Console Arcade interviews Xona Games.

In our second Xona Games interview (here's our first), Jason Doucette, lead programmer of our upcoming Xbox 360 shoot'em up Duality ZF, answers questions from Keith Murray and Jamie Davies of Console Arcade.  Here's a few highlights:

On gameplay philosophy:

There are no bonus points for collecting icons, medals, or level completion, etc. Such bonus points arise from enemy kills themselves. The better you kick ass, the higher your score – as it should be. An expert, high scoring “power play” of Duality ZF won’t be dilly-dallying, delaying shooting enemies, chasing fairies – it will show wrecking havoc; causing pure destruction in the most efficient way possible. Finally the gamer achieving the highest spot in the online scoreboards will be the one who is best at surviving enemy attack while decimating them – what shmups are all about.

On Dual Play:

Dual Play was discovered naturally due to desire for challenge from expert gamers; it was not implemented as a marketing trick to get sales. The gamers invented it. It fits naturally with shmups, as Duality ZF shows. It just doesn’t work with other genres, and their attempts to achieve brownie points with it fail. The features of Duality ZF are not gimmicks. They work, and are demanded for, by the true fans.

On gamer reception:

Duality ZF has been referred to as “Raiden on Red Bull” due to the intense firepower.

Duality ZF has also been dubbed the “Geometry Wars Killer”, based on the excitement of Survival mode (before we even beta-tested our Multidirectional mode!) [...] In Duality ZF you’re launching the attack – being the aggressor. You’re not running, whimpering, and hiding, as you do with every other dual stick shooter on the market. The feeling of accomplish via domination is just one of many game mechanics we understand thoroughly, where all others fall flat. [...] There’s absolutely no comparison of Duality ZF to any other multidirectional shooter – and that’s just the Multidirectional mode; one of many bonus modes.

On recognition of gamer accomplishment:

Unlike [...] all other shmups, where only a subsection of their game is credited in the leaderboards, Duality ZF ranks every mode, even multiplayer. [...] It’s going to be fun to see just how far four (or eight) fighters can get! Due to the credit and recognition received for all 96 game styles, there’s a ton of replayability.

On Duality ZF engine:

...the result is the Duality ZF engine: a silky smooth 60 frames per second, capable of handling 8 fighters shooting over 2,000 bullets, colliding with 100’s of enemies, with 1,000’s of explosions. The action literally fills the screen, and you just won’t find this anywhere else. This places Duality ZF in a league well above our XNA competitors, since this type of action is simply impossible with a standard implementation with no optimization, and it challenges the best of the best shmups ever made.

Read the entire interview here: http://www.console-arcade.com/features/xona-games-interview/

Preview Duality ZF?

Preview Duality ZF with our promotional materials.  Contact us if you want anything more.  We do pre- and post-release interviews on Duality ZF / XNA / XBLCG (XBLIG) / indie game / shoot'em up (shmup) development, shmup genre choice, XBLA efforts, and much more...

Also See:

• Duality ZF (official xona.com developer site)
• Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer (video)
• First Duality ZF Interview
• New Duality ZF Screenshots
• Duality ZF FAQ Answers

External Links:

• Duality ZF (official dualityzf.com game site)
• Duality ZF Forums (hosted on xbox.com)
• Xona Games (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo)
• Xbox LIVE Community Games* (xbox.com, Xbox Forums)
• Imphenzia Music (creator of the Duality ZF soundtrack)
• Console Arcade

*Xbox LIVE Community Games soon to be renamed to Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

ExL Studios previews Xbox LIVE Indie Game,  Duality ZF.

ExL Studios previewed Duality ZF, our upcoming Xbox 360 arcade shooter.  I caught a blurb that made me think our marketing efforts are starting to work:

Over the months that Duality ZF has been in development, its popularity has grown. When it releases it will probably be the most popular indie game available on Xbox Live. Its innovative, groundbreaking style is reminiscent of an Xbox Live Arcade game. The only difference? This game provides a lot more content for a lower price than many Arcade games available on Xbox Live.

