Bullet hell shmup with a time-travel mechanic. After you get enough hand-wavey energy/points/kills/whatever, you can warp back to some earlier point and play alongside your previous run(s).
I envision kinda puzzle-inspired gameplay: use your skills to navigate the bullet hell, take out high-value enemies; then warp back to clear even more of the screen, or take on previously-unassailable obstacles.
I have lots of peripheral (and conflicting) ideas floating around the core mechanic. For example, maybe you could also spend your warp energy on a high-damage beam that connects your ship with a previous iteration, so you can sweep around the screen with it. Maybe some barriers or enemies can only be quickly destroyed by that beam; otherwise it takes ages and more skill than I possess. Maybe you can siphon your ghost runs so that they disappear before they actually warped back.
Every level should maaaaybe be possible to complete in a single run, if only just. I’m not sold on that though because it seems like it could limit the level design. There should definitely be some kind of bonus for completely clearing the level of all enemies, no matter how many times you have to warp. These two things are in tension.
The whole concept came to me after I played Braid, and from watching more skilled players shuffle their ships through the beautiful onscreen patterns that difficult bullet hell shooters tend to have, especially at the higher levels. I had a very barebones proof of concept of the main mechanic working at one point in FlashPunk, which tells you how long ago it was. I think the premise has some value though. I mean, I’d play it.
I envision kinda puzzle-inspired gameplay: use your skills to navigate the bullet hell, take out high-value enemies; then warp back to clear even more of the screen, or take on previously-unassailable obstacles.
I have lots of peripheral (and conflicting) ideas floating around the core mechanic. For example, maybe you could also spend your warp energy on a high-damage beam that connects your ship with a previous iteration, so you can sweep around the screen with it. Maybe some barriers or enemies can only be quickly destroyed by that beam; otherwise it takes ages and more skill than I possess. Maybe you can siphon your ghost runs so that they disappear before they actually warped back.
Every level should maaaaybe be possible to complete in a single run, if only just. I’m not sold on that though because it seems like it could limit the level design. There should definitely be some kind of bonus for completely clearing the level of all enemies, no matter how many times you have to warp. These two things are in tension.
The whole concept came to me after I played Braid, and from watching more skilled players shuffle their ships through the beautiful onscreen patterns that difficult bullet hell shooters tend to have, especially at the higher levels. I had a very barebones proof of concept of the main mechanic working at one point in FlashPunk, which tells you how long ago it was. I think the premise has some value though. I mean, I’d play it.