I am a huge fan of the XNA development initiative from Microsoft. The design and development theory presented by the company is incredibly forward in its thinking. When the professional version of the toolkit is released, the program has the potential to allow small time developers to reap more rewards for their effort. Whether or not Microsoft decides to see the program through its full course is just a matter of wait and see, but the rhetoric coming from the offices of the XNA dev team are extremely positive in its message. They have gone so far as to claim that the XNA is the future of development on all Microsoft consoles.On the2bears.com, one of the first true shooting games I've seen developed with the XNA toolkit has been given a small feature piece with a video (shown below). The game is currently being worked over by Beta testers.
Via the official website (http://shmup.blogspot.com/) for the title, here are some additional details:
Bullet Hell Tactics demo includes one level. The goal is to kill the final boss and get as high score as you can.
How to play the game
You control a small spaceship and must destroy hordes of evil enemies. Shoot them down with your lasers while trying to evade the bullets they shoot back. When a enemy is destroyed they drop energy, pick these up fill up your own energy. You can also aim your ship and shoot in 360 degrees and not let a single enemy survive.
How player energy works
Player energy is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen. To fill up energy you must collect the green stuff the enemies drop when they are destroyed. You can use your energy in two ways:
* Spinning shield, makes you invurnable to bullets (this is very important to use, but be careful not to run out of energy)
* Homing laser missiles, very strong weapon that destroys most of whats in it's way (all of your energy will be used, so be careful!)
How to control player spaceship
Keyboard & Mouse:
* Move - Mouse
* Shoot - Left mouse button
* Shield - Right mouse button
* Aim (lock target) - Left Ctrl
* Homing missiles - Left Shift
Xbox 360 controller:
* Move - Left thumbstick
* Shoot - A button (or right trigger)
* Shield - B button (or left trigger)
* Aim (lock target) - Hold X button (or move right thumbstick)
* Homing missiles - Left/right shoulder button
