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[Nohar]

Jobbs, my good man, at the risk of becoming very unpopular, I have a request for you: please don't post more stuff from the game. I realize you're probably being very careful to not spoil key elements, but I personally want to play through your game with fresh eyes and minimal expectations, so as to heighten the sense of discovery.

At the very least, consider putting the gifs in as links so that they don't open automatically. I, and hopefully a few others, would appreciate it!

I don't want to sound harsh by stating the simpliest solution, but it would be better for you to no longer follow this thread if you are afraid of spoiling yourself some parts of the game (even if Jobbs isn't posting key elements).

Also, I guess that Jobbs won't be posting much more screens/gif after a while, since he and his teammate will begin to focus on the new/revisioned game (with better art, new environment, etc). All that we are seeing now are parts of the flash game, and, well, one can only show so much until he runs out of things to show.

On a side note: every player knows that when he hears "rumors", it turns out that said rumors are 100% accurate... ^^

 

[Jobbs]

I don't want to sound harsh by stating the simpliest solution, but it would be better for you to no longer follow this thread if you are afraid of spoiling yourself some parts of the game (even if Jobbs isn't posting key elements).

Also, I guess that Jobbs won't be posting much more screens/gif after a while, since he and his teammate will begin to focus on the new/revisioned game (with better art, new environment, etc). All that we are seeing now are parts of the flash game, and, well, one can only show so much until he runs out of things to show.

yeah, I'm showing the old flash game still, the new game doesn't really exist yet in any real way. I haven't shown things that I think would be a significant spoiler, but at the same time some people are hyper spoiler sensitive. I guess I should be very flattered that someone would want to black out my game. Maybe I could keep it to the indy dev thread if I have new things after this I want to show.

 

[Scoops]

Never backed a Kickstarter before but this looks awesome. I'd love it for WiiU.

 

[Jobbs]

Never backed a Kickstarter before but this looks awesome. I'd love it for WiiU.

Thanks.

More relics from past attempts at colonization.

 

[majik13]

looks awesome, and glad there is a Wii U stretch goal. I will def pick it up for that. I find it a little amusing that from the preceding goal to the Wii U stretch goal is 20,000. The WiiU version alone is more than the original minimum goal for the whole game of 15,000.

 

[RoboPlato]

Everything looks amazing so far. Really impressed. This is only the second project I've ever backed on KS and I'm glad it's going so well.

 

[Clott]

Wow! Really love the vibe in the new picture. Do you have any plans for logs you may find from the previous colonizers, it would be amazing to read into how things went wrong, and gives plenty of opportunity to hear about "research teams that never came back from the depths."

 

[LSauchelli]

Looks like if you keep the current pace, it will end around $65K, but the last few days in a kickstarter usually have a bump, I fully expect this getting to at least $70K.

 

[Jobbs]

Wow! Really love the vibe in the new picture. Do you have any plans for logs you may find from the previous colonizers, it would be amazing to read into how things went wrong, and gives plenty of opportunity to hear about "research teams that never came back from the depths."

thanks.

Re. logs -- this is an idea that came about relatively recently. I was talking to my brother (who was my writing partner back when we made comics) and he was spitballing ideas, filling in backstory -- and the idea of readable logs (as seen in Metroid Prime and others) inevitably came up, and is now in my plans.

Looks like if you keep the current pace, it will end around $65K, but the last few days in a kickstarter usually have a bump, I fully expect this getting to at least $70K.

It's such a hard call, we've been slowing down (which is natural and expected) but these things can spike in rather unpredictable ways, particularly towards the end. I can tell you straight off that if your prediction comes true they'll have to collect me off the floor. Keep in mind I started this thing thinking MAYBE we'd get $15k and scrap by making this game working a lot on our own time. That was my hope. Just to keep things in perspective.

Anyway, I'm simply not too worried. I'm already feeling really good about our funding and what we're going to be able to build. It'd be nice to meet higher goals, and it'd be quite gratifying personally to make a game for a Nintendo console -- but I'll be happy no matter what at this point.

 

[Dark Octave]

thanks.

Re. logs -- this is an idea that came about relatively recently. I was talking to my brother (who was my writing partner back when we made comics) and he was spitballing ideas, filling in backstory -- and the idea of readable logs (as seen in Metroid Prime and others) inevitably came up, and is now in my plans.



