Cyborg Force, new 2023 project

Johnny16Bit

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I'll gladly pay for a rom file to put on my flash cart or Mister. We don't need to bring plastic, PCB's and chips into this.

Sure, we'll be releasing it as a rom file too but...
Alec, I'm not sure I'm getting you right... Are you suggesting that we should leave it to other people to make physical copies of the game?
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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Sure, we'll be releasing it as a rom file too but...
Alec, I'm not sure I'm getting you right... Are you suggesting that we should leave it to other people to make physical copies of the game?
Maybe you could. It's your game. Maybe you get some considerable proceeds back on the physical release; I don't know. Of course it's your call.

I'm sure you put more than a considerable amount of time and effort into your projects, so perhaps it gives you satisfaction to see a physical cartridge go out to supporters.

I'm just saying for me personally I'm not very excited to add more physical releases of unlicensed new Neo Geo games to my shelf for hundreds of dollars. Perhaps there are others who are interested, and that's fine. I already have the NGDev games, and a Bitmap Bureau one, from before there were starting to be so many. Everyone has their limit.

At any rate, I'm still very interested in Cyborg Force and willing to help support the project.
 
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Johnny16Bit

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Maybe you could. It's your game. Maybe you get some considerable proceeds back on the physical release; I don't know. Of course it's your call.

I'm sure you put more than a considerable amount of time and effort into your projects, so perhaps it gives you satisfaction to see a physical cartridge go out to supporters.

I'm just saying for me personally I'm not very excited to add more physical releases of unlicensed new Neo Geo games to my shelf for hundreds of dollars. Perhaps there are others who are interested, and that's fine. I already have the NGDev games, and a Bitmap Bureau one, from before there were starting to be so many. Everyone has their limit.

At any rate, I'm still very interested in Cyborg Force and willing to help support the project.

Thanks Alec, we appreciate the interest and the support every bit, for this and for TEOT.
Honestly, going full digital isn't an option - on any standpoint.

From a creative one, it means giving up on an entire (and exciting) side of things (all the printed material).
From a technical one, it means following spec restrictions is made mostly pointless (except for the personnal challenge; if it's aimed at being run on modern devices, you just do a neo-retro game with Unity).
From an economical one, you just can't afford to sit on any release format. Because of the stupid price of carts, people often think making a neo geo game is like picking up gold from an open-pit mine - yet they wonder why there aren't more people doing it. :) We'll be trying to make this an economically viable project, without any kind of protection that might actually backfire at us or the people supporting us; for that, we know that whatever the platform/format, every single sale will matter.
From a personal one, there just isn't any satisfaction in watching strangers making money from your work. And from the second we release the rom, we know it will be hosted to other servers and exploited one way or another; a lot of people won't even have a clue where the game they got actually comes from, or they'll feel entitled to try it, or play through it for free because it has become part of their consuming habits.
That's why digital pre-orders are always part of kickstarters, you also need to get as many of those in before actually releasing the rom, because you'd better not count on much after that; so for you and all the peeps who don't care about the physical product, not having a physical shitshow, as you said in a previous message, isn't going to change a thing.
 

NeoCverA

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I'll gladly pay for a rom file to put on my flash cart or Mister. We don't need to bring plastic, PCB's and chips into this.
Same. I’d get it to run in the MVSX, Arcade Stick Pro and even NEOGEO mini. May be able to creat an encrypted installer too to prevent shady things. Should hit me up.
 

Neo Alec

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Thanks Alec, we appreciate the interest and the support every bit, for this and for TEOT.
Honestly, going full digital isn't an option - on any standpoint.

From a creative one, it means giving up on an entire (and exciting) side of things (all the printed material).
From a technical one, it means following spec restrictions is made mostly pointless (except for the personnal challenge; if it's aimed at being run on modern devices, you just do a neo-retro game with Unity).
From an economical one, you just can't afford to sit on any release format. Because of the stupid price of carts, people often think making a neo geo game is like picking up gold from an open-pit mine - yet they wonder why there aren't more people doing it. :) We'll be trying to make this an economically viable project, without any kind of protection that might actually backfire at us or the people supporting us; for that, we know that whatever the platform/format, every single sale will matter.
From a personal one, there just isn't any satisfaction in watching strangers making money from your work. And from the second we release the rom, we know it will be hosted to other servers and exploited one way or another; a lot of people won't even have a clue where the game they got actually comes from, or they'll feel entitled to try it, or play through it for free because it has become part of their consuming habits.
That's why digital pre-orders are always part of kickstarters, you also need to get as many of those in before actually releasing the rom, because you'd better not count on much after that; so for you and all the peeps who don't care about the physical product, not having a physical shitshow, as you said in a previous message, isn't going to change a thing.
Yeah, like I said, if releasing a physical release gives you satisfaction, then go for it. Just know there will always be a percentage of people who will be unhappy about the price no matter what.(Releasing a new $70 Mega Drive game is one thing, but the necessary pricing for Neo Geo cartridges seems to automatically make a certain percentage of gamers angry.)

