Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 443 Turn-based combat also involves bullets?

As Chu Chen performed his actions, the player's avatar moved to the end of the action sequence.

Next up was Sonnymilk.

Sunnymilk floated lightly into the air and waved his little hand.

"watch out!"

In the center of the screen, a line of spell cards with distinctly Eastern characteristics popped up.

【Ripple of Light】

The next second, countless tiny, pixel-based light bullets burst forth from her body, spreading outwards towards the player character like a ripple!

Just as the light bullet was about to hit, the game screen suddenly switched to bullet time, and a tutorial prompt popped up.

When facing attacks with a "bullet screen" attribute, you can choose to "graze" to deal with them.

[Grazing: Press the attack button the instant the enemy's bullet barrage hits.]

[Command Change: Attack → Grab]

Successfully grazing the target will trigger a counterattack and grant additional P points.

The original "Attack" option has now been replaced by a glowing "Grab" option.

This is a new combat system in Touhou Gensokyo, which is based on the parry system in Expedition 33.

The reason for adding this system is twofold: firstly, the original Touhou Project had a grazing design, and secondly, it was to enhance the player's sense of interaction.

Of course, Starry Sky is very restrained in its deployment of such things that clearly raise the "threshold," and on the one hand, it makes the judgment relatively lenient.

Secondly, it also adds "food" and "tools" that can automatically clear bullets.

Since this was the first trigger of the demo, the game immediately gave bullet time, and the graze was successful. The character model in the game instantly shrunk, and a faint glow appeared around its body.

On the screen, the pixelated light bullets seemed to come to life, whistling past him.

Immediately afterwards, the protagonist leaped forward and swung his axe.

"Pretty!"

Chu Chen couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Even though this is a demo, "hitting the iron" is still the best way to improve your feel for the game.

The block was successful, and a counterattack followed.

Add to that the visuals, and it's still pretty enjoyable.

At this point, the game's basic combat system has been fully revealed.

Immediately following, two more rounds of attacks occurred, and a circular energy bar appeared next to the player's portrait.

In fact, this energy bar had been slowly increasing after each attack and being hit, until now it was finally full, and the entire ring was radiating a brilliant light, and the words "Spirit Strike" also became brighter.

Incidentally, the ultimate move in the Touhou Project can be activated immediately once it's lit up, regardless of the turn.

Chu Chen pressed the ultimate move without hesitation.
Instantly, the background music across the entire battlefield stopped.

Time seemed to freeze, the background of the screen quickly darkened, and only a spotlight shone on the player character, whose model was in a charging pose.

Immediately afterwards, a scroll shaped like a talisman unfolded on the screen, with several large, flowing characters appearing on it—

[Spirit Strike: The Stranger's First Cry]

As the stirring music began, a sword light that tore through the sky descended from the heavens, carrying countless scattered runes and particle effects, and accurately struck the center of the three fairies' position.

The entire screen was engulfed by white light.
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255!
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255!
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255!

Three enormous damage numbers rose from the center of the explosion. As the light faded, the three fairies lay collapsed on the ground, a circle of small stars swirling above their heads.

They struggled to their feet, glanced at each other, and then burst into tears. They transformed into three streaks of light and fled into the depths of the forest without looking back, leaving behind only a mumbled message.

"You...you just wait..."

【Battle Victory】

The results screen popped up, showing that the dropped items were [10 pieces of wood] and some miscellaneous materials.

Chu Chen nodded. The current battle system was perfectly adequate for Touhou Gensokyo.

"The action sequence bar and shared skill points have only one issue: the grazing reward is a bit too high. Not only can you counterattack, but you also gain P points. If players fail to graze consecutively, they might feel quite frustrated. However, the overall framework is still pretty good..."

After giving a preliminary review of the combat framework, Chu Chen added two key points.

"For 'Touhou Gensokyo,' you still need to polish the performance aspect."

"The original work is a bullet hell game, and its charm lies in the gorgeous spell card battles."

“Every time a spell card is released, it is a unique highlight moment for the character. We need to allocate more art resources in this area, and it would be best if players could feel the urge to want these ultimate moves just by seeing them.”

"Overall, it was done well, even better than I expected."

To be honest, Chu Chen was quite surprised by the level of completion of this system.

It's hard to imagine that this demo was actually created by working overtime. With the boss's approval, Ishii Akira was also quite excited, which meant that their chances of making their debut at the Tokyo Game Show had increased significantly.

"Yes!"

After reviewing the combat system, Chu Chen basically agreed that the game was ready to be released and garner more attention.

But it's just a trial run.

To see things through to the end, he turned his attention back to the screen. After the battle, he returned to the large map where he could move freely.

Chu Chen controlled his character to return the way he came.

Chu Chen hadn't noticed it when they were in the woods, but now, as they moved back up to the Hakurei Rei Shrine, he realized that the camera work was different.

As you walk down from Hakurei Shrine, the camera is tilted slightly downwards, making the scene almost entirely filled with steps and trees.

As the camera moves upwards, it is adjusted again, but this time upwards, and the details of this adjustment give a different feeling.

You can see a part of the sky, sunlight filtering through layers of tree canopy, casting dappled shadows on the moss-covered stone path, and the faint chirping of birds in the distance.

When this 2D-HD art style is fully enabled, it does have a very unique charm.

Soon, at the end of the steps, stood the somewhat dilapidated Hakurei Shrine.

Back in the shrine courtyard, Reimu Hakurei was sitting on the veranda, leisurely drinking tea. When she saw the player return, her tone was slightly surprised.

[Reimu Hakurei]: "You're back so soon?"

Chu Chen opened his backpack and selected "Submit Quest Items". As the wood disappeared from his backpack, a quest completion notification popped up, but the expected reward screen did not appear immediately.

Instead, the camera zooms in, showing Reimu standing up and walking half a circle around the player character.

"Huh? Didn't those three troublemakers in the forest cause any trouble?"

"I thought you'd be kept occupied by them for a while, but it seems you're quite capable."

"Now that we've got the timber, let's not just stand around."

Reimu said, pointing towards a corner of the shrine.

"Come here, lend a hand."

(End of this chapter)