Super Gemini Bird
Untitled shmup is a perma-death, procedurally generated horizontal shmup, in the vein of Gradius and R-Type. I have been working on this project for about a month and this is my first non drag-and-drop game. The challenges have been many and I plan on keeping track of the development of this project on this thread.
I plan to be as transparent and as open as possible during the development of this project, so if you have any questions, advice or ideas, let me know! I am currently streaming the development as I go on livecoding.tv/alvalol or twitch.tv/alvaro_as so make sure to follow me there so you can catch a livestream during the week.
This is my first shmup, so I want to hear from you guys : fellow developers and players of the genre. I want to get advice and good practices tips so I can make this game as good as I'm able to
About
With Untitled shmup (wish I had a better title), I am trying to create a unique arcade experience every playthrough. The procedural aspects of it are not meant to create the depth that a traditional roguelike has, but instead, to test the player on his pure skill and understanding of the mechanics of the game. This is meant to be a pick-up and play sort of game, which is what I love about most shmups I play.
One core dynamic that I'm trying to implement in the game is the idea of using the scrolling screen as a gameplay mechanic. Just like the hunger clock in a traditional rogue-like, the scrolling screen limits the agency of the players. If it collides with it, it will damage it, and the scrolling speed increases depending on the player's current HP. Another core idea is that the hazards that affect or limit the player, should also affect enemies. So, the player can either dodge or use hazards (lasers, blocks, etc) to his advantage, making for different gameplay styles.
There are currently 10 different enemies (from turrets to sine-wave enemies), as well as 5 different upgrades (from range to HP up), but I'm currently planning a lot more.
Level generation
The level generation is inspired by an article I read about Derek Yu's Spelunky. Basically I am using templates for "level chunks" which I am then putting together based on some rules (which I still have to work on, a lot) to generate the whole level. The chunks in themselves have some randomness when it comes to choosing what entities will be placed in the map. And the entities themselves do some checks to adjust their placements and other propreties. This is my first time doing any sort of dynamic level generation so I still have to iterate a lot, but I am confident that I will find a way to generate interesting and engaging levels as I keep working on the project.
Targets
Windows, Linux, Mac. There is a possiblity that I might make the game playable on iOS and Android if the controls end up being as simple as they are right now. I am not limiting the design in order to adapt it to these devices, so this may not happen.
Tools
I am using Haxeflixel and Haxe to develop this project, Pyxel Edit for graphics (which are all placeholder as of now) and might be using Bosca Ceoli for music, unless I discover something I'm better at.
looks great 
