FreeGameDev

Hi I am thinking of making an Open Source game similar to The Binding Of Isaac. The main difference and focus of the game will be that the main character is a robot escaping a laboratory. An evil genius creates robots to do his bidding, you play as the anomaly a good robot. So thats the basic idea I have some notes and been messing around with character design. Just think this sort of game with 100`s of unique items is perfect for open source because of the replay value. If anyone has any ideas, feedback or even better would like to contribute please post below.

This is the latest version of the playable characters head, I am trying to keep it simple but I am still not sure about it.

That's cool... consider making it more of a Binding of Isaac clone with a different setting though. The combat for instance could be made much more interesting than the half-baked bullet hell Binding of Isaac is. You just can't have Zelda-like gameplay and bullet hell at the same time, seen? I'd like to see combat more along the lines of one of my favourite action games myself (it's closed source freeware, really worth playing!).

For game ideas, considering listening to the philosophers at Roguelike Radio. They tackle individual games as well as game mechanics often found in roguelikes or other games. In fact, they also did an excellent interview with Edmund McMillen, designer of Binding of Isaac: you can find it here.

Evropi {l Wrote}:You just can't have Zelda-like gameplay and bullet hell at the same time, seen?

I disagree; according to the creator, he originally intended it to be a bullet hell, but due to flash being too slow it ended up the way it is. For Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, he made it more bullet-hell-like. Check out this gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A10s9RhVj8

I can help with the pixel art!

Can you show me an example of your work?

this sounds fantastic! is the layout going to be like Isaacs dungeon room crawler or more like zeldas adventure map?

I would love to see this with the implementation of upgrades. While your guy is trying to get out, he needs specific new tools to free himself from the lab, like how Metroid games progress. Also I could appreciate it more as an experience if the setting is more than just a lab, maybe on an island, giving the ability to have different locations. For instance, a set of compounds you move between, forest with killing machines and beasts roaming it, as well as underground caverns which play into the story by having a rare element that powers the robot. Does your robot have A.I., or basic instinct to survive? Perhaps the evil scientist pushes his creations ability to be self aware, this causing it to wake up, the scientist fearing this or simply not being satisfied decides to pull the plug, causing the protagonist to seek freedom.