Touhou Jinkoushin ~ Crazed Artificial Mind: A Danmaku Dungeon Crawler (V0.22)

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

In the loosest sense of the term.

WARNINGS:
There are probably bugs everywhere. Look for them plz!
No stage backgrounds yet; eventually, there will be stage backgrounds to help distinguish the different dungeons/floors.
I was too lazy to make Misaki's, Prala's, and Halaz's sprites; after making the players, Ryoko-boss, Sumire-boss, and Hayate-boss (not actually in this one!, unless I forgot to delete her files, in which case she's using Setsuna's sprite 'cuz hers is still lying in my Pictures folder) all in a row, I got, er, sick of spriting. So I replaced them with Yukari, Kaguya, and Mokou from CtC. They'll be gone in the next version, I hope.
Excepting the stalactites and stalagmites in Stage 4, the stage enemies all have one sprite... the same one the bosses use for familiars! lololololol That sprite is the Mid-Childan magic circle from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, if anyone cares.

INFO:
This game has you navigating a dungeon populated by danmaku-spewing enemies.
The key is to navigate the rooms, flipping switches, until you eventually find and defeat the boss of the stage. A simple concept that gets complicated when you realize I didn't include the maps for the dungeons that actually need maps. (:<

WHY? I MEAN, SERIOUSLY, LUCKY STAR TOUHOU DUNGEON CRAWLER? WTF?:
BECAUSE I CAN.

AND WHY IS THIS SO BAD AND LOW-QUALITY?:
BECAUSE I SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. Same goes for the sprites' quality, before you ask; I just churned 'em out so you'd know which boss was which.

DOWNLOAD LINK: Contains lots more relevant information.
http://bulletforge.org/u/supreme-gamesmaster-yddisac/p/touhou-jinkoushin-crazed-artificial-mind-darkeye-book-i/v/022

Lemme know what I missed. I know I missed a crapload of stuff. >_>

With all due respect,
   ~Supreme Gamesmaster Yddisac
       Nantettatte densetsu mata au hi ma de~

[Stuffman]

Okay I can kinda dig what you're trying to do here, feels kind of like old Zelda. However, I think it feels very awkward to move about the map in four directions, but to still have the danmaku aspect be purely vertical, especially when you have to move down through where enemies are spawning.. Would you consider having the player navigate and fire in four directions, then switch to vertical mode for the bossfights?

The game is kind of nonsensical at first mainly due to lack of graphics, work on getting some backgrounds and enemy/object graphics so we can tell what we're looking at. Also consider not respawning enemies if you leave a room and go right back in, it would cut down on the tedium of navigating a bit.

I'm not sure if it's a bug or what but I couldn't find the green key in stage 2, I looped all the way around the top, then gained access to the lower rooms, and there was a green graphic down there but it was placed like a lock, but I could move through it anyway??

Anyway, all else aside the actual boss spellcards seemed very well designed, so hopefully you can get this all working smoothly.

[Suikama]

At least it doesn't lag to hell like mine :derp:

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

\The four-directional shot type is a good idea, but I'm worried about simultaneous button pressing. I don't want to do a You Are Newspaper-type super-awkward eight-D shot, and I don't see any way to do a lock-movement-change-shot-direction type change without . I decided to compromise and give the player shots omnidirectional aspects so I at least can have enemies come in from the side, bottom, etc. Unfortunately, as my early stage design was done in a very conceptual phase of development, I failed to actually use that ability until Stage 3, and didn't use it in a good way until Stage 4. :derp:

Relatedly, in the early stages in particular, some rooms are really awkward, especially the room you start the dungeon in. It killed me right away in Stage 3 when I accidentally re-entered. ;_; I think I did a much better job making the stage omnidirectional and keeping enemies away from the entrances/exits in Stage 4 than in the other stages, but it's tough to get there. I hope to fix some of those for Stage 2, especially the masses of enemies around the switches in stages 2 and 3 and the enemies that come in at the very beginning. Hopefully I'll redesign some of the early stages to better account for the different rooms and omnidirectional shots in a later version (0.12 will probably be mostly about other two playable characters and their corresponding Stage 2 bosses), thus giving the dungeons a more unified, four-directional feeling without awkward shooting mechanics.

Good idea about the respawning enemies. Oftentimes, you accidentally enter a room you've just cleared by accident after clearing another room; it's rather silly, and I definitely would like to fix that. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to do that without doing some kind of incredibly tedious common data fudging and/or turning off respawns for everz (which, as a Muramasa: the Demon Blade fan, I can tell you firsthand is boring as hell), so if I do that, it'll probably be in a much later release. (There's probably a simple solution I'm derpishly overlooking.) That said, I'll implement it as soon as I can find an elegant solution.

