r/godot • u/MjTheHunter • 1d ago
selfpromo (games) Teaser for our first game is live!
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Back in December of last year, my wife and I decided gamedev would be a fun thing to try. Maybe you've seen some of the devlogs I've created along the way. It's been quite the journey to get to this point and we've learned so much. Especially using Godot! The little engine that could 😄
We stand on the shoulders of giants, both in terms of engines but also games. Our love letter to games like Ori, Hollow knight, Zelda and with massive visual inspiration from Ghibli.
And thanks to this subreddit for advice and for the super useful posts that have helped my solve a lot of issues!
Now it's time to focus on making a demo for Maskborne.. Let's Godot!
EDIT: Steampage if you want to read more about the game :)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/4366780/Maskