Shoot the Bullet
Encyclopedia
is a shoot 'em up
photography game, and is the ninth-and-a-half official game in the Touhou Project
by the dōjin circle
Team Shanghai Alice
. It was first released in the 69th Comiket
on December 30, 2005. In English speaking circles, the game's title is often shortened to just Shoot the Bullet, and abbreviated to StB.
s, the player cannot shoot projectiles at enemies; instead, Aya, the main character, must shoot photographs to clear the screen of bullets and take down bosses (hence "Shoot" the Bullet). Scores are determined by the aesthetics of each photograph taken, such as colours and bullet density, and the risk taken to take these photos. For each "scene", Aya is only given one life to complete the objective — to take a certain number of pictures of the boss without being hit in a limited amount of time.
To take pictures, the film must be fully loaded into the camera (100%). The player can move at three speeds, the normal speed, the focused speed, and a super-focused speed which also allows for high speed film loading. When taking pictures, the player can hold the shoot button to control the viewfinder
while the picture frame shrinks — this can be used to zoom in on the boss. During this time, all bullets on screen are slowed down and Aya cannot move. If the shoot button is held for too long, the film will get overexposed and Aya would have to reload the film. The player can also press the shoot button once without holding to take a snapshot around Aya. For every picture taken, Aya will need to reload the film from 0% again before she can take another picture. Only photos that contain an image of the boss ("Success" pictures) will be taken into account when tallying up the score.
The subjects: (all bosses from past Windows Touhou Project installments)
The only member of Team Shanghai Alice, who goes by the pseudonym "ZUN", recognized that all past installments of the Touhou Project drew inspiration from arcade game
s, so he wanted to turn all that around and make an experimental PC game that throws arcade conventions aside.
The idea of a danmaku photography game first came to ZUN when he was taking snapshots of bullet patterns during the production of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil so that he could name them into "spell cards" to distinguish one pattern from another. He realized that taking snapshots was quite fun, and the idea should make a good game. After Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, ZUN tried to incorporate this idea into a new weapon type for Reimu Hakurei (the main character of the Touhou Project) where she would take pictures and seal away bullets. However, ZUN felt that he was forcing a totally new idea into the game unnaturally, since none of the characters in the games had a reason to shoot photos; so he filed the idea away for two years until after Imperishable Night
was released.
ZUN decided that in order to introduce the idea naturally, he needed a character who actually had a reason to shoot photographs. Thus he created the reporter girl Aya Shameimaru and planned to introduce her in the upcoming game Phantasmagoria of Flower View so that she can become the main character of a future photography game without being too abrupt. During this process, the manga
publisher Ichijinsha
was planning a manga anthology of Touhou Project dōjinshi
, but ZUN decided that he can use this opportunity to introduce Aya, and negotiated with Ichijinsha to turn the anthology into a fanbook that contains samplings of Aya's newspaper. The result was Touhou Bunkachou ~ Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red., which was released three days before Phantasmagoria of Flower View. ZUN had originally planned to include the photography game along with the fanbook, but ZUN did not have enough time to make that happen. Even so, ZUN continued to use the name "Touhou Bunkachou" for his photography game without Ichijinsha's authorization (although Ichijinsha later agreed to let ZUN use the name). Development took a month and a half to finish, and the game Touhou Bunkachou ~ Shoot the Bullet. was finally released on December 30, 2005.
In addition to being a standalone game, Shoot the Bullet became something of a game engine
on which ZUN's future games base on. Mountain of Faith
and Uwabami Breakers (Drinking Party, 2007) are two games which use Shoot the Bullet as their prototype.
On March 14, 2010, Shoot the Bullets sequel Double Spoiler
was released. It retains the gameplay of Shoot the Bullet with renewed characters.
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
photography game, and is the ninth-and-a-half official game in the Touhou Project
Touhou Project
The , also known as Toho Project or Project Shrine Maiden, is a Japanese dōjin game series focused on bullet hell shooters made by the one-man developer Team Shanghai Alice, whose sole member, known as ZUN, is responsible for all the graphics, music, and programming for the most part...
by the dōjin circle
Dojin soft
, also sometimes called , are video games created by Japanese hobbyists or hobbyist groups , more for fun than for profit; essentially, the Japanese equivalent of independent video games. Most of them are based on pre-existing material, but some are entirely original creations...
Team Shanghai Alice
Team Shanghai Alice
is a one-man Japanese dojin game developer specializing in shoot 'em ups. The team's only releases thus far have been the Touhou Project games and related merchandise.-Games:*The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil...
. It was first released in the 69th Comiket
Comiket
, otherwise known as the , is the world's largest self-published comic book fair, held twice a year in Tokyo, Japan. The first Comiket was held on December 21, 1975, with only about 32 participating circles and an estimated 600 attendees. Attendance has since swelled to over a half million people....
on December 30, 2005. In English speaking circles, the game's title is often shortened to just Shoot the Bullet, and abbreviated to StB.
Gameplay
In Shoot the Bullet, unlike other shoot 'em upShoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
s, the player cannot shoot projectiles at enemies; instead, Aya, the main character, must shoot photographs to clear the screen of bullets and take down bosses (hence "Shoot" the Bullet). Scores are determined by the aesthetics of each photograph taken, such as colours and bullet density, and the risk taken to take these photos. For each "scene", Aya is only given one life to complete the objective — to take a certain number of pictures of the boss without being hit in a limited amount of time.
