September 2018 Shmup Club - Warning Forever

[MetalFRO]

[img width=640 height=480]http://www.hikware.com/Prod/ref/ss_wf07.png[/img]

Warning Forever is a freeware Japanese-developed doujin (indie) shoot-em-up that focuses exclusively on boss fights. It's a single-screen game, where you pilot a ship that can rotate 360 degrees and fly all around the screen to take on progressively larger and more complex boss enemies, to try and take them out. Each game has a time restriction, so you can't spend too long on any single boss. However, you score more points by picking off turrets and different ship sections of the boss. This sets up an interesting risk/reward scenario, where you can try to maximize your score, without running out of time, or getting destroyed by some iteration of the boss form. The game uses a throwback graphical style, partially mimicking the vector graphics style of early arcade shooters like Space Duel or Tempest, but also adding cool raster effects and explosions that echo 90's arcade games.

The best part? Warning Forever is free! Developer Hikware released beta versions of the game originally on PC back in 2003, and has been slowly iterating upon it for many years. The most recent version, 1.08, was released in 2012, and is playable on most any PC, from Windows XP to Windows 10. It supports game pads, as well as keyboard control. The game uses an interesting system where you can widen or narrow your ship's attack range with a special field, which can also be tilted to one side or the other, to help give you more control over your attacks. It's an interesting and unique system that is deceptively simple, and fun to master. Join in with us, and play this unique shoot-em-up experience!

Read more about the game, and see more screenshots (page in Japanese, you may need to translate it, if your browser doesn't do so automatically):
http://www.hikware.com/Prod/index.html#wf

Download the latest version of the game HERE.

Participants:
MetalFRO
Addicted
Golem

[Addicted]

Sign me up.

[Golem]

I've known about this game for a long time, but I've never cracked it open. It seems super cool so far.

The rotating weapon mentioned in the opening post is so cool. It works a little like the red options in Image Fight: they rotate opposite your movement. In other words, if you move left, the cannons aim right. However, the rotation in Image Fight is pretty quick, while the rotation here is a little slower so that you can fine tune the angle. You can also adjust the width of the spread by moving into or away from your current firing angle. Finally, you lock your current firing orientation by holding the shot button. It's a pretty incredible amount of expression for such a simple control scheme, and while it's not always possible to get exactly the angle you want, you can easily compensate by positioning yourself.

Here's my high score from my first session:
[img width=316 height=53]https://i.imgur.com/T4edhko.png[/img]

[EZ Racer]

It looks fun, but I'm having enough trouble with my PC lately that I worry about trying to put anything new on it, so I'm unfortunately going to sit out this month. Sorry.  Will look forward to October!

[MetalFRO]

Welcome aboard, Golem, and a great first score! I look forward to seeing you crush this game, like you have everything else we've thrown at you so far

Sorry to hear about your computer woes, EZ Racer, and I hope you can get that sorted out soon. If you get your PC issues figured out before the end of September, feel free to jump in at any time!

[MetalFRO]

To show that progress can be made in this game pretty quickly, here's my first high score attempt, after not having played this game in years, other than fiddling around with it the other day, to make sure it was still installed:
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/yLPMJKS.jpg[/img]

Now, here's my latest score attempt this evening, after putting in only about 30-40 minutes, and 6 or 7 plays:
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/bLhEPHQ.jpg[/img]

There's a definite risk/reward scenario for taking time to blow off canons, turrets, body segments, etc. You can go for an inner segment, to destroy a large "arm" of the boss, to take it out faster, and save time, or pick everything off and maximize your score, but you definitely run the clock down faster. Once you complete a boss, you get some time back on the clock, but I haven't worked out yet how much that is, and whether or not it's affected by the percentage of the boss you destroy individually, or just an arbitrary amount. Also, I thought that you could go straight for the boss core and take it out faster, but I was wrong. I could have been remembering that from an earlier build of the game, or maybe I just remembered that incorrectly altogether. Either way, it's an interesting trade-off. Also, I had forgot that you don't lose "lives" in the game, but that, when you die, you're deducted seconds off the clock. Again, I don't know exactly how much yet, but I'll have to investigate that further, so I can give everyone a better idea as to how that works.

Normally, in a game like this, I would lament the lack of a soundtrack, but for some reason, here, I think it fits. The abundance of explosion sounds, and how impactful they are, compensates for that, and I think it heightens the tension a bit.

[Golem]

Congrats on cracking 5 million!

