I’ve been working on a 2D top down shmup game for about a year and a half off and on. My goal was to create a totally unique bullet-hell game where you can point and shoot kinda like Panzer Dragoon, but still play similar to Eden’s Aegis or Bug Princess. Out of this imaginary idea (that no one has ever seemed to try), I put my programming skills to work and made it happen.
I originally started writing this for a random chick (girlfriend? Heh, no… let’s not get into that story) just for fun, but as I started making progress on it, the game started catching attention from lots of other random people. The critique I’ve been getting has been mostly positive and what not. I’ve had some people tell me that they’d buy a game like mine, and others were suggesting that I release it on Steam.
I plan to take them up on their critique and attempt to see if the game is actually worth buying in the eyes of gamers throughout the het. While I do appreciate such words, I have the feeling that I might not be getting the right criticism, except from one person who said “It looks good… as a working concept.” which is what I’d expect. So, I wanted to run this by some real PD fans and see what they think of it.
Below is the latest preview video I created to show my latest progress on the game. I still have some of my old videos too if anyone wants to see it.
Well, I have to say that I’m personally I’m not a fan of bullet-hell shooters. If I had to give one example of a 2D shooter I thought was really good it would be Rayforce/Layer Section:
The kind of shooter where you actually feel like you have a chance to avoid getting hit. The enemy waves and bosses are very well thought out and there’s a specific strategy you follow to take them out. I also really liked the lock-on system they used there where you could target enemies on the ground as well.
Looking at what you’ve got so far, the basic gameplay seems there and looks interesting enough. But currently the backgrounds feel empty and the dragon looks odd now as it’s not flapping its wings. A bit more animation there would certainly make the game look better. So I think it’s a matter of getting the right assets to improve the look of the game and give it its own identity. For a game like this I think it would make sense to create a working demo that features one level and a boss. If you really want to know if people would actually buy it and if you’re serious about finishing it if you had the funds, you could use that demo and start a Kickstarter project. If you don’t reach the target, then you at least have the answer to your question if people would really be willing to buy the game.
By the way, I assume you’re blueshogun who’s working on Cxbx and Xenoborg? If so, nice work on that
Wow, I totally dig the sensibility of it from those vids. If you go full on with a commercial build might I suggest a slight over-scan / horizontal scroll with a perspective tilt to the backgrounds when you move left or right? A simple cheesy way to add to the depth and sense of flying with a powerful creature…
I assume you’re running it m/kb at the moment, but it seems like it’d fit well with touch screens - and maybe even better twin-stick? Actually the closest thing that reminds me of is a very forgotten game (not without some justice) on the original XBOX called Nightcaster (iirc), which I always thought was a great concept and wished to see tried again with better inspiration and execution.
I think the potential for a massive cult classic is there, familiar yet unique.
[quote=“Draikin”]Well, I have to say that I’m personally I’m not a fan of bullet-hell shooters. If I had to give one example of a 2D shooter I thought was really good it would be Rayforce/Layer Section:
The kind of shooter where you actually feel like you have a chance to avoid getting hit. The enemy waves and bosses are very well thought out and there’s a specific strategy you follow to take them out. I also really liked the lock-on system they used there where you could target enemies on the ground as well.[/quote]
Never heard of this game. It looks interesting. I think I’ll go ahead and buy it sometime.
Well, before enhancing the detail of the game’s backgrounds and stuff, I want to work more on the gameplay, controls and the story line. I’m aware that the backgrounds aren’t very interesting atm. What I did was take a very basic tile for the ground, scroll it down the screen at a certain speed while randomly put trees, rocks and stuff on the ground scrolling at the same speed while enemies appear according to what frame number the user has reached. I need to create a new tool where I can manually insert enemies in different points of the game as well as strategically design the level instead of randomizing stuff. The tool I did create simply creates splines for pre-defined enemy movement (and even that tool could use some improvements, lol).
As for the dragon, I may end up using a totally different sprite altogether. At the very least, I want the dragon to “lean” from side to side when it moves.
I do plan on releasing a demo eventually. Boss battles have been added, but they don’t move around yet (they’re all stationary), which isn’t good. So the game still has quite a bit of polishing to do. Right now, my goal is to get it working properly.
Yup, that’s me. No matter what forum I go to, there’s always someone who asks if I’m the same blueshogun working on those Xbox emulators. Speaking of Cxbx and the forum’s main attraction, I think I broke the retail version of Panzer Dragoon ORTA somehow. The demo version still goes ingame for me (albeit super slow and buggy), and PD1 hangs when trying to go passed the menu. I have the feeling it’s only going to work on Vista…
[quote=“The Ancient”]Wow, I totally dig the sensibility of it from those vids. If you go full on with a commercial build might I suggest a slight over-scan / horizontal scroll with a perspective tilt to the backgrounds when you move left or right? A simple cheesy way to add to the depth and sense of flying with a powerful creature…
I assume you’re running it m/kb at the moment, but it seems like it’d fit well with touch screens - and maybe even better twin-stick? Actually the closest thing that reminds me of is a very forgotten game (not without some justice) on the original XBOX called Nightcaster (iirc), which I always thought was a great concept and wished to see tried again with better inspiration and execution.
I think the potential for a massive cult classic is there, familiar yet unique. [/quote]
Just as you said, I’m updating things bit by bit so things will eventually evolve into a better looking game! I’d also like to release the tools I used for design so users can create their own stages. I’m hoping that would extend the life and value of the game.
Oh, and I do remember Nightcaster. One of my first few Xbox games. I did enjoy this game, although I feel it could have been a little better in some ways, but this game did IMO help define a great early Xbox user experience like Azurik did.
