Score in shoot em up is very important!
Scoring, (and not dying!), is the main goal of any Shmup.
This section will describe the various scoring systems available in the SHMUP Creator.
ENEMY SCORES
BASIC SCORE
The simplest scoring system: each time the player kills an enemy, its score increases. Each kind of enemy can be worth a different amount of points. Items can also add points to the score.
To obtain the highest score possible the player should kill the most enemies he can and grab the most items.
MULTIPLIER
Your game can also implement a score multiplier.
Each time the player gain points (by killing an enemy or grabbing a score item), the points are multiplied by the current multiplier.
The basic formula is:
new score = current score + (Base point value X multiplier)
Where the Base point value is the basic amount of point an enemy or a score item adds to the score. This is the value you can set in the gameplay tab of the enemies or items.
When the game starts, the multiplier is equal to 1. Later, it can increment.
Ex: The player kills a small enemy, worth 10 points. But at this moment, the multiplier is at 5. The gain will be: 10 * 5 = 50 points instead of only 10. Nice!
There are several ways to increase the multiplier:
– multiplier items: items can add points to the multiplier. (note that items can add small values, like 0.1 to the multiplier. It doesn’t have to be an integer).
The more the player grabs those items, the bigger the multiplier
– Chains: see below for the concept of chaining.
You can display the multiplier in the HUD
CHAINS
Chaining if the action of shooting down enemies in a row. Doing so is called a combo, and increment the multiplier.
But the chain is time-dependant: the interval of time between to killed enemies should not go higher than a certain time. If the interval is higher, the chain is broken.
Ex: For instance, you can set-up the Chain time interval to 1 second. When you start the level, the multiplier is at 1. You kill an enemy, and if you kill another enemy before 1 second, the multiplier increase to 2. If you kill another enemy before 1 second again, the multiplier increase to 3. If you kill another enemy after 1 second, the chain is broken and the multiplier is reset to 0.
You can display the time interval on-screen with a gauge
MEDALS
Medals are a special type of item, which can be used in different ways to create a scoring system.
CHAINING
You can chain medals, and the chains can be used for several scoring techniques.
Unlike enemies chaining, which uses time to validate combos, chaining medals means most of the time grabbing them and not lose one. If a medal goes out of the screen, the player loses it, and the chain is broken.
Note: Items placed on the level can't be lost and are always alive.
MULTIPLIER
Grabbing a medal can increment the score multiplier if it is part of a chain.
The medal score can also be added to the multiplier.
Ex: the player grabs a 100 points medal: 100 is added to the multiplier. Multipliers can go very high quickly with this option!
Grabbing a medal can increment the medal score if it’s part of a chain.
Ex: the player grabs a 10 points medal. Later, he grabs a medal of the same type and the medal score is now 20. Each time the player grabs the same medals, the score of the medal is:
Medal base score X number of times the player grabbed this medal.
MEDAL TYPE
Grabbing a medal can increment its type if it’s part of a chain.
It means that when the player grabs a medal, the next medal coming from a dead enemy will be the medal with the bigger score.
To make this works, you have to create several medal items and set different score to them. The engine will sort the items per score and use the right one at the right moment.
Ex: the user created 3 medals, with scores of 5, 10 and 50. Then he placed 3 enemies in the level, choosing the 1st item (the one with a score of 5) for the Death item for all 3 enemies. When the player shoots the first enemy, the medal with a score of 5 will appears. If the player grabs it, then kill another enemy, this time the medal with a score of 10 will appears, and so on. If the user checked "Losing a medal breaks combos" and miss a medal, the next medal will be back to the one with the score of 5.