Your input on special abilities [Project Cube 'Em Up]

[JustAGuyMakingAGame]

Hey folks,

I'm building a twin-stick vertical scrolling shmup and I'd like to hear your input and expertise on special abilities.

First off, a bit about the game at its current stage. The main inspiration for the gameplay is Jamestown, so it's more in a Western style compared to traditional Japanese STG's (i.e. not as bullet hell intensive). It's being built in Unity and it is my first go at making a game (as I got the time for it right now). Development and learning Unity has been going for a month or so now, so it's still in a heavy and early prototype stage. Movement is quick and sharp and controls are made for the Xbox 360 controller or mouse (aiming) and keyboard (movement). It's built for PC. Enemies drop pickups which serve to fill up your powerbar, which you can then empty with special abilities. The core is that you have two special abilities which you can use, one defensive and one offensive, which both have different stages of power and effectiveness depending on how much you filled up the powerbar. When you use it, the powerbar is emptied completely. And now the question is, what kind of special abilities do you think are the most awesome? What different stages would you think best suited for those abilities?

A simple example:
- Offensive:
Stage 1. Straight forward barrage of missiles
Stage 2. Barrage of homing missiles
Stage 3. Orbs floating around player which shoot homing missiles for a prolonged amount of time
- Defensive:
Stage 1. Short, small reflective shield
Stage 2. Medium reflective shield
Stage 3. All-destroying (also bullets) shockwave

Other things I have considered are the usual lazers and the likes, but I'm looking for some really juicy stuff (which is horribly vague I know haha). Later on I might do stuff like having different loadouts, but for now I'd like to focus on finding a single set of abilities which are just plain awesome. Things like the powerbar are of course also discussable! Currently I'm trying something out with a seperate powerbar for each ability for example.

I'd really love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Like I said it's still in heavy and early prototyping and I'm still figuring out the core mechanics (and Unity as well), but if there's an interest in getting a feel for it yourself I could whip up a build that you can check out :) Of course, it will most likely not have the special abilities worked out completely ;)

Thank you for your time and I hope we can get some cool ideas rolling around in here!

And of course the helpful contributors will be properly mentioned in the credits if the game ever reaches a distributable state :) (this game is not going to be sold though)

[ciox]

Hey there.
I'm not big on twin-stick shooters, more on traditional scrolling shooters, like most here probably, so I dunno how useful my ideas are for this game but here goes.

It's less about how awesome the abilities are than about how many opportunities you get to use them to their fullest, meaning how well the stages are designed around them.
To use your examples:
- Straight forward barrage -- good when very long and thin columns of enemies are coming, you can't destroy them all and get full points with just your normal shots
- Barrage of homing missiles -- good when enemies are spread out and would run away before you could get them all with your normal shots
- Floating pods -- the stage 3 ability, good when you don't need to use your stage 1 and 2 abilities because the enemy waves are less thick, you can use this occasion to get your pods up in preparation for what's coming

Not commenting on the defensive stuff because I think it's a bit boring to have too many defensive options, you could probably have just one good defensive option on the main powerbar along with the other skill-based offensive options.

If it helps just think in terms of making a 'best possible moment' for each ability, and making sure it turns up repeatedly in the game's stages.
You should also check out Chaos Field's abilities. (forcefields, lock-on used against bullets)

[JustAGuyMakingAGame]

Thanks for the reply and useful insight ciox!

I definitely agree. A strong coherence between available abilities and the level design is vital, as well as well as the coherence between the different stages of the abilities themselves. And your perspective is a good way to go at it. It's something I'll keep in mind going forward and what possible consequent posters can also can use.

Lots of it comes down to balancing the numbers and pacing, but that's something I'm not too overly concerned about yet. Need to get the good ideas on table first before the most cohesive and interesting ones are plucked out for further development :)

I'll defintely go and check out Chaos Fields.

I figured as much that most people here would be more into the traditional kind of scrolling shooters, but I couldn't pass up on consulting the lively community here!

