Game Type DX is out this week on Playstation 4 and 5!
This is my last remaster of my older XBLIG games for consoles and it does have some new nice features if you played it long ago. And it's gotten some good reviews, and is a solid "high-score" style shmup even if you've not played it! Please consider buying it as it's super fun, has 2-player mode, and is only $5.99. Thanks!
Here's what critics have said so far:
What's in the game? Well half the draw is a complete Xbox 360 style menu system, within the game, replete with bad gaming jokes and nonsense from 2011. Yes, it's like an interactive time capsule filled with puns and satire.
The shmup part of the game now has 3 different game modes, and each one has an infinite or 3-minute option. There's lots of new enemies, and even power-ups and "power-downs"! Plus there's online leaderboards on each console, which is perfect for a high-score shooter like this.
Every so often, there's even a "power-up swarm" that flies through quickly. Some are power-downs though!
Here's where to grab it on every console and region!
Game Type DX comes out soon to the Xbox, Switch, and Playstation, therefore I am putting together some basic and more advanced strategies!
Here is the video version:
And here is the written version:
Time Pulse
A lot of shooters have a “super bomb” attack which does enemy damage and wipes bullets from the screen. Game Type DX doesn’t have a regular super bomb, because Game Type DX is pretty weird.
But … it's good weird.
The Time Pulse is great because it slows down time as you use it. But it does not do enemy damage. It does however allow you cancel bullets, but it requires the use of the Kick Beam to do that.
The Kick Beam is useful for killing enemies, since it is powerful, but it is limited because you need to power up the Kick Beam with cash drops.
Use the Time Pulse. Now shoot enemy bullets with your Kick Beam.
Enemy bullets are turned into cash drops. Suck in cash and get loads of points!
What do the cash drops do? Well, they do a lot of things.
Cash drops
give you points.
increase your multiplier.
reset your multiplier timer.
increase your Kick Beam power.
How do we get cash drops?
From killing enemies, but also from destroying their shots. We can destroy enemy shots with the Kick Beam while the Time Pulse is active. You simply tap the button to use a Time Pulse, then start shooting the Kick Beam. As you shoot enemy bullets they turn to cash drops AND you can contribute to getting another Time Pulse.
Chaining Points and Powers
The is the real power cycle in the game. In the bottom middle of the HUD is an enemy bullet icon, and a number. As you destroy enemy bullets with your Kick Beam during a Time Pulse, this number drops. When it hits 0, you get a new Time Pulse. Chaining this effect is the secret to huge points. Find a spot where there’s lots of enemy bullets, then use the Time Pulse and shoot all the enemy bullets. As you shoot, you’ll possibly get another Time Pulse to keep it going! Eventually you’ll run out of enemy bullets to milk, but this is a great strategy.
Chaining Method:
Use Time Pulse
During Time Pulse, shoot Kick Beam at enemy shots.
Destroy so many shots like this, that you gain a new Time Pulse.
Allow loads of cash drops to flow toward and gain you points.
Use another Time Pulse and do it again!
Show Me the Bullets
But you need lots of enemy shots to do this! Where are they?
Well, there are three modes to the game. Two of the modes, have hand-designed, static level layouts. Each time you play the levels stay the same. You can memorize the levels in these two modes, and predict where to be each time and improve your score.
You’ll want to remember where lots of enemies (like the crabs) come out and spray the screen with bullets. And you’ll want to use the Time Pulse here, then shoot all their bullets with your Kick Beam and get tons of cash drops, and points. You can then get another Time Pulse this way, or even a Time Pulse powerup that is sometimes floating around.
The third game mode has a lot more variety of enemy setups, but is also randomized every time you play! Once you get too good at the hand-made modes, you can try out the “Surprise” mode for more variety.
No Hoarding
Make sure you use Time Pulses pretty often. You get a new one each
time you beat a Loop, and you can get them as a floating powerup. Make
sure to catch those powerups!
A new Time Pulse powerup is floating near the middle of the screen. Grab it!
Ahead of Game Type DX releasing soon on consoles, here is an overview of Hoodie Girl's basic abilities. There's plenty of detail in here, even for players of the original version. Enjoy!
Here is the Video version of the article, for sitting and listening.
And here is the readable article version!
Slap Shot
As you start the game, your basic attack is called the Slap Shot. It fires forward, and up and down. You can simply hold the button for constant shooting.
A lot of the enemies come from the right side of the screen, so your forward shot does the work. But many other enemies come from up/down/behind which is when your back hand is really helpful.
You start able to shoot forward, up and down.
Several enemies are really important to take out quickly. Mainly the cats. The dang cats keep shooting as long as they are on screen. Each Loop of the game, the cats can shoot more. Once you get pretty far into the game, they are a simple enemy, but really nasty. Use your side shots to take them out from all angles.
