Games by D W O'Boyle

Crimson Star Aava is a proto-metroidvania and is part of my setting, Quixoneira. How exactly it is connected to that setting and my other two games is to be revealed later.

CSA is within a sub-setting called "the Ageless Era", which is a pulpy space fantasy world of magic, thousands of planets, and impossible physics.

It will feature four stages that are linearly arranged but have some openness and exploration within them. You start with the majority of abilities and spells right off the bat and will have to utilize them to complete optional objectives in each level.

You can find out more by taking a look at the tags: #aava, #crimson star Aava, and #quixoneira.

It's still very very early in development and I haven't worked on it in a while due to BG3 and other hobbies grabbing my attention, but I expect it'll be finished around January-ish probably?

What do I mean by Proto-Metroidvania?

The structure of the game is linear levels, but they're interconnected and some of them have multiple paths or are open within itself. You start with all your abilities (except for one) and can finish the game with that. Each level does have a hidden optional objective that you will need to explore to find.

Look through this page for more information and gifs. There's a lot of nuance to the weapons and movement that I hope folks find enjoyable.

I think when it's smaller and in game, it'll look more like a wave and her hip sway won't read super clearly, but that's fine. It's part of the fun of making such tiny art.

Whoops, posted this to the wrong account.

If you saw my previous post about a rolly ball attack, this is the same weapon, but it's main attack type. Each weapon in my game has two attacks. The main one here is a Mega Man styled shield weapon that can be fired off in 8 directions, even when not in the air. The projectiles ignore walls while in the shield state meaning they can be used to hit things you wouldn't otherwise be able to (though they're not the only weapon like this). It's one of the few weapons that's active while running. Most of the time you cannot attack if you're running in this game because I want that to be more of a choice.

If you're eagle-eyed you may have noticed it stops all momentum while the orbs are being summoned, including while in the air. This is intentional! I want players to be able to do cool stuff like stall in the air for a moment. A thing you can do is actually use that stall time to "airwalk" a bit, which is kinda cool. Probably won't ever be useful or really exploitable (since there are other ways to do similar things) but no reason to take it out.

Lastly, you can't mash this attack, but what you can do is fire it off early to get a tight cluster of projectiles.
It works by two presses. The first press actives the shield and then secord fires it off. I don't like making players hold the face buttons.