Author Topic: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5.9 (updated 11/29/10)  (Read 109305 times)

Stuffman

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Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5.9 (updated 11/29/10)
« on: June 26, 2009, 05:13:13 AM »



Portrait of Strange Relic is a Touhou fangame for Danmakufu that has been in production for entirely too long. Yet progress continues!

PoSR is about the misadventures of Josette, an artist from the human village, as she attempts to make her way home, lost in the wilderness of Gensokyo. Only YOU can bring her home safely! PoSR has a mix of new characters and oldies from the PC-98 era.

Download here! (59.4 MB)

5.9 is out, just to prove I've actually been working on it. This beta includes:
- Half of Stage 6, up to the midboss.
- Complete reworks of every existing stage, including an entirely new Stage 4.
- You can now punish yourself for being a bad person by playing the extremely unfair Lunatic mode.
- A handful of boss attacks and spellcards were reworked, Stella's in particular.
- By popular demand, a custom bullet sheet!

NOTE: Stage 6 is totally unfinished, you can only play it in Normal mode. Attempting to play it in any other difficulty will result in errors.

See my latest post in this thread for some more in-depth discussion.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2010, 09:18:25 AM by Stuffman »

Drake

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2009, 05:28:24 AM »
This is so amazing thus far. The thing that touched me the most immediately was the disappearing of the Stage 3 ghost at the start. I was like "OH JESUS"


JESUS STAGE 5 IS THE GREATEST EVER

KOTOHIME IS A SCATTERBRAINED HALF-POLICE HALF-RAPIST OH GOD LOL
« Last Edit: June 26, 2009, 05:48:26 AM by Drake »

A Colorful Calculating Creative and Cuddly Crafty Callipygous Clever Commander
- original art by Aiけん | ウサホリ -

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2009, 05:49:01 AM »
If you kill him in time you get a big batch of point items! He still comes back later though.

Oh shit that reminds me, I didn't change the point values on Stage 5 cards and I forgot to re-add point item drops after most spellcards. I knew I was forgetting some stuff. Oh well, next beta :V

Drake

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #3 on: June 26, 2009, 05:51:36 AM »
^


Also, Bombing Run is a hilarious spell to play. Love it.

A Colorful Calculating Creative and Cuddly Crafty Callipygous Clever Commander
- original art by Aiけん | ウサホリ -

Herasy

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #4 on: June 26, 2009, 09:31:51 AM »
Whoa this looks amazing! *downloads*

KomeijiKoishi

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #5 on: June 26, 2009, 11:04:17 AM »
I can't believe there is AGAIN no way to play all stages at once! Beta 3.5 had it, why Beta 4 and 5 don' have that? D8

Herasy

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #6 on: June 26, 2009, 12:30:44 PM »
I can't believe there is AGAIN no way to play all stages at once! Beta 3.5 had it, why Beta 4 and 5 don' have that? D8
Works fine for me, played from stage 1-5

Anyway I just completed it on Normal, Classicist Yellow shot type(I'm a sucker for the homing). This is fantastic! The spellcards, the characters, the really awesome bomb, everything!

Of course that didn't stop me from getting beaten to a pulp on every single stage, sure it was my first time playing and I didn't know what to expect (Not to mention I am a little rusty due to not playing too many Danmaku games lately) but for Normal I thought this was incredibly difficult, felt more like Normal should be Hard and (while I have yet to play hard) Hard should be Lunatic.

But of course that is just me and my lack of danmaku skill (I still haven't cleared IN Normal yet, let alone SA Normal), I still applaud you for creating this fangame that has some really neat spellcards that in my own opinion surpass alot of what I have seen in CtC and other Danmakufu projects.

Good luck on finishing this, I will be sure to keep an eye on it  :)

*EDIT* Actually read the rest of the readme, guess it's suppose to be a hard game.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2009, 12:35:38 PM by Herasy »

KomeijiKoishi

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2009, 12:39:06 PM »
I just wanna have the option. I mean, I probably wouldn't argue if there wasn't any "All in one"-script where you don't have to choose every stage separately. But it was already included in Beta 3.5. It's like in Fable 2, where you don't have a world map. It doesn't really hurt, but it doesn't help either.

