could someone point me to the "existing one(s)" mentioned by monele
I tried finding the one I mentioned that didn't seem linked to any project but I couldn't find it anymore
... I'm not sure it has its own thread so it might make things harder to find ~_~...
I'm concerned about the contrast between the two vastly different genres.
Hmm... It will have a lot to do with tastes, that's for sure. But your SHMUP/VN hybrid will probably be similar to a RPG in the sense that exploration/quiet is the job of the VN part and fighting/quick is the job of the shmup part.
Then, it depends on how much of both parts you want. Elven Relations had some RPG-type fighting, but it was a tiny part of the whole game. You were actually given the choice to get fights as a VN instead which was an awesome idea... but it works for Elven Relations because removing the RPG fights doesn't really detract from the experience.
I have the feeling your game is more "half and half" of both genres. Removing the VN or the shmup will probably destroy the experience as a whole ^^;... (well, maybe not, but given the descriptions, that's how I see it). So... unless you think it's possible to turn shmup scenes into VN scenes, you probably won't want a "VN-only" mode. Therefore, the idea of difficulty levels is certainly good as it'll lower the entry barrier for many people. Once that's done, though, you probably can't help having some people still uninterested by the VN/shmup mix. But I'd say that's the risk of mixing genres.
Of course, the "shmup mode" is also a good idea. People who want to play the shooter part without the story should be content with this and it doesn't demand any more work.
I've generally found that if I set the difficulty where it's kind of challenging for me to beat the game, then it's practically impossible for anyone else to even survive for 10 seconds.
Yeah, I've witnessed that recently too XD... That's why it's important to have people testing the game and telling you what they did. An RPG example is me beating some easy boss in 3 turns while my tester spent 7 turns on it. It never even occured to me that the fight *could* last that long. I also saw another tester get a character killed during the fight which also never happened to me.
Wether you use difficulty levels or somehow test the player results and give out more help (lives, ammo, power, whatever) is up to you, but yes, there has to be sort of "rubberband" effect so the game adapts to the player to a certain extent.
Maybe you could also indirectly ask the player if he feels overwhelmed : a character in the game asks this and will lend some help if needed.
Adding gameplay to a VN is alot of work.
I'd say it depends on what the gameplay is, really. A shmup is very graphic intensive and there's a lot of stuff moving around. If you take a rather static RPG fighting system, it's often a matter of drawing a picture per fighter and setting up the fights... and of course, coding the RPG system
... Well... let's say it's as complex as you let it be.
Now, for the project I have in mind, I thought of making the RPG part a bit more proeminent, but only for fights. No map exploring (otherwise, might as well make an actual RPG)... Not sure how accessible I can make it though. The fact it would be turn-based should work for VN players since there's no twitch reflexes needed... and if fights are more "clever", maybe VN players wouldn't be bored compared to a simple repetitive bashing until HP=0.
But honestly, I'm not really expecting pure VN players to like it. It's more for people who like RPGs AND VNs.
