ShapeCC - Heavily-inspired Metroid-like Game [WIP]

[Lin]

Good evening,

This is a project I've been working on a for a while now that doesn't have a real name (ShapeCC is just a working title). It's still a WIP, but is making great progress, and with its direction I figured many of the people here would like to know about it. It aims to combine all the speed-running and replayability aspects of Super Metroid and hopefully the atmosphere in Fusion. A lot of the abilities are actually stolen borrowed from SM in fact. It's its own title, and none of the graphics are final (because I can't art), but the content engine is coming along really well. It's written using only C and the C binding of SFML, although the editor uses C++. Currently builds and runs on Windows and Linux.

Videos (click me!)
Testing the enemy system by fighting the SA-X

Some art concept testing

Fun with doors

Weather

Scroll boxes in action




Screenshots
Testing the SA-X enemy (it's actually fully controllable)

The editor showing scroll boxes:




Critiques are definitely welcome :) Like I mentioned, unsure of the art direction, but I'm leaning towards neon lines because I like the look and particles. Also, not a good level designer, so I'm hoping some of you awesome hack designers out there might be able to help someday :D

~Lin

[FPzero]

This has some interesting potential as a high-speed action/exploration game. I liked the look of the movement, though it looked like the camera could barely keep up at times. You may wish to increase the camera's movement speed or how soon it starts following the player when they move around.

You mention that you're not sure of the art style yet. I think you should go with the neon + particles effect. With things outputting as many particles as they are right now, you might find that the visual clarity of the game is compromised if you have highly-detailed environments. This isn't to say you have to use completely black floors with neon outlines though. You could probably find either a fill pattern or something to put into the black space to help make it look a little bit less uniform. You could also change the black into other dark colors depending on the environment you're trying to represent, if you're going to have any. Like, dark red for heated, dark blue for cold, etc.

To go along with the dark foreground with neon outlines, I'd suggest having somewhat detailed contrasting backgrounds. Think about how other games do silhouette levels. Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze are both examples of games with good silhouette levels if you're looking for inspiration on how your backgrounds could look. For a more minimalistic approach, I think Thomas Was Alone was a pretty good example. VVVVVV also did some similar backgrounds that might work despite not being a silhouetted game.

Interested in seeing more of this as you make progress. Please come back and give us more updates as you keep working.

[Quote58]

The physics look great, but imo take it easy on those glowy particle effects. They really take the focus off of everything else on the screen.
Looks good though, I'm excited to see where it goes

[Lin]

Many thanks for the kind words and criticism.

This has some interesting potential as a high-speed action/exploration game. I liked the look of the movement, though it looked like the camera could barely keep up at times. You may wish to increase the camera's movement speed or how soon it starts following the player when they move around.

This is a known issue, and although it's not as bad as in the video showing the scroll boxes, it's still an issue I'm not sure how to deal with. But yeah I'm aware it lags behind when speed boosting.

With things outputting as many particles as they are right now, you might find that the visual clarity of the game is compromised if you have highly-detailed environments.

The physics look great, but imo take it easy on those glowy particle effects. They really take the focus off of everything else on the screen.

It's tough to balance the particles and I agree that they seem overwhelming just from videos. Though, when playing, they just make the world feel alive and don't add much of a distraction. They've actually been toned down quite a bit already. I still agree there needs to be something in place to make it easier to focus on what's important though, so it's on the to-do list.

In regards to art, I'll try doing something similar to VVVVVV because it feels simple, yet detailed at the same time. Keep posted for experimental screenshots :)

[Mayo-chan]

It looks pretty neat, is the cube thing the final design for the playable character? I think it'd look more relatable and easier to understand if it were more humanoid.

[Lunaria]

It looks like you're having an excessive amount of bloom on everything. I recommend only using it on certain environments that you want to stand out because of it (and where it would make sense, like, say, glowing mushrooms, lava, etc).

[squishy_ichigo]

A neat little engine, that doesn't look as good as it could with all the metroid stuff in it.

I agree with FP pretty much, the particle effects are really neat, but in a highly detailed environment like you have now, it really takes away from the experience imo, a simple art style is probably best. The weather video seems to be a good direction, with high contrast between the black and the vibrant colors, with a bunch of silly particle effects EVERYWHERE.

It seems really fast paced, and with such a small hitbox, there is a lot of neat things you can do design wise.

Looks like it has quite a bit of potential, good luck moving forward.

[Lin]

It looks pretty neat, is the cube thing the final design for the playable character? I think it'd look more relatable and easier to understand if it were more humanoid.

Until I find someone that can do all the graphics for me, it's final as far as I'm concerned :p It's better than anything I could do.

It looks like you're having an excessive amount of bloom on everything. I recommend only using it on certain environments that you want to stand out because of it (and where it would make sense, like, say, glowing mushrooms, lava, etc).

The bloom and particles are part of the style. I don't want to remove it from the regular environment. Thank you though :)

A neat little engine, that doesn't look as good as it could with all the metroid stuff in it.

I agree with FP pretty much, the particle effects are really neat, but in a highly detailed environment like you have now, it really takes away from the experience imo, a simple art style is probably best. The weather video seems to be a good direction, with high contrast between the black and the vibrant colors, with a bunch of silly particle effects EVERYWHERE.

Well since this is basically a Metroid rip-off -inspired project, I was using Metroid assets for testing. And I've gone back and attempted a simplistic style. As always, nothing is final, just experimenting here. Note the transition visibility isn't finished and there's no door closing animation yet.

(Click to watch)


Thoughts?

[Mayo-chan]

Yeah that does look better, I had a feeling that was the environment you were going for when you said the Metroid assets were placeholders. Do you have a way to turn the bloom and particle effects down within the engine? That might be something to consider.

[FPzero]

I like the diagonal fill and the darker/semi-transparent background walls to go with it. I think your style is coming together.

[snarfblam]

This looks pretty cool. You have my interest  :nod:

Also, I think with the new graphics the bloom works fine, more a matter of preference.

[Scooterboot9697]

Perhaps you could add the options to change the bloom and particle intensity, when you get to that stage of development, that is.

All in all, this looks pretty amazing.

[Quote58]

I still think the particle effects are too intense, but if you're going for a neon aesthetic then it can look pretty cool.
I really love the design of those doors though. The way they move back and separate is smooth as fuck and fits super well with the surroundings.

[Lin]

Wow, thanks for the positive feedback! Wasn't expecting everyone to agree on the style.

Yeah that does look better, I had a feeling that was the environment you were going for when you said the Metroid assets were placeholders. Do you have a way to turn the bloom and particle effects down within the engine? That might be something to consider.

Perhaps you could add the options to change the bloom and particle intensity, when you get to that stage of development, that is.

All in all, this looks pretty amazing.

Both of those are already implemented :) There's a bloom factor and a particle multiplier that affects all particles created.

I still think the particle effects are too intense, but if you're going for a neon aesthetic then it can look pretty cool.
I really love the design of those doors though. The way they move back and separate is smooth as fuck and fits super well with the surroundings.

Well, with the new design, most of them are really weak due to the colors sampled, which is something I have to fix. And thanks! They took me a really long time lol.

Not much to show since work has been under the hood, but here's more of the editor if anyone's interested. The game has been runnable inside but I finally made it optionally fix the window size and allow scrolls.
Click Me!