Redpulse - A run 'n gun/bullet hell hybrid

Anything from run & guns to modern RPGs, what else do you play?
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boghog
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Re: Redpulse - A run 'n gun/bullet hell hybrid

Post by boghog »

kane wrote:
That's the thing with power down mechanics, it's no longer a problem for me because I am at a point where I can no miss most stages. I don't think it adds anything of value for dedicated players, it's not an added challenge nor a detriment.

It was frustrating when learning the game. You inevitably get blindsided by a new enemy and get hit, and suddenly you need to practice the rest of the section in a state you are not supposed to be in, inventing non-optimal throwaway routes and reinforcing bad habits. Resetting to the default gun has a big impact in particular. It feels backwards to me to have rules/mechanics that stump newcomers but have no effect on refined play.

Anyway, none of this is unique to Redpulse of course. I mostly wanted to pick your brains and see what your thought process was. In Kane's happy place all shooters do it like Crimzon Clover, guns blazing start to finish.
It's a fair point, I don't disagree and I doubt I'll include another power up system in future games, unless it's something interesting like Border Down's energy bar.

To be more exact about my reasoning, the idea was to have many different mechanics that funnel the player into playing full levels and hopefully going for a 1cc and scoring, because the initial assumption is that most players won't go beyond credit feeding without incentives. From that perspective, seeing the damage difference (which can sometimes make bosses quite trivial) and the extra utility from special attacks might encourage players to try out the game again but try to keep their power level and obliterate bosses that gave them trouble. I believe this playstyle is why classic checkpoint shmups tend to have more casual appeal. But my game didn't quite go far enough with the idea. It used to reset the weapon and special energy meter to nothing after 1 death but that made it too punishing when you're playing for 1cc/score, and special energy gain was more deeply connected to your multiplier. And as you say, it ends up making players who already go for a 1cc by default and want to practice for it suffer a bit. It was sort of pointless to try and appeal to the "casual" players with what's a very niche game to begin with.

If nothing else it's gives an easy idea for a challenge run.
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BareKnuckleRoo
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Re: Redpulse - A run 'n gun/bullet hell hybrid

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Playing this more has helped me appreciate the lack of diagonals on the red and blue weapons. On a lot of run 'n guns with diagonal shooting I'm used to, you either have the ability to stop moving when shooting diagonally or you have large or homing weapons meaning even shots where you're not lined up with the enemy can hit. Gunstar Heroes' Free Shot for instance has many non shooting moves to use if you can't line up a shot, and many of the best weapons have huge areas of effect even if you can't

The green weapon here is a major liability against bosses because the bosses are setup to use your ability to strafe while firing straight up, kinda like a high speed shmup where you're at the bottom of the screen. I can really see what Redpulse was going for with the no diagonals thing now.
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BulletMagnet
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Re: Redpulse - A run 'n gun/bullet hell hybrid

Post by BulletMagnet »

Haven't tried it myself, but noticed that a few days ago a "Mark II" version of this was uploaded.
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