The green switch should appear in the top-centre of the screen after you defeat the miniboss, who in turn can be reached by going to the top centre room (with the four amulet-spewing enemies in the corners) and going down one. I managed to replicate the bug you mentioned, so I'm off to fix it. I'd also like to try leaving the doors closed until the switch is thrown, to avoid the annoying situation of having won the room but not properly thrown the switch (I thought I'd done that, but apparently not >_>).

I'm glad to know the bosses are well done.

[sumisumi]

Fun exploration.  I haven't had to draw any maps since Yume Nikki, so I'm pretty glad that you made me.
Konata's glyph on the bottom of the screen is a pretty cool way to defeat enemies below you without actually aiming below you.
Good job on the Konata player in general, actually.  I haven't tried the other ones yet, so I can't say anything about them.
As said above, good boss spells.  Stage 2 boss's last card was pretty boring, though.

I got to stage 3 and got a glitch so I had to quit.  I got into the room sealed by the second set of locks from the left side, and it froze immediately.  I think that means that you didn't intend for me to get in there before activating the switches to get in there from the bottom.

ALSO: 地紅神 is the best guess I can come up with.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

GAH. I forgot an N. And then copy/pasted. :derp:

I'll see if I can replicate that Stage 3 problem when I get home. I've never encountered anything like it.

I'm glad to know the exploration is fun. That way I can make it a gameplay mechanic instead of being arsed to make a working stage map. And I'm also glad Kona-chan's player is good.

Yeah, Hawkeye is boring as hell once the familiars are gone. The idea is to kill both of the familiars at once using the focus-lock option, which would minimize the ridiculous amount of item it takes, but... I'll see if I can find a way to make it more interesting.

Thanks for review~

EDIT: Ah, I see the problem. >_> Will be solved in the next release. That room isn't necessary to advance, just so you know; it instead contains a little something called a treasure chest.

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

Nantettatte densetsu mata au hi ma de~

Just to say, what the FUCK does that mean? attattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattattatta------?

Will download to see what it actually looks like since no screenshots.
Just don't disappoint me.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

Don't worry, it looks horrible.

Those are lyrics from "Nantettatte Densetsu," ending to a Lucky Star PS2 game and my usual Last Word theme. It roughly means, "Nantettatte densetsu*, see you in my free time."
*That's the best translation, for srs; it seems to be rather meaningless and serves only as a title drop. It means "after all legend," probably a reference to parables, urban legends, or familiar stories, given the context of the rest of the song. That is, insofar as I can tell.

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

Done downloading! Let's see how it is!


Menu:
Go use a custom background. At least don't use the ugly default background Danmakufu has.
hahaoldchaplevels. I'll choose the hardest level.

Game:
It seems the player's bullets are too opaque on some shot types/bombs. If I didn't know any better, I'd be mistaking them for enemy bullets!
Also, just first off the background makes the "go up" arrows a bit invisible. Every time I can progress, I always make sure whether I can go up or not. Ugh, I hate my dark screen.
... I can't progress. Ok, so what do I do after the first spell card?
... Never mind! I found the boss! I don't have paper ready at the moment, but I don't really care! Someone should look further into this bad maze.
Ok, so let's see. Boss sprite and cutin stolen from CtC, blah blah blah, I will stand on the boss on a bomb.
First boss: http://pastebin.com/mKYrdvhF
... Only an otaku can find his way around this maze. And I'm not an otaku.
Second midboss and boss (Konata): http://pastebin.com/dNFhPNGK
... Uhoh! It seems there is a problem with one of the rooms! Did you have testers for this before you released the game? ... Ah, I am disappoint. I'll get back to playing that later.
Eh, oh well. I'll get to the boss through main menu. Let's see!! ...
Pastebin for The Marauders here: http://pastebin.com/jyPrisc0

Others:
The dragon! Fuck you, it's a dragon!
I like Dragon Dance sorta. Other than it's from Pokemon.
Hm, all the Dragon can do after defeating all four familiars in the final spell card is nothing. Mind fixing it like you did for one of the other "final" spell cards?

[sumisumi]

... I can't progress. Ok, so what do I do after the first spell card?
... Never mind! I found the boss! I don't have paper ready at the moment, but I don't really care! Someone should look further into this bad maze.
... Only an otaku can find his way around this maze. And I'm not an otaku.