[JustAGuyMakingAGame]

Alright, I did some more fiddling around and I'm now trying out a basic format of special abilities and attempt to make them interesting, both on their own merits and in the context they can be used in, like ciox suggested. So let me explain the current approach on things :) Mind this is just a first iteration, so things might suck ;p Hope you're willing to read this all the way through and let me know what you think!

Each ability has its own power bar, with each bar having slightly different mechanics. This makes it more easy to use and intuitive later on in regards to switching out different weapon sets (which I may do, don't know yet). The power bar is filled up by picking up pickups which are dropped by enemies when you kill them. Since its a twin-stick controlled game, this system of pickups appeals to the free range of mobility and forces the player to fully utilize this. The power bars each have stages. For example, 0 to 10 collected pickups is stage 1, 10 to 20 stage 2, 30-40 stage 3.

The first, offensive ability is a high risk and high reward ability: lazer beams. The first stage is a single beam, the second stage 3 beams, third 5, and final stage when the powerbar is fully filled is 7 beams. When you activate the lazer your rotation is locked (so you can't actively aim it by turning around) and your movement speed is slowed (the higher the stage the more the slow). The power bar is drained based on you holding down the fire lazer button. If you activate it in the second stage, the 3 lazers, you retain the 3 lazers all the way until the power bar is drained if you hold the button down continuously. So if you manage to find a good tactical spot and the power bar is at the ultimate stage you can theoretically maintain 7 beams until the power bar is completely drained. But due to the rotation of your ship is locked and your movement is slowed it's likely you have to release the fire button to actually survive (if you have learned the level well enough you can optimize when you want to fire the lazer to maximize its output). You can also "feed" the lazer by smartly maneuvering around and picking up pickups as you are firing it, but the speed of draining is too fast (and also faster depending on what stage you are; the higher the stage the faster the drain) to maintain it for extensive periods of time. In the image below the lazer is at the final stage and the fire button has been held down for as long as to drain the left power bar down into the beginning of stage 2 (stage 1 is filled). So if you were to release the fire button now, and press it again, you'd have a stage 2 lazer, 3 beams, until you release the button again or if the powerbar is completely drained. The damage of the lazer is over time as you hold your target in its beam(s). It goes through enemies and also through enemy shields. So large columns of enemies or large enemies (since you can hit them with multiple beams) are hurt the most. Also, the grey squares in the image are pickups and the amount in the picture is irrelevant ;p Finally, the normal shooting is disabled while firing the lazer.

The (mostly) defensive ability is a fixed duration shield which destroys bullets and can be detonated for a shockwave which damages enemies (and possibly destroys small enemies). It also detonates automatically after the fixed duration of the shield has ended. Stage 1 is 2 seconds of a small shield with a small shockwave, stage 2 is 4 seconds with medium shield and shockwave and the final stage is a full screen shockwave (with no active shield) which deals heavy damage to ships and also negates bullets. When the shield is activated the power bar is reset to empty. This ability can be used for defensive purposes, but it can also be used to position yourself in a good position to fire the lazer and it can also be used offensively with the shockwave. There are kamikaze enemies (which might be faster than you) so detonating the shield offers a source of protection from those, but detonating the shield of course removes the protection from bullets. Activation of the shield is a single button press and detonation is the same button pressed again. The image below illustrates the shockwave. There are no side effects of activating the shield like with the lazer. I'm still thinking about how balance this ability so it fits the spot of a low risk, low reward ability, for example by setting it up that enemies which are kiled by the shockwave drop no pickups or half the amount. So I'm open for suggestions! :)

A few more basic things about the game how it currently is to round this up. One hit and you're dead. You got 3 lives. The, currently basic, multiplier is increased by killing enemies and grabbing pickups and always drains over time (faster if the multiplier is higher). It multiplies kill points and pickup points. And it's in an early prototype stage as you probably can tell :)

Thanks a million if you managed to stick with me all the way through! So what do you think of the above combination of special abilities and their features? What might feel counter intuitive or just plain dreadful? And in what kind of scenarios might these abilities be rubbish or strong? Once again, thanks for your time!

[JustAGuyMakingAGame]

Also, henceforth the project shall be called Cube 'Em Up ;p