Th06/omake.txt/en

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○東方紅魔郷　～ the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil.

Afterword Shanghai Alice Correspondence vol. 1

Team Shanghai Alice Leader ZUN 2002/08/11

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～　Spoilers are present, so for people who haven't cleared the game, read at your own discretion. ～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～　　But it's just extra writing. Shooting games don't really have that many spoilers in the first place.

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======================================================= 0. Omake Afterword Table of Contents

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1. Omake Afterword 2. Extra Story 3. Character Snippets 4. Music Comments 5. Capturing and Hints

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======================================================= 1. Omake Afterword

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Nice to meet you, this is ZUN. For those who have already met me, then this isn't the first time we've met. This C62 Summer Comiket is my first time as a participant. I hope you enjoy the games I make from now on. In some sense, I suppose this would be considered my maiden game?

Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is a game made by a danmaku moe artist for those who are danmaku moe.

These days, the independent and commercial shmups have been slowly, but silently, evolving at a rate that was unthinkable only a few years ago.

However, to narrow the scope to only danmaku shmups, I'm feeling a bit dissatisfied with the direction that it's currently headed. The main issues are the rapid inflation of difficulty, games that have only a lot of bullets, effects that are fancy and beautiful, but are not easy on the eyes; and games with new systems that don't require dodging bullets. That is my opinion. Many of them are usually fun to play as games, but even though that might be fine as it is, in some instances it might give the impression that "Dodging bullets is not fun; of course there are going to be a lot of bullets in an shmup." If they don't try to find dodging bullets fun, why don't they try to reconsider why they would play a shmup if the enemies' shots were gone?

That's the reason why I'm calling this a Late 20th century style, 21st century shmup. One thing that I would like to clarify that I did not feel some nostalgia to the games of the late 90's and say: "Yup, shmups back in those days were the best." And decide to make a new game. (^^; If I were to say something like that, I wouldn't be making a new game, I'd be buying them. "Yup, not just with shmups, but with everything, I want to find the joy in trying new things."

The difficulty is downscaled a bit, but there's a greater number of bullets than usual. (sweat) "It's not simply OK to have a ton of them!" would be a phrase that I would like to hear from those who play it. (lol)

To those who think STGs need to have a unique system, fancy graphics, a sense of exhilaration, moe characters, or voices (Are there even those kinds of people(^^;?), there are commercial or other shmups that are better-made and this game would probably not be suited for you. (Hey)

Obviously, to those who decided to play, there's no need for reasons to enjoy the game. (^^; These things should only be considered to those who make (and especially to those who sell) the actual games.

Still, to those who feel like the characters are too small, the backgrounds are too monotonous, or a lack of variation in the small fry, this is not due to any particular insistence, but due to a simple lack of manpower. Please forgive me (sweat). Starting next time, I hope I am able to improve little by little as I become accustomed to it. (As if it's anyone else's business (^^;)

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―― Made With Love So it's All Right

By the way, how do you like the music? I intended to make it about three times as bright as usual, and since I haven't seen it in game music recently, I added some jazz fusion to it. I wanted to make it unusual and give it qualities of "This is what I think about when I think of game music!" yet I wanted to avoid the atmosphere that is so prevalent in game music a little bit.

...But it's more like I didn't make anything BUT those kinds of songs. (Even with as long as I've been composing...) If I were to sum up the melodies in a single word, I guess I'd say "old"? I don't think "nostalgic" quite has the same meaning, anyway. (^^;

This time, I personally think that the last boss and extra boss theme's were created to be representative of the game, and I quite like them both.

This has nothing to do with the game, but I also released a music CD at the same time as this game. It's filled with songs like the ones in this game, so if you even like this game's music a little bit, please give the music CD a listen. However, it's almost entirely high-tempo songs, so you might find yourself considering that the best way to throw away your life is to hang yourself.

I consider it a genre-free CD, so it isn't suited for people who get hung up on categorizing all music into genres. Certainly.

In any case, it makes me want to play a stringed instrument. Like an erhu. (That came out of nowhere!)

(Translator's note: Another leftover from Rin Satsuki?)

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―― Ev-en-so, are you going? Yes ->No<-

There haven't been any shmups released since DoDonPachi DaiOuJou, yeah? I've gotten to the second loop, but I've already given up on that. (^^; (I use A-type Leinyan.) I can't even 1cc Progear after 2-5 tries, so beating Daiohjou's second loop is going to be impossible by my estimate (Due to physical limitations).

But making a danmaku shmup after so long was just as fun as ever.

