Solitaria - A game heavily inspired by Super Metroid (in development)

[signaljacker]

Hi all, first post here - though I'm a long time visitor to the site. I thought you guys might be interested in a game I'm making that is very heavily inspired by Super Metroid (in both gameplay and tone/atmosphere). I've done up an announce trailer. The game is still a long way off completion (I estimate we're about 1/3 through development) but if it sounds like the kind of thing you like and want to follow our progress, that would be cool!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKUQt9-nAIg

[SlyPork]

I must say, it looks really interesting (and not just because the trailer was well-done). The graphics look good and bad to me. It has a weird combination of over-detailed and under-detailed parts. It looked as if the game also had insta-death pits? Really hope not, as that would take away a lot of the "explore anywhere" aspect you get out of Super Metroid and Metroidvanias. From what I've gathered, it looks much more like a Megaman game in that trailer and a bit linear as well. Power ups seem rather unique in some cases, which is always awesome, and the power-ups that are inspired by SM look pretty well-done. I look forward to seeing the progress on this game, just hope it doesn't become a linear mess of GFX and cheap tricks.

[signaljacker]

Hey, thanks for the comments! You're spot on about the graphics - while the game has been in development for roughly 9 months, we actually we only really started work on graphics a few weeks ago and they're not up to scratch yet. I also brought in a second artist just recently so we're still trying to unify our styles a bit better - they will definitely be improved though. No insta death pits, I'm glad to report. However we are toying with the idea of insta death traps - which might be a bit controversial in a game like this - crushers, chompers etc. One of the other influences of this game, oddly enough is the original Prince of Persia, with its timed doors and lethal death traps. I would actually really like some feedback from the community as to whether such inclusions are a good or a terrible idea. I realise they might break that satisfying feeling of getting stronger and stronger, and could also really kill flow - however they also add a really interesting sense of proper danger (and it's really fun animating over the top gory death sequences too). As for linearity - while it's too early to have worked out the finer details the start of the game will probably be a bit linear, then you'll get a space ship and you can explore space - there will be places of interest highlighted, but you will basically be able to go wherever you want (there will also be optional things you might stumble across in space eg an abandoned space station - these optional sidequests might have a puzzle that needs to be unlocked with a certain item, and might give you things like health or ammo upgrades). There's a lot we haven't shown in the trailer because it simply doesn't look good enough yet, there's a mapping system and minimap, weapon switching etc. Thanks again for your feedback, really appreciate it.

[Mon732]

However we are toying with the idea of insta death traps - which might be a bit controversial in a game like this - crushers, chompers etc.

I would say it depends on how your death system works. Does it reload a previous save or does it use checkpoints to respawn for example.
The worst thing about insta-death traps is that it can make things very tedious. If you have to reload a save every time you die then you might end up grabbing the same powerups again and again on your way to the death trap.
If you do use insta-death, my suggestion is to use it sparingly and design the area so that the player can just keep trying the trap without having to repeat previous actions again.

Examples of this would be games like Dark Souls and Super Meatboy. In Dark Souls you respawn at the last bonfire you rested at which means if you die you don't have to pick up that same key every time. Super Meatboy has a near instant respawn allowing the player to get back in the action as soon as possible.

This is just my 2 cents of course. :P

[RealRed]

Animations look jinky and the overall graphical style appears very uneven. Not sure if starbound knockoff at some bits. You're gonna need some quality control on that front for sure.
Your video, I feel, doesn't show me anything I haven't experienced already or anything I need to experience in a new way. Super Metroid and the 22 years since then have left big shoes for you to fill, and right now I feel like I could find something better on crazy monkey games.

[snarfblam]

This might be a bit harsh, but the graphics and animations have a sort of painful Flash-game vibe to them that really detracts from an otherwise potentially interesting game.

[Scooterboot9697]

Just like everyone else, my biggest gripe is the graphics.

However, the game looks solid and decently programmed. So good job there. It has a lot of potential. :nod:
Can't wait to see this game become something great.

[signaljacker]

Thanks all, for the comments and the criticisms. The graphics and animations are far from being finalised - at the moment they're in a kind of limbo between programmer art and where we want to be, so I can assure you that these will be improved significantly in future. The main concern up until this point has been focus on the gameplay/mechanics and ensuring we'll be able to actually take this where we want to go with it. We might have been a bit premature cutting together a trailer with half done graphics but it was more to let people know that the game is in development if they're interested. Anyway I appreciate the honesty in the feedback you guys are giving. As this is a community of hackers, tinkerers and creators the bar is set high so feedback like this is really great to make the game better.