My father loves dark sci fi. My girlfriend loves magical girls. And one of my close friends @ElementalLover loves Megaman. So what better way to show my love for all of them than this little project of mine?
Neon Covenant is a concept for an indie game set in the world of ElementalLover's series, Robot Rampage. It stars Alice Papillo, a humble baker in the lower classes of Neo Star City, a crapsaccharine cyber city-state ruled by AI-obsessed multibillionares. Although she always tried to kill her enemies with kindness, her strategy has outlived its usefulness. Suddenly the reality of her oppression is literally at her doorstep, and she has no choice but to fight back. A lá Lego Movie, a strike of love and a tumble down to the underground leads her to a discarded 8-gem emblem. When she touches it, she transforms into a cybernetic warrior named Neon Quill, with the power of literature at her fingertips. And she’ll need to find the 7 other Neons, fellow broken birds, to help her free NSC.
Robot Rampage is a pseudo-Metroidvania, in the vein of the Mega Man series, but my spin-off is a genuine Metroidvania. Unlike other entries of the genre, you control an entire team. Every Magical Girl team has a theme, and for the Covenant, it's the arts. How do I balance this? I'm taking notes from Monster Boy. You see, each girl has a different moveset, just like Jin's animal forms, and you can switch between them on the fly. The girls' individual powers derive from the medium they represent. For example, Alice has a quill as her weapon, as she is Neon Quill, the member representing literature. She mainly spears it in normal combat, but she can also use it as a pogo stick to bounce off obstacles and enemies, thus reaching higher places than she can normally jump. To save the player time on selecting, you can make presets of members to click to. I'm also thinking of upgrades to these weapons down the line. Not a whole skill tree, just extra damage and abilities.
Another major aspect, the game is much more story-oriented than the common Metroidvania. The narrative is divided into "episodes," all of which are tied through arcs, just like the majou shoujo shows. And I mean the old shows, not those edgy modern torture porn Madoka clones. There is a clear and explicit plotline, that being "restoring society when you're falling in love and making real friends." It may require a more linear game line, but there are tons of great MVs with deep and evolved storylines, so one can still get it done and people will enjoy it. Sometimes we conflate "story" with "lots of dialogue/exposition", and the latter is what people don't quite enjoy and I don't blame them lol. Don’t worry, I’ll make every letter count. And thankfully, Magical Girl is an action-heavy genre, so I can weave it into the battle.
Ive no clue on the collectibles or extras, so please be patient.
