DUX - new Dreamcast shooter

[Bootaaay]

Got an email from hucast.net confirming that DUX (a horizontal shooter developed for Dreamcast by members of the NGDEV team responsible for Last Hope) will be released on the 28th of August. Anyone else looking forward to it?



http://www.hucast.net
http://www.blog.hucast.net/

Dux is a shooting game for Sega Dreamcast developed by HUCAST.net & KonTechs Ltd. This game combines traditional gameplay with modern shoot 'em up features such as many bullets on-screen and an adequate scoring system. To make advantages of the Dreamcasts 2D capabilities, the game completly consist out of CGI and features high-resolution with super smooth graphics. Furthermore this game runs region free on NTSC/J/US/PAL systems. Compatible Devices: Original Pad, Arcade Stick, VGA

Stage 1 (old footage);
http://www.blog.hucast.net/dux_stage1_teaser.avi (right-click, save-as)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RFRkMtFNf1Y

Stage 2;
http://www.blog.hucast.net/dux_stage2_alpha.avi (right-click, save-as)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=U7VikgFrQdo

Doesn't seem amazing or anything, but pretty good for a self-published game and I like the art style, plus i'm a sucker for new games on dead consoles - hopefully it isn't as punishing as Last Hope though :p

[Mr. Durden]

Is this serious?

[fanboi]

In before 09/09/09 peoples! :|

cool though.

[vareon]

Now that's one machine that refuses to die.

[SovanJedi]

Those bright orange cliffs and craggy rocks remind me of the prerendered stuff in Ocean Commander, for some reason.

Oh, and obligatory "What the-?!" to the platform of choice.

[Vorador]

Seems like your average R-TYPE clone :/ i'm wondering why they won't release this for PSN and/or XBLA, i'm certain the developers would earn more money that way, instead of pimping a dead platform.

[HUELEN10]

Now that's one machine that refuses to die.

It is like that one headless chicken that lived for over a year without its head.

[JoshuaJSlone]

It is like that one headless chicken that lived for over a year without its head.

Mike.

But as an unlicensed game, maybe it's more like just putting food in a dead chicken's mouth.

[SovanJedi]

Did anyone look at the weapon selection there? It's almost shamelessly ripped from the R-Type games.

[Vorador]

Did anyone look at the weapon selection there? It's almost shamelessly ripped from the R-Type games.

The drone and the lasers gived it away. That's the reason of my comment being a r-type clone :P

[Gagaman]

I'll probably buy this just to support a team that is brave/stupid enough to release a Dreamcast games all these years later. Their previous release, Last Hope, was pretty meh, though.

[Diablohead]

This can't be printed on GD-rom can it? sega stopped the printing plants last year.

CD release?

[fanboi]

I'll probably buy this just to support a team that is stupid enough to release a Dreamcast games all these years later. Their previous release, Last Hope, was pretty meh, though.

Fixed that for ya!

[DaCocoBrova]

The ship looks silly being oriented that way. It's a side scroller so you should see the side, not the top. *shrug*

[Fabiollo]

Funny: DUX, in Italy, is the name the regime used for Benito Mussolini, during the fascism.

[Vorador]

Funny: DUX, in Italy, is the name the regime used for Benito Mussolini, during the fascism.

Wouldn't that be Duce insted of Dux?

[Fabiollo]

Wouldn't that be Duce insted of Dux?

Yep, "duce" was the Italian term. But "DUX" was the latin name, and was widely used in the propaganda ("DUX MEA LUX", literally "The dux, my light").

This is also why I've always laughed for one of my favourite classics, "Dynamite Dux".

[Beer]

Wouldn't that be Duce insted of Dux?

It's a latinism, and it means "leader"

[Vorador]

Yeah, but Duce is the most know term, my history professor never went as far as to explain the propaganda in Italy used also the latin term. So i didn't know.

/offtopic mode off

[Skiptastic]

I'm loving the idea of keeping the Dreamcast alive, but shouldn't these guys be working on XBLA or something?

[acidviper]

Wouldn't that be Duce insted of Dux?

Put up your dux

[sky]

Doesn't look too good :/, and I don't like how fat the ship is. But still, a DC release is pretty awesome.

[Another_visitor]

I'm glad that the scoring system is 'adequate', that's a weight of my mind.

[Haunted]

All part of Sega's ten-year cycle plan.

09 09 09

[Witchfinder General]

Looks great.

[Kuran]

I'm interested if the price is reasonable. I like the graphics style, and the music reminds me of the Amiga days.

[llTll]

Looks great.

you gotta be shitting me....

