My next game

I now consider Prometheus finished as far as I'm concerned. Beta testing is still going on though. I've been trying to focus on how I'm going to market and sell Prometheus, something which is completely new to me, but it's shaping up nicely so far.

The next game that I've already begun working on has the working title Mission: Afghanistan. If what that title implies offends you, you should probably stop reading now because it will only get "worse" (better?) in that department. I consider it a privilege as an indie developer that you can be as politically incorrect as you want. MA will be an arcade style shooter with smooth animations and a lot of colors! More than 54 I can guarantee you :) The game will be made in Metal Slug-style but without actual vehicles though. Among the bosses will be dictators such as Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-Il, to mention a couple. I know I tend to make games that are inspired by other games a lot, but to me reinventing the wheel just is not a good idea when it comes to video game development. Many people have tried but in my opinion it's a fool's errand. I'm not saying that one of your five lifetime original thoughts could possibly make for a revolutionary game, but video games have been developed for decades so it's highly unlikely.

MA is in many ways the game I wanted to do from the get-go, but I just didn't have the skills when it comes to programming to do it. Working on Mega Man 42 and Prometheus has given me those skills I deem necessary though which is awesome. It feels great to be able to show what I'm capable of as well when it comes to animations, sprites and not be inhibited by color limitations. It's going to be very nice to show the ignorant naysayers that yes indeed, when I want to and am not developing a NES-style game, I can actually use more than three colors and three frames of animations per sprite.

I've done a few concept drawings of the bosses that I intend to put in the game, as well as a few test animations. I'm ever so apprehensive of showing these but I'm thinking it might be for the best in the end and worth the risk. I need to give it some more thought though.

The Emperor's New Clothes

Here's the new look for Prometheus since the old one was a little too similar to the Orpheus player sprite in The Battle of Olympus. I intended that as a homage, something which didn't seem to find its way to certain persons, so what the hell. Don't mistake this for me being scared of getting sued though, I still think that is an astronomically unlikely event to take place. I hope you like the new sprite because I don't feel like changing it again. When you walk now you see that Prometheus has the cross shield which is the first shield you come across in the game. I made him have a red bandana as a homage to Rambo, I hope Sylvester Stallone hasn't copyrighted it!

I have also changed back to the old boss getting damaged-sound since the new one was too similar to the one in BoO, again not since I want to steal their thunder, it was only meant as a homage to that game.

In other not so insignificant news, I'm happy to announce that the game has now moved into beta stage of development! Virtually all of its assets when it comes to graphics, coding and audio are now in the game. The only things left are: To make an epilogue, complete with item collecting-percent and game completion timer in accordance with a real metroidvania game, as well as the last two music tracks. Then I have a to do-list to go through and of course the beta testing. Playing through the game now is a joy though, and I'm extremely pleased with the end result so far, it's probably even better than I imagined it would turn out. Which is rare because I am a rather pessimistic-minded person.