Yuck!

I enjoy vertical (and horizontal) shooters, but that doesn't look fun to me at all.

There's a point at which you're no longer dodging bullets, but instead trying to find your way through a maze of blue blobs. Shooting the enemy isn't your goal, it's just something that happens while you try not to die.
 

Whoa! That's too hardcore insane for me. I could never get into these "Bullet Hell" type shooters. I guess that's why I'm making more of a "casual shooter".
 

Yeah, I am horrible at "target fixation" in most shooters, myself --- I concentrate more on what I'm trying to hit than avoiding being hit. And that is why I'm not much good at them.

Maybe playing a game like this would force me out of that habit.

But I look at this and think, "Okay, the hardcore shoot-em-up (shmup) audience is NOT my target market." This game is not only in a totally different league, it's like a completely different sport.

And the next question I think is: Aside from increasing the bullet speed, how would you INCREASE this game's difficulty level beyond this? Or is this the ultimate? You can't increase the player's collideable area, as the bullet pattern only leaves tiny zones of empty space after a while.

All I can think of is increasing the player's task-loading. Dodging a million bullets isn't enough. Well, and shooting :) But any additional task-loading or factor the player has to consider would detract from the purity of the shoot-em-up genre.

Suddenly I feel the urge to retreat to the relative safety of Galaga...
 

My general technique for shmups is to watch an inch in front of my ship (rather than what I'm shooting at).

That way, it's easy to dodge bullets, and if you mash the fire button you'll still hit what you're aiming at (provided you're moving a lot, which you should be).

One thing I find disturbing about many shooters is when the enemy 'blends into' the background. Apocalypse Cow could have a glow effect around enemies to make them pop out of the background easier.
 

A friend who's re-creating one of his TRS-80 titles for modern systems recently asked me about the state of shooters in the late '00s. In the interest of science, I'll just cut-and-paste a few of the links I sent over (mostly vids):

Aesthetics - good-looking shooters:
Homura
Ikaruga
Ether Vapor

Notable, if not cutting-edge:
Ibara
R-Type Final
Raiden III
Radio Alergy

Innovative:
Kenta Cho's Stuff
Warning Forever
Every Extend

Some Shareware:
Jets 'N Guns
Air Strike II
Bullet Candy

The ones from Kenta Cho, et al. seem most interesting.
 

My eyes!! What's wrong with my eyes?!?

Oh. Those are tears trying to form.

I never played shooters enough to be considered good at them, so I always look bad when playing, but what the heck was that? When did regular shooters become "casual" in nature?
 

Wow - thanks for the links, Ichiro. Ether Vapor Trail looks a lot like Panzer Dragoon (the multi-lock missile launch thing is probably what makes me think of it).

The ones I've enjoyed the most recently have been Air Strike II and Chicken Invaders III (another "Casual Shooter", I guess).
 

My problem with a lot of these shoot -em ups is the disconnect between your ship model avatar and the hit box that is actually you used for collision detection.

Being able to win the game seems to depend quite a large part on learning the tolerance's of the collision detection.

My rule has always been if it looks like object A hit object B then they bloody well should register the fact.
 

Mushihimesama futari roughly translates as "two bug princesses".

-j
 

Two Bug Princesses?

Man, the Japanese and their game names... :)
 

The next level of challenge?

See Ikaruga(Gamecube release).

It works in subtly different ways.
- Step one is you assign polarity to the bullets(black and white). Your ship also gets a polarity, where it absorbs bullets that match. So now in addition to trying to sneak through the hail of bullets, you also have to keep the timing down on when to flip polarity. A related thing is there is a 'dot eater' bonus. You get this for going through the entire level without ever firing.

- Step two(that I see) is surrounding the player. Increase the number of sources that spray bullets. If they are coming from more than one direction, that is even more to process.

- Step three- reduce the effectiveness of the bomb. In most shooters, dropping a bomb will make you invincible temporarily(all bullets on the screen disapear). So you can use that as an additional way to save yourself. Ikaruga just fires off all of the bullets you've absorbed.

Treasure(console publisher) tends to add some unusual elements to their games(Bangaioh- you super attack is more powerful the more in danger you are. So if you wait until just before a cloud of missles would hit you, it is that much more effective).