Sidereal Motion

First time indie game developer.

I am working on a Sci-Fi vertical scroller arcade shoot em up game titled "Force Typhoon".

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

Hi all! I'm JL, an indie game developer working on an atmospheric sci-fi shoot 'em up game called Force Typhoon. I recently released the announce trailer and thought I'll post it here as well :)

Force Typhoon - Experience the chaos and intensity of high-speed combat in this atmospheric sci-fi vertical Shoot ’Em Up, rendered in full 3D.
Blast your way through relentless waves of enemies as you unleash the might of your firepower against the enemy and break the blockade forced upon your world.
Inspired by the classics of the 80s and 90s, Force Typhoon features pure arcade adrenaline, precise controls, immersive 3D visuals and a strong atmospheric edge - With an oppressive foe that grants minimal downtime between waves.

#shmup #stg #indiegame

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

Hi Spiders! Sorry long-winded post ahead!

Inspiration wise, it was mostly the ones I grew up playing in the 80s/90s. A particular one I played a lot was Namcot's(Namco?) Dangerous Seed(genesis). Having the UI on only one side of the screen is sort of inspired by that game as well, just that dangerous seed had it on the right side instead of the left. Having hull points(hp) was also inspired by the same game. It was one of the few that did not feature single hit destruction. It actually had an interesting 3 fighter system with 3 hp each and some transformation system that I won't go into detail to avoid going off topic 😅

As for the rest that formed and influenced my understanding of the shmups of that era, for verticals, I played a lot of Raiden, FireShark, Tatsujin, 1943, Aero Fighters, Musha Aleste, Batsugun, Macross(Arcade), Raystorm, Twin Bee, Darwin4081.
For horizontals, I really enjoyed Thunderforce, Aero blasters, Einhander, Gradius, Macross(nes), Arrow Flash, Darius, R-Type, Paranoia, Fantasy Zone(interesting shop system) and few older ones on the pc-engine that did not have english names and I was too young to figure out what they were called!

I hadn't played as much of the post 2000 shmups so when I finally tried to catch up about several years ago and tried to play a touhou game, I was surprised how far the genre has evolved! The geometric bullet patterns were beautiful and the bullet density was quite insane sometimes in some of these bullet hell/curtain games. I honestly have never seen this amount of bullets on screen! In some cases, it looked like there was more space taken up by bullets than actual available safe spaces! The mechanics got a lot more complex as well with the scoring systems and grazing and many others.

Anyways, before I ramble more and go off topic, what I am trying to create, with Force Typhoon, is more of a simple, classic style where the bullet density is much lower than the STGs we see nowadays, but the velocity of the bullets are faster.
The only thing I have gone radically different, and sort of an experimental route is the visual style of the game. With this game, I am trying to give the player a feeling of being immersed in the chaos and intensity of battle. I was looking at a lot of armor combat footage (tanks, apc, ifv etc...) and trying to capture the heat and intensity seen when they exchange fire. I'm still tweaking things and it's a fine balance, but I hope to make it as readable as possible while not losing too much of the current intensity. After several rounds of tweaks, the playtesters and myself feel the game is quite fair and readable now(we can own every hit taken) but I understand there are some that find it too intense.

Moving on, the scoring system here is also quite a simple one. Which brings me to the first number on the left panel, which is the Threat Level(or threat score).

The basic premise of the scoring is very simple. You are trying to defend your home. The scoring is subject to change but currently, any enemies that are left undestroyed and gets pass you, increases the threat level. The more time it takes to clear a stage, the more threat is added at the end of the level. Every bomb used adds to the threat level. Every hit taken adds to that as well. And lastly, any uncollected resource containers that fall back into enemy hands adds to the threat level. So, the objective in this game is to achieve as low of a score as possible instead of a high score. Something like that. It's still being worked on :)

For the 2nd field on the left, it's basically the amount of resource containers collected so far. I understand that this is controversial for some, but instead of the traditional power ups that drop mid stage, this shmup has a hangar scene at the end of stage that allows the player to use these resource points to outfit the fighter. With that said, do note that there is no grinding in this game. It is not possible to go back or keep replaying a stage to accumulate more resources to out-gear a stage. If the player is destroyed during a stage, all collected resources will be lost.

