7th Day Electric Episode 5! What Shmups Becoming Popular Will Look Like
Added 2020-08-25 18:09:56 +0000 UTC
Comments
Listened and thoroughly enjoyed. Huge fan of podcasts and these being exclusive to being a Patreon incentivized me to become a patron. Thanks!
Dominic Ng
2020-12-04 16:18:11 +0000 UTCListening to this episode now. I had a ridiculous podcast backlog, so I'm just getting caught up, but I do like the podcast format.
Josh Dieckmann
2020-09-29 19:02:44 +0000 UTCBiweekly would be ok for me. I enjoy the podcast, but not being a hard core player myself, the topics are sometimes too nichy (if that's a word) for me to follow.
Martin Wöhrle
2020-08-29 14:31:45 +0000 UTCI like this format .I just wish i could listen to it at work .
Regal Unlimited
2020-08-27 10:53:41 +0000 UTCThanks! I haven't updated in a bit because GameMaker just had a major update so I'm redoing the engine from a mess of spaghetti code right now but you can check it out on my Twitter: https://twitter.com/tsugumo_bpo/media I'm trying to squeeze a bunch of 80s & 90s anime love in there lol I've got some cool plans for it but this is the biggest project I've worked on so I've got a ways to go! I should check out the Discord sometime but I always end up just looking at everyone else's cool projects all day when I should be getting work done on my own if I want to finish it before I'm in the grave lol Glad to see other devs here! I think Mark's got some great insights about the problems the genre has with attracting new people and how things have changed since the arcade scoring days...but it's such a cool action-packed classic genre and skill-games have popped up more frequently the last few years in general, so it seems like there's got to be a way to re-market them to modern gamers and I think some of that can come from our end as devs in terms of user-friendly tutorials and learning curves and training modes etc for gamers who are new to the genre and intrigued but get intimidated by vids of superplayers they see and don't feel any tangible rewards as they dump hours and hours into practicing.
Tsugumo
2020-08-27 01:07:47 +0000 UTCGreat comment. I am also a game dev and want to see the game you are working on :) (Although if you have shared it online somewhere there is a good chance I have seen it already. I am BB on the discord if you frequent there.)
Ben Bishop
2020-08-26 23:29:35 +0000 UTCI enjoyed the Ted talk! I think a lot of people would love the difficult skill based gameplay of shmups if they were properly introduced. If Cuphead was a pure shmup or if Nintendo made one, a lot of people would become interested in them. There hasn't really been that shmup with a lot of universal sizzle outside of the enthusiasts. Maybe something that had all the features of the M2 ports (including the novice mode for sure) but had Metroid or Undertale characters and settings to it would do it.
Coreo
2020-08-26 20:11:35 +0000 UTCawesome comment man! Yes I really hope that a niche for skill-based gaming is going to start opening up for shmups, I really do think that is the angle they are mostly likely going to get attention for and be able to grow from.
The Electric Underground
2020-08-26 19:58:28 +0000 UTCI'm listening while working from home. Weekly is good for me but if you went to biweekly, I wouldn't be disappointed.
Coreo
2020-08-26 19:33:14 +0000 UTCI never leave comments but enjoy your podcast (and everything else) so wanted to make my presence known. Thanks for the content, I'm in it for the long haul.
Parlar
2020-08-26 18:47:30 +0000 UTCThanks for the feedback my dude! That's really helpful for me to know :-)
The Electric Underground
2020-08-26 16:44:47 +0000 UTCThis. I think most of us would support the channel regardless because supporting content creators is part of not letting the genre die off, so whatever is most manageable for Mark is fine by me. The biggest thing is sustainability and avoiding burnout...creators chasing the YouTube algorithm often burn themselves out trying to make too much content too frequently. But if you know “my channel will probably always appeal to a mostly niche audience and I’m not going to be making millions in ad revenue to quit my job” then quality content that you’re proud of is probably a lot more fulfilling to make and post even if it’s spread out or gets mixed reception at times. Sooner or later someone new stumbles across the channel and finds years of quality content to get them excited and maybe help rejuvenate things even if it’s just in their little circle of influence. If people following your content abandon your channel completely because you needed to take a couple weeks off or your podcast was every other week because that meant less scrambling and stress on your end or being able to focus on higher quality content, then how into your work could they really have been anyway lol
Tsugumo
2020-08-26 13:09:29 +0000 UTC“If you’re having a party and it’s just you, and a boom box and some bean dip and people show up, they’re just gonna walk in and leave.” So THAT’S why no one comes to my birthday parties... :( As a dev working on a shmup I like hearing your thoughts on the scene and how to get more people into the genre. I’m aiming for the cool flashy graphics aspect of it (trying to get my game to look like you’re playing a cool hand-drawn anime) and I have some feature ideas I’m going to try out, but it’s slow going as a solo dev. Your insights are interesting food for thought and I think making the genre popular again is something that requires both gamers AND devs working on it. In a way it’s basically the original skill-based gaming genre. Everything we play is a result of those oldschool arcade shmup hits that first lured people & their quarters into arcades and it’s a genre that’s retained its classic core concept throughout all the years of RPG mechanics and microtransactions and regenerating health and cover & shoot mechanics etc. Even after all that, shmups are still mainly a pure skill based genre like fighting games. I think the success of games like Cuphead and Doom 2016 show that there’s probably going to be a shift back toward difficult skill-based gaming. The industry leaning toward more casual gaming was good for growing it and bringing new gamers in, but a lot of them have literally never played a hard skill-based game the way 80s & 90s kids did...so in a way there’s potential for them to rediscover it and bring back difficulty and skill but couched in modern best design practices VS clunky broken NES-era programming. In my mind the biggest thing with speed running is that you don’t have to know anything. My Dad can watch a Mario speedrun and see Mario blazing through a level and just know “finishing a game in 5 minutes is fast!” But if I played a shmup in front of him, he’d have no idea how much of a big deal 350,763pts is over 325,182pts and why he should be excited to see that. I think that’s why Gus’ run went over so well. The live aspect for sure, like you mentioned in this episode, but also the live commentary was excellent and allowed people who’ve never seen the game before to know “this part was a big deal for XYZ reasons!” and feeling included in knowing why people are hyped up and cheering. I don’t know what the solution is but I think a trend back toward score based gaming would be really good for the industry. The big problem is you lose some inclusivity (disabled people, casual gamers, gamers who just wanted to enjoy the game without getting obliterated etc) but there are plenty of games they can enjoy now so it seems like there should be a little slice of the pie available that score & skill based gaming could grow inside. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. Lol
Tsugumo
2020-08-26 12:58:17 +0000 UTCOnly here for the podcast. Love that it is weekly based. I listen to every episode when i go to sleep/chill or cook.
RIMey
2020-08-26 06:16:45 +0000 UTCYeah I'm waiting to hear what the feedback is, but I might make it every two weeks if people aren't able to keep up with the weekly format ha.
The Electric Underground
2020-08-25 23:13:11 +0000 UTCI wouldn't mind if the podcast was less frequent (every fortnight would be just as good.) That said, I am supporting for whatever you do for the community, not just the podcast - I would continue to support if the podcast disappeared.
Ben Bishop
2020-08-25 22:58:49 +0000 UTCAwesome!
The Electric Underground
2020-08-25 22:13:14 +0000 UTCI am listening :)
Ben Bishop
2020-08-25 21:53:16 +0000 UTC
