Steam Derelict Star (pre-alpha)

Sargonnas

Member
I've been working on this game sparingly over the last few years, when life let's me. My goal has me finishing this within the next few years.

Derelict Star is a Metroidvania built as my tribute to and combination of Metroid, MegamanX, Ranger X, and sure why not Castlevania (the melee mechanics are similar). The player explores, collects upgrades, unlocks new areas, fights bosses and solves large puzzles just like you'd expect. The game spans 13+ distinct zones, 7+ bosses and (if I can squeeze it) a story branch or two.

Mechanics in the game so far:
* Controller compatible
* running / jumping (hold sensitive) / double jumping / crawling / climbing ledges / climbing ladders / sliding down slopes
* Gun arm with variable guns to swap in. Main gun upgrades into having a charge feature similar to Megaman, second gun starts as an assault rifle and can be made fully automatic with explosive shells.
* Missile / consumable weapons. Missile capacity is upgraded similar to Metroid, but your missiles steadily refill on their own.
* Melee Combat featuring a power sword. Three-hit combos + ending flourish / airborne attacks / crouching attacks
* Block Breaking, similar to Metroid
* Power cells are a key puzzle component, you must find charged power cells and move them to the machines you want to activate.
* Power nodes can be charged by being attacked, which then supply power to whatever their wires connect them to
* Moving platforms
* Water / Sinking Mud and Sand
* Friendly robotic drones that follow and assist you
* Innocent but deadly alien life forms (floating exploding puffballs + their nests, sine wave bat lizards, crawling crabs, flame-throwing jellyfish that pop up and float down, hopping mushrooms that vent toxic spores, under water pyrozomes)
* Interactable computer consoles that can direct power, activate machines / cutscenes / etc.
* Dynamic Lighting (sort of). The ability to turn lights on / off, with arcing shadows etc.
* Multi-stage boss fights (one so far, but its a good template for more to come)

Edit:
* Jet pack flight similar to Megaman6 or RangerX (just as easy as I was expecting, and lots of fun)

Mechanics to come:
* Mini / Full Map
* Upgrade Management screen
* Options (graphics, sound, controls)
* Controllable platform / vehicles, similar to Earthworm Jim's submarine (Mostly done already).
* Log (creature entries, event diary) - stretch goal

Quick Story Intro:
The (presumably) last living human being in the galaxy receives a human S.O.S. sent some forty years prior, and goes to investigate. The planet from which the signal is originating is being consumed by an unusual form of supernova, the signal is coming from deep beneath the surface. The player crash-lands their shuttle, breaking into some protected caverns. After some exploration, the player discovers that there are indeed recent human ruins on the planet, though what they find is not encouraging. The planet's populating had been under attack by the human's worst enemy, the Xen-Seti. And this all occurred nearly 40 years ago.

The signal is still repeating, still deep within the planet's crust. The player must find a way, ever downwards, through what remains of the human colony.


My ego could really use some support here, my imgur reveal got only 20 some odd views.
> 1st amateur video preview with sample music. Be gentle, I'm not experienced with video editing software and matching cuts to music was a nightmare for me.
> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yb5a_zag_banpNse4d0caXCa0nsY_EeN/view?usp=sharing = idle screen universe exposition. This is straight taken from the game and I didn't have to edit anything, thank god.


Doorways2.jpgIncubus2.jpgDSTitleScreen2.jpgTutorial2.jpgPhotoss2.jpg
 
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pixeltroid

Member
Looking good. Intriguing storyline. Love the tilesets.

Google drive link and imgur wont help much when it comes to promoting your game. Post your trailer to youtube with the right tags and share on twitter as well. You can reach a larger audience that way.
 
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Sargonnas

Member
Looking good. Intriguing storyline. Love the tilesets.

Google drive link and imgur wont help much when it comes to promoting your game. Post your trailer to youtube with the right tags and share on twitter as well. You can reach a larger audience that way.
Thanks! I've always been intimidated by YouTube tbh
 

Zizka

Member
This looks gorgeous, very pro. The Metroid inspiration is definitely there.
Did you make the art yourself?
 

Sargonnas

Member
Looking good. Intriguing storyline. Love the tilesets.

Google drive link and imgur wont help much when it comes to promoting your game. Post your trailer to youtube with the right tags and share on twitter as well. You can reach a larger audience that way.
Thanks! I've been very nervous to set foot in youtube land, just editing that one video has been a serious chore. And it definitely still needs work.
These are the first tilesets I've built, its definitely been eye opening.
 
please finish this game! i want play it sooo bad. it looks far beyond amazing. how can i get my eager hands on this game? seriously im starving for really good metroid esq games. it looks like your following the what makes a great metroid style game script to the letter. your art is pixel perfection. please dont abandon this game... if ya do please leave us the source code for it. i am anticipating your game every bit as much as freakin silk song. i hope that motivates ya to get it done. big huge giant mega thanks for everything. keep killin it
 

Sargonnas

Member
please finish this game! i want play it sooo bad. it looks far beyond amazing. how can i get my eager hands on this game? seriously im starving for really good metroid esq games. it looks like your following the what makes a great metroid style game script to the letter. your art is pixel perfection. please dont abandon this game... if ya do please leave us the source code for it. i am anticipating your game every bit as much as freakin silk song. i hope that motivates ya to get it done. big huge giant mega thanks for everything. keep killin it
Aw, thanks dude! I've been working on it where possible, it really is a joy to persue! I've had to pick up some seriously draining full-time work so it's more delayed than I'd like, but it's still coming.

