whole project. Without making up too much excuses or TL DR post let us look at what I said during Christmas:

What is being made or ongoing?
- Sanpo Mode have been initiated. Work in progress. (Series of small fights or stages. Until I have a better name for describing: "Going for a walk" I'll call it さんぽ 'Sanpo'
- Stages and fairy patterns.
- Edit/adjust players
- Potential boss attacks / spell card rework.
- Reworking Spell Practice.
- Scoring
- Spelling / English / Grammar where encountered.
- Bugs and glitches, where reproduced have been tackled / are being tackled.


And now let us announce what has been fulfilled or not:
- Sanpo Mode → Scrapped,  it didn't fit. Felt bad. And I hate making bad things.
- Stages and fairy patterns → won't do this version
- Edit/adjust players → Done
- Potential boss attack/spell card rework → Very minor tweaks. No major changes or new stuff.
- Reworking Spell Practise → Done.
- Scoring → Various classic scoring partially implemented.
- Spelling(ry → Based on received feedback from players corrected
- Bugs and glitches → Quite a lot fixed


Technically I am splitting the releases at this point. At Reitaisai I hope to release version 1.5 and in the future version 2.0
  • Is v1.5 worth to play? → Yes, if you were cursing at me a lot for not giving a chance to progress in the game. The continue system should hopefully cover this.
  • Is v2.0 worth it as Sanpo Mode was scrapped? → Yes, I wish to update artwork/sfx/music as well and add Last Words and maybe an Extra stage.
  • Are my replays compatible? → Unfortunately not.
  • Is my progress lost? → Sadly, that as well.


Please watch warmly for the v1.5 release.

Edit:
That said, I hope the continue system doesn't cause de-syncing in the replays. Will require some extensive testing.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2017, 02:32:03 PM by Helepolis »

Helepolis

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Re: 東方宝演舞 ~ Treasured Dance Performance [ working on v1.5 ]
« Reply #168 on: April 23, 2017, 07:48:22 PM »
Howdy all, I am currently in full testing mode for the last changes. This week I've fixed quite a lot of things from simple graphical errors to major script errors. Tomorrow I will do final testing of all game modes, spell cards and replay system. After that I am left at the player's mercy. Praying that they won't encounter nasty bugs or errors. Proper play testing is unfortunately not conducted, something I would really want to but there is simply no time. There were a lot of major changes planned, such as redoing the collisions for the bullets, replace spell cards etc etc. As said in previous posts, these had to be postponed. The core game play is hardly modified and thus I don't expect people to experience a shock in v1.5.

These are the changes which will take place:
v1.50
    New:
    - Spell Practice updated. Now displays total captures and high score
    - Continue system added. In Story Mode the player has 2 continues
    - Implemented partially general Touhou Style scoring (clear bonus, graze, point value, etc.)

    Game play:
    - Minor adjustments on boss attack or spell card pattern adjusted

    HUD & User Interface:
    - HUD or messages have been adjusted to guide the player during story mode
    - Incorrect number display for counters fixed
    - ENEMY marker hides correctly when the boss or duo is defeated
    - Score value for Stage and Spell Practice is now separately tracked

    Player Characters:
    - Marisa shot type slightly adjusted. Fires now extra missiles at angle for wider shot
    - A problem with Alice' laser has been fixed
    - Yukari's Ran homing abilities adjusted. Now resembles Touhou 8 better
    - Invincibility after pichuun 2s -> 4s

    Bugs and optimisation:
    - Game menus adjusted for smoother transition (hopefully)
    - An invisible menu option at the pause screen for replays has been fixed
    - Exiting to title after death resulted in missplaced graphics. This has been fixed
    - Marisa's spell card caused lots of unnecessary objects. These are now correctly deleted
    - Selected Team is now memorized when exiting or entering menus
    - Some undeleted sprites (effects, mini fifi-chan, etc) now are proper deleted when they no longer exist (unsure)
    - All duet bosses now proper process their effects

    Other improvements:
     - English and Japanese text corrections
     - BGM usage slightly modified
     - Some spell card backgrounds changed or modified


Well, there you have it folks. I hope to be able to post the new download links tomorrow evening.  Patching won't be necessary, the full package will be released to avoid bad installation.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2017, 08:20:24 PM by Helepolis »

Helepolis

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Version 1.50 has been now released on BulletForge and Mega. You can find the download links in the opening post.

I am keeping my fingers crossed for any nasty things. I have been testing and fixing things for almost a week but nothing can prevent the mercy of players who will run into different things in comparison to a developer. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh no turning back now! Anyway, there you have it! Version 1.50 is released.


Sparen

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My impressions:

-Stage 1 is extremely easy on Normal mode until right after the mid boss, when the difficulty spikes massively. I was able to capture the mid boss spell on my first try in over a year. Overall I felt the mid boss and prior were too easy, while immediately after the mid boss was a little too hard. Pierre's difficulty is a little hard but otherwise appropriate for the difficulty level.
-Midboss 1 ran at 60 FPS. Boss 1 (Pierre) ran at 13-15. I had this problem before and I don't know the cause. Halfway through second boss non, FPS gradually increased to 30. After that, Spell 2 ran at 40 FPS and was 60 by the time Nonspell 3 happened.
-After Pierre, music just abruptly ends rather than fading out. Sort of sudden, can be improved.
-The moment Tenji's boss scene begins to load, FPS crashes like with Pierre, except the dialogue runs at 2 FPS. Once the battle starts, Tenji's magic circle appears in bottom left hand quarter of screen for some reason, and pausing the game also lags for some reason. At this point the game was unplayable.



Mixi? and Kogasa-Nue runs at 60 FPS, so I assume the sharp lag only happens with bosses and not mid bosses. So the cause is likely something specific to how you handle bosses.

As usual, running via Wine 2.6 on macOS Sierra.

Ah man, this makes me quite happy~
Did a quick test run because I couldn't resist. I'm clearly getting rusty though, seeing as I couldn't even get to half of the 3rd boss.
Guess I'll try to find some time later to play this endlessly again though, and keep an eye out for bugs.
Still, my fps issues actually seem to have improved somewhat so far (aside from a specific Tenji spell as usual).
Though I do agree with Sparen that the music ends a bit too abruptly.
Speaking of sounds, the stage 3 midboss for the magic team did get some new sound effects I hear, but when pausing during them, they do kinda transition weirdly to the pause screen. While I'm at it though, the new spellcard background there is quite pretty.
And... my. I actually have hopes again for getting the Magic team good ending. Marisa's shottype improvement makes quite the difference already.
Seriously. Best change.
...
Also is that an easter egg I spot somewhere in the image folders?
Anyway,
Thanks for the great work so far~
« Last Edit: April 26, 2017, 08:22:23 AM by Danicky98 »

Helepolis

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I'm back from holiday so I had time to study the two posts.

@ Sparen, I honestly can't seem to detect the cause for the framerate issues. Tested it on three different machines ranging from desktop to laptops. Windows OS. As far as I know, midbosses are handled similar as regular bosses (plural scripts, dialogue, death, etc). I find it quite interesting to read that midbosses cause less frame issues compared to the actual bosses, curious.

The patterns for stages / fairies haven't been changed. Music advise is noted.

@ Danick98, the easter egg you might have spotted is actually unwanted image :V the idea had been removed permanently. The sfx has been noted.

Colticide

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Oh! Is this the game you were working on I heard about a few years ago? I really should pay attention to these a lot more cause this looks amazing! is this a paid product?
Touhou Fugyouseki ~ Nightmare of Sleeping Girl English Patch
I run a crappy YouTube channel, check it out if you wish~

Sparen

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The patterns for stages / fairies haven't been changed.

o_O

I swear it's easier now. I guess it's just my imagination? Or maybe there was another change that made it easier. idk.

Helepolis

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is this a paid product?
No, free to play and download.

o_O
I swear it's easier now. I guess it's just my imagination? Or maybe there was another change that made it easier. idk.
If you're using Magic Team, then Marisa's wider shot can be the cause of that conclusion.