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Howdy majiggers!
Happy New Year to you all! I wish you all the best in your gaming experiences going into 2023. So far, a lot has happened already! I finished planning and getting stuff ready for the real run of koola and slackur's obscure gaming theater! It's slackur and I's little channel where we do podcast and gaming videos! You can find it here: (https://www.youtube.com/c.../UCithiTJ8_GHvMhFgYBw-1eA). I started playing a couple games (including Cthulhu Saves the World, which has been a lot of fun!), and was messing around with homebrew on my Wii.
But the thing that I've been doing the most over the past few months is working on OMNIFATE. I'm extremely excited to say that it is almost complete!
This whole experience has been really fun and eye-opening for me. If you'll indulge me, I'd like to talk about it a bit.
The actual coding of OMNIFATE is... well, programming. It's not really that exciting; games are made with code, and there's no dancing around that issue. Most of it has been trial and error. In my article "My experience with breaking games and coding" (from ... oh gosh, 2 years ago!), I stated most of my experience with coding comes from experimentation with various games that I like. Bu when I wrote that article, I was just starting off and didn't really understand anything. Now that I actually know 70% of what I'm doing, I can say that that was just the starting point to get me to where I am here.
Composing for OMNIFATE was probably the part that changed me the most. Up until about June 2021, I simply had no strong feelings about music. I had my dislikes and likes, sure, but I didn't really have an appreciation for what goes into making a good song. And then, I composed Wurly. After that, I gained much more of an appreciation for music and its composition. I now basically never go a second on my computer without listening to some tunes on Spotify. (Now's where I would plug my Spotify artist profile, but my distributor glitched and removed all my songs. So go listen to them on Bandcamp instead! https://koola6.bandcamp.com/)
Lastly, my favorite part of making OMNIFATE is the writing. From the get-go, I had a basic idea of how the story should go (no spoilers, but with the kind of game OMNIFATE is, you kind of need to have that from the get-go), but I never realized just how fun and entertaining writing for something can be; especially with one character whom you'll know when you play the game, being able to write little interactions between the characters is genuinely extremely fun.
I've been koola, and I hope to see you there in Q3 2023 when OMNIFATE releases.
(I almost completely lost this article! I hit the back button too early! Thankfully, I remembered to save it as a draft, though.)
Watch the video here!
By the way, new article coming later this month.
[img width=500 height=501]http://rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/images/2022-12-24_stcc_ep_053_fire_shark.png[/img]
In Episode 053, MetalFRO and Addicted are joined by Corkman for a lengthy discussion about Fire Shark! We pick apart the game a bit, and compare the brutally difficult arcade iterations to the much more approachable Sega Genesis and Mega Drive versions.
Check out the episode right here on RF Generation:
http://rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/?name=2022-12-24_stcc_ep_053_fire_shark.mp3
Or find the episode on your favorite podcast service:
https://linktr.ee/shootthecorecast
Check out the original discussion thread for the game here:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=19693.0
Thanks for listening!
[img width=400 height=381]https://now.estarland.com/images/products/hr/29898/4988736070077.jpg[/img]
Sometimes a game takes a very different path than expected, before it is released. Most of the team who designed the Taito shooter Gun Frontier returned for another shoot-em-up, at the time tentatively titled "Project Gun Frontier 2" as a starting point for development. At some point, the game was considered as a possible 3rd game in the Darius series. In the end, however, the project became its own game, with some of its own unique mechanics. What we ended up with is the now classic, Metal Black.
Released in arcades in 1991, and later on the Sega Saturn in 1996, Metal Black has a unique power-up system that sees you collecting small particles known as "Newalone" to gradually increase the power of your ship, until you reach maximum power. Once you do, you can unleash a beam of destruction to take out enemies. You can also use your beam to duel with bosses who will fire a similar beam. This ended up being a major inspiration for Taito's later Darius series game, G-Darius. Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in 2023, and pilot the CF-345 Black Fly alongside us, as we play the Taito classic Metal Black!