It's such a hard call, we've been slowing down (which is natural and expected) but these things can spike in rather unpredictable ways, particularly towards the end. I can tell you straight off that if your prediction comes true they'll have to collect me off the floor. Keep in mind I started this thing thinking MAYBE we'd get $15k and scrap by making this game working a lot on our own time. That was my hope. Just to keep things in perspective.

Anyway, I'm simply not too worried. I'm already feeling really good about our funding and what we're going to be able to build. It'd be nice to meet higher goals, and it'd be quite gratifying personally to make a game for a Nintendo console -- but I'll be happy no matter what at this point.

Especially considering you were thinking of just putting it out as a free Flash game. I'm so glad you decided against that. Congrats man.

 

[Nohar]

thanks.

Re. logs -- this is an idea that came about relatively recently. I was talking to my brother (who was my writing partner back when we made comics) and he was spitballing ideas, filling in backstory -- and the idea of readable logs (as seen in Metroid Prime and others) inevitably came up, and is now in my plans.

I like this idea a lot! Logs in Metroid Prime helped a lot in building the atmosphere and exposing the background of the game. Heh, I believe I spent more time looking for things to scan and read logs than playing the game itself. I just loved this. Retro Studio really made amazing games with the Metroid Prime games, and kept the soul of the series by keeping exploration as one of the core-aspect of the game and expanding the Metroid-universe (poor space pirates: judging by their logs, for them Samus is the monster; I actually laughed when, in Echoes, the logs revealed their "Oh crap" reaction when they discover that there are two of them now; also, their "morph-ball" emulating experiences which went terribly wrong? Priceless).

It's such a hard call, we've been slowing down (which is natural and expected) but these things can spike in rather unpredictable ways, particularly towards the end. I can tell you straight off that if your prediction comes true they'll have to collect me off the floor. Keep in mind I started this thing thinking MAYBE we'd get $15k and scrap by making this game working a lot on our own time. That was my hope. Just to keep things in perspective.

Anyway, I'm simply not too worried. I'm already feeling really good about our funding and what we're going to be able to build. It'd be nice to meet higher goals, and it'd be quite gratifying personally to make a game for a Nintendo console -- but I'll be happy no matter what at this point.

I believe your project have good chances to reach at least the 40.000$ mark. Like LSauchelli said, the last few days in a kickstarter usually have a bump. I'm not quite sure about the 60.000$ goal, but each time I've been pessimistic about a Kickstarter project I've been proven wrong, so I can only hope that I'll be wrong once again. Of course, if you manage to get more exposure for your game, you can bet more pledges will be made.

 

[CTLance]

Regarding logs, can you please forego some sort of visor/visual effect? I love Prime, I really do, but my Aspy/OCD demons compelled me to toggle to the scan visor every other second the on my first playthrough, thus vastly diminishing the impact of the glorious graphics/art style.

I friggen love discoverables. Give me the occasional computer terminal or corpse with open twitter/facebook/whatever account or alien artifact pieces and I'll be going through the levels with a fine-toothed comb, one pixel at a time.

And I will savour every second, regardless of the result.

 

[Jobbs]

Regarding logs, can you please forego some sort of visor/visual effect? I love Prime, I really do, but my Aspy/OCD demons compelled me to toggle to the scan visor every other second the on my first playthrough, thus vastly diminishing the impact of the glorious graphics/art style.

I friggen love discoverables. Give me the occasional computer terminal or corpse with open twitter/facebook/whatever account or alien artifact pieces and I'll be going through the levels with a fine-toothed comb, one pixel at a time.

And I will savour every second, regardless of the result.

The prime thing was just a general example, it wasn't a literal example.

In the fiction, the way it works is you'll find things and stories about the object (and by extension the backstory) will be told to you by another character in his words. How he does this is one of the many secrets of the story.

 

[Portugeezer]

Almost doubled the goal, so good. What stretch goal amount would be needed for a PS4 version?

 

[spacemonkeynation]

Admirable work, but some of this is so close to Metroid I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo sued for copyright infringement. I love Metroid too, but I'd much rather see a radically different visual take that was inspired rather than lifted.

*

I address this concern in the faq section at the bottom of the KS listing. In short, the flash game that exists now resembles metroid to a greater extent than the unity rebuild will. It will still resemble it, but I'll be tweaking things around the margins and making some additions so that it won't be quite as blatant. There'll be some adjusted mechanics and additions, too, to give it more its own feel. The spirit of metroid and the spirit of what's represented in the listing will remain intact, but it will definitely be its own beast.

