Space Giraffe (XBLA) - OUT NOW! *400 points*

[quote name='Brak']Hardcore..?[/QUOTE]

I'm pretty sure it's when you play from level 1 to whatever you end at straight, w/o continues or starting at a later level.
 
[quote name='Brak']I will crush you...

[/QUOTE]



at ~23,000,000 ranked 287 hardcore, 400-something overall :cool:
 
I'm 965 on the hardcore boards.

10,095,427 Level 11

First time I ever got that far. Man it gets crazy and is it just me or do the controls invert somewhere around level 7?
 
It's you. ;) BTW, my best 'hardcore' game so far (meaning starting from level 1 - and is also my best overall result to this point) is something around 103.3M through (I think) level 37 - good for somewhere around 15th on the hardcore LB last I looked. :D This game is great stuff with an incredible risk-reward scoring system (which I've obviously figured out how to take advantage of based on how low of a level I'm on compared to most on the LB's for the scores I'm posting). I daresay that this may well be my favorite all-time old-school arcade style game (and may even challenge for my favorite all-time game of any type). And for those that complain that they can't see what's going on, just be thankful you haven't played the level "Wrong Pill" (27 or 28 - I forget exactly offhand) - it's actually not too difficult once you figure it out, but man it messes with you at first. :lol:
 
[quote name='Apossum']at ~23,000,000 ranked 287 hardcore, 400-something overall :cool:[/QUOTE]
25,265,651, Level 16. :cool:

Ranked 276 Hardcore, 466 Overall.

Wasn't able to crush Liquid, though. :bomb:

I think Level 15 fucked me up -- lost, like, six lives.
 
[quote name='Brak']25,265,651, Level 16. :cool:

Ranked 276 Hardcore, 466 Overall.

Wasn't able to crush Liquid, though. :bomb:

I think Level 15 fucked me up -- lost, like, six lives.[/QUOTE]


Those flowers really screwed me up on 13 and 14. Well, I'll have a long way to catch up since I won't be able to play this again until Thursday evening.
 
#13 hardcore board - a touch over 150M through level 48. :D I can't be bothered to turn my 360 back on to look up the exact score. ;)
 
what are you guys listening to while playing this? I made a space giraffe mix with squarepusher, boards of canada, mouse on mars, ratatat, and clouddead :)
 
Cracked 30 million on the all-time board (top 500, I'll take it). Really enjoying this game, it isn one of those perfect 30min-1 hour a night game.

Probably described already, but I missed it (I've read through most of this thread). Is the hardcore score when you start the game from level 1?
 
Guess the thread is dying. Too bad, this is one of the few games I've picked up lately that I actually look forward to playing after work.

I'm pretty sure I was right about hardcore. Started a run yesterday, made it just under 40 million (I was the the score just under 40 million when I stopped last night on the hardcore and all time score.

So, have to crack 40 and make a run to 50. Though, it's kind of scary that there are already over 100 people cracking 100 million.
 
Breaking 100M actually isn't that hard to do once you really understand the game's scoring mechanics. If I play a hardcore game now, I should cross that threshold somewhere close to level 30, give or take a couple levels (and as I get better at 'rinsing' the main levels and lasting a long time in the bonus rounds, I should be hitting it earlier and earlier as well ;)). I break 40M back @ around level 12 now FWIW. :D
 
Just finished off a hardcore game that saw me last up through level 69 - I probably would have gotten further except my unfamiliarity with zappers kept me from restocking my lives after level 64. ;) Still not bad though, as my final score was just a shade under 288M, good for #5 on the HC LB. :)
 
[quote name='axel000']One more tip - if the strobing graphics effects in the background are really bothering you remember they respond to the soundtrack (its based on Neon after all, the 360's music visualizer).

[/quote]

Well then I need t have no music on at all, becuase this is the first game that literally made me feel ill. Not to mention it is kind of creepy too.

Easily the most bizarre game I have played since Incredible Crisis, but Space Giraffe is too fucking weird for me.
 
I FINALLY have it (downloaded it just as soon as I received my 360 back from M$). What can I say, I like this game. Regardless of the negative reviews it's received, I knew I was going to buy it, especially for a measly 400 Microsoft points ($5). Heck, I still play Tempest 2000 and Tempest 3000 on the Jag and NUON respectively from time to time (not to mention Defender 2000, which I still think is an underrated gem). Enough about the past though...