If you'd like to participate, check the thread here:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=19705.0
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Posted on Dec 25th 2022 at 02:57:43 PM by ( The Official SP1SC) Posted under PS1 , PlayStation 1, PSX, PSOne, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012, Nor |
Alright, where do I even begin with this. It has been 6 and a half years and a lot of changes all over the place since I did this last time. August 10, 2016 was the last time I was on here apparently. At that time I was in the middle of a two month long unemployment streak moving down from Virginia back to my hometown of Philadelphia, PA. I was once running a ton of sites, I now only run 2 and none of them are whats on the 2016 list. So to make things as short as I can, I landed a job in September 2016 which I still hold today but doesnt have anything to do with this. In 2019, I gave up YouTube and all that good stuff and went on a brand new path and started to run a Private Group, The Sony PlayStation 1 Sanctuary & Museum. Back then a lot of people were mocking me about wanting to open a museum and such. Well for those losers there, they got a taste of rear when I opened the Sony PlayStation 1 Sanctuary & Museum, a proper museum in July 2020 in Willow Grove, PA, approx. 6 blocks away from the infamous Handheld Legend, and 4 miles from Newgrounds. Sadly, it was thwarted from having visitors for a long time at the start due to the pandemic, but kept on going despite taking on massive losses finacially due to not being allowed by law to have visitors. I kept on growing the PS1 collection and in August 2021, my second dream came true and finished the PS1 North American Set. Now, I am focused on becoming the very first collector in history to acquire a full Worldwide PS1 set! It has never been done and would not be surprised if I am currently the world leader in number of PS1 games owned for region at over 4,000 to date and a total of 6,000 games, demos, books, prototypes, systems and one of a kind items for the Sony PlayStation 1. I do run a private group as mentioned on Facebook and you will not find it, you will need to be invited in, however, I do run a Patreon group as well that showcases exclusive stuff like a special monthly podcast, a special exclusive series called "For The Gamers By The Games/For The People By The People" and on occasion release full length documentaries. The Patreon Group Link is: www.patreon.com/SP1SC
On December 26, 2022, I will be releasing a very special documentary on the 25th Anniversary of my PS1 adventures as I purchased my first PS1 on December 26, 1997 and showcase that system, the games I had at the time and what happened to get to that point. The Patreon does have 3 tiers, Bronze at $1/mth that gives you access to the FTGBTG/FTPBTP video, Silver at $3/mth that gives you what was mentioned plus access to the podcast, and Gold at $5/mth that gives you access to all that and the documentaries. The docs can go as long as a Godfather movie, but the latest is just 90 mins! Also I do make special videos that I throw in on occasion that are available for all Patreons. All Patreon funds are utliized to the museum to make it better and better. The photos of the museum are on the FB page that you need a Golden Ticket to enter (sorry I learned from my time that if you make everything public bad people do tend to sneak in). I had to move my museum to a smaller space within the building I was renting in May 2022 when costs got over the top and was getting next to no help. Remember folks, we are collectors and gamers, for some of us preservation is key and I know I am not that well known but I deserve a chance like everyone else. My mission is to showcase great things, and to entertain folks without the bs that almost ALL YT channels and other social media platforms do presently. Give it a shot, I promise you won't be disappointed!
Enjoy! In this video, me and slackur go over our Secret Santas we received from RF Generation!
Note: this YouTube series won't be replacing either of our articles. This is just a side thing.
I have a certain group of friends over about every week on Fridays. About 2018-ish, we started a little thing we've had going on for years: one person out of the three plays a game, and another person of the three will narrate it.
For reference and privacy's sake, I will be referring to the members of this friend group by their internet usernames.
The group consists of three members:
Me, obviously,
cool kid k,
and Grassalina.
(The whole narrating thing originally started because of one of my Grassalina's at-the-time lack of reading skills compared to the rest of the group, but she has since caught up with us and now we read the dialogue for fun. Sometimes I even do it when playing games with my mother!)
