Design Process

I initially had an idea to make a totally random game that will raise a question of, "What is the goal of this game?" Therefore, when I was assigned to create a shmup, I decided to make a character based on a banana I was eating at that time.  As soon as I had this character sketch in my mind, I was brainstorming the stories, mechanics, level designs and opponents that will fit my random game. 

Even though this game is for the pc screen, I kept the screen size to be 19 x 6 because I wanted to create a game for a mobile phone. Due to the small screen size, I super-deformed my main character and added the stem of the banana to add a defining characteristic

It is also applied to my enemy designs, which I made it round and large head to emphasize the character.

In each level, I used 2 to 3 enemies to balance out the level. Rabbit Pudding is the easiest sugar enemy to defeat since it does not shoot bullets so I place it on level one and level two. I realized that having the chocolate lion and gummy bear spawning at the same time make the game tough. So I placed them on level 3 to give a gradual curve of hardness.

Players know the direction of the enemies' movement due to the scrolling backgrounds. 

Playtesting:

First Playtest: 

• Initially, I had 7 bullets to shoot. The only way to charge was by collecting spawned bullets, but this decreased the game experience because players were dodging until the bullet spawns. They felt underpowered. 
• To match the theme of banana (Banana turning brown when it gets ripe), I added the time limits, but it did not affect the gameplay at all unless the players wanted to avoid the items that open the next level.
• I had no UI/UX design or sound effects, so players said that the game felt a bit boring.
• The control of the banana was too fast. It was too difficult to play.
• Weapons/bullets were geometrical shapes, so they did not match the game.
• The pace of the enemy spawning waves was varied - sometimes, too many enemies come into the scene, but there is also a pause moment where there are no enemies.

I realized I had a lack of visual references and incoherent mechanics to make the game 'fun.' 

Second Playtest:

• The particle system and the sound effect when the enemy destroys gives satisfaction.
• the blended background does not correspond to the cartoony style of characters
• The game becomes hard fast in Level 4.
• The damage interface of the player was clear enough for the play-testers.
• When there are too many enemies spawning at once, players tempt to dodge rather than combat. I did not add the scoring system so players were tempted to dodge the enemies instead of killing them

From first to second playtest I had a lot of comments on visuals, which enhances the gameplay. From this playtest, I realize I have to adjust the level curves.