Celeste fending off a nasty Rayth invasion.
SkyE is a 2009 freeware Shoot 'Em Up, created by Anaryu and Krisanna. It’s made in RPG Maker VX, and is one of the few examples of a schmup made in this engine. It is also a rare example of a schmup which possesses an extensive plotline.It follows Celeste, a newly graduated Sky Knight who investigates a Rayth outbreak at the Chromadus Academy for Raye Engineers and Directors. The gameplay is thus split between Visual Novel-style sections where Celeste visits one of the locations in the academy to converse with whichever one of a large cast of characters is present there at the time and glean more information about the world at large and the mystery at the academy, and the Rayth invasions which inevitably interrupt these conversations and have to be fended off by Celeste, before her investigation can resume.
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SkyE provides examples of the following tropes:
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Illiyana’s sister, Zavia.
- Broke the Rating Scale: A milder example with Master Svarus. If Celeste is at Lounge during Day 3 Evening, she’ll get to ask about the power of Master Svarus. He’ll tell her that either he managed to mask his power level, or it’s simply beyond his ability to comprehend.
- Bullet Hell: There’s a whole lot of attacks going around.
- Charged Attack: The Crest attacks all need to be charged up while the shield is active. Notably, though, they don’t have to be charged completely, and it’s often useful to save energy for several partial-charge attacks in succession.
- Collision Damage: Downplayed. Celeste will receive some damage, but it’s not much, and going through enemies to get to a better tactical position is entirely possible, and is often desirable.
- Deflector Shields: Celeste starts off with a bubble-like shield. It has to be held up in order to activate her Crest attacks.
- Degraded Boss: The hag-like Rayth first appear as bosses, but then are brought down to a minibosses, appearing in twos and threes in the middle of the level.
- Flash of Pain: Both enemies and bosses flash red when they receive damage from your attacks.
- Gameplay Grading: There’s a hidden form of one with stats. If most of your shots miss, for instance, the Power will always stay at the minimum.
- The Goomba: The first, fish-like Rayth die in a couple of shots and can only shoot single projectiles straight ahead. Even they get an upgraded form soon, one which can shoot spiralling lines of weaker, faster projectiles out of their tails.
- Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: The Rayth dimension is basically one. It might be full of Raye energy, but its inhabitants, Rayth, cannot harvest it effectively, which causes them to seek to enter the real world and drain it into themselves through humans.
- King Mook: One of the bosses is the stationary turret-like Rayth, enlarged to be as tall as an entire place.
- Point Build System: Celeste wins a point after every fight, which can then be invested into her Halo stats. These are Radiance (damage reduction), Vibrance (increased damage), Intensity (faster movement), Harmony (greater health recovery from enemies), Serenity (increased shield durability) and Purity (greater Raye regeneration). Notably, the points invested are not locked, and can be reconfigured at any time.
- Rare Candy: Elixirs. Harmonic Elixir increases maximum Health, while pure Elixir increases maximum power.
- Regenerating Shields, Static Health: Played straight, although it’s not immediately apparent because the shield bar goes over health, and so can conceal the true state of it.
- RPG Elements: Besides the Point Build system above, some stats also will increase depending on how much/how well you use them. The more shots you block with your shield, for instance.
- Sequential Boss: The hag-like Rayth have two large hands that just hang in front of them and shoot plenty of projectiles. These have to be destroyed separately before the creature itself can be harmed.
- Shrinking Violet: Mia is one.
- Spin Attack: Blaze Crest creates a ring of energy that hurts the enemies all around Celeste.
- Spread Shot: Very frequent, as expected in a shoot-em-up. The second enemy type can already spam triple ones at you, in addition to its more impressive curved line attack. Celeste can do the same starting from Day 2, when she gets the Tri Ring.
- Story Breadcrumbs: They’re spread all around the Academy. While there are certain obligatory sequences, the rest of the time you have to exercise your good judgement as to which part of the academy at the current part of the day is likely to contain the character who'll do the most to further the plot and reveal the mystery. After all, going to one place in, say, Day 2 Morning obviously prevents you from seeing what was happening that morning anywhere else.
- Tactical Suicide Boss: Day 1 Evening boss has a form of a golden mask that cannot be harmed by your projectiles. He can only be hurt when he opens it up to reveal a hornet-like form.
