Everyday Shooter – Now on Steam

By: Derek Yu

On: May 8th, 2008

Joyous day! Everyday Shooter has finally made its way to the PC, via Steam. I’ll be honest, I had only gotten a taste of this game before, on the IGF show floor in 2007. It was fun then, but I gotta say, it really deserves to be played in one’s own room, with headphones on. Challenging and beautiful – one of few games where graphics, sound, and gameplay are completely harmonious with one another.

Try it! It’s definitely worth the $8.99 you’ll be paying for it (discounted from $9.99 for this week).

Posted in Highly Recommended, Shoot-em-ups, Windows | Tags: JonathanMak

Splinter of Chaos

I usually ask myself if I should really dip into my college fund to buy games since I have no income.

Considering how long I’ve wanted this, I don’t consider this an impulse-purchase.
http://www.djshardhouse.com Starshot

Already got it on my PS3 and love every second of it. I’ll definitely tell my other friends though, who have often come over to my house just to play this game.
sinoth

HALLELUJAH

I can finally drop that friend whose company I endured only for his PS3!
Splinter of Chaos

Post playing:
This game is genius, inspiring, beautiful, fun, innovative, creative…shortened…and finally, this game is near perfect.

Although, when I get lost in a game, I want it to be because it’s so immersive. Not because I can’t see where I am.
Sergio

No demo…?
MedO

Interesting how the reaction to the game here is like the mirror image of that on RPS.

Bought.
http://www.fuchtelworld.de X-Tender

YAY! Finaly!
http://fydo.net fydo

“Try it!” ?

I’d love to, but there is no demo. :P
sinoth

Oh, come on. It’s a simple game. Beautiful, but simple. You can watch the preview video and get a complete grasp of the gameplay. It’s also frakking $9!

Gorgeous game + chill music + $9 = BUY THE DAMN GAME
Bezzy

I like it (and need to play it more), but I don’t know what’s up with the analogue aiming.

It feels like it’s breaking down the analogue into an 8-way inputs, and then as you move from one direction to another, it seems to tween the fire direction toward the new fake-dpad direction.

I dunno. Doesn’t map too naturally.

But apart from that, beautiful work!
Splinter of Chaos

“I like it (and need to play it more), but I donâ€™t know whatâ€™s up with the analogue aiming.”

Or lack there of?
http://www.moonpod.com/ Fost

First time I’ve had a chance to play this but I feel like I’m missing something? Considering the press this game is getting why is it good?

Don’t mean that in a sarcastic way – I’m genuinely interested what it is everyone is loving here. So far (for me) it seems little more than an ok-ish abstract robotron (but there are *loads* better) with REALLY annoying music that I turn down so I can listen to some Hendrix instead.

Help !
St!gar

Shame it’s not for the PC…
http://iterationgames.com jph wacheski

yeah there really is only 8 directional shooting with the stick or the buttons,. I didn’t realise at first I could fire with those,. the buttons, may be easyer for my bain to understand the limits that way,. I don’t think this is a bad thing. It really is a style choice, like the graphics, since the player is controled with the stick it is simple to fire in one of the 8 directions and just move to hit stuff,. I am very impressed with this game,. still don’t know if I agree with the lack of sound effects on some events,. i suppose ones where i would always have put a sound, fireing say,. or hiting smaller objects,. but the audio is indeed fine and interesting work as is the whole game. peace jon.
sinoth

Fost: The music is pretty important. If you can’t stand it, then I can understand why you wouldn’t like the game. The core mechanics aren’t revolutionary… as you mentioned, there are probably better robotron clones out there. IMO, the greatness comes from the gameplay, music, and visual style synching perfectly. The whole experience is very solid and cohesive.
PoV

Fost – I think actually liking the music is important to the experience. ;)

The “love” I think stems from it being a concept game, being pushed as game that’s a music album. A nice contrast to the episodic gaming craze a couple years ago. It has some artistic and aesthetic merit I suppose. But overall, compared to everything else on the consoles, it’s one of the few that actually stand out as an artistic game.

But to be honest, I got my fix with Geometry Wars and PuppyTron/UltraTron a few years back, so it didn’t have much to offer me either.
http://www.moonpod.com/ Fost

Ok – I am still not really following you here – in what way is the music important? The same thing has been done before many a time but it’s not central to the experience – it just adds (well, detracts in my case!) to what experience is there. Currently I’m not finding anything special in the core game though to warrant listening to somebody tune up their guitar.

Also, please explain why this a ‘concept’ game? What is the concept?

