Karoshi MSX Community

Title: SHMUP!
Developer: Imanok
Year: 2013
Genre: Shoot'em up

Game size/RAM reqs: 16Kb ROM / 8Kb RAM


Once again, alien forces threaten the Earth. Now it's time for you to repel the attack and save the planet!

In SHMUP! you control two spaceships simultaneously, which can switch between two different attacking formations: horizontal and vertical.

Along your way, you will find some containers which drop a fusion capsule after being destroyed. Collect 3 capsules with each of your spaceships and they will fuse together, getting an unique spaceship with a greater attacking power!

(http://imanok.msxblue.com/images/shmup!_title.png) (http://imanok.msxblue.com/images/shmup!_ingame.png)

Enjoy the game!  ;)

Download: http://imanok.msxblue.com/files/shmup!.zip (http://imanok.msxblue.com/files/shmup!.zip)

Great, Imanok!  :laugh:

In English please...

You're right. Soory, my fault!! :-[. Fixed! ;)

Announced on the 'other' MSXdev' website :

http://msxdev.msxblue.com/?p=1914

SHMUP! released!  ;)

Aww, can't wait to play it!  :o

Excellent game :)

http://msxdev.msxblue.com/?p=1953

Well done! Even SC1 can look lovely   ::qbiqsbeam::

Indeed: love SC1, used it with British Bob and the result was pretty cool!

Anyway, congrats Imanok. A new production and another really cool game: tested it and looks solid and playable: gfx are cool and music is outstandig.
Today is a big MSXdev day, no doubt about it!

:D :D :D :D

I agree with Jon's comments,

It is a classic arcade concept to be enjoying the for a while.

it seems that assembler language doesnt rules over imanok anymore, now its imanok who rules over assembler language...
fast, smooth, speedy... FUCKING ARCADE!!

Buff, I am too bad at it, my ass is being kicked on a pretty severe way. Gonna keep on trying, nice one Imanok!

Huhuhuh... It seems the viejuno has played too many kid games :griel:

Hi Imanok!

Some interestings twists here: the formation/fusion system, the enemies striking back... I've never been into shoot 'em up, but I enjoyed this one (at least until second stage, where they kicked my ass too ;) )
The gameplay is very smooth and responsive. The music and the scroll effect are pretty good too.

Very good job (as usual coming from you)! Congratulations!

Jon
if you've got problems, you can play the "girls garden" game ported from sega 8-bit console to msx... it will be up to your pong skills

You bastard..  ;D ;D ;D

like a fanatic of the shmups, i only can say: greeeeeeeeat game, man.  thanks!

Shoot'em ups are always fun to play. Love the fake scroll, and the playability is balanced. A future classic.

Thanks for the comments! ;)

About the difficulty level, I think a game pretending to be like a game published back in the early eigthies needs to have a dificulty level acording to those times (check some other games of the same genre and you'll see what I mean).

I believe nowadays videogame's market influences developers to low the difficulty level so that games arrive to a wider audience making them a walk in the park to be finished. Of course I could have made the game easier (making all enemies die at first hit, or making the fusion last much longer/forever, for example) or even I could have added infinite continues or whatever... but the game is not that long and I thing it's much more fun (and "game's life" gets longer) trying to beat the game improving your skills by playing, than easily beating it in 15 minutes.

Guys, we are part of a generation where savestates didn't exist and the continue option was mostly used in big long games... so I only last to say: don't be sissies!  ;D ;D ;D

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I hope I can get time today to play every game more than just a try... I hope this one will give me a nice time!

very good the logo effect!
and the playability is nice.
good work!  :D

Nice game!! ... Simple but very effective graphics. I like the soft scroll of the background. As almost all people say, the main key is the innovation of use two ship at time ... and the fusion feature!!
I remember that in tweenbee you could join the two ships, but only in two players mode (and they can't alternate their formation).  ::)
I am not a good space-shooter player, so I haven't arrived too far  (I died at the beginning of the second stage) ...  :P
but that doesn't stop me to appreciating the good work done. Congratulations!!  ;D ;D

Well, been playing it a lot.

Now I get the fusion system and how the game concept works, I really connected with the game: this concept of the different spaceships gives depth and it makes it really different from any shooter I've ever played: although scenarios are loopy (made me remember E.I., a game that I personally love), the enemies have plenty of variation and complex paths, also including big bosses. Overall, a pretty neat production, with top playability, nice visuals and a goregous soundtrack.

I gotta love Malaika, as she is my princess, but SHMUP! is simply a blast. Congrats!

It's the typical shoot'em up from 1983 Galaga clone, but in MSX doesn't bring anything new, neither original, simply graphics, a scroll already seen in Seleniak and high difficult, because that i stop of playing immediately.

Thnx guys ;)

@aorante: SC1 is a screen mode very suitable for that kind of effects :)

@nenefranz: If you reached the second stage, it's not bad at all. Just practice a little more and you've got it ;)

@Jon: I'm glad you played long enough to really get into the game. Let's see who is the first one beating it ;D

And I understand your feelings about Malaika... I'm sure we all adore our kiddies! :D

@konafan: Reading your comments, I see you really stopped playing immediately ;)

Nice and fun game! In my opinion, graphics are perfect given the game genre and the contest specs (we are talking about a 16KB shooter, not a Gradius-like MegaROM) 

Also, there is a lot of enemies moving on screen and the motion is extremely smooth, and that is, precisely, what makes a shooter playable.

I imagine that using screen 1 and having to update a single pattern table is what makes it possible such smoothness, so, losing some "colorfulness" (do this word even exist? ;-) is a fair payback for the nice playability.

