Devlog - 49

Good day folks! Let's review some Death Vapor updates.

I revised all of the weapon designs with new colors, and in accordance with a leveling/power up system. It's satisfying to power up your ship in shmups, but I'm not a big fan of pickups that bounce around the playing field. Therefore, we propose a system that allows you to choose a permanent upgrade at the completion of each mission. Choose to upgrade your main weapon, drone weapon, or psycho power. Both the main weapon and drones can be leveled up twice to each reach a max of 3 levels, while the psycho meter can be upgraded at least once, perhaps twice. A full play through contains 6 missions, so there will be 5 upgrade opportunities. If the psycho power only has 1 upgrade, then you will always max all weapons for the final mission. However, I think it might be more interesting to have a surplus, so you have to think about your strategy a bit more, as you will have to leave something on the table. This system will give a slight rogue element, with various possible order of upgrades. Now, if we can get a few branching paths to vary the mission structure, it will exponentially increase replay-ability.

As for the media, the animations show the 3 upgrade states for the main weapons(beam, or sword), and the drone weapons(spread shot, or streamers).

Next, is a close look at the God Lance designs with modified colors and outlines. Light version is standard, while the dark version is used when activating psycho powers.

I created an animated debris element to pepper up the explosions. More variations are in the works. Big flashy kabooms are a staple of any decent shmup.

Lastly, I have an update on the formatting and resolution. Think I've settled on the native size of the play area at 180x240px. This provides a good ratio of the ship sprite to the overall play area, and it scales pixel perfect into common display sizes with minimum variation of border area. As with any vertical orientated shmup, tate is the real way to play. If you've never tried it, go flip a screen and play a shmup now! Always happy to give recommendations if you're interested in getting into the genre.