5354-spaceg6.jpg

The best I've been able to muster so far is 16,944,551 (good for 1286 Hardcore...wooo). I'm working on it though...
 
I've been playing a lot of Typhoon 2001 on the PC and I thought that Space Giraffe would be like that. Turns out from the discription I was dead wrong. "THIS IS NOT TEMPEST!"

http://typhoon.kuto.de/

Go there and try Typhoon! It's FREE! Can't get cheaper then free I always say!

The controls for the game are nice and spot on. I had to get used to the "gun" always shooting and using the control stick to aim and the jumping is a lot nicer too.

I just miss the A.I Droid from Typhoon/Tempest 2000. Unless you get it laiter on in the game, I haven't come across it, just extra jump power.
 
[quote name='Moon Jump']I've been playing a lot of Typhoon 2001 on the PC and I thought that Space Giraffe would be like that. Turns out from the discription I was dead wrong. "THIS IS NOT TEMPEST!"

http://typhoon.kuto.de/

Go there and try Typhoon! It's FREE! Can't get cheaper then free I always say!

The controls for the game are nice and spot on. I had to get used to the "gun" always shooting and using the control stick to aim and the jumping is a lot nicer too.

I just miss the A.I Droid from Typhoon/Tempest 2000. Unless you get it laiter on in the game, I haven't come across it, just extra jump power.[/quote]
Thanks man! Even has the classic Tempest 2000 music!:drool:
 
[quote name='CappyCobra']Thanks man! Even has the classic Tempest 2000 music!:drool:[/QUOTE]

Got to love that. I still have my old Tempest 2000 Jaguar from the Jag CD, so I ripped that so I could play Space Giraffe with the right music (apparently Llamasoft tried to license the music and some other things from Atari, but couldn't afford the asking price).

If anyone is looking for some free tracks, NUON Dome has the ones from the Tempest 3000 soundtrack available for download. Intimidation, Breath and Flash are noteworthy and are perfect for Space Giraffe.

http://www.nuon-dome.com/media.html
 
You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Go buy this if you haven't.

http://stinkygoat.livejournal.com/115261.html

[quote name='"Jeff Minter"'][FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=+1]jesus fucking christ

[/SIZE][/FONT] not seeing a lot of reason to continue even trying to make games, at this point, when a remake of Frogger, one of the worst games in the history of old arcade games, can outsell Space Giraffe that we put so much love and effort into, by more than ten to one, in one week.

OK, we get the message. All you want on that channel is remakes of old, shite arcade games and crap you vaguely remember playing on your Amiga.

We'll shut up trying to do anything new then.

Sorry for even trying.[/quote]
 
He has a point. XBLA is defined by two constants:

1- Many people bitch that it's always just old ports and not enough original games.
2- The ports sell far better than the XBLA original games.

That adds up to XBLA staying mostly old ports, that's what sells, and that's where the money is. Money and numbers talk, so Microsoft likely figures people want more ports, so they are likely to greenlight more ports than originals now. So - enjoy what you've asked for.

Anyway, he has a follow up:

you know what?
I'm not going to be writing about game development here any more after this. Yes, I had a bit of a rant the other night because frankly yes, it is a bit disappointing to see a repackaged MAME rom doing much better than original content, but hey, that's how it goes. People are more inclined to buy stuff they remember rather than stuff that's new.

We're invested in XBLA now, and we *need* to re-use the SG framework for a couple of reasonably quick games - I think that's the way to make it work out for us, we just need more games in the pipeline. I'm already halfway through the next one and I just want to get my head down and get on with it.

To those who came on here to have a go at me and tell me how much I suck - just piss off, I don't care. If you do that I shall delete your comments and ban you. Guess what, I think you suck too, and I don't give a rat's arse if you don't like my games; they aren't made for you anyway.

And thanks to those who gave me a bit of encouragement at a low moment. Rest assured I'm not giving up; I'm just getting on with it quietly.

So no more dev stuff here, from now on this will just be about sheep and plushies and other such non-work-related stuff. There will be no talk, no press, no screenshots and no videos of work in progress except as and when we are ready to release them, at the appropriate time, through the appropriate channels.
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Space Giraffe was complete crap. It hurt my eyes.

And ultimately, it's just a Tempest clone. Not too original.

