Using 2D Animations to create a bullet hell game

Hello,

I am trying to make a 2D bullet-hell style game and want to hear any advice/suggestions on the best way to go about making one. I guess my game would seem a bit similar to Just Shapes and Beats and Project Arrythmia where there are basically a lot of 2D objects that you have to dodge. I am aware both games have a specific interface that they use to make it easy to build animations, animate them, sync to music, and such. However, it seems like quite the task to build such an interface, especially when I am just 1 person. Also, unlike those games, I would want to create more complex sprites that aren't just necessarily made up of multiple standard shapes.

I also know how to use animating software to export animations, and was also thinking that I could create an animation with transparent background and bring that into Unity, and somehow have Unity detect what is not transparent in the video and use that to detect collisions? I have no idea if this is a good or bad idea and I know I can animate in Unity too, but it seems a bit limited or complicated especially in the case when I need to create a bunch of custom sprites, movement, particles, etc.

I will appreciate any input on this!

 

That is thinking waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far beyond where you are at.

Instead, set yourself up for success by working through two or three tutorials for what you're trying to do, such as:

REMEMBER: How to do tutorials properly:

Tutorials are a GREAT idea. Tutorials should be used this way:

Step 1. Follow the tutorial and do every single step of the tutorial 100% precisely the way it is shown. Even the slightest deviation (even a single character!) generally ends in disaster. That's how software engineering works. Every single letter must be spelled, capitalized, punctuated and spaced (or not spaced) properly. Fortunately this is the easiest part to get right. Be a robot. Don't make any mistakes. BE PERFECT IN EVERYTHING YOU DO HERE.

If you get any errors, learn how to read the error code and fix it. Google is your friend here. Do NOT continue until you fix the error. The error will probably be somewhere near the parenthesis numbers (line and character position) in the file. It is almost CERTAINLY your typo causing the error, so look again and fix it.

Step 2. Go back and work through every part of the tutorial again, and this time explain it to your doggie. See how I am doing that in my avatar picture? If you have no dog, explain it to your house plant. If you are unable to explain any part of it, STOP. DO NOT PROCEED. Now go learn how that part works. Read the documentation on the functions involved. Go back to the tutorial and try to figure out WHY they did that. This is the part that takes a LOT of time when you are new. It might take days or weeks to work through a single 5-minute tutorial. Stick with it. You will learn.

Step 2 is the part everybody seems to miss. Without Step 2 you are simply a code-typing monkey and outside of the specific tutorial you did, you will be completely lost.

Of course, all this presupposes no errors in the tutorial. For certain tutorial makers (like Unity, Brackeys, Imphenzia, Sebastian Lague) this is usually the case. For some other less-well-known content creators, this is less true. Read the comments on the video: did anyone have issues like you did? If there's an error, you will NEVER be the first guy to find it.

Beyond that, Step 3, 4, 5 and 6 become easy because you already understand!

 

Thank you for the in-depth advice; I went through the first video you posted, and I think I'm getting a hang of what you are talking about! I think this Youtuber might be underrated with the views he is getting per video...By the way, are steps 3,4,5,6 supposed to refer to whatever I am doing after I completely go through and understand these tutorials? I don't think you mentioned them?

 

Pretty much... the important steps are the first two, but often people gloss over them, get lots of typo errors, waste tons of time, get discouraged, etc., then when they do get it working they have no idea why and they try to move on and do things and it's a mess, that's all I'm saying.

It sounds like you have gotten some grounding in what is going on, if you've done your step 2 properly. Now steps 3,4,5, are up to you. What next step would you like? Try some stuff, make small changes, test, test, test, and learn what controls what. Also remember there's like ten billion different ways to do things, so what one tutorial does is not necessarily compatible with another, (it often isn't) but can also bring you other insights.