[Tain]

I can't think of a single well-made Western developed "indie" scene shooter. It's pretty much the bottom of the hierarchy.

Last Hope seems like a step above that hi def clusterfuck with the German name that came out a few months back, but I can't imagine anyone having so few options for shooters to play that they'd really want it. Or this.

[Iam Canadian]

I find it funny how "many bullets on-screen" and "an adequate scoring system" are modern shmup features.

[camineet]

Dreamcast lives for 10 years 1998 - 2008 confirmed.

[OnWarmerMusic]

...that hi def clusterfuck with the German name that came out a few months back

Soldner X?

Lord knows I don't play shooters for the purty graphics, but this game is awfully... orange.

[Mdk7]

amazing art direction!

[n1n9tean]

"And?........... You were expecting Duck Hunt Extreme?"

Well, sir, as a matter of fact, I was.

*leaves thread*

(p.s. the colors suck)

[jiji]

Crappy European R-Type clones will outlast any system ever made. I swear, they're like cockroaches. It's only natural that they swarm to the most homebrew-friendly hardware.

[KnuckaWut]

very nice! im a shooter fanatic

[soco]

XNA marketplace version plz!

then they can make more money off of it

[Space A Cobra]

Kinda reminds me of a GBA game.

Seems like the Dream will never be over.

[JavaMava]

Rtype clone? Awesome. On the Dreamcast, even better.

[Immortal_Daemon]

It is like that one headless chicken that lived for over a year without its head.

Couldn't help but laugh.

[TheWiicast]

[Classic_Gs]

It lives!! I tell you it is alive!

[Tenacious-V]

Shit yeah!

[GamerGeorge]

Why do they keep making shooters for the Dreamcast? That's like one of my least favorite game genres, while the Dreamcast itself is my second most favored console ever.

[Warren Ellis]

why don't release it on psn ?

[Somnid]

This is why DD exists. Stop necromancing that poor console!

[G-Fex]

you...don't play many shmups do you?

[Death_Born]

Metroid isn't even a shmup! What is wrong with you?

[Mamesj]

and about 6000 other games.

[A Black Falcon]

Why do they keep making shooters for the Dreamcast? That's like one of my least favorite game genres, while the Dreamcast itself is my second most favored console ever.

They were on DC because the DC was based on the Naomi, and the Naomi became a major shmup arcade board. So the DC became a major shooter platform too. It is interesting, because of how many DC shmups came out long after the death of the system (the system failed even harder in Japan than it did in the US, yet it had years of support, largely from shmups?), but clearly the Japanese hardcore DC fanbase loved shmups. Non-shmup Naomi games mostly didn't get Dreamcast ports after the system's death in early 2002, but the shmups did... says something about what the people still interested in buying Dreamcast games were interested in, I think.

I like shmups though, so I'd say that the large number of shmups on the DC is a definite good point for the platform.


As for why fangroups are supporting DC, though... it's known as a shmup console, why not? And they make homebrew games for the DC because most people can run the things on their DCs right off of their CDRs... that is, because of the system's broken copy protection.

That said, would Last Hope/DUX/etc not work on DCs that can't run games on CDRs/pressed CDs? Though that may be a hard-to-answer question, considering that there is all kinds of information out there as to which, or whether, Dreamcast models have restricted access to the hack that got through the copy protection...

I know all model 0 and 1 DCs can play games on CDs (and not just GD-ROMs), the question is model 2s and late-model Japanese systems. And since these games are on normal CDs and not GD-ROMs, I'd think that they may have these problems with some systems... or do they have some other method that avoids such trouble?

Oh, and as for why the DC... it's not the only old system with development going on for it, but the more popular classic systems to homebrew dev for are definitely ones where it it easier to run your own code on the actual system -- and the DC is one of the easiest ever for that, hence its popularity.

The Turbografx CD, Sega CD, 3DO, Jaguar CD, and other early CD systems have no CD copy protection at all so they will all run burned discs, but there has to also be a fanbase, and people good enough to make games on the hardware... Jaguar has one (Atari fans make new Atari 2600 games on cart too, you know), and Sega CD probably would if it wasn't so hard to develop for (though there is at least one upcoming homebrew Sega Genesis/CD game)... not the 3DO or Turbografx, though. As for Nintendo systems, the 'easy to play the games on the actual hardware without needing something like hacked firmware or a flashcart' thing restricts access... and then there's all the homebrew on Xbox...

But anyway, if you look around, there is more homebrew development going on for old consoles than you might think.

[TheWiicast]

you...don't play many shmups do you?

I do, actually. those are just the first things that came to mind when i saw the footage.