(Bolding by me.)  Read the entire preview here:  http://exlstudios.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/exl-update-duality-zf/

Introducing Xbox LIVE Indie Games

Xbox LIVE Community Games (XBLCG) will be renamed to Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG) within the next few months, according to xna.com news.  We support this change one hundred percent.  We are an indie game developer, making indie games, so it fits.  We no longer have to painstakenly explain what a "community game" is to those who could care less, the gamers.  We at Xona Games requested an XBLCG rename in the xna.com forums, even though efforts to rename the platform were already well underway.  Interesting that Jason's suggested name was the name chosen by the XNA team behind the scenes.  When the Xbox LIVE Indie Games name becomes official, the XNA team will also launch a user rating system for all Xbox LIVE Marketplace content, including Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

What does all this mean?  Easy to find, great, indie games on your Xbox 360.

Future Predictions of the XNA Team:

Leaderboards, Achievements, and Gamerscore points!  (These are predictions from Xona Games of the XNA team.)

Preview Duality ZF?

Preview Duality ZF with our promotional materials and contact us if there's anything else you need.  We will also do pre- and post-release interviews on Duality ZF development, XNA and XBLCG (XBLIG) development, indie game development, shoot'em up (shmup) development and genre choice, XBLA efforts, and much more...

Also See:

• Duality ZF (official xona.com developer site)
• Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer (video)
• New Duality ZF Screenshots
• Duality ZF FAQ Answers

External Links:

• Duality ZF (official dualityzf.com game site)
• Duality ZF Forums (hosted on xbox.com)
• Xona Games (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo)
• Xbox LIVE Community Games* (xbox.com, Xbox Forums)
• Imphenzia Music (creator of the Duality ZF soundtrack)
• ExL Studios

*Soon to be renamed to Xbox LIVE Indie Games.

Quagmire’s Kingdom's preview of Duailty ZF.

I have to share an amazing piece of video game journalism.  It's not often you read a review, preview in this case, where the reviewer just "gets it" and understands where the game developer is coming from and heading.  David Collins breaks the mold when he "gets" what we at Xona Games have done with Duality ZF, our upcoming Xbox LIVE shoot'em up.  I am amazed at his effort to understand who we are and what we are about.

Some clips from the article:

So, how do you take a classic genre that’s been pretty much beat to death & refresh it so it feels like new again? I wouldn’t have been able to tell you a until about 2 months ago when I ran across Jason & Matthew Doucette, creators of Duality ZF.

...these guys have done a lot under the hood that doesn’t happen with a lot of the mainstream titles. Their philosophy [...] is “Give the power to the player. The game’s difficulty should arise from enemy strength, not player weakness.” With that approach to the game right from the start, the twin brothers have worked very hard at making the ship controls perfect. The fighter speed is optimized to within .1 pixels per frame. Basically, instead of punishing the player by changing speeds & such to adjust the difficulty, they made the ship controls perfect throughout that game. To crank the difficulty, they made the adjustments to the enemies. This way, the win/lose scenario falls directly on the players skill, not due to poor controls.

(Bolding by me.)  Read the full article at Quagmire’s Kingdom.

Like To Preview Duality ZF?

If you would like to preview Duality ZF, make use of our newly available promotional materials and contact us for anything else you need.  We are also taking pre- and post-release interviews on a variety of topics including: Duality ZF development, XNA and XBLCG development, indie game development, shoot'em up (shmup) development and genre choice, XBLA efforts, and more...

