I don't want to sound preachy, but I need people to participate because this is for a college course I'm taking.
I don't want to sound preachy but no, you (hopefuly) don't need people to participate. :3
But seriously, you claim that Kamui is one of the greatest shmupp (spelling?) and yet you seems to be clueless about what makes it so great?
Have you seen it? Have you played it? What are your opinions, your feeling on it? What are your feeling on other shmupp? How do they compare?
Do you know the game basic mechanics?
Do you even know what separate a good shmup from a bad one? Could you tell the difference between a good and a bad one?
For starter, I will link you a video that tell you
why Dark Soul is a good game.
It looks at aspects of the game and then from that analysis make a conclusion.
From what I understand, what you're doing in the first part of your project is more or less the same thing.
Similarly for something similar but shorter and more technical, there is this video about
Super Mario.
You might also want to be able to view
videos of the game.
Viewing game guides to know about the game mechanics and technical aspects of the game.
Since you want to know how Kamui is a great game, gather lot of data on the people reactions.
If possible, look at videos and message boards comment and so on. Ask people why the game is great. Consider making surveys if it help since it's a school work.
Of course knowing things like what number of enemy there is, how many bullet they shoot or how many attacks they have is important but that's the technical side of things.
You'll have to look even further and wonder what the purpose behind that, why things were done in such a way.
For example, in one of the Touhou game, the final level leading to the final boss Shinki is relatively easy, with few enemies and a good amount of powerups.
Why is that? Shouldn't the last stage offer more challenge before the boss? Why is it made that way?
Thing you might want to look at :
-How the score system works in the game
-How many stages there is and how much time is needed to clear the game
-How difficulty levels change the game. Is there more enemies? Do they shoot more bullets? Does the bosses just have more HPs? Is there less items?
-Is there some kind of penalty for playing on easy? Similarly, is there a (or several?) true final boss?
-ARe there several character to choose from? How do they differ? Are they balanced?
-Why a certain esthetic or music style was chosen?
-How does each stages and bosses challenge the player? How do they raise the difficulty? What do they teach?
-How is story integrated in the game, what purpose it does serve? Is it just an excuse for the game or is there more you learn as you play? Is an ending rewarded for playing on a higher level?
-How many lives and continue do you get? How those affect the gameplay? Do you have an health bar?
-What does the game mechanics brings to the game? What kind of strategies they bring to the game?
-Are there rewards in the game for doing riskier actions (like getting more points when you graze bullets)?
-Does the game have flaws?
Dissecting the game coding could potentially help but you just started and didn't even scratched the surface.
There is a lot that you can learn by observation and experimentation.
Even if you pull out the raw data from the game, you still have to make sense of it, understand why it was made that way.
But really, if you want to understand why Kamui is a great game, shouldn't you have asked yourself those kind questions already and started your work with those?
Anyway, good luck for your work.
Building a game is a lot of work and building a great game even more work.