I’m glad someone mentioned ultratron because that game to me is an example of this type of gameplay honed to absolute perfection. Miles, miles, miles better experience than playing Everyday Shooter (for me).

Btw – hope I’m not coming across as poo-pooing opinions. I’m really interested to hear people explain what they mean, because I am completely failing to see it.
http://www.the2bears.com the2bears

@Fost – I definitely see this as a “sum of the parts” game, and something different than the usual game experience. By that I mean, that for pure “dual stick” fun, Ultratron is better.

However, for me the overall experience here is a mellow-out, then get shocked to alertness. Hard to explain. Anyway, regarding the music, it hits me in a subtle way. On a subconscious level I feel the rhythm of it drives my playing. I feel I try to affect the music, which helps me in some odd way.

Wow, what I typed makes little sense at all :) I’m going to play more, and try to get a proper review up this weekend.

Bill
http://www.the2bears.com the2bears

Addendum: As a curmudgeon who sometimes mourns the loss of “concept albums” and lps in music, I like the connection of the levels here.

Bill
http://iterationgames.com jph wacheski

Ok Frost, why is it you like Hendrix ? Ha! not so simple to explain is it..,
Personaly I like ‘art’ and consider video games in that catigory,. I don’t so much mean pretentious arty concept games with no actual gameplay,. although those do provoke thought., more like the way one appreciates music or a masterfull painting,. in fact i often consider games as combinations of those things with the gameplay part mixed in as well,. creating a higher-level sysnergistic whole.
I think ppl respond to this game because it takes an approch that is decidedly different than many other ‘games’ it has something to say about what a game can be,. with its visules, sounds/music, and its gameplay. Personally I like what it has to say,. I enjoy the gameplay it is quite deep in the various interactions of the objects and the play choices it offers and yet it is a simple game to play., I think jon has crafted the visules and the g-tar sounds to create a unique experiance,. for example I too had been building a game, that after playing this one, I realise is remarkably similar,. however still very different,. it grew from some similar roots (robotron2088 etc.) However is shaped by my own vision of what it should be. Here is a demo,. it has keyboard mouse support but really should be played with a 360 controler, has force feedback too ;)

http://iterationgames.com/gyoza_360contoller.zip
PoV

> in what way is the music important?

As it was suggested, the game is the sum of its parts. Some games you can struggle through the parts you don’t like, say, if you still liked the story. But Everyday Shooter is everything that it is. Without the music it’s just as you said, an ok-ish abstract Robotron. Without the gameplay, it’s just some guitar music with lots of reverb. The way it works is together.

Not that I’ve done it, but I imagine how you really appreciate the game is similar to how an audiophile enjoys music. Sits in his comfy listening chair, relaxed, eyes closed, as his stupidly expensive speakers blare his favorite album from his youth.

I’d imagine most music lovers have had a zen moment with a song or a CD. Getting more in to the music than plain old casual listening. Not necessarily dancing around like a fool, but letting it in. Absorbing it. Taking a moment to be a freak. ;)

But just like music, everyone has their tastes. I’d imagine few people have had a zen moment with Skinny Puppy’s “The Process”, let alone would even give it a chance.

If anything, it’s one of the first reasonably mainstream examples of a game where gamers can act all artsy fartsy about their medium.
Derek

Fost, have you played Rez? I think ES has a similar concept.
BreadCultist

79% downloaded. What is it.
jk lol
BreadCultist

Oh shit. Game runs slow as arse on my laptop.
Zmann

Bread – Same here D:

I really want to play this shizzle! Jon is like my hero.
Corpus

It’s really great! I can’t get past level 3, yet, but my sucking at shmups is nothing new.

By the way, why is Jon a hero to so many people? I’m not saying he shouldn’t be – I’m just not aware of what he’s done to merit it.
BreadCultist

I can get the game at a playable speed by making the resolution stupid small. This isn’t quite right. And the controls are somewhat squiffy. This might be related to the slowness. When I manoeuvre my analog stick in a circular motion my dot sometimes fails to change direction. I end up moving in the opposite direction I’m pressing on my controller. Only when I let go and press it again things go back to normal. What’s goin’ on ;_;
Level 2 is a lot faster. Mmmm orange. I wanna play this game properly.
BreadCultist

The control problem doesn’t affect the keys. So I disabled the game controller axis and am now using Xpadder so I can still use my lovely Xbox controller.
Tim

Why Jon is way cooler than the rest of us:

http://www.insertcredit.com/archives/002020.html
BreadCultist

Aaaah fixed. Just had to switch to 32 bit colour. All’s right with the world again.
http://games.online.co.pt Marco Lopes

Looks good with all those geometric graphics :)
Zmann

Bread: I love you. Works so much faster in 32 bit color!

