State of Decay #1 (October 2024): First Blog Post + General Overview Of What Will Be In Toparo ~ the Forgotten Rotting Technology.
Just over a year ago, when I first started posting monthly Twitter posts, I commented that I’d like to make a sort of blog so that the monthly updates can be much clearer and more fleshed out… Well here it is! I’ve waited this long because I wanted to put it in the eventual Toparo Project website which exists now.
Before I get into it (as this *is* the first blog post) I thought I’d mention the name: State of Decay. It’s a pun but, hmm… well, the meaning doesn’t really make sense as of right now does it..? Well it’ll make sense one day; it’s pretty on the nose once you realise what “Deacy” refers to, so you might be able to figure it out early. I just couldn’t pass up a stupid and very literal pun that has lore importance, y’know..? (Also it abbreviates to SoD which is funny).
Anyway, last month was a sort of big month for Toparo eh? I made the website you’re on right now, I made a Bluesky account (it took forever to repost everything from my Twitter by the way) *and* Toparo made its (entirely technical) debut with the release of There Once Was A Monster In Wonderland! I hope the short story can be at least intriguing even without any context around it, it can be read on its own but it’ll be a lot more interesting once you meet the current day version of “The Monster” in Toparo ~ the Forgotten Rotting Technology.
Speaking of…
I thought I’d take this first blog post pretty light and talk about something that’s quite unclear and perhaps confusing if you read through my Twitter/Bluesky posts: Just what *exactly* is the game going to contain..?
I admit, due to the scope of the game gradually changing as I’ve worked on it, my posts can be conflicting and not entirely clear; so here it is in plain english.
Toparo ~ the Forgotten Rotting Technology will contain 36 stages as opposed to the usual 7-8 you would expect from a Touhou-esque game. That number seems quite high (because it is) but it’s because of how the game is set up. There are 4 main routes, each corresponding to a single shot type, each route contains 6 stages in the main story and 3 more stages in an extra story. So… (6 + 3) x 4 = 36. Don’t be fooled, I haven’t just inflated the stage count due to there being four shot types! Each stage and boss is *physically* different between each route; the same locations will have different enemy patterns, the same bosses will use different spells and of course the plot will be different.
Also, every character in the game will have a playable shot type available to play in a sort of free play mode, which allows you to use any shot type in any of the four routes (do note: there won’t be any dialog or openings/endings in free play, it’s just a fun bonus). Each of the four routes will be designed specifically around its intended shot type, so don’t be surprised if a specific shot really struggles or even has to use bombs to capture spells or even just survive!
Also also, the game will include a Phantasmagoria styled VS mode, complete with a story for all of the characters that appear in the main/extra story. I don’t have much to say about it right now, I plan to start making it once I’ve done the rest of the game. My main concern about the VS mode is making the ai, otherwise it shouldn’t be *too* much of a hassle.
Wow..! That’s a lot, no? It’s sort of like five Touhou games in one!
Why..? Well, I’ve mentioned it once or twice before I think but personally, I think it’s insane that the Touhou-esque “””””genre””””” has settled at a game that’s only an hour and half or so long. The idea is that you play what *is* there over and over again to achieve things like high scores and clears on higher difficulties; and while I don’t have an issue with that, I do think it’s a little underwhelming for people who only play through the game once (the casual, if you will).
They beat the main six stages on Normal and then they *might* try to beat the Extra stage. So, they’ll spend forty five minutes on the main story and then (being generous) about three hours to beat Extra - Then what? The casual has no reason to keep playing, if they’re good, they’ll see all of the game’s content in one sitting and never touch the game again! In a few months the game will be a few brief memories, in a year they’ll ask if they even played the game to begin with… and to me; I don’t see the point in making a game that only lasts about four hours, if no one remembers it six months later, what’s the point?
Of course, I’m not saying anyone else’s games are pointless..! I’m just saying *for me,* I wouldn’t be satisfied with creating a game that people will beat in one sitting, no matter how good it is.
Also, it’s because a certain person in my life who isn't at all familiar with shmups might play the game and go “that’s it?” to me after they beat it in one sitting (^^;
Anyway, apology for the little rant (I hope I didn't come off as annoying, that’d be a bad first impression), now back on topic for a bit of the gameplay itself…
The game will have only two difficulties: Normal and Risible. Normal will be equivalent to something around the difficulty of Touhou’s Hard; Risible will be a sort of Lunatic+ where the Normal patterns are just cranked up in various ways. I decided to only have two difficulties as it would be a lot of work to make and balance four difficulties across 36 stages. If you are worried about the difficulty, do not worry..! The game will include a “Simple mode” which is effectively just infinite lives, both for people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to clear the game at all, as well as letting people experience Risible without having to get good enough to beat it.
In terms of the gameplay in the stage. There’s a power system that starts at 0 and goes to 100, increasing as you collect power items - However, this is only a damage multiplier of sorts, your physical shot will stay the same the whole time, so power loss isn’t the end of the world. You get extends by collecting 100 point items, pretty simple, enemies drop point and power items in a system almost identical to SoEW, so there’s mostly just an illusion of randomness. Now, the big one, you get bombs by grazing bullets..! A green graze bar fills up and once it’s full you get a bomb added to your stock. The bombs themselves are just for clearing bullets and they’re pretty brief; it’s sort of a flashbomb I guess. There’s also some small scoring mechanics but that’s the main gist.
Um… I wrote at the start of this that it’d be pretty light, but I nattered on for quite a bit there didn’t I..? Hmm… a wall of text isn’t too exciting now is it..? What’s something low effort I can stick onto the end - I guess I can give a little look at some stage enemies? As of writing, I *did* just finish drawing them all yesterday.
I’ve shown this one before but I quite like it. I was trying to draw some messed up frog but I drew the face and quite liked how stupid it looked and went from there. I think it would usually be very polite, it’s probably just excited about something happening around it. Appears in stage 1 of the C and D routes.
This one has a name: Lost Bones. It’s a pretty generic idea to have a floating skull as an enemy but I think I gave it enough style to excuse that. It has two relatives: Incomplete Bones and Found Bones. Basically the idea is that it gets bigger and grows to a full body - Where’d the bones come from..? Best not to ask. Appears in stage 3 and 8 of all routes.
This one’s a bit strange looking, it’s called a Paper Doll. It’s a design I salvaged from Arcodan as I quite liked it and wanted to see what it was “supposed to look like”. It sort of looks like a Karakasa Obake, but it’s actually based on a Teru Teru Bozo. Appears in stage 9 of the A and B routes.
There we go. Now there’s something other than text, this feels like something of substance (even though it’s not). If there’s anyone actually reading this and you want to know anything about the game or whatever, don’t be shy! Ask me about it..!
I can’t imagine anyone would care about Toparo until, at the earliest, some sort of demo release; but if you’re here early - Thanks for just reading this!
I hope I can take us both on an exciting and wild ride with the Toparo Project..! And I don’t just mean the extremely long development of the first game (^^; If things go my way, I should be making Toparo till’ I drop dead!
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This month’s crystal ball grazing: Don’t bring an umbrella, the rain will wash away that feather on your head.