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1. Concept/overview 

2. Game conflict

3. Story/Setting 

4. GameMechanics

5. GamePlay

6. Level Design

7. EnemyTypes

8. Player Abilities 

9. Extras

Concept/Overview-

The concept of this game is of a 2d space shooter in which you have to deal with waves of enemies and environmental hazards in order to win. The world that this game takes place in is that of a military simulator for a new starfighter prototype. You are a cadet of the navy corp taking part in this simulator for your graduation assignment in which you have to complete 15 different combat scenarios. This serves as context for the stages you are dealing with as the player. The enemies that you face are the simulated forces that the rebels typically have at their disposal.Over the course of the game you will have to deal with 15 different basic enemies and 3 boss class enemies.While also dealing with environmental hazards like asteroids and turrets .The way you progress in this game is by reaching the end of the stage by surviving all the enemies and hazards that are trying to kill you. Granted you are encouraged to try to destroy all the enemies you encounter because you get points.But you can also lose points by taking damage from the environmental hazards so your shooting skills are not the only thing you should focus on .The points in this context are directly tied to where you end up for your classes leaderboard since this game is a test. So to summarize try to shoot all your enemies and avoid anything trying to kill you and you will do well at this game

Game Conflict- 

The overall conflict of this game is pretty simple: you are trying to pass a military exam. Which sounds pretty mundane but the exam has you shooting “bad guys” and dodging dangers so it's more exciting than most of the exams you have probably done. The most simple way to solve this conflict is to complete all the 15 combat scenarios without dying that much which will probably get you a decent grade for the military exam. But that's only if you are fine with starting at the very bottom of the military hierarchy and having to slog through 5 military ranks in order to get to the rank promised to bottom half of the top scores of the exam. So if you have some actual ambition in you cadet I suggest you get ready to bring your A-game for the exam by studying the enemy program files for their attack patterns and weak points so you can prove your dedication to the empire. After all, you do want to make your sponsor feel like they were right to put so much resources into your education by showing skills worthy of a first lieutenant imperial pilot right. Do that and you will be rewarded with your sponsor’s favor, prestige in the military and the right to pilot the spacecraft you are using in the simulation for the exam. We sincerely hope that you will give your all on this assignment cadet.  

Story/Setting 

 The main story of this game is that you are a cadet in the military completing an assignment that serves as the graduation exam that will decide a huge chunk of your future in the imperial military.The main reason for this is that due to this exam being a last minute addition the upper echelon of the ranks of the military decided to award higher ranks to those who do exceptionally well on the test rather than just having everyone graduate as equals .You also learn that the empire you serve is in the middle of a rebellion due to the simulation that you are in charge of completing having the enemies being the rebellion air units you are expected to fight once you complete your training. The story also reveals that the character you are playing is an orphan that was only able to attend the academy due to being sponsored by someone who wields a certain amount of influence in the empire. And it is due to this fact that your character is motivated to study the simulations and do well on the exams in order to show that your sponsor’s faith in you was not misplaced. The setting that this game is based on is naturally high scifi. With your basic advanced technology,wars are being settled due to the actions of a brave solo pilot,all empires being evil oppressive jerks hiding behind a false cloak of benevolence and nobodies finding out they are the children of great people with a grand destiny before them. You know your basic standard Sci-fi tropes.     

GameMechanics 

This game has two main mechanics that the player should take advantage of if they want to obtain a high score for the exam. Targeting weak points and knowing what types of shots to use. All of the enemy units you encounter have some weak point that when exploited deals extra damage to the enemy and increases that enemy point total for when it is destroyed.This is doubly so for the boss units who have weapons that you can shoot off which can rapidly change how the fight progresses.If you want to get the highest score possible the game will reward you for recognizing enemy flight paths to know when you should shoot for maximum damage with maximum rewards. The second mechanic that they need to take advantage of is when to use click shots or charge shots. Click shots are typically better for high health and less numerous enemies due to shooting very fast low damage shots with over the period of clicking becoming slower but stronger. Charge shots are better with low health units that line up since it is a laser. Knowing when to charge and when to click will be essential to taking on the enemies you face while you complete the simulation.    

