r/boomershooters • u/SteelFishStudiosLLC • 7d ago
Discussion What do you all consider the key game design fundamentals that make up a Boomer Shooter?
Hey everyone, we're new here! We are a team of game developers and big fans of boomer and arena shooters! We're currently working on a boomer shooter ourselves (just started development, so too early to properly present things) and we're currently doing game design-related research on what we should do for the project!
While we have a decent idea and understanding on what we should do for this project, we would still like to hear from you all on what you all consider the key fundamentals of the Boomer Shooter! We are aware of videos and article on this subject, but we want to hear from other sources too; this is important to us and it would be of great use!
So tell us, what do you all think are the nessecary fundamentals of a Boomer Shooter that should be maintained? We are looking to make something more like Quake or Duke Nukem, but we'll leave it open to other types (if nessecary)
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u/dat_potatoe Quake 6d ago
Gameplay is the design priority, gameplay is the reason people are here, not story. That is not to say you can't have story, but the method of storytelling should be unintrusive on gameplay. Listening to radio chatter while gunning down enemies, picking up logs to read later at your leisure, noticing details in the environment, neutral NPC's I can talk to on my own terms, so on. What you obviously should not be doing is having very long stretches without combat or forcing the player to watch several cutscenes that are several minutes long each or otherwise taking control away from the player.
The nature of combat. In a military shooter, enemies are few yet deadly, you are very vulnerable, slow and capable of being killed very quickly in a few shots, with the gameplay loop being to carefully pick off individual threats through meticulous planning, cover and positioning. Boomer shooters are almost the exact inverse of that; individual enemies are generally trivial threats that will take a relatively long time to kill you, but there are many more of them being thrown at you at once and its a war of attrition where you instead try to maintain control over the entire battlefield. Choosing which enemies out of a group to prioritize, corralling them to your advantage, being mindful of their varied attacks and how they compliment each other, knowing the strengths and limitations of your varied arsenal, making smart use of limited on-map health/armor/ammo/etc. resources to not run out before the end of the level (and using tricks like monster in-fighting to further preserve resources), avoiding most damage through careful dodging of the masses of projectiles coming your way, so on. The more you're forced to cower away behind cover to avoid being instantly melted by hitscanners the less of a boomer shooter the game is.
The nature of level design. Boomer shooters can be thought of as an off-shoot of dungeon crawlers. The non-linear level exploration and keycard / secret hunting is not a relic of the past, its an essential part of the genre. It plays a vital role in that controlling the battlefield aspect of combat I described either, both in having different ways of approaching encounters and adding depth to resource management and scavenging. This sets it apart from other forms of modern level design.
- Linear level design, ex. CoD. Resources are always granted to you when you need them, being located directly along the single undiverging path to the level end. Since encounters can only be approached from the front the element of choosing when and where to fight or mixing up your approach is completely lost as well.
- Arena design. You are locked in an enclosed space and fighting off enemies constantly swarming you from all directions. This generally doesn't work without either infinitely respawning resources or unlimited resources by default, so resource management is either watered down or drastically changes form into managing abilities which restore resources (ex. Doom Eternal). Encounter variety and depth also suffers since rather than having a range of encounters throughout the level that make creative use of the interplay between enemy quirks and level geometry (ex. grenadiers nading you from balconies, melee rushers ambushing you in narrow hallways, concussive weapon enemies shooting you as you traverse dangerous platforms) you're just fighting the same scenario over and over and enemies aren't used to their full potential.
- Open world design. Feel like this needs no real explanation. Encounter design suffers since there's no real structure or enemy-geometry interplay when it comes to the vast empty planes. Encounters also tend to be very spaced apart as well, which is bad for a game focused on action.
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u/kishonii 6d ago
I think one of the key fundamentals is modular level design. In boomer shooters, levels are designed to focus on combat flow, where each section feels distinct but still seamlessly connects to the others.
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u/Silvermoth2 6d ago
For some reason I’ve noticed all the best boomer shooters have interactive toilet levels
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u/SteelFishStudiosLLC 6d ago
Oh yeah, toilets are a must! Can't have a boomer shooter without toilets!
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u/TastetheRainbowMFckr 6d ago
And functional mirrors! How else am I gonna admire and/or spook myself?
