#bullet hells

[baked-fish]

The ZUN interview about why he used AI in Touhou 20 has me so emotionally frustrated that I had to make this edit to express my love for the series' background work prior to that point. These are some of the greatest stage backgrounds in STGs, and it frustrates me that he would believe the elements of their construction unimportant, when their construction from stock and royalty free images lends such a sense of place and purpose to them. Touhou 20's backgrounds are... fine. Yet, the whole thing feels so careless. I enjoyed the game enough to 1CC it, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to think that one of my favorite elements of the series identity could be treated with such a complete lack of respect.

[emrapidprototyping]

Research: Bullet Hells - Category

After researching and watching footage of five different bullet hell styled games, I am going to look at the similarities, differences and the overall success of the genre as a whole.

For similarities, the core gameplay loop of each game has been relatively similar to one another. These games have focused on surviving waves, rooms or endless hordes of enemies, learning to dodge attack patterns as you go from run to run. Speaking of runs, these games have all had some form of shop which allow the player to improve their builds and make getting further into the game easier. Most of the games were fast paced and battle driven, creating a more intense gameplay experience.

In terms of game layout, these games have either used the room based layout, having the player traverse an area made out of small, segmented rooms or they use a large empty area to give the player enough room to fight lots of enemies.

One game that really stood out from the rest of the genre was Undertale where, instead of fighting waves of enemies, the game prioritised an encounter based system. The pacing was also much slower since the game didn't need to keep up with the constant fighting like the other games I have looked at. All of this shows how bullet hell elements can be added to a game without taking over the game's main genre.

For the success of the genre, bullet hells have been and still are very popular. Most bullet hells nowadays come in the form of roguelites as both genres come hand in hand with the fast paced survival gameplay style.

Undertale is by far the largest success out of the five I looked at as it became an internet phenomenon throughout the 2010s and beyond, making a total revenue of $49.3 million from the 7.2 million units sold according to Video Game Insights. The 96.8% positive rating shows how it was also a well received game, allowing developer Toby Fox to create a much larger scale game called Deltarune.

Enter The Gungeon was also a huge success, making a total of $38.6 million from the 4 million units sold as according to Video Game Insights. With a positive rating percentage of 95.4%, Enter The Gungeon was also popular enough to get both a spin off sequel called Exit The Gungeon as well as an upcoming direct sequel called Enter The Gungeon 2.

Finally, Turnip Boy Robs A Bank made roughly $621,000 from their 58,770 units sold as according to Video Game Insights, making this the smallest success of the three games. Compared to their first game in the genre, Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, this game did not make as much of a splash but did still do well considering the smaller indie company that is Snoozy Kazoo.

In terms of improvements to the category as a whole, I believe that it could use some more innovation. A lot of the games in this genre are very similar from the game layout to the artstyle and fighting mechanics. I think this genre could use more games like Undertale or The Magus Circle and WindowKill if Undertale feels too far departed from the bullet hell style.

[emrapidprototyping]

Research: Bullet Hells - WindowKill

WindowKill is an experimental bullet hell released in 2023 that uses desktop windows to display a retro styled game similar to Asteroids.

For the core gameplay loop, Windowkill has the player shooting waves of enemies, gaining points to use in the shop which can be opened at any time, killing bosses for a special currency which unlocks powers and progressing up until the final boss '???'.

For unique selling points, the main one I wanted to discuss was the experimental use of pop up windows as the main game. The player starts in one window which is constantly shrinking and has to shoot the edges of the window in order to expand it, creating a secondary mechanic for shooting alongside fighting enemies.

Once the player has progressed a little bit further, larger enemies appear, using their own pop ups that the player has to reach in order to shoot them since bullets only reach the edge of a window. These new windows even utilise they're titles, using them as health bars for the enemy they're controlled by.

[emrapidprototyping]

Research: Bullet Hells - UNDERTALE

Undertale is an RPG with bullet hell mechanics released back in 2015 where the player falls down and enters the Underground, a place populated by monsters and tries to find the exit.