To take pictures, the film must be fully loaded into the camera (100%). The player can move at three speeds, the normal speed, the focused speed, and a super-focused speed which also allows for high speed film loading. When taking pictures, the player can hold the shoot button to control the viewfinder
Viewfinder
In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and in many cases to focus, the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main optical system. Viewfinders are used in many cameras of...
while the picture frame shrinks — this can be used to zoom in on the boss. During this time, all bullets on screen are slowed down and Aya cannot move. If the shoot button is held for too long, the film will get overexposed and Aya would have to reload the film. The player can also press the shoot button once without holding to take a snapshot around Aya. For every picture taken, Aya will need to reload the film from 0% again before she can take another picture. Only photos that contain an image of the boss ("Success" pictures) will be taken into account when tallying up the score.
Characters
Aya Shameimaru- The main character of Shoot the Bullet. As the tenguTenguare a class of supernatural creatures found in Japanese folklore, art, theater, and literature. They are one of the best known yōkai and are sometimes worshipped as Shinto kami...
reporter of the Gensokyo newspaper Bunbunmaru Shinbun, she goes to search for suitable news topics by taking pictures of bullet patterns with her analog camera. No one actually knows what she does with these pictures except herself.
The subjects: (all bosses from past Windows Touhou Project installments)
- Level 1: Rumia, Wriggle Nightbug
- Level 2: Cirno, Letty Whiterock
- Level 3: Alice Margatroid, Keine Kamishirasawa
- Level 4: Reisen U. Inaba, Medicine Melancholy, Tewi Inaba
- Level 5: Hong Meiling, Patchouli Knowledge
- Level 6: Chen, Youmu Konpaku
- Level 7: Sakuya Izayoi, Remilia Scarlet
- Level 8: Ran Yakumo, Yuyuko Saigyouzi
- Level 9: Eirin Yagokoro, Kaguya Houraisan
- Level 10: Komachi Onozuka, Sikieiki Yamaxanadu
- Level Ex: Flandre Scarlet, Yukari Yakumo, Fujiwara no Mokou, Suika Ibuki
Development
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s, so he wanted to turn all that around and make an experimental PC game that throws arcade conventions aside.
The idea of a danmaku photography game first came to ZUN when he was taking snapshots of bullet patterns during the production of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil so that he could name them into "spell cards" to distinguish one pattern from another. He realized that taking snapshots was quite fun, and the idea should make a good game. After Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, ZUN tried to incorporate this idea into a new weapon type for Reimu Hakurei (the main character of the Touhou Project) where she would take pictures and seal away bullets. However, ZUN felt that he was forcing a totally new idea into the game unnaturally, since none of the characters in the games had a reason to shoot photos; so he filed the idea away for two years until after Imperishable Night
Imperishable Night
is the eighth official game of the Touhou Project scrolling shooter series by Team Shanghai Alice. It is the third Touhou game to be released specifically for the Windows operating system...
was released.
ZUN decided that in order to introduce the idea naturally, he needed a character who actually had a reason to shoot photographs. Thus he created the reporter girl Aya Shameimaru and planned to introduce her in the upcoming game Phantasmagoria of Flower View so that she can become the main character of a future photography game without being too abrupt. During this process, the manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
publisher Ichijinsha
Ichijinsha
is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the name Studio DNA which main purpose was to edit shōnen manga. In January 1998, Studio DNA became a public company and...
was planning a manga anthology of Touhou Project dōjinshi
Dojinshi
is the Japanese term for self-published works, usually magazines, manga or novels. Dōjinshi are often the work of amateurs, though some professional artists participate as a way to publish material outside the regular industry. The term dōjinshi is derived from and . Dōjinshi are part of a wider...
, but ZUN decided that he can use this opportunity to introduce Aya, and negotiated with Ichijinsha to turn the anthology into a fanbook that contains samplings of Aya's newspaper. The result was Touhou Bunkachou ~ Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red., which was released three days before Phantasmagoria of Flower View. ZUN had originally planned to include the photography game along with the fanbook, but ZUN did not have enough time to make that happen. Even so, ZUN continued to use the name "Touhou Bunkachou" for his photography game without Ichijinsha's authorization (although Ichijinsha later agreed to let ZUN use the name). Development took a month and a half to finish, and the game Touhou Bunkachou ~ Shoot the Bullet. was finally released on December 30, 2005.
Post-release
On January 9, 2006, ZUN added an empty level called after Level Ex with the version 1.01a patch, with the promise that he would add playable stages in it at a later time. On October 16, 2006, however, ZUN announced that he will not make the "Gōgai" stages since he does not have the time and he would rather move forward onto new projects, thus leaving an empty level hanging in Shoot the Bullet.In addition to being a standalone game, Shoot the Bullet became something of a game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
on which ZUN's future games base on. Mountain of Faith
Mountain of Faith
is the tenth game of the Touhou Project, according to the official numbering by its creator ZUN of Team Shanghai Alice. Like the majority of the Touhou Project games, Mountain of Faith is a doujin scrolling shooter, albeit with a major revamp from its predecessors...
and Uwabami Breakers (Drinking Party, 2007) are two games which use Shoot the Bullet as their prototype.
On March 14, 2010, Shoot the Bullets sequel Double Spoiler
Double Spoiler
is a shoot 'em up photography game, and is the 12.5th official game in the Touhou Project by the dōjin circle Team Shanghai Alice. It was first released in the 7th Reitaisai on March 14, 2010...
was released. It retains the gameplay of Shoot the Bullet with renewed characters.