Post by Farbs on Oct 19, 2012 10:10:59 GMT 10
It's out! See here:
marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Captain-Foraxian/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550c17
Early this year I found myself replaying Captain Foraxian, and wishing I could play it with a controller, at a solid framerate, on a CRT. So, I started porting to Xbox via Xbox Live Indie Games. A direct port took only a few days, but as I played it I kept seeing other things I wanted to tweak and adjust. Since then I've revisited it a few times, and added:
Missions!
Sort of. Each new colour of ship spawns in a very different way to the last. Sometimes they'll spawn in huge formations, but not fire so much. Other times they'll all spawn behind you. The game also moves between the enemy waves much more quickly, to keep up the tempo. Listen carefully to your pilot at the start of each wave and you'll know what to expect. This brings us to...
Voice!
I've put a bit of time into writing a new voice synth for Captain Jameson, based on the old Speak & Spell toys. I ended up also using this for Foraxian, for legitimate oldschool voice playback. I'm even mashing the synth parameters to create different voices for the four different pilots, playing the same encoded data for each pilot and having it sound very, very different. This brings us to...
Multiplayer!
Captain Foraxian XBLIG has four player drop-in coop. The four ships share a single health count, so be careful! Luckily it's much easier to fly carefully now. This brings us to...
Reflex Assist!
Whenever a player ship is dangerously close to an enemy or laser bolt, the game enters a fancy slow-motion mode. The screen flares out, the audio drops two octaves, and the game runs at 25% speed, until the danger passes. Now regular human beings can weave through bullet streams like a pro. Pros can turn this option off, of course, but they'll find it incredibly difficult. This brings us to...
Incredible Difficulty!
With Reflex Assist I was able to really ratchet up the difficulty, and finally play something genuinely bullet-hellish without my ship being smeared all over the landscape. Now there are a ton more lasers and ships, all there for your blasting pleasure.
I hope you enjoy it
marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Captain-Foraxian/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550c17
Early this year I found myself replaying Captain Foraxian, and wishing I could play it with a controller, at a solid framerate, on a CRT. So, I started porting to Xbox via Xbox Live Indie Games. A direct port took only a few days, but as I played it I kept seeing other things I wanted to tweak and adjust. Since then I've revisited it a few times, and added:
Missions!
Sort of. Each new colour of ship spawns in a very different way to the last. Sometimes they'll spawn in huge formations, but not fire so much. Other times they'll all spawn behind you. The game also moves between the enemy waves much more quickly, to keep up the tempo. Listen carefully to your pilot at the start of each wave and you'll know what to expect. This brings us to...
Voice!
I've put a bit of time into writing a new voice synth for Captain Jameson, based on the old Speak & Spell toys. I ended up also using this for Foraxian, for legitimate oldschool voice playback. I'm even mashing the synth parameters to create different voices for the four different pilots, playing the same encoded data for each pilot and having it sound very, very different. This brings us to...
Multiplayer!
Captain Foraxian XBLIG has four player drop-in coop. The four ships share a single health count, so be careful! Luckily it's much easier to fly carefully now. This brings us to...
Reflex Assist!
Whenever a player ship is dangerously close to an enemy or laser bolt, the game enters a fancy slow-motion mode. The screen flares out, the audio drops two octaves, and the game runs at 25% speed, until the danger passes. Now regular human beings can weave through bullet streams like a pro. Pros can turn this option off, of course, but they'll find it incredibly difficult. This brings us to...
Incredible Difficulty!
With Reflex Assist I was able to really ratchet up the difficulty, and finally play something genuinely bullet-hellish without my ship being smeared all over the landscape. Now there are a ton more lasers and ships, all there for your blasting pleasure.
I hope you enjoy it