March 2021 Shmup Club - Demonizer

[MetalFRO]

[img width=616 height=353]https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1091390/capsule_616x353.jpg?t=1610499940[/img]

When shooting games started out in the late 1970's, everything was done by small teams, engineering solutions, designing arcade hardware, and coming up with fun game concepts that were easy to pick up and play, but hard to master. As the 1980's shifted from arcades to home consoles and the market diverged, game design teams grew in size, and games became more complex. With the advent of more powerful arcade hardware and consoles in the 1990's, shooting games became even more complicated, with high production values, and involved scoring systems. Fast forward 25 or 30 years, and shooting games have shifted again, back to smaller design teams, and small indie studios, but often retain higher production values due to more readily available tools for small developers to see their visions come to life. That brings us to game developer Iori Branford, and the recently released, indie shoot-em-up, Demonizer, which takes cues from many 90's shooters, but has a decidedly old-school look and feel.

The exiled princess Amelia has turned into a succubus and joined the peaceful monstergirl tribe. Then invaders arrive led by her sister Angelina. Fighting back with her newfound powers of hypnosis and demonization she departs to take on the kingdom in a desperate bid to save her new people. Demonizer is available on Steam, as well as on Itch.io as a DRM-free release, and there are versions for Windows, MacOS, Linux, and even Android. Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in March 2021, as we take on humanity in Demonizer!

Participants:
MetalFRO
Addicted
zoydo
MiniConsoleMan
Geriatric Danmaku

[Iori Branford]

Thanks for choosing Demonizer!

Interested players can try the 1-level demo, also on Steam and itch.
I also have 5 giveaway itch.io copies for this forum, so more of you can participate. Just tell me something that interests you about the game, and I'll PM you one.

4 left!

[MiniConsoleMan]

First post! I'll be participating.

[MetalFRO]

Thanks for choosing Demonizer!

Interested players can try the 1-level demo, also on Steam and itch.
I also have 5 giveaway itch.io copies for this forum, so more of you can participate. Just tell me something that interests you about the game, and I'll PM you one.

4 left!

Thank you so much! This will be a great way to get people introduced to the game, and encourage greater participation

First post! I'll be participating.

Welcome to RF Generation! Looking forward to screenshots/photos of your scores, and to hear your thoughts on the game.

[MetalFRO]

Best so far. Using the secondary character, Snow. She has a bullet repelling feature, which is fun to use, and makes the game a lot easier in some ways.

[MiniConsoleMan]

Here's my best so far. Also resorted to using Snow to progress and hopefully can get the clear with her soon.  I'm then planning on circling back and trying to get the clear with Amelia.  Really enjoying this game so far!

[zoydo]

Hey guys,

great scores so far!

@MiniConsoleMan: Welcome, nice to meet you.

I came close to 4 mil, but couldn't quite make it yet.

[img width=359 height=500]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51033140337_2f3a6bfd9a.jpg[/img]

[Iori Branford]

Well played!
Please everyone make sure to have yesterday's 1.1.0f. This fixes an uncommon crash bug in stage 7, which unfortunately hit MetalFRO while streaming. (fortunately during Game Over but that's small comfort)

[MetalFRO]

Well played!
Please everyone make sure to have yesterday's 1.1.0f. This fixes an uncommon crash bug in stage 7, which unfortunately hit MetalFRO while streaming. (fortunately during Game Over but that's small comfort)

I appreciate you getting on the fixes for the game quickly - it shows dedication to your craft.

Good scores so far! I'm almost wondering if we need to have separate score rankings for Amy and Snow, particularly because Snow is kind of "easy mode" for the game. I've managed to reach stage 6 with her, versus only 4 or 5 with Amy. As for myself, I've hit a wall with Snow at the stage 6 boss. I can't seem to get through that fight without expending all my reserve lives. I've changed my tactic a bit, to not shoot unless the boss is directly beneath me, since the repel ability makes bullet patterns harder to predict, but the move and drop so fast that sometimes I just get caught. It doesn't help that half the time when I get there, I've managed to get clipped by something in the lead up to the boss, and auto-bombed, so I get to the fight w/o that help. The first couple phases aren't bad, but once the bullet speed ramps up, I get flustered. Not sure quite how to combat that, other than continuing to beat my head against the wall with more practice 

[MetalFRO]

New PB in Demonizer! Plus, I found an actual workable plan for the stage 6 boss, so once I stop sucking mightily at it, I think I stand a good chance at a clear this month

[MetalFRO]

Got a clear with Snow! My stage 6 & 7 practice paid off, and I managed to come up with a viable strategy for the stage 6 boss, as well as for the stage 7 midboss, the 2nd fight with Ange (the sister) prior to the fight with the king. I was so excited about beating the king, I forgot about the TLB fight, and lost a life! Had I not gone into that fight with some resources, I might not have made it.

[zoydo]

Congrats MetalFRO!

I did another quick run, before the end of the month and beat my score. Also the first time i made it to Stage 6 in a full run. (played with mouse-controls)

[img width=700 height=393]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51014432400_dba8b586b6_c.jpg[/img]

Also wanna say that besides the graphics and the stage design, i really love the soundtrack of Demonizer. Very well done, Iori!

[MetalFRO]

Great score, zoydo! I'll have to double-check, but I don't think I've quite reached that with Amy yet, so I need to step up my game

Anyone have final thoughts to close out this play-through, so we can mention them on the podcast?

[Iori Branford]

Thanks to all players! This is the longest I've watched someone engage with the game, so I got some solid feedback.
Stage 6 boss does seem to be the low point of the game. While I intended the game to be about reading and reacting to bullets more than memorization, she is probably asking too much. (And her core concept as a boss could be taken further with zombies, more interesting blood attacks, etc.) Stage 5 boss might have a similar problem with how many attacks it fires off at once.

Later this year look forward to
- Steam leaderboards and achievements
- console port - fingers crossed for leaderboards and physical release
- proper Android release on Google Play (itch.io will still get builds)