trisbee - thank you!
alvarop - hey man, thanks for ongoing feedback. That's a good question - I guess some of the 'inspired' aspects of the project relate to exploration, discovery, problem solving, and some of the mission-type aspects of the later games (fusion, other M even). I have a simple upgrade system in place too, with some back-tracking elements planned.
ryanrybot also suggested this...
"Sequence breaking could be cool, in the way of secret passages and such. In Super Metroid most sequence breaking has to do with abusing your abilities, but since most of them are absent in your game so far, a less linear approach to level design might work equally as well."
So I've also started putting short cuts and different discovery things into a few levels.
BUT is it a Metroid-Vania? The engine I think could be adapted to that - it's a really robust engine so far, and I'm planning on making a few more 80's era classic inspired games using it (but I gotta stick to one thing... right?). I would say that since there's a back tracking element, exploration, inaccessible areas - in that sense, there's a large element of that. But because it's actually comprised of multiple smaller worlds to explore, as opposed to one larger, open world, and you more or less are going in order, I guess in that sense it's not really. I guess, if you played Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia on the DS, that's sort of how that game worked too.
When you boil down a Metroid game though, sure - the areas are interconnected, but they're still kind of separated too you know? But I guess the main difference would be how you go about accessing those areas - and the key is exploration and problem solving.
The main idea that I had going into this that I was trying to tackle was the how to reconcile a Metroid type game with a Casual gaming model. I also have to consider, though, how much do I want to cater to that market if I eventually want this to be a profitable project? I want the challenge to be there for sure, but I know that gamers born outside of the 8-16 bit era are used to games being a little easier.
Anyways. That was a big answer! Sorry man! I guess that question just inspired me. Definitely let me know if you need clarification or if you have any other questions. And thanks again for your interest man. It's super encouraging.