Actually, when I released Mystic Square I thought "Danmaku shmups have already just about reached their peak." I suppose I was somewhat mistaken. Among the countless number of games, there are two large divisions. One group is games made to be widely accepted, and the other is made for a small fraction to greatly enjoy. For business (so they can put food on the table), the former is absolutely necessary. Of course, danmaku shmups fall into the latter. Enthusiasts choose them for the sake of the genre alone.

I think that almost everyone considers shmups to be an outdated genre based on the fact that they are rarely released anymore, and it's likely that not too many more shmups will be. If you or the people around you say that they're not fun in magazines or on the internet (or in your own thoughts), then it may very well be that many more people who also think shmups are outdated.

The fact is that they are old-fashioned. However, I think that its old-fashioned quality is part of its artistic essence. While kabuki was once pop culture, it is now considered fine arts in the present world. During the brief wine boom, some people may have become true wine connoisseurs. And like how the techniques used in Blazing Star showed up later in other horizontal shmups... When people who just think that shmups are outdated no longer exist among those who play games, when there are only true danmaku connoisseurs, I think that might be the best era for those who are truly seeking to make genuine danmaku.

Shmups only wanted to be a single game since its inception. For that reason, it might just be a little bad karma. (lol)

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Getting back to the main topic...

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―― As a beginner, I apologize

Changing the subject, this was the first time I've made a Windows program of such a large scale. I've hardly done any programming in Windows, so the code might be rather clumsy. m(_ _)m However, in truth, working in an environment with things like API and Direct X is so much of a blessing. I barely had to touch anything low-level (like with the hardware), and I made a program that runs on the surface.

Since this time I had to construct libraries and tools from scratch, I ran out of time for making a lot of things, but for now just about every part of the development environment is in order. That means that for the next game I plan on improving the quality (especially on the production side).

I received an archive from Mr. Punch from Amusement Makers. Thanks to him, I was able to save a lot of time into putting together the essential parts of the game, so I am grateful for that.

I think that from now on I have to make the compressed WAV files loop. In dealing with making the WAV and the MIDI files loop indefinitely, I found that the MIDI playback routine in particular had a lot of bugs. Sorry for the inconvenience. m(_ _)m

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―― As for the next time

What should I do? Actually, I do have the resources I need to make the second Touhou Project game in the future. However, I would personally like to see if I could make a completely different game. I have made a plan for a new series (although it's no different from Touhou (sweats) ). Well, for now I'll see if I can't make more Touhou Project games for a little while longer. (^^;

I think I'm certain it will probably be a shmup, but there is such a short amount of time between the summer and winter Comikets, so it'll be tough. No, I'm serious. And to make things worse, I won't be able to continue making it due to being busy at work. (sweat)

In any case, please continue your support if you like my games. m(_ _)m

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======================================================= 2. Extra Story

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The backstory of Extra Stage.

Touhou Koumakyou (Scarlet Devil Insanity) ~ Sister of Scarlet.

Good weather graces Gensokyo today. Peace was supposed to grace Gensokyo today. The young girl clad in black felt uneasy today for some reason, and therefore headed to the shrine.

Marisa: It's so hot, I'm gonna die here. Reimu: If you die, I'll feed your corpse to the birds. Remilia: My, it'd be fine if you'd let me take care of that. Marisa: That's a definite no.

For some reason the scarlet devil was there, yet it was the usual.

Marisa: Is it alright to leave your house so much? Remilia: I leave it to Sakuya, so it's fine. Reimu: Chances are it's not fine, so go home now.

At that moment, a frightening clap of thunder shocked the three.

Reimu: A shower, huh. Marisa: Unusual at this time. Remilia: But I can't walk in the rain.

After a few moments have passed, rain did not visit; it was clear enough that the sky was unnatural just by  looking outside. Fierce rain and snow hailed only a single deep area of Gensokyo.

Remilia: Oh? It seems the rain is only falling around me. Reimu: Looks that way, maybe you've been cursed? Marisa: She was cursed to begin with.

Remilia: This is troublesome, in this state I can't possibly return. Reimu: Or maybe they made it so you can't head home? Marisa: You've finally been kicked out.

Remilia: Rather than making a situation where I can't head home, it's more like...  Marisa: ...Making a situation where something can't get out? Reimu: You've been kicked out after all.

Remilia: Either way, I can't go back. What should I do about my meals? (Meals = Humans) Reimu: I might as well go check it out. Marisa: Sounds like fun.

