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[S20-TBL]

Greetings! It's my first time actually posting this game here on TIGSource even though it's been featured for a while on the Shmups development forum and Supershigi's forum, so here goes:

Papilio v0.35 Demo Download

This game is aimed to be closer to 80's and 90's horizontal scrolling shmups like Final Mission/S.C.A.T., Forgotten Worlds, Chariot and Gun Hohki than it is to modern danmakus. While there are certain aspects of Manic Shooters in this game, I consciously made a decision to reject the Bullet Hell design archetype, which I honestly consider to be a mutation of the genre, in favor of a more classical approach.

Video of the previous version's gameplay here (v0.27):



Screenshots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

DEFAULT CONTROLS:

Keyboard Player 1

• Z: Shoot Left (also Left Mouse Button in 1P Mode)

• X: Shoot Right (also Right Mouse Button in 1P Mode)

• C: Use Astra (Bomb) (also Middle Mouse Button in 1P Mode)

• Enter: Pause

• Up Arrow: Move Up

• Down Arrow: Move Down

• Left Arrow: Move Left

• Right Arrow: Move Right

Keyboard Player 2

• Q: Shoot Left

• W: Shoot Right

• E: Use Astra (Bomb)

• Enter: Pause

• I: Move Up

• K: Move Down

• J: Move Left

• L: Move Right

Mouse (either player)

• Left Button: Shoot Left

• Right Button: Shoot Right

• Middle Button: Use Astra (Bomb)

• Enter: Pause

• Move Mouse: Move character (character follows cursor)

Joystick / Gamepad (either player)

• Button 4: Shoot Left

• Button 1: Shoot Right

• Button 6: Use Astra (Bomb)

• Button 5: Pause

• Stick / D-Pad: Move character

ESC will exit the game automatically and close the application.

KNOWN ISSUES:

• The Frost and Flame Wisps sometimes don't reposition themselves accordingly when you switch firing directions. This may be due to how the button press mechanics for left-and-right shooting are implemented. It's kinda useful though, so I might give this one the Street Fighter II combo treatment.

• 2 Player mode may need more testing in light of the recent Doubleplay mechanics. Please give me a heads up if you spot anything weird; screenshots would be greatly appreciated.

• The new weapons and especially the Bombs are as of yet quite untried and may be unbalanced. Feedback on them is highly appreciated.

• While I've taken steps to ensure the game does not overwhelm native sound drivers, some illegal functions may still be called from time to time and freeze up the game. Since this project will soon be migrated to GM Studio (it still uses 8.1), it won't be an issue in the fure, but for this demo it may well be.

• Some graphics in the in-game manual are slightly outdated, but for the most part all the info is up to date.

TO DO LIST:

• Fix the green Wisp. Right now it is partially buggy at the start of a stage.

• Make an animated "How to Play" section using dummy objects.

• I am entertaining the possibility of retooling the screen size and aspect ratio to 16:9, both for aesthetic purposes and to address a complaint that the game screen feels cramped. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Please leave a message here if you come across any glitches or game-breakingly unfair things you find in the game. If you get an in-game error message, an "error.log" file will show up in the game's directory; please paste the contents here or PM it to me.

I am also planning to put this game up for alphafunding on a site like Desura or IndieDB, since the magnitude of the scope means I need to be working on it full time to complete it in a short span (I'm the only guy on the staff...lol).

Last but not least, please check the in-game manual for details about some of the more obscure game mechanics. Any and all feedback regarding difficulty, bugs, criticism, etc. is appreciated. Thank you all.

[Jondog]

It plays nicely, the bosses that I encountered were fun to fight and I like a lot of the art but a few things bugged me.

The graphics aren't always consistent to the aesthetic. Some of bullets rotate which destroys the illusion of a lower base resolution. I also saw some weird pixel stretching going on with the character selection background.

There's also some graphics that have a lot of banding going on, mainly the text with the pseudo glow effects http://www.pixel.schlet.net/img/spelunky4.png

The game feels cramped not only because of the almost square aspect ratio but also because of the base resolution, a lot of the sprites are also quite large and the dynamic camera really just hides things off screen because of how much you can move around vertically there is to it.

