Here is what I have so far:
Of course, some things, like an opening cinematic, would be very difficult, and I suppose unnecessary, but that's a vague idea for the first half. I'd like to try and do a Titanic Lance type battle in Stage 5, if it's possible, and the time boss would probably be in Stage 6. Any input is greatly appreciated.Boss Mechanics
Bosses have a life bar. If you get the life bar down to the last 10 percent or so, it will turn red, and the boss' attack patterns will increase. When you keep it down for a certain amount of time, a timer will begin, after which the boss will self-destruct with its most powerful attack. The percentage distribution, for example, on the first boss:
Main Body: 50%
Six gun turrets: 5% each
Two spread turrets: 5% each
Two missile bays: 5% each
Self-Destruction Timer: 10-50% (depending on time remaining)
Therefore, you can get up to 1.5 times the regular points on this boss. This ratio goes up as the game progresses.
Main
1: Above ground
Starting within the hangar, there is a short cinematic as the ship warms up and rockets out of the door and out into the surrounding area. In the beginning of the stage there is an abrupt dropoff, showing large canyons below. As it progresses, the terrain flattens out, and you fly far over a big city next to the ocean. Toward the end, you fly back down and fight the boss over the foothills near to the cave. The entire stage scrolls very quickly, and most of the enemies are aerial ships, except for some sparse ground-based fire toward the end. It's basically a fast-moving and pretty easy intro to the game, a bit like Stage 1 of Ikaruga (though I guess 2D would be the better choice).
Stage Boss #1:
Swooping out of the cave entrance as you approach is this large, bird-like ship. Its main attacks come out of the wings, which shoot moderately fast, interweaving radial spreads, and several, individually destroyable turrets shooting aimed bullets. Midway through the battle, it begins shooting large missiles, one on each side, and if all the gun turrets and missile bays are destroyed, the center part of the ship starts shooting out rapid spread shots.
Stats:
Main Body: 50%
Six gun turrets: 5% each
Two spread turrets: 5% each
Two missile bays: 5% each
2: Entrance
As you enter the cave, it slowly fades to black, until the lights inside the cavern come up. This is the main underground human settlement, and a short way in, there is a small town, all artificially lit. There is some agriculture as well (don't know exactly what crops they would raise underground...maybe a fungus or something). As you fly through the town, you see many buildings being destroyed by the enemy ships and mechs, which fire at you as you fly past. You get out of the town, and are faced by many more of these. Soon after, the ground drops off slightly (vertical parallax, please), and you see the transport ship that brought the smaller ships and mechs up. It is absolutely monstrous and tank-like, and just happens to be the boss of the stage.
Stage Boss #2:
This one backs up slowly as you fight it, all the while deploying smaller enemies at you, which shoot in your direction. In addition, there are turrets in the front that shoot straight ahead at intervals, along with a rotating cannon on one end and an aimed turret shooting spreads of three bullets at you. When the SDT is activated, the front end comes off completely, and the engine is exposed, sending further shots at you (how, I don't know. ASK PSIKYO, for cryin' out loud.) Oh, and I thought it would be cool if you saw a crushed farmhouse that the tank completely crushed as it rolled over it or something.
Stats:
Main body: 45%
5 frontal turrets: 20%
Rotating cannon: 10%
Spread turret: 10%
Ship bay: 5%
Tank bay: 5%
Mech bay: 5%
3: Mining Colony
As the dust clears from the last battle, there is a moment of quiet, after which ships start coming in from behind you and shooting aimed shots once they pass you. The scrolling in this stage is mostly pretty fast, and gives the feeling of a chase between you and the enemy ships. As such, most of the targets in the stage are air-based. A ways into the level, you head into the colony, where you race through some narrow-ish passages while fighting ships that come in front of you and shoot patterns backward (somewhat like the first 2B boss in Radiant Silvergun...I miss fighting that boss)
As you break away from the colony, you fly over a large airfield for transport ships. You can destroy some of the stationery ships, and there are some ground targets there (probably tanks or something like that). As you reach the end of the runway, you see the boss ship take off just in front of you. It's sort of Black Heart-esque (stealth bomber-derived), but...isn't that stealthy. This is because it has a lot of guns attached to it.
Stage Boss #3:
The plane flies in front of you and shoots streams of bullets out of the numerous turrets all along the wings. As more of these are destroyed, the pattern gets thicker, splitting off into two bullets, then four, and maybe more. This is alternating with a large projectile shot coming from the middle and exploding midway down the screen (to use another RSG example, this pattern is kinda like the mini boss from 2E). When cannons are destroyed or enough time has elapsed, missiles are deployed on both sides. They are aimed (homing?), but move fairly slowly. There may also be aimed turrets on the body of the plane shooting regularly. When the SDT is activated, it shoots out two or three of the projectile shots to different parts of the screen, which explode more slowly.
Stats:
Main Body: 40%
4 aimed needle turrets: 12%
4 aimed turrets: 12%
2 missile bays: 18%
2 projectile cannons: 18%
4: Subterranean Ocean
5: Giant Battleship
6: Underground City
7: Base
Thanks for reading,
-Tom