And so, the two left the scarlet devil to take care of the shrine while they headed towards Remilia's mansion.

Remilia: Ah, that's it, I forgot about that. Patchouli is definitely trying to stop her from escaping (with rain).

The devil tilted her head and leaned her cheek against her right hand.

Remilia: This is troubling, neither I nor her can move in rain...

Rain will not allow even a single part of devils to walk.

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======================================================= 3. Character Snippets

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So without any advice, here are the character back stories.

○Eternal Shrine Maiden Hakurei Reimu

Ability: Able to fly, and to manipulate natural spirits.

The protagonist.

Chronologically this title is not too far from the previous title, thus her age stays the same as before.

Unintentionally, she is a shrine maiden. Or rather, she is a shrine maiden only because the Touhou series has become the "Shrine Maiden Shooting Game" series. It feels like the cart has been placed before the horse to me. This time, her outfit is not overly intricate like typical shrine maiden clothing, but has become quite simple and only remotely resembles that of a shrine maiden. Is she really a shrine maiden?

She's more like "You red & white girl!" in my opinion.

○The Strange Magician Marisa Kirisame

Ability: Manipulation of magic

This girl is also one of the protagonists.

These two (Marisa and Reimu) are the heroines of the Touhou series. Marisa has a very contrarian, uncooperative personality, and she really is a pretty bad person. Although she's human, she remains distant from other humans. It's questionable as to whether she really is human, but she is.

This time she's wearing something resembling an apron, so it's hard to tell if she's a magician or what.

○Youkai of the Dusk Rumia

Ability: Manipulation of darkness

Stage 1 boss. A youkai.

She is of no importance to the story, and isn't up to anything in particular in her life. The ribbon tied to her hair is actually a charm; she can't touch it even though there have been times when she wanted to take it off.

There is no evidence of her ability in the game, but in truth, places around her are always as dark as night.

Total of 3 card attacks.

○Ice Fairy of the Lake Cirno

Ability: Manipulation of cold

Stage 2 boss. A girl of snow.

Her intellect is not very developed. She's just a child. To Reimu and Marisa, she's nothing more than a plain idiot. She likes playing tricks and often toys with frogs. She freezes them instantly, then watches them revive as they thaw in the water. She tends to fail one out of every 3 attempts, however, and the poor amphibian shatters to pieces.

Total of 4 card attacks.

○Chinese Girl Hong Meiling

Ability: Manipulation of Ki

Stage 3 boss. A Chinese-looking youkai.

Her clothing is colorful and somewhat traditional. She is the gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and prevents intruders from beyond the lake from reaching the mansion. She is by no means a special character, but she is the first character that has something to do with the main story. Even if that something happens to be merely mentioning the Mistress.

Total of 7 card attacks.

○The Girl of Knowledge and Shadow Patchouli Knowledge

Ability: Manipulation of fire, water, wood, earth, metal, sun, and moon

The 4th stage boss. She is the friend of the young mistress and is a witch who has lived for 100 years. The "One-week Girl".

Her weak constitution makes her poor at physical combat, but she makes up for that with her sheer variety of magical attacks. Patchouli's ribbon is not a holy charm, but rather an accessory that boosts magic power.

Since she's a genuine witch, her magical power is terrifying. However, because of the asthma she was born with, she often cannot recite the spells. She also seems to have a vitamin A deficiency. Maybe her windowless library room is dusty. No, obviously, it's very dusty. But, since she spends all her time near books she considers them a part of herself, and cannot stand to be separated from them. This is how she has spent about 100 years.

Total of 21 card attacks.

○Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion Sakuya Izayoi

Ability: Manipulation of time

5th stage boss. Plays the role of a human maid about 10~20 years old.

That power of hers distances her from the human race. She has given up trying to relate to ordinary people. She does not care about honor or power; she thinks so long as it earns her dinner, being the Scarlet Devil Mansion's maid is fine.

She is the chief of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's maids and cleaning staff, and always takes advantage of her ability to stop time when working. (If she cleans when time is stopped, it won't raise dust.)

Due to the nature of the mistress of the house, it is arguable whether she serves the role of maid or babysitter, but in any case, she is in charge of most of the affairs of the household.

Total of 9 card attacks.

○Eternally Young Scarlet Moon Remilia Scarlet

Ability: Manipulation of Fate

The final boss. She's been the mistress for about 500 years.

She doesn't clarify this herself during the game, but she is a vampire. She blanketed Gensokyo with a magic mist in order to prevent sunlight from reaching her. Although she has been alive for 500 years, her personality is that of a selfish child.