That's good to know. I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

 

[bumpkin]

Almost doubled the goal, so good. What stretch goal amount would be needed for a PS4 version?

Well, he could do a Vita version and it wouldn't cost a dime for the SDK. I think their publishing is the same as Apple's ($99 a year).

 

[d[-_-]b]

Awesome Jobbs, best of luck...

 

[lamaroo]

Well, he could do a Vita version and it wouldn't cost a dime for the SDK. I think their publishing is the same as Apple's ($99 a year).

It's the cost of the Unity license he has to worry about.

 

[LSauchelli]

It's such a hard call, we've been slowing down (which is natural and expected) but these things can spike in rather unpredictable ways, particularly towards the end. I can tell you straight off that if your prediction comes true they'll have to collect me off the floor. Keep in mind I started this thing thinking MAYBE we'd get $15k and scrap by making this game working a lot on our own time. That was my hope. Just to keep things in perspective.

It is a really hard call. I based my (very amateurish and basic) projections just on the last 6 days, which had $1682 daily average. $1682*21(Remaining days) = $35322, and $35422+$27160(Totals up till yesterday) = $62582.

Of course, it could slow down to a lower daily average. But I think the last few days would push it past that $60K range, especially taking into account the Wii U stretch goal.

Kicktraq's low projections point to $53K. And if it gets to $53K, I seriously doubt that there won't be people getting those last $7K to get the Wii U port.

 

[CTLance]

In the fiction, the way it works is you'll find things and stories about the object (and by extension the backstory) will be told to you by another character in his words. How he does this is one of the many secrets of the story.

Ooooh. LET THE SPECULATIONS BEGIN. (Curse Mama Robotnik and his (her?) Metroid revenge thread.)

I say it's a Legion-like Mech, only with human (or humanoid) entities instead of Geth. It's part of an automated colonization project, normally backed up by von Neuman self-replicating factories to churn out robot bodies for the colonists to control while the planet is made hospitable for their eventual cloned host bodies (or original bodies, stored inside an orbiting ship). Only, things went wrong and now there's only one mech left.

Or or or, it's a test run for an autonomous exploration AI/robot built by humans. Everything it does is monitored "back home" to ascertain the AI and robot perform to specifications. From time to time a hacker or scientist drops info to see how the bot reacts. On success the bot will be sent off to a true alien world. Sort of like the setup in Alien Planet.

Or maybe it's a standard serfbot, discarded because of a pirate attack or due to its old age. Its fractal-OS AI has decayed into multiple individuals thanks to an event along the way that inflicted damage.

It's an alien probe designed for first contact upon receiving SETI transmissions/voyager data/etc. We will encounter the human race.

No! I know. It's gotta be ...

I've been watching too many movies recently. My head is filled with crazy.

Spoiler

Why aren't you done yet. The wait. It is painful.

 

[Jobbs]

Ooooh. LET THE SPECULATIONS BEGIN. (Curse Mama Robotnik and his (her?) Metroid revenge thread.)

I say it's a Legion-like Mech, only with human (or humanoid) entities instead of Geth. It's part of an automated colonization project, normally backed up by von Neuman self-replicating factories to churn out robot bodies for the colonists to control while the planet is made hospitable for their eventual cloned host bodies (or original bodies, stored inside an orbiting ship). Only, things went wrong and now there's only one mech left.

Or or or, it's a test run for an autonomous exploration AI/robot built by humans. Everything it does is monitored "back home" to ascertain the AI and robot perform to specifications. From time to time a hacker or scientist drops info to see how the bot reacts. On success the bot will be sent off to a true alien world. Sort of like the setup in Alien Planet.

Or maybe it's a standard serfbot, discarded because of a pirate attack or due to its old age. Its fractal-OS AI has decayed into multiple individuals thanks to an event along the way that inflicted damage.

It's an alien probe designed for first contact upon receiving SETI transmissions/voyager data/etc. We will encounter the human race.

No! I know. It's gotta be ...

I've been watching too many movies recently. My head is filled with crazy.

Spoiler

Why aren't you done yet. The wait. It is painful.

You're unique.

And I'm very flattered that anyone cares what I'm doing. It's coming out 13.13.13. Mark your calenders.

Spoiler

It is, of course, not coming out on 13.13.13.

 

[TAFK]

I so very much want that Wii-U stretch goal. Going to whore this kickstarter out to all of my friends and family and keep a close eye on this one.

