UPDATE: We are live on Greenlight! If you like what you see from us, please come give us an up vote. We appreciate each one! Please click the picture below to head to the greenlight page!Hello folks! Since we’re getting well on into production I decided it was probably time to put up a Tigsource blog of our game called Adaeus. It’s a Metroidvania type game, and the elevator pitch in a room full of gamers would basically be, “Castlevania like combat in a Metroid like setting.” What this means is, you’ll be traveling around in areas with creatures more akin to a Metroid game, but have combat that feels more like Castlevania with melee attacks being your mainstay and the gun/chip system being the special attacks.
The skill system is definitely what makes Adaeus unique. At a point very early on in the game, you’ll find a multi-purpose gun that will have four base components: a laser, beam, missile, and explosive grenade shots. You’ll be able to modify these components by changing the element type, trajectory, speed, amount of projectiles, and their collision behavior.
Using those modifications, players will strategize different ways to navigate different encounters and puzzles in the game.
But the depth doesn’t end there, you’ll find various chips that you can install into expansion slots that will combine together to drastically alter the initial effects. For example, you are using the laser shot and find a heat chip and a speed chip. By putting those chips into the gun, it’s going to change the laser to a fire laser (with a chance to burn enemies) and speed up the projectile. There are also support chips which will do things like decrease the amount of charge used per shot, increase the likelihood of status afflictions taking place per shot, etc. You’ll be able to mix and match these chips as you see fit creating a variety of effects, just as long as you have enough chip slots in the gun to support your combination.
This is a gif of the regular shot:
And here is the shot after equipping the heat chip:
We’re pretty far into development at this stage of the game’s life. We’ve gotten a lot of the mechanics in and finalized, a lot of the systems in place, and the vast majority of equipment you’ll find in game is already done and fleshed out, as shown by this screenshot of our gun ordinance screen (which is still a WIP and missing some on-screen information):
Travel (progression) powers are in and working as well. When you acquire things in the game like the double jump, the dash ability or the jetpack, it will open up parts of the world previously inaccessible, and change the way you interact with places you’ve been beforehand. In addition to this, even some enemies will react differently to you when using some of your travel abilities, causing more dynamic combat situations. The powers will, of course, properly limit progression (don’t worry sequence breakers, there will be an opportunity for you to do your thing as well!) but they also change the way you interact with many facets of the game overall.
We’re also constantly polishing combat and animations as the days go by. Below you’ll find one of those very animations we’re talking about, a stabby bee:
We’ve pretty much reached the point in development where we’re going to need extra funding to get further. As I’m sure most people here are well aware, art is CRAZY EXPENSIVE and Adaeus is going to need a good amount of it. So, like the majority of first time indie devs, we’re gonna hit up Kickstarter. However, we’re further along than most with two years into development and have hundreds of man hours invested into the project. We’ll be going to Kickstarter just to push us past the finish line.
On that note, our plan is to go to Kickstarter in the coming months, then hit early access after that. “WTF, a Metroidvania doesn’t work on early access!” You are correct! They really don’t since you would basically be releasing the whole game little bits at a time and not changing much. I don’t think anyone would want to play a Metroidvania like that! Our game is actually going to come with a fully fleshed out roguelike mode in addition to the single player/story mode. We plan to put the roguelike mode on early access to give backers and fans something to play while we finish the game.
We think the way most devs do early access are doing it wrong. A bold statement from a brand new indie game studio, perhaps, but there is a thought process backing this claim! Most indie devs go to early access selling their full game as it’s being built. By the time it comes out, your first adopters are already tired of it and a good majority of the things to see in game have already been seen. This is why we plan to release a side game mode in early access. This way, we allow the players to engage with the game and give feedback on the mechanics since they will largely be the same in the story mode. In addition, the money from the early access roguelike will be put into the main game, allowing us the funds to secure more resources (enemies, sound effects, music and attacks), which in turn can be put right into the roguelike mode ultimately improving both game modes at once. By doing this, when the full story mode game is finished, it will be a new experience for everyone involved instead of the “eh, I’ve already played this enough during early access,” and players are essentially getting two games in one.
So please let us know what you think! We’re always open to and appreciate feedback, and we’d love to hear what you have to say. We also have a mailing list which you can subscribe to here
http://www.omgwtfgames.net/subscribe/, in order to get updates sent straight to you as they come out.
Bonus parting gift of status effects!
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