Well thanks for the ideas everyone. i've taken note and will proceed thinking about more ideas myself. so thank you. i especially liked the idea of cursors on the edge of the screen for bullets that you cant see.

Is the game played from a first-person or a third-person viewpoint? Because if you're playing from a third-person view, it might be easier for the player to see something coming up behind them, or for the game to display an alert that there's a projectile approaching.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.

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Original post by ProgrammerZ Is the game played from a first-person or a third-person viewpoint? Because if you're playing from a third-person view, it might be easier for the player to see something coming up behind them, or for the game to display an alert that there's a projectile approaching. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

didn't i mention it's first person? that's also what makes jump strafing hard(you don't really see where you're going to land).

Bullet Hell games are more about memory than reaction. The player needs to memorise the firing patterns of the enemies and to know where the safe hole is (where the bullets won't go). So, being able to see the bullets or not is only a minor problem, but is an important thing to considder.

In fps games, players don't always have to look where they are jumping. Often I will know the terain I am on when playing and will "blind jump" to the place I need while still firing at the enemy.

A way to make a character seem more mobile and acrobatic is to allow them to swing on objects (flagpoles, ropes, etc), leap off walls, grab onto ledges, jump off walls, etc. A good game to look at for athletics is Mirrors Edge.

Also forcing the player to move through boss firing patterns (the simplest is the one described by Iron Chef Carnage - considdered a first degree pattern). Others could be ones that try to predict where you will be , forcing the player to constantly modify how they are moving (these are second degree paterns as the players have to not just think about changing their position, but changing how they change their position).

These second degree paterns also force the player to be more athletic because they have to constantly use different movement skills (jumping, running, climbing, etc).

Another way to force the player to keep moving is to have a vulnerable spot on the enemy, but the eney constantly moves it away form the fireing line of the player. These also come in varing degrees (first or second degrees, etc).