Also See:

• Duality ZF (official developer site; xona.com)
• Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer (video)
• New Duality ZF Screenshots
• Duality ZF FAQ Answers

External Links:

• Duality ZF (official game site; dualityzf.com)
• Duality ZF Forums (hosted on xbox.com)
• Xona Games (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo)
• Xbox LIVE Community Games (xbox.com, Xbox Forums)
• Imphenzia Music (creator of the Duality ZF soundtrack)
• Quagmire’s Kingdom (David Collins)

Duality ZF promotional materials now available: dualityzf.com/promo.html

Duality ZF promotional materials are now available for game reviewers, previewers, and journalists who want to be among the first to blog about the hottest upcoming Xbox LIVE Community Game: Duality ZF, of course! ;)

The materials include Official Site URLs (xona.com is the developer's sites and dualityzf.com is the game's site), 720p High Defintion trailers (including a sans-text version for your own editing), 1280x720 Screenshots, Logos (NEW), and Game Description (in list format; create your own unique Duality ZF description from features that stand out most to you).

All these materials are available at: http://dualityzf.com/promo.html

Duality ZF is our upcoming 4-player dual play (control two fighters at once) Xbox 360 shoot'em up (shmup; 2d shooter), coming to Xbox LIVE Community Games in the summer of 2009.

Thanks for sharing Duality ZF.  Please contact us if you need anything else.  We will almost surely provide it to you.

Tips (NEW):

1. Show a movie*
2. Show screenshots*
3. No hotlinking.  Embed our YouTube videos, preferably in HD, if you cannot afford the bandwidth.

*Visitors want to see movies first, screenshots second, and read text last.

Interview Reminder:

We are also taking pre- and post-release interviews.  Contact us.  We will interview on Duality ZF development, XNA and XBLCG development, indie game development, shoot'em up (shmup) development and genre choice, XBLA efforts, and more...

Also See:

• Duality ZF (official developer site; xona.com)
• Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer (video)
• New Duality ZF Screenshots
• Duality ZF FAQ Answers

External Links:

• Duality ZF (official game site; dualityzf.com)
• Duality ZF Forums (hosted on xbox.com)
• Xona Games (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo)
• Xbox LIVE Community Games (xbox.com, Xbox Forums)
• Imphenzia Music (creator of the Duality ZF soundtrack)

SFX360 previews Duality ZF.

Latest preview of Duality ZF by Buzzkiller of SFX360.  Some highlights:

This Summer, schmups (shoot'em ups) as you know it on Xbox Live Community Games will change forever. Xona Games presents Duality ZF, a top-down 2D shooter featuring some of the most intense action ever seen.

The best part about Duality ZF has to be local multiplayer. Up to four players can control eight ships in dual play. Just think about how many shots that would be on the screen.

If for some reason one of your teammates is shot down, then that person's power-ups will be split amongst the other players and the down player(s) can be revived at the start of the next stage...

Duality ZF is our upcoming dual play Xbox 360 Shoot'Em Up*.  Price: 400 Microsoft Points.  Release date:  Summer 2009.

*Also known as: Shmup and 2D Shooter

Also See:

• Duality ZF (official developer site; xona.com)
• Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer (video)
• New Duality ZF Screenshots
• Duality ZF FAQ Answers

External Links:

• Duality ZF (official game site; dualityzf.com)
• Duality ZF on Xbox Forums(xbox.com)
• Xona Games (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo)
• Xbox LIVE Community Games (xbox.com, Xbox Forums)
• Imphenzia Music (creator of the Duality ZF soundtrack)
• SFX360

All Articles:

Console Arcade Interviews Xona Games
2009/Jun/15 — Matthew Doucette
Keith Murray and Jamie Davies (Console Arcade) interview Jason Doucette (Xona Games) about Duality ZF.


Duality ZF to be Most Popular Xbox LIVE Indie Game?
2009/Jun/14 — Matthew Doucette
Could Duality ZF be the most popular Xbox LIVE Indie Game?


Refresing a Classic Genre
2009/Jun/11 — Matthew Doucette
David Collins previews Duality ZF.


Duality ZF Promo Materials (Now Available)
2009/Jun/10 — Matthew Doucette
If you wish to preview Duality ZF on your website, please use these promo materials.


SFX360: XBLCG Shoot'Em Ups Will Change Forever
2009/Jun/01 — Matthew Doucette
Buzzkiller of SFX360 previews Duality ZF.


