ShmupWords - A Visual Glossary of Shoot 'em Ups

[@Hooy-Jaymay]

I love Schmups so much, honestly my sort of dream game is an open world RPG that has Schmups instead of turn based battles. I can only dream

[@LazyDevs]

I mean... there is Undertale...

[@SoulHero7]

Late reply, but Deltarune takes Undertale's Shmup-RPG hybrid a step further and introduces Grazing in it's battles. Grazing bullets fired by monsters increases your TP bar, which you can then use on your turn for spells or more powerful moves.

[@boghogSTG]

Caravan - the definition you use is true but it overlooks the unique enemy spawn design. Instead of predetermined timing, the games only spawn the next wave when the current one has been destroyed/left the screen. As a result, the faster players kill them the more waves will spawn. So when people say "caravan style" they usually means that the games use this sorta style of spawning enemies. Dangun Feveron is a great example, but even Crimzon Clover has those elements like the parts where the screen stops and has you kill big tanks in stage 1 and such. It's a confusing subgenre at first, but this aspect is real handy when devving, it's like a softer more obvious style of dynamic difficulty. I can relate to being surprised by how much shmups build on the concept of rank. You hear people wax on about RE4 and L4D2's rank system but here you have Xevious doing almost all of it back in 1982, and it got more wild after that! Anyway, awesome vid! Thanks for the shoutout at the end there 😎gonna be my go-to "send this to newbies" vid

[@LazyDevs]

Thanks for clearing that up! Man, Caravans are even wilder than my initial impression. I should play them more!

[@boghogSTG]

@@LazyDevs For sure

[@TheZetaKai]

This shmuptionary is so inspiring. The whole time that I was was watching, I was thinking about ways to incorporate these mechanics into my own game design. I can't wait for season two of the shmup tutorials.

[@donoteatmikezila]

This video is a real treasure. Just the concept of it is real gold. I consider myself a fairly avid shmup player (I can finish DoDonPachi in only a few credits! Still working on the 1cc.) and there were things in this video I hadn't thought about. It really is hard to understate just how much having the words to examine something helps you understand it more. There were some things I had seen and thought about but didn't realize had a name, and there were something that I had only subconsciously seen but when you learned the word for it I felt like a lightbulb turned on. I would love to see this kind of ___words for other genres as well. This is invaluable game design content.

[@PicoPlaytime]

Great informative video! I've never heard the term Euro-shooter, but it definitely lines up with the kind of shmups I enjoy. It feels like there's a lot of unclaimed territory in shmups 'design space'. I feel pretentious saying that, but I think that's what makes shmups so much fun to make, it feels like you're never too far away from coming up with some original idea, or at least an idea that hasn't been tried out since like 1988 on some arcade game no one remembers 😄

[@LazyDevs]

Heheh, yeah despite them being considered a "sub-par" game, many people actually hold them dear in their hearts. And a lot of newcomers actually prefer them!

[@mikloslorinczi227]

Same here. I'm not a huge fan of shmups, but i really enjoyed playing Raptor and Tyrian (maybe because i'm from Europe). Raptor had better graphics and sound, but Tyrian had lots of weapons, 2 player co-op and a hidden minigame!

[@jyoung-dj1zr]

Amazing video dictionary of the language of shmups! It's a super helpful resource, and I am a big fan of Aktane, Shmup Junky and the Electric Underground! When you showed off that shirt, I pointed at the screen and laughed. I can't wait to see more of this series.

[@xCrossBite]

Not only a great explanation of the terms but an interesting study in the ways that game mechanics are added, adjusted or redesigned based on what is appropriate for different games and play styles.

[@GamersOff]

This video really makes me want to dig into this genre both as a player and as a developer :)

[@AKTANEARCADE]

Come on in! :) docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MZz8Q_8HdGyh2QU9BX4lNgyVAP9JZxxuy_YYbOLf1CM/edit?usp=drivesdk here's a beginners list that I helped create if you want view the genre from some more approachable standpoints vs the typical difficulty wall that can be there 😄

[@GamersOff]

@@AKTANEARCADE Thank you so much!

[@Chinopolis]

Awesome video, it's great to see so many concepts that I have internalized spelled out so clearly.

[@GameBoyGuru]

Excellent video! Lots of excellent terminology, and solid descriptions and explanations of most of them. The bit where the footage was edited to make it look like Kevin Flynn was playing Crimzon Clover was a nice touch :)

[@LazyDevs]

Thanks Guru! Man, I re-watched that whole scene and Flynn was truly living the life!

[@DharmaPunkGames]

Excellent video, love the custom examples you created like with the normalized directional movement. A++!

[@i.a.m2413]

That was so interesting and helpful. I've grown with the arcades and am for a while now dabbling with writing a shmup in the style of classic arcades, and this here introduced me to all the concepts of the modern evolution of these old games, that I really didn't understand before. I have so many ideas of stuff to implement. Big thank you!

[@SalvationInChristAlone]

Whenever I have to try and explain the Shmup Genre to my Non Shmup friends I am just going to direct them to this video !... Awesome.

[@kamadoma715]

We need to link this video to Steam so that next time they decide on having a sale for Vampire Survivors clones, they wouldn't use the term "Shmup." It's bad enough that shmups had to take a backseat due to the popularity of 3D shooters and fighting games.

[@fernfernacelli]

Actually… 16:00 Gradius ‘does’ have bombs… they are the ‘blue’ power-ups that you pick up that clear all snaller enemies on the screen, and damage larger enemies/stations. However, they offer no i-frames, and can’t be stocked. I digress… AMAZING video. Thanks for this! \m/, 😊 ,\m/

[@LazyDevs]

Oh yeah! True this could be seen as a type of bomb

[@inuinuinuinuinu]

This was an awesome video, and really makes me want to give this genre a try after feeling intimidated by it my whole life. I'm now also thinking about this how idea of "push and pull" shows up in other games and how to use it in future games I design. :)

[@LazyDevs]

Oh yeah! There are probably fantastic lessons to learn from Shmups that can improve other games!