She is a light eater. In other words, she can drink only a little blood at a time and must leave the rest behind, so the humans off of whom she feeds become a bit anemic, but usually stay alive. Due to that fact, she is never able to increase the number of her kind. She often spills more blood than she consumes. The spilt blood dyes her dress a deep scarlet, which is what gives rise to her title, the "Scarlet Devil".

She swears that she is a descendant of Tepes, but nobody is certain whether she is truly related to the Vlad "Dracula" Tepes. Well, let it be known that she is not.

Total of 10 card attacks.

○Sister of the Devil Flandre Scarlet

Ability: Destruction of anything and everything

The Extra Boss. Also the Mistress's younger sister.

She is a vampiric magical girl and has been the Scarlet Devil's younger sister for about 495 years. She's kind of nuts and isn't usually allowed out of the cellar, but she usually doesn't try to let herself out.

She really respects her older sister Remilia, but her raw destructive power far exceeds that of her sister's. Although she is usually docile, her insanity makes it difficult for others to understand her.

When vampires attack humans, they generally try to take their prey alive so that they can suck its blood afterward, but Flandre has always been fed with cooked dishes, so she doesn't know how to properly attack a human. Whenever she tries to attack a human, she can't control herself and blows them away without leaving a spot of blood.

Perhaps she can't tell that her daily meals are made from living humans Her meals look like such harmless foodstuffs as cake and tea, after all...

Total of 10 card attacks.

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======================================================= 4. Music Comments

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♪1. A Dream that is More Scarlet Than Red The song for the title screen. Normally, I would title it “Touhou Koumakyou” like the game, but since the melody sounded so lonely I didn’t. (^^;  This time “red” is the keyword. There are lots of reds put in.

♪2. A Soul as Red as an Oni's Lantern A soul that’s as red and round as a hōzuki floating in the darkness of dawn. It’s just a common ball of fire. A hōzuki is a seasonal flower and its meaning is “trickery”. Even though I say seasonal it’s going to be sold at the summer comiket so the season is summer. There could be people buying it  at the winter comiket too….

♪3. Apparitions Stalk the Night “Yoh-Ma-Ya-Kou” it sort of sounds like somebody from Bhutan Since the isn’t an image of dead heated fights yet, something that feels fresh. Is a devil that’s not a Yohma not strange?

♪4. Lunate Elf The elf that’s referred to here is not the one with the pointy ears but the fairy. There’s no meaning to this. Is a fairy that’s not a Yousei not strange?

♪5. Lovestruck Tomboy I wanted to make a stupid sounding song so I started by making the tile sound stupid. The sound of the words and the look of the characters are a bit stupid. Despite that, I mixed in an exotic piano melody to it and a personal "moe-moe".

♪6. Shanghai Teahouse ~ Chinese Tea I wanted Chinese sounding but it didn’t end up too Chinese. (Sweats) I haven’t drank black tea in a while. But black tea made of  blood is very sinful. Well, the tea that Remilia and such are drinking is really just human blood. Can I really call that tea?

♪7. Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 I wonder how Shanghai was back then ? Meiji 17th year is the year of the Sino-French war. Even with other places in other countries, there’s no city that suits the name of such a “Mato”. And “Mato” is not a short form of “Makai city – Shinjyuku”

♪8. Voile, the Magic Library I think it’s a legitimate idea to have libraries that specialized in grimoires. Its fantasy land all of a sudden. Well, I meant it to be fantasy from the start. Voile is just a proper noun and doesn’t have much of a meaning. Although it does have a meaning in French or something. (Laughs)

♪9. Locked girl ~ The Girl's Secret Room Locked girl, a locked-away girl. It has nothing to do with Key. She’s a unhealthy girl who loves the shade. By the way, there isn’t much meaning to killing people in locked rooms is there. I could probably do suicide in a locked room.

♪10. The Maid and the Pocket Watch of Blood It’s an easy title to understand. Easily understandable is a good thing. Rather than saying maids or Jochuu, I prefer saying Komadukai. Generally speaking, most people think of a young woman when they hear “a maid”. (What general is that?), but an actually useful maid would probably be around 30~40.

♪11. Lunar Clock ~ Luna Dial The clock that appears in the novel “Yomizu hirasaka Yamiyo kouro” by Fujiki Rin. I would like to know what kind of clock a lunar clock is. (^^;  The hard rock part is the lunar part.   There’s an instrument called a Theremin in that novel, but I found   out about a year or so ago what that was. (^^; Even if the house was rich, would a Theremin be something found in a house of the Meiji era?