Gameplay  

The main gameplay loop of this game is to clear the level while shooting as many enemies as you can while dodging environmental hazards and enemy flight paths.You destroy enemies by firing upon them with your lasers and energy shots while they retaliate by returning fire with their weapons/ or charging at you.This gameplay encourages those who learn the in and outs of the shooting system mainly when it is more efficient to use lasers or click shots to clear enemies out. This is further made clear on the weak point system that all enemies have which reward players who take care of where they are shooting rather than just shooting for the hell of shooting. This game has no power ups that you would traditionally find in most 2d shooters to further emphasize the importance of a player’s skill to complete the game rather than rely on things that are outside of the player’s control in order to achieve victory. If you learn both the level and the mechanics that game has you will not only clear the game quicker on later runs but gain a higher point total for the level.    

Level Design   

 Most of the levels are shaped the same on the surface with the levels having similar background designs. But the real thing that makes all the levels different from one another is the enemies and hazards you fight from stage to stage. On the first stage the only enemies you may fight are the basic drone units with maybe some beetles for some extra challenge. Then next you're facing all the enemy types complete with asteroids that you have to take into account for when you try to dodge incoming enemy fire while trying to line up your own shots. The types of enemies that are spawned, how they are spawned and if there are environmental hazards you have to avoid determining how you go about completing the level. Do you focus beetles so their lasers stop denying you entire places to dodge the asteroids or focus on the drones running around since once they go off stage they may be gone but you get no points from them. It's decisions like these that we want to force the player to try to solve that makes each level unique in their own individual way despite visually the same.    

Enemy Types 

There are four types of regular enemy types and one boss type for the player to deal with if the player wants to succeed at the game. The humble wasp which is a fast rapid firing target that you will be shooting hundreds of by the time you finish mastering this game. Unlike all the other enemies this one can go off the screen which means if you do not destroy them quickly potential points are lost from you from the level during your run. Then you have the ant with its long laser mandible cannon acting as a form of area denial which can be especially annoying when it blocks you from dodging asteroids or shooting at fleeing drones. Now we get to the dragonfly with its armament of homing missiles, a projectile that the player must actually shoot at if they want. Thankfully they can only do that once so after that it is just regular old energy bolts you have to contend with. And finally the scarab this behemoth has no ranged weapons to speak of but it is a heavily armored ship that beeline at the player to ram at it to destroy it. Taking it out is a priority to avoid a fatal hit. Then there is the boss unit, the beetle that takes the weak point system up to an eleven with its shootable parts that change the battle rapidly depending on what is destroyed. Take out one of the guns the power that was fueling it is rerouted to the other weapon systems and shields further empowering them.    

Player Abilities 

The main abilities that the player has access to is their shot types which have been covered before but will be expanded upon here. The player has two shot types which are their click shots and their charge lasers. The click shots will start off weaker than the charge lazer but grow in strength till they are stronger than the laser. They are really good for dealing with high health enemies like the scarabs and ants. The charge laser however sacrifices the high damage of click shots for more targets since it deals damage to all enemy units caught in its line of fire making it perfect for having to deal with waves of wasps and volleys of missiles. Not to mention the fact that you have two canons for the charge shot compared to the one for the click shot. Granted this is balanced, the weapons not being able to be fired at the same time and the fact that the click shot loses its stopping power when it is not being used. This lends to the games replayability since by playing the stages you get a feel for when to use which weapons and how to keep the click shot at its highest damage setting for maximum impact.  

Extras 

When you feel comfortable with all the stages of the game there are 2 extra modes if you desire to truly test yourself. These modes are the final exam and the score attack. Final exam is essentially you playing all the stages at once with all the damage you take carrying over from each stage to the next with only 1 life. This is essentially the quote on quote hard mode of the game with the score you get from across all levels determining what your fate is in the imperial military. Score attack is how you survive wave upon wave of different foes which tests how long you can survive and how many points you get. In order to prevent someone from only dodging to get a long time you have to continuously destroy units that add to a lifetime value that is always going down. As off now this is all the game will have for extra content once it is finally finished