Minecraft: Story Mode was a game that I had played a couple times when I was younger. Back when that group of friends had just started this whole ordeal, that was one of the first games we played.
About October, we decided that now that we're older and have a more actualized idea of what's going on, we'd play through the game again. cool kid k was actually playing the game, while Grassalina and I watched and made decisions.
Telltale's writing in Minecraft: Story Mode had us all scratching our heads at certain times. While funny, a considerable amount of the dialogue options wound up having a way different meaning then what was originally intended; being that Minecraft: Story Mode is primarily a story-based game, this often leads you to make the choices that you don't want to. Due to this, we have ended up restarting an episode a lot.
The combat engine in Season One is also abysmal. The Telltale engine seems more designed for the cutscenes then the combat, which ends up leading to a combat experience that feels... not great. Thankfully, Season Two improved upon this.
Despite the negatives mentioned, I think that Minecraft: Story Mode, had Telltale survived longer, could have been fleshed out into a better gameplay experience. There's definitely a lot of good ideas here, but not enough to really cultivate anything.
I've been koola, and see you in 2023.
(I didn't really want to end the year on a negative note...)
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Posted on Dec 6th 2022 at 08:00:00 AM by ( MetalFRO) Posted under Deathsmiles, Shoot the Corecast, podcast, Shmup Club, Cave, 360, Switch, arcade, shooting game, shoot em up, STG, shooter |
[img width=500 height=500]http://rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/images/2022-11-22_stcc_ep_052_deathsmiles.png[/img]
In Episode 052, MetalFRO and Addicted are joined by guest Rena to take an in-depth look at Deathsmiles! We talk about the game's story and game play, and Rena breaks down the scoring so we can better understand how it all works.
Listen to the episode right here on RF Generation:
https://www.rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/?name=2022-11-22_stcc_ep_052_deathsmiles.mp3
Or find a feed on your favorite podcast service through our Linktree page:
https://linktr.ee/shootthecorecast
Check out the original discussion thread for the game here:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=19691.0
Thanks for listening!
Where has the time gone? November already. Time to show your fellow RFGenners just how cool you think they are by filling their stockings with amazing video games! The deadline to sign up AND send your letter to Santa is Black Friday (11/25) so please don't hesitate!
http://www.rfgeneration.c...19696.msg284446#msg284446
I originally planned to write this month's article about Hollow Knight. I started it, and have played it a bit, but only got a bit into the first area.
What actually ended up happening was me playing a TON of Plants vs. Zombies this month. The exact set of circumstances that led up to this I won't delve into here, because it actually involves my personal life a lot, but just know that I ended up getting the game on Steam.
One thing that I want to say before I get into the actual review proper is that I've been playing it through on both Steam and on my 2DS at the same time. By that I mean I would play ~4 levels on my PC and then play them through on my DS.
In my opinion, the DS version of Plants vs. Zombies is EXTREMELY underrated! Sure, it may be laggy at times, but the actual game of Plants vs. Zombies is usually slow, so the lag isn't much of a problem. Something I find really cool about the DS version is unlike the other console ports, the game takes advantage of the DS's various features. For example, usually in 3-5 it's just a regular conveyor belt level, but in the DS version, it's this cool otherwise unseen minigame where you use the microphone.
Plants vs. Zombies is in a similar vein to Terraria for me. All of my friends (and even my older brother) have beaten the game at least twice. I, prior to this review, had only gotten to the second world.
Like I said, I don't really want to get into the specifics of why I started it this time, but I played way more than I usually do this playthrough. From my experience, the game is phenomenal.
I think my favorite part of Plants vs. Zombies is all the different strategies you can use. The game doesn't force you to go down any specific path. In fact, you can even start a level without Sunflowers with nothing more than a simple warning.
Because of that, I can't really REVIEW this game from a gameplay standpoint, other than the basics, which are already really solid.
I've been koola, and tacos are delicious. I would also buy a taco for $1000.
(Who knew that vegetation fighting dead people would be so fun?)