In terms of core gameplay loops, Undertale works a little differently to the other bullet hells I have discussed so far. The main loop is the player walking through locations and running into encounters. Undertale's fighting system is turn based, having the player take a turn where they can fight, act, heal or spare followed by the enemy having a turn and repeat until the player dies, enemy dies or enemy is spared.

For unique selling points, the biggest aspect of the game is how the player's decisions matter. Depending on how the player chooses to interact with the monsters, the player can get one of three main endings; pacifist, neutral and genocide with neutral having many different versions depending on who is killed in battle. This gives the game a sense of replayability and, since the resetting of the game is explained as an in game mechanic, builds up immersion. I love story based games especially those that use choices to their advantage so, at least for people like me, this is a big factor in whether or not to buy this game.

Another unique aspect is how the fighting system works in Undertale. While it isn't as different as The Magus Circle's drawing method, Undertale's boxed attack method is much more interactive than most JRPG type games where turn based combat is just trading blows. Undertale's fighting system allows the player to learn the attack patterns of enemies in order to better dodge them, relating it to the bullet hell genre.

[emrapidprototyping]

Research: Bullet Hells - Turnip Boy Robs A Bank

Turnip Boy Robs A Bank is a bullet hell released in 2023 as a sequel to the game Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. You play the character Turnip Boy and you rob a bank a few days after the events of the first game.

The core gameplay loop has the player entering the bank, shaking down civilians for money, killing guards, destroying breakers to deactivate lasers, breaking into vaults to steal money and leaving. The shops are available in between runs.

For unique selling points, Turnip Boy uses a timer to encourage the player to get through the bank and back to the van quickly as, if the player does not make it back before the timer goes out, the police show up, making escape a lot harder.

Another unique aspect is the inclusion of side quests inside of the bank. A lot of characters (including a lot from the previous game) littered about the map give small quests that can be completed for hats.

[emrapidprototyping]

Research: Bullet Hells - The Magus Circle

The Magus Circle is actually an unreleased indie Bullet Hell that I have been following the development of for roughly a year which I wanted to discuss where the player casts spells as a witch surviving hordes of monsters.

Since this game is has not been released yet, the core gameplay loop could well change but, as of now, the main gameplay loop consists of entering the battlefield, defeating waves of enemies using spells, gaining upgrades as the waves progress and, upon death, returning to the safety of The Magus Circle to learn new spells and learn more about the narrative.

The main reason I wanted to discuss this game was its unique selling point: the spell mechanic. In order to use the spells in game, you have to draw out the sigil which corresponds to that spell. This system makes the fighting feel faster paced and more immersive as you have to actually cast the spells yourself. I personally find this a much better system than the standard button press and cooldowns system used in most bullet hells and I can't wait to play it once it releases.

[emrapidprototyping]

Research: Bullet Hells - Enter The Gungeon

Enter The Gungeon is a pixel art bullet hell released back in 2016 in which the player makes their way through the Gungeon to find the gun to "kill their past".

The core gameplay loop includes entering the Dungeon, killing all enemies in the room and moving onto the next room. During or before/after a run, shops can be used to customise and improve runs with items.

In terms of unique selling points, Enter The Gungeon uses a teleport point system in order to keep the game fast paced and fun. These teleport points unlock after killing all of the enemies in the room and can be used from the minimap in order to circle back through the chamber.

Another unique aspect is how the multiple characters are handled. While having different characters with differing abilities is not uncommon for bullet hells, the way Enter The Gungeon uses these different characters for their endings is.

The end goal is to find the gun that kills the past, providing an opportunity to show each character's past before they ended up in the Gungeon. The way this is shown is through a quick cutscene and a final endgame boss, making the characterisation immersive. This helps with creating replayability since it gives the player a reason to play each character and try out new builds that play to each character's base abilities.

[timelineman-of-titors-edge]

There's something about dodging projectiles while good music plays that really gets the people going.