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[TheArtistJiii]

I don't know if this is the place to put this, but if it isn't i'd be happy to be directed to the right place.

First a little context.
I'm currently working on a prototype for a space shoot'em up game, and i'm having a hard time envisioning my goals for it.
Now There are varying sub-genres to the Shoot'em up genre, such as bullet hells, rail shooters(think house of dead overkill), multi-directional shooters(geometry wars) and others not mentioned.
you can read up on more of them here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_%27em_up.

Now to my point. Like i said I want to make a Shoot'em up game, but i'm having a hard time envisioning how i would like it to be.
 It will be a child of the The multi-directional scrolling Shoot'em ups.
So far in my prototype i have movement in multiple axis as well as a central mechanic that allows you to recover your life by "Absorbing" the minions of your enemies.
I'm not revealing much because i only have vague ideas of how i would like the narrative and gameplay to be.
I want the player to experience being a lone being in an old broken place thats long been forgotten by the outside world and every other creature they come across wants nothing more than to do them harm.(sounds overdone? So be it.)

Now it'll pretty much be a Shoot'em up with narrative and exploration elements though not too much, because i'm not trying to be overly ambitious with this game.

I'm just wondering what makes a Shoot'em up work?
Is it the huge selection of weapons?
Is it the large quantity of enemies that the player faces?
Is it the environment coupled with the enemies that places the player in varying difficult circumstances?

Also what would detract from a Shoot'em up or not flow so well with it?

I know that movement and control over the character is one of the, if not, the most important part of a game, so being able to maneuver between enemies and their attacks is a must.

I've only played a handful of shoot'em ups but if anybody could recommend to me Shoot'em ups that have narrative and exploration elements, i think that would be a good place to start, otherwise feel free to comment on how I know nothing about the genre.
 
Thanks.

[Magurp244]

Hmm, not sure about narrative, though Enter the Gungeon which went up on steam not that long ago may fall into that category. There's a few other ones you could try mining for mechanics though, like Hyper Princess Pitch, Hydorah, and a few others at ABA games like rRootage and Parsec47. Also maybe Zone 66, if you can find a copy.

Maybe for a theme you could have an abandoned battlefield or space graveyard? I remember some TV series, Space 1999 I think? One of the episodes featured a ship graveyard, wherein this one eyed creature would suck the life out of any ships crew that docked and tried to salvage them (thus adding to its "collection"), kinda like a honey pot trap. 

[TheArtistJiii]

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate the examples you gave me. I played princess pitch and hyrdorah, but i did not like princess pitch. Mainly because of the axis of firing. The other games are more bullet hell in nature, which isn't the route i want to go, but i thank you again nonetheless for taking the time to recommend them.

I want the player to have as much control as possible when moving about and attacking, and that restrictiveness isn't something i'm looking for(think acceleration and velocity as factors), though i would see the restrictive movements as ways of challenging the player Also Hydorah was too difficult for my weak abilities....

[Magurp244]

Yeah Hydorah is pretty unforgiving on the difficulty curve, heh. Thinking on it a bit theres a few other examples:

RobotzDX, ThrustBurst, Titan Souls (demo), When It Hits The Fan, and Tyrian 2000 (with alternate Open Source version). Some more open ended explorish examples could be 3030 Deathwar and The Ur-Quan Masters. If you want to just see the SHMUP mechanics and combat in The Ur-Quan Masters I believe it has a Hyper Melee Mode for just combat, or at least the official StarControl 2 did.

A few other main stream titles would also be Nuclear Throne and Binding of Isaac. Most of the other ones I know of are on the NES/SNES, either that or are more or less straight bullet hells.

[motorherp]

I used to be obsessed with Shmups, mostly scrolling bullet hell style ones but I played arena shooters too.  I still love em but don't play them quite as compulsively any more.  Anyway, in my opinion there's three things that really make shmups tick, usually experience in this order:


[survival]
You should constantly feel under threat of being killed and its only your skill and reflexes that are keeping you alive.  The game should be balanced to keep a continuous and increasing pace without lulls so that the player is constantly challenged (with the possible exception of adding a brief pause to build suspense before a big boss fight or something).  The player must also be given the tools to deal with this pace.  This means giving the player precise and instant control over their craft to allow for skin of the teeth dodges and squeezing though impossible gaps.  Momentum, non-linear controls, or interfering with the player's controls are a no-no.  Also important is having no cheap or unfair deaths, all causes of death should give the player a chance to avoid them before they strike.  Get the balance of threat and survival right and your players will feel excitement when playing.


[mastery]
The game should be build using a consistent visual and game-play 'language' that the player can start to understand through practice and repeated play which they can then use to improve and get better at the game.  For example each type of enemy should have their own attack pattern which they always use, certain enemy combinations should always appear together, powerful attacks should always be telegraphed first, etc etc.  Using a consistent language allows the player to improve their chances of survival by learning strategies to deal with specific enemies or situations.  This is what will over time bestow your players with a sense of achievement.


