Steam Advertising Concerns

[Pepisolo]

I'm a little concerned about the way that this game is currently advertised on Steam. From the "About the Game" description you would think that you would be getting a game much like AVWW, albeit improved and expanded on, when really the game is nothing like the first one. Indeed, it is really closer to being a spiritual successor than a proper sequel.

"A complete re-imagining that takes the best ideas from the first game and takes them to the next level."

This sentence, particularly, starts well but is very vague in how the game is re-imagined, it even seems a little contradictory towards the end -- can a re-imagined game just take some ideas from the original and "take them to the next level"? The fact that this game has a completely different old school 16-Bit era Metroidvanian feel is not apparent at all from the advertising.

This is bad in two ways. One, it is giving a slightly false impression of what to expect from the sequel to anyone familiar with the first game, and two, it is not particularly enticing to those fans of old-school 16-Bit shooter/platformers that might actually be interested in buying this game.

I propose some rewriting of this blurb to emphasize the fact that this is an old school metroidvanian shooter (and very different from the first game). Doing so should also help mitigate the damage caused by those expecting to be able to use mouse control; after all, who really expects a 16 bit era style metroidvanian title to be controllable with a mouse?

[x4000]

That's a good point; and we are planning on rewriting the blubs on all this.  I'll pass your notes on along to Erik, thanks.

[Pepisolo]

Cool, thanks.

[madcow]

I'm not really sure metroidvania is the right word to describe it. It's got more of a megaman meets contra feel at times in the actual platforming. Mostly due to the linear levels that consists of going forward without much side exploration. Megaman as I recall also had some tactics in terms of picking boss orders so you can have the right weapon for the next boss - that's just been cranked up to 11 with the strategic map.

[Pepisolo]

I'm not really sure metroidvania is the right word to describe it. It's got more of a megaman meets contra feel at times in the actual platforming. Mostly due to the linear levels that consists of going forward without much side exploration. Megaman as I recall also had some tactics in terms of picking boss orders so you can have the right weapon for the next boss - that's just been cranked up to 11 with the strategic map.

Actually, you're right, yeah. Even though this game was intended to be in the Metroidvanian style and there are still elements of that, for example, collecting feats and backtracking to previous tiles, the overriding feeling is a more of a linear Contra or Turricany style run 'N' gun. As long as the blurb is rewritten to indicate a more old school platformer/shooter  feel, that should be fine.

[Panopticon]

The gating on the worldmap through acquiring Feats is mainly where I see the Metroidvania influence. That sort of association may not occur to a lot of players until they've spent time with the mechanic though so it could probably use some explanation in the description. It's a really exciting feature in my opinion and could be a great selling point if properly described.

[Pepisolo]

The gating on the worldmap through acquiring Feats is mainly where I see the Metroidvania influence.

Yeah, this is mainly where it comes in. Definitely qualifies this game as a Metroidvanian, although the influence is not quite as strong as other game in the genre.

[madcow]

The common connantion of metroidvania is backtracking, side passages, etc.  That isn't really what we have here.  Yes there is picking your level and exploration in that sense, but its not so much in level exploration. Calling it metroidvania doesn't work because its more unique than that.

The way of combat and levels themselves have that contra feel as well. But with a layer of choice stacked up ontop of it.

[Pepisolo]

Calling it metroidvania doesn't work because its more unique than that.

Hmmm.... avalleywithoutwindian?

[Panopticon]

So describe the mechanics of expansion on the strategy map as taking inspiration from the gated progress of Metroidvania style games. It's a very cool part of the game but the mechanic isn't immediately obvious to a player, so it should be advertised.

[madcow]

Heh right. Be a trailblazer and genre maker!

I do think one key point worth advertising is that not only does it have a great strategic and platforming side with neither being just tacked on... But you can tune the difficulties for the two sides seperately.  So if somebody doesn't care about the strategy side, they can turn it to very easy and its not a problem!  Aka don't scare off platforming fans with the strategy side. On the flip side, don't downplay it too much, quite a tight rope!

[Pepisolo]

Might be worth bigging up this feature, yeah. Whether your main focus is platforming or strategy, you can tailor the difficulty to your own requirements. For myself I would be far more inclined to pump up the platforming difficulty and leaving the strategy difficulty as is. If I really hated strategy games (I don't), knowing I could tailor each side of the difficulty, I might even be tempted to buy the game regardless despite it being part strategy game -- I could just make the strategy part super easy.