On the topic of outfitting the fighter, if you move further down the left panel, you see the 6 equipment slots. Pri(primary), Sec(Secondary), Ter(Tertiary), Aux(Auxiliary), Gen(Generator) and Drone(aka Options). It's just a quick indication to show which banks are populated(or not).
Each bank has its own set of unique modules that can be chosen. There are no +5% damage or +10% fire rate kind of upgrades here! Except for the generators, every module has distinct functionality.
I could go into more detail regarding each slot but I'm afraid this post might go too long! 😅

Moving to the bottom of the left panel, we have "hull" which is self-explanatory, and we have "energy".
"Energy" is generated by the generator module installed. There is a "boost" function in this game that increases the player's firepower but rapidly drains the energy bar. Tactical and timely use of the boost mechanism will aid greatly in eliminating threats quickly in tricky situations.
Tertiary and some auxiliary modules also drain energy as well so there is some build experimentation for players.

I have to say that the hangar/outfit system is designed to be fairly simple and straightforward. The goal is to give players the ability to customize their ship quickly, not spend more time navigating menus than shooting at enemies!

For the last item, at the bottom right of panel, you can see the mode that the analog stick is set to(If using a gamepad). It's possible to switch between digital(1/0 only) or analog behavior for the analog stick.

I hope this answered the questions! Apologies if I missed anything, do let me know and I will get back when I am able. Have a good one.

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

Hi all! I'm JL, an indie game developer working on an atmospheric sci-fi shoot 'em up game called Force Typhoon. I recently released the announce trailer and thought I'll post it here as well :)

Force Typhoon - Experience the chaos and intensity of high-speed combat in this atmospheric sci-fi vertical Shoot ’Em Up, rendered in full 3D.
Blast your way through relentless waves of enemies as you unleash the might of your firepower against the enemy and break the blockade forced upon your world.
Inspired by the classics of the 80s and 90s, Force Typhoon features pure arcade adrenaline, precise controls, immersive 3D visuals and a strong atmospheric edge - With an oppressive foe that grants minimal downtime between waves.

#shmup #stg #indiegame

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

@HoshinoHanabira 気に入っていただけて嬉しいです！ポストしていただき、本当にありがとうございました！

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

翻訳ツールを使用しています：

こんにちは！見た目は3Dグラフィックですが、中身は僕が子供の頃に夢中で遊んだ80〜90年代のクラシックシューティングに強くインスパイアされています :)

euro shmup の要素があるとすれば、ステージ中にパワーアップアイテムが落ちてくる伝統的なスタイルではなく、機体の装備カスタマイズ（アセンブル）システムを採用している点くらいかなと思います。それ以外の操作感やプレイフィールは、まさにクラシックSTGそのものです👍

興味を持っていただき、本当にありがとうございます！

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

@saddy575 翻訳ツールを使用しています：

こんにちは！温かいお言葉をありがとうございます！

幅広いプレイスキルの方に楽しんでいただけるよう、難易度は3段階用意する予定です。より多くの方にプレイしていただけたら嬉しいです！応援ありがとうございます！

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

@mythgaki 翻訳ツールを使用しています：

本当にありがとうございます！そう言っていただけてすごく励みになります！応援ありがとうございます

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

翻訳ツールを使用しています：

こんにちは！気に入っていただけてとても嬉しいです！ 説明不足で申し訳ありません。はい、本作はPC（Steam / Windows）向けにリリース予定です！
可能であれば、PC版のリリース後にコンソール（家庭用ゲーム機）への移植も検討したいと考えていますが、現在はまずPC版の完成に全力を注いでいます。

時間を割いてコメントをいただき、本当にありがとうございました！

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

翻訳ツールを使用しています：

コメントありがとうございます！気に入っていただけてとても嬉しいです👍

80〜90年代に遊んで育ったSTGにインスパイアされているため、より王道のクラシックスタイルに近い手触りを目指しています。伝統的なシューティングの操作感やプレイフィールはそのままに、現代的な3Dグラフィックで包み込むというビジョンで制作しています。

視覚的なスタイルは少し大胆で挑戦的な方向に進めてみました。戦場の混沌とした激しさを表現したかったので、通常よりもかなり派手な演出になっていますが、見やすさとのバランスは現在も調整中です 😅

読んでいただきありがとうございました！

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

@DDLG_Podcast Glad you like it! Thanks for dropping by and for following this 👍 It is a great encouragement. Cheers.

