Good/bad game idea: shmup based on sound waves

[Jabberwocky]

I got this idea recently while playing a shmup

Now, I don't remember much from physics, so this may be a bit wrong. But I remember that soundwaves hit an object at a higher rate the closer it is (i.e., the closer a sound-producing object is to another object, the louder it is to that object). The sound-receiving object can be the moving object if it approaches the sound-producing object itself, and then it will receive its soundwaves at a higher rate). Or the sound-producing object can be the moving object and give its soundwaves to the other object depending on how close/far it is.

This works inversely, obviously. The farther away a sound-producing object is from another object, the other object will receive its soundwaves at a slower, lower rate.

I think these principles could work for a shmup. Say the enemy shoots bullets in all directions, and these bullets follow its soundwaves. Bullets could be tactically placed on certain parts of the soundwave "lines" and you have to dodge them accordingly. The closer you are to the enemy, the more powerful the bullets hit - so if you're close to the enemy, they'll hit you at a faster rate and at a higher damage. Opposite if you're far from the enemy - slower rate of bullets hitting you and lower damage (and if there's damage then maybe we can ditch the "one hit kill"). The enemies could move on screen, so if they get close to you and you're low on health, naturally you'll have to go further away from the enemy (and if you have to pass the enemy up on screen, a semi-auto-lockon could allow you to shoot bullets towards the enemy at all times - say you're on the top of the screen, your bullets will go to the bottom if the enemy on the bottom; if you're on the left side of the screen, your bullets will shoot towards the right side if the enemy is on the right side of the screen, etc etc).

Also this could work for the player as well - the "ship" could generate soundwaves of bullets, and the closer you are to an enemy, these soundwave bullets will hit an enemy at a higher rate and with more damage. The more powerups a player could get, the more directions the bullets will shoot on the soundwaves (or with a wider range), or the faster the soundwaves will travel.

Good idea, bad idea? TL;DR? Has this idea ever been done before?

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Cohen, see PM for details about the LLC I've set up to make and publish Ghetto Blaster^TM

[demi]

Sounds like shit, who fucking plays shmups? fuckin loser

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Cohen, see PM for details about the LLC I've set up to make and publish Ghetto Blaster^TM

Nice, i was thing Doppler Effect^tm, but that is too artgamey to make any money.

I figured we could license some rappers to improve on Nitro's original idea.

[Jabberwocky]

Cohen, see PM for details about the LLC I've set up to make and publish Ghetto Blaster^TM

Nice, i was thing Doppler Effect^tm, but that is too artgamey to make any money.

DOPPLER EFFECT! That's what it was called.

[Van Cruncheon]

i've been working on DONKBANGER (tm 2008 ChavSoft; DO-DONKPACHI in japan) this past week; y'all gonna hear from my lawyers

[Himu]

I have to go pee pee

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Cohen, see PM for details about the LLC I've set up to make and publish Ghetto Blaster^TM

Nice, i was thing Doppler Effect^tm, but that is too artgamey to make any money.

I figured that we could license some rappers to improve on Nitro's original idea.

Are the 80's still in?  Can we cash in on that?

Let's save that for the sequel, a la Vice City. Neon Noise^TM will be the most anticipated followup of 2010!

[Himu]

What?

Would you rather go pee or play another music based 2d shooter?

[Jabberwocky]

What?

Would you rather go pee or play another music based 2d shooter?

It's not music based but I guess the possibilities could swing there.

[Himu]

I love your avatar, Nitro-san.

[Jabberwocky]

So good idea, then?

[MyNameIsMethodis]

I had an idea to base a schump on a song. For instance, my idea was taking "Aisle 10" from Scapegoat Wax and making a Schump outta the song, you know, enemies pop in at specific times and they shoot out synths in the specific song etc etc.

[Himu]

I want a 2d shooter where you go through every single part of the human body, including the penis.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

And if you called it Sonji Ka Ki Ni Hao it'd sell a million copies to japafags and be labelled as art-deco.

[Himu]

Methodis-Sama 

[Himu]

Scoop em up

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Schump

School U, Minister of Parliament

[tiesto]

Cohen, see PM for details about the LLC I've set up to make and publish Ghetto Blaster^TM

They already made a game called "Ghetto Blaster", and it's actually a racist game: http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-top-7-most-evil-games/a-20071217114714389015/p-3

[JustinP]

just skimmed the OP, but i didn't think soundwaves were faster simply because they were closer.  are you thinking about the doppler effect?  objects moving toward something are faster, objects moving farther are slower--this is why a car coming at you sounds different than a car going away from you. 

more distance means less energy in sound waves, but it's still the same frequency.  relative movement is what changes frequency. 

i'm not sure of any games that utilize the doppler effect, but it's something that is usually 'fixed' during development of shmups.  i'm doing a platformer shmup right now and currently the doppler effect is present -- while moving forward, the bullets are spaced closer together because the bullets spawn at a consistent velocity regardless fo player speed.  it looks sort of tacky, and to counter this, i'll try making bullet speed (set_speed + player_X_velocity) so that spray patterns are the same nomatter if you're moving forward or standing still (not positive this will get the results i want yet, as i haven't attempted it yet--it's just my current game plan when i go back to that). 

but if you want to create a game with those mechanics you describe, i don't really think it's important how accurate they are according to sound wave behavior.  i'd actually advise staying away from the strict rules of sound waves and just use the ideas you describe as a basis--this way you can deviate and add more variety to the game. 

[Tauntaun]

New inventive shmups are alright in my book. 

shmups