I would have a playable alpha demo ready but I have a few bothersome bugs (literally in one case, theres a sandworm boss that's giving me so many headaches to animate).

In the meantime though I've got a lot of work done since my last post update, I'll probably go and give some more teasers tonight after work.

Thanks again for the anticipation! I don't get a whole lot of support in person, my friends are more than a little skeptical, those who are interested at all. But you've totally fired up some more motivation!
 

pixeltroid

Member
Quick update:
Work has been continuing well, I'm very close to an alpha. I've produced some cutscenes to fill in the necessary exposition, and I'm working now on another area of the game I'm calling the Brambles.
Good to hear you're still working on this project! Good luck! and keep us posted!
 

Sargonnas

Member
It's been too long since I've put an update on here, but now that the holidays are over my work should pick up! I also found a job that should provide a MUCH better work/life balance, so things should start rolling out more quickly.

I've got a couple new environments nailed down. The Brambles is a zone I gave an early preview of, and the Bone Pit is an area close to the beginning where you find your first real predators.

Wish me luck with my final push for the demo! I'll have it up on Steam and the games own website, and a video or two on Youtube.

Leaper_Side.png

BonePit.jpg

BramblesGlade.jpg
 

pixeltroid

Member
the new screenshots look fantastic!

Glad to see you're still working on your project!! The organic areas look amazing!!

Wish me luck with my final push for the demo! I'll have it up on Steam and the games own website, and a video or two on Youtube.
also make a page on itch.io.

And don't forget to create a twitter for your game as well. It will help to raise awareness of your game.
And when you make a post use hashtags like #platformer #indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #IndieGameDev #indiegame #gamedevelopment #solodev . They will help show your game to hopefully the right audience!
 

Sargonnas

Member
I've been continuing my work. I've got a youtube channel now and a trailer in the works:




I also have a website up, but it's not anywhere near finished:



A playable demo feels very close now, the only glitches in my way are cosmetics:
* Shaders on the character aren't all working all the time - you can see some of that in the trailer
* A few cinematic events need timing work
* Some minor changes to how the Incubus functions during cinematic events: The door isn't working right yet for some reason during cutscenes
* Some parallax backgrounds aren't scaling again, just need to buckle down and devote an evening to it I think.

As soon as these glitches are solved I'll be putting out a finished trailer and establishing a steam page with more information, then whoring the game shamelessly trying to get attention.

If finances become a major issue I might put the game up on Kickstarter and establish a Patreon. Getting this noticed could change my life, maybe land me a game dev job somewhere. Things have been difficult lately, as I'm sure just about everyone would agree.
 
This looks excellent! Looking forward to the demo. Also, if you don't mind me asking, what type of lighting system are you using?
 

Sargonnas

Member
This looks excellent! Looking forward to the demo. Also, if you don't mind me asking, what type of lighting system are you using?
The only pre-fab shaders I'm using are working fine, I'm using the word 'shader' loosely. I have different layers to each of the character's parts: Texture, Shadow, and Lights. For some reason the Shadow and Lights layers aren't rendering when they should on occasion, leaving the character (or worse, only parts of them) looking washed out when they're standing in shadows. My troubles are all self-inflicted, I'm afraid.
 

Yrbiax

Member
Hey, just finished your demo. (0.1.2 version)

derelictEnd2.png

Loved the graphics and music. Beginning felt bit slow since there was hardly any enemies in beginning areas, but it got more fun in later areas.

derelict boss3.png
Almost rage quitted at this boss. Some of its attacks seemed impossible to dodge. Finally figured to use charged shots, so it died really fast :D

Door in starting room didnt open no matter what i pressed. I had to use debug commands to get out of there.
I glitched through walls many times. It seemed to happen often when climbing ledges next to walls.

I got this error when i was trying to press every button at the beginning. It seemed to happen when i pressed z while crawling.
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event2
for object oArms:

Variable oArms.Crouch_L(100019, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_oArms_Step_2
############################################################################################
gml_Object_oArms_Step_2 (line -1)
 

Sargonnas

Member
Hey, just finished your demo. (0.1.2 version)

View attachment 50491

Loved the graphics and music. Beginning felt bit slow since there was hardly any enemies in beginning areas, but it got more fun in later areas.

View attachment 50492
Almost rage quitted at this boss. Some of its attacks seemed impossible to dodge. Finally figured to use charged shots, so it died really fast :D

Door in starting room didnt open no matter what i pressed. I had to use debug commands to get out of there.
I glitched through walls many times. It seemed to happen often when climbing ledges next to walls.

I got this error when i was trying to press every button at the beginning. It seemed to happen when i pressed z while crawling.
___________________________________________
############################################################################################
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event2
for object oArms:

Variable oArms.Crouch_L(100019, -2147483648) not set before reading it.
at gml_Object_oArms_Step_2
############################################################################################
gml_Object_oArms_Step_2 (line -1)
Thanks! The non-responsive door and that crash are new to me, ill investigate asap!
 
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