Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence - Can a FPS also be a Metroidvania?
Hey everyone!
Exophobia has been selected to be part of a Steam festival all about roguelikes, rogue-lites, souls-likes and metroidvanias, called Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence !
I was a bit surprised to see Steam inviting me to be part of a festival with this name, until I saw metroidvanias were part of the list of celebrated types of games. And metroidvania is one of Exophobia's most prominent tag, and this is where the game's inclusion might start to sound controversial. But here is how I designed Exophobia to feel like a METROIDVANIA FPS!
Steam defines games eligible for this festival with "These games generally share mechanics of repeating parts of the game again and again, or re-treading ground once the player has gained enough experience or equipment."
Even though metroidvanias are often thought as 2D platformers, progression in Exophobia was designed to feature these ideas as an FPS with no verticality (quite a challenge!).
The gameplay happens inside the spaceship, a giant map with multiple floors each having their own characteristics (look, enemies, objects,...), with multiple gated areas, designed to push exploration. The player progresses through the game by finding upgrades, that improve combat mechanics as well as uncover areas that were locked before. The more you progress, the more the map opens up, and you might even find secrets that you can now access with your new abilities as you backtrack to find your next one.
Besides this larger progression loop, you can also find other gated areas with one-way doors, key cards, movement challenging areas and even boss fights can unlock something on the map! You also have to save often in checkpoints, because that's where you return when you die, something you also see in metroidvanias.
So, in brief:
Of course, feel free to give your own opinions on the subject :)
Have some great runs with the festival,
Zarc
Exophobia has been selected to be part of a Steam festival all about roguelikes, rogue-lites, souls-likes and metroidvanias, called Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence !
I was a bit surprised to see Steam inviting me to be part of a festival with this name, until I saw metroidvanias were part of the list of celebrated types of games. And metroidvania is one of Exophobia's most prominent tag, and this is where the game's inclusion might start to sound controversial. But here is how I designed Exophobia to feel like a METROIDVANIA FPS!
Steam defines games eligible for this festival with "These games generally share mechanics of repeating parts of the game again and again, or re-treading ground once the player has gained enough experience or equipment."
Even though metroidvanias are often thought as 2D platformers, progression in Exophobia was designed to feature these ideas as an FPS with no verticality (quite a challenge!).
The gameplay happens inside the spaceship, a giant map with multiple floors each having their own characteristics (look, enemies, objects,...), with multiple gated areas, designed to push exploration. The player progresses through the game by finding upgrades, that improve combat mechanics as well as uncover areas that were locked before. The more you progress, the more the map opens up, and you might even find secrets that you can now access with your new abilities as you backtrack to find your next one.
Besides this larger progression loop, you can also find other gated areas with one-way doors, key cards, movement challenging areas and even boss fights can unlock something on the map! You also have to save often in checkpoints, because that's where you return when you die, something you also see in metroidvanias.
So, in brief:
- One giant map with different themed areas and checkpoints.Check
- A clear player power arc and enjoyable movement. Check
- Gates, boss fights and hidden secrets to reward exploration. Check
Of course, feel free to give your own opinions on the subject :)
Have some great runs with the festival,
Zarc