 

[Coolwhip]

It looks good, like a modern Super Metroid. But with the Nintendo classics it was always the fantastic gameplay and level design that made them special. I'm curious if an indie developer can reach that level.

 

[Ninja Dom]

3 weeks to try and hit that Wii U stretch goal (around $33,000 to go). Really hope it can make it. I'll pledge when I get paid at the end of the month.

 

[Meesh]

I can't believe how sweet this game looks...mind=blown! This has to be by far the most, if not one of the most interesting indies going right now and I sincerely hope it reaches the WiiU goal.

 

[CTLance]

You're unique.

Uh oh. Next you'll be telling me that you "like me as a person" but "value our friendship too much" to commit, just so you can stroll off and suck face with those jocks at Sony, Nintendo and MS while I stare at you wistfully from afar.

Uh... I... I have icecream and chick flicks. Come by whenever you're done with them or just need someone to talk to. It's OK. I'm your best friend. I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be right here.

Waiting.

Spoiler

Watching.

Spoiler

It is, of course, not coming out on 13.13.13.

Spoiler

WHY CAN'T IT COME OUT ON 13.13.13.

Bend spacetime for us already, dammit. You've got our monies, this should be child's play for you and your endless bags of riches.

Back on topic: I think the project will hit 60k.

I also look very much forward to raising my own Baby Metroid... errr... Mag... err... "pet".

I'll feed that mofo all my energy tanks and then let it battle the endboss on its own while I already run for the exit. Gotta be smart and get a headstart off this soon-to-explode planet.

...it will explode, right? ...right? It probably shouldn't. I want it to explode though.

 

[TAFK]

I also look very much forward to raising my own Baby Metroid... errr... Mag... err... "pet".

I'll feed that mofo all my energy tanks and then let it battle the endboss on its own while I already run for the exit. Gotta be smart and get a headstart off this soon-to-explode planet.

...it will explode, right? ...right? It probably shouldn't. I want it to explode though.

As cool as this sounds I'm really hoping that this game can distinguish itself from Metroid, I'd love to see something in the vein of metroid but I feel like a final escape sqeuence is overdone. But then again I am just a player and Jobbs is the developer.

 

[Jobbs]

As cool as this sounds I'm really hoping that this game can distinguish itself from Metroid, I'd love to see something in the vein of metroid but I feel like a final escape sqeuence is overdone. But then again I am just a player and Jobbs is the developer.

I know it looks a lot like metroid at the outset and the superficial things seen in the trailer, but I can tell you there are substantive differences, and I can also tell you that the new version of the game when we rebuild will have some tweaks/additions, superficial and mechanical, to further nudge the game in its own direction. It'll still be reminiscent of metroid, but it'll be the proper balance.

oh, and no escape sequence.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

oh, and no escape sequence.

I love you.

Spoiler

Please no lame sequence like when you lose your suit in... Fusion, was it? or Zero Mission? the GBA one where you have to "stealth" the space pirates, I hated that so much and never finished the game because of it.

 

[Jobbs]

I love you.

Spoiler

Please no lame sequence like when you lose your suit in... Fusion, was it? or Zero Mission? the GBA one where you have to "stealth" the space pirates, I hated that so much and never finished the game because of it.

That was in ZM. While I don't think it was lame (it was kind of novel, though I didn't like the gameplay as much ultimately), I don't have that happen in my game. In my game there's an

Spoiler

opening act where you play as a person without a suit on

, but this is before the events of the main act of the game.

 

[Sir Alemeth]

Backed!
Need that Wii U version!!

 

[Burt]

So what exactly are you doing while the Kickstarter is running? Besides updating it and working out stretch goals, obviously. Working on getting the word out or figuring out legal stuff with ports and contractors or actually developing the game itself? Maybe all three or something else? Always interested me how people running Kickstarters use their month.

 

[Jobbs]

So what exactly are you doing while the Kickstarter is running? Besides updating it and working out stretch goals, obviously. Working on getting the word out or figuring out legal stuff with ports and contractors or actually developing the game itself? Maybe all three or something else? Always interested me how people running Kickstarters use their month.

I've wondered the same thing. For a while I was very busy just sitting here respnding to things and talking to people, since the rush of things to answer and interview requests and so on was pretty extreme.

That aspect has slowed down. Right now I'm fiddling around with the game trying to figure out how and what I want to do for a brief video walkthrough of the existing version of the game. I'm also a bit sleep deprived and as such occasionally staring off in a daze.

