Idea for a cool platformer game!

--[short version] A bullet hell style, 2d sidescrolling platformer shmup, but instead of the monst ers providing the bullet hell part, it's your own weapons. --The idea was partly inspired by watching a let's play of Jamestown, followed by the same guy playing through a game called... something like super box crate. He was rubbish at the bullet hell, and didn't look so bad at super box crate, but kept accidentally killing himself with a gun that bounced back at him. --The game should be described as a bullet hell game, but for the first few levels it won't be immediately apparent as to why this is. The basic gameplay is like that of a sidescroller, instead of a bullet hell. You guide your character around, probably using the arrow keys + space to jump, and mouse to aim and fire at enemies. The life bar would have, say, 3 hearts per li fe, so you could take a couple hits before dying. The game starts like any other shmup platformer, you're introduced to various mo nster types, e.g. blob (just sits there but is hazardous to touch), walker, trac king (homing) walker, bouncer, tracking bouncer, flyer, tracking flyer... etc. There could be more of these introduced later on but for now, these are the stan dard enemies. None of them shoot, nor do any of the later enemies, which is why it's not obvious at first why this is a bullet hell game. The design of the levels but in my head I thought buildings, and some open pace with platforms, for isn't too relevant to the primary gimmick of the game, of a city for each level, with some enclosed spaces in spaces outside, and ending with large room or an open s the boss.

At the start, the player is equipped with a basic pistol, i.e. press fire and it shoots one bullet, medium rate of fire, small amount of damage. After a while t here's a shop or something, with the option to buy more weapons. This is where i t gets more interesting. The first new weapons will be things like bouncy bullet s, or basic mines. However, the player can be killed by his own weapons, so unle ss he's using a pistol, there's a chance that his own weapon will kill him. This is where my idea comes in. Obviously, in later levels, where there are more basic monsters swarming you, and higher level monsters that need more damage to kill, you're gonna need some stronger firepower than the basic pistol, but if y ou spam the strongest weapon you have, you're probably going to kill yourself, s o it turns into a dilemma where you're trying to kill the monsters fast enough b ut at the same time use the guns slowly enough so the monsters absorb most of th e projectiles. Obviously, this is where it becomes bullet hell - the monsters sw arm you in a random sort of way, but your own bullets would be programmed to for m patterns dependant on the type of gun you're using. A lot of the guns would be either mines, bouncy, or shrapnel(or radiation)-produ cing, to produce the most bullets. The danger of using a certain weapon should b e balanced proportionally to the damage the weapon deals. So if you're firing a nuke, you'll probably clear most of the enemies, but you'll have a hard time sta ying alive yourself. I thought of a few weapons, or weapon effects, already.

*** Bouncy bullets - Same damage and ROF as a normal pistol, but if you miss the ene my the first time, it'll bounce off a wall (or maybe 2 walls) before stopping Shredder - Fires multiple discs which bounce indefinitely, and only stop when th ey've dealt X damage to an enemy, and go through enemies with <X hp until they'v e dealt the damage. Or they do stop once they've hit several walls, but produce a small amount of shrapnel as if they were breaking apart Mines - Basic mine, float mine, bouncing mine (totally not just stealing from li ero here...) homing mines, timed detonation mines, shrapnel producing mines, etc . Lasers - high damage and instant shot speed, but can bounce off metal walls inde finitely, so shooting them inside a metal room will almost certainly make them b ounce back to you if they're not absorbed by monsters first. Nukes - super high damage and large explosions, but produce lots of shrapnel and radiation, which lingers for a couple minutes after the explosion. *** Also, after you've beaten a few bosses, you get tool upgrades like sticky boots, parachutes and ultimately a jet pack, which allows flight in short bursts, maki ng the game feel even more like a bullet hell style game. But still, the monster s do not produce the bullets, you do.