Duality ZF: 98 Percentile Rank on GameTrailers.com
2009/May/28 — Matthew Doucette
Our Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer  featured on GameTrailers.com.  It achieved a 98 percentile rank and #1 Xbox LIVE Community Game.


Duality ZF Official Site Launches
2009/May/27 — Matthew Doucette
Xona Games launches dualityzf.com.


Duality ZF, Best Deal on Xbox Marketplace?
2009/May/19 — Matthew Doucette
Duality ZF preview on Gameplay Reviews.


Final Duality ZF Ad in XNA Roundup; Detailed
2009/May/18 — Matthew Doucette
Details on our final Duality ZF advertisement in XNA Roundup.


IndieGames.com Covers Duality ZF
2009/May/15 — Matthew Doucette
Michael Rose of IndieGames.com covers Duality ZF.


First Duality ZF Interview
2009/May/13 — Matthew Doucette
Matthew Doucette's Duality ZF interview by Adam Templeton of GotGame.


Second Duality ZF Ad in XNA Roundup
2009/May/09 — Matthew Doucette
Our second Duality ZF Ad in XNA Roundup.


First Duality ZF Ad
2009/May/02 — Matthew Doucette
Our first Duality ZF ad.


Duality ZF April 2009 Trailer
2009/Apr/29 — Matthew Doucette
April 2009 Duality ZF Trailer.


Duality ZF March 2009 Tech Demo
2009/Apr/11 — Matthew Doucette
March 2009 Duality ZF tech demo.


Xona Games on Twitter
2009/Apr/06 — Matthew Doucette
Xona Games is now on Twitter.  Please follow us!


Xona.com's Top 10 Articles of 2008
2009/Apr/05 — Matthew Doucette
Xona.com's Top 10 most visited articles of 2008.


New Duality ZF Screenshots
2009/Mar/31 — Matthew Doucette
New Duality ZF Screenshots.


Duality ZF FAQ Answers
2008/Nov/19 — Matthew Doucette
Answers to some frequently asked questions on Duality ZF.


First Duality ZF Screenshots
2008/Nov/17 — Matthew Doucette
First Duality ZF Screenshots.


Duality ZF October 2008 Alpha Demo
2008/Oct/21 — Matthew Doucette
An early alpha demo of Duality ZF.


Xona Games on Facebook
2008/Sep/28 — Matthew Doucette
Facebook fans, please join our Xona Games group.


Introducing Duality ZF
2008/Sep/24 — Matthew Doucette
Introducing Duality ZF, an Xbox 360 2D shooter from Xona Games.


Xona Games on YouTube
2008/Sep/12 — Matthew Doucette
YouTubers, please join our Xona Games channel.


Introducing Xona Games
2008/Aug/28 — Matthew Doucette
Introducing Xona Games, the next big thing to come from Xona.com!


The Science of Getting Rich
2007/Feb/11 — Wallace D. Wattles
The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, 1910.


Editing Google Toolbar Dictionary
2007/Feb/11 — Jason Doucette
How to edit Google Toolbar's user dictionary, in case of the addition of a misspelled word.


Ramblings in Realtime
2007/Feb/05 — Michael Abrash
These are the articles about how Quake works that I wrote during the period 1995-1997, when John Carmack and I were developing Quake.


IE7: Open Homepage In New Tabs
2007/Jan/30 — Matthew Doucette
Internet Explorer 7 opens a blank page for new tabs.  Here's how to open your homepage instead.


IE7: Disable Language Bar
2007/Jan/24 — Matthew Doucette
Updating to Internet Explorer 7 enables the "Language Bar".  Here's how to disable it.


Get Rich Books and Greed
2007/Jan/21 — Matthew Doucette
Thoughts on "get rich" books and their relationship with greed.


Hectomillionaire vs. Centimillionaire
2006/Dec/17 — Matthew Doucette
$100,000,000 net worth.  Is that a hectomillionaire or a centimillionaire?


