Hello everyone!

We haven't been very active on Steam, and we apologize for that.
In order to have a continuous thread of DEV BLOG updates, we have decided to repost the articles originally posted on Kickstarter.

The other articles will follow shortly, and we hope you will enjoy reading them!

-- this article was originally posted: 03/02/2023

Hello everyone!

Today, Inateno is writing directly to you!

I hope you're doing well and found the previous articles interesting to read.

In this new article, I want to address a rather personal and subjective topic: what are the inspirations for Gold Project?

This is a question that comes up often, so I thought it would be interesting to discuss.

But before we dive into that, let's talk about the development progression!

Game Design and Level Design:

Since the last update, we've made progress on new bosses and continued our work on biomes 3 and 4. We have 2 bosses left to design and some areas of the game that are not yet fully defined.

While the level design work won't be finished until the last minute, we can still consider it well advanced! In fact, almost all of Biome 2 is completed, Biome 3 is 70% done, and Biome 4 is 30% done (these are estimates, but as it's mainly my work, I don't think I'm too far off).

I estimate that we'll finish all of this work by April or May, but of course, there will be plenty of improvements to make after playtesting.

Programming:

On the technical side, things are going well. We had some small delays in February due to other work not related to Gold, but since our refactoring, we're going faster! Bosses 1, 2, and 3 are finished, and we're happy with them (although they'll likely need some tweaking after playtesting). We still have 3 bosses to make (making a total of 6 bosses planned so far).

We've developed the mini-map, although it's not finished. We still have the skill tree to do, but the game mechanics and monsters AI are all finished or nearly finished.

By April, we think the game will be technically finished, and we can start preparing for publication on platforms and porting to consoles! And if all goes well, we can start a new project? We'll see!

Visual Art:

We had some scheduling complications, especially with monsters. But since early February, we've had a bit of help from Christopher Legecky, who worked on the great "Stoneshard" and is helping our team sharpen its skills!

The monsters are therefore progressing at a slower pace than programming, but it won't delay the game's release (still planned for the end of 2023!). We have about 10 monsters and 2 mini-bosses to do, and they're currently in progress. The hardest part was deciding on their look (as discussed in the previous article) and how we were going to represent certain types of monsters.

Also, we had planned to include spiders, but we realized that arachnophobia was more prevalent than we had imagined! So we decided to remove aggressive spider designs and rework our designs while keeping something coherent with the gameplay. No teasing for now! We hope arachnophobes will appreciate this decision and the new designs! ☺

Bosses take time, and none are fully finished yet, but the 3 bosses that are already implemented have their visuals. We're excited to see them come to life in the game's setting!

On the environmental side, Biome 1 has been finished since the January announcement, Biome 2 is almost finished, and Biome 3 is well advanced! The longest part will be dressing up the levels.

On the Audio and Music side:

Not much to say on this front, mostly research and testing. It's hard to make concrete progress until the game's rhythm is finalized!

Well, we've been repeating the same thing for a while now, so to make it up to you, here's an exclusive sneak peek of one of the famous tests, created by Sarys.

I want to make it clear that this is an ultra-wip test, absolutely nothing is final or even planned for this track, it may not even make it into the game!

With this little update, I hope you have a good idea of "where we're at".

Now, let's talk about inspirations.

My inspirations for Gold Project

I specify that what follows concerns only me "Inateno".

As Lead Game Designer, Level Designer, and Producer on the game, my inspirations inevitably have an impact on my part of the work, and it is very subjective. I can't talk in the name of the other members of the team about this.

Visual artists have their own inspirations, as do Sarys and MisterMV for music. Finally, people who do programming, such as Quentin or Maxime, also have their own inspirations when they will create a Boss, an attack, or a pattern.

Each person who works on the project brings their personal touch, influenced by their own inspirations.