 

[nillapuddin]

Congratulations Jobbs on getting funded, I found this story about a week ago and have been diving everywhere I can find to see more.

As a hardcore Metroid loyalist I have been woefully devoid of any excitement lately, and this concept is hitting me in just the right spot.

I wish you all the best going forward, my money is definitely in your bank, I hope that WiiU becomes a definite and I hope that with advances and partnerships going forward you can one day reach the next gen consoles also.

So many of us beg for these games to be made, best of luck on yours.

 

[SephCast]

I keep checking this every day to see if it'll get to Wii U stretch. Figured I feel good enough to bump my backing up to the Music Tier.

 

[Jobbs]

I keep checking this every day to see if it'll get to Wii U stretch. Figured I feel good enough to bump my backing up to the Music Tier.

thanks. I appreciate that.

I'm planning to post more updates and new materials and arts and stuff in the coming week that'll hopefully get people more engaged.

 

[Clott]

You're losing a bit of steam, we need to find a way to give this project some more PR.

 

[InsaneZero]

You're losing a bit of steam, we need to find a way to give this project some more PR.

Typical kickstarter behavior. It's a bell curve, where most kickstarters start well, drop in activity in the middle, then pick up at the end.

 

[Jobbs]

You're losing a bit of steam, we need to find a way to give this project some more PR.

I'm posting a new video soon that'll show some cool new stuff and after that do a bit of promotion. think I have some interviews giong up next week.

That said, there's only so much I can do. And as the above poster said, that's just how these things tend to go. There's excitement at the beginning and end.

 

[Dictator93]

Dare I say, is there any chance you can make sure the game supports 60+ fps?

A lot of 2D games look great at 60, but for those of us with better displays, we would really love some 2d 120hz action (not alot of 2d do this for some reason).

 

[Zeliard]

Eurogamer just put up a piece about it

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...look-an-awful-lot-like-metroid-and-thats-okay

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Eurogamer just put up a piece about it

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...look-an-awful-lot-like-metroid-and-thats-okay

Came to say the same

I also put a link in the comments to this topic. Hopefully Matt gets some more backers out of it!

 

[Jobbs]

I saw. pretty good stuff, glad the comments were mostly positive -- Seems eurogamer commenters are pretty polite.

 

[Nohar]

Well, $29,950. No one will hold it against me for congratulating you a little early on reaching the $30,000 goal, so: congratz Jobbs

Edit: And done. The $30,000 mark has officially been reached and exceeded.

 

[everyday math]

Gratz on hitting the 30k goal!
I really wanted this one.

 

[Jobbs]

thanks guys

since starting this thing, I've had several people ask me to cross promote, and so far haven't been into it (in other words, he'll plug my thing to his backers or on his facebook or wahtever, and I'll plug him to mine). So far, I've felt like my backers backed me because they're interested in my project, and likely aren't interested in being shown plugs to other stuff.

what are your guys' thoughts on this? should I just stay out of it, as I have been, or is this just a thing people do and not a big deal?

 

[Katsuragi]

I supported this project too a few days ago. Hope to play Ghost Song on my Wii U GamePad!

 

[Gbraga]

thanks guys

since starting this thing, I've had several people ask me to cross promote, and so far haven't been into it (in other words, he'll plug my thing to his backers or on his facebook or wahtever, and I'll plug him to mine). So far, I've felt like my backers backed me because they're interested in my project, and likely aren't interested in being shown plugs to other stuff.

what are your guys' thoughts on this? should I just stay out of it, as I have been, or is this just a thing people do and not a big deal?

It's really not a big deal.

 

[Ocaso]

thanks guys

since starting this thing, I've had several people ask me to cross promote, and so far haven't been into it (in other words, he'll plug my thing to his backers or on his facebook or wahtever, and I'll plug him to mine). So far, I've felt like my backers backed me because they're interested in my project, and likely aren't interested in being shown plugs to other stuff.

what are your guys' thoughts on this? should I just stay out of it, as I have been, or is this just a thing people do and not a big deal?

It runs the risk of seeming disingenuous, but if you actually believe in the kickstarter you're cross promoting then it's not as big of an issue.

 

[CTLance]

Grats on the big thirty!

On cross-promotions... well, if you personally think it's a good project and if you guess the game or whatever will be good, then I don't see why you shouldn't do a cross-promotion, kickstarter or otherwise.
Cross-promotions aren't a necessity or anything, just do whatever you're comfortable with.