[@AKTANEARCADE]

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MZz8Q_8HdGyh2QU9BX4lNgyVAP9JZxxuy_YYbOLf1CM/edit?usp=drivesdk here's a beginners list that I helped create if you want view the genre from some more approachable standpoints vs the typical difficulty wall that can be there

[@inuinuinuinuinu]

@@AKTANEARCADE thank you so much!

[@AKTANEARCADE]

@@inuinuinuinuinu you bet happy devving and gaming!

[@RussmanDesignHD]

This is Great! Im so inspired. Im gonna make a Shmups game now!

[@johanjacquemart3263]

I lol-ed so hard at the intro :)

[@bulb9970]

Aktane’s scream overlapping the explanation cracked me up

[@Animework]

Thank you. Very informative video for devs and player. ths Bro

[@sirgarrote]

So glad Discord pointed me here. Great vid!

[@TheFrenchy82]

wow.... What a nice and clear work ! I still suck at shmup but at least I know more about those games... 😅

[@AKTANEARCADE]

We'll kept secret: we all suck at Shmup 🤣

[@artursjoblom5142]

Great video 👌

[@MladenMihajlovic]

😀Loved that prolonged Noooooooooooooooo

[@Fireafyanimations299]

16:00 actually, no, R-Type does have bombs, just not in the first few games, on R-Type Delta and all other games after that, a new mechanic was added known as the delta-weapon, basically, if you absorb bullets with your force pod or use it to deal contact damage to enemies, it will charge up a meter at the bottom left of the screen, when this is full, the player could unleash a powerful screenclearing bomb that will also instantly deplete the meter. Yes it is infinite use, just so as long as the meter is full

[@LazyDevs]

Fascinating and a cool mechanic indeed. Also, bruh, R-Type Delta came out more than a decade after the original R-Type. So when a person says "R-Type" it is fair to assume they don't mean "R-Type Delta"

[@kittyn5222]

Nice.

[@edlifannarra]

Great video! Interesting how "euro" is derogatory in both shmups and platformers. I wonder if it's a result of micro vs arcade culture, where in Japan maybe the designers had more access to players while in Europe games were mostly played in private. There's probably a multitude of contributing factors but it's quite interesting to think about how, in a world before unlimited internet, is a culture of good game design created.

[@LazyDevs]

Oh really? Euro Platformer is a thing?

[@edlifannarra]

@@LazyDevs Yeah from what I understand it usually refers to the Amiga style platformers. They often feel maybe a little bit clumsy visually and design wise. They have their charm of course but they're generally considered less polished

[@LazyDevs]

@@edlifannarra Oh man, I totally get what type of game this refers to!

[@minhtuan8573]

cool video.

[@qwaffles_]

gread video. have you heard of Maiden & Spell? 1v1 shmup, pretty cool concept

[@SoulHero7]

Interesting. So Credit Feeding seems to be one of the earliest methods of Pay-To-Win in gaming history, since you're literally feeding the machine money to get extra lives and win.

[@LazyDevs]

There are a lot of parallels to modern monetization strategies. But the details do matter. For example, using a continue would wipe the score. So credit feeding would get you all the way to the credits but it wouldn't get your name on the Highscore List.

[@lingje4775]

Never going to give you up lyrics

[@zneeke]

fixing counterstop: add another value to show(or not) before the counter that raises every time the counterstop reaches max, and you just reset the score value making let's say 99.999 becomes 0, but add 1 in front making it 1 + 00000 + score after counterstop was reset... increase the added value by 1 for every ceiling reached just an instant idea to fix it, I bet there are other ways to do it too.

[@LazyDevs]

Yup! That is one simple solution. Printing to the screen might be a bit tricky.

[@noobfl]

lol.. in a lot of shmups, the worst enemy is a powerup, that is actualy a power down (from a great weapon to a bad one), that you cant realy avoid, whitout a real posibility, to avoid it - that is almost as bad, as loosing a life (and all powerups) - Zero Wing is a game, that allways try to push you in a bad "powerup", witch is, in higher levels, almost guaranteed your dead sentence. PS: the fact, that bosses must not be killed in a lot of shmups could be leading to some great game mechanics.. i cant wait to se a "pacifst run" in a fast passed bullethell game.. no kills, 1cc, that would be a great achievement

[@rooty]

Boss time outs also allow pacifist runs don't they

[@LazyDevs]

They do!

[@rogueabyss]

love the uwu at 36:06

[@taskanawa9604]

jogos de navinha 😊

[@LazyDevs]

Oh that's what they are called in Portugese!

[@taskanawa9604]

@@LazyDevs yes. outzone is tate run & gun game?????

[@LazyDevs]

@@taskanawa9604 Yeah Outzone is one of those weird games that don't fit clearly in any category. Doesn't have the platforming of Run & Gun. But also no autoscrolling so it doesn't quite feel like a Shmup. Somewhere in-between the two. Looks super sweet tho!

[@VisualTedium]

Enough with the typing sound

[@LazyDevs]

You're not my real dad!

[@ObsidianContraption]

No Euroshmup!

[@ObsidianContraption]

Great video

[@Animework]

I think Tyrian is the game that has always stood out among shooters. It's a shmup that's an SHMUP RPG. It's like it was developed by a man who took what he liked about Japanese shooters and added what he thought needed to be added to make it more enjoyable and replayable. Very few games like it have been made since then. Maybe which is a bit similar.