This should really be documented somewhere!
BreadCultist

I love you too Zmann.

Wheehee third level is absolutely crazy. I think I just figured out it’s trick.
http://www.moonpod.com/ Fost

@Derek – yes I have played Rez on DC and recently again with Rez HD. I immediately saw that ES was using the same music mechanic, but it’s nothing revolutionary (and wasn’t even when Rez came out).Rez though, music aside, is still loads of fun. Especially the abstract bosses which are amazing.

Even on music alone, I don’t think you can compare these compositions to say Adam Freeland’s work on Rez, but I honestly don’t think it’s as important as people are making out. If I enjoyed the game the music wouldn’t matter to me.

I’ve really persevered with this wondering if it gets better in later levels – and yes, it does but then so do other games which are many, many times better.

Would Rez be as good without it’s soundtrack? No, but it would still be a good game. There’s something fundamentally lacking in the gameplay department with ES that prevents me seeing anything more in it.

I feel pretty terrible saying all this – JM is new to the scene and I’d love to see him do well. I so wanted to like ES – shmups are my thing you see, but I just don’t seem to be getting any fun out of the package and there’s many better games I feel (Ultratron if you want to support an indie, Geometry Wars from the mainstream etc).

Seems like everyone else here is excited though so I’ll leave you to it rather than being negative. :)
MDK

How hard is this game compared to other shooters? Well, for $9 I’ll get it anyways because it looks “flow” inducing.. but j/w.
Nikica

Will try, btw I am back.
Cas

What, no bloody demo or refund policy?
No sale, grrr :(
SlayerXL

Been waiting for this one for a long time, awesome that it finally arrived on the PC! Not sure if I like this or Gate88 more, but it’s definitely a cool game.
Corpus

What? Rez would be completely shit without the music.
notderek

you see, fost, jon and a lot of these guys are mates.
does that explain it?
Corpus

lol, that’s a porky pie.
Derek

@Fost: No, you’re not being particularly negative, imo. :)

I’m actually really curious what makes ES a worse shooter for you than Ultratron or Geometry Wars. Because it’s not as fast-paced?
sinoth

I’m curious as well. I played through a few times with the music down, and the levels were still fun to me. Each stage is quirky enough to play differently from the rest. The later stages in particular have a lot of personality, music aside.
Pyabo

Dammit… Was very excited to get this, but I’m having the same controls issue that BreadCultist mentions. They’re just horribly buggy… sometimes you move in the opposite direction you’re pushing. And the control options don’t allow you to MOVE with the digital side, just the analog stick. That makes no sense considering you can only move 8-ways anyway. Aaaargh. Ruins the game for me. :(

Back to Grid Wars, I guess.
Onymous

>Would Rez be as good without itâ€™s soundtrack? No, but it would still be a good game. Thereâ€™s something fundamentally lacking in the gameplay department with ES that prevents me seeing anything more in it.

what? I’ve seen screen savers more interactive than rez. at least ES is a game.

(not to say rez isn’t fantastic)
sinoth

I do hope they patch the control issues. It appears to get worse as CPU usage increases… I played today with a lot of junk going on in the background and had all kinds of wacko control problems. This was NOT an issue on the PS3… control was silky smooth, and you could move with the D-pad. I’m using a USB->PS2 adapter and I feel like I’m fighting with it half the time.
HikariExpress

Wait a second, the movement is actually restricted to 8 directions? And that was a deliberate design choice? Oh, man… =(

Why didn’t you guys warn us about this, back when you were all praising it to the high heavens? Was it something that couldn’t be noticed at the time? Did you guys think it simply didn’t matter (which is fair enough, mind you)?
Anonybomb

Really needs a demo.

So much for nabbing the attention of non-indieholics, eh?
BreadCultist

According to a post from Jon himself on the Steam forums, the movement is supposed to be analogue. Like the PS3 version, I guess. Patch coming?

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=680883&page=2
bateleur

I’m slightly perplexed by the comparisons with UltraTron – for me the puzzly aspect of Everyday Shooter is the main point. Trying to work out the combo system on each level and how to minimise the risk of life loss. I haven’t even seen all the levels yet and have already easily had $9 worth of entertainment.

That said, I do think it’s not a game for everyone. I’ll happily bounce up and down and enthusiastically recommend it to people with gaming tastes similar to my own, but that isn’t everyone by a long way.