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[kato9]

*EDIT* I've noticed most of my images are too wide to be displayed in this forum so be sure to right click and 'view image' to see them in their full glory */EDIT*


Oh, hi there. I've decided to time has come to 'live the dream' and actually start development on a game I've wanted to make for some time now. I consider myself to be a fairly skilled graphic designer and motion graphics artist, but I've been designing games for seemingly my whole life and I still don't have anything to show for it. So, I've decided to go against all of the rational advice I've heard and basically jump in the deep end and make something truly epic. But I'll need some help. So, without further adieu, introducing:



The Creeper is a 'metroidvania' style 2-d platformer with an equal emphasis on action and exploration. The main character is known only as the Creeper - a faceless, emaciated 'creature' with sharp claws and a mysterious past. In fact, our story begins with the Creeper being brought back to life by an unknown force after being 'dead' for seemingly hundreds of years. Over the course of the game he'll explore a vibrant underground labyrinth, the debris-covered surface above, and a few more 'surprising' locations learning new abilities and taking on the fiendish creatures that live in this world. Here are some mockups:





The primary game mechanic is the Creeper's ability to switch between three different forms:


While the Creeper's main 'physical' form allows him to climb certain types of walls and attack with his claws, his 'shadow' and 'light' form will allow him to develop new abilities such as projectile attacks and dash-type maneuvers. All aspects of the game, including exploration, puzzle solving and enemy encounters, will require players to determine the appropriate abilities required and execute them, sometimes requiring the player to string together a series of moves utilizing all three of the Creeper's forms. Here's an example using the above screen:



FAQ (As in, these are questions I frequently ask myself)

How mak gaem?
Well, as you may know, Unity3d has recently been released for free. Despite this being a '2d' game, since the graphics are intended to be fairly high resolution (as in, not pixel art), building the game in 3d and simply 'skinning' it to look 2d may be the way to go. Here's a diagram of how I would expect to build the game:



Basically, the underlying structure would be tile based like a 2d game, however we would be able to utilize Unity's built in physics engine and particle system.

What am I looking for?

Look, I'm not one of those guys who's totally opposed to learning programming, in fact I've made some functional games in flash before, so I know at least the very basics. However, this is intended to be a large game with lots of graphical assets, and the amount of time it would take to learn how to program a game like this and then actually make it....I might as well give up now. To me, a smarter approach would be to find a programmer who 'knows their shit' already who is interested in working on the coding of this project, while I create the graphical assets and design (obviously, their design input will be appreciated as well). I am also a composer and have done some sound design, you can hear some samples here: http://virb.com/catonine.

What makes The Creeper different from all the other Metroid-clones out there?

My intention is not to simply rip-off Metroid or Cave Story or any game like those. I believe the exploration-platformer genre is surprisingly undersaturated and I want to add something of substance to the genre. To meet this goal, I hope you will agree that I've come up with a visual style is fairly unique while still being aesthetically pleasing in a more traditional sense. As a graphic designer, 'visual experience' is very important to me, and I tend to be very detail-oriented in what I work on. I expect this to carry over to the narrative and gameplay, which I think will have more variety and surprises than one might expect going into the game.

Why would anyone want to work with me?

Well, I realize I'm not really 'known' in this or any other gaming community, I'd like to think that the amount of effort I put into this forum post is indicative of the amount of work I'm willing to put into the game. I believe that making a good game is mainly a matter of perseverance. I don't expect this to be done quickly - I think two years is the time frame I have bouncing around in my head. However, my short term goal for this game is simply to get a platforming engine up and running, in which the controls feel 'good' enough to suggest that the potential to make the game I want is there.

If this short term goal goes well, I'm willing to eventually 'go full time' on this game as I have been saving up my dimes and nickels and would actually be able to finance this game if that time comes somewhere down the road.

