In a great example that every vote counts, it was a close call but the Side Scrolling Arcade Shooter won out over Doom in the community poll.

Side Scrolling Arcade Shooter Challenge

Your challenge is to create a side scrolling arcade shooter. But not any side scrolling arcade shooter - your shooter must be set in a world without weapons - specifically, no bullets, missiles, or lasers considered a traditional game "weapon".

How does one have a shooter without player weapons? Flex the game design muscle - it is for you to decide.

Gameplay

Scrolling Shooters are a type of shoot'em up game that emphasize fast-paced shooting on a large scrolling playfield with many enemies. Oftentimes the enemies follow some kind of pattern or predetermined position.

In this challenge we have defined "Side" scrolling, meaning horizontal scrolling, and "arcade", implying fast-paced. Therefore the requirements for this challenge are to develop a fast-paced, horizontally scrolling shooter game where the protagonist is advancing through a level encountering hordes of enemies that they must pass - whether by eliminating or by out-maneuvering - in order to advance to the next level.

Games like R-Type fit this criteria - except the weapons.

Atari's Vanguard from 1982 is another example of an early scrolling shooter:

Challenge Requirements

The game must include:

• Main menu and a way to return to the main menu
• Game Design
  • Player navigating a horizontally scrolling level
    • Minimum one protagonist character controlled by the player
    • Must maneuver the player around moving and stationary obstacles
    • Minimum two levels
    • Must define the end goal for the level
  • Enemies or antagonists attempting to disrupt the player's progress and/or kill the player
    • The player can kill or ignore the enemies
    • Enemies may follow patterns or be strategically placed
    • When replaying levels, enemies always appear in the same location and follow the same behavioral patterns
  • Power-ups
    • Each level must contain at least one power-up that the player can pick up in the course of playing the level
    • Power-ups can be dropped by enemies or exist in special locations in the level
  • Gameplay must be designed for fast-paced action where the player's knowledge of the level, enemy behaviors, and ability to react quickly help the player advance.
• Audio
  • Minimum 1 music track fitting of the chosen labyrinth environment
  • Sound effects fitting for the environment
• Visual Arts
  • No restrictions
• NO TRADITIONAL "SHOOTER" WEAPONS FOR THE PLAYER - no bullets, missiles, or lasers
• Optional: one GameDev.net reference or easter egg

Dates

The official Challenge period starts on March 30, 2019 and ends at 11:59pm UTC June 1, 2019.

Submission

Create a new topic in the GameDev Challenge Group Forum as a submission announcement and include:

• Required: Link to project posted for download in GameDev Projects
  • Upload your files to the project so other members can download and play
  • Please contact me if your submission is a web-based game (GameDev Projects does support them!)
• Required: Screenshots should be included on the GameDev Project page and/or the Gallery Album for your project. Embedding screenshots in the topic announcement is encouraged.
  • Embedding YouTube or Vimeo trailers in your Project is also encouraged
• Required: A GameDev.net Blog post-mortem associated with your GameDev Project (select Project when posting blog).
  • Share what went right, what went wrong, or something you learned
• Optional: Source-code link is encouraged for educational purposes but not required
  • Github link, zip download in GameDev Project, or otherwise

Challenge Award

Participants who complete the Challenge Requirements and all of the Required submission elements will receive:

• 1,000 Pixels
• Mention in the GameDev.net Direct weekly newsletter
• The Arcade Shooter Award for your GameDev.net profile representing your completion of the Side Scrolling Arcade Shooter Challenge