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Posted on Oct 25th 2022 at 08:00:00 AM by ( MetalFRO) Posted under Operation STEEL, Shoot the Corecast, podcast, Shmup Club, Undermog Games, indie game, arcade, shooting game, shoot em up, STG, shooter |
[img width=500 height=437]http://rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/images/2022-10-18_stcc_ep_051_operation_steel.jpg[/img]
In Episode 051, MetalFRO and Addicted dive deep into the game Operation STEEL with Ben, the developer behind it! We talk about the game's influences and inspirations, challenges during development, and all the things that make this game tick. It was a really fun discussion! Check out the original discussion thread for the game here:
Listen to the episode right here at RF Generation:
https://www.rfgeneration.com/podcasts/shmupclub/?name=2022-10-18_stcc_ep_051_operation_steel.mp3
Or check our Linktree page for the feed on your favorite podcast service:
https://linktr.ee/shootthecorecast
Check the original discussion thread here:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=19685.0
Thanks for listening!
Toaplan is a legendary developer at this point, having helped propel the shoot-em-up genre to new heights in the late 80's and early 90's. While they burned brightly for a few short years, they developed a number of highly influential titles. One of the hallmarks of Toaplan games is their level of challenge. Most of their games are considered among the most difficult in the genre, at least in terms of earlier games, prior to the shift toward manic and danmaku style. Toaplan has a couple games that stand above the rest, in terms of the sheer difficulty, however.
Upon its release in arcades, Toaplan's Same! Same! Same! immediately stood out in comparison to its predecessor, Hishouszame, which we knew in the West as Flying Shark. At the time, it could have been considered one of the most difficult shooter that had released up to that point. Thankfully, when the game came westward, the difficulty was tempered somewhat, so as not to turn players away. The renamed Fire Shark also got a home release on the Sega Megadrive and Genesis, and Toaplan themselves took the time to retool the game to balance it better. Join the RF Generation in November 2022 as we take on one of Toaplan's most infamous challenges with Fire Shark!
Omnifate has officially been my longest project.
The amount of hours I've poured into this project has almost outshined my amount of hours on YouTube on Switch.
All jokes aside, I've been hard at work on this for about 4 months now. Although the work on the RPG technically started a year ago, I hadn't really been actually doing anything 'til June 2022 due to various reasons.
Making a game isn't hard, honestly; the biggest problem that I've fixed has only took me 2 weeks.
What I find harder is telling the story you actually want to tell. I've had the idea for making a game since about 2020; it started taking shape in 2021; and now here we are with a demo of the game.
When I've watched interviews with game developers, the number one thing I hear is to keep it small. It is incredibly hard to control your excitement about such a project, so you'll often get carried away doing things related to the game, but not working on the actual game.
OMNIFATE has been a big passion project. I'm not really intending to profit off of it. My goal here is to create a game that I would want to play. I want to see more Earthbound-style games, so I'm making one. If anybody disagrees, that's fine.
So far, development has had its hurdles, but I'm really liking how it's coming along.
Composing the music for OMNIFATE has been really fun, too. In my head, before July 2021, I thought that if anything were to be completed and music was to be done, I would have music commissioned by someone like C418. But since I composed Wurly, I've been composing my own music and had a better appreciation of video game soundtracks. I've been told by a lot of people that my music is really well done. (Shameless plug but check out my music on Spotify or wherever you stream your music.)
I've been koola, and I know. I made this article way too late.
(Number of bugs: 348,973 and counting...)
I am going to preface this by saying if you've never played through the entire game of OneShot and don't want to spoiled, DO NOT READ AHEAD. I am going to put several line spaces so nobody gets accidentally spoiled. Go through the game yourself. It is amazing.
Alright, that should be enough.
I know I already said this, but don't read ahead if you haven't already played through the entirety of OneShot.
One style of games I extremely like, being the fan of games and coding that I am, is games that break the fourth wall. Games such as Undertale and Doki Doki Literature Club.
I had heard about OneShot a few times before but never actually looked that much into it. At that age I pretty much overlooked any anime-style game.
