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Bullet Hell games - Brotato (5/5) -

Finally for my research into bullet hell game loops I looked into Brotato.

I've personally never played Brotato but the game loop mechanics look like every bullet hell, you fight enemies, dodge the tons of projectiles/enemies over and over in different waves/levels until you die and do it again.

In the video I watched below I watched clips of the gameplay where you have to dodge the enemies locked onto chasing you while you have to shoot at them to kill them first in different waves over and over with guns.

This type of game loop is quite fun to play in general as it's the repetitive motion of shooting enemies, dodging projectiles and enemies over and over to gain a new highscore or another goal the game has set out for the player.

Final Summary:

Bullet hells are quite good as game loops as it keeps the player consistently interested and hooked into the game with the thought of losing alongside keeping you hooked by the usage of projectiles.

I'd definitely say this is a successful genre of game loops as it's still very popular today and regularly gets chosen a lot over things suck as block breakers.

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Bullet Hell games - Nitrome Must Die (4/5) -

After looking into Cuphead I went onto looking into one of my favourite old bullet hell games, Nitrome Must Die.

Nitrome must die is a 2D two person platform shooter game that incorporates the bullet hell game loop as one of its fundamental mechanics for the game.

The goal in the game is simple, you spawn in each level, you kill all the monsters, potentially get new guns when your current one runs out, and then move onto the next over and over infinitely until you die and then go again.

This game works really well as a bullet hell with the game loop as it has a infinite replayable feel about it where each level is just slightly different from the last to keep the feeling of making the player want to keep playing rather than switching games.

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Bullet Hell games - Cuphead (3/5) -

After looking into Undertale to begin with, I moved onto looking at my next game on my list for Bullet hell games - Cuphead.

In Cuphead you're confined to a 2D sidescroller plane and go through many different boss fights where you have to dodge projectiles and different attacks that fly toward you amongst other things happening on screen.

The main loop it seems of bullet hells is going through level by level nearly continuously fighting enemies, dodging bullets and then doing it over and over in a loop.

In Cuphead they give different powerups to help you fight back through the fights to defeat bosses quicker through the different stages of the fight to try and keep it interesting as you can then do different strategies per fight to keep players hooked.

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Bullet Hell games - Undertale (2/5)

To begin with looking into Bullet hells I started off with Undertale and looking at how different fights work with loops.

The fights in Undertale are quite simple when you look at in game mechanics, you explore for a bit, fight a character with a very similar fighting mechanic loop, and then repeat it over and over.

This sort of game loop is quite good as it consistently is keeping the player interested to keep playing more and more.

There are also fights where it becomes harder to dodge attacks within the box with your heart so it adds a layer of difficulty to the game.

I'd personally say Undertale is quite successful in it's genre as it's still favoured in communities for its fight game loop sequences over the years.

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Bullet Hell games - What is a bullet hell and how is it a game loop? (1/5) -

After looking into Endless runners and Block breaker game loops, I moved onto looking at bullet hell games and their game loops.

A bullet hell game is a consistent fighting/shoot em up games where you are in a loop of dodging projectiles, shooting enemies and in general are infinitely in a loop of combat and dodging mass amounts of projectiles that never ends, hence the name "Bullet hell".

For this I chose to look into;

Undertale

Cuphead

Brotato

Nitrome Must Die

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Block Breakers - Breakout (4/4):

I then finally looked into Breakout, the original Block Breaker game.

This game has been recreated over the years many times but the mechanics are all the same, you hit the ball off the paddle which you control to break all the bricks visible on screen to clear the level until you lose.

This game is another really good game loop of having a consistent goal in mind of breaking all the bricks on screen until you win.

Final Summary:

Block breaker games are really good for game loops too, obviously this type of game loop is different to the endless runner one but it's still the same goal of making the player keep replaying the game over and over to either beat a highscore or another goal.

I'd say though that this genre isn't really successful due to it's genre sort of fading away as it's less popular than an endless runner game for example.

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Block Breakers - Peglin (3/4):

After looking into Nubby's Number Factory I moved onto looking into Peglin.

I personally don't know much about this game but from what I can see it looks quite identical to Peggle from different screenshots.

I personally really like this style of block breaker game with unique map layouts for the pegs on screen and this type of block breaker makes it a really good game loop.

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Block Breakers - Nubby's Number Factory (2/4):

I then next looked into Nubby's Number Factory for my second block breaker game.

This game is a very addictive block breaker game (Saying from personal experience), as you shoot nubby, the live ball into the board to try and clear as much as you possibly can to get bonus coins after hitting your goal each round.

The game is very good with its simple game loop of shooting nubby, clearing your goal and then doing it over and over for 80 rounds alongside the possibility of doing it infinitely after beating the game.

After a while the game becomes impossible to beat so it's a constant replayable goal of trying to beat your highscore which works really well and makes it a successful block breaker game.

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Block Breakers - Peggle (1/4):

Block breaker games are where you typically shoot a bullet of some sort into a level of bricks to destroy them all to complete the level before moving onto the next one.

