SHMUp Design(My Notes)

[dracmeister]

Make a SHMUp is one of the more common game I've been developing and this little forum thread is going to layout what my basic notes on making SMHUps, do take note that theses are my notes. You can make your SHMUp any other way you can.

I. Gathering all Graphics.
-One of the more basic elements to start making a game. You may not gather all graphics at the beginning, though you can gather what you need to make your engine work. Such graphics are markers, triggers, HUD, the Player's Ship, hitbox, Basic Backgrounds.

Markers, triggers and Hitboxes, would more or less be invisible in-game. The graphic is just there to give you a visual presentation of an object not seen by the player(though hitboxes could be an exception).

Hitboxes aren't necessary. As you CAN, set the collision detection on the ship itself. Furthermore, here's a bit of logic: If you set the collision detection on the ship and have a hitbox graphic to follow it, then the hitbox graphic mustn't have hit detection. If you set the collision detection on the hitbox and have the player's ship follow it, then player's ship mustn't have a collision detection.

II. Basic Needs
Here, you'll start making the SHMUp.

To start you can program/code the player first.
Then you build up more instances and objects afterwards like; player bullets, shields, bombs, HUD and other things to get you started.

Most basic start would be to see if your ship can move in all directions(or a few directions if that's your gimmick).

The next Need would be, in my style would be the environment.
Set the scenery, and all that ARTFUL backgrounds and maybe some tiled ones that you can use wittingly. Environment can also be hazards, such as walls, cliffs, basically the scenery trying to kill you.

You can once more set up collision detection for all of this. Though not all are necessarily there to kill you, such as triggers and markers to indicate the change of scenery.

Third Need. Enemies.
Of course, whats the point of making all those weapons for your ship without anything to shoot it at other than the INVINCIBLE/DESTRUCTIBLE SCENERY.

From you start making things that obstruct the player from his/her goal.
So these buggers come in and do the job well or just to show off a mook shower.

III. The World
The game must be an ever-evolving world for it to be much more interesting, this part emphasizes the HUD, STAGES, and Difficulty.

Heads Up Display.
You may or may not put a HUD for your game.
Though this basically tracks the player's stats; Life Counter, Bomb Counter, Missile Counter, Score, etc...

Its just good to know you're having 30 lives and Spamming Missiles 8D

You can make the HUD anyway you like, you just have to ensure that it doesn't obstruct the player's view or make annoying situations.

Stages
You may or may not have different stages. You may make a game that takes place in only one part of something or somewhere.
But I prefer a change in scenery for my games, such as scrolling Backgrounds and all that shizz... Triggers and Markers are a nice touch to this for full effect. Like when: You're leaving your planet's atmosphere then enemies begin to attack while doing so eventually your in space overlooking your planet. It's a nice effect, especially if you're working with 3d!

Difficulty
The game has to get hard at some point since stagnant difficulty is boring. You can have a global variable that changes things from here and there to make the game harder than its supposed to be. Like: Stage 1 drones, when met at another stage are more aggressive and will shoot more often. There will be a discussion of LOOPS later on.

IV. Boss Battles!
You may or may not have Boss Battles. But its really just fun to battle a HUGE or small enemy that serves as a blockade to proceed on the next stage. The Difficulty of Boss Battles isn't necessarily depended on Difficulty Level or Stage(you could if you want to). You can have gimmicks with the battles, such as making a Puzzle Boss, Battleship Raid or whatever you can come up with... There's just ONE THING you have to bring out to the player, it is a decent challenge and make the players know it is a higher enemy.

You can usually assign a different music for the battle to make the battle have a feeling around it.

Final Bosses are not necessarily the hardest battle(inb4gradius), They are the endgame enemies and should feel as if your final going to end the game.

V. Extra Bits
Loops - My SHMUps rely on a loop system, that changes the bullet thickness and rate of fire of enemy weapons. In my games the loop is a global variable, so I can use the system for anywhere. Like: There is an empty slot on the wall there in where you can avoid everything, on the second loop that empty slot will become filled so you would have to be forced on avoiding everything.

So not only difficulty of the game can be changed but also things around the game.

An example too would be from my first CFS game, in which that in Loop 2 the level layouts are drastically different from the first loop, coupled with much more lesser delayed shots from enemies(one enemy just shoots a stream in loop 2).

Extra Stage - While not present on the first CFS game, I'll implementing them on the rest of my games including non-SHMUp ones. This sort of thing is where you push the player further more to his/her limits. As a compliment of his currently earned skill of finishing the game. You can have this to be unlocked(which is more preferred) or just available right after the game.

And of course, it has its own SUPER HARD Boss too.

Unlockables - Going to be in for CFS 3. Not going to spoil everything though, but CFS 3 will have unlockables, these will remain discussed as I make the game. These Unlockables are revealed by finding "Cameos"(you can do it differently if you don't wanna use the Cameo system).

Cameos are spread out in the game, except the Extra Stage. Cameos can be revealed if you did something right or something the cameo needs you to do, although the cameos can't talk to you. Once you reveal the Cameo, there will be a mugshot picture of him or her on the area they're supposed to be found.