Example of a simple secret passageway and a new enemy type:

Quick update... example of a simple secret passageway and a new enemy type:

notnsane and GenkiGenga - thanks guys. I did some google searching and nothing came up... it does kind of have that battlestar galactica kind of feel, that's something I worried about from the get go... but like you guys mentioned, it seems like a good fit. I actually came up with the name when I researched the origins of the word 'galaxy' and went back to more of the greek root of the word.

Here's a little something that my team and I have been working on.

It is neat.

Yes.

Looks good! Would love to try that out

Also... what do you guys think of that name? "Journey Galactia" ? Going to purchase a domain, but I just want to be sure it doesn't sound lame...

trisbee would love to check that out - can you put a link up to your site?

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.

megatronx - thanks man!

UberLou - thanks man. that's a lot of good feedback, and I will take it to heart. I'm definitely open to suggestions for a different crawling mechanic.

ryanrybot thanks man! one feature I wish I could've nailed a bit easier was the color change effect... unfortunately, that's just not something that's readily available on all platforms. eventually I'm going to need some graphic design help too..

Hey guys - I had some great feedback on this project, and while I haven't posted on it in some time, it's definitely not been idle this past month and a half. I did decide to start a new thread though... because the old one got buried pretty far down. I hope that's ok.

You can view some of the older updates, along with some older playable builds, here:

Some notable news for those of you interested in this project:

1. Notable UI changes to level selection and status screen

2. Added a weapon acquiring system (notable, flame thrower)

3. Implemented a supplemental procedural level generation system with an automapping feature

4. Added several new enemy types (notably in the screen caps below, a hive-type enemy

5. Various graphic and gameplay improvements and additions

Title screen and level select screen, with ranking

Simple weapon acquiring, including flame thrower

Tileset, hive, and swarm enemy type test

Random level generation, including enemies and objective collectibles and automapping

Playable build coming soon. Thanks guys in advance for any and all feedback.

this looks epic - I'm excited to see where this goes. I feel like the trend with these sort of retro-style games right now is to make the pixel art look 'bad' - but 'bad' isn't necessarily retro. people spent a lot of time on their art, and it's good to see that reflected in this kind of work.