July 2021 Shmup Club - Project Starship X

[MetalFRO]

As the indie shmup scene continues to grow, more developers have had an opportunity to get their games out there for public consumption. The rise in popularity of the "rogue lite" formula has played a part, as people are seeking experiences that are less static, and a bit more unpredictable. After all, with so many rogue-lite twin stick games, platformers, and action RPGs, why shouldn't the shooting game genre dip a foot in the pool, right? Developer Panda Indie Studio (aka Arabong) has been doing just that, with early titles like Project Starship and Red Death. 2020 brought us the latest take on this formula, Project Starship X.

Project Starship is back with a wacky take on cosmic horror. In this rogue-lite shooter, you’ll take the role of the tentacled-yet-hip Swagthulhu as you CRASH-KILL comical abominations in flashy 16-bit style! With multi-purpose dodge mechanics and tons of crazy pick-ups, you’ll be able to crash your ship straight through the enemy and emerge unscathed. Project Starship X celebrates genre conventions by turning them upside-down! Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in July 2021, as we fire up Project Starship X on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch!



Participants:
MetalFRO
Addicted
MiniConsoleMan
BdotReality
Cork
Golem
ChrisTapp76

[MiniConsoleMan]

Awesome, I'm in for this. Picked this up awhile back on the Switch but never truly gave it the time it deserves.

[MetalFRO]

Very cool, welcome aboard!

[BlurSTG]

Now that I'm finally mostly done moving, and ready to stream again, count me in for this one!

[Corkman]

  I'm in this month too. 

[MetalFRO]

Welcome aboard! Also, glad to hear the move is winding down for you, Bdot.

[Golem]

I had some time to spare, so I fired up this one. Initial thoughts after 2 hours (spoiler warning!!):

-Fun game, good music. Is the Sun song a Gradius homage?
-The dash gives you a huge amount of invincibility time, and it refreshes really quickly. Kind of reminds me of Vanishing Earth in that sense.
-The ship is invincible during the dash move, as you would expect. However, you are also invincible for a fraction of a second AFTER the dash ends. Since you can only dash upwards, learning that after-dash invincibility is important when you need to fly through lasers that move up the screen under your ship.
-I like the tank. Normally, your dash only points upwards; when you dash in the tank, though, you dash backwards to eject out of the tank. You can then rejoin it by dashing upwards. This creates moments with a fun up-down rhythm.
-I also like the crawler. There's a jump move that's like Aerostar but better. You can even jump on enemies.
-Seems like the variation could be small enough that it's memorizable, despite some randomness in the level layouts.
-Having tried the first five characters, the easiest one for me so far is John.
-Visual notes:
--The lightning powerup is overload mode. This is important to remember because the screen will flash with a giant background image. The last thing you want to do is pick up this powerup when you are trying to dodge bullets--you'll obscure the bullets with a giant, shaking splash image.
--The screen will also flash when you strike a dash target and when you take a hit. Flashing after you take a hit isn't so bad, since you also have some invincibility afterwards. It's the flash after hitting a dash target that is important to anticipate, since you won't have any invincibility period to reorient yourself.
--The flashing HUD panels cannot be changed. You also can't put up paper or something to hide them, since they show your health and bombs.
--There's plenty of other flashing stuff (ship -> crawler transformation, boss phase transitions), but those are segregated from any danger.

My initial score (dunno if I'll have time to improve on it, but hey) - 948,499 - John - https://i.imgur.com/GRHnwcc.jpg

[MetalFRO]

Great thoughts so far, Golem, and welcome! Looking forward to hearing more from you this month. Also, great score!

I managed to clear the first "lap" of the game, the initial 5-stage set. Apparently there are 4 "laps" to complete in the game. So this isn't the sort of thing you can just sit down and 1CC. Once you unlock the final lap, then you can go for the win, and effectively beat the game. I struggle with the sun stage, and also with the ground sections with the crawler. For some reason, I keep either running into spikes before my jump engages, or I run into the jumping piranha plant things, because I fudge the timing. I've unlocked John Johnson and Sophie Jefferson. Sophie's always a wildcard, because you can roll a really good load out with her, or it can be really bad. I managed to get 1 roll where it was fast, wide fire, and 5 hit points, and that made her pretty powerful. Other times, it's a slow, narrow shot, and 1 hit point. So it's always a challenge to see if you can power her up enough on a bad roll to make her really useful. One of these times, I need to kill Shopthulu, because apparently, that's how you unlock Swagthulu, who is supposedly the best character in the game.

[Corkman]

@Golem Thanks for the tips! That half second of invincibility after dodging helped me through some tough areas.

@MetalFRO Me too... screw that sun stage!

I've been playing with Garrett and Gwen and I think I prefer Garrett at this point. I unlocked the next character so I will have to try them out.

I just got my best run so far to Level 6 I believe and here's my score below. I don't think I was too interested in the dash mechanic at first but it's growing on me. I love the music!

 

[Corkman]

 
 I just realized the score I posted above was for the tutorial. I forgot I was playing the tutorial until I just cleared it now. I definitely gets tougher and my scores are much lower now.  I need more practice!

[MetalFRO]

Yeah, after the 1st 5-stage tutorial run, the game definitely ramps up. I'm planning on taking on Shopthulu this evening, to see if I can beat him, and unlock Swagthulu as a playable character.

[MetalFRO]

I haven't managed to beat Shopthulu yet, but I've kind of taken a liking to John Johnson. His power is enough that if you can get an upgrade or 2, you have a pretty good shot at ripping through stuff kinda fast. I feel like I'm starting to get a little better, but as much as the game changes things up on you from run to run, there's a lot of reacting to things in real time, and I find that I can't quite get out of my own way. But it is fun to see how things progress.

[Christapp76]

Hi- late to the party on this one

Count me in

Chris Tapp76


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Golem]

 I just realized the score I posted above was for the tutorial. I forgot I was playing the tutorial until I just cleared it now. I definitely gets tougher and my scores are much lower now.  I need more practice!

Yeah, IIRC my high score was for the tutorial as well. I also had a 1-up on that run. My average for a first-loop clear is 400,000 (excluding the final boss). I need to review the footage and figure out how the hell I got 900,000. Now I can't crack 450,000.

I struggle with the sun stage, and also with the ground sections with the crawler. For some reason, I keep either running into spikes before my jump engages, or I run into the jumping piranha plant things, because I fudge the timing.

The jump on the crawler is tricky to read. I definitely jump over enemies more than I land on them.

The second loop is pretty intense at first, but after some practice, I'm getting used to it. I've gotten up to stage 9 (2-4). The problem is, my scores absolutely tank in the second loop--I'm getting 10,000 or 20,000 per stage.

John is nice, but I find it's harder to clear out the eyeball waves, since his default shots are pulsing. Gwen is nice for those waves, but then you need to point-blank enemies to do any damage. I'm starting to lean more towards Garrett now that I understand what to expect. I think I've noted the characteristics of each enemy in the game (movement, health, shot, and any secondary layer of interplay). (EDIT - Nevermind, I didn't realize there were more stages to unlock.)

There also seems to be a strange bullet-eating aspect to the dash move? It seems like sometimes you eat a bullet if your dash lands directly on it. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how this works.

In general, the design seems geared more towards chaos (read: fun) than balance. Which isn't necessarily bad, but it does make learning a game difficult. For example, for stage 3, the cavern level is easier than the neon level, or you could just get a great powerup set or a bad one.

[Corkman]

@Golem 900K !!?? Woah, I'm curious how you did that.

I'm starting to get a hang of this second loop. Beat my high score from the first loop in the second loop now.

Here's my high score from the second loop now.