This guy seriously needs to be bitch slapped back into reality. If you want people to buy your stuff, don't make stuff that is universally panned as crap.
 
[quote name='CouRageouS']:lol: As if Space Giraffe is so fucking original that he has to try and shit on Frogger.[/quote]

No kidding.

Maybe the game would sell better if more than a few people knew what the fuck was going on in it.
 
What is Jeff Minter's contribution to gaming? I think he's incredibly overrated.

What's his most acclaimed game? Tempest 2000? That game was total dogcrap. It only seemed good because it was better then anything else on the Atari Jaguar. It's like saying syphilis is better then AIDS.
 
I just find it pretty funny that he's mad/upset over this..but..how many other games don't sell well?! Where are THERE Livejournals of them bitchin' and moaning? I mean, c'mon now.

I'd love to support original stuff (even though it wasn't THAT original)..but make it good.
 
Space Giraffe isn't original at all but rehashes can be done well i.e. Puzzle Quest. You don't see other devs bitching their games don't sell well even when they know its a masterpiece though. Since Frogger sells so well, expect a clone of that to be his next XBLA game. More games should go back to being art and not the money trains they are now now. You'd think for a guy who made a game like Space Giraffe thats out there, he wouldn't care how it sells.
 
[quote name='lilboo']I just find it pretty funny that he's mad/upset over this..but..how many other games don't sell well?! Where are THERE Livejournals of them bitchin' and moaning? I mean, c'mon now.

I'd love to support original stuff (even though it wasn't THAT original)..but make it good.[/QUOTE]

Well, you have to think, how many other games are essentially created by just one man anymore?

Space Giraffe was mainly by Jeff and he's gone through alot to get it to us.

This game is so far from crap it's really unbelievable. If you don't like it because you don't like the graphics (which really do give it the push from good to great since you should be listening to the sounds) or you don't understand the game mechanics (which is also ok since the tutorial sucked really bad, it would have been better to just have a 5 minute of video of Jeff explaining it while playing) that's fine but don't call it crap because the game is very sound.

He's been having a really bad year anyways

fuck's sake
Anyone who's been on my journal for a while will remember back in the summer that I had a bunch of dentistry done, which ended up costing me nearly 400 quid (which I really can't afford now that I'm a pauper).

fucking thing's broken. I was eating a bit of bread, suddenly there's something hard in it - damn if it isn't the back of that bloody tooth which appears to have completely arbitrarily just *fallen off*. So it means I now have to spend tomorrow faffing about to get an emergency appointment, hopefully go and get it patched up, then *more* expense that I can't afford.

I dunno what it is with this year. Everything was fine until around the time I game up smoking. I figured doing that would be taking a big, positive step towards being healthier and feeling better and you know what? Everything since then has just been a storm of stress and shit. Every positive effort I've put into anything seems to have led to little or no reward, every little thing that could go wrong has just about done so, I've spent more time in the damn doctors and dentists than for the last 10 years, and for what? I feel more stressed and fucked than I ever have before, I'm skint, I'm turning into a miserable sod - I notice I'm withdrawing more from both RL and online social spaces more because I feel I seldom have anything cheery to say and that I'll just end up being a miserable git to everyone else and resenting the happiness of people doing better than I am. I don't like what all this is doing to me. I don't know how Giles puts up with me these days, really I don't.

That's kinda how I used to be ten years ago, albeit for fundamentally different reasons; I didn't much like myself at those times and I was glad to get out of that state of mind. I never thought I'd end up there again but bugger me, the crap that's happened this year is pushing me scarily back in that direction. I've never known a time like it for sheer effort expended and nothing really positive back as a result.

I just need to see some kind of upturn, some little thing to show that things are turning around...

But no, more dentistry.

That I can't really afford.

Joy.

------------

Very nice week off, and many thanks to our host Paula for looking after us so well and showing us around. Time to ease back into the mode, which we shall do this coming week. We also have a metric smegload of pics that we'll get upped in the next few days.

For now it's just re-entry and preparing to go back to the mode. I still feel a bit aggrieved at.. well, just about everything that has happened this year really, apart from the last week. I feel like I've spent the year making some pretty extreme efforts to make things better for my own health, to make things as good as I possibly can in terms of work, and all I've had back from it is a resounding "fuck off". I just have a huge feeling of disappointment and worthlessness.

