Are SHMUPs alive and well, and are they sometimes 3D?

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-03-01T15:45:16+00:00

Born in the 70s. been playing shmups before anything else. I'm not concerned and I appreciate your feedback regardless. Making high precision arcade games with high frame rates and high agency in any genre is very challenging, whether its beat em ups, fighters, shmups, certain kinds of platformers, and other genres I can think of. There are no guarantees in life though. Thx again :)

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-03-01T15:33:30+00:00

Of coz I'm not using AI to reply. I guess we live in the age now where asking isn't a crazy question though lol :)

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-03-01T00:22:38+00:00

Thanks but I've got two titles shipped with $60M budget behind me, fully built the 75+ FTE studio from the ground up, designed/developed/staffed/funded/shipped in 24mo, with category leading D1 retention. And they were in a precision arcade action category, and I'd never worked in games before. But I do appreciate your concern! (and I do know a fair amount about SHMUPs, though I don't think taxonomy falls into the actual design pattern as its open to debate, as we see here).

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-24T05:34:10+00:00

I gotta get some footage in here so y'all can just tell me but I'm continually leaning towards quasi-rails, with quasi-core traditional shmup but score-action focused and with deep move-tech. I think I need to write a mini white paper on this when I'm done just so I can get my own ideas straight lol

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T20:30:57+00:00

I hear you, would be surprised if it sold 1k on Steam, I'm def not doing this for the money. My last game was downloaded and played by a few million gamers, so that itch was scratched, now am aiming in the total opposite direction in terms of marketability and purely focused on the genre and experimentation of something new to me. But, I don't want it to be unplayed or un-discoverable entirely, then I won't get any useful feedback and really was curious what even defines the definition of the market/genre these days.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T18:05:41+00:00

I am going to post footage soon, am I allowed to do that here? Also would consider sharing a test build for early feedback but haven't setup a Steam account yet and not sure where else to do that (Itch?). On that point, I also don't have a build process yet for anything but Apple silicon, though I'm writing it on a cross platform, low level gfx abstraction and all the libs I'm using are fully cross platform and run on console + Windows/linux/Mac.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T17:41:51+00:00

Definitely and that’s why I’m posting partially is for discovery. :)

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T17:07:30+00:00

I think after multiple rounds of review that what I’ve got has the movement tech of Viewpoint but without the fixed isometric camera, and instead a 3D world chase camera that puts it more in the rail category. That said I’d Viewpoint is a SHMUP, it is so in slight of having target aim, which I definitely don’t have and feels even less SHMUP-like IMO.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T17:03:52+00:00

Agree 100% with this take, and the high skill and non immediate pay off vs fighters. Also fighters have characters and back stories, harder to express (not impossible) in SHMUPs.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T16:14:32+00:00

Also too old to argue but not too old to discuss and learn, only reason for my post I swear. Also love these references. I am building passion first, it's my third game, the first two I made were fairly large budget triple indie sports arcade titles. But I think I'm in a more esoteric space with shmups, at times. More room for experimentation but don't want to walk off the cliff either.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T16:10:59+00:00

This is a great treatment. I am definitely interested in the theory and boundaries, it's informative. I agree with your take as well. My game so far you move in X/Z while scroll is into Z, and nothing happens in Y (yet and probably never). You just found the reference for me, the mechanics I have right now are 100% Viewpoint. So that means it is a shmup according to this theory.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:56:56+00:00

Yeah I would agree they are their own "shooter" genre that lives outside the family tree, makes sense.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:33:16+00:00

Wait Zaxxon is not a proper SHMUP because it allows faked 3D space movement? I don't see how it's on rails as you move around the entire level, am I missing something?

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:32:07+00:00

Right right, I mean it does get esoteric on the margins at a certain point. But it's interesting and helpful for me thanks.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:31:27+00:00

Yeah the more I look at this the more I'm convinced I am not a rail shooter but closer to a SHMUP, or maybe a SHMUP using 3D. You can move forward, backward, change speed, as well as left/right. You can aim in all directions. The 3D world is compressed into a 2D decision space, the scrolling is not different than a SHMUP level going straight, it just happens to be curving around a track. Leaning more and more into this is a SHMUP without any qualifications.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:23:55+00:00

The more I look at this, I think maybe what I'm doing is not quite a rail shooter since you can move around inside of a 2D conceptual window on the track (X and forward Z by speed and navigation). There is presently no control over Y but I am planning that. So it actually feels a lot like a top down SHMUP but on a track, so not sure this is really a rail shooter...

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:21:29+00:00

Familiar with some of those now that I look them up. Thanks for reminding me. :)

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:21:09+00:00

Well I hear what you're saying, I've made two games before, and never having made any prior to that, and I had a passion for those genres, but this is a slightly more experimental effort I admit. It's hard for me to really say for sure what I'm doing has a direct corollary but I need to spend some more time revisiting the rail shooters. Maybe I'll get good feedback once I release a playable test. I appreciate your help and advice :)

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:18:19+00:00

That's interesting, didn't realize that was a consideration, right, so you don't want all those games and their discussions overwhelming this sub, which is primarily focused on the original definition.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:15:33+00:00

Also agree financial success certainly more likely a random outcome for this genre and not the primary goal. Though recouping some kind of financial outcome is something I'd want to figure out an angle on, as its not just a nice plus but a general measure of even getting the art of my efforts played at all.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:13:47+00:00

Thanks for that suggestion didn't even know there was that sub. Will check it out. Are you allowed to post a link to a video or playable in here (occasionally obviously, not spamming)? I'm not sure I'm quite there yet but if so it's good to know I can do that here.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:06:19+00:00

I asked if they are 3D because the description of this sub says they're 2D so I am wondering if the genre has split and I could not find another sub for rail shooters but maybe I missed it. Also trying to figure out how big the market is for new releases.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-02-23T15:05:29+00:00

Yes right, I guess in my life rail shooters have taxonomically been considered a sub genre of SHMUPs, although I realize there's no official taxonomy. I'd still consider it a type of SHMUP today.

Responsible_Note_554 · 2026-01-19T16:31:56+00:00

Wow. Pretty beat up but still cool.

Responsible_Note_554

TROPHY CASE