Enemies coming in from the bottom are perfect targets for your down shot.
Double Tap
Another feature is to tap the shot button quickly. The benefit is, at the start of the tap, you get double-shots stacked up, not just one bullet but two. It's physically tough to take advantage of this all the time though, since you'll have to keep tapping constantly, but occasionally the extra firepower can help.
Power Up
In the original release, there were no powerups, but now in the DX version there are several types. One of the new powerups is the Gun Up. Each time you grab them, you gain a new angle of shots. This only powers up your Slap Shot. (You cannot power up your Kick Beam.)
Here the Slap Shot is near fully powered.
You’ll max out your Slap Shot after a while, which will look like this, with 4 bullets going to the left, and 3 bullets going to right. Try your best to simultaneously line up all these bullets onto actual enemies for maximize efficiency!
Point-Blank
You don’t get extra points or power from killing things in very close proximity, but what naturally happens is all your forward shots can hit a bit enemy. (Some shmups grant your attacks more power, or you get more points if you point-blank enemies.) So in some ways “point-blanking” does work well, if you can memorize when the big enemies show up. I like to run up quickly on the green SUVs and the Orange symbols and get in some concentrated hits.
Kick Beam
The Kick Beam is your mega shot like from other games, but here it is powered by cold, hard cash. You get cash drops from killing enemies. The cash drops do a lot of things, including giving you points, but they also power up your Kick Beam.
Your Kick Beam slows your movement, but gives you a strong forward shot. Plus you get to yell “Parkour”, so that’s just plain fun!
(Bullet) Slow Down
The Kick Beam is strong, and focused, but another benefit is it slows down enemy bullets in its path. This is great for giving you some space from oncoming attacks. Watch out though because the enemy bullets speed back up after they leave the Kick Beam's area of influence!
Look closely in the middle, the pink bullets all bunched up are a result of the Kick Beam hitting them.
Cash Infusion
Because the Kick Beam is powered by cash drops you’ll often need to stop shooting for just a moment, then keep shooting again. When you stop, all active cash drops start homing towards you. You can chain this nicely by holding shoot, letting off for a split second, then holding shoot again, killing more enemies and powering up your beam with the cash drops that fly at you.
If you stop shooting, all the active cash swarms toward you and gives you points.
The final, amazing use of the Kick Beam is to turn enemy bullets themselves into cash drops! But we’ll get into that strategy in another post.
Game Type was inspired and heavily references the Xbox 360. When creating the upcoming DX version for it, things got pretty difficult considering we're releasing it for the Nintendo Switch and the Playstation 4 and 5.
Now the worst possible thing to happen would have been for Nintendo and Sony to simply not allow the game in its present form, or to request a complete overhaul before we could release it. That would have stopped all work for the game. I was happy to create some new content for the DX release, and incorporate each platforms achievement and leaderboard systems. But to redo everything would have not been possible. The great news is, Nintendo and Sony are letting us release it!
However, both Nintendo and Sony sure didn't let our game in easily, or seemingly even understand what the game is about. I guess a "documentary style game about a competing game console" IS a pretty unusual concept!
RGB
Not surprisingly each platform, including the Xbox One, has rules about advertising a competitor's platforms. Plus, you have to adhere to each consoles naming conventions. Our game gets pretty "meta" though, because we have a made-up console in which you are playing the game. That console is called the "MediaBall" and its interface is a direct reference to the Xbox 360. To that end, I would have liked to have use terms such as "Dashboard", and "Game Marketplace" to complete the connection to the Xbox 360.
"Switch Red" variant dashboard color
But unfortunately for the Switch and Playstation, those terms and several things were required to be changed or removed. Even the number "360" in one of our fake ads got nixed! We also couldn't use the green color from the Xbox 360 Dashboard. In some ways we did end up with some pretty cool changes. Now each platform has it's own version! The Nintendo Switch version has "Switch Red" for the menu. And the Playstation has their blue for the menu tiles.
I guess what puzzles me is that the Xbox 360 is completely off the market and not a true direct competitor any more, so it surprised me how much they pushed back on every little thing references it. Maybe it's more a long-standing brand concept than one console. I don't know!
You're on the Naughty List
Here is an incomplete list of things we had to change when adapting to Sony and Nintendo (I can't get too specific with the details as they are very touchy about mentioning their internal rules to the public).
Can't use term "Dashboard" as this is the Xbox 360's term. I chose "Control Panel".
Can't use term "Xbox 360". So I chose "Certain Game Rival's console" and made sure to print it in green. :D
Can't use term "Game Marketplace", so we picked "Game Store".
Can't use green menu blocks. Green! Okay, they didn't say can't use green exactly, they just said the menu system looked too close to the Xbox 360. So change it some way. That's where the red and blue colors came in.
