Bullet Carnival Engine Test

[StevenM]

So, I'm working on a SHMUP.



I've got a barebones work-of-concept up and running, and I'm planning on a more concrete demo with graphics, bosses, placeholder sound, etc by Christmas Eve.

Here's that work-of-concept file. It's basically three barebones boss fights asking the question, "What kind of offense can you use for a SHMUP if you restrict yourself from programming in conventional firearms?". You all know good games like Gradius, Dodonpachi, Battle Garegga, Jamestown, Ikaruga - each with their own different subweapons and systems of scoring but all still mainly relying on "shoot up/right, stupid" to tear down the opposition. I wanted to see if I could pull off something different and still make it fun and easy to learn within the game itself. So, featured in the demo are:

• Repel the Bullet, where you can only use the enemy's fire against them - bullets caught in the radius of your effect are projected away from you and your health bar is replaced with the boost gauge
• Punch the Bullet, where you have two giant robot claws to punch projectiles away or just smack enemies around directly and your health drains automatically, necessitating refills
• Be the Bullet, where you warp across the stage to tear down enemies, neatly bypassing obstacles such as walls, pits and bullets to pick up items for health

I'd like feedback on possible bugs, glitches, etc as well as the learning curve of each game mode - in other words, are you able to adapt to the chosen style of play given the sparse control notes and boss attacks. I'm not concerned about the placeholder graphics and sound for the time being, I just want to get the control down Ok before moving onto refining scoring systems.

[Udderdude]

I certianly like the attempt at trying something different and stuff.

I liked the second one the most. One suggestion I have is to make it so you can't have both "Fists" attacking at the same time. It makes it a bit too easy when you can hit both the left and right mouse buttons. Also, make the fists smaller.

[StevenM]

I certianly like the attempt at trying something different and stuff.

I liked the second one the most. One suggestion I have is to make it so you can't have both "Fists" attacking at the same time. It makes it a bit too easy when you can hit both the left and right mouse buttons. Also, make the fists smaller.

How quickly did you manage to beat the level? I'd designed the boss so that actually getting to damaging him when the shield falls down would be more cathartic, so spamming punches would be well in order - a bit like a fight from a JJBA comic. It sounds like I might need to add another pattern to the mix.

Also, what didn't you like about the other levels?

[Udderdude]

First one was pretty confusing and I didn't really get what I was doing. Third one was ok.

Another suggestion for the second one: Change it so you have to hold down the mouse button (charge) to release a more powerful punch. Punches held down for less than a second shouldn't send bullets flying, so that you're forced to dodge at least some of the time.

[StevenM]

First one was pretty confusing and I didn't really get what I was doing. Third one was ok.

Another suggestion for the second one: Change it so you have to hold down the mouse button (charge) to release a more powerful punch. Punches held down for less than a second shouldn't send bullets flying, so that you're forced to dodge at least some of the time.

Repel basically lets you charge and deflect enemy bullets away from yourself. The green circle is the base grazing radius, the black circle being the avatar stand-in, the white dot being the hitbox. Grazing builds up your boost gauge (black circle gives faster boost), getting hit depletes it. Charging boosts the repel multiplier, indicated by the number over your head. When you stop charging, any enemy bullets in your range (green circle) are blown outward and bounce around the screen, lethal to enemy targets. If your cursor was dragged onto empty space while the repel kicked in then the bullets just bounce around - if you highlighted an enemy object the cursor sticks and the bullets home in on it.

And just summarising the playing style makes me realise why it seems so confusing and convoluted. I was probably blind to that since I'd been debugging the game and replaying the boss over and over to make sure it works. In other words I'll have to streamline the style, or get really good at explaining it to the player without seeming patronising... but I'll probably just streamline it instead.

((EDIT: I believe the first two steps should be to disable manual targeting (to allow the missiles to home in on all on-screen targets) and to remove the radius graphic (having the player rely on measuring the distance between himself and the enemy's fire) as ironically enough it only further confuses the process of play. Either the boost obtained from grazing bullets will be fixed (invisible radius) or I could hazard an attempt at distance-based boost. It'll make the system a bit too similar to Bangai-O but I'm up for brainstorming on ideas/improvisations.))

((2EDIT: Bangai-O Spirits' EX Attack system allows to fire up to 100 missiles outward unprovoked. However a counterattack EX Attack, depending on the proximity of enemy fire, can allow for a maximum of 400 missiles, which is grander than it sounds as a payload of over 100 missiles is simply halved and resized. Other games have varying limits of missiles.))

The mouse charge suggestion's a good one, maybe it can be indicated by the punching claw flashing white after a short time like Megaman's charge shot. Also might factor into the player's health burn - the harder/faster they attack the quicker they lose health and need to replenish it.