A small bug I noticed is that sometimes the character is facing the other way when firing.

[S20-TBL]

Thank you for the feedback! Glad you liked the bosses. :D

Regarding the graphical inconsistency and the banding in some assets, you make a good point and it's something that does need to be addressed. Some of those assets were rushed during production, including the background for the weapon selection screen which is nothing more than a default pattern found in Paint Shop Pro, and need to be replaced.

While the size and "closeness" of the sprites is actually a design choice as I don't like shmup cameras that are too wide and distant, the "fake difficulty" it engenders is still a valid reason for me to work on a compromise to allow for a bigger viewport and screen real estate, hence my considering an HD resolution. The narrow view wobbling (dynamic camera panning) can actually be addressed via a few distance tweaks as the original camera was hindered by the way walls used to work in earlier versions, which is no longer the case.

The sprite orientation error while firing shots is actually a known issue, but so far none of my solutions have worked to completely remove it (only to reduce the possibility of it happening, which is still very great if you use Mouse control). I'll continue to look into it though.

[Jondog]

It's not the pattern on the background, it's the character paintings, I don't think they are being displayed at the proper resolution so they flicker so much when moving up and down.

[S20-TBL]

It might be a vsync issue. I'll take another look at them in the meantime while I'm migrating all the files to GM Studio.

[Uhfgood]

There was so much going on that it was kind of hard for me to see what was going on.  In fact two buttons for firing in two directions is a little awkward.

In any case it would be a good idea to allow wasd for player movement as well as the arrows, so I could use the mouse to shoot at the same time.

Artwork is pretty cool, but I always tend to prefer to get my gameplay solid before doing anything content heavy.

[S20-TBL]

Thanks for the feedback.

In any case it would be a good idea to allow wasd for player movement as well as the arrows, so I could use the mouse to shoot at the same time.

I had actually considered this a couple of years ago, but it would have interfered with how 2 Player mode works in the game (Player 2 uses Mouse control by default). However, with the way the controls now use conditionals to manage Joystick detection, I believe I can add this feature under certain circumstances, such as for single player modes.

[S20-TBL]

While porting the game to GM Studio, I made a small update to the free demo. You can download it below:

Papilio v0.3125 Demo


EDIT: Replaced the file due to an oversight with drawing the Pause screen.

Updates:

• Added Mouse shooting under Player 1 Keyboard controls, for 1 Player Mode only. Left Mouse shoots left, Right Mouse shoots right and Middle Mouse uses a bomb. You can still use the keyboard keys as normal.

• Changed Player 2's default Keyboard scheme, to allow for players who use a laptop and/or don't have easy access to a numpad. The new default Player 2 Keyboard controls are as follows:

Code:

Shoot Left = Q
Shoot Right = W
Use Astra = E
Pause = Enter
Move Up = I
Move Down = K
Move Left = J
Move Right = L

• Made some bug fixes, including addressing a fatal error caused by erroneous Camera movement in Stage 3 that only occurs in 2 Player Mode.

Please enjoy! Feedback is appreciated.

[S20-TBL]

I've done intensive testing over a period of 2 weeks and have discovered numerous glitches, particularly in 2 player mode. This new version attempts to address most if not all of the ones I have found, though there may be others that have eluded my attention:

Papilio v0.35 demo download!

The link on the first post has also been replaced.

DEFAULT CONTROLS:

Keyboard Player 1

• Z: Shoot Left (also Left Mouse Button in 1P Mode)
  

• X: Shoot Right (also Right Mouse Button in 1P Mode)
  

• C: Use Astra (Bomb) (also Middle Mouse Button in 1P Mode)
  

• Enter: Pause

• Up Arrow: Move Up

• Down Arrow: Move Down

• Left Arrow: Move Left

• Right Arrow: Move Right

Keyboard Player 2

• Q: Shoot Left

• W: Shoot Right

• E: Use Astra (Bomb)

• Enter: Pause

• I: Move Up

• K: Move Down

• J: Move Left

• L: Move Right

Mouse (either player)

• Left Button: Shoot Left

• Right Button: Shoot Right

• Middle Button: Use Astra (Bomb)

• Enter: Pause

• Move Mouse: Move character (character follows cursor)

Joystick (either player)

• Button 7: Shoot Left

• Button 8: Shoot Right

• Button 1: Use Astra (Bomb)

• Button 10: Pause

• Stick: Move character

ESC will exit the game automatically and close the application.