Tweak UI Bug
2006/Dec/12 — Jason Doucette
A minor, interesting mouse drag sensitivity bug in the great Tweak UI (PowerToy for Windows XP) program.


Quiet Your Hard Drive / Case Vibration Noise
2006/Aug/02 — Matthew Doucette
How I solved the problem of annoying case vibration noise caused by my hard drive.


Turbo Pascal's 64-bit comp Type
2006/Jul/29 — Jason Doucette
Some history: Exactly what was the deal with Turbo Pascal's mongrel 64-bit integer type, comp, which was handled as a floating point type?  Why is its smallest value -(2^63)+1 instead of the expected -2^63 for a signed 8-byte integer?


How do Variable Argument List Functions Work?
2006/Jul/27 — Jason Doucette
How do variable argument list (variadic) functions work?  How does printf() know how to deal with both float and double data types for the %f format specifier?


Smallest Positive Floating Point Values
2006/Jul/26 — Jason Doucette
The floating point format allows you to store a smaller positive number than the smallest positive value you think the format can store.  Huh?  And, if your code does not expect such small magnitudes, then you may be in for some trouble.


Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena
2006/Jul/25 — Matthew Doucette
A small collection of the best optical illusions & other visual phenomena.


Reset Windows XP's Default Desktop Color
2006/Jul/22 — Matthew Doucette
How to Reset Windows XP's Default Desktop Color.


Blue Colored Filenames
2006/Jul/11 — Jason Doucette
Have you ever wondered why some file names show up in Windows Explorer (or My Computer) as blue?


WinRAR Tips
2006/Jul/05 — Matthew Doucette
Uncommon but useful WinRAR tips.


Google Search Tips For Webmasters
2006/Jun/22 — Matthew Doucette
Some useful webmaster tips for checking out your site in Google.


Anti-Spyware Software Suggestions
2006/Jun/21 — Matthew Doucette
The anti-spyware (spyware removal) software we use and recommend.


Easily Avoid Large C++ Class Copies
2006/Jun/14 — Jason Doucette
Avoid the accidental creation of copies of your large classes, to avoid wasted memory, slow performance, and best of all: avoid manually recreating your own versions of the Copy Constructor and Assignment Operator!


How To Upgrade phpBB
2006/Apr/24 — Matthew Doucette
A simple step-by-step tutorial guiding you on how to upgrade your phpBB bulletin board system to a newer version.


The TI-99/4A Home Computer
2006/Apr/15 — Matthew Doucette
A small tribute to the TI-99/4A Home Computer.


Rare Parsec Facts (The TI-99/4A Video Game)
2006/Apr/15 — Matthew Doucette
Very rare facts about Parsec, one of the TI-99/4A's most popular games.


Xona.com Trivia
2005/Nov/10 — Matthew Doucette
Xona.com trivia!


Interested in Writing Tech. Articles For Xona.com?
2005/Nov/09 — Matthew Doucette
Do you enjoy writing articles?  Are you enthusiastic about technology?  Please read on.  Xona.com is looking for motivated authors.


Visual Studio .NET Keyboard Shortcuts Macro
2005/Aug/02 — Jason Doucette
Visual Studio .NET macro that creates an HTML table of all current keyboard shortcuts.  Useful for finding key bindings, or for an easier way to browse through them.


Update: Google DOES Honor 301 Permanent Redirects
2005/Jul/21 — Matthew Doucette
These are my experiences with Google's and Yahoo's handling of 301 permanent redirects.


Inter.net Violation: Unlimited Account Overusage
2005/Jun/19 — Matthew Doucette
My ISP, Inter.net, is threatening to shut down my "Unlimited Internet access" account if my family members use it more than 1 hour and 15 minutes, individually, per day, on average.


Uninstall Download Accelerator Plus (DAP)
2005/Mar/16 — Matthew Doucette
Sometimes Add/Remove programs will NOT uninstall Download Accelerator Plus (DAP) due to a known bug.  This is how to uninstall DAP if this happens to you.