My work directly impacts the player's feeling in terms of their progression and discovery in the game world, and maybe when you play the game, you will see them.

https://www.reddit.com/r/castlevania/comments/av6259/made_a_metroidvania_map/

If you want to discuss this kind of subject with me via Discord, it is possible. Do not hesitate to tell me what you like and what you don't like, maybe it will give me some ideas.

My love for metroidvanias genre began quite early in my life as a gamer. I had the Game Boy Color as my first console (before that, it was mostly at my parents friends houses that I could play on consoles, like the NES or the Saturn).

A little personal note, I'm just in my thirties. So if you're a few years older than me, it might make you smile, and if you're ten years younger, maybe you won't understand all the references. A good opportunity to learn about old or recent games (because you'll see, there's everything).

As far as I can remember, I think it was Castlevania on Game Boy Color that was my first contact, and frankly not the best since I didn't keep the game and I don't have more memories than that (I couldn't even name the exact opus, don't blame me). On the other hand, Metroid Fusionon Game Boy Advance was a revelation of the genre for me, and I just loved the game.

Since that game, I have played many games of the genre without even realizing it. There are obviously about all the Metroids that have passed through my hands, some Castlevanias (I'm a fan of that franchise).

Here is a list, ordered by release date, of some games that I remember that are "recognized" as metroidvania games (I deliberately exclude Metroids and Castlevania):

• Tails Adventure (sur Game Gear)
• Tombi! (sur Playstation) que je n’avais pas spécialement aimé au passage
• VVVVVV (2010)
• Capsized (2011)
• Cave Story+ (2011)
• Hell Yeah! (2012)
• Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (2012)
• Gateways (2012)
• Toki Tori 2+ (2013)
• Antichamber (2013)
• Fez (2013)
• Dust: An Elysian Tail (2013
• Guacamelee! (2013)
• La Mulana (2013)
• Finding Teddy (2013)
• Steamworld Dig (2013, pas vraiment reconnu comme un metroidvania)
• Unepic (2014)
• Axiom Verge (2015)
• Chronicles of Teddy (2015) maybe I am not objective about this one as it is a friend who made it, same for Finding Teddy
• Wuppo (2016)
• Hollow Knight (2017)
• Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition (2018)

There are quite a few other titles that I would remember if I saw the name or an image, but that's already a good list.

Some titles are not on it, such as Ori, for example, because they are not games I have played directly (someone else owns it, and either I play it "quickly" or I watch the person play. I do not consider having played these games as it is superficial and impersonal).

However, the list does not stop there. There are many games that use all the codes of Metroidvania without being recognized as such.

Zelda is a good example, and I could also mention Donkey Kong 64, Mario 64, or even Banjo-Kazooie, which, in my opinion, are very close to the genre.

Screenshot of the game Banjo-Kazooie on Nintendo 64

But then how do we define a Metroidvania? According to Wikipedia, it is a subgenre of action-adventure games with a focus on non-linear exploration and/or exploration based on the acquisition of new powers.

Moreover, there are terms such as Zeldatroid and Zeldavania, which are not used or even accepted by communities.

Anyway, this is where my influence will be felt since a game that recently marked me is Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And even though the game is beautiful, good, etc... it's not something so vague that struck me.

It's its open-world exploration model.

The possibility of facing any boss in any order, and the fact that the character's skills are all acquired from the start, are the two things to remember in this game in my opinion.

In Gold Project (which is not the final name, as a reminder), I wanted to have a bit of this overall feeling of freedom, without breaking the "classic" Metroidvania codes too much.

So it's possible to face any boss in any order, provided you have the required skills.

That means that in Gold Project, you have a slight required skill system (not like in Hollow Knight or Metroid Dreads, I'll come back to that), but when you get a new required skill, there is no obligation to go and face a boss.

You can very well retrieve all the skills in the game, and then face the bosses in disorder.

One clarification, I intentionally wrote "required skill" because in Gold Project, you will have optional skills (those that do not allow you to finish the game) and required skills to finish the game.

When I finished Metroid Dreads (which I did in one go), I was both satisfied and a bit bored. I found the game very well done no matter how you look at it, but at the same time a bit bland and repetitive.

