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[Stahlkaiser]

Since i had the idea of combining a melee attack and a hypermode option and use them in a shmup project i was wondering how i could possibly do it.

>> My question is: Are there any ideas on such a combintion?

I thought of using energy bars which decrease while your in hypermode and refill when you collect certain items.

i also thought of a time limit within hypermode or  simply "overdrive" which might destroy your ship.


do you have any other concepts?

BTW: according to the melee attack thing i thought of a sword which you use to fly into enemies and deal heavy damage to them.


I am not entirely sure about how i could explain my question precisely... simply give some ideas of hypermodes which feature melee attacks in a shmup !? o0

[Johann]

What is a "hypermode"?`

[Inanimate]

Hypermode is something where you fill up a bar, and then when its full you enter a special mode where you can use special attacks and deal loads of damage.

Some ideas for melee in a shooter:

It could warrant a change in strategies revolving around close combat, which is something usually quite risky, and could be focused around combos, so you can't just fly in and hit a quick slice. My suggestion is to have a transforming ship; it could transform into a fighter-mecha and be focused around huge combos.

[Droqen]

Short-range tractor beam plus enemy collision.

Don't know if it's feasible for you, but it'd be awesome. Grab nearby enemies and smash them into other enemy ships, or block attacks with them.

[alspal]

I think Gunbird 2 did this?

[SirNiko]

One of the Parodius games did this, with a powerup that made you grow large and become invincible. You just rammed foes until it wore off.

The different Gradius titles had different types of shields. Some protected the whole ship, but wore off after one or two hits. Others sat in front of the ship. They only protected you from forward threats, but they lasted longer. Nemesis (on the game boy) was well known because a fully-charged forward shield could be used to ram the final boss to death with a single hit.

Frantic (freeware flash game) had a charge gauge that filled when the player was in close proximity to enemy bullets and ships. Therefore, flying through a mass of bullets without getting hit was risky, but would reward you with a super-weapon.

If you want a melee-weapon suitable for a shmup, just make it so that enemy ships that are close to the player take gradual damage. Enough that the weapon is useful for taking out foes, but not so much that the foe dies before you could crash if you were just flying recklessly. That's just one idea, though.

-SirNiko

[siegarettes]

cant think of melee in any shmups....
RTYPE 3 had a hypermode where you charged up and it allowed you to fire bursts of charged shots, but you couldn't charge your shots for a couple seconds afterwards.

for melee, maybe you could make it a move where you lock on to the nearest enemy and then dash to them and hit them a couple times. Maybe something like Noitu Love 2 as well.

The Hypermode could be like RTYPE3, powerful but the tradeoff would be some kind of penalty. Or you could gain hypermode by comboing a bunch of enemies and filling a bar.

i think the big thing is to have situations/enemies that require you to mix up the shooting with melee.

Maybe some enemy has a shield you can rip off with melee and then you can shoot at its insides?

[nihilocrat]

White Butterfly, and probably Garden of Colored Lights have "melee", if by that you mean a very short-range sword weapon that twirls around.

Carpe Universum also has a "charge" move where you become covered in some sort of shield, accelerate quickly, and blow up anything in your way.

Gunstar Heroes did a very good job with the "throwing enemies at other enemies" mechanic; it was often more fun to throw enemies around than to shoot them.

[AMAZON]

make it so the ship fucking punches the baddies

[I_smell]

I allways wanted to make a game that was like Zone of Enders but a top-down shooter. Like you can shoot lasers at guys all day, but you can also get up in a dude's grill an bust out some sick-ass combo up in that bitch. Maybe grab some cannon-fodder fool n launch him at other guys.

I think about shoot-em-ups differently than probably most people do.

[Daiz]

Frantic (freeware flash game) had a charge gauge that filled when the player was in close proximity to enemy bullets and ships. Therefore, flying through a mass of bullets without getting hit was risky, but would reward you with a super-weapon.

This is quite common in bullet hells and is generally referred to as grazing. So it's nothing really unique in SHMUPs.

[Montoli]

I believe Touhou 9 (Phantasmagoria of Flower View, the crappy one) had a character with a melee attack.  You had to hold down the fire button to charge it up, and they would swing a sword and do [good] damage to things directly in front of them, as well as clear some bullets out of the way.

And of course Radiant Silvergun had that sword...