You sure play some obscure doujinshi for not being an otaku. ^_^;  I think lots of other people are capable of drawing maps on paper, either way.
And if you think the maze is bad then you have all the more reason to draw it and understand it better, although I saw nothing wrong with it.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

It's a twelve-stage game, so I'm not really worried about its being too easy so much as too hard -- I need a steady difficulty curve. And I don't want this to be insane, either; it'll be fairly easy for a fangame, since the dungeon-crawling aspect is the centre.
Okay, v0.12 should be out by Wednesday, containing the other two playable characters, fixes for the two aforementioned bugs (thanks!), the Stage 2 mid/bosses for the other two playable characters, more entertaining finishes to Hawkeye/Mysterious Flower/Draco Meteor. Main problem is the damn sprites, and my hatred of making them. >_>
NOOOO NOT COMPARISONS TO THE WORST TWO PUBLIC FANGAMES EVER NOOOO -- wait, it's Mewkyuu. In all seriousness, thanks for the review. Don't worry -- the dungeons only get worse from here on out. C:<

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

C:<

Glad to hear it :V Now hurry up and make something challenging. What, Asian mode? I'd totally play it.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

I wish I had a dignified excuse for taking so long with this update, but the truth is that I discovered the new My Little Pony and wound up watching its entire run. >_>

The other reason it took so long is because for whatever reason I made V0.2 rather than V0.12. That means that poor Misaki, Prala, Halaz, and whoever the Stage 3 midboss will be don't have graphics yet, but the Stage 2 bosses are done and all six players have been installed. Based on feedback from this thread, I also fixed the Stage 2 barrier bug and the Stage 3 treasure chest bug, as well as updating Hawkeye and Draco Meteor.

Have fun! Or at least don't be annoyed out of your mind. The link's in the first post and here: http://bulletforge.org/u/supreme-gamesmaster-yddisac/p/touhou-jinkoushin-crazed-artificial-mind-darkeye-book-i/v/02

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

I'm not going to even do this thing the right way.

* みゅーキュゥ edits a single room to warp to the boss

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

You could just edit the stage codes to have the stage start you in the boss's room. <=shouldn't be telling people how to break his game

VERSION 0.21 RELEASED: http://bulletforge.org/u/supreme-gamesmaster-yddisac/p/touhou-jinkoushin-crazed-artificial-mind-darkeye-book-i/v/021
No more CtC placeholder sprites! Now I'm only stealing the shot script. Also, a few more bugs were cleaned up, and I made the interface much prettier (albeit not much more functional). I also added a Stage 3 midboss that's dead boring on Human and Spirit levels.

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

No more CtC placeholder sprites! Now I'm only stealing the shot script. Also, a few more bugs were cleaned up, and I made the interface much prettier (albeit not much more functional).

yay

Did you put up a stage map for anyone who really wants to get through the game quickly (ie. for busy people)?

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

yay

Did you put up a stage map for anyone who really wants to get through the game quickly (ie. for busy people)?

Actually, I removed the last vestiges of stage map functionality. Because I'm so nice.

Hm... Perhaps for next release I'll include a common data that's cleared Stage 4 and add in the stage select early. Then busy people can try each individual stage rather than having to play through the whole thing. (As it is, there's a save file in there that's gone out to Stage 4; I forgot to remove it.) For anything beyond that, though, it would be so annoying to manipulate the common data and stage maps to show what was where I don't even want to try I lost the original maps for stages 1-3 it's a dungeon crawler; exploration is part of the concept.

In the mean time, I recommend uncommenting the SetCommonData statements in Jinkoushin.dnh and using the Single and Plural menus.

[BardzoSkomplikowanyNick]

If you want, I could make midboss for this game (Are Touhou characters acceptable?).

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

Thanks very much, but I think I have the boss side covered.

Out of curiosity, though, what drew you to this project? Do you like the premise, the execution...?

[BardzoSkomplikowanyNick]

Do you like the premise, the execution...?

Project seems to be interesting.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

Hokay, bumping.

v0.22 released! IT'S PURDY. LOOK AT IT PLZ. Screenshots will release shortly.
New release list is massive:
>Bugfixes/balancing: Otaku Sign "Thrill of Purchase" made more difficult on Swordsman/Otaku difficulties, Fire Hand "Falcon Punch" and Wind Foot "Whirlwind Kick" made easier, using "Return to Game" on powerup screen no longer consumes 200 points, Stage 2 enemies appear correctly, Stage 4 flamethrowers made easier, Stage 4 screen-crossing enemies fixed
>Ryoko Kurogawa's name spelled correctly
>Midbosses only appear once
>Stage 4 relay point
>Powerup now enables a choice between a life or /three/ bombs
>Records screen w/score, power up count, and its own background
>Stage select for stages 1-4
>Save screen confirmation message now appears on successful save (save is disabled in stage select)
>Custom HP bar w/numeral HP#

So yeah. Buuuuuump.