Can't show a cartoony controller that is even vaguely like the Xbox 360. So I dropped the other stick.
Microsoft on the left, Sony on the Right
Can't say "Control Stick". Um... what? I think that was more of a "must use our term" thing but it made me laugh.
Can't say "360" or "Rumble" action. So I went with "720" on the fake ad name and "Deep Tissue action" in the text description.
When you click on the fake controller massage ad, you get these texts.
All in all, it really wasn't that bad to make the changes. I think it was just funny how it didn't seem like they noticed what the game was doing or what it was about. But I'm thankful we get to release it on all consoles!
Release in September
Game Type DX is coming out September 8th! It's ready for pre-order on Switch and on Xbox One. (PS4 is tough to get a pre-order for it, but that's a whole other story!)
Parkour!
I'm thrilled to announce the remastered and enhanced version of our face-paced, high-score shooter Game Type coming soon to PS4/Switch/Xbox One, later this year.
You may be saying "wow, Game Type is a terrible name", and I agree! We actually named the game that, because it was the same name Microsoft used to access ALL GAMES FOR SALE on the Xbox 360, way back in December 2011.
Can you imagine making a video game console, and leaving the majority of games to be stuck behind the simple name "Game Type"? And the picture of the tile was a woman, doing a high-kick, in a green hoodie. That's super weird!
360 History
Yes, that's a real screen capture from the Xbox 360 dashboard! There were a few categories like "New Releases", but if you wanted to find XBLIG or even XBLA games, you had to click there first!
To help combat this, and get some attention to the problem, we quickly make a very fun little shooter and called it "Game Type".
And now all these years later, to complete our DX pack of Shoot 1UP DX, Explosionade DX, and Weapon of Choice DX, we've added lots of new content to create Game Type DX!
Have a look at the announcement trailer which tells the history, but also shows a bit of the new content.
Microsoft Changes
Game Type, the game, received wide gaming press coverage, bringing large amounts of media attention to the problem.
Microsoft shortly revised the menu system, removing the poorly named menu tile, making it easier to find XBLIG and XBLA games again.
From internal sources, MBG has been told that their Game Type protest game really did help push Microsoft to change their console for the betterment of Indie Games.
Deluxe Treatment
With new enemies, new game modes, leaderboards, and achievements, Game Type DX is the complete package, and a fascinating time capsule of gaming history.
Key Features for Game Type DX in 4K
Loop-tastic speed insanity! Every time you beat a level, the game speed increases!
Time Pulse gameplay -- Slow down time and turn enemy bullets into score drops!
2-Player local co-op for extra firepower, and extra Parkour!
3 Game modes: "Standard", "Parkour Remix", and "Surprise!"
Surprise Game mode features new level layouts every time you play.
Online Leaderboard! Show up often. Show Off your play skills!
The new DX version of the game has lots of powerups and even POWER DOWNS!
DX version also features loads of corny video game jokes to discover in the fake dashboard section.
PARKOUR!!!
Alright friends, we'll be announcing a release date soon, and a pre-order option. Stay tuned!
Yes, I meant to write "contract", instead of "contact" :D
The past few months have had me spending time on two new secret projects! They are quality, original, action Mommy's Best Games productions and I'm super excited to share them! Sadly, I've decided to not share them prematurely. They must remain in secret for the time being. Which means, for November, December, as I worked on them, I couldn't find a way to do a blog post, without sharing information about those games.
But in the meantime, I've taken on another contract game design job. I've worked with Girls Make Games for several years now. They are a good company which helps get teenage girls into game development. The girl teams create an idea, and as a bonus, GMG contracts out the final development to finish their concept and release it! It's a pretty neat thing to be a part of.
Previously I've finished several games with Girls Make Games. Most recently we released "Find Me" onto Steam and consoles. It was great to see that project come to life on my own PS4! And it's gotten some great reviews as well.
Find Me has remarkably tight and responsive controls and some of the most intuitive jumping physics I’ve seen. That double jump? Perfect. One of the best I’ve ever seen, indie or otherwise. I’ve played games by seasoned pros who couldn’t get the movement, speed, and precision as fine-tuned as Find Me has. Sublime effort, everyone. The best thing I can say about Find Me is the controller will vanish in your hands. It’s a total non-issue, as it should be.
I'm pretty thrilled with that review of the gameplay controls! I feel proud about that.
My current contract project is for "What They Don't Sea". It's a new Girls Make Games fully funded project. I'm heading up programming and design again for that. I can't reveal the new look of the game, but it's shaping up great. The game is about a young girl that is exploring the ocean and looking for renewable resources.
But rest assured I am also still working on completely insane Mommy's Best Games original games! I plan to reveal some news bits of them in the next few months.
