Does anyone know of a shmup where the ship stays centered but the world twists?
Something like an arena shmup (yes they are filthy and we hate them etc etc) but the "2d camera" is fixed on the player so when he turns the entire world turns?
Think Thunderforce II but the camera follows the ship's turning and rotates the world?
Just an idea I'd like to try toying with it if hasn't been done and hated yet.
Last edited by Pixel_Outlaw on Sun Jun 05, 2016 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Some of the best shmups don't actually end in a vowel.
No, this game is not Space Invaders.
Check out Namco's Assault and Metal Hawk. Never played MH much (looks cool at least!) but Assault is friggin rad. All about negotiating tight environments while keeping your bearings.
Also Cameltry is really coming to mind for spinny funnins, despite being a total Non Shump.
I think time pilot just has some clouds that scroll in the direction the player is going. You don't see rotation as the player turns.
So the game is technically the same but the environment does not turn as you'd see in a top down view of it.
Some of the best shmups don't actually end in a vowel.
No, this game is not Space Invaders.
How about the top-down stages in Contra 3? There's also Nano Assault, which isn't entirely what you meant, but it still features an environment that turns as you move.
At least one camera in Spectre Supreme fits the bill (3D vector graphics, but 2D gameplay really). Maybe even both external cameras do it. I found it most playable in FPP view, mind.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
This sounds like a cool way to extend the screen real-estate beyond the actual screen.
I'd imagine it would be like Gyruss or Tempest, but with the camera fixed in the center of the tube, yeah?
Doctor Butler wrote:This sounds like a cool way to extend the screen real-estate beyond the actual screen.
I'd imagine it would be like Gyruss or Tempest, but with the camera fixed in the center of the tube, yeah?
Well I think if you did that you'd simply have the enemies and bullets rotating around the player in 3D. Not really the same concept.
Metal Hawk pretty much hits the nail on the head of what I was talking about.
I *really* like the height and bombing aspect if that.
Wonder what kind of key layout PC keyboardists would prefer.
You've got forward (up)
backward (down)
strafe (left, right)
and turn (? ?)
then raise ship/heli (?)
and lower ship/heli (?)
Some of the best shmups don't actually end in a vowel.
No, this game is not Space Invaders.
I'm pretty sure most PC gamers would prefer controlling the screen rotation with a mouse. Play Alien Swarm (UT2004 mod) and Shadowgrounds to sample fairly accomplished computer game engines where aim is tied to screen rotation (if you choose so).
Other game engines of note are Hostile Waters* (I believe your average PC gamer finds mouse & keyboard controls very intuitive in this one) and - surprise, surprise - Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (where I felt its Diablo-like, character-centric view was coupled with analogue screen rotation most "organically" to date).
Also, worth checking how Shadowgrounds (where 2nd player operates twin-stick controller) and BG:DA go around their shared screen 2 player.
*) Where you even get to control gunship, among other vehicles. As a matter of fact, there was a budget Strike-like PC shmup ~2005 which I suppose used mouse aim too, but neither do I recall its name, nor am I sure it was all that great.
That out of the way, if you insist on digital-only controls (so it can be played with keyboard alone, or just arcade stick), I urge you to play the PC game Ballance that's without shooting, but happens to have this kind of camera again and make excellent use of exclusively keyboard indeed. Gameplay videos may appear misguiding, as they don't necessarily show any view rotation at all.
P.S. Oh yes, Soldiers: Heroes of World War II is a Commandos-like, real-time tactics game, but you get to control infantrymen more like in action game there (m&k) and all of that engine was nothing if not sensational in its time. The game was infamous otherwise, but it's worth experiencing at least once.
The rear gate is closed down
The way out is cut off
Doctor Butler wrote:This sounds like a cool way to extend the screen real-estate beyond the actual screen.
I'd imagine it would be like Gyruss or Tempest, but with the camera fixed in the center of the tube, yeah?
If you recall Squaresoft's trippy & experimental PSX release by the name of "iS: internal section" circa 1999 with it's slick polygonal stylized look, it has that unmistakable Tempest-like gameplay (where the camera's fixed on the player during the various tunnel-like sequences & end-stage boss encounters from a 3rd-person type of viewpoint at best) but running in 480i format + 60fps overall presentation indeed.
It's been said that the first iteration of Atari's Tempest arcade coin-op release had the various tunnels/webs that'd rotate whilst the player's C-Shooter remained stationary -- many testers whom played that version said that it caused motion sickness (so that control scheme was axed and the current control scheme of moving the player's C-shooter character around the stationary tunnels/webs that don't move at all solved that particular pressing problem instantly).