UPDATES (Please Read):

• Adjusted the number of lives in 2 Player mode. Please be aware that since both players share the same life tally, you can die much faster if you're not careful. If this seems too clunky or unfair, please feel free to give constructive feedback on how it could be remedied. But also take note that fixing this mode will take a considerable amount of time.

• Repaired numerous fatal glitches that only occur during 2 Player Mode, largely due to enemy targeting issues.

• Several changes were made to the background and effects drawing functions to improve performance on older machines. In particular, Stages 2 and 3 should no longer cause so much slowdown during gameplay.

• Finishing a game in 2 Player mode with an eligible high score will now take you directly to the 2 Player scoreboard on name entry completion.

• Fixed the joystick and gamepad detection handling, which was broken in previous versions due to variable handling oversights. In addition, proper POV hat support has now been implemented for D-Pads and analog controllers that support POV features.

• The game's constant Joystick autodetection has proven to be far too much of a memory hog. Instead, you must now install joysticks or gamepads before running the game. Trying to do this while the application is running will not yield any results. Conversely, getting your joystick or gamepad unplugged during a session will disable joystick support for the rest of the game until exiting, and will Pause the game if you're in the middle of a level.
  

• Stage 1's camera movement has been adjusted to allow for more vertical space, increasing the visibility on the game screen and reducing the cramped feeling and possibility of getting sideswiped by an unseen enemy.

• Prevented installed Joysticks from overriding your default controller preference when a player is using Mouse control, to prevent mouse clipping errors from interfering with gameplay.

• Completely revamped keyboard mapping. The previous version was too problematic and does not work in GM:S, so a new script using the old one as a base was devised. Under the new keyboard mapping system, you can now assign any key available except ESC, Printscreen and F9. Be warned that trying to assign F9 to a key will lead to an error and require you to restart the game.
  

• Fixed Joystick remapping to be less twitchy. However, do be warned that it will almost feel as if Joystick remapping is unresponsive the first time you attempt it. You may need to fidget around a bit with the gamepad or stick before you can begin changing the buttons in the menu. This is due to a fix that attempts to prevent accidentally resetting your choices just by tapping up or down and selecting Reset All. I will continue to investigate this further.
  

• It is now possible to cancel a play session and return to the main menu by pressing Right Shot on the Wisp Selection Screen. Upon doing so you will be presented with a choice to return to the menu or go back to selecting a Wisp type.

• Improved the sound playback system to prevent random application freezing from mishandling too many overlapping channels; lower priority sounds such as primary weapon firing and projectile hit noises will now be stopped in favor of louder SFX such as explosions. Please be advised that this may not yet be foolproof with regards to Windows 8's problematic dmsynth.dll driver.

• Changing your weapon in the Wisp Selection screen or by receiving a Weapon Switch powerup item will now change the pattern and color of your Astra aura as well, allowing you to quickly identify your shot and Astra type.

• Rebalanced certain Astras and weapons. In particular the Blue Wisp + Green Powerup Astra was tweaked to be less damaging, while the Red Wisp + Green Shot was slightly improved for better stopping power. Additionally, unless you are too close to the bottom of the screen then hitting the underwater portions of the Stage 3 water boss should no longer be possible with the Red Wisp + Red Shot Astra, which can result in some strange glitches.

• Astras no longer clear all bullets of a certain type on the screen should they strike only one, instead clearing only the bullets that strike the Astra projectiles themselves.

• Rank and play mode now affects some enemy patterns and aggression. Certain enemies in Stage 2 may or may not fire depending on the current Rank, and 2 Player mode will cause more enemies to be generated at the beginning. Additionally, enemies in 2 Player Mode now have slightly increased % health, though not by an excessive amount.

• Certain enemies were rebalanced around the Rank mechanic to be more or less forgiving depending on the difficulty level.

KNOWN ISSUES:

• In 2 Player mode, a minor bug may happen at the end of Stage 1 while fighting the boss if your camera is positioned too low during the forced autoscroll section before the fight, causing it to get temporarily stuck and not scroll upwards with your movement. You can remedy this simply by having both players fly straight up until the camera normalizes, or by circling around the center of the screen for a while before flying up. Thankfully this glitch is rare and easily fixed.
  

• The Frost and Flame Wisps sometimes don't reposition themselves accordingly when you switch firing directions. This may be due to how the button press mechanics for left-and-right shooting are implemented. It's kinda useful though, so I might give this one the Street Fighter II combo treatment instead of fixing it.

• Changing the Up and Down keys during keyboard remapping can be a bit off due to how it has been coded to prevent reckless keybinding by rapidly tapping your current Up and Down keys. To bind them to the key of your choice, first wait a half second before pressing a different key while either Up or Down are selected.
  

• 2 Player mode may need more testing in light of the recent Doubleplay mechanics. Please give me a heads up if you spot anything weird; screenshots would be greatly appreciated.

• The new weapons and especially the Bombs are as of yet quite untried and may be unbalanced. Feedback on them is highly appreciated.

TO DO LIST (for v0.4 onwards only unless required):

• If no more major glitches are found, I will proceed to work on v0.4 onwards which will be put up on Desura and/or IndieDB for alphafunding purposes.

• Add non-interactive NPC flavor sprites for stages with closely visible settlements (like stages 1 and 3).

• Possibly replace the default font drawing functions with customized font tables, to preserve graphical consistency. Please be aware however that this is not high on my priority list.

• Add proper trigger support for X360 controllers.

[Kyle O]

Hey this is really fun. I can't really offer anything helpful in terms of feedback. I haven't beaten level 2 yet 


I really dig the boss battles.
It can be difficult to tell what's going on but that seems to lend to the chaos and add to general excitement.

[S20-TBL]

It can be difficult to tell what's going on but that seems to lend to the chaos and add to general excitement.

I think this is something I may need to fix. Some testers from a couple years ago told me my game used far too many vivid colors, so I toned down the background to make the foreground more legible and redrew almost all the (then existing) enemy sprites. Looks like I may need to work on it further.

I discovered an error in the playable demo that necessitated fixing. You can download the new version here.

[Kyle O]

I didn't have any trouble distinguishing the background from the foreground... the real issue seems to be in just the sheer amount of bullets and particles on the screen at once.

As difficult as it may-- one solution might be to color code some things-- such as having the players bullets be one consistent color, even throughout the different upgrades-- and never using even a similar shade of that color for any of the enemies or their bullets.

[S20-TBL]

As difficult as it may-- one solution might be to color code some things-- such as having the players bullets be one consistent color, even throughout the different upgrades-- and never using even a similar shade of that color for any of the enemies or their bullets.

Good suggestion. Actually since most of the player bullets are already more or less consistent, I think the problem could also lie in the enemy bullets themselves, so I'll attempt to focus on redesigning most of them.

Still, I'll try playing around with the character projectiles. A less standout color could help.

[S20-TBL]

Papilio is now live on itch.io as an Early Access build, though an (updated) free demo is also on the same webpage.

Please visit it here: http://s20-tbl.itch.io/papilio

I ended up taking a few alternative approaches to balancing the game difficulty. Many enemies and formations / attack patterns were adjusted in order to give players a better fighting chance, as well as prevent cheap hits and deaths especially at higher Rank levels. A couple of the bigger enemies were redrawn to make them smaller and less screen filling, and some enemy projectiles were also redrawn to make them stand out more against the background. Lastly, the player hitbox was also slightly reduced to allow players to better duck and weave through projectiles. These changes are present in both the Paid Alpha and Free Demo versions.