[risk]
Once players start to gain mastery over certain enemies or levels they can feel uninteresting when you encounter them again because they are no longer a threat.  By building an additional layer of risk vs reward mechanics on-top of your game you can give players the chance to take additional risk when facing elements they have already mastered for additional reward.  Many shmups deal with this using mechanics such as bullet grazing, chaining, ranking etc.  Not only does this improve the longevity of your game but can also be used to drive competition amongst players if scoring or some other measure of success is also tied into these risk / reward mechanics.  This is where for many shmup fans the real meat of the game lives.


The great thing about shmups is that you'll often take a journey through all 3 of the above during a single play through.  The early levels that you've played many times you'll start to take additional risk when playing to increase your score and maybe in the process increase your chance of progressing (eg if score grants extra lives).  Then you'll reach the level which you are currently trying to gain mastery over so you can consistently get to the levels beyond.  During this level you'll be paying attention to the game's language and trying to formulate strategies.  Finally you'll get beyond the level you can comfortably handle and you'll be flying be the seat of your pants relying on your reactions to survive for an exciting finish.


Wow that turned out quite long, I hope you find something useful in there 

[TheArtistJiii]

I used to be obsessed with Shmups, mostly scrolling bullet hell style ones but I played arena shooters too.  I still love em but don't play them quite as compulsively any more.  Anyway, in my opinion there's three things that really make shmups tick, usually experience in this order:


[survival]
You should constantly feel under threat of being killed and its only your skill and reflexes that are keeping you alive.  The game should be balanced to keep a continuous and increasing pace without lulls so that the player is constantly challenged (with the possible exception of adding a brief pause to build suspense before a big boss fight or something).  The player must also be given the tools to deal with this pace.  This means giving the player precise and instant control over their craft to allow for skin of the teeth dodges and squeezing though impossible gaps.  Momentum, non-linear controls, or interfering with the player's controls are a no-no.  Also important is having no cheap or unfair deaths, all causes of death should give the player a chance to avoid them before they strike.  Get the balance of threat and survival right and your players will feel excitement when playing.


[mastery]
The game should be build using a consistent visual and game-play 'language' that the player can start to understand through practice and repeated play which they can then use to improve and get better at the game.  For example each type of enemy should have their own attack pattern which they always use, certain enemy combinations should always appear together, powerful attacks should always be telegraphed first, etc etc.  Using a consistent language allows the player to improve their chances of survival by learning strategies to deal with specific enemies or situations.  This is what will over time bestow your players with a sense of achievement.


[risk]
Once players start to gain mastery over certain enemies or levels they can feel uninteresting when you encounter them again because they are no longer a threat.  By building an additional layer of risk vs reward mechanics on-top of your game you can give players the chance to take additional risk when facing elements they have already mastered for additional reward.  Many shmups deal with this using mechanics such as bullet grazing, chaining, ranking etc.  Not only does this improve the longevity of your game but can also be used to drive competition amongst players if scoring or some other measure of success is also tied into these risk / reward mechanics.  This is where for many shmup fans the real meat of the game lives.


The great thing about shmups is that you'll often take a journey through all 3 of the above during a single play through.  The early levels that you've played many times you'll start to take additional risk when playing to increase your score and maybe in the process increase your chance of progressing (eg if score grants extra lives).  Then you'll reach the level which you are currently trying to gain mastery over so you can consistently get to the levels beyond.  During this level you'll be paying attention to the game's language and trying to formulate strategies.  Finally you'll get beyond the level you can comfortably handle and you'll be flying be the seat of your pants relying on your reactions to survive for an exciting finish.


Wow that turned out quite long, I hope you find something useful in there 

I completly agree with you in regards to pacing and risk and especially with giving the player the utmost control, BUT and this is a big one, I believe that the player should have plenty of control over their character, but within reason. I subscribe to the notion that players should have to learn to master the movement of their character(think asteroid game), simply because of how more satisfying it would feel to maneuver with outside factors affecting them. This even ties into your views on mastery.

Thank you for your insight

[0stasis]

I'm just wondering what makes a Shoot'em up work?
Is it the huge selection of weapons?
Is it the large quantity of enemies that the player faces?
Is it the environment coupled with the enemies that places the player in varying difficult circumstances?

Also what would detract from a Shoot'em up or not flow so well with it?

I think the only person who can tell you what works is you, the player. If you love those types of games then play them. Playing the competition and asking yourself the right questions.

What do I like about this game?
Do I like there's a lot of weapons?
Do I like simplicity?
Do I like the controls?
Do I like  the style?

The more you know what works for you, the more you can have an idea to make a game you can stick behind on. Find what aspects of other games work and try be creative about it. Take ideas from different games, mechanics, style and anything that catches your eyes or ears. Sound plays a role in any game. Even if we gave you what everyone wants in a shoot em up game, that doesn't mean it will be interesting. Also avoid making a copy of a game. Indies who go and "copy" a game, will only make a game that's pretty much a lame version of one that's already popular. If there's nothing new to bring on to the table, then it's already harder for people to get excited about your game.

Play the best games but also play the worst games. I think you'll learn more from the failures because reviewers pretty honest about something that doesn't work.

Other than that, that's pretty much how to break down an idea. You have to be confident on what you want, open to other ideas or changes that suit your preferences.