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XenoRaptor | Cyberdragons, rocket chainsaws, teleporting attack bears; now on Steam

M

More_Badass

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Site
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Now on Early Access
Trailer
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Download the demo here
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XenoRaptor is a coop twinstick bullet hell where you play as a cyberdragon battling armies of rocket propelled chainsaws, bulldozer tanks and other demonic warmachines.
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Bullet hell Hyperdrive
You can build an enormous amount of distinct weapons by combining components dropped by bosses, making anything from an antimatter chaingun to a weapon which teleports attack bears into the cockpit of enemy ships. The enemy design is also very varied. There are a lot of different weapons at their disposal, and they use them in many cunning ways. Some enemies will charge straight at you while others cloak and try to position themselves for an ambush. Another type will fire missiles at you from long range, and run away if you get close.
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Badass Webm2
You can use their weapons and AI against them, however. Enemies in XenoRaptor deal full damage to each other, so if you pay attention to how the AI reacts you can trick them into shooting each other or crashing into things. Or hypnotize them with a mind control laser and get your own rocket chainsaw army.
The game has 8 player coop as well as 16 player deathmatch. You'll be able to play with your friends even if they don't own the game - the demo is able to join any server. A team based multiplayer mode is also on the way, although more playtesting will be involved in working out exactly how that's going to work.
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Boss fight Epic
 
M

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My impressions:
Very rarely do I impulse-buy games. I saw XenoRaptor on TIGForums last night and was instantly intrigued by the crazy description and impressive GIFs. If "a weapon which teleports attack bears into the cockpit of enemy ships" doesn't peak your interest, nothing will. I tried the demo and then purchased the game ten minutes later, I'm a big fan of dual stick shooters and bullet hell mayhem action games, and XenoRaptor does not disappoint.

The last indie that compelled me to buy it so fast was Broforce and in a similar fashion, XenoRaptor is wild, over-the-top, and just fun. The controls are fluid and very responsive, allowing you to evade enemy fire and enemies themselves with ease. But being able to maneuver with ease doesn't mean the game is easy. The gameplay has the same fast, frenetic, frantic pace of Assault Android Cactus, as bullets and enemies fly in from all angles, and you must constantly stay on the move, rarely given a moment to rest. However, XenoRaptor offers the player far more freedom in terms of gameplay. From engine types to customizing your loadouts to altering your dragons color pattern, you have a wide range of options to mix and match. Want to be a teleporting, mine dropping, laser blade wielding cyberdragon? Or evasive and armed with railgun and chaingun? Or do you want to mind control enemy ships and use your laser like a tractor beam? All those playstyles are equally viable.

XenoRaptor's charm extends to its environments and visuals as well. Controlling a weaponized space dragon mech is just feels more exciting and cooler your usual SHMUP ship, and better yet, the health and overheat meter is represented Dead Space-style, by lights on your dragon's body, keeping the UI minimal and the screen free of clutter. The backdrop of planet, stars, and asteroid fields are impressive and in some instances play a role in gameplay. Asteroids can be dragged along with your tractor beam or used to funnel enemies through chokepoints so they destroy themselves.

XenoRaptor doesn't just offer hectic single player chaos; you can also play co-operatively and competitively. I haven't tried those modes yet, but they're there for people who enjoy multiplayer. The game is still in beta, with more maps, enemies, bosses, and ship components to come. If you're a fan of arcade shooters, bullet hell fun, and tactical depth, XenoRaptor is right up your alley.
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Was just updated
Some respawn related problems in multiplayer are probably fixed.
Bigger projectiles
Bigger muzzle flares
Juicier pickup notification
Added new sensor mod that lets you push asteroids with your head, zooms in and gives extra HP.
Added new hull mod which gives you extra missile ammo.
Added new hull mod which gives excellent health and speed but disables regen.
In game update notification.
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iUvlerjjpfg3R.gif
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Did some optimization and now I can have 4x as many bullets and still get better performance. Going to try the same trick on enemies and asteroids next
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Currently working on adding objectives. This is mostly to provide a reason for players to stay together in coop, but it should help add a bit more variety to single player as well. The basic destroy everything mode will still be there. Some of these would be entire maps, others would be triggered on certain waves in normal play.
  • Current ideas for objectives:
  • Defend a base
  • Defend a capital ship
  • Get the sparkly wotsits (would play a bit like racing between checkpoints)
  • Push the important physics object(s) to the important place
  • Destroy a miniboss while regular enemies are still spawning
  • Stay in the glowy circle for a while
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M

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Here's the original 2011 flash demo/prototype
http://www.kongregate.com/games/darthbenedict/xenoraptor

Game has come a long way since then
It’s interesting how increasing the number of low level enemies makes weapon balancing easier. Previously, wide area of effect wasn’t much use unless you had bad aim, but now they’re great for blowing up lots of enemies at once. Enemies also blunder into landmines even more now, which is fun.
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oshit.gif
 
