erazorhead
2003.06.05, 06:09 PM
if anyone's hurting for inspiration about what kind of game they should make, then here's something you might want to consider.
i play a japanese game called "twinkle star sprites" and it is quite fantastic. i've never seen another game like it. the idea is this: it plays like a top-down shooter (mars rising, 1942). but the screen is split vertically, with your character on one side and player 2's character (human or computer) on the other. each character has a life bar (5 stars in this game) and starts with 2 screen-clearing bombs.
here's the twist. enemies come down in waves from the top of the screen in different patterns. killing one enemy (usually takes several shots) causes a small explosion. this explosion detonates nearby enemies that it touches. in this way, a player can destroy many enemies by killing the right one at just the right time. when the player does so, it racks up a "combo" equal to the number of enemies destroyed this way. combos send fireballs flying over to the opponent's side of the screen; more/larger/faster fireballs for bigger combos. fireballs do substantial damage to your opponent if they hit them.
but there's more depth than that. you can 'volley' opponent's fireball attacks back at them, either by shooting them x times or by setting off a combo that connects to them as they fly over. fireballs count as part of a combo and increase your combo count like regular enemies.
'killing' a fireball sends a flashing fireball back at your enemy. these tend to move a little faster (which means they're harder to 'kill'). however these can also be destroyed, as well as comboed. when you take out a flashing fireball, you perform a special attack.
each character has a different special attack, but they generally take the form of an indestructible enemy that moves across the opponent's screen in a set pattern. as you may figure, a combo that destroys a big group of flashing fireballs will send many special attacks over in very quick succession -- four largish indestructible enemies bouncing across your screen (in addition to normal enemies) is really something to contend with.
i think a similar game could also work with a totally different 'volley' (fireball / counterattack / special attack) system, but this one works really well.
games are played as 'best of 3 rounds' - but this could be user-selectable.
i think that's enough to make a really great game out of, but i'll go on and describe a little more of what makes this game so sweet.
each character has a regular 'shot' attack as well as a 'charge' attack. the charge attack is capable of killing many enemies at once - good for shooting down fireballs and sending them back at your enemy. however, since it kills lots of enemies, it is not as good at creating combos out of normal enemies -- only enemies killed by their neighbors' exploding count for combos.
one of my favorite parts of this game is the boss attack. a boss attack is triggered when you volley back a certain number of flashing fireballs -- it essentially sends one huge enemy over in lieu of a bunch of 'special attack' enemies. (this also helps to never create an 'impossible' situation where your screen is utterly covered by 'special attack' enemies.) the boss attack is similar to a boss enemy from a regular top-down shooter (but not quite as hard) -- very large, attacks in a few different ways, harder to kill than normal enemies. you can totally dispatch a boss attack by using both of your bombs, or take a little longer and shoot them down with your normal (and charge) attacks.
finally one little thing, normal enemies (not sent by your enemy) cannot kill you; they can take your life down to 1 star, but only enemy attacks can finish you off. when hit by a normal enemy when you're at 1 star, your character is 'dizzied' - can't move for a second or two - and you have to mash buttons to get un-dizzied. it also awards your enemy 1/2 a star.
that's pretty much it. if anyone wants to create this kind of game, i enthusiastically volunteer to help test it, help tweak balances and speeds and the little things like that (which can make or break this kind of game), help work on sprites, backgrounds, title screens, etc.
i think a really awesome game could come out of this general framework.
any specific thing could be changed without wrecking the fun and unique gameplay. in fact, a very different shooter/puzzle combination could come out of this idea and still be a fantastic game. it could be side-scrolling with the screen split horizontally, for example. or 'volleys' could go on indefinitely, becoming faster with each successive 'reversal'. characters could be anime-style robots, or spaceships, or cute animals or anything. same with enemies and environments. there could be all kinds of powerups and/or special abilities.
anyone seriously interested? anyone need clarification after my long and introverted explanation? let me know here.
