Since project 1 has “stalled” whilst i get around to writing a tile-based map editor for it and a few other projects, i need another smaller project (something needs to get out of the door and the Bullet Mechanics games are going to take a while!) and it’s going to be something of a social experiment, at least that’s how i’m justifying it to myself! [Ahem] Y’see, i’ve been playing a huge number of shoot ‘em ups recently, some freeware and others commercial, and something odd struck me; for some reason, even the games that should seem bland and uninteresting were keeping me playing for longer than i’d expected them to, getting into that shoot ‘em up player’s zone in the process. And the question bugging me is “is this just me” or do other people play games just for that zoning out enjoyment factor?
So i’m going to build a small-ish shoot ‘em up, incorporate a “phone home” feature that sends a couple of usage stats back to base along with highscore information and then release it (with warnings about the way it sends data to the server and options to disable it) onto as many freeware download portals as possible. Hopefully people will play it in the spirit it’s meant and i’ll get some data back that might go some way towards answering my question…
Tags: BASIC, BlitzMax, game, programming, shmup, shoot ‘em up, STG