There's a definite risk/reward scenario for taking time to blow off canons, turrets, body segments, etc. You can go for an inner segment, to destroy a large "arm" of the boss, to take it out faster, and save time, or pick everything off and maximize your score, but you definitely run the clock down faster. Once you complete a boss, you get some time back on the clock, but I haven't worked out yet how much that is, and whether or not it's affected by the percentage of the boss you destroy individually, or just an arbitrary amount. Also, I thought that you could go straight for the boss core and take it out faster, but I was wrong. I could have been remembering that from an earlier build of the game, or maybe I just remembered that incorrectly altogether. Either way, it's an interesting trade-off. Also, I had forgot that you don't lose "lives" in the game, but that, when you die, you're deducted seconds off the clock. Again, I don't know exactly how much yet, but I'll have to investigate that further, so I can give everyone a better idea as to how that works.

I toyed a bit with these aspects today, and I couldn't figure them out.

My current theory is that a "rapid destroy" is when you shatter multiple segments in quick succession, and a "chain destroy" is when you de facto kill child pieces by destroying their parent. You also seem to do some damage to parent pieces by killing their child. However, it seems possible that maybe I am underestimating stray bullets that don't directly hit my target. (In other words: when I aim at a child, are stray bullets hitting the parent?) Either way, the core seems to have more health in proportion to how many pieces you leave in tact (tons of health if you leave lots of child pieces, almost no health if you kill every child piece).

Another thing I don't get...

Here's a run of stage 1 where I went out of my way to kill children:
[img width=640 height=480]https://i.imgur.com/igLyjwe.png[/img]
Chain destroy x 3 = 3000. Do your algebra, and chain destroy = 1000.

Here's a run of stage 1 where I went out of my way to avoid hitting children:
[img width=640 height=480]https://i.imgur.com/Uo8JN8p.png[/img]
Chain destroy x 10 = 22000. In this case, chain destroy comes out to 2200.

Why are they counted differently?

I also found this evolution chart: http://web.archive.org/we...koza/Prod/ref/wf_flow.png

Anyway, still a super fun game. If you strip off one half of the boss (either the right side or the left side), it's pretty defenseless--it can only sluggishly rotate towards you, leaving you plenty of time to adapt. The problem is that each boss' growing health will run out the clock.

The Streets of Rage Remake OST is the best musical accompaniment I can think of at the moment.

[MetalFRO]

@Golem - I went ahead and listened to half of the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack during part of my play this morning, and found that to be pretty fitting. High energy techno/edm and shmupping go hand in hand, methinks. But then, I also played before that with some death metal, so who knows! 

I'm finding a groove with this game, for sure! Here's my first real attempt this morning. at just over 11 million:
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/ImtgzfZ.jpg[/img]

And just 2 games later, I hit 14.5 million!
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/bER3Yfj.jpg[/img]

It's interesting to see how the bosses form, because they're a bit random after the first couple. They always tend to have 'tentacles' out from the main body after about stage 4 or 5, and as you get further along, the sheer amount of firepower thrown at you can get a bit overwhelming. I've found a strategy that works for me, generally speaking. I use the button to activate the aiming field, and I generally make it narrow, to focus the fire in a more specific spot. Then, as the level begins, I move to the right of the screen's center, angle the shot field about 30 degrees to the left, and move toward the center of the screen, vertically, so I can point-blank the boss ship's right side as it's coming on screen. Usually, I can take out a cannon or two, and as long as I don't get shot down, I can usually take out an 'arm' or a good amount of body segments surrounding the ship's core. Depending upon the movement and rotation of the ship, I can often leave the shot field in that position for a fair percentage of the stage, and then make adjustments as necessary. Other times, if the ship moves wildly differently, I often have to swivel all the way around it, and refocus my fire elsewhere, and adjust quickly to keep destroying segments, so I'm not draining the clock.

Speaking of the clock, I've noted that you lose approximately (if not exactly) 20 seconds when you die, and when you complete a stage, you get back somewhere between 20 & 30 seconds. I think once you're a few stages in, it's 30 seconds automatically, but it could depend upon the path of destruction, how quickly you take out the boss, etc. I haven't nailed that down yet. And I have found that, in a couple rare instances, it was preferable to die to escape a tight situation, and sacrifice the 20 seconds on the clock, because it would have taken far longer than that to re position and get to where you can actually do sufficient damage. Another thing I noticed is that, as you move further through the game, the missiles get more 'homing' in nature, and far more aggressive. When you could easily evade them in early levels, I found that you almost had to adjust your ship's position or fire direction to take them out mid-flight, or become quickly swarmed by missiles by Stage 10 or 11. It's pretty interesting how dynamic the game feels, in that regard.

