In Anodyne, you explore and fight your way through nature, urban and abstract themed areas in the human Young's subconscious, evoked by a 16-bit-era visual style and a moody, dream-like soundtrack. The player moves between rooms 160x160 pixels in size, an intended constraint that we used to create the monster-filled dungeons you will navigate and the set of nature-based (and sometimes stranger) places you will explore. Anodyne is on Steam Greenlight, please vote for it.

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A 2D, topdown adventure game where you use two items to explore a collection of Zelda-like dungeons.

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Anodyne is a 2D, topdown adventure game where you use two items to explore a collection of Zelda-like dungeons and passive locales located in the dream world of a boy. Anodyne stems from the the combination of ambiance similar to games like Yume Nikki, and the dungeon mechanics of Zelda games. It will be released on at least PC and Mac. Anodyne is on Steam Greenlight, please vote for it! Anodyne is developed by Sean Hogan (@seagaia2), who codes and writes the music, and Jon Kittaka (@jonathankittaka), who does the art. Both split design work. Anodyne is slated to be released sometime in mid to late Fall 2012. We're also on Facebook (fb.com/anodynegame) and Twitter (@anodynegame).

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rogervanzant
rogervanzant

I finally had time to chk out an interview video. It had lots of game-play, 3 dungeons I think. I noticed when you're exploring the world, it's pretty empty of friendly NPCs. Not much to talk to besides the rocks, and I assume the characters laying around only say random things, lol. Maybe that's the direction you're going, emptiness feeling with minimal interaction, like that movie "Drive". So is this part minimalist, part open world/hack and slash? I like that too, as long as it's done right.

You made an argument about dismissing special equipment from your game because you hardly use them except in that one dungeon like a tradition Zelda game. That's a strange way to look at it. You should of at least added the most useful unique equipment, because that's part of the reason you play a video game. Gamers love opening chests and discovering strange and ancient equipment they can play with. If you ask me it's a great game mechanic and your current argument wasn't satisfying enough for me, unless you have a different vision for the game, but please explain more on your reasoning.

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seagaia Creator
seagaia

There are more NPCs now and the non-dungeon areas have been fleshed out a lot in the past few months, so the video interview is a bit outdated. The minimalist/emptiness feeling of the world is definitely important to what we wanted to convey.

I talked a bit about the items in my below comment- mostly just I wanted to look at design in Zelda-like games from a more minimal standpoint, plus it was tough to make lots of items and still keep myself satisfied with the level design.

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rogervanzant
rogervanzant

When I read Anodyne's description, the first thought that entered my mind was the special equipment. I was thinking up all kinds of strange contraptions since the game takes place in a dream world and you have a broom for a weapon, so anything was possible. I was thinking about the puzzles that require crazy equipment too. I had fun thinking about that! Maybe useless anywhere else, but if you think really hard, you could make some interesting and memorable puzzles with the equipment that no other games have thought of yet ;). In my opinion you left out a game mechanic that could be so great and now I wanna make a Zelda game because you left it out. Do we at least get a shovel? It's a low level item, but digging can be progressive too! I want to understand why you left them out. I only hope the game isn't only Indie Ana Jones platforming. I like tough puzzles that make you think hard, going back and forth with the menu choosing every equip you have. That's part of what makes each dungeon much harder than the last one, because the more equipment you get, the more equipment you cycle through to figure out what you need to use and maybe you can use different combination too!

Thanks for answering all my questions in the past, mate.

PS: Those long legged AT-STs walking around, can you kill them in the release build? I wanna hunt them down with my broom :)

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seagaia Creator
seagaia

Well, there are some puzzles, but I wouldn't say the game is a puzzle game per se...I don't think I designed any of the rooms to keep you stumped for minutes...a lot of the game is about the aesthetic experience of exploring and overcoming these things, as it relates to the character, Young.

Yes, It's fun to have many items, but it's also fun to stick to a small set of two items and see what arises out of them, design-wise (which is one of the reasons I picked fewer items). While many items are fun, it can feel a bit shallow at times with the level design if I just throw lots of things in and don't let the two things be explored to their fullest. The difficulty of the dungeons arises in different ways than strictly harder dungeon puzzles.

Well, you do get one new thing near the end of the game...perhaps you will like it :)

You can't kill those monsters in the game, sorry!

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rogervanzant
rogervanzant

I'm playing on my GBA SP and I just got the The Cane of Somaria in OoA... That is a pretty ****** Equip. You're in a dream world though, you can come up with anything ;)

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rogervanzant
rogervanzant

If the above didn't convince you.. ummmm better something than nothing? Lol I'm going to sleep now, I'm still grabbing your game regardless because I want to support these kinds of games on PC. I love top down, open world, hack and slash puzzle games! So much goodness in one game, wow :) Sucks that Steam only wants to support games that sell for good and bad reasons. The WarZ is a perfect example of Steam ********. Too bad I got all my games on Steam and it does help in keeping gaming simple for the average adult with no time to lose.

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seagaia Creator
seagaia

Thanks for deciding to buy it! It would definitely be nice to get on Steam, but that is entirely in the hands of people who decide to make reviews of it or make videos of it. In any case this is only my first commercial release so I have time to make it to Steam still :)

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rogervanzant
rogervanzant

Thanks for your reply ;) Your new trailer is very nice! I can't wait! 2 days left... I want it right now!! I'm almost finished beating OoA, I'm at Zora's Palace :)

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seagaia Creator
seagaia

It's out now!

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