The VG Resource

Description - A game which attempts to fuse elements of the RPG genre and Metroidvania sub-genre. The player explores the thousands of years old ruins of an Alien prison complex, finding new items, weapons and power-ups, fighting for survival against enemies in turn-based battles (not the DBS), and interacting within the memories of a dead Alien warrior. In addition to mixing gameplay elements, the game often swaps between two perspectives – Top Down and Side-Scrolling.
Genre - Science Fiction with a little bit of Fantasy
Platform - RPG Maker XP

Story
Many thousands of years ago, an Alien vessel landed on this planet. However, it was no ordinary vessel – it was a prison, used to hold a strange and unimaginably powerful life form referred to only as ‘The Beast’. As life on the planet was very early in development and, by the Alien’s standards, was uninhabited by intelligent life-forms, it was chosen to be used as the prison site. However, something went wrong. Their prisoner escaped. The Aliens managed to trap the Beast again, but at a great and terrible cost – not a single man, woman, or child survived the battle. As for the Beast, imprisoned once again, it decided to bide it’s time – to wait for the life forms of this planet to evolve and grow. And grow they did. As the structure fell slowly to ruin, the life forms on the Planet evolved at an exponential rate.

In the present day world, the player takes the role of a boy exploring the woods with their friend. They come across the ruins of this strange Alien structure and enter it. Unbeknownst to them, however, is exactly how dangerous a place they’ve entered and that what they learn and experience there will change everything.

Characters
Player Character – This is you – a young boy with an adventurous spirit. You have silent protagonist syndrome (at least in the current design) so there’s not a whole lot to say here.
Player’s Friend – This is your best friend –a tomboyish girl who is slightly older than you and a skilled athlete and fighter. She may be a bit hard on you at times, but she’s a good friend and happy to teach you the basics. You may be adventurous, but she’s an explorer – curious about everything she encounters. When you find the Alien structure, she can’t resist going inside to get a good look.
Alien Warrior – The Alien who you will play as during the Memory Module sections of the game. He is a strong fighter, serving as a prison guard, and also quite clever. His sections are where a majority of the RPG-style interaction comes into play, as you play through the final day of his life – the day when the Beast broke free.

Screen Shots
Note that no graphical assets seen here are in any way, shape or form final, and the game is only at the tech demo stage - just testing the basics out.


Early tech demo of the battle system. The interface was made by me in Paint, and is definitely not final.


Jumping across some logs in the Forest during the tutorial section of the game.


Your pet mouse Atlas does some exploring in this simple tech demo. Think of his short sections like the Morph Ball puzzles in Metroid games, but with the trial and death style of gameplay adopted by games like LIMBO.


Features
- A unqiue fusion of different genre elements (RPG and Metroidvania).
- A new turn-based battle system. I don't want to go into much detail on this, but I'll just say that it's a system about managing energy to maximize damage - you cannot just sit back and spam anything.
- Explore the dark, haunting, and atmospheric ruins of the Alien prison complex. Then, use the Memory Modules to travel back in time and see the structure as it once was, as well as interact with other Alien characters.
- Find numerous items, weapons, and power-ups to increase your strength and abilities. These in turn will give you access to hidden passageways and secrets.

Team
Game Designer: Joshua Hallaran

Level Designer: Luke Gillespe

Composer: Allen Elezeid

Information
My name is Joshua Hallaran and I'm the founder of Critical Games, a new indie game developer. My first commercial game (a one-man effort titled 'Path of Thanatos') was released three weeks ago on numerous websites, and for the past little while I've been working on my next project.
Note that this project is very, very early in development. I’ve being tech-demoing the battle system, and I’ve got the overall design document written out – but there’s not really much to show. So, you may ask, why put up a topic at this stage at all? Well, to get this project going, I’m going to need some help.

Recruitment
I am looking to hire a dedicated spriter to take care of the graphical requirements. In terms of graphical style, I'm thinking some kind of marriage between the dark and atmospheric environmental graphic style of Super Metroid and the tall, versatile and easily discernable style of character sprites used in Chrono Trigger. It's also worth noting that as the perspective shifts, two different charsets will be required for a few things (mainly the player character). There are seven different areas in the game, and each would require its own tileset. Additionally, four of those areas would require an alternate 'Past' tileset. It will be a lot of work and require some artistic creativity and dedication, but it will also be a great chance to work on a fun and unique project.

As far as payment goes, I'll be blunt - I don't have much money. What I can offer you, however, is a 20% royalty payment on every copy of the game sold (10% goes to the order processor, 30% goes to the referral site, and the remaining 60% is divided equally between the spriter, a level designer who is joining the project next month, and myself).

If all this sounds good to you and you have the skills, either send me a PM here on Spriter's Resource, or alternatively email me at criticalgames@tpg.com.au
Any samples of your past work would be great to see, too!

Thanks for looking at the game!

Not to be rude, but, isn't what makes Metroidvania games Metroidvania games the fact that they're sidescrollers? Otherwise it's kind of just... an RPG. Where you find weapons or equipment or stuff to get through a path or to make travel easier... making it just an RPG.

