Games N.U.T.Z. - A metroidvania platform shooter (WIP)

Website: www.pandemoniuminteractive.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PandemoniumInteractive/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/PInteracti

Last Updated: 08/26/2017

So this started off as a small project back in 2012, originally stemming from web based game project. The project was canceled, but then revived in 2016. However much has changed since then. We've game has shifted gears,scope and quality since then and we're aiming to make it a full PC platform game. Our goal is to have a presentable tech demo and achieve our goal for crowdfunding off of sites, like Kickstarter.​

N.U.T.Z.is a metroidvania platform shooter inspired from the works of franchises like Megaman, and Metroid

The player controls a single character on screen that can carry a variety of different weapons and can freely aim and attack in a 360 radius. We plan to support both mouse+keyboard and controller setups. The game will feature collectible upgrades for weapons and armor that are located throughout the levels. They will enhance the characters abilities and enable them to access areas in previous levels that they could not and unlock new abilities.



Each weapon behaves differently from one another and has different uses in different situations. All weapons have their own ammunition which will deplete with use, so ammo management will be important (unless it doesn't use ammo)! Players can scour the level to find extra ammo, health, and shields. We ultimately want to reward exploration. We plan to also incorporate various lore based areas for world building purposes, as well as incorporating collectible artifacts that when assembled reveal information on the area, and history of the world setting.



The final game will present non-linear level progression. After completing some of the starting stages the player will have the freedom of choice to choose where you want to go similar to the overworld style in games like Shovel knight.



One of our goals is to bring back some classical couch multiplayer. We'd like to see a campaign co-op or multiplayer deathmatch in the final product. While the internet has achieved a degree of flexibility and ease of use in uniting people together we think it's certainly great to play with friends in the same room. However if better funding should be acquired in the future there is certainly consideration for internet multiplayer.


The story:

There exists a peaceful world in a far away galaxy. The Planet “Zarda” is a utopia, where all live in harmony and balance with themselves and the planet. Zarda is a peaceful world and it's nations have long done away with their military power. They instead have a self defense force (similar to Japan's SDF) The planet is mostly at peace so there was little need to maintain a larger and more professional force. However this peace does not last forever as the world comes under attack by an alien menace. The sudden invasion of the nomadic reptilian invaders known as the Saurian Empire catches the defense force off guard. They aren't prepared to fight a proper military force that has been fighting for centuries a consuming planets of their living beings and resources.



Sil and Saya, our game's protagonists come under attack at an outpost with their comrades dead and the defense forces in disarray they take the fight to the enemy themselves.

We hope to have a playable tech demo soon for you guys to enjoy.

Concept Art

Spoiler: Concept Art

Sil

Saya

Collectable relics

Screenshots

Spoiler: Screenshots

A screenshot for earlier this year in 2017 featuring our main player character in the caves of the first level.

This recent screen shot comes from mid August. We've implemented our new lighting system to give much more depth to the visual aspect of the game,


08/21/2017 - Showing off our new engine upgrade and rich visual changes. We've got more exiting stuff coming down the pipeline


Cave lighting

 

Looks pretty good so far

How does the aiming work? You said free aim, does that mean you can move the crosshair anywhere on the screen?
Seems that this would give a mouse a huge advantage over a controller.

Are you planning any unique game mechanics or "toys", or just going for a high quality classic platformer?

Looking forward to seeing the progress

 

Hi and thanks for stopping by!

So with mouse aim you will position the course on the screen and the character will orient their weapon to that position. You control movement with the WASD setup. On a controller we once treated it the same way we did with a mouse. Obviously these were control issues. So we've changed it so that one control stick will provide movement while the other orients the gun for you. We're also thinking of aiming an aiming laser to the controller setup so you can more visibly see where the gun is oriented towards.

I believe that we're sticking to our original vision for the game and aiming to produce a quality platformer that incorporates elements of Metroidvania. There will be weapons, upgrades, and armor pieces that will change up gameplay and the way you traverse the level. One such example is obtaining the rocket boots, which will allow you to wall jump by pressing the jump button again in mid air when near a wall. So far these are the mechanics that we have in mind.

I'll try to keep this page updated and show off what we're up to

Actually...

UPDATE:

Showing off our new Unity 2017 engine upgrade and rich visual changes. We've got more exciting stuff coming down the pipeline!

 

Showing off the lighting effects in the caves. Lights that affect visibility on multiple sources. Some of the bullets now also emit light. The cave also looks much better with our engine's visual upgrade, and our tweaks to color and contrast.
We're really proud of the work that went into this.

We should have some more stuff to share with you guys soon

 

Its been awhile since this was updated >.>

One of our recent blog posts discusses how we implemented our lighting system.

http://pandemoniuminteractive.com/blog/the-lighting-system-giving-depth-to-the-flat-world-of-nutz