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[Xonatron]

Now that a lot of feedback has come in the biggest criticisms of the game are known:

1) more content
2) better graphics / more detailed background

Still thinking about adding more content, but here's what I am going to patch:

1) all difficulty modes unlocked, so everyone can play EXPERT and GODLIKE
2) Fire spots and ground enemies are now colored, and not grey-scaled to match the ground. See video below. If you compare to the video in the post above you can see all the carnage on the ground now. The carnage was always there, but I gray-scaled it to make it easier to see what was happening in your plane. Goes to show you cannot always cater to expert play, you have to give fun visuals too.

[Xonatron]

I do not know what to do about the background.

I have decided to keep the ground fire spots colored and the grounded enemies colored.

However, I am stuck with deciding the art work for the background. Here are some test backgrounds:

Test of full saturated rainbow colored background, with no contrast:



    
Another test with distorted colors:

[Xonatron]

Continued...

Yang Cui's artwork v1:




Yang Cui's artwork v2:

[Xonatron]

Continued...

Another test with colorized rendered clouds:




Another test -- of a brush-stroked realistic rock texture, grey-scaled:

[Xonatron]

Another Metacritic accepted review came in at 80% from Brash Games, keeping our Metacritic score at 80%! Amazing that an indie shmup is holding onto this score. It's amazing that modern day reviewers are respecting the game for what it is -- tight gameplay -- and not ripping too hard on what it is not -- tons of content, upgrading, AAA graphics, etc.

http://www.brashgames.co.uk/2016/07/04/score-rush-extended-review/
http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/score-rush-extended

P.S. If any of you have played the game, please feel free to leave a user rating (just a score) or user review (a score and a written review). We have noticed at least one (and maybe two) incidents of 1/10 reviews on the game from users. It would be nice if those ratings had a written review for us to learn from.

[Xonatron]

Continuing the background experiments...

Here's a background with mountains, flatlands, etc. The small features do not stand out:

[Xonatron]

Still experimenting with what type of "detailed" background would work in this game -- see above for other attempts.

I think what needs to remain is a dark background, because essentially this is a retro bright-styled shmup. The best visuals would really be a space background. However, if I mix in some lava to give contrast, it helps showcase the game is a scrolling shmup. So, here goes a test:

Rock + lava (dark + light contrast) background:



(dev version)

Compare with production version:



(production version)

[Xonatron]

This one for the experts and elite players only:

One change I decided to commit was making the DUAL PLAY fighters closer together -- this is where you control 2 fighters at the same time. I have found that the fighters are too far apart for EXPERT, GODLIKE, and BOSS RUSH modes (the hardest modes with the most bullets).

Test footage:



(Wait an hour for this to upload.)

[Xonatron]

Example gameplay of new SURVIVAL mode:

[Xonatron]

Almost ready to release the patch.

The few changes:
- new SURVIVAL mode
- new background graphics in SCORE RUSH mode (the default mode)
- bloom effect
- difficulty selection in main menu and GODLIKE unlocked for all

Example footage:




(Note: Crackling audio sound is from FRAPS recording; The original gameplay has clear audio.)

[Xonatron]

I have been asked about the PS4 patch I mentioned above. It may or may not happen. We are working on a release in other platforms that will contain these updates. Hopefully the PS4 will also get them -- as the game has not yet been launched in Japan (on PS4) yet, so that's a submission that will need to happen regardless.

Bare with us, as we move ahead. My time has become limited recently.

[Xonatron]

Long time.

We just placed as a semi-finalist in GDWC 2016:

Links:

- http://xona.com/2016/12/13.html
- https://thegdwc.com/

Vote for us here (voting still works despite the end date):

- https://thegdwc.com/vote/

P.S. Score Rush Extended is still under work (coming to new platforms). I have other work on my plate and it is delaying (slowing down) Xona Games a bit, but we are still moving forward, bit by bit.