Having a week off really helped, and i didn't even really look at the net while I was gone, I needed that complete disconnect. Coming back feels strange... part of me would just like to stay forever in the winter sunshine, going for walks and drinking Super Bock at beer o'clock and never thinking of games design ever again. I can fully see why people retire to the sun, and in a way i envy them; there is a part of me which increasingly wishes that it really was over, that I could retire and not give a shit any more.

But I can't afford that luxury; I can barely afford to pay the mortgage, much less loaf around and do fuck all. So the ox must return to harness, and I'm split, there is always a part of me that has the old enthusiasm, that pleasure I have in knowing that the game is fitting together well, but that is now tempered by the knowledge that those old feelings don't apply any more, that people these days seem to want something that is dumbed down to blandness compared to how things used to be when I was designing games for real. I dunno. I guess I've lost confidence to an extent. SG really *was* a great design, the best I ever did, and yet people were content to spit on me for it. I can't begin to describe how sad that made me feel.

Ah well, ox mode must prevail. I don't really know what else to do except lean into the yoke and put one hoof in front of the other and try to do the stuff that I believe in and hope that in the end it comes out, if not good, at least sustainable.

So it goes.
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- edit [quote name='CouRageouS']Since Frogger sells so well, expect a clone of that to be his next XBLA game.[/QUOTE]

Nope, he's remaking Gridrunner++
 
But see, that's why we have demos.
I downloaded the demo. I tried it out. I just didn't like it. If I don't like a game, then I'm going to think it's crap. But it doesn't mean the game IS crap.

I'd imagine most people tried the demo, and just said..feh. There is nothing wrong with that. Yeah, it's neat that it's a one person game and he went through a lot of stuff to get it here.. but c'mon. I'm not going to buy a game because some guy worked hard on it.
 
Everyone here has somewhat of a valid point, I feel.

My issue is that I believe there are FAR more people that try and buy remakes like TMNT that ever even download and even try original games. Unfortunately an XBLA game has to have either A) Tons of hype or B) huge nostalgia factor to even get tried out by most Live citizens.

Take Undertow for example, which is this weeks release. The thread has almost no discussion on it. But the reviews are very good. I think it's very good for an XBLA game. There is a lot of multplayer replay there. Now granted this may be one of the worst times to release a XBLA title, my point is I am willing to bet almost nobody has even tried it, let alone bought it.

Maybe I am speaking at the wrong community here (CAG), who may be too cheap to reward indy devs when they make an awesome effort (e.x Undertow, Mutant Storm Empire). But I view it very much like going to a restaurant. You don't leave a tip based on how much you liked the food, you leave a tip on how good the service was, how hard did your server try to make you happy? IMHO, most indy XBLA games are similar, and only cost about as much as a tip would be at a nice restaurants.

I buy games that are pretty cool, because I support the indy industry. I don't try and determine if I can get X hours of fun out of it. I don't have a personal rule that I won't buy any game unless I am certain I will play it X amount. I am not spoiled by AAA 45 million dollar retail titles to the point of expecting 3 or 4 orgasms for my money. Not at $10 or less, anyway.

I'm not saying you all have to think like me. But consider this, if you don't: It's stupid, when it comes to XBLA anyway, to only buy the titles you think are AAA - especially when the titles are $10 or less. If that's your attitude about it, then you are telling the industry, and Microsoft, to keep making remakes - and you don't have the right to bitch about it when that's all that comes. Because the remake titles we all mostly hate always make $. It's up to us to show that we want more indy titles with our money - and not buying any of them because they might not be up to our spoiled incredibly high standards, is no excuse when we all inevitably bitch about the flood of retro titles coming.

/rant
 
I like Minter, and I like his games, but he's dead wrong about Frogger. That was one of my fav old arcade games of all time. But if it makes him happy, I didnt buy that on Live either.

*edit* I try out EVERY single Live arcade game. Free demos? Why wouldnt I try it? So to me, every single game has an equal chance of catching my attention. I liked SG, but then I found E4, which I liked better, and satisfied my craving for trippy weirdness gaming.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Everyone here has somewhat of a valid point, I feel.

My issue is that I believe there are FAR more people that try and buy remakes like TMNT that ever even download and try original games. Unfortunately an XBLA game has to have either A) Tons of hype or B) huge nostalgia factor to even get tried out by most Live citizens.