♪12. The young descendant of Tepes Tepes meaning Vlad Tepes. He’s famous for being the model of Count Dracula. From what I hear, he impaled twenty thousand captives and stood them by the road….. Although Remilia isn’t his descendant.

♪13. Septette for the Dead Princess I tweaked a certain famous classic song’s title and made it the title. It has nothing to do with that song though. To top it off, the music isn’t even a septette, only the feeling. (Sweats) In the first place, nobody’s dead and who’s the princess?

♪14. The Centennial Festival For Magic Girls Something like a thanksgiving festival that’s done every hundred years. I wonder what’s for harvest. (Laughs)

♪15. U.N. Owen was Her? This is U.N. Owen (Una Nancy Owen). Only people who understand it understand please. The original is  quite old. (About 70 years ago?) The reason why the name is this, thinking in terms of why the name is written in roman letters, is because Flandre is an  unknown being. The ninth spell card is a parody of that.

♪16. An Eternity that is More Transient than Scarlet It’s a remix sort of thing of the tile so the name is similar. Although red doesn’t really feel transient. (^^;

♪17. Crimson Tower ~ Eastern Dream Now that I think of it, I used to title songs in a  Japanese ~ English format... Anyways, I tend to put “whatever Dream” to staff roll themes, so  once again.(^^;

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======================================================= 5. Capturing and Hints

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I thought I'd write hints on how to clear the game, but it's incredibly hard to beat this kind of game on written advice so I kind of skimped. (Laughs)

It might be better to read these one at a time.

-The requirements for a small enemy to drop power-ups (large). Most enemies have a set item to drop, but some of them are random. These enemies drop items in certain orders. If you defeat as many of them as possible before they escape, the cycle of items they drop moves faster and you’ll get big power-up items faster. But the order of things that an enemy drops is set at random between the range of 0~3 enemies worth.

-Parts where more enemies can appear. Generally, if you beat the mid bosses of stages other than stages 3, 6, and EX, there will be enemies to fill the spot.

-The grazing of lasers is once per every 12 frames, only about 5 times per second. Don’t rely on laser grazing too much and try grazing other bullets too.

-About death bombs. If you death bomb, the time it gives you to do so gets shorter every time. Once you die the time is reset. Even if you have good reflexes don’t trust it too much.

-About full power mode. Even if you can pull in items at full power mode, it doesn’t mean you’ll get the most points possible. If the items are close to you when you pull them in and they are collected by the bottom part of your character, you might not get the maximum value from them due to the location. It’s the same thing if you went down right after you started drawing them in.

-About star items If you get it during bombs the point for it is 100, but there are times when you get it after a bomb ends. In this case, you still get the point for it, so if you move away from the item at the end, you’ll get a bit more points.

-About points for hitting enemies There are points for hitting enemies. Even if you hit characters that are invincible, you'll still get some points.

-Dying on boss battles. If you power down from full power mode in boss battles, you’ll see power up items as you get further in the battle. If you wait for a bit so that the boss spits out more bullets, then get the items to reach full power, you’ll gain a bit more points. But if you didn’t die, the power ups will turn into point items so there’s not much of a point to die on purpose.

-Rumia’s normal attacks seem to be random, so they are random. But there is a certain rule, that the first attack is always the same and no two attacks repeat one another, so it shouldn’t deviate too much.

-About Patchouli’s spell cards. There are no random parameters involved in it. She will use different cards depending on the player, and weapon. As long as you use the same character, she’ll use the same cards.

-About the bats in Remilia’s 4th attack. On the 4th attack, she’ll spit out lots of bats, but these are just for show and affect nothing. They don’t even have hit boxes.

-In Remilia’s final form and Flandre’s spell cards Reimu’s bomb “Fantasy Seal” will circle around the player and won’t go away. This is not a bug, and at this time if you use a bomb the boss turns in to a bat and loses its hitbox. Since Fantasy Seal is a homing bomb it loses a place to go.

-About Patchouli’s “Royal Flare” The bullets are perfectly the same every time. Just memorize the pattern.

-About Patchouli’s “Philosopher’s Stone” You can’t destroy the books around her, so aim for Patchouli herself.

-About Flandre’s 9th attack. Only for this attack, if you don’t die and don’t use a bomb you can still get a spell card bonus even if you time up.

-About Flandre’s last attack. The difficulty will change with how much health she has remaining. Also, the attack will get crazier as the time runs out. Health is easier than time so try defeating her right off the bat.