how to make bullets feel more bullety

[fxokz]

In every single game ive made, the bullets are just circles that move and when destroyed play a 4 frame animation of some goo looking explosion.. In my game i want the gun to really feel juicy.. like it has some weight and the bullets really impact when they hit. But i dont know where to start. How do you guys go around making good projectiles?

 

[DyingSilence]

Try making bullets with raycasting. It will require a little programming, but will surely look good.

 

[fxokz]

raycasting?

 

[SnoutUp]

Character knockback, weapon knockback, movement trail on bullets, enemy knockback on hit, bullet casings dropping out the weapon and bouncing on the ground.

 

[fxokz]

Character knockback, weapon knockback, movement trail on bullets, enemy knockback on hit, bullet casings dropping out the weapon and bouncing on the ground.

movement trail sounds good. bullet casings is a maybe. i already have a knockback system. my main problem is this

how can i make that look better? i dont really know what makes a good pixel art bullet. i dont want something that looks like a real gun bullet but more like mega mans projectiles.. its hard to explain

edit: that sprite above is a place holder but i really dont know what to add..

 

[SnoutUp]

You might find "The art of screenshake helpful" video:

As far bullet art, if you're not looking for realism, you can do some longer beam-like sprite with light gradient (that way you don't even need a trail).

movement trail sounds good. bullet casings is a maybe. i already have a knockback system. my main problem is this

how can i make that look better? i dont really know what makes a good pixel art bullet. i dont want something that looks like a real gun bullet but more like mega mans projectiles.. its hard to explain

edit: that sprite above is a place holder but i really dont know what to add..

 

[Khao]

Sound is a big one. A bullet just won't feel great if it doesn't also have a great sound to go along. Just don't go overboard with it. The best sound effects are the ones that fit so perfectly well that you don't notice they're even there.

 

[DyingSilence]

Raycasting is a technique of instant travel and interaction happening in one frame.

https://altairsonofdarkness.itch.io/zapora

Here's an example made by myself. Just left-click until you get to play.

 

[fxokz]

Sound is a big one. A bullet just won't feel great if it doesn't also have a great sound to go along. Just don't go overboard with it. The best sound effects are the ones that fit so perfectly well that you don't notice they're even there.

do you know where i can make my own sounds? bfxr.net doesnt seem to do very well anymore xd

 

[Yokcos]

Bullet sprite can be as large as is reasonable (maybe larger)
Can be mostly white or some other striking colour, fading to another colour near the edge. SnoutUp posted some wonderful examples of this.
Bullets can move ridiculously fast to start, and lose speed over time, expiring when they stop or just before (only if they're the player's bullets. Enemy bullets should be slow or there should be adequate warning before they're shot)
Increase the number of bullets. Instead of one bullet, shoot five at a time.
Increase the rate of fire. Instead of five shots per second, why not twenty?
For a frame or so when the bullet first appears, the entire screen can be slightly illuminated. Make colours lighter for the briefest fraction of a second.
Shake the damn screen as much as you can get away with (then shake it more)
If you have the skill, do some chromatic aberration.
Freeze the game for 0.01 seconds or so every time they shoot.
Zoom out the camera while the player is shooting.
If you can do a lighting engine (or buy one or whatever), you should definitely have a vicious flash of light with every gunshot.
etc.

Here's some more talks on the matter:

 

[fxokz]

Bullet sprite can be as large as is reasonable (maybe larger)
Can be mostly white or some other striking colour, fading to another colour near the edge. SnoutUp posted some wonderful examples of this.
Bullets can move ridiculously fast to start, and lose speed over time, expiring when they stop or just before (only if they're the player's bullets. Enemy bullets should be slow or there should be adequate warning before they're shot)
Increase the number of bullets. Instead of one bullet, shoot five at a time.
Increase the rate of fire. Instead of five shots per second, why not twenty?
For a frame or so when the bullet first appears, the entire screen can be slightly illuminated. Make colours lighter for the briefest fraction of a second.
Shake the damn screen as much as you can get away with (then shake it more)
If you have the skill, do some chromatic aberration.
Freeze the game for 0.01 seconds or so every time they shoot.
Zoom out the camera while the player is shooting.
If you can do a lighting engine (or buy one or whatever), you should definitely have a vicious flash of light with every gunshot.
etc.

Here's some more talks on the matter:

I watched "why your death animation sucks" and ill definitely watch the other one aswell. and yeah screenshake is definitely something ill implement,

Zoom out the camera while the player is shooting.

now that seems like a nice effect i might add MIGHT.
freezing the game doesnt really seem like it would fit my games theme though i have seen it in a lot of videos.
Thanks for your help everyone!!

by the way @Yokcos that gif in your signature looks insane.

 

[Yal]

Screen shake, high velocity, a snappy sound, and the bullet glowing, I'd say. Depends a lot on how powerful the bullet actually is, but you'd generally want it to feel more awesome than it actually is. Having the bullet recoil slow down the player's momentum also makes the bullet feel more powerful, and also has uses in gameplay. You might want to check out the projectiles in Cave Story and Axiom Verge, both are really simple pixelart stuff but the added effects do a lot to make them feel more powerful.

 

[Zghaun]

Have you played Shotgun Fun Fun? you'll get an idea

 

[Blazing]

Have you looked at videos of tracer rounds being fired? Those are how real bullets behave when you can see them and might make for some good research.

 

[ajan-ko]

It comes down to 3 thing: SFX, Screen Shake, Explosion Effect.
https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/pyramid-wave-gjj-entry-2017.17762/

 

[RizbIT]

but look in reality you actually cant even see a bullet.

so to make a bullet look realistic would mean making it so fast players cant see it...

but it depends if its a bullet from a pistol a character fires, really all you can do is use the kind of effects like spark on the gun and damage/explosion when bullet collides. focus more on gameplay then if you get time, focus on the little things that will improve look of game

 

[Triangle]

but look in reality you actually cant even see a bullet.

so to make a bullet look realistic would mean making it so fast players cant see it...

but it depends if its a bullet from a pistol a character fires, really all you can do is use the kind of effects like spark on the gun and damage/explosion when bullet collides. focus more on gameplay then if you get time, focus on the little things that will improve look of game

This is true, after all a huge number of sacrifices must be made to make a realistic game playable. Some things simply need visual feedback no matter how far you drill down to a realistic core of your game. But there are ways to make bullets both provide essential feedback and retain realism. You might not be able to use the massive arcady bullets that help with that for a realistic game, but you can still use tracers as have been mentioned earlier in the thread. I'm currently making a very realistic shooter myself, so I'm planning to have bullets appear as straight, flashing lines in a similar way. Personally, I'd say that the bullet sprite itself is the least important part of the visuals of shooting, and I'd recommend beefing up impacts, casings, muzzle flash, and such instead. Don't sweat it - if the player can shoot things without having any confusion about where the shots are going, you've basically succeeded with the basic parts of it.

 

[Niels]

Hitscan shots look far more realistic than flying bullets on screen...

Basically draw a collision line from the gun to the edge of the screen, then only draw a impact effect on the closest collision object.

I used it in this project:

Disclaimer: this clip is from a very very early build of a canceled project.