That's where is stood in my cognition for about 2 years. Just a Doki Doki Literature Club clone, I thought. (Even though OneShot came first...)
Until one December 2021. December 2021 was an interesting time to be an Undertale fan. Everyone was just coming off of the high of Deltarune Chapter 2. But, I guess, somebody in the Deltarune YouTubers group chat (which, as I initially wrote the script for this article, was a joke; now coming to figure out actually exists) suggested that everyone try OneShot.
Naturally, as one of the main consumers of this type of content, I of course heard about OneShot. At that point, I made one of the decisions in my gaming life that I regret the most:spoiling the entire main playthrough of OneShot.
I looked through the playlist for the specific playthrough I was watching and found out there was more episodes, so I decided to stop spoiling myself. I had by that point already sowed the seeds for my Dad to get me Steam so I figured I could just play it then.
On April 20th, 2022 (nice), I finally got access to Steam. After a couple weeks, I saved enough money to buy a $20 Steam gift card. I didn't get OneShot because I wanted to buy both F.I.S.H. and the Henry Stickmin Collection.
Fast forward to September 22, 2022. OneShot World Machine Edition launches.
I bought it as soon as possible, (which due to CGC 2022), was October 1, 2022.
I had a goal in mind: get through the main game, and experience the second playthough myself, unspoiled.
I succeeded in that goal.
Lengthy backstory aside, OneShot is an amazing game. The puzzles have you going into the operating system to solve them, and aren't too hard if you know what you're doing. I legitimately have zero gripes with the main game.
OneShot has you take the role of the savior of the world he's thrusted in. The savior, Niko, is basically a cat that stands on two legs and has skin. (that sounds much more gruesome on paper than in my head) Niko has the "sacred" ability to contact their god, the player. (Side note: I don't like how the Switch version handles this. It calls you by your account name, which is much less drawing than calling you by your first name.)
This player-character relationship is something I have not seen any other game do before (and DDLC doesn't count, that was just one point of the story.). Normally, in most games, you are free to do whatever you want to the characters. They don't feel real. They aren't aware of the outside world.
OneShot's ability to completely demolish this barrier of storytelling is completely unprecedented. It truly feels like something wholly different in the realm of games.
And that's where I would end the article.
...Except. In 2017, a new update to the game called Solstice was released. This update broke my already high expectations and threw them out the window. Not only does Niko communicate directly with the player more in this update, but he finds out why he exists, that this whole thing is a simulation, and that you wanted to have a second shot. He even tames the robot keeping this world together.
And that, my friends, is how you make a good game.
I've been koola, and OneShot is art. You cannot tell me otherwise.
(83 years is now 290 days.)
[img width=600 height=300]http://www.vgmonline.net/wp-content/uploads/deathsmilesbig.jpg[/img]
Spooky season is upon us! The Shmup Club celebrates with spooky games, and this year we're going with a heavy hitter, CAVE's classic Deathsmiles! From designer Tsuneki Ikeda, in collaboration with artist "Joker" Junya Inoue, CAVE decided to veer away from the normal vertically scrolling danmaku shooters that had become its main focus, and create an experience that could be more approachable. Diverging from both the heavy military theme of games like DoDonPachi and Ketsui, as well as the more colorful fantasy worlds of Mushihimesama, Ibara, and Espgaluda, this game saw CAVE exploring more of a gothic horror kind of look and feel. It also gave players more control of the horizontal space by allowing them to shoot both left and right, allowing for more freedom in strategic play. Deathsmiles also introduced a variable difficulty based on the path you take through the game.
Windia is a girl who had just moved to London, when suddenly she was whisked away in a flash of light as she was on her way to school. Transported to the magical world of Gilverado, she is taken in by Count Dior, and trained to realize her magical powers. Then she can join the other lost girls in defending the world of Gilverado against an invading horde of monsters. What horrors await Windia and the others as they work to free the land from this evil? Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in October 2022 as we find out, when we play the CAVE classic Deathsmiles!
Sign up here to participate:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=19691.0
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We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
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