Take Undertow for example, which is this weeks release. The thread has almost no discussion on it. But the reviews are very good. I think it's very good for an XBLA game. There is a lot of multplayer replay there. Now granted this may be one of the worst times to release a XBLA title, my point is I am willing to bet almost nobody has even tried it, let alone bought it.

Maybe I am speaking at the wrong community here (CAG), who may be too cheap to reward indy devs when they make an awesome effort (Undertow). But it's very much like going to a restaurant. You don't leave a tip based on how much you liked the food, you leave a tip on how good the service was, how hard did your server try to make you happy? IMHO, most indy XBLA games are similar, and only cost about as much as a tip would be at a nice reasturant.

I think it's stupid to only buy the titles I think are AAA when the titles are $10 or less. If that's your attitude about it, then you are telling the industry, and Microsoft, to keep making remakes - and you don't have the right to bitch about it when they do.

I buy games that are pretty cool, because I support the indy industry. I am not spoiled by AAA 45 million dollary titles to the point of expecting 3 or 4 orgasms for my money.

/rant[/QUOTE]

yes, completely agree with you.
But when you try a demo and don't like it.. why should you buy the game? I agree that people have probably flat out purchased titles that got a lot of hype OR nostaglia..w/o even DLing the demo. But..these indy games are always worth a download. If I (or anyone) don't like it, then it's settled.

See, the problem with this kind of stuff is going to be worse on the Wii. When WiiWare titles hit and we get original games from indy devs...well..so far we CAN'T download demos....so yeah. I'm not too fond of buying games I can't try.

Maybe in their next 50% off sale, they can put Space Giraffe on there and maybe more people will give it a shot. I still think it's pretty ridiculous that he got this mad over it..LOL
 
[quote name='Puffa469']I like Minter, and I like his games, but he's dead wrong about Frogger. That was one of my fav old arcade games of all time. But if it makes him happy, I didnt buy that on Live either.[/quote]

*edit* I try out EVERY single Live arcade game. Free demos? Why wouldnt I try it? So to me, every single game has an equal chance of catching my attention. I liked SG, but then I found E4, which I liked better, and satisfied my craving for trippy weirdness gaming.
 
Well to be honest, I'd like to write minter because I don't know how he knows how many people bought frogger. I wonder if he realizes frogger has been a free giveaway game for more than one promotion. And at least one "sale". And like Uno, that might be the only reason so many people have it.
 
[quote name='thrustbucket']Well to be honest, I'd like to write minter because I don't know how he knows how many people bought frogger. I wonder if he realizes frogger has been a free giveaway game for more than one promotion. And at least one "sale". And like Uno, that might be the only reason so many people have it.[/QUOTE]


I purchased that MadCatz arcade stick.. Frogger comes with that TOO.
 
You don't have to buy it. I meant of course he's going to take people calling his game crap very personally because unlike alot of other game, this is solely his game. There's no passing the blame off to other people or the publisher, if Space Giraffe fails then it's falls directly onto his shoulders.

[quote name='lilboo']But see, that's why we have demos.
I downloaded the demo. I tried it out. I just didn't like it. If I don't like a game, then I'm going to think it's crap. But it doesn't mean the game IS crap.

I'd imagine most people tried the demo, and just said..feh. There is nothing wrong with that. Yeah, it's neat that it's a one person game and he went through a lot of stuff to get it here.. but c'mon. I'm not going to buy a game because some guy worked hard on it.[/QUOTE]

That's a bad way to look at stuff. Just because it isn't your cup of tea shouldn't mean it's crap.

I see alot of people calling it crap and complaining that they can't see anything but they seem to be missing the point which is a shame. There are people playing it like Tempest (I'm just going to shoot everything and brute force my way through the levels :drool: - retard at OXM), people who aren't listening to the audio cues/relying solely on the visuals and people who don't understand the game mechanics (what's a power bar, how do you kill flowers, etc).

Yeah, it's Jeff's fault for not coming up with a better tutorial (seriously, I played the tutorial so many times but the light didn't come on until I watched a video of Jeff playing the game and explain what was what to a group of students) but I just think if people would put more time in it they would like/understand it.

This isn't a game where you can play for 10 minutes right out the gate and understand what to do.
 
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