ForeverSublime wrote:fredrikpj wrote:
I read around a bit and saw things like not too long levels, interesting weapons and enemies, no inertia on player ship, not too messy graphics etc. Are there any more recommendations that I should keep in mind?
Certainly. Add interesting game mechanics. You can take any element (intertia, length, messy graphics, hit box size) and turn it into a feature if your game is designed around/in support of it.
fredrikpj wrote:
I'm hoping to get people to see that you actually can do a decent shooter in flash without killing your cpu.
All depends on your idea of a "decent" shooter. Just as someone can complain about intertia, someone can complain about the surplus of bullets on the screen being just as cliche. It's all in how you execute a concept.
Good points.
I've been playing around a lot with different shooters, while I love the adrenalin feel you get from a vertical shooter, I still prefer horizontal ones.
Things I found to be fun:
- Dropping bombs, I love this, since you need to precision strike targets where your ship will have problems flying.
- Hitpoints, I hate when you get shot once and you're dead. A simple three hitpoint system is what I prefer (this could be changed with difficulty setting, 1 hit for expert, 3 for normal, 5 for beginner etc.)
- Weapons intact, while I think you should loose a small amount of your weapons, I hate it when they remove everything when you die.
- Secondary mode, love this, such as secondary button to change configuration of how you're shooting. A simple thing like turning around to fire backwards for example.
- Variation, things that surprise you when you're playing. Columns that rise from the ground, rotating walls that you need to avoid etc.
- Objectives, adding small things like "collect at least xx items", or "destroy xx podships" and a big confirmation text when you've updated your objective, like "You've destroyed 1/2 podships!"
- Currency, like in blood money that you collect money to use in stores.
- Boss phases, superfun when you manage to destroy the head or wing or whatever that makes the boss change its tactics.
- Effects, I think this is superimportant, when I destroy something big, I want it to spout flames and explosions, and fireballs/smoke particles that goes in all directions, screen shaking and flashing when you destroy a boss. It makes such a difference in immersiveness I think
Here's something I didn't find:
- Alternate paths, like in outrun, going left or right, up or down to change what path you will take. Obviously will take more time to do, but might be cool to all of a sudden switch into a new path with a new boss. Good for repeat play.
I know my engine that I've shown is spouting out tons of bullets right now, when finished I actually won't use that many bullets, but I will use tons of fx particles, so that why I need my engine to handle a lot..
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