[MetalFRO]

I forgot to post this yesterday, but I achieved 17.2 million points while listening to the college football game on the radio, of all things!
[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/7rbLaU6.jpg[/img]

After some more considered play this afternoon, I've realized that it's difficult to reach that point, because the enemy fire patterns get much more aggressive once you get that far along, especially since the game is only 25 stages long. Also, the clock does give you back 30 seconds after each stage is completed. I thought it was less, but it appears to be exactly 30 seconds from the instant you strike the final blow against each boss configuration.

I'm trying to figure out what triggers both the 'Rapid Destroy' and 'Chain Destroy' multipliers. I thought maybe widening my shot field to blast more canons and body segments at once would help me destroy them in more rapid succession, and increase the multiplier, but so far, I haven't seen the evidence that it's much different than the more narrow shot. However, I have found that, to an extent, widening the shot field, after level 12 or so, helps to take out canons and armaments more quickly, as I can dodge incoming fire and just blast away, and not worry about targeting specific areas, because it's difficult to aim the shot field when you're dodging hordes of incoming bullets, lasers, and other projectiles. All of this to say, I haven't quite figured out the multipliers yet, but I'll keep trying to observe while I'm playing, to see if anything I'm doing is specifically effecting them.

[MetalFRO]

I tried to change up my strategy some, to see what my results would be, and to see if it affected my scoring, or just to mix up the gameplay somewhat. I've been exclusively using the shot field to aim, up to this point, and hadn't used just the straight ahead shots at all, so I started using a combination of straightforward shots, and aimed shots. I started using the straight ahead shots at the beginning, especially in the first few levels, and began using the aimed shots situationally. I found that the straight ahead shot has a slight advantage, in terms of sheer power, so it's good for quickly taking out canons and body segments, particularly in the early stages, and when you get the bulk of the body pieces destroyed, you can leave one or two attached to the core, and get in its face with the straight ahead shots and take it out more quickly, especially if you've been grazing it with peripheral shots while taking out other pieces, slowly whittling down its HP. I liked doing this early on in the game, but as you progress, you really have to switch back and forth quite a bit to make this work, and managing that in the heat of all the bullet and laser spam, it can get pretty hectic. But using that method, I did get my fastest time on Stage 1, at 6.45 seconds, which surprised me.

I've definitely hit a wall with progression in the game. The last few days I've been playing, I've not been able to get past Stage 16, and I don't even get that far sometimes. I'm finding that if I die before I reach Stage 12 or 13, I get out of rhythm, and I typically don't make it past 14. After 5 or 6 attempts where I die 3 or 4 times in a stage early on, because I'm either being too aggressive, or getting caught in bullet spam, and I tend to ragequit, because it feels like I'm making no progress. The random nature of the game's boss configurations really adds to that frustration, but at the same time, it's part of the game's appeal, because it changes the type of challenge you face each time.

[Golem]

I didn't know that the straight-ahead shot was more powerful, I've got to go back and give that a try now. Duly noted that you have put the word "slight" in bold. :b

I'm under the impression that the game is procedural but not random. In other words, of course bosses have a range of configurations, but I think the game chooses a boss configuration in a deterministic way rather than using a random number generator. It seems to be based on your behavior.

However, I've hit a ceiling in trying to figure out how to unlock different forms, and I've hit a ceiling on making progress. I'm stuck in the mid teen stages. I don't have a good sense of how to apply myself. Memorizing shooters is more than just throwing yourself at the game raw. It's about considering your gameplay, considering where you are weak, and forming a plan of improvement.

On one hand, I could narrow my strategy so that I kill bosses in a more predictable way. I could probably pin down a more predictable string of boss evolutions that way. Then, I'd have more focus, and I could analyze where I'm weak and need improvement. But, if I do that, 1.) the game becomes more boring because I'm playing it the same way every time, and 2.) I become rigid and prevent myself from improving. If I want to get better at the game, naturally I'm going to change how I play--but then bosses change what they do in response, and the game becomes less predictable.

[MetalFRO]

Procedural might be a better way to describe it, but based on behavior, I'm not sure of yet. I don't vary up my approach much from run to run, and I typically keep my approach and attack patterns fairly consistent, so unless it's calculating based on minute changes in positioning or angle of fire, I'm not seeing the correlation. That said, it seems like a pretty tight game, so it's possible. I may play around with this, and do wildly different strategies from level to level, and see if I can force it to do different things, and see if it makes a difference in the boss configuration.

[Golem]

Here's my final high score for the month:
[img width=309 height=50]https://i.imgur.com/moVMp09.png[/img]

I definitely want to put more time into this though!