I've just begun work on a new program that lets you create your own arcade shooter without any artistic or programming experience. The first release will be free and I plan to keep it that way, depending on its popularity and my status as a poor college student
The Shoot em Up Creator (just the working name) lets you use predesigned ships or create your own with a simple editor that allows you to piece together ship parts and primitives (similar to DOGA if you're familiar with that). The editor can do anything that DBP allows you to do to objects and has extra features like setting part of a ship to automatically spin, for helicoptors etc.
There will also be a level designer that lets you place buildings (either predesigned or ones you create with the editor) enemies and scenery. Enemies can be given flight paths that are simply drawn with the mouse. The level designer lets you custumize and create everything from backdrops to lighting.
Users can also choose from predesigned HUDs or create their own. Of course they can also create their own title screens and story line sequences.
I've been working for roughly a week and have made good progress. The ship designer is completely done and I've just started on the level designer (right now just placing and modifying scenery is done).
I know most people here aren't interested in this kind of thing since we are all programmers but you think there would be interest in the main stream? A long time ago I got into game designing by using a program like this that was made for RPGs. Its still quite popular 10 years later even though it only lets you work with graphics that were old 15 years ago, so I think there is a demand for this kind of thing.
Let me know what you think!
Ship Editor:
This ship was made in under a minute
Level designer:
This scene was created in about a minute