Drake

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2009, 01:54:39 PM »
There is.

A Colorful Calculating Creative and Cuddly Crafty Callipygous Clever Commander
- original art by Aiけん | ウサホリ -

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2009, 01:55:06 PM »
Koishi, what on earth are you talking about? Every release since beta 2 has had the full game scripts.


KomeijiKoishi

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2009, 02:14:38 PM »
Wha-WHAT?

...

If you excuse me, I'm going to crucify myself for posting two senseless and stupid comments in this thread.


Kanako Yasaka

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2009, 04:22:47 PM »
I was wondering when you'd make another topic for this.


Sucks that I can't play it for about 2 weeks. :<

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2009, 05:23:30 PM »
Quote
So I guess Ellen is the last boss :V

Nope!

I'll give you a hint. The final boss is one of the following people:
- EX Orange
- Yandere Luize
- The Return of Kana: Kana Strikes Back
- Magic Stone #4 ("Out of the five of us, I am the third strongest.")
- Nameless Yellow LLS Midboss
- The Bake Ghost, transformed into loli mode
- Pajama Yuka
- SoEW Marisa
- Ruukoto
- VIVIT

Iryan

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2009, 05:28:52 PM »
Yes, YES, finally!

Well, first off, the things that you already know.

Danmaku: Great!
Selfmade graphics: Great! I wish I was as good at pixel art. <.<
Use of music: Great! (lol @ Lunatic Princess for Kotohime). Points deducted for putting Kana into the game without using her godly theme.  :V
Story, selfmade characters, use of preexisting characters and dialog: Greater than great. The dialog had me on the floor several times and containes so many references.
Overall: You are god. *bow*


Problems:
I don't know if it is just me, but Ginny's second nonspell doesn't work on normal mode. The way it looks in the game, I think she fires her firework bullets, but the bullets in which they are supposed to explode have a speed of zero.

Other criticism:
The first two stages on normal mode have a quite high difficulty for, well, the first two stages of normal mode. The boss battles are a little longer than usual, I think, and the high speed laser bullet in Stella's Orion spell card will probably nuke any player the first time they see it.
The firework bullets in Ginny's Colorful Inferno leave a trail so thin that I died to bullets that appeared to come out of nowhere. The background plays into this, too. I suggest having the firework bullets leave a few additional bullets with the same delay but a shotkilltime of zero so that the trail is more noticable.
Old Danmakufu stuff can be found here!

"As the size of an explosion increases, the numbers of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero."

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2009, 05:46:22 PM »
Quote
Points deducted for putting Kana into the game without using her godly theme.

I would've let Edna use it, except just like Maniacal Princess, there are exactly zero remixes of Lost Dream.  :'(

Quote
Problems:
I don't know if it is just me, but Ginny's second nonspell doesn't work on normal mode. The way it looks in the game, I think she fires her firework bullets, but the bullets in which they are supposed to explode have a speed of zero.

Fffff you're right, this is what I get for not doing a full Normal playthrough. Must've messed it up when I was adding the colors to it. Might need to release a beta 5.5.

Quote
The first two stages on normal mode have a quite high difficulty for, well, the first two stages of normal mode. The boss battles are a little longer than usual
Yeah this is basically intentional, the game doesn't start slow like the others. But you also start with five lives instead of three.

Also, complaints on other cards duly noted.

Iryan

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2009, 06:10:52 PM »
Quote
Points deducted for putting Kana into the game without using her godly theme.

I would've let Edna use it, except just like Maniacal Princess, there are exactly zero remixes of Lost Dream.  :'(
I wasn't entirely being serious (see smiley). As much as I love Lost Dream, I don't think the melancholic tune fits Edna that well. Then again, you know your own characters better than me  :V.

If all else fails, you can record the music directly from the emulator and then cut it so that it loops properly. You wouldn't be the first one.  :P
Also, OBJECTION!

Edit: DOUBLE OBJECTION! WITH VOCALS!

Edit: Even moar ubjackshun!

