What do you want to see in a modern WW2 military shup?

[BeruBeru]

Also an extremely Nazi humanized war machines for bosses would be sweet, something like Blitztank from Akatsukiblitzkampf

[Randorama]

Well, if you can take inspiration from Under Defeat and Giga Wing 2 design-wise, you're safe. I also suggest a simple scoring system based on speed and accuracy of destruction. If there be Nazi, then I demand Martin Bormann as a secret final boss.

[Illyrian]

Don't just make all the bullets go super fast, it's boring as hell after a while.

Strike a middle ground between complexity and speed. Big, psuedo steampunky battleships, aircraft carriers etc. At last one flying fortress boss, for bonus points when you blow off one of it's turrets the person who was firing that turret parachutes out firing a machine gun at you for a second or two, kinda like suicide bullets or something. Like, destroy the turrets for more points but deal with an increased barrage for a second or two.

No swastika shaped bullet patterns. Seriously. It means you can never show the game to friends unless they are already into the genre and get it.

No swastikas in general in fact.

Performance based TFB, some kind of experimental giant mech or something, although giant mechs have been overdone by now I guess.

A good, not too tinny, not too bassy bullet firing sound.

[320x240]

even though it's kinda far from the concept, I would kill for a vertical shooter like the original progear concept

I like the style of Progear. Are there more information about this earlier version somewhere?

[320x240]

Some nice suggestions here!
And yes to plenty of turrets and giant tanks!

[BeruBeru]

There is no information about it unfortunately.

[mesh control]

How does Progear = WWII?
I am confused.

[BeruBeru]

Like I said, it's not exactly the theme he was talking about, but progear imo is some sort of steampunk version of ww2

[Casper<3]

several things attract me to a shmup, i would like to see these in your game.

1.HUGE explosions. Pretty much the bigger the better.

I would even like to even see huge explosions for normal enemies, not jus little pops they're gone. ...big booms but nothing you have to stop and wait for it to explode, just explodes in the background while you shoot other stuff.

2.INSANE FIRE POWER.

The bigger, the more powerful, the better. Nothing sucks in a shmup more than being stuck with a crappy p-shooter.

I don't know how close to WW2 you want to keep it but I totally love mecha worlds. It's why I'm such a DDP fan.

[Despatche]

psikyo-like game, maybe a revival of strikers. bring back the "fourth power-up is limited", but turn it into a hyper-like feature. combined with the general rank increase, it would have been the precursor to hypers... no idea why nakamura never bothered with that when he had it.

also, capcom and/or cave needs to do a true new 1940s game, like 19XX or 1944.

[Obiwanshinobi]

As far as I know, the rank in Psikyo (and Sonic Wings) games is about speed of bullet swarms rather than their density. Spicing it up speedwise would be risky to say the least. Increasing the density would be hardly doable without shrinking the hitbox, which is not what I want from my shmups. What I liked about Sengoku Ace was the sense of bulshitless fairness it gave me after Gradius V.
Dragon Blaze, despite smaller hitbox, still gives me that after shmups like Vasara and Homura, because in Dragon Blaze your point-blanking attack DOES NOT MAKE THE BULLETS DISAPPEAR. I mean, really, play Dragon Blaze right after Vasara and it'll school you alright.

Like I said, it's not exactly the theme he was talking about, but progear imo is some sort of steampunk version of ww2

Um, does a zeppelin scream "WW2" to you?
Speaking of which, should you go the WW1 route, don't forget about

[Rob]

but turn it into a hyper-like feature.

Charge attacks > hypers.

[RNGmaster]

but turn it into a hyper-like feature.

Charge attacks > hypers.

Yeah, hypers are just a powerful version of the main shot. Charge attacks have that certain cool factor to them.

Actually, just make a remake of Strikers '45 II with Raiden Fighters weapons.

[Illyrian]

Button C is autofire.

[320x240]

but turn it into a hyper-like feature.

Charge attacks > hypers.

Yeah, hypers are just a powerful version of the main shot. Charge attacks have that certain cool factor to them.

Agreed about the charge attacks.

This is what we have decided on so far:

Vertical orientation
WW2-themed
Set in the north of Norway.
One of the protagonists is flying a Spitfire. (There is a story behind this)
The larger enemies are largely ground-based. Tanks, cannons, trains, boats etc.
Larger enemies are made up of multiple parts and have multiple turrets on them.
Enemy bullets are fast, so less emphasis on intricate patterns, but no lightning-fast sudden attacks.
Charge shot/attack

We have started work on a demo level.

[RNGmaster]

Set in the north of Norway.
The larger enemies are largely ground-based. Tanks, cannons, trains, boats etc.

Giant mecha reindeer.
DO IT.

[Despatche]

hypers are just a powerful version of the main shot

well, yeah.

i mean, now you've got the fourth powerup, so you're going to get more points (x2 normal enemies?) until it runs out ("hyper-like"). of course it'd also apply to the charge shot (especially if the options = charge thing was brought back too). it's the only thing that feature was good for and it never happened.

[emphatic]

Having planes either explode in mid air if you hit them straight on and crash and burn, taking out any ground enemy in their way should your weapon just graze them like in Flying Shark, please.

[Illyrian]

Enemy bullets are fast, so less emphasis on intricate patterns, but no lightning-fast sudden attacks.

