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Soul Prison - Bullet Hell Roguelike

A topic by Gunroar created Jul 14, 2022 Views: 465 Replies: 2

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I've delved into a new "big" project...

SOUL PRISON

Based on a (bullet hell) game jam version I did. What I liked about making that version was I got to do anything I wanted when it came to enemy design. You see, in a bullet hell the enemies can do whatever the cheese they want. Tengai and Undertale are 2 good examples of this type of design.

Tengai where a giant samurai fish explodes into a death turtle.

Didn't believe me?

The jam version was kind of inspired by Undertale's style (then again the theme was constricted I think).

But this time I decided I liked the simple asthetic and made it a roguelike dungeon similar to nethack and The Binding of Isaac (which I've actually never really played :rofl: ).

The main inspiration of Soul Prison was taken from a bunch of things I liked from particular games. Namely: The Binding of Isaac, Nuclear Throne and Brogue.

The Binding of Isaac

The good

Lots of items and powerups that don't cancel each other out.
Powerups have visual effects on the character so at the end you'll look really different from the start
Player characters that change play style
Cool enemy design
Quite a lot of enemies

The bad

Kind of heavy on luck and what you find
Boring enemies in gameplay (in a sense)
Slowish
Player characters kinda look like Isaac with hair XD (...or similar)

Nuclear Throne

weapons....

The good

Fast paced (yes, I'm impatient)
Weapons that are really different from one another
Largely skilled based
Lots of player characters that look and play drastically different
Really cool enemy design
Good enemy design (gameplay wise)
Simple streamlined design
Lore fit in with barely any text

The bad

Limited "game"
Too...simple for what I want

Brogue

The good

Weapons that are really different from one another
Simple streamlined design
Failure always happens in a fun way ...ALWAYS

Lots of enemies that are drastically different from on another
*Rare variation of enemies and items
Lots of items that are different from one another
Really nice effects with the ASCII art and lighting
Quick to get into thoughtful action
Makes you think and use tactics
Staff of Discord
Enemies interact with the environment (limited though)
Enemies interact with each other (whether to help or hinder)
Good balance of skill and luck
Nice map design

The bad

One character (though that's not too bad and easy mode's player is a "&" instead of "@")
Luck be a lemming though (:P I don't know what that phrase means but I'm saying that RNG can skrew you up)

* Yes, other roguelikes have "rare" harder variants of normal enemies, but the modular way Brogue does it is so simple and it works. They may apply a buff to an enemy. That's all. Explosive buffs (enemy will explode on death), Brutal/Berserker buff (enemy is stronger than normal), Toxic (Enemy emits gas when hit), and a bunch more. It's still limited but I'll like to expand on this in mine.

And when it comes to items such as weapons and armour, the bethey could cursed or enchanted. Enchanted weapons work better and cursed ones do less damage...but SOMETIMES it may be more than just that. Some cursed equipment may have bad effects (mercy, duplication of enemies, explosive) and some enchanted may have goo effects (protection, regeneration, speed). It really makes some weapons feel special when you find out that all along that you had a Mace of Jelly Slaying.

Theres a lot of good there for Brogue, huh? Heheh, Brogue is deep.

Now with all of this I want to make something that takes the good of the games and avoids the bads.

So, finally, I present the core philosophy of "Soul Prison":

The Good Soul

Lots of items and powerups that don't cancel each other out.
Powerups have visual effects on the character so at the end you'll look really different from the start
Fast paced (yes, yes, I'm impatient)
Weapons that are really different from one another
Largely skilled based
Lots of player characters that look and play drastically different (>5)
Really cool enemy design
Lore fit in with barely any text
Weapons that are really different from one another
Simple streamlined design
Failure always happens in a fun way ...ALWAYS
Lots of enemies that are drastically different from on another
Rare variation of enemies and items
Lots of items that are different from one another
Quick to get into thoughtful action
Makes you think and use tactics
Staff of Discord (yes)
Enemies interact with the environment
Enemies interact with each other (whether to help or hinder)
LOTS of enemies

The Bad Soul

It's made by me!!! (Jk, future self, jk)
???

And along with a special rule I to help me with "LOTS of enemies". I'll try and make atleast one enemy a day!! (When things like battery life and electricity don't fail me.) Obviously if it's more than one that's fine too, but even if I have to make another blob thingy enemy I'll do it!

Here are some enemies I made:

See ya, keep your soul from the eternal depths of all that is exc- I mean from prison, keep your soul from prison :3

Follow me for updates!!!

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Gunroar2 years ago

So far the game is moving along just fine with my "soul" effort (like sole effort? That's the best I could come up with.)

These are the main elements in the game that I've been implementing:

- Guns

(When picked up the one you're holding is propelled at a speed and bounces off walls hurting enemies that gets in it's way. I also need as many guns (ridiculous or not) that I can get. So far some of what I have are a tennis gun, duck gun and a shotgun)

- Items

(When picked up it goes to the inventory slot and you hold it, then you can either throw it or use it, an element taken from Brogue, so each item should have atleast 2 uses)

- Upgrades

(These are items that change your appearance and don't get held/go to the inventory. I need more ideas for these XD )

- Sets

(Setpieces like boxes, flower vases and stuff. Also need to think of these more. Some are important like pressure plate + box combo that you need to do to unlock doors)

- Bullets

(What guns use. Guns control the amount of bullets shot and what bullet to shoot. Bullet data controls shot delay, bullet life span, etc, etc. Bullets are more important than guns data wise because some enemies shoot bullets but don't hold guns.)

- "Creatures"

(These are just anything with AI. They can do everything the player can do, though if they pickup items that could just feel unfair to the player. The bestiary should be fairly big as I don't want it to be possible for all types of creatures to show up in one run.)

I've also got a gas like thing I worked on...