I have been thinking of a great setting for a game, but my problem is that I am unsure if the game mechanics I am looking for that would fit with the setting I am after is possible.

Basically I want to make a kind of sidescrolling "Hotline Miami", the problem is that I don't know if a game like that is even possible because I can't think of one. All sidescrolling "shooters" I can think about use visible slow bullets that you avoid. Do anyone know of any example of a game that is sidescrolling but have mechanics where the player and the enemies shoot at each other, but without visible bullets?

Alternative, any game with a kind of "overview" viewpoint, but where the characters are visible from the side? Like the view in Don't Strave for example (but with firefights without visible bullets) http://www.keengamer.com/Image/Image/16176

I have been thinking of a great setting for a game, but my problem is that I am unsure if the game mechanics I am looking for that would fit with the setting I am after is possible.

Basically I want to make a kind of sidescrolling "Hotline Miami", the problem is that I don't know if a game like that is even possible because I can't think of one. All sidescrolling "shooters" I can think about use visible slow bullets that you avoid. Do anyone know of any example of a game that is sidescrolling but have mechanics where the player and the enemies shoot at each other, but without visible bullets?

Alternative, any game with a kind of "overview" viewpoint, but where the characters are visible from the side? Like the view in Don't Strave for example (but with firefights without visible bullets) http://www.keengamer.com/Image/Image/16176

IIRC the bullets in Hotline Miami are fast but visible. I think the concept is worth exploring, but you need to replace the element of dodging slow bullets with something equivalent, like making smart decisions on how to use cover and dodge-rolling from cover to cover, or something like that. You also might want to look into endless runners and see if you can find some that involve shooting (I think I've seen a mecha themed one that could be interesting, but I don't remember the name). Those might answer some questions for you on what works as you expect and what feels a lot different than you intended.

Risk of Rain i guess.

Earthworm Jim?

I can't find a description besides "can't see bullets" on-line, but it was designed for the D-pad controllers with 8 possible shooting directions, and if you held the "shoot" button and went from one direction to another, the engine would act like you shot bullets in a complete arc between two neighboring directions. Many complained it was hard to hit enemies with the "invisible" bullets, but this mechanic actually made it quite easy.

Well, maybe not what you think about, but here goes anyway:

Check out the venerable Earthworm Jim 2 on the SNES. The starting weapon of Jim was a gun that was shooting normal bullets. You got an insane amount of muzzle flash, and a satisfying amount of impact effects, but the bullets where invisible in between, with enemies taking damage if they came into the imaginary line of fire between the muzzle and the place where the bullets would impact (pretty much like in reality)... shots hit instantly, without travel time.

The weapon was automatic, with ammunition counting down while you hold down the trigger, and enemies taking damage the longer they stayed in the line of fire (thus simulating a "stream of bullets" quite accuratly for its time).

Made for quite a different expierience compared to the shooters of the day. Well, most probably was greenlit BECAUSE this wasn't a shooter but more a wacky jump-n-run. Evading bullets and having to hit enemies wasn't the core mechanic, so the designers most probably felt more like experimenting with the formula.

IMO it worked quite well. Instead of jumping out of the way of bullets, you had to come up with ways to not get into the line of fire in the first place, or to quickly take out enemies with weapons before they could fire. But then, I didn't play too much of the game...

Don't know if this was already the case in Earthworm Jim, given I haven't played that for over 20 years now. But if I remember correctly, the gun of the protagonist had a similar behaviour in that game, just with less flashy effects than in the sequel.

EDIT:

achild beat me to it. Yes, it worked surprisingly well. I think the game was far ahead of its time in many things (amongst it the wacky humour making fun of many videogame tropes at the time).

About Earthworm Jim, it was one of my favorite games when growing up. But in the case of this game, the player shoots invisible bullets, but as far as I can recall there are no enemies that does? That is the biggest problem. To have enemies that shoot "invisible" bullets, but at the same time have a mechanic where you can actually "protect" yourself in some way from them with cover/dodge without it feeling unfair.