Sunday, June 28, 2009

Shmup idea

Something I came up with recently. It's your standard vertical shmup with lots of bullets flying, big bosses, etc.

The special thing about this game is the customization. You can grab scrap metal from downed enemy ships to upgrade your ship in various ways. You could give yourself another gun, upgrade one of your current guns, fortify the hull, increase the ship's speed, whatever you want. Or, you could use the scrap to make an option a la Gradius. You also have different kinds of options, besides the usual extra gun. You can make an option that grabs scrap metal, an option that acts as a shield, or simply give an option a gun. The options themselves can be upgraded. For example, you could make a collector able to carry more stuff. You could also make it more durable, more maneuverable, etc.

What I'm trying to do with this game is to make sure that the player always has an objective beyond "get to the end of the level". I want to make sure that the player can always get more powerful. I expect that when I start to actually make the game, I'll be spending a lot more time making more and more upgrade paths than I will designing the levels.

Edit: This game is now under development. I'm working with some of the other Kunin people on it. For now, it's called Obake, though that is subject to change as there's already a game with that name.

Anyway, we're still in the concept stage as of now. (12-04-2009) I hope this turns out good.