Well, I think I've said plenty for the time being. I've left out a lot of details relating to the narrative and gameplay, however I am currently working on an overview-style design doc that I will gladly send out to anyone interested in getting some more info. In the meantime, any kind of response to this post will be appreciated - if you're interested in working with me or not, I'd still love to know what you think!

[team_q]

The Creeper is a fantastic name!

[dkanaga]

I like the visual style a lot! Hope this works out for you

[s0]

I can't help, but holy shit, those graphics look awesome! And when I read "Metroidvania" I decided this is another game to follow. (hell, I'm following so many games at the moment, I think I'm losing track  :D)

[letsap]

Reminds me a lot of Iwazaru from Killer 7, looks neat.

[kato9]

Ha, I've never played Killer 7, but I certainly see the resemblance 



Thanks for the kind words so far, guys!

[starsrift]

This looks somewhat interesting to me. I'm not too into platformers really, but I like the RPGish/modes ideas.

It'd be nice to see some screenshots of the 3D model you want to use as a main character, maybe even a couple screencaps of animations you've put into it.

Also, what are your goals and terms for release? Freeware? Puttin' a price tag on it?

[kato9]

Just to be clear, the game is intended to appear as a 2d game despite using a 3d engine, meaning that the actual character will be represented by a flat animated texture attached to a 3d rectangle which will function as his hit box. The game will be rendered with an orthographic side view so that even if there is depth to the arrangement of the objects it will appear totally flat. The above mockups are actually very close to how I hope the game will actually look.

As for release, I don't really want to get ahead of myself. Ideally, I'm looking for a strong enough collaborator to warrant investing the time to make a commercial release viable, but for the short term I simply hoping to make a functional demo.

[William Broom]

I believe the exploration-platformer genre is surprisingly undersaturated

you obviously ain't from round here, boy. *spits in spittoon*

[Hempuli‽]

Now this is promising; It's great to see that someone really puts also his own effort to these "I need a team" -posts. Usually it's just that "I have this huge idea, I need people to make it for me".

[kato9]

Playing around with Unity a little bit, very friendly GUI, will be easy for a WYSIWYG kinda guy like myself.

Here's a shot of my tiles set up in 3d space:



Attached to the front of these tiles will be textured, flat planes - which will serve no function besides visually articulating the gameplay. The actual 'action' will take place on these 3d tiles, the red box representing the hit box of the Creeper. Behind the tiles will be more flat planes with textures representing the backgrounds. I also think Unity's 'skybox' function can be used to create a sort of parralax effect (but we'll see about that). The only 3d aspect that will be visible will be the particle effects. hooray for particle effects. The final output will be an orthographic sideview:



it looka like 2deez woahmygod

[bjawn]

Any luck finding a programmer to work with?  Shoot me an email if you are still in need.  I would be using Unity3D as the engine.

[baconman]

Now THAT is a wicked concept!

I've been in talks with a couple users working on something similar kinda to that, but focusing a bit more on PGC. I don't know how you feel about having that kind of influence in your project, but there's a Procedurally-Generated Metroidvania thread in the Design subforum about them. Our projects are kinda running in different engines/phases atm, but you might find some collab effort there, too. Also, just because they use PGC elements, doesn't mean they don't feature Metroidvania ones as well (the other half of the core), which may be of more value to your project in particular.

Look up "Gentrieve" in the Feedback forum, too; and see how you feel about something along the lines of that. It fits a similar graphical profile to your project, too. My project is also kinda similar, but more focused on being a variety-of-genre-choices approach than a strict Metroidvania (see siggy). I don't have a lot done in the way of graphics either, just some basic tilework and recolored NGPC sprites.


Don't get me wrong, they're potentially different ends, but they still share much of the same means. There's a difference between being a collab and being a devteam. I do notice, your approach to and focus on creative problem-solving, like the way you compound your obstacles and powers; and the "personality" of your project is a very appealing factor as well. About the biggest obstacle I see is getting us all on the same programming-engine page; and that's presently in process of being worked out anyways.