the evolution of map generation

i admit, when louisville arcade expo said they weren't doing the indie arcade this year, i lost a little more motivation than i thought i would. but it gave me some time to play more classic metroidvania games and get a real sense of what i was trying to capture.

i run every morning, rain snow or shine. the city is quiet and it gives me some time to think. this is where i come up with most of the design details for the games i am working on. this morning i was focused on trying to figure out why Showdown Throwdown doesn't have the feeling i am looking for. It has been heavily inspired by Dead Cells, which is an incredible game, but also doesn't have the feeling i want to capture. i want it to feel more like a faster version of Super Metroid or Castlevania Aria of Sorrow. what was i missing?

i figured out that i haven't been making a metroidvania, i've been making an action platformer with a complicated map. i needed to rethink how i was designing me levels, procedrural generation will not be able to produce the feelings of discovery and accomplishment that games like Hollow Knight do. this is the new direction.

i need to make the map a character in the game, show the player places that are just out of reach, give them a taste of what is to come. i scribbled out a new, smaller map that i need to get done for the playtest night this saturday:

showdown throwdown demo map 1 sketch

i am going to focus on introducing the players to combat and a single power up: a feather that gives them double jump. i am also going to limit this demo to two players and i will need to wait to get the showdown mode working, i just dont have time to get it done in a few days, but that will get done after this weekend.

the players will spawn, find a basic enemy to attack, jump a gap, see a place too high to jump and the boss door. they will then need to drop down, fight an elite enemy and get the feather power up. then they will need to go back up to the ledge they saw before, fight that elite enemy for a boss key and then they can fight the boss.

but this game at its heart is really a racing game, right? the other player will be trying to do the same thing. once the boss is killed it will drop the ancient scroll which will need to be returned to the opposite players spawn. each player will have 3 lives if they lose all their lives, the other player wins, whoever scores the scroll first wins. this demo will demonstrate the core loop of the project: a competitive, fast paced metroidvania.

with this working i will be able to add more power ups which will greatly inform the map generation. the procedural generation was fun, and i'm sure i will use the algorithm i wrote in a different project down the line, but this game needs hand crafted maps.

i have a new goal/deadline for a more robust version of Showdown Throwdown:

super cincy expo v2

i have until may 16th to make a playable arcade version of this game and i could not be more excited for this challenge.