Who you are in a shmup - Does it matter?

[6es_clinton]

Dear Shmup Players and Developers,

Has a shmup ever made you care about its main playable character? Do you care about the character's place in the theme or story of the game? Do you care about how the main character informs the overall aesthetics?

Example: You're the pilot of an experimental fighter --> on-screen avatar is your standard futuristic jet fighter

The second part of my question is to gauge your interest in two possible character designs for a new shmup:

1.) You take the role of a villain and the ship you pilot takes on the appearance of an evil, nasty "Bad Guy" space craft. The theme is standard sci-fi.

2.) You take the role of a long-haired heroine who rides a hover bike. The theme is sci-fi or sci-fi/post-apocalyptic.

Without knowing anything more about the core game mechanics, which playable character sounds more appealing to you?

Thanks for your input

[laxa88]

I think a lot of players don't really care much about the character (or the plane) they're using -- unless the game makes it obvious. At least for me, even if the characters are described in the profile during a ship selection screen, I tend to not notice. Twinkle Star Sprites made it difficult for me to -not- notice though.

Hover bike sounds new! That's interesting enough to me. Not too blown away by the villain thing though.

[Herr Schatten]

I usually don't care about the characters. The only exceptions are the Parodius games and the aforementioned Twinkle Star Sprites. Those characters have plenty of personality. I don't think it would work inside a less goofy setting, though, and sometimes not even then.

[Rozyrg]

I don't think it's vital at all to the gameplay; but, done right, it's a good way to flesh out the game's world or inject some humor. It shouldn't be intrusive or halt gameplay, though, like so many insufferable 'pilot talks to X' sequences that put your shooting fun at a dead stop just to dribble out some half-baked story exposition.

- Gunbird did it's pilot/boss chats pretty well, though... and you could skip all the dialog if you had seen it already.
- Giga Wing had short story bits between stages that got the job done and didn't get in the way either. I don't think they were particularly interesting (or that they really made much sense); but it still worked to inject a little flavor.

Personally, I think it's best to build characterization into the game itself, whether it be through interesting character illustrations on menus or small touches like unique animations/sfx that add personality.

With villains, you can do this simply by having a very distinct aesthetic for them. I also think it's best to keep them as mysterious as possible (like the evil red alien jewel in Raiden.) The less questions come up in the player's mind about how they can have such ridiculous, massive (and wholly incompetent) armies, the better. >_>

[Lord Satori]

It'd be interesting to play as an uber powerful badguy instead of the generic hero facing an entire armada.

[Blackbird]

I care about the "character" in the sense that I like the games I play to look aesthetically pleasing. A cool looking character or ship increases the appeal of the game. I haven't found any shmup that had a deep enough narrative to make me care about the protagonist in the same way I would for, say, an RPG or visual novel.

The most compelling shmup stories allow you to visually infer the narrative through what's occurring in the stages. R-Type is an effective horror story because you fly through creepy levels where the walls are living flesh and terrifying aliens pop out of the walls at you.

[Lord Satori]

^I agree with that, the one exception being Tyrian. Amazing story of a guy being in the wrong place at the wrong time and learning something he shouldn't have by accident, and being hunted down by a mega corporation as a result.

[Xyga]

A Bydo blob-like creature seeking revenge for its kind.

[n0rtygames]

It's all down to feel for me.

If you weren't playing Bond in Ibara - the experience wouldn't be the same.

That dude IS full shmup.

[6es_clinton]

Thank you one and all for your thoughts on this issue. This kind of discussion is a big help to me as I zero in on a theme for my game. I don't want to focus on it too much of course but I also don't want to treat it as an afterthought.

I would have to agree with your comments about having the character and themes speak for themselves and find a way to express those ideas from the core elements of the game. From an indie perspective this is a great challenge since there's that constant struggle of wanting/needing to do less with more.

There isn't a lot of room in a shmup to cram in linear storytelling devices. One could argue that many other genres suffer this limitation but it is done time and time again to mixed results.

It seems like with shmups, when something is egregiously wrong with the playable character then that is when it becomes noticeable, and would then draw in the player's attention in a negative way.

It was interesting to get more feedback from a subsection of my social network. The player's ship or whatever is more of a reference point and the real star of the show for a lot of them are the whiz-bang pyrotechnics, enemy designs and level design.

[n0rtygames]

It seems like with shmups, when something is egregiously wrong with the playable character then that is when it becomes noticeable, and would then draw in the player's attention in a negative way.

Honestly, unless you're trying to get a bit of a cute 'em up vibe going ala Pink Sweets/Mushi etc then you can't go wrong just making your game full of ships and manly dudes.

It's also fine to have just ships!

I mean my current shmup project is full of cutesy characters, but then I'm going for a bouncy colourful cartoony vibe with lots of glorious sillyness. I could waffle on about the epic backstory which is about a world run by corporations that integrate neuro scans of humans in to cyborg bodies and put them to battle in to endless wars to demonstrate the superiority of their product and how female brains integrate better with the machinery. But that was just me musing over a coffee years back. Now it's just bright colours and light hearted cuteness and I think that's all people will see.

If I was going to do another vert after this one it would be full military garb, metallic looking bullets and war machines with camo paint with napalm bombs that set trees on fire and stuff. I really want to capture the super violent Ibara feeling some day. Just do whatever is fun for you at the time.

Just remember its all part of the package and presentation.. but be prepared for your players to hit the skip button and get down to the shooting

[Doctor Butler]

Hover bike sounds new! That's interesting enough to me. Not too blown away by the villain thing though.

Vasara had hover-bikes. In a 15th century setting.

Aesthetics are important, more important than narrative and character-development, but less important than gameplay.

[Stilghar]

Honestly, unless you're trying to get a bit of a cute 'em up vibe going ala Pink Sweets/Mushi etc then you can't go wrong just making your game full of ships and manly dudes.

We are planning to have a female protagonist in our game (Dimension Drive), I hope there's room for her in the shmup genre along all those manly dudes

[6es_clinton]

Thanks everyone!

To clarify I never intended to use cut scenes or other traditional story-telling methods in my shmup, however, from the near unanimous feedback warning me away from going this route I feel further validated.

Jamestown is a shooter I have played recently which has used cut scenes. It benefits from being a solid shooter with an interesting visual hook and setting first and that actually made me a little more willing to click through the preambles for each stage... for the first time only. Then they became a nuisance. And I would not recall any specifics about the plot if you asked me.

[Wyrmnus]

I think it's very important to me. A great main character can lead to many kinds of things in a game franchise's future. I, for one ( And you people will probably flame me or mock me for this.. ) would love to see an action/adventure spinoff based on the DonPachi franchise. Fans would finally be able to learn about the mysterious ace pilot from at least ONE of the Donpachi games.

[Lord Satori]

Meh, in my eyes, it only counts as a valid spin-off if it's made by the same people, else it's just a fan fiction. (unless the creators voice some sort of approval but I'm not aware of that happening anywhere ever)

Imo, its much better to go with your own material when you're making a game with a story. Also you wouldn't have to worry about replicating various gameplay aspects from the particular franchise.