Okay, so I'm officially on a mission. Inspired in part by this fangame project called Megaman X: Corrupted, check you tube for it, it looks awesome. Also inspired by my long time love of the original Megaman X game for the SNES.
It was the first game that I actually beat... and well... as many veterans of the series know, once you've memorized all there is to memorize in the game, it's difficulty goes down the tube. But despite that, the game's had a soft spot in my heart for a very long time. And I've always wanted to create a game with MMX's falvor and unique atmosphere, along with its tight controls and great music... and completely restructure its level design into a different sort of monster.
Now. Some of you might be familiar with Megaman 9, the 8bit XBox Live Arcade/PSN and Wii Ware title that got released some time ago. The game has amazing level design and is LOADS of fun to play.
My idea, is to use this as some form of reference in creating Megaman X: Hero Mode as well as other games, such as Megaman Zero (1-4) and some aspects from Metroid. (Named after the hard mode downloadable content available for MM9 of the same name).
Now. I was going to wait until I had a functioning engine to work in to announce this... but the thing is... I don't think this should be a two or one man operation. I think everyone that has enjoyed this game in the past, even if it was just a little bit, should have a chance to help out with it.
So I'm looking for team members, programmers, animators, music enginears, etc, that can help with any of the tasks that will come up while working on this project.
Now, I realize that fan games are run of the mill these days, but I'm serious about this project. It could be something really special if it's done right. But it's still in the ideation stage, so all sorts of feedback is recommended.
For now, I will leave with you with what I have for the design document.
MEGAMAN X - HERO MODE - DESIGN DOCUMENT
DESCRIPTION
MMX- HM will be a reworking of both the first Megaman X's story and level design. In hopes to both add
branching pathways to certain levels and give veteran players something different to navigate through
to test their MMX skills. The idea is to build the levels so that players will have to rely not only on their
X-Buster but specials weapons as well to get them through without dying. Estimated playtime will be
hours on end.
Also, the length of each level will be considerably longer. And one will not be able to exit the Sigma stages in the end without having to start the final stage castle all over again, like the classic series.
We will be looking to Megaman 9 and the Megaman Zero series for our inspiration in level design as far as actual reference goes, while still attempting to stay true to the flavor of each stage.
GAME OBJECTS
Every enemy and beneficial object from the original game.
I do not yet know if updating the sprites or smoothing them out will be necessary. As this is intended to have the same graphic feel of the original. More deliberation is needed on this front when the engine is finished or near completion.
SOUNDS:
Same as above except for music and SFX.
CONTROLS:
The idea is to mimic the SNES version of the game to a T. So that the same type of precise control can be
achieved in this reworked version of the game.
Firing Controls: Rapid firing should only allow for 3 shots to be on screen at a time.
GAME FLOW:
As with the original, players will have an intro stage to navigate through, 8 Maverick Bosses and 4 sigma stages.
LEVELS
12 levels in total.