Domain Hacks & Email Hacks
2004/Nov/03 — Matthew Doucette
Background info on "domain hacks" (del.icio.us, blo.gs, cr.yp.to) and "email hacks" (j@m.es, w@y.ne).


Create an MP3 Alarm Clock
2004/Oct/20 — Jason Doucette
Why wake up to the annoying buzzer of your alarm clock, when you can let your computer play one of your favourite songs in the morning?


Google Gmail Invites
2004/Oct/17 — Matthew Doucette
Here are some free Gmail invites, Google's awesome new online email.


Spam Inspector 4.0 Review
2004/Aug/30 — Jason Doucette
A review of Spam Inspector 4.0 from Giant Company Software based on my extensive use - from installing it and using it daily for several months to dealing with customer support.


What is "wuauclt.exe" and "wuaudt.exe"?
2004/Aug/26 — Matthew Doucette
What is the wuauclt.exe (or wuaudt.exe) process?


How to Delete Undeletable Files or Folders
2004/Aug/19 — Matthew Doucette
How to delete undeletable files and folders.


Uninstall Windows Messenger
2004/Aug/10 — Matthew Doucette
How to uninstall Windows Messenger.


Anti-Aliased Text: Better or Worse?
2004/Aug/03 — Matthew Doucette
Anti-aliased text is sometimes better, but sometimes worse, than aliased text.  Here is why.


Investigate Windows Processes
2004/Aug/03 — Matthew Doucette
Ever wonder what all those processes running on your Windows system are for?


Minesweeper and Random Number Generation
2004/Jul/27 — Jason Doucette
How computers generate random numbers, and how this affects Minesweeper games.


Hide Preview Pane in Outlook Express
2004/Jul/27 — Matthew Doucette
How and why you should hide the preview pane in Outlook Express.


Monopoly National Championship Quiz Answers
2004/Jul/23 — Matthew Doucette
A non-tech article for Monopoly fans.


Run Tasks in Low Priority
2004/Jul/22 — Matthew Doucette
Run tasks in "BelowNormal" or "Low" base priority by default.


Search MSDN with Google
2004/Jul/19 — Matthew Doucette
Search MSDN more productively with Google.


Uninstall 180 Search Assistant
2004/Jul/18 — Matthew Doucette
How to delete 180 Search Assistant once and for all.


Customize Your Windows Explorer Shortcut
2004/Jul/18 — Jason Doucette
Create your own unique shortcut to Windows Explorer that is customized to your liking.


Proper Way to Recreate My Computer Desktop Icon
2004/Jul/16 — Jason Doucette
Properly recreating the missing 'My Computer' icon on the desktop.


How Connected Files are Made, and their Problems
2004/Jul/16 — Jason Doucette
Have you ever deleted or moved a file, and a folder goes with it?  You have a 'connected file'.


Programming Windows, 5th Edition - Errata Addendum
2004/Jul/01 — Jason Doucette
I created and maintain an extensive errata list of program bugs, text typos, and errors for Charles Petzold's Programming Windows, 5th Edition - the bible of Windows programming.


Visual C++ .NET Standard Edition - Free Optimizing Compiler
2004/Jun/29 — Jason Doucette
How to freely obtain and integrate Microsoft's expensive Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional Edition optimizing compiler and linker into Visual C++ .NET Standard Edition.


Stop Spam Mail
2004/Jun/17 — Matthew Doucette
Here are various ways I stop spam emails without using an email filter.


Monitor Convergence
2004/Jun/09 — Matthew Doucette
Optimize your monitor's convergence to produce the clearest possible image.


SpinRite 6.0 - HD Maintenance, Recovery, and Repair Software
2004/Jun/07 — Matthew Doucette
Gibson Research Corporation has just released SpinRite 6.0 (now compatible with NTFS, Linux, Novell, or any other file system).


Windows XP Setup Tweaks & Tips
2004/May/22 — Matthew Doucette
Setup and Tweak Windows XP.