M

More_Badass

Member
New build
  • Twice as many enemies.
  • Player ship is faster and more agile.
  • Major performance optimization.
  • New weapons: Tactical nuke, spiral nemesis cannon, laser guided shotgun shells.
  • New engine: Hyperdrive. Flies towards the crosshair at ridiculous speed.
  • Many projectiles have sparkly trails.
  • Railguns have a spiral trail.
  • Some enemies now shoot drill bullets, which penetrate obstacles.
  • More varied enemy projectile appearance.
  • Improved appearance for flamethrower and missiles.
  • Improved some explosions.
  • Pilots being mauled by bears now fly less smoothly.
  • Tweaked locking system.
  • Larger minimap and improved health/fuel/heat bars.
  • Bombs are now launched slightly further away.
  • Crosshair now has a heat indicator on it.
  • Several bosses/enemies now have health indicators
CoOp.gif
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Developer is also doing a contest for free copies
If you’re interested in winning a free copy, get a top 10 score on any demo map and send me a screenshot before 3/3/2014.
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M

More_Badass

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New build
-Less overheating
-More enemies
-Player is faster
-Enemies are better at flanking
-Rebalanced some weapons and enemies
-Locking on for bear teleporter/homing missiles works much better
-You now have to finish levels to progress through the game (or just type 'warp' as a cheat, I delete my save all the time to test stuff with a fresh one and didn't want to have to replay all the levels every time)
-You can now detonate the crystals on radioactive asteroids.
-You can no longer teleport inside the final boss and kill it from inside (Although you can still send cyborg attack bears to do that for you).
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LaserGuidedMissiles.gif
 
T

Tye The Czar

Member
More_Badass said:
If you like this, you'd probably also like Assault Android Cactus
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And maybe Tower of Guns, which is a mix of old school FPS and action roguelike
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I've played those both at GDC.
AAC is easy to get into, has great co-op and awesome character design.
Tower of Guns is on Steam and you should get it ASAP. Also Barkley 2 is coming along great.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
HOW DID I NOT HEAR OF THIS GAME UNTIL NOW?!
I'm not a huge fan of twin stick shooters but everything in the thread title is made of epic win I may as well blindly get this, fail miserably at playing it, but keep on trucking just for effin' ROCKET CHAINSAWS!
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Tizoc said:
HOW DID I NOT HEAR OF THIS GAME UNTIL NOW?!
I'm not a huge fan of twin stick shooters but everything in the thread title is made of epic win I may as well blindly get this, fail miserably at playing it, but keep on trucking just for effin' ROCKET CHAINSAWS!
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Ha, yeah, wasn't sure if anyone was seeing the thread, but I was posting the new updates in case people were

There's a demo to try if you don't want to get in blind:
http://xenoraptor.net/download/

I think one of the coolest things here is that enemies hurt each other so it's not just you against hundreds of other enemies. Well it is, but compared to other action shooters, you can use the enemies to your advantages. Like in the asteroid field, if you lead a horde of rocket chainsaws through a tight gap, they're probably going to kill each other as they bunch up. Or if you're good at evasion, you can make enemies blow each other up in a crossfire or collisions
 
Green Wiggly

Green Wiggly

Member
Wow, looks pretty sweet. I'll have to give that demo a shot tonight.

Also, OT, but has there been any news regarding the Vita release of Assault Android Cactus?
 
G

GooeyHeat

Member
XenoRaptor is a coop twinstick bullet hell where you play as a cyberdragon battling armies of rocket propelled chainsaws, bulldozer tanks...
Click to expand...
Mhm, yes, tell me more....
from an antimatter chaingun to a weapon which teleports attack bears into the cockpit of enemy ships.
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I see, go on...
Or hypnotize them with a mind control laser and get your own rocket chainsaw army.
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Your ideas are intriguing to me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter...
Lightning shotgun
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!
What's better than a tactical nuke?
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Nothing, right?
A tactical nuke that shoots lasers
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You sure proved me wrong!

Those were just my reactions while reading this thread. And they said video games couldn't be art.
 
M

More_Badass

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Dev is working on a new visual design for the cyberdragon
tumblr_n5uyrz4HFz1shfjldo2_r1_500.jpg


I’m thinking of redoing the player model. The living ship idea is something I want to stick with, but I’m not entirely happy with how it currently looks plus it’s one of the main things I get negative feedback on.

My current idea for a redesign is to remove the wings/tail and replace them with big particle systems which vary based on your engine type. Rocket booster would give you jets of flame arranged to look like wings, plasma thrusters would have lightning wings, teleporter would have something like the Diablo angel wings etc. I’m also better at particle effects than I am at modelling, so this design would play to my strengths more.
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tumblr_n5ra5x5jo71shfjldo2_r1_500.jpg
tumblr_n5sun1ChP01shfjldo1_500.jpg
 
M

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NeededSleep said:
Site says game is in beta. Any word on when its launching the final version?
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I have no idea. The dev said he was interesting in a Kickstarter, but now it looks like the game is coming to Early Access soon. He just posted this on his Tumblr

tumblr_n6lkvh7tZy1shfjldo1_1280.jpg
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If you're on the fence, I can say I've been playing for months and the game is regular updated. And there are posts about progress almost daily so the dev is constantly working on the game

And it isn't some bare bones skeleton of a game either. At the moment, there are nine areas, each with 10 waves and two bosses, a boss rush, dozens of weapons and modifiers, co-op and online multiplayer. There's a lot of content here already
 
A

AJLma

Member
This sounds and looks awesome. Purchased.

EDIT: Made it to the 3rd level before I died. This game is a ton of fun, I have never been into bullet-hell games and haven't enjoyed a twin-stick shooter in a while. This one has just enough variety and customization, It'll probably be my go to game when I've got 30 minutes to spare.
 
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