I'm a fan of Gradius saga. I finished all three Nemesis and Salamander. But this is not a megarom. First impression was that too much difficult and little variety of backgrounds to play some games. But thinking that is a 16kb ROM I have played with other eyes. Very good movement, correct graphics and I think difficulty "super balanced". The more I play the best I do, and it's something in a game not easy to get. But yes, it's old school difficulty, when men played games with CRT tv's and finished them without save states  8) . Ah, like a curiosity, the behaviour of the boss reminds me the second boss (Desu) of Knigthmare. It has nothing to do but it reminds me  :D

Funny game, Imanok! Good work!

I've playing for a while to the 2nd stage. It's amazing the quickness of the game, I mean, this is an arcade and it's really fast, with a lot of enemies. It requires a lot of attention.

It reminds me of Zanac, one of my favorite games. Even the music is that style. Love it.

It seems (so far) that difficult is quite balance. I promise to finish it!  :joe:

I love this game.

I like shooters, but I prefer simple ones. I mean that even if I consider the Nemesis saga a paramount amongst MSX productions, I usually enjoy more playing Galaga or Gulkave, 'cause the action is really fast paced and a game does not last forever (at least, not with my present arcade habilities).

SHMUP! fits perfectly in this cathegory and that's why I love it.

Thank you Imanok for producing such a jewel cramed in only 16 KB.

On the technical side, speed and diversity of enemies and paths are remarkable. Playability is awesome. And both the sound and the graphics do meet their purpose.

Let's play it again  :D

@MrSpock: I'm glad you like the game :)... and you're absolutely right: the same game in SC2 wouldn't have been that smooth, for sure! ;)

@pentacour: That's the idea, it's easy to improve your skills by playing. Once you get used to control both spaceships and manage to get the fusion easily, the game is not hard at all.

About the little variety of backgrounds, of course I would like different scenarios for every stage too, but I gave priority to the playability and enemy variety, so there was no room for more graphics (as you have already stated, 16Kb is a very limited size).

Never thought about "Knightmare" when programming the bosses, but now you mention it... ;D

@Tono: "Zanac" is one of my favorite games too and one of the greatest references if you want to make a good shooter. It's far better than SHMUP! in all aspects :)

Don't forget to keep your promise! (and keep me informed ;))

@pitpan: I know you love shooters, so I was wondering about your opinion. I'm glad it passed the test! ;D

I'm happy you are enjoying it. Let me know if you manage to beat the game ;)

Congratulations Imanok for the game. I've really enjoyed during all the play.

Regarding the game the most remarkable point is difficulty/playability. First and second stages are hard but affordable even turning the path 180º. I've reached the 3th stage but with this level of difficulty it was not able to pass.

Despite this the game is highly playable. All the sprites movements includding the player are fast and smooth so this fact allows a very good control and predictable paths of the enemies. It reminds me HYPE.Nice gameplay!

Also the detection of collision is perfect! very restrictive. The good known massive shoot'em ups allow a margin. The active collision area is smaller than the sprite area and usually centered. This increases the fake thought that the player is better than he/she really is and it produces the enthusiam for the game. When both ships are in formation the area is excesive.For me this is improvable point.

Other point to improve is Autoshoot. Usually I don't keep the fire pressed all time for autoshoot but this game requires it. Sometimes you need to increase the shooting power. Crush the fire and the rate will be the same or lower.

Different items would provide a new level in playability: +1 player speed / +1up (in screen when reaches a new score step) / blast/ and the most important shooting power. I know, is only 16kb... :) and yes! this is a wish not a valoration point.

Fusion is really the key of the game! This happening during the game is that the player really expects and remember. Recorded in the memory. (Salamander !! wow). During the fusion process the player is vulnerable and static. I expected invulnerability during the fusion and a while after, the player gets the climax of the game but close enemy kick his/her ass . frustrating!

Mental note for Imanok: shmup! Is not only the challenge. During the fusion the player enjoys the game. :)

I also enjoyed the big bosses. Another wish: Why the bosses movement is only horizontal? I was very afraid waiting for a fast falling of those bastards.

I can continue but all the related points are the most important for me.

Technically i'm overhelmed:

- fake scroll multilayer SC1. (bottom layer alike from ending Zanac stages or similar could be nice here)
- Smooth control (but improvable). A bunch of sprites moving perfeclty 'IN' the gameplay screen. One sprite per character is enought for fun.
- Great coding of the game engine.
- Mr. Hassink music. Probably the best of all the MSXdev'13 but...this game deserves one melody per stage and big boss rush!!! 16kb again... :)
- SFX could be improved. Lack and low volume but nice.


Resuming : GREAT MSX GAME! This is the shoot'em up game I was expecting for years.
Thanks Imanok.

PAUSE Key LOST: Don't forget the old real MSX machine users.

Thnx! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)

If you have already reached stage 3, you'll manage to beat the game soon ;)

The autoshoot/fire rate is made that way in purpose, so that you always get the lower shot rate in horizontal formation, double shot rate in vertical formation (and the highest shot rate during the fusion). It was made like that to make the player change the formation when a better fire rate is needed.

Of course, all that kind of add-ons would be cool... but as you already said, it's only 16kb ;)

During the fusion process the player is NOT vulnerable, but you're right about adding some invulnerability time just after completing the fusion... I'll add it as soon as the contest ends :)

Again, the 16Kb size limitation was very present! ;)

At the beginning, removing the pause routine was an inner joke caused by some comments dropped by someone ;) ... on the other hand, it gave me some valuable bytes I used for some other things ;D

Well, my final opinion about it is:
This game needs to be bigger.  More stages, more different scenario GFX, some "cinematics" or similar...
But yes, its funny, its playable, ITS FUCKING FAST!! I LOVE IT, I love it speed... everything is so smooth and fast
But, an smooth difficult curve with more levels would be fantastic!

Congrats Imanok!
Hope to see an extended version if possiible!