EDIT: there's another explanation of this game over here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/neogeo/game/7452.html
(click on "FAQ")
which is probably clearer than my explanation. if anyone's interested.
i play a japanese game called "twinkle star sprites" and it is quite fantastic. i've never seen another game like it. the idea is this: it plays like a top-down shooter (mars rising, 1942). but the screen is split vertically, with your character on one side and player 2's character (human or computer) on the other. each character has a life bar (5 stars in this game) and starts with 2 screen-clearing bombs.
here's the twist. enemies come down in waves from the top of the screen in different patterns. killing one enemy (usually takes several shots) causes a small explosion. this explosion detonates nearby enemies that it touches. in this way, a player can destroy many enemies by killing the right one at just the right time. when the player does so, it racks up a "combo" equal to the number of enemies destroyed this way. combos send fireballs flying over to the opponent's side of the screen; more/larger/faster fireballs for bigger combos. fireballs do substantial damage to your opponent if they hit them.
but there's more depth than that. you can 'volley' opponent's fireball attacks back at them, either by shooting them x times or by setting off a combo that connects to them as they fly over. fireballs count as part of a combo and increase your combo count like regular enemies.
'killing' a fireball sends a flashing fireball back at your enemy. these tend to move a little faster (which means they're harder to 'kill'). however these can also be destroyed, as well as comboed. when you take out a flashing fireball, you perform a special attack.
each character has a different special attack, but they generally take the form of an indestructible enemy that moves across the opponent's screen in a set pattern. as you may figure, a combo that destroys a big group of flashing fireballs will send many special attacks over in very quick succession -- four largish indestructible enemies bouncing across your screen (in addition to normal enemies) is really something to contend with.
i think a similar game could also work with a totally different 'volley' (fireball / counterattack / special attack) system, but this one works really well.
games are played as 'best of 3 rounds' - but this could be user-selectable.
i think that's enough to make a really great game out of, but i'll go on and describe a little more of what makes this game so sweet.
each character has a regular 'shot' attack as well as a 'charge' attack. the charge attack is capable of killing many enemies at once - good for shooting down fireballs and sending them back at your enemy. however, since it kills lots of enemies, it is not as good at creating combos out of normal enemies -- only enemies killed by their neighbors' exploding count for combos.
one of my favorite parts of this game is the boss attack. a boss attack is triggered when you volley back a certain number of flashing fireballs -- it essentially sends one huge enemy over in lieu of a bunch of 'special attack' enemies. (this also helps to never create an 'impossible' situation where your screen is utterly covered by 'special attack' enemies.) the boss attack is similar to a boss enemy from a regular top-down shooter (but not quite as hard) -- very large, attacks in a few different ways, harder to kill than normal enemies. you can totally dispatch a boss attack by using both of your bombs, or take a little longer and shoot them down with your normal (and charge) attacks.
finally one little thing, normal enemies (not sent by your enemy) cannot kill you; they can take your life down to 1 star, but only enemy attacks can finish you off. when hit by a normal enemy when you're at 1 star, your character is 'dizzied' - can't move for a second or two - and you have to mash buttons to get un-dizzied. it also awards your enemy 1/2 a star.
that's pretty much it. if anyone wants to create this kind of game, i enthusiastically volunteer to help test it, help tweak balances and speeds and the little things like that (which can make or break this kind of game), help work on sprites, backgrounds, title screens, etc.
i think a really awesome game could come out of this general framework.
any specific thing could be changed without wrecking the fun and unique gameplay. in fact, a very different shooter/puzzle combination could come out of this idea and still be a fantastic game. it could be side-scrolling with the screen split horizontally, for example. or 'volleys' could go on indefinitely, becoming faster with each successive 'reversal'. characters could be anime-style robots, or spaceships, or cute animals or anything. same with enemies and environments. there could be all kinds of powerups and/or special abilities.
anyone seriously interested? anyone need clarification after my long and introverted explanation? let me know here.
EDIT: there's another explanation of this game over here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/neogeo/game/7452.html
(click on "FAQ")
which is probably clearer than my explanation. if anyone's interested.