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[Ashtom]

NanoCure

-a twin stick exploration adventure in a living organism-

After attempting to make something for Ludum Dare 46 ("Keep It Alive"), I ended up with nothing to submit but a broken prototype. Then I figured I could keep working at it for a while on the side using Unity.

NanoCure is inspired by games like Nuclear Throne, Metroid and Lone Survivor. The player controls a nano-machine injected in a living organism with the mission to cure its host.

The game will be playable with a keyboard-mouse combo as well as with a gamepad. I'm currently implementing basic mechanisms while working on the graphic style. The game will first have a human designed campaign but I would eventually like it to be replayable through procedural generation.

2020-05-09

Testing the lights

I started with the design of a tileset and its normal map and then the setup of 2D lights to see how it would look.

2020-05-23

Better Lights

I kept working at that tileset and cranked up the shading to give it more depth and relief.

2020-06-09

Secret Passage

What is an exploration game without secret areas to discover? Using trigger colliders and additional tilemaps, I could achieve this cool reveal.

2020-07-04

Dash & Teleport

The dash will be mostly used for combat but the teleport will be useful to further the exploration. The gif doesn't do it justice but the game goes in slow-motion when the player aim for the teleport.

2020-07-07

Bullet Hell

I finally implemented enemy bullets to raise the challenge of the combat. I'm worried that the game will be too easy but maybe now it's a bit too much?

I keep posting progress with videos on my Twitter account so you can follow me there if you want to see more fluid videos.
https://twitter.com/ashtom_gva

I hope that documenting my progress will give me enough fuel to keep on working on this!

[Schrompf]

I loved the initial dark bio atmosphere. And now you're turning it into a shooter? Bullet hell even? Meh. I can live with some shooting, but I sure was expecting "exploration" as the title says.

[Ashtom]

I guess my last addition was misleading. I plan to have combat in the game and I just started implementing enemies firing back at the player when I stumbled upon this area with a lot of enemies shooting all over the place and making it look like a bullet hell when it is not intended. I should have used an emoji to convey embarrassment at what monster I created. 

I know I will have to balance well between exploration and combat and I intend on following on the path of Metroid for that. I love how that franchise created epic fights through careful design on both the levels and the enemies. Axiom Verge really succeeded in recreating that balance. There are not many enemies on screen but the way they behave and the location they are placed in make it for an interesting encounter.

In a way, I want NanoCure to be the answer to the question: what if Metroid was not a platformer shooter but a twin stick shooter instead (ie. getting rid of the gravity and the verticality)? Maybe it will become more like Legend Of Zelda without the overworld-vs-dungeon structure? Well, let's find out.

And that's basically one of the reason I started this devlog: to get some feedback that forces me to think and express what I want this game to be. Thanks for your comment!

[Schrompf]

Great to hear you already have that covered. Good luck!