shmups.system11.org

I'm Krystian. I make Game Development tutorials on the Internet
https://www.youtube.com/lazydevs

I'm working on a #shmup / #stg beginner tutorial for #pico8. I wonder what kind of Shmup to make. I made 10 mockups and I wanted to collect feedback before deciding which one to work on. Which one do you like most?




More details about the different designs and the link to the poll here
➡ https://imgur.com/a/f3MyEFw

The screenshots look all fairly similar (and apparently all good) with sparse bullet patterns, a forward-only weapon, medium intensity dodging and a moderately crowded amount of enemies. So, in order to make an interesting tutorial, take care to include interesting features:

• colorful sprites (unlike 01 and 10). Maybe a somewhat higher resolution would be more suitable,
• tiled backgrounds (07 and 08 have the most complex ones)
• complex lasers with repeated sections (06) and decorations at the base and head (02, 03, 04, also 09 but it looks too simple); all Dodonpachi games contain magnificently phallic examples
• if not considered too complex, bending lasers (Raiden, Gunhed...)
• dumbfire projectiles (if at all possible, not only forward)
• aimed projectiles
• self-guiding projectiles
• collectible items
• varied scrolling rates and directions, and more generally camera movements (including zooming)
• complex and controlled enemy formations (both spawning and movement)

Make a plain, mainstream game instead of pursuing fancy mechanics: a tutorial should be concerned with common and/or basic techniques that are going to be almost always relevant, not with extreme and specialized ones.

Good luck!

I should clarify that bullet patterns and density aren't indicative of the final product. I'm really just trying to pin down the broad look, setting and legibility. Every mockup just has a popcorn enemy, a pickup, a bigger enemy and a few bullets.

I'm using the Pico-8 Fantasy Console (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXveyqOYB5w) so I'm married to this specific resolution and color selection. Pico-8 is fairly constrained. Not too dissimilar to something like the Game Gear. So the overall design I'm following is the recent Aleste 3. I think I can pull off more bullets and more elaborate special effects but I need to test that in prototypes.