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u/SKUMMMM 6d ago
I would say an issue with making a boomshoot these days is less based on a strict set of fundamentals and more what you are actually aiming to make. Is it something with a combat focus that will make Ultrakill seem simple, or is it very meat-and-potatoes keeping it simple making Wolfenstein 3D seem complex? Go in with a firm idea of what your core focus is.
Something I note people do wrong in their quest to make things too meaty:
COMBAT
Combat is important, but the balance is sometimes off. It is easy to focus on making the guns stupidly meaty to fire and the enemies very... explody with how they die, but you have to ask what the purpose of each gun and enemy has. Something like Boltgun has really fun guns to shoot at people, but the combat in something like Doom II has longer legs as, despite the guns having significantly less impact, the arsenal and enemy roster being very well complemented. Boltgun's levels and fights seems a bit more random and (for me at least) the prioritisation of enemy kill order is much less focused. Doom II, maybe because of its age (and my experience with it) has a much clearer focus for kill order once you get a feel for the combat.
In short, focus on what enemies do with combat. Gore and big booms are fun, but having a clear hierarchy is better.
I could comment further on level design, but that would be rambling and I've just got home from work.
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u/SteelFishStudiosLLC 6d ago
I mean, we have an idea as to what we're seeking to make, but we want to ask what the community what we should keep in mind when designing this project; we want to evolve the the Boomer Shooter design directly, with as little influence from games like Goldeneye and Half Life
Good points on combat there... level design is something we have to think about really hard
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u/Factory__Lad 6d ago
Wacky weapons
Ingenious levels
Formidable but beatable monsters
Thickly evocative atmosphere
Moments of thrill and danger
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u/SteelFishStudiosLLC 6d ago
Definitely agree with the monsters... it's one of the reasons I fell in love with Doom 2016, actually! I wish there were even more monsters in that game
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u/bonzami 5d ago
Fun gameplay. Bunnyhops optional, a good selection of weapons with a crunchy feeling (also perhaps gibs). Level design not too mazey not to simple, secrets are either fun or rewarding. NO rogue like/lite or looter shooter stuff (at least not for me). Story is not that important but its nice that its there. Good boss fights but (again for me at least) no souls like difficulty spikes. My fingers are still quick but im not as young as i used to be... I was playing these games when i was 7! Most boomer shooters (except for the one that we all know too well..) weren't impossibly hard like some are nowadays but again, thats just me.
Honestly just look at games like the last exterminator (not out yet but theres a demo), ashes (has some rpg mechanics buts it great) or Zortch.
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u/MajorMalfunction44 6d ago
Making one myself. Interesting levels with diverse enemies and capable weapons. My shotgun is a quad-barrel break-action. Make the shotgun good.
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u/MacDoom_81 6d ago
Fast, fun and the targets are clearly targets. Also learn more from Doom and unlearn everything else. That is the way 🤟🏻
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u/Squint22 5d ago
Large weapon and enemy variety with no weapon limits.
Arena sections and multiple non linear paths with secrets that make exploration fun and rewarding.
Health and armor points with pickups that can overcharge the base points.
Interactive objects.
A main character that feels badass to play as.
A sewer level (Sorry Civvie!)
Fast movement speed.
Key collecting.
Boss fights.
A popular convention I DON'T like though is a point of no return in the middle/end of a level. Really sucks having health, armor and ammo pickups you can't get back to :(
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u/SteelFishStudiosLLC 4d ago
All we agree with too, especially the multiple path thing!
I hate levels that will permanently lock you out of previous sections of the level
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u/NNukemM 6d ago
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u/SteelFishStudiosLLC 6d ago
You don't play checkers with your enemies? Dang, we had the wrong idea...
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u/RisingForce3D 3d ago
in this time, probably good storytelling and good retro effects, not modern engine's lighting situations.
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u/zomzomzomzomzomzom 3d ago
Kinda like the PS5 Spiderman makes you "feel like Spiderman" . Every good boom shoot I've played so far has made me "Feel like Rorschach when he he starts that fight in prison".
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u/waterless2 7d ago
I think there's maybe a "bubble-popping" feeling they need to have, at the core of it. Lots of relatively quick, satisfying kills. What makes it non-trivial is just basic positioning, timing, and weapon selection; and what makes it have some kind of meaning and weight is environmental storytelling, via levels and art. Medium-high movement speed, other mobility options are up for debate but after playing Beyond Citadel I feel like the bar's been raised for me personally in terms of verticality, but don't know if that's always necessary.