Progear on high difficulty strikes this balance correctly, I hope you land somewhere around there with regards to this.

Remember, sending 5 bullets at an enemy at incredibly high speed so if you don't know exactly where they're gonna be you die is just a memory test, not a game.

With regards to what emphatic said, that would be awesome. A potentially awesome scoring mechanic, hitting enemies in such a way that they crash onto specific targets for extra points etc.

[320x240]

We are having a discussion about game orientation and resolutions. Right now it looks like we will go for the full vertizontal in 1280x720.
We plan to release the game for both Windows and Xbox 360 and this will make things easier. I want to make a decision now, early on, so that we can design the game around it.

From a gameplay point of view, I enjoy games like Giga Wing and 1944 very much. They are some of my favourite games.
I think Giga Wing solves the problem of limited vertical space better than 1944 though. 1944 feels solid and powerful in a very direct way, just like a military shump should, but perhaps it is a little bit too direct? Sometimes it feels like it was designed primarily as a two-player game.

Amongst other things, Giga Wings enemies and bullets travel more horizontally than 1944s and I think that is why it feels like it is better adapted to the vertizontal orientation.

Any thoughts on this?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Play Zanac Special Version (PSX) - arguably the most busy Compile shmup (moreso than Zanac Neo I would say). It does "vertizontal" thing right.
Also, play Invader (GBA) - it's a game with some fun features, marred to an extent by semi-widescreen aspect ratio (as I understand it, you aim for 16:9).
Since not many vertical scrollers fully utilise screens wider than 4:3, check out Iridion II for the GBA as well.
Last but not least, your game shouldn't be compromised on 4:3 displays. My CRT outputs 1280x1024 at 60 Hz. Borders would be the only acceptable compromise in my book. I don't know a single shmup where various picture proportions worked out well. Just make it bordered on 4:3 (or 16:10) if you favour 16:9.

[Snake]

Charge attacks > hypers.

Yes. It also seems to fit the "military shmup" theme more than hypers.


Aesthetically I'd suggest some nods to Soviet equipment, art, and so forth from WW2 or the post-war era Stalinist era. Nazi references are everywhere but the Soviet stuff gets ignored, which is tragic consider how cool some of it looks.

I'm a big fan of historical aircraft as ships (put an IL-2 in there), but with more fantastical enemies. Bosses that turn into mechs and shoot lasers are overdone, but still classic.

[Zeron]

Air Gallet had the Buran spaceshuttle as a boss. Strikers 1999 also has the Tu 160 Black Jack.

Akai Katana is overrun with actual ww2 designs barely any modifications done to them at all most of them are of Italian,Japanese,German and French origin though.

For you fellas that have gotten to play Akai Katana this aircraft should be familiar to you

This is the best plane ever.

Late reply but I know that this Blohm und Voss prototype appears in 19XX The War against destiny

[Sumez]

[mice]

...like we will go for the full vertizontal in 1280x720.

This would be totally awesome:
* Have the playfield 640x720, centered on the screen.
* The area to the left and right can be used by the player to fly into.
* No enemies appearing at the left and the right area will fire at you directly (only if you fly into the area).
* You have a bunch of mates acting in those areas, not fireing at "your" enemies.

Would feel like you're in the thick of things.

Just make it happen!

[RNGmaster]

...like we will go for the full vertizontal in 1280x720.

This would be totally awesome:
* Have the playfield 640x720, centered on the screen.
* The area to the left and right can be used by the player to fly into.
* No enemies appearing at the left and the right area will fire at you directly (only if you fly into the area).
* You have a bunch of mates acting in those areas, not fireing at "your" enemies.

Would feel like you're in the thick of things.

Just make it happen!

Sounds a lot like wobble mode. Not a good idea.

[mice]

Sounds a lot like wobble mode. Not a good idea.

There's no extra scrolling involved so there won't be any wobbling happening.

[emphatic]

Right now it looks like we will go for the full vertizontal in 1280x720.

...

Any thoughts on this?

Kiss my money goodbye. I'd rather see you make this a horizontal scrolling shooter and add a "rotate controls" option so I can play it in TATE.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'll say again: play Iridion II on GBA (or emulator). It's the second "tilted" vertical shmup I got the hang of (the original Zero gunner being first) AND it happens to have aspect ratio wider than 3:4. And yet it works for me, unlike Silpheed on Sega CD. I also found Iridion II more playable than Axelay when it scrolls vertically. You might discover that such viewpoint is the way to go around widescreen "vertizontal". You effectively gain some vertical space this way. Iridion II is also quite interesting graphically so you might find it inspiring in more ways than one. On the real thing or properly configured emulator it's a looker. What little I've seen of Fast Striker didn't look that good to me, and I don't recall Shin'en folks boasting about pushing the GBA to any limits.

[Jeneki]

...like we will go for the full vertizontal in 1280x720.

This would be totally awesome:
* Have the playfield 640x720, centered on the screen.
* The area to the left and right can be used by the player to fly into.
* No enemies appearing at the left and the right area will fire at you directly (only if you fly into the area).
* You have a bunch of mates acting in those areas, not fireing at "your" enemies.

Would feel like you're in the thick of things.

Just make it happen!

Strainia on XBLA is an interesting example of a non-widescreen playfield on a widescreen display. The sides of the screen are greyed slightly; while you can still see background stuff going on the sides, you can't actually interact with anything outside the playable area.