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[xix]

I'm making an overhead shooter. It's actually a remake of an older game I made called Gearbolt Rage. You can find an old old version of GBR somewhere on the interwebs. Don't bother, it's not that good. Try out Destruction Carnival - that's my biggest inspiration. The remake has the makings for a modern indie game with better resolution (1024x768 vs. 640x480) and more special effects. It also has two more enemies for a total of six badguys (half of which are short range, the other half are long range) and six weapon upgrades.

The reason I'm making this thread is to ask how to make my game better. I don't want to just remake GBR or DC. I was playing through NeoContra today and I'm thinking, "wow, this is kind of dull" (it's kind of awesome, too!). I don't want to just make more pixels, bigger explosions, more guns, and more badguys.

Maybe in a couple days I'll whip together a playable demo, but for now just post your thoughts and ideas on what makes a good overhead shooter. There are the mindless ones that go on forever and ever, and there are the ones that have concise levels. I may want to steal ideas from those games, but I'd also like to hear what is interesting about games like...  Shock Troopers? Smash TV? Total Carnage?

By the way, here is a screen shot

[BenH]

Hey Raf! didn't realise you were on here too, haha
I was wondering if you were still working on GBR2. Glad to see you are!

[moi]

I think the floor tiles are ruining everything. You should take the time to make custom, good looking floors for each levels IMO.

[lowpoly]

I think the floor tiles are ruining everything. You should take the time to make custom, good looking floors for each levels IMO.

I realize this is just one, wip screenshot but moi's point is valid. When you ask, 'What makes a good overhead shooter', I think it's all about style. The gameplay is refined down to its simplest form (run and shoot) so what you need to do to stand out centers entirely on the theme of your game. What made Smash TV so cool for me was the idea of a game show, a la The Running Man. They took it from there and ran with it, but everything existed in this cool little backlot studio.

You have some nice looking sprites in that screen there, it would be great to develop an entire, cohesive world that they all live in. Just because the gameplay is mindless doesn't mean the story needs to be absent.

[Jimbob]

Hehe, I think I still have the first beta for this somewhere in my Yahoo email account. Weren't you planning a single player campaign affair aside from the single screen mindless killing? (a-la Trigger Happy 2 (RIP)) Looking at games like Factor X and even Phobia 3 might give a few ideas at how to make the simple, ok-youve-gotta-kill-all-these-guys-in-THIS-scenery type of missions. Maybe you could set it in some sort of game show like Smash TV, but more like The Running Man, and have traps and things that the other contestants (or you) can mangle themselves in.

[xix]

I think the floor tiles are ruining everything. You should take the time to make custom, good looking floors for each levels IMO.

I realize this is just one, wip screenshot but moi's point is valid. When you ask, 'What makes a good overhead shooter', I think it's all about style. The gameplay is refined down to its simplest form (run and shoot) so what you need to do to stand out centers entirely on the theme of your game. What made Smash TV so cool for me was the idea of a game show, a la The Running Man. They took it from there and ran with it, but everything existed in this cool little backlot studio.

You have some nice looking sprites in that screen there, it would be great to develop an entire, cohesive world that they all live in. Just because the gameplay is mindless doesn't mean the story needs to be absent.

I like this. I like this a lot. I think setting is what really helps set these games apart from each other (outside of good gameplay). Do you guys have any reference games? Like NES era stuff? I am thinking Jackal type stuff... or..  hmm...  I don't know.

[xix]

Does anyone want to talk about Scientology Pwned? I tried it out, and it's kind of cool, but I want to hear other people's thoughts before telling my own...

[jctwood]

Any news?