As a designer, what most interests you about a Shmup as a design space?
I used to play Galaga obsessively as a youngster. I think the thing that most interested me back then was seeing an empty screen after I completed a level (and shot all of the enemies into galactic air). Now that I think about the opportunities in creating a shmup, I am interested in going beyond the basic idea of shmups that I had in mind growing up. I would never pay attention to power ups or upgraded ship opportunities. Now I feel that those additions are vital to create an interactive environment to keep the player, well, playing. As a design space, a shmup has a basic recipe to be created, but there are different spices and herbs that can be added to make each shmup their own being. I quite enjoy that a simple change in how you make your shmup can change the gameplay entirely.
Write up the rules of your shump. What are you prototyping? How? What do you expect to learn from prototyping and what ideas will you test?
In my shmup the player is a bee on a farm trying to shoot at everyday enemies and dangers. It will be a side scroller and the player will have the option between which bullets they use depending on what power ups they have collected. Enemies will range from wasps and hornets to birds, and the dangers will be pesticide and people’s hands/feet. I want the bee to have a human friend who will warn you when certain obstacles are coming. The bee has to be careful not to his comrades (other bees) or else that will hurt his colony (score). I expect to learn what is and isn’t engaging about my gameplay with the bee. I want to test whether the bee needs a human friend to help tell his story or if I don’t and just let the shmup be about the bee. I also want to test which power ups work best in gameplay and which enemies/dangers make the most out of the experience.
Choose a narrative and deconstruct the plot based on the model described
Narrative: The 400 Blows, Directed by Francois Truffaut
- You (a character is in a zone of comfort)
The story of raising hell begins with optimistic shots of France, through all districts of the city. We are introduced to the rebellious character, Antoine, after he is publicly shamed in his grade school classroom by his teacher.
- Need (but they want something)
Antoine is at home when his parents are arguing, as usual. The parents are constantly hot and cold with Antoine, and he wonders about their relationship as a family. He is also accused of taking things from his parents.
- Go (they enter an unfamiliar situation)
Antoine overhears his parents one night arguing about how his father is not in fact his biological father. He finds what was missing, but gets put into more of a mess when he finds his mother kissing another man when he was supposed to be at school.
- Search (adapt to it)
Antoine ends up getting in huge trouble at school for telling them his mother was dead, when she was in fact alive. The mom tries to relate to the son and both parents are very loving toward their son at this time.
- Find (find what they wanted)
Antoine decides that he wants to leave home, so he runs away. With the help of his friend Rene, Antoine lives in various places and steals milk from the street to live. Still, he manages to go to school. He also steals from his father’s office to sell on the black market.
- Take (pay its price)
Antoine’s parents end up taking him to the police for his misbehavior and stealing from his father’s company. He ends up going to court and being sent to a delinquent’s home with other boys.
- Return (and go back to where they started)
Antoine’s mom went to visit him, but she didn’t have much love in her few sentences to him. So, during a game of ball Antoine decided to rebel, as usual, and he ran from the home. He slid under a fence, ran past houses, and skipped being caught by hiding in a creek.
- Change (now capable of change)
Antoine had always wanted to go to the beach to see the ocean. It ends with him running down the beach to the ocean’s edge. A place he had always wanted to go, he went because of a rebellious act, as usual.