But uh, at least you're offering compensation for your offer, which is better than most requests like this on here, not like it sounds like much for how big of a project this would be. I mean, how'd your last game sell? That might be a thing people want to know, if they're actually gonna be guaranteed at least something decent.

... well, there's my two bits.

edit: oh wait, whoops, guess I didn't read it too carefully "the game often swaps between two perspectives – Top Down and Side-Scrolling." Well, my point I guess is that it's usually the sidescrolling combat, not the movement style that makes most Metroidvania games, but eh.

This game sounds really fun, but alas I am not much of a spriter.

However, I am really good at making storylines, and could help you with the story. I'm not sure if this is what you want, but i'm here if you want me.

@Tellis - I'd argue that there are a few key concepts that make the Metroidvania genre what it is - chiefly, exploration. However, this style of exploration differs greatly to that of your average RPG - the key difference being the freedom and the focus. Dungeons in a traditional RPG are relatively small and straight-forward. They offer a few alternative passageways and a few secret areas with treasure-chests, sure, but in the end it's very much a Point A to Point B affair - the focus is squarely on getting to the end of the dungeon. In a Metroidvania game, though, the entire game world is the dungeon. The focus is less on making it to the end, and more about finding all the hidden secrets and passageways. It's a hugely different philosophy to design with.
Additionally, RPG exploration generally doesn't involve too much back-tracking - you complete an area, you move on. You might return to grind some enemies or for a side-quest, but generally, the area's done and burried. In a Metroidvania game returning to old areas to find hidden secrets is encouraged, and areas in the game are specifically designed to both entice the player to do this and aid the player in getting across the world quickly.

I would also say that Metroidvania games are built to be very solitary experiences for the most part - interaction is limited to combat and exploration. Whereas in an RPG you've got your party members, towns, etc. to interact with on a constant basis, in a Metroidvania game it's just you and your enemies (at least, for the majority of the experience). What I am personally doing to fuse these two aspects is having the points in the game where you play as the Alien Warrior (thousands of years in the past) act more like an RPG (talking/interacting with other Aliens in a town-like setting) and then having the majority of the game where you play as the boy (in the present) a solitary experience. So basically, you see an area populated and brimming with life in the past, but then you return to the present and find only a haunting emptiness punctuated by the monstrous creatures that have taken up residence.

One last thing I'll mention is that it's pretty rare in an RPG that you'll find a weapon and actually use it in any meaningful way outside of battle. In a Metroidvania game, using your weapons and abilities outside of combat is essential to progress through and explore the world fully. Additionally, some items aren't used in combat - they are exclusively used on the 'field' (outside of battle). Not to say that weapons and items won't play an important part in combat - they definitely will - but they have more versatile applications than in a traditional RPG.

In the end, keep in mind - I'm not making a Metroidvania game. Nor am I making an RPG. I'm taking elements from each and fusing them to make something a little bit more unique

Moving on, I generally don't like to talk about money and sales figures, but I can see your point. Naturally, this sort of project isn't ever going to be that big - you've got to start at the bottom and work your way up, after all. Still, it's a decent little bit of money. So, as of tomorrow (Thursday for me), my first game (Path of Thanatos) will have been out for three weeks. As of now, I've sold 90 copies. Depending on what you know, that might sound good, or it might not. Keep in mind a few things, though. Firstly, my first game used only the RPG Maker XP RTP graphics and music (i.e. the stuff that comes with the package) - many, many people were turned off by this (there is a general feeling in the community that if a game doesn't have custom sprites and sound, it's not worth paying for). Secondly, piracy has been a rather big issue for me. I didn't find it was happening until about a week and a half after release, and by then tens of thousands of people had downloaded it (going off of the numbers I could find/get access to). I managed to take everything down in a matter of days, but the damage was done. This time, I'm much better prepared to tackle piracy and have a much better idea of who the offenders are, where to go, and how to get things taken down ASAP.

Anyways, I hope that answers all of your questions Tellis!

@sponge7325 - Thank you very much for your interest and your offer! Right now, we're only looking for a spriter. At this stage of things, I'm trying to keep the team as small as possible and am personally dealing with all the story aspects. That said, if the need arises, I'll get in touch with you

Yeah this isn't really Metroidvania. Still looks nice but... why can't people make more Metroidvania games?

Heheh that reminds me of the time I was making sprites for a fan game I never made called "Banjo Island" It was a sidescrolling Banjo-Kazooie fan game. Never happened ofcourse.

@Koopaul - While you're technically right (it's a combination of genres, after all), it will very closely resemble a Metroidvania game in some core aspects. All you're seeing here in the screenshots are simple tech-demo areas. Don't worry, I know my genres well and I also lament the lack of Metroidvania titles avaliable

Shame about your game, too. I love Banjo-Kazooie!

On another note, I updated the first post a tiny bit to note the growth in team size. At this point, we've got a Game Designer (myself), a Level Designer/Mapper, and a Composer - all that's left is the spriter and we're all set