My shmup has a chance at winning this year's Unlock Xbox

[ManCannon]

So I'm a little bit nervous here as I was recommended this forum by a friend who's also a shmup fan like me, so this is my first post. What I'm about to show you is my idea for a Shmup, called The Artifact, a pitch that has earned me one of the Top 8 spots in this year's Unlock Xbox competition. What this means is that my shmup is one step closer to actually being made, and being available for all of you to download on Xbox Live Arcade for FREE!. Before I explain anything, I'll let my pitch do the talking:

http://unlockxbox.com/gameideas/gameIde ... ameId=1031

I would also encourage you to check out the judges reaction video because it's basically a large Q&A section where I clarify a lot of things and explain more about the game.

So here's the deal, at this stage in the competition the Top 8 are being narrowed down to a Top 3, solely decided by popular vote. If I can make Top 3, I have a 2 in 3 shot of my game getting made. Two games are put into production and everyone on XBLA gets to download and play them for free, then they vote on which they enjoyed more.

If any of you guys like my idea I would really appreciate it if you could throw me a vote or two. You do have to register, which I know can be a pain, but after you register you can vote once a day for 30 days on the site with a few clicks, and it would really help me out and in the process give the shmup genre more exposure. Also, every vote you cast enters you to win a 360, one 360 plus a copy of Halo ODST is given out every day. Also, for those of you who already have 360's, you can vote on Xbox Live by navigating to the Unlock Xbox advert on the Dashboard, selecting my game and vote, and then download "The Artifact gamer picture". Every download casts a vote for my game, so if you have a PC and Live you can vote and be entered to win a 360 twice a day.

There's also another shmup in the contest and I'd figure I'd give his some more exposure to:

http://unlockxbox.com/gameideas/gameIde ... gameId=287

His is a more traditional shmup, but very cool nonetheless, and he's a good guy so if you dig his idea more, don't hesitate to throw him votes over me. This is all about the game you guys want to play. I know The Artifact is kind of different, and it's focus may not be what some you guys are into, so maybe Skies Ablaze, with it's combining of powerups reminiscent of Gunstar Heroes and it's VS. mode that reminds me of Puzzle Fighter would be something you guys are more into.

Throughout this whole month I'm planning to draw a few more diagrams showing bosses and some of the game mechanics I couldn't describe in my three minute pitch, and if you guys are interested I'd love to post them up here to give you guys a better idea of what The Artifact is all about.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this and a special thanks to everyone who goes out of their way to vote in this thing. If you guys have any questions about my idea or the competition don't hesitate to ask.

[kengou]

The concept sounds pretty cool to me! Sounds like a lot of the same skills as a Double-Play would be required for this game. Would be neat if the missile you have to control could also be shot down by enemy fire, necessitating some dodging on the part of both your ship and your missile. For me, a lot of my enjoyment of the shmup genre doesn't come from shooting/blowing stuff up, but from dodging creative patterns of bullets or obstacles while also having to shoot down enemies. I think a strong dodging component combined with the challenge of guiding your shots around obstacles and enemies would make this game that much better!

I'd also like to know what sort of scoring system you're planning on implementing.

Also, consider a PC version in addition to the xbox one! I don't have an xbox and would still really enjoy playing this if it gets made!

[Udderdude]

Not a bad idea, or group of random ideas that might work if done properly (Protip: It probably won't be done properly).

Also this should be in development.

Also, lol Doritos. I bet if you win your game will be plastered with more product placement than actual game art. Hell, your ship might be a giant flying dorito.

[ManCannon]

Would be neat if the missile you have to control could also be shot down by enemy fire, necessitating some dodging on the part of both your ship and your missile.

Yeah man, I was definitely thinking of including that later on. I don't want to start with it as I feel it might be too much for a lot of players, but definitely the later enemies will have the ability to shoot down your fire .

Also, lol Doritos. I bet if you win your game will be plastered with more product placement than actual game art. Hell, your ship might be a giant flying dorito.

Nah, they've actually been really cool about. Basically what they said was "if Doritos fit in your game and you want to work it, that's great, if not don't feel like you have to shoehorn it in, it won't help your chances". So I chose to leave that stuff out as I feel my game stands quite well on it's own.

I did eat Doritos every morning while working on my pitch in my hotel room though, haha. I was skipping breakfast to keep working so my whole pitch was fueled by bags of Doritos :p.

Thanks for checking it out guys .

[Plasmo]

I don't like the idea that the whole game is centered around this one corefeature, namely the dual control. But I realize from watching the judges reaction, that this is probably exactly what they want, so I wish you good luck!

Also lol at the judges talking about the term "shmup" in the skies ablaze video. Hilarious!

[ManCannon]

I don't like the idea that the whole game is centered around this one corefeature, namely the dual control.

Well, that's not the only way you can attack. You do also have standard lasers, the controllable stuff is basically your "special weapons", or your powerups if you will. But rather than needing to get a powerup to use them, you get them forever once you defeat the boss guardian who's protecting that upgrade.

[MrMartinLee]

For what it's worth, I gave you a vote, and will continue for the rest of the month. Thanks for sharing and good luck!

[ManCannon]

For what it's worth, I gave you a vote, and will continue for the rest of the month. Thanks for sharing and good luck!

Thanks for the vote and the wish of luck! I'm going to need it!

[gray117]

I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling very uneasy about the setup as a whole... but for all my distaste at such a show; nice to see genuine people giving this a good go and doing a pretty good job.

I know we snigger at how some of the judges act but believe me the green light meetings in the real world can be even worse than this...

As mentioned, you and the game seem to be largely the kind of thing the judges are looking for. Just one word of caution do not get too attached to your ideas - they are pitches not plans. It is great to see someone thinking through their ideas to come up with a game's structure but be prepared to perhaps craft a whole game around a parred down version of that initial pitch - this isn't neccessarily compromising your vision or sacrificing control, but rather refining it. I think in one section they really went fishing to see how adept you'd be when it came to adapting/re-visiting your ideas.

Similarly, there's clearly a lot behind a game that extends beyond concept; its effective execution and feel almost inevitably result in [hopefully good] deviations from original plans, and they'll be issues that you'll not have forseen [don't pretend to forsee everything - simply show an ability to react and solve such issues IF they are within your sphere of influence].

Be wary of saying anything is an original idea; but stress how it maybe excuted/combined in a unique manner. In fact, it's usually a good idea with such exec meets to reference similar/known tropes and show how they could be combined and deployed in a unique manner.

oh and ... validate your being? ... I'm sure you didn't mean to sound so melodramatic Put your all into what you do, but have confidence enough in yourself; people should want to work with you, and look to you to help validate their own ideas... You may have a lot of ownership on pet projects/ideas etc, but your great utility and strength is in the process of consideration, discussion and judgement. You're valid, just prove how good you can be to work with

Good luck man!

[ForeverSublime]

Hey, man:

Great job. Great logo concept.

I really like how much thought you've put into this. . . keep going. . .

I don't think their intent was to pull the lasso laser - rather to test you - however, in the inevitable circumstances that some of your ideas get changed you could always push for it to be an unlockable weapon after you beat the game. Likewise, in the judge's scenario, if a test group doesn't like a specific weapon that may not mean to take it out, but give them a choice with what weapon they'd like to use - or modify the features of another weapon so it could do the same job (perhaps less elegantly, perhaps that's up to the player's ability. . . everyone has different weapons strengths).

I, for one, don't like traditional homing missiles in shmups because I think they often overpower all the other weapons. This is a great twist on the idea that I appreciate.