I also don't agree that no physical release makes the hardware restrictions pointless. I love being able to boot a game on an original Neo Geo system. Homebrew for old platforms exists because devs like you actively want to work in that medium, rather than using modern tools to make Windows games. We need more Neo Geo flash carts widely available.

Offering rom downloads for $20 or something suppresses a certain percentage of rom piracy. I think you should offer all options, since there is such a wide range of different ways to play.

But I will support whatever you decide.
 

Johnny16Bit

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Thanks lots for the support guys, means a lot to us :cheers:
It is our intention to offer as many different options as possible, yes; Ozzy's quite experienced in doing ports so it may even come to modern platforms.

Taking some flak for the pricing is par for the course - it will come in due time :keke:
For now we're still busy completing the assets ; we'll be sharing more videos as we go.

Cheers :)
 

Johnny16Bit

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Little update ;)

Our friend Charles posted a video on his YT channel showing elements I have already shared here, plus a couple other new ones - update of the game introduction (we replaced the green cyborg's head) and addition of the first cutscene (crash on mars at the beginning of the game) and the stage introduction. AND... a new title voiced by @max 330 mega :cheers:


I also wanted to share pics of the AES JP insert I'm working on. Please bear in mind this is WIP (dimensions are inaccurate, the printing and cutting are gross, the Japanese is google trad, the list goes on - in short, it's just a test print), but I thought there was enough already to show you the direction we're taking and get feedback about it. :)

test1.jpg

test3.jpg

test2.jpg
 

Alphabet

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It looks great. When I seen the intro and the gameplay, I thought about the homebrew Tommy K a bit similar.
 

Moose

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Sooo much better looking than Tommy K lol. Cyborg Force looks great and the music is banging
 

Johnny16Bit

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Fun fact 1: the game actually runs faster in MAME than what you can see in the video (which was captured from the PC dev version running on my crappy PC)
Fun fact 2: the video subtitle says "pre-alpha" but we're deep into alpha already. I was able to play an entire run of the (complete) game on MAME yesterday. Still plenty to do... but we're getting there ;)
 

mmsadda

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Didn't realize forum folks were working on this when it was first posted. That's awesome! My excitement level is MUCH higher now!

Looking forward to watching the newer videos today.
 

Samson

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This looks super good! Really glad for the dev update videos as well, and the music is superb!
 

Johnny16Bit

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Update time - short version: we have started Beta testing, yay! :)


---


long version from teh official news I can't get the darn spoiler thing to work nevermind:

Cygoob Force is now officially at Beta stage - that means it’s now complete, playable from beginning to end, and tuned up - but it still needs all the tests and associated adjustments required before release.
So we can now give you the following elements, as they shouldn’t be subject to change at this point:
  • the game is split into 5 levels, divided into 3 parts (2 sub-levels + 1 boss); completing it in one shot takes about half an hour.
  • it is definitely and uncompromising designed as an early 1990s arcade game. So while all the levels were designed to be clearable without taking damage, it is neither immediate nor easy. And playing through all of them in a 1CC perspective is the challenge it is supposed to be. We haven’t forgotten scoring, with a simple yet efficient system.
  • you can deal death with 10 different weapons that all have specific properties associated to the game system; they differ in terms of rate of fire, area of effect, and ability to damage and fire through enemies (depending on whether they’re made of flesh or metal), or punch through environment elements (walls or platforms).
The first feedback received from our testers regarding gameplay (and difficulty) is quite positive as it corresponds exactly to what we wanted to achieve.
We realize that the video capture didn’t do us any favour as many were surprised (positively) by the game’s responsiveness and speed. They found it faster and more difficult than what they expected. The rest is still ongoing and in the eye of the beholder. To us, the result is beyond our expectations; to you, well, we’ll do our best to keep posting content so you can appreciate what the game has to offer as precisely as possible before preorders start.

Regarding the physical side of things, we’ll be handling it ourselves, probably with the same partners as with TEOT and we want it to be at least as good of course.
 
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zouzzz

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On Discord :

imgp2219.jpg
 

Johnny16Bit

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Update time!

The last video we showed had slowdown because of the capture, so I decided we'd show the exact same area running on teh hardware (my AES via NeoSD)

So the flip side is that this time the visual quality is poor and you can hardly hear the audio :lolz:
But I thought you'd rather see the game running on the real thing than on MAME or a Mister.

Also, I'll toss in the arcade flyer for good measure :)

flyersmall.jpg
 
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