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

@frontakk 翻訳ツールを使用しています：

ありがとうございます！STGを開発されているのですね👍 プレイヤーの側面に広がる火力（武装）の演出がとてもユニークで魅力的です！ お互いにSTGジャンルを盛り上げていきましょう！応援しています！

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

Hiya thanks for dropping by! Don't mind if I tell a short story, but this actually started out as a hobby project back in 2018. But progress was slow between the day job and family commitments.
However, at the end of 2023, I was laid off from a job I was in for 15 years. In early 2024, I pondered for a while and then decided to bring this game to fruition by going full time indie. It's a little hard to count exactly how many hours I have sunk into this from the pre 2024 days as it's kind of scattered but I hope I kind of gave a picture of things :)
Thanks for the compliments and appreciate the comment! 👍

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

翻訳ツールを使っているので、不自然なところがあったらすみません。意味が伝われば幸いです。

はじめまして。『Force Typhoon』を一人で開発しているJLと申します。

まず、本作について投稿していただき本当にありがとうございます！ これは2018年に趣味として始めた、思い入れの深いパッションプロジェクトです。 2023年末に15年間勤めていた会社をリストラされ、それを機に専業のインディーゲーム開発者になって『Force Typhoon』を完成させようと決めました。

少しだけ開発の背景を話してもよろしいでしょうか。 私は80年代・90年代のSTGをたくさん遊んで育ちました。 何年も前に「操作感は往年の名作のままで、グラフィックだけ現代的な3DにしたSTG」を探していたのですが、なかなか見つかりませんでした。 現代的なグラフィックのSTGはあったのですが、ゲーム性や操作感が昔の良作とはかなり違っていたんです。それで「自分で作ってしまおう」と思ったのがきっかけです😅

開発を進めるうちに、ビジュアルの方向性も大きく変わりました。プレイヤーに「激しくカオスな高速戦闘の真っ只中にいる」という臨場感を感じてほしくて、実戦映像などをかなり研究してその雰囲気を再現しようとしました。 視覚効果がかなり派手な実験的な方向ではありますが、いろいろな方に何度もプレイテストをしてもらったところ、エフェクトが濃いにもかかわらず「見づらい」「わかりにくい」といった声は出ませんでした。 正直、目の疲れや頭痛を訴えた人も一人もいなかったので安心しています。

可能であれば今年中に体験版（デモ）をリリースしたいと考えているので、機会があればぜひ遊んでみてください！

改めて、投稿していただき本当にありがとうございました。心から感謝しています。

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

@FunkyStrong69 Heya Funkamateur, glad you are liking it and thanks for reposting this!

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

翻訳ツールを使っているため、不自然な文章でしたらすみません！

はい！『Force Typhoon』の開発者です！ Xを開設したばかりでまだページが寂しいですが、これからどんどん情報を発信していく予定です。
少しだけ『Force Typhoon』の成り立ちについてお話しさせてください！

私は80〜90年代のSTGを遊んで育ちました。 数年前、クラシックな操作感のまま、現代の3Dグラフィックで遊べるSTGを探したのですが見つかりませんでした。現代的なグラフィックのSTGはあったのですが、プレイ感がクラシックなものとはかなり違っていたんです。そこで「なら自分で作ろう！」と思い立ったのが始まりです 😅

2018年に趣味でスタートしたものの、本業や家庭のこともあり進捗はスローペースでした。しかし2023年末、15年間勤めた会社が突然事業を停止し、全社解雇という事態に…。 自分の本当にやりたいことを改めて考えた時、ずっと作ろうとしていたこのゲームのことを思い出しました。 そこで2024年、専業インディー開発者として『Force Typhoon』を形にしようと決意しました。
ゲームを取り上げてポストしていただき、本当にありがとうございます！大変感謝しております！

[Sidereal Motion @Sidereal_Motion]

@AardvarkJoe @YouTube Heya, developer of Force Typhoon here, thanks posting this!