The player controls a ship which flies from the left of the screen to the right continuously. They can move around within the view and move more quickly to the right using . Movement up and down is constrained by the trench, within which are enemies, obstacles, power ups and bosses. Bosses track the player from left to right until they come up against a barrier, which will halt their movement and prevent us from running out of level!

Additionally the game makes use of score and score multipliers to add incentive. Score is given for killing enemies and collecting power ups. Successfully gaining 5 score inputs within a few seconds will increase the score multiplier.

The core elements that comprise the 2D shoot-’em-up template are:

1. Trench segments which the player flies down from left to right, and to which all gameplay items are attached.
2. Space Ship which the player controls, moving up and down, left and right within the space of the camera which is always moving right (unless blocked by a barrier).
3. Checkpoints to store the player’s progress through the level.
4. Trench Pause Barrier which stops the camera always moving right, for bosses or special events.
5. Enemies in a few variations:
   1. Stationary firing straight left
   2. Stationary pattern firing
   3. Stationary aiming at player
   4. Animated movement along path and firing
   5. Flying left while firing
   6. Constructs that break apart when destroyed creating additional obstacles
   7. Boss - tracks player (usually with a barrier behind them to stop track running out)
6. Pick-Ups which augment the players ship with health, faster firing rate, multiplied guns, lasers rockets, seeker blasters, more mega bombs, enemy wipes, etc. These auto-respawn when the player respawns. Give pick-ups to your players arbitrarily, or based on the difficulty of the section they’re entering. Perhaps give them more shields in an area with a lot of projectiles, or greater fire rate for an enemy with higher health.