Yggdra UFO (YUUFO), Let's make a fan shmup Options

[Raijinili]

Side-scrolling or top-down, I dunno.

Based on
[14:33] <&Rhiannon> LOW UFOS ARE TOO HARD AS FENCER

== Controls ==

Movement on the left, shooting and Union button on triggers, and the right controls Passive-Aggressive (if necessary). Maybe the triggers should control passive-aggressive. Who cares, customizate it.

== Single player ==

You start off as Yggdra or whatever. Other characters are powerups dropped rarely (miniboss/quest rewards?), and you can catch them into your Union formation.

The shmup bombs in this game come in the form of union attacks. Everyone in your union shoots their special attack. I guess Unions also launches your leader's Card ability. In fact, maybe bombs are all in the form of Cards. Yes, you collect Cards to be able to launch Unions.

Maybe if you die, your Union Leader gets replaced by a random(?) other member, and either the union formation is shuffled, or all the chars are launched and you have to recatch them.

The other chars have smaller sprites, and either have smaller hitboxes or are just invincible.

The bullets are your followers? E.g. Yggdra shoots Valkyries.

== Multiplayer ==

Instead of pressing the Union button to trigger a Union, you hold the Union button and, if no one else is already holding it, the Union grid shows up under you. (Maybe instead of straight-up 8-slot grid, it's just glowing lines in an X or + shape.)

When you release the button, any players in your formation will shoot off their Union attack. If none, you do it alone. Maybe a Super freeze animation. Players in the union also get a bullet-absorbing shield, I guess (Leader gets biggest), and the ones that don't make it into the union can still hide in the shields.

Players aren't locked into the formation and have to manually steer into it. Or they can hold their Union button and fly into the formation, and get locked into it (relying on the leader's steering).

== Passive-aggressive ==

Aggressive: Move faster. Shoot harder.

Passive: Move slower. Smaller hitbox.

== Other, weaker ideas ==

You get, like, powerups in the form of a weapon icon, which gives your units with the right thing a random YU weapon of that type.

There will be places in the stages that are like towns. Instead of shooting the houses like in regular shmups, maybe you have to stay on them for a while.


EDIT: CHANGED NAME FROM "Yuufoo" TO "YUUFO" BECAUSE THAT COULD BE "UFO" OR "YGGDRA UNION UFO". MAY CHANGE BACK TO "YUUFOO" WHEN WE CAN CALL IT "YGGDRA UNION UFO ONLINE".

[Raijinili]

(PROTIP: Ctrl and the + key zooms in the web page. Ctrl and 0 resets zoom. Mac may use Cmd instead.)


Ideas about the player character (how YU and Riviera characters will play differently):

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

CODE

game
    player characters
        - weapon
            * Pick up a weapon type icon, and get a (random/predestined/escalating) weapon of that type.
            * Not everyone can pick up all weapon types.
        - bomb
        - meter: used for Bomb, and some alternative use
    YU characters
        - weapon
            * Weapons run out over time.
        - bomb
            * Pickup: Cards
            * Use:
                - Need to have a Card and a full Meter.
                - Hold down the button. Your Union formation appears.
                - Wait for others to get into your formation.
                - Release. All ships in formation fire, and you use your Card power.
        - meter
            * Alternative use: Passive/Aggressive meter
                - Passive: Less damage, gain meter.
                - Aggressive: More damage, lose meter.
            * Gain/Lose option 0: Gain meter when moving backward, lose meter when moving forward.
            * Gain/Lose option 1: Gain and lose meter depending on where you are on the screen.
                - Back quarter: Passive.
                - Middle two quarters: Neutral.
                - Front quarter: Aggressive.
            * Gain/Lose option 1a: Like Option 1, but the further forward you are, the more Aggressive you get.
    Riviera characters
        - weapon
            * Weapons run out with use.
        - bomb
            * Pickup:
                * Diviners?
                    One diviner per weapon type! I already drew some a long time ago.
                    - Diviners use EX level, which is good thematically.
                * Special weapons? Excalibur, Tempest Bow, Night Scythe, Saint Scepter, Rosary (Banish).
            * Use:
                - Hold down the button. Your Union formation appears.
                - Wait for others to get into your formation.
                - Release. All ships in formation fire, and you use your Card power.
        - meter
            * Alternative use: OverBreak
                * Use Option 1: Shoot special, more powerful bullets?
                * Gain/Lose: Damage and/or graze?

Turn-based ideas:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

CODE

turn-based
    - Turn: Everyone on a team acts simultaneously.
        ! This is to make multiplayer less annoying. Everyone acts simultaneously => parallelized waiting.
            ! Also makes it easier to plan Unions.
        - Undo: To ease strategic planning, you can undo your action as long as not everyone is Ready.
            ! Principle: There is nothing left to chance, no information to be gained, with Undo.
    - Unit turn: Every turn, you can move and act.
        * Move:
            - Move (circular distance instead of grid?).
                - Select a position within your move range.
            - You can't move through bullets.
                ? Or you can, but it damages you?
        * Act:
            - You can act either before or after you move.
                ! Not during, for simplicity of choices.
            - Actions:
                * Shoot: Place a bullet at your current location. It doesn't move yet.
                * Bomb: Instead of shooting, you can use your Bomb. Your allies can position themselves into your Bomb formation.
                    - Shields from bombs should last until next turn.
    - Bullet phase: Right before the team's next turn, all of the team's bullets move, damaging things in their paths.
        ! The separate damage phases makes Undo more plausible.
    * Scrolling?
        Here's an interesting idea. After every round, everyone gets moved back as the window scrolls.

-Unions can remain a matter of formation. Should, in fact, but perhaps not in the same way as YU if we use a circular rather than grid based movement system.

I imagine, when you activate Union, an X or cross appears on the map, and they have to be touching that. Or it has width and they have to be inside it.