I do have an ulterior motive for making this blog, and using it as a front to upload my game design ideas. I don't want to necessarily use it as a dev-blog, because I can't program worth shit, and won't be making progress beyond the pre-production/brainstorming phase. However, I can come up with some pretty good ideas for a game.
The game I want to make is a 2D side-scrolling adventure game in the vein of
Metroid. My idea for this game came up roughly 2 months before E3 2009, where
Shadow Complex was announced. My concept was to use this as my way to revitalize the genre for myself, and hopefully others. Well,
SC paved the way for such a revitalized genre, and I'm hoping now that with that, I can use ideas from that game to help me with mine. Yes, you could say I'm piggy-backing on
SC's success to get my game afloat.
The name I have for the game is
Project Dimetro. Yea, the name isn't all that great, and it'll get better over time when I figure something out, but the name isn't what's selling this game. "Dimetro" comes from two things: (1) It's an anagram - a bad one, at that - for "Metroid" (2) Considering I work in DC, the idea came to me while working there, and it's the Metro area. I have two conceptual names for my development group: "Destroyed Controller" and "8-Bit Journey." Yes, Destroyed Controller is a concept name for my studio/group, with the same meaning behind the name of this very blog. My idea is that, if my dream of a game development studio ever does come to fruition, for whatever console I release a game for, the logo of my studio that appears will use that console's controller, destroyed. The name itself has the same reason behind my blogs name; I tend to throw the controller, and I was looking at a broken 360 controller I have. The original name was going to be "Broken Controller," there's already a blogspot blog named that. 8-Bit Journey is an homage to any gamer growing up in the 80's, starting on 8-bit games and time itself is the journey we all have taken as we've grown up with those video games.
I have hand-written pieces of paper strewn about that I've collected and put into a binder. These pieces of paper were written while at work, hence keeping the
-metro suffix in the
Metroid anagram. One piece of paper I have is what I would have on the game's description in the App Store. Uh huh, my game's idea is an iPhone title; free SDK. But this isn't some piece of shit that would flood the App Store. Here is said description:
This is a demo for a game that I truly want to make. I've slaved over documents about this game, trying to make it myself, but the task is too enduing for one man. That's why I'm basically marketing myself with this idea to game developers. If you enjoy my demo, please consider getting in contact with me. I have no prior knowledge of game development, but I have an ambition to make this game a great "Metroidvania" style game.
Development started mere months prior to E3 09, where Microsoft and Epic unveiled their new game, Shadow Complex. My game fell inline with the same concept; classic, 2D exploration ala Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, with you fighting an armed force inside an underground fortress. Before Shadow Complex's unveiling, I thought the Metroidvania-style gameplay needed some life put into it. However, during preliminary concepts, E3 came, and now my game could easily be considered a Shadow Complex-knockoff. Of course, now, Shadow Complex will play an influential role in some instances.
I look at this now, and see just how big my ambitions really are.
