🟢Stef’s Heuristic Evaluation¶
Just Shapes and Beats (JSaB)¶
ℹ️ Introduction: What makes JSab a ‘Bullet Hell’?¶
In JSaB, the game levels are created by placing dangerous objects that move in time with the music. This makes the game sometimes slow and sometimes fast, depending on the intensity of the song.
The hazardous objects that appear suddenly are signaled in advance, so that the player knows they are coming.
To avoid being hit, the player can dodge and become invincible. This helps the player escape from dangerous situations.
🟩Upsides¶
- Higher difficulties can be easily implemented by increasing movement speeds of hazardous objects.
- Higher difficulties can be easily implemented by decreasing the signaling time of hazardous objects.
🟥Downsides¶
- Levels have to be painstakingly designed by hand, so they match up with the beat and intensity of the song. Testing this will take up a lot of time.
Conclusion¶
The ‘Bullet Hell’ concept of JSaB can work if the attacks patterns are preprogrammed and reused throughout the game. Programming certain attack patterns unique to certain levels could work, but only for certain levels like bossbattles for instance.
Xevious¶
ℹ️ Introduction: What makes Xevious game a ‘Bullet Hell’?¶
In Xevious, enemies appear from the top of the screen and proceed to move and shoot at the player, as the game scrolls vertically.
The game’s dynamic background displays a changing environment that accommodates the placement of enemies in appropriate locations. For example, tanks may be situated on roads while bunkers are positioned on shorelines and fields.
In addition to regular enemies, Xevious also features boss enemies that require more damage to defeat. While these bosses are rare to encounter, they present a serious challenge to players. Moreover, the dynamic background eventually loops around and restarts, resulting in more enemies being spawned and being changed around with more difficult enemies.
🟩Upsides¶
- Enemies are easily implemented and reused.
- Replaying the same level with increasing difficulty is an appealing concept because it motivates players to strive for the highest score possible.
🟥Downsides¶
- More experienced players may find the beginning stages too easy due to the absence of significant challenges.
Conclusion¶
Gameplay mechanics, such as enemy attack patterns, can be implemented with ease, but by adding complexity to these patterns, we can create a more intricate and challenging game.
We could also assign unique attack patterns to specific easy to distinguish enemies, players can prioritize their targets and focus on eliminating those enemies first. This is particularly useful when the designated enemies use difficult-to-dodge attacks.
Sources¶
JSaB Lycantrhophy game level wiki page
Xevious wiki page