The Paid Alpha includes a new Survival Mode for both 1 and 2 players, which takes you through an endless level filled with increasingly numerous enemy waves. Extra lives and defensive powerups cannot be gained in this mode; you can only power up your default shots and occasionally get Weapon Switch items. Additionally, if you can discover the secret bonuses in levels 1 and 2 in the Alpha, you'll get to fight EX bosses at the end, and you may get hidden midbosses to appear before fighting the endboss. These are worth extreme amounts of points, but are very difficult to beat.

[debugchicken]

Wow this is some well made game. Really nice graphics.

Problems I found:
The input was not saved after I closed the game and opened again.
The shots and background blend too much sometimes. Although this seems an extra difficulty.
I felt a little lost at too many mechanics at the same time but I'll play some more to see if I can grasp everything.

[S20-TBL]

Thanks for the response. Glad you liked it! :D

The input was not saved after I closed the game and opened again.

Are you referring to the keyboard / joystick button configuration or the choice of controls? If it's the latter, you might have selected "Exit without Saving" in the Settings menu by mistake instead of "Save & Exit". Using the former resets the configuration to the defaults in the .ini file.

The shots and background blend too much sometimes. Although this seems an extra difficulty.

Thanks for noting this, I will try redrawing some of the other shots a bit more.

I felt a little lost at too many mechanics at the same time but I'll play some more to see if I can grasp everything.

Curious, which mechanics are you referring to?

[debugchicken]

Are you referring to the keyboard / joystick button configuration or the choice of controls? If it's the latter, you might have selected "Exit without Saving" in the Settings menu by mistake instead of "Save & Exit". Using the former resets the configuration to the defaults in the .ini file.

Well, what I know is: I configured the controls, and they were ok while playing. I mean, in the RAM at least they were fine. Once I exit the game, I expect it to be the way I let it, but they weren't.

I mean, even if I chosed by mistake not to save, than the controls shouldnt be fine when I was playing the game. Save should be both for current session (ram) and latter sessions (disk) at the same time.

Curious, which mechanics are you referring to?

There are three character, with 3 powerups each, then the "helper balls" shoot diferently depending which side I'm facing, and there are also two-shoots-per-poowerup sometimes, also the "special" attack costs 100 gem but if I dont have 100 gem than I can use my shield as as special, I don't even knew I had a shield...(but this explains why sometimes hit don't do damage). And sometimes the special is one thing then its another, I don't know if its per-character or per-powerup-per-character. There are a lot of stuff going on, everything is a little hard to understand and so a little hard to optimize. But as I said, maybe it takes some time to understand everything. Good games are like this, like chaos legion or even the last of us. Although these show the mechanics in a much slower pace.

[S20-TBL]

Well, what I know is: I configured the controls, and they were ok while playing. I mean, in the RAM at least they were fine. Once I exit the game, I expect it to be the way I let it, but they weren't.

I mean, even if I chosed by mistake not to save, than the controls shouldnt be fine when I was playing the game. Save should be both for current session (ram) and latter sessions (disk) at the same time.

I see. But the strange thing is I'm not able to reproduce this problem at all. I can reconfigure the controls, play the game, exit, and when I come back my settings are still there. It's coded to save all your chosen settings in the maincfg.ini file once you hit "Save & Exit" in the Configuration submenu, so I have no idea why it's not saving on your end unless you're doing something strange.

There are three character, with 3 powerups each, then the "helper balls" shoot diferently depending which side I'm facing, and there are also two-shoots-per-poowerup sometimes, also the "special" attack costs 100 gem but if I dont have 100 gem than I can use my shield as as special, I don't even knew I had a shield...(but this explains why sometimes hit don't do damage). And sometimes the special is one thing then its another, I don't know if its per-character or per-powerup-per-character. There are a lot of stuff going on, everything is a little hard to understand and so a little hard to optimize. But as I said, maybe it takes some time to understand everything. Good games are like this, like chaos legion or even the last of us. Although these show the mechanics in a much slower pace.

Almost all the things you mentioned are in the in-game Manual menu and the Readme file, actually. Although I would understand not everyone going for those. I'm actually planning on adding a short "How to Play" section in the future before the game starts.

[debugchicken]

I'm actually planning on adding a short "How to Play" section in the future before the game starts.

Do that