Edit: Holy *** on a ******* sandwich! This one would possibly even fit a boss battle!
« Last Edit: June 26, 2009, 10:53:59 PM by Iryan »
Old Danmakufu stuff can be found here!

"As the size of an explosion increases, the numbers of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero."

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2009, 06:34:36 PM »
Quote
Also, OBJECTION!

Oh shit, Kana EWI? I need to figure out how to get MP3s off of Youtube.

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #18 on: June 27, 2009, 01:06:19 AM »
Random comments:

Josette Y's homing shots do too much damage.... The whole game is a complete cakewalk with her homing shots covering the screen. You never have to go under any boss for any reason, since the spellcards die just as fast for Josette R (or negligably different time intervals). The stages are... They.... Well, they are. I wouldn't know what half the enemies shoot if I didn't play the other characters.

Kotohime is lol hard on both modes, but I like it like that. Others mightn't though. Particularly her first spellcard, Blast Sign "Omnidirectional Bombing", where she approaches really high y-coordinates, considering what she's shooting and the velocity that the shrapnel expands.

No Lunatic mode yet.... Hnnngggh.

Aaaaaaand your backgrounds are God tier.

CK Crash

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #19 on: June 27, 2009, 01:21:18 AM »
Yeah, I'm going to agree that Kotohime caught me off guard, especially the slight curve to her non-spell bullets, which makes it near impossible for me to predict their trajectory until I'm already (failing at) dodging them. And a few of her spellcards seemed to lack any real strategy aside from "get the hell away from the bombs and hope you don't get screwed over by the other crap she's shooting". However, I think that her attack style in general does support her status as a maniacal princess (kaguya who?).

Quote from: Naut
I like it like that
proof that it's too hard

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #20 on: June 27, 2009, 01:25:46 AM »
Oh yeah, stage five rapes my framerate :(

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #21 on: June 27, 2009, 02:04:32 AM »
Quote
Josette Y's homing shots do too much damage.... The whole game is a complete cakewalk with her homing shots covering the screen. You never have to go under any boss for any reason, since the spellcards die just as fast for Josette R (or negligably different time intervals). The stages are... They.... Well, they are. I wouldn't know what half the enemies shoot if I didn't play the other characters.

It's kind of funny because Josette Y's unfocused shot does about 60% the DPS of Josette R. The trouble with a homing type in PoSR is that most of my mooks typically have low health and come in large groups, so when they come onscreen one at a time Josette Y kills them before they can do anything. She's bad in situations where she gets mobbed, though. I suppose I need to think of what I can do about this. I'll probably load most of the damage into the yellow arrows and limit their trajectory.

Quote
Kotohime is lol hard on both modes, but I like it like that. Others mightn't though. Particularly her first spellcard, Blast Sign "Omnidirectional Bombing", where she approaches really high y-coordinates, considering what she's shooting and the velocity that the shrapnel expands.

I guess I didn't make it obvious enough, but in the second wave of Omnidirectional Bombing you're supposed to get in Kotohime's face and go to the center so you don't have the bombs explode right next to you. I'll try to think of an adjustment.

Quote
No Lunatic mode yet.... Hnnngggh.

Probably not until beta 6 since it'll need a lot of special attention...however it looks like a beta 5.5 will probably be necessary so I'll probably put Easy mode in there. You like Easy mode, right Naut?  :V

Quote
Yeah, I'm going to agree that Kotohime caught me off guard, especially the slight curve to her non-spell bullets, which makes it near impossible for me to predict their trajectory until I'm already (failing at) dodging them. And a few of her spellcards seemed to lack any real strategy aside from "get the hell away from the bombs and hope you don't get screwed over by the other crap she's shooting". However, I think that her attack style in general does support her status as a maniacal princess (kaguya who?).

