Vorpal Florist - Hamster Republic Productions

[bob-the-hamster]

I am working on a game called Vorpal Florist which I plan on releasing on the OUYA when the game is finished.

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Vorpal Florist is a retro metroidvania game with a plant-monster theme.

Here are a couple short gameplay videos:
https://vimeo.com/83736878
https://vimeo.com/83251988
I am terrible at making videos, and those are from an older build, but hopefully they are better than nothing ;)

I am not sure when the game will be ready for release. I currently have it playable up to the second boss, which has taken me 10 months of work. I had hoped to release with a minimum of 4 bosses. Even I feel like that is too few for a metroidvania, but this is a one-man project, and I can't work on it forever, so I have to pick a specific completion goal and try to reach it.

If anybody would like to playtest via sideloading, here is an apk http://hamsterrepublic.com/tmp/vorpa...ase-signed.apk

I would be happy to listen to any feedback.

I have not decided on the pricing scheme yet. I am torn between:
A) Releasing a demo playable to the first boss with a paywall for the rest. $0.99? $1.99? $2.99? What do people think they would pay for this?
B) Releasing the whole game for free, with IAP for optional donations, just like my other games

[Pat1986]

Pixel Art. Metroidvania...SHUT UP AND TAKE ALL MY MONEY!

What i would pay for the game really depends on how well it'll be in the end. difficult to say now. but i'm open for everything up to 10$ as long as the game hooks me.

[Kaimega]

This game sounds violently sexy and interesting, I don't know what any of it means, but basically I like what I am seeing.

[chicgamer]

Definitely going to sideload this and try it out!

[Pat1986]

talking about sideloading. you posted windows binaries, not an APK.

[flamepanther]

My favorite subgenre!

I can see the humble length of the game affecting what people will pay for it. I'd probably be willing to pay $2.99 for it. Unfortunately (mostly for me) I'm a sucker for buying OUYA games, so I'm not a good point of reference.

[bob-the-hamster]

@Pat1986: I don;t see me putting the price as high as $10. $3 is probably the max I would consider. This will be a more of a short story than a full novel length game, simply because although I would love to make something sprawling and epic like Symphony of the Night, I don't have the time or the stamina to make 25 different bosses.

@Kaimega: "violently sexy and interesting" is the best quote. I hope I can make the actual game live up to an expectation like that.

I fixed the apk download link. I had copied and pasted the wrong thing. http://hamsterrepublic.com/tmp/vorpa...ase-signed.apk

If anybody wants to test the windows version instead, I have a playtesting thread for that over here: http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6065

Also, I forgot to mention a somewhat important feature! Optional asymetrical 2-player. Player 1 always controls the protagonist, but if somebody uses the controller paired as #2, they can take control of any one enemy on the screen. This is totally optional, but it can be playe either co-operatively or competitively.

If playing competitive 2-player, the monster-controlling player just tries to do a better job of killing player 1 than the monster AI can. I tried to avoid situations where a human-controlled monster can be unbeatable, but they can certainly make things harder.

As for cooperative multiplayer, I like to think of it as Daddy-Daughter mode. You can give control of player 1 to the child (or inexperienced adult) and the parent (or more experienced player) can control monsters to nerf them, and smooth the difficulty curve.

[Steven W. Hunt]

Neeeeeat

[DrunkPunk]

Awesomesauce! Testing this out when I get home.

[Killswitch]

That 2nd player feature is interesting.

Just curious, how did you come up with the name? Was it the theme going into the project? Idea that came later?