With this I chose to look at these set of games;

Peggle

Nubby's Number Factory

Peglin

Breakout

With this I then went onto looking into Peggle first.

Peggle's game loop mechanics are quite basic but work really well. You have a set amount of balls to shoot out from a cannon on top and your goal is to hit all the red pegs within the board.

At the bottom of the map there is a moving basket of sorts that if you hit a ball into it, you regain another ball to shoot again.

This game is a very good game loop as the variety of levels makes it really replayable for the player on it.

I'd say this game is very successful as they even made a second game, Peggle 2 which was successful too even though it's the same game premise as the first.

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Endless runners - Minion Rush (6/6):

Finally for looking into endless runners I ended it off with Minion Rush. This games gameplay loop is the exact same as all the previous ones of running until you die and then playing again for a new highscore.

The game also contains cosmetics that the player can aim for which influences the urge to keep replaying it over and over again.

Final Summary:

Endless runners are really good with their game loops as they all have the same premise of just running in a set direction until you die from the level being too difficult, only to then try again.

From looking at all these endless runner games though I can say this genre of endless runners is quite successful due to this type of game loop genre is more popular from games such as Subway Surfers, but even old titles like Flappy Bird is still relevant today.

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Endless runners - Jetpack Joyride (5/6):

After looking into Subway Surfers I went into looking at Jetpack Joyride for my next endless runner game.

This game uses the usage of flight once again much like Flappy Bird in a 2D level environment.

This game is once again very fun as it uses the highscore system of how many metres you've gone rather than a usual score alongside you being able to collect coins to later unlock cosmetics within the game to make it feel like there's a goal in place for the player.

This gameplay loop is exactly the same as the other previous endless runners I looked into as the levels are infinite and become eventually impossible to beat so you constantly are trying to strive for a higher score than your last.

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Endless runners - Subway Surfers (4/6):

I then next for my third endless runner game to look into chose to do Subway Surfers next.

Subway surfers is much like the other endless runner games, but this game includes different powerups to keep the game interesting.

The powerups could be sneakers that make you jump higher or even a jetpack so you can skip parts of the level even though it's infinite anyways so it just gives the illusion of you progressing a lot more than you actually are.

This gameplay loop is the exact same so I won't keep just repeating myself over and over of the same stuff, but it keeps the player hooked still.

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Endless runners - Crossy Road (3/6):

After looking into Flappy Bird I moved onto next looking into Crossy Road.

Crossy road is a bit different than the other endless runners I've planned to look into due to how the game is set up.

At the end of the day the game loop is the same as all the other endless runners; the player walks in a set area forward until the player dies due to there being obstacles.

For Flappy Bird's obstacles it was green pipes within a 2D plane, but this game uses rivers, cars and trains as their obstacles.

Endless runners all use highscore systems to keep the player aiming toward a goal even though the levels are infinite to try and create a illusion of accomplishment within the game which in turn then keeps the player coming back to play it over and over again.

Once again there's nothing wrong with this game as it's consistently infinite to play alongside the element of there being more difficult obstacles of the cars/trains.

The camera following the player also moves slowly over time to begin with but eventually speeds up to the point where the player rushes and messes up which then results in the player dying and then retrying again, making it a perfect game loop.

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Endless runners - Flappy Bird (2/6):

To begin looking into endless runner games and their loops I decided on choosing to start off with Flappy Bird.

Flappy birds endless 2D runner game loop is quite simple, you play as the bird and have to tap/click on the screen (Depending if you're on pc or mobile) to make the bird fly higher to fit through the variety of green pipes in front of you.

The loop in this game is the green pipes of it consistently spawning in and making it slowly more difficult over time until the player loses.

The game also consists of a highscore system which influences the player to try and beat that score by playing over and over again, making it not only addictive for people but also a really good game loop.

Realistically there is nothing unsuccessful within this game due to how iconic and popular it is even today but this game is a really good example on how to do a game loop and keep it interesting for the players.

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Endless runners - What are they? (1/6):

An endless runner game is where the player is constantly running forward throughout different premade environments that constantly load in infinitely until the player dies due to there being obstacles within the area ahead.

For this genre of game loops I chose to look at;

Subway Surfers

Minion Rush

Jetpack Joyride

Flappy Bird

Crossy Road

With these game I'll look at how each game does their game loop slightly different alongside their similarities & how each game is successful in their own way.

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Gameplay loops summarised

After watching most of the video linked above I then got an idea of what a game loop actually is.

Gameplay loops; What are they? -

A gameplay loop is the consistent repetitive sequence that players experience doing over and over to keep them playing and entertained.

With this I then looked into three different genres of game loops to identify each ones game loops and understand their own USP (Unique Selling Point).

Different genres I'll be looking at for this research -

Endless Runners

Block Breakers (Breakout/Bubble bobble/Pong)

Bullet Hells

From this I'll look at different games with focusing and comparing each game based on similarities and what makes a game successful/unsuccessful on their game loops.