u/Consistent_Look_8638

Hey everyone!

Last week, I shared a Standard run of Mission 3 from my side-scrolling shmup, Project Aether. The feedback helped me see two things:

• There were visibility issues between the player ship and the drones
• The mission had too much empty time between threats and wasn't yet asking enough of the player

About the visibility issues: I've reworked the drone with stronger line-art and with less "stealthier" colours, taking a more "industrial" look this time. I've also desaturated the background to allow the ships to pop out a bit more. And finally, added an optional collision reticule to the player ship.

Now onto what I want to focus on: I've kept Standard as the version that introduces the drones, firing lanes and squad skills. I've added High-Threat Operation as the optional version for players who already know those systems and wish for a harder challenge. It doesn't just apply a general speed multiplier or add more HP to every enemy: it uses its own encounter table with more enemies and tighter timings, and both squad skills are available from first contact. The attached video is a full High Threat run. I'm mainly looking for feedback on these points:

• Does the mission create enough pressure through positioning and priorities?
• Do the overlapping formations remain readable?
• Does High Threat feel like a meaningful step up from Standard, rather than just a busier version of the same mission?

I know a video isn't the same as playing it. If anyone would like to try the current build, I'm happy to send a download link in exchange for feedback.

For context, the earlier Standard run and discussion are here: https://www.reddit.com/r/shmupdev/comments/1vkovbs/looking_for_leveldesign_feedback_on_my_game/

I've also written a longer dev log about the visual pass, readability changes and High Threat design: https://jpb18.itch.io/project-aether/devlog/1631945/building-a-visual-language-that-supports-the-challenge

Hey everyone!

A while ago, I asked this community for ideas on how I could signal non-destructive resolution on a boss in the game I'm developing, Project Aether. I got some great feedback, so I'm back with another request.

I've recently finished the current playable version of the game's 3rd mission. The player restores a frontier relay while facing increasingly harder enemy formations. The mission introduces recurring team skills and culminates in a two-phase command-platform boss that deploys additional enemy groups. It's also the first mission where most of the visual asset work is now in place: enemies, boss, player and team ships and the environment.

I'm reasonably happy with the visual direction so far, but I’d really appreciate feedback on the level itself (see video above). In particular:

• Does the level’s escalation look clear and satisfying?
• Are the enemy formations readable enough while the player is also managing team skills?
• Does the boss feel like a natural conclusion to the mission?
• Is there any moment where the background or HUD interferes with threat readability?
• ... any other feedback you feel is relevant

This is all still in development, so I'm specifically looking for constructive criticism.

Thanks!

Hello there, everyone!

I'm new to this community and I'm still learning about shmup design. I wanted to ask you all a question, regardless if you're an experienced player or dev.

I'm currently building a 2D space shooter prototype, I'm calling it Project Aether. As of right now ALL assets are temporary (assets are mostly procedural inside Godot, the only exceptions are the dialogues using Piper TTS and the background music, which I asked Codex to generate a temporary BGM that I'm using everywhere so far). The clip I include here is from the fourth mission during the boss encounter. This boss can be approached as the typical combat sequence: just destroy all the subsystems and it's done. However, I also want a non-destructive approach. The player can place a "stabilizer" that configures the boss into a "safe mode", without destroying it.

My design problem is how to communicate that possibility without pausing the action, turning it into a dialogue choice, or making players feel punished for engaging with the combat system. At the moment, the player receives information through the mission briefing and intelligence screens before the mission, then has to recognise the relevant cues during the encounter. I’m unsure how explicit that should be.

For people who design or play a lot of shmups: how would you signal an optional alternative objective in a boss encounter while keeping the shooting flow intact? Would you make the possibility clear in the briefing, teach it through an earlier encounter, signal it during combat, or leave it mostly for the player to discover? I’m particularly interested in examples where a boss encounter has more than one meaningful resolution without becoming slow or overly instructional.

Anyways, thanks in advance for the answers!