Should the wings dip on a spaceship in a side on Shmup? lol

[4ppleseed]

Just been watching footage of Side On Shmups; Rtype, Gradius ... that sorta thing and the wings of the spaceship tip from side to side when you go up and down.

The way I see it is; in top down shooters the wings dip down towards the right when you press right because the spaceship is banking to the right. If it was exactly the same game but flipped to side few, they wouldn't tip to the right if the spaceship was going up and down but in 60%+ of Side On's they do!

Thunder Force 3 doesn't, the ship is level whilst up and down.

I'm making some sprites for a little Shmup game, to dip or not to dip, that is the question!

[Mr. Stripe]

I think if it was physically accurate the front should dip when going down and the front should go up when the ship is going up. But I don't know how easy that would be to create or how much that would get in the way in terms of dodging bullets.

[peace4myheart]

I think if you focus on the gameplay and you do it well, many people won't have time to notice such trivial details as they are too busy dodging bullets. Shmups aren't simulation that need to be that accurate on the physics of the ships, though it would be a nice touch if you do have the time. Anyway, in shmups, gameplay mechanic is king. Once you got that down, everything else is just icing on the cake.

[4ppleseed]

I think if it was physically accurate the front should dip when going down and the front should go up when the ship is going up. But I don't know how easy that would be to create or how much that would get in the way in terms of dodging bullets.

Yeah, the problem with the nose of the spaceship rising and falling would be the bullets not looking like they would coming out straight.

I think if you focus on the gameplay and you do it well, many people won't have time to notice such trivial details as they are too busy dodging bullets. Shmups aren't simulation that need to be that accurate on the physics of the ships, though it would be a nice touch if you do have the time. Anyway, in shmups, gameplay mechanic is king. Once you got that down, everything else is just icing on the cake.

Of course, gameplay is king. BUT WHERES THE DIP????

The more I look into other side ons the more they dip. I guess just having a static sprite on the screen look dull so they add this roll from side to side, whilst going up and down just to make things look nicer.

I'm still undecided. The dip just looks kooky to me.

[SpaceBooger]

Technically if the game takes place in space a ship can not bank to the left or right by just turning to that side they would need thrusters on every side of the ship.
This is a major misconception in science fiction that space ships work like planes. The rudders of a plane uses the force and friction of the air molecules to maneuver. Newton's first law of motion states "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." So to turn in space where there is no unbalanced force (gravity or friction) thrusters need to be on every side of the ship.

Ok, science rant over.... yes I do think that little details such as the graphics can make a difference even if you only notice it for brief seconds between waves of enemy fire.

[ott0bot]

It's always cool to see the little details. Steel Empire does the little wing trick you were talking about alot. Even though it's not physically correct, it looks cool. I really dig the little details in Android Assualt too. It may be a bit next gen, but I love the animation on Einhander. Just look at his little feet, now ain't that darling.

Instead you could put little flaps on the wings and have them move up or down. OR small thrusters that just shoot out a little busrt when you go up and down. That would be cool. But if it's static, then oh well, as long as the gameplay is good.

[Ivo]

There was this nifty side-scrolling shooter for the Amiga, called something like "Caffeine free: diet shoot em up" (it was a wacky title). You actually controlled the thrust and needed to periodically turn the nose up and thrust a bit, the nose did dip frontwards or backwards with the shots being fired in the direction it was facing. It was quite fun. I've always thought this gameplay mechanic was under explored - why don't you try for it? It would distinguish your game from the hordes of shooters out there.

Ivo.

[metaleggman]

I agree. Going up and down and seeing the plane move like that can seem kind of awkward. Like it's trying to run away or towards you. I like it in topdown shumps as it gives a realistic sense to it.