Hello everyone,
I'm pretty far off in my game development, but one thing bothers me more and more and i need some opinions.
I am making a 2D sidescrolling roguelike endless shmup and very soon i will have to decide whether i will have a 0-100 health/armor system (100 hp, enemy bullets deal from 1-100 damage) or a "life" system (10 lives, all bullet or enemy contact takes one life and makes you invincible for few seconds).
Health system is quite well implemented in Jets 'n' Guns, though the game is level based and linear, with armor pickups inplemented in levels. Endless games like Steredenn implement life system with replenishment at the end if every level.
Life system is more "hardcore" oriented and it probably suits the "hardcore" audience more, which is probably the majority of the genre players, but it is severely limiting in terms of design of enemy attacks and bullet sizes. On the other hand, health system seems more approachable, enables much wider variety of enemies and attacks, but i'm afraid it might put off players that passionately like the genre and still not prove appaling enough for other players. Another con would be that it can be harder to balance.
What do you think? I personally lean towards health model, but besides jets 'n' guns which is level based, not endless, i don't know many other good examples.