During playtesting I generally settled on the following strategies (I use Josette B for testing purposes usually since she's the worst against bosses):

Omnidirectional Bombing: See above
Bomb Threat: Go to side, stream shots to keep them on that side, run to other side when bomb is about to explode. Usually need to cut across the blue arrows.
White Elephant: Don't spend too much time under Kotohime, go to the side to draw out the bubble stream and clear some room, then slowly pass her and shoot her up as you make your way to the other side.
Black Lotus: Stay low to let the black shots straighten out before they get to you. Easier to judge where they're going. Don't try to dodge everything from the exact center.
Bombing Run: Watch the flashing bombs to estimate where they'll explode, adjust movement accordingly.
Magic Pendant: lol

Quote
Oh yeah, stage five rapes my framerate  :(

So it's slowing you down too, huh. Might need to cut back on the trees.

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #22 on: June 27, 2009, 03:47:33 AM »
Quote
Kotohime is lol hard on both modes, but I like it like that. Others mightn't though. Particularly her first spellcard, Blast Sign "Omnidirectional Bombing", where she approaches really high y-coordinates, considering what she's shooting and the velocity that the shrapnel expands.

I guess I didn't make it obvious enough, but in the second wave of Omnidirectional Bombing you're supposed to get in Kotohime's face and go to the center so you don't have the bombs explode right next to you. I'll try to think of an adjustment.

Thats what I do. I suppose it could be that obvious, I'm just trying to adjust for standard Hard level gameplay.... Most people don't like getting snug with the boss unless they're playing as Aya and trying to look up the boss' skirt. I don't actually mind the card, but keep in mind that unless you draw a well-defined path for them, people usually hug the bottom of the screen (thus lol wtf on this card).

Quote
No Lunatic mode yet.... Hnnngggh.

Probably not until beta 6 since it'll need a lot of special attention...

Special attention...? Are you aware of how other people tested their lunatic modes on this forum?

They DIDN'T.


[size=9]I LOVE IT.[/size]

KomeijiKoishi

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #23 on: June 27, 2009, 09:04:54 AM »
(playing Stage 5, still crucified)

My biggest problem os Kotohime's midboss card. It's flatout IMPOSSIBLE.

I mean... slowly curving bullets AND random big bullets?

ON NORMAL?

But it could also be that I just suck.

Rest of the battle is fine and fun for me, though.

MCXD

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #24 on: June 27, 2009, 11:19:28 AM »
Unlike the rest of your difficulty-whores, I actually didn't find Stage 5 fun at all. It's simply too hard, even on Normal. Way too hard.

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #25 on: June 27, 2009, 11:27:21 AM »
Unlike the rest of your difficulty-whores, I actually didn't find Stage 5 fun at all. It's simply too hard, even on Normal. Way too hard.

That hurts. Stuffman did say he is making an easy mode for beta 5.5, so relax brah.

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #26 on: June 27, 2009, 07:37:53 PM »
Well the question I would ask is, how hard is too hard? This is the Stage 5 boss, we're talking Youmu-level here. It should be normal to lose a few lives to her.

MCXD

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #27 on: June 27, 2009, 07:48:32 PM »
Well the question I would ask is, how hard is too hard? This is the Stage 5 boss, we're talking Youmu-level here. It should be normal to lose a few lives to her.

Well, at least to me, it jumps the Youmu, by-passes the Orin, and is probably (overall) harder than any canon Touhou Stage 5 by a decent measure.

Considering I'm a Normal player in the main games, this is just... yeah. It's also a huge step up from Stage 4 for some reason, and Stage 4 was ALREADY a step-up from 3. I simply can't keep up with half of it. Especially since there are various other problems, like bullets in some attacks/cards blending in with the background.

If you want I'll do a more detailed... thing, later.

EDIT: Mind you, I don't think the stage is exactly BAD... just way unbalanced difficulty-wise, and impossible for me to play normally.
« Last Edit: June 27, 2009, 07:54:01 PM by MCXD »

Stuffman

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Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #28 on: June 27, 2009, 08:17:46 PM »
Yeah if you want to cover some specific trouble spots I'll look at adjustments I could make, since apparently it's not clear how you're supposed to approach a couple of her attacks.

Re: Portrait of Strange Relic: Beta 5 (updated 6/26/09)
« Reply #29 on: June 27, 2009, 08:51:07 PM »
Give out more extra lives for one. One extra life per every 200 point items is not often enough :<.