Crystal Breaker is an aggressive vertical shmup. It requires close range attacks and quick destruction. There are a total of 8 stages. And your goal is to clear all stages. The next stage will be unlocked when you clear the stage. Once a stage is unlocked, it can be played at any time. Scores are recorded for each stage, so you can play score attack on each stage. And it supports online leaderboards.
You can choose between two players with different abilities
When you start the game, you will see player select. There are two types to choose from: standard type and short range power type. The short range power type has a shorter shot distance and doubles the attack power. You can select players for each stage.
With two buttons: shot and boost
The controls for this game are very standard. Move your aircraft using the left stick or direction buttons. It has a two-button system: shot and boost. You can assign these to any button. Shots are fired automatically by holding down the button. Boost uses the boost gauge, but it recovers quickly. Boost is one of the features of this game. You can quickly approach and destroy enemies. You can avoid enemy bullets by moving at high speed.
Your weapon is only shots
Your weapon is only shots. There are no bombs or subweapons. When you get the P item, the shot will be powered up and the directions to shoot the shot will increase (up to 3 levels, 5 direction shots). When fully powered up, high-tension music plays. If you get the P item with full power up, enemy bullets will disappear. If your aircraft receives damage, it will be powered down by one level and your score will be deducted (minus 10,000 points). It's a very simple system, so you can focus on defeating the enemy with shots without having to think about anything complicated.
You should actively overlap and attack the enemy
You will not receive damage even if you come into contact with the enemy body. It is effective for you to quickly approach the enemy and destroy it by overlapping. However, if you come into contact with enemy bullets, you will receive damage, so be careful. For reference, this game doesn't have any nasty gimmicks like walls with collision detection. Only enemy bullets will take damage.
HP system
When your aircraft receives damage, your HP will decrease. When all your HP is gone, the game is over. Your HP increases by score (Every Extend). The initial value of your HP is 4. If this game is difficult for you, you can increase the initial value of your HP in the options menu.
Rank system
As time passes, the enemy's rank will increase (up to 5 ranks). When your aircraft receives damage, it will go down by one rank. Also, the time count for rank up will be reset. The rank system will provide a challenge for advanced players. And it will bring relief to beginners. It is not effective to lower your rank by taking damage on purpose. This is because if your aircraft takes damage, your shot will be powered down, your HP will be reduced, and your score will be deducted.
訳の結果
Collect crystals and get crystal bonuses
When you reach 100 crystals, you will receive a crystal bonus (100,000 points). Crystals appear by destroying certain enemies. Furthermore, crystals will appear when you shoot close range shots at enemies. This is called a crystal break. If your aircraft takes damage, you will lose the crystals you own.
Get chain bonus
A chain occurs when you destroy enemies or ground panels consecutively. When you reach 50 chains, you will receive a chain bonus (70,000 points). In my past games, the chain bonus occurred when the chain broke. However, the chain was becoming too important for the score, so I changed this mechanic.
Enemies appear one after another
When you destroy an enemy formation, the next enemy formation will appear. By defeating enemies quickly, more enemies (including bonus enemies) will appear.
For reference, the locations of the ground panels and bosses are fixed.
Bonus enemies appear frequently
Various bonus enemies often appear in this game. The music changes when a bonus enemy appears, so you can easily recognize it. If you destroy bonus enemies under certain conditions, such as simultaneous destruction, you can receive a special bonus (80,000 points). There are various other bonuses as well. If you destroy the yellow panel, you will receive a bonus (10,000 points). If you destroy a specific hidden panel, you will receive a secret bonus (50,000 points).
fast boss fight
A boss will appear at the end of the stage. In the case of long stages, bosses will also appear along the way. The time limit for boss battles is only 30 seconds. It is effective to quickly destroy it with a close-range shot. If you fail to destroy the boss within the time limit, you will not receive the boss score. If you successfully destroy the boss, the more time you have left, the more time bonus you will receive.
Can be played as 8 caravan stages
Scores are recorded for each stage, so in other words, you can play 8 caravan stages. Even after you have cleared all stages, you can choose your favorite stage and challenge the score attack as many times as you like.
About this work
What my works have in common is that players can experience the learning effect.
This work particularly strongly reflects this. The first stage is about 2 minutes long, but the stages gradually get longer. Therefore, the difficulty of the stages will gradually increase. However, if you use the experience you learned in the early stages, you can break through.
I have made several caravan shmups so far. Raging Blasters features weapon switching using items and two-player cooperative play. Star Gagnant uses a unique rapid fire system, stage structure, and story.
Crystal Breaker is a simpler game that reflects the caravan style throughout all stages. Ground panels are placed on all stages, and bonus enemies often appear. Weapons are shot only, auto fire. A very fast boss fight. The music changes when fully powered up or when a bonus enemy appears. There is no storyline in the game that would hinder the tempo. As for the uniqueness, I added things like player selection with different abilities, high speed movement with boosts, no contact damage with enemies, and crystal breaks with short range shots. Crystal Breaker is a very exciting shmup. Stay tuned!
Crystal Breaker is scheduled to be released on Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2024. Please add it to your Steam wishlist.
*This game is currently under development, so specifications may change.