The number of skills or skill upgrades we obtain is, in my opinion, too high (I'll spoil it slightly, but from memory we improve the weapon power 4 times, which allows us to open 4 types of "doors").

The traditional room that allows you to get a new power in the Metroid series

And that makes progression easy in this game since when you get a new skill, you just have to look at the map to see where you can use it. The "exploration" side is, in my opinion, absent in this game.

And if we take a game that is completely opposed from an exploration point of view, namely Hollow Knight, in my opinion, it's too much. We obtain a lot of skills without any idea of "where to go" at times, we find ourselves having to explore the entire game world to discover a new passage.

Screenshot of the incomplete map in Hollow Knight

As someone who loves games of this genre, I have to admit that I don't think I will finish Hollow Knight; it's far too long, far too labyrinthine, and finishing a game by looking it up online doesn't satisfy me too much, especially for this kind of game.

It's difficult as a creator to choose between "do we want to hold the player's hand" and "do we want to lose them in a world to the point of giving up."

In my opinion, we need a somewhat guided hook, a hint of freedom but not too much, and later on, open all the floodgates of freedom (we can go wherever we want).

Although there are many games that have inspired me on my list, it would be too long to list them all. But here's a little recap of it all.

• I don't like games that are too much like Beat'em all with little variety and little platforming, like Dust an Elysian Tail, for example.
• I don't like it when there are too many gradual skills that give access here and there, in a repetitive way, like Metroid Dread, for example.
• I don't like it when the game world is way too big and unguided to the point of running around for 30 minutes for no reason, like in Hollow Knight, for example.
• I don't like it when "you must go here" is displayed too obviously on a map.
• I don't like maps that are not very useful and don't allow us to optimize our routes.

However:

• I like a streamlined combat system, with a diversity of enemies and AI, like in Hollow Knight.
• I like a game in which we have the freedom of choice and order, and our skill makes the difference, like in Zelda BotW.
• I like a game in which we're not guided by the hand like a child, but the world's construction was designed so that we don't get lost, like in Metroid Dread.
• I like a game in which platforming is present, sometimes challenging, often satisfying, but not hardcore, like in Hollow Knight and Metroid Dread.
• I like skill and character improvement systems (life, for example), but I don't like it when it's abusive and can make a difference, or even required to finish the game.
• I like a detailed map that allows me to really "see the game world" and lets me try to guess what might be in a certain place, without being an active GPS that takes me by the hand.
• I like to have a story present and linked to progression, but I have no preference between "a lot of story" and "little story," I like both.

I know that we are all different, and sometimes we want to "dose the challenge ourselves." That's why for the specific part of skills, we will have an optional skill system in Gold Project that will allow you to obtain new powers to face your opponents. The game is finishable with only basic skills and streamlined gameplay, the rest being optional, according to each person's taste.

Screenshot of the game Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

On the world exploration side, for now, it falls into "what I like," but we may offer options to add/remove details; nothing is final in what I explain here.

Finally, on the combat side, we currently have a very simple combat system that will be enriched by the optional skills.

We must not forget that the world of Gold Project is complex since we must add to all of this "Karma," which will change the access between maps; we have difficulty understanding it during conception, and that's why we will pay very special attention to the world map.

I recommend reading DEV BLOG #2 if you want to know more about how Karma works:

I could write several more pages about what I like and don't like, as well as "my vision" for designing a metroidvania.

I hope this article helps you understand my vision for the game a little better, and I look forward to exchanging ideas with you if you have any further questions!

And before I go, I'd like to give you the list of conventions we've planned to attend in 2023. I hope to see you there and have a chance to chat!

March 25-26 at Occitanie Game Show Montpellier (at the Montpellier exhibition center)
May 13-14 at TGS Springbreak (Diagora Labège, near Toulouse)
October 1-2 at Pau Anime Game Show (at the Pau exhibition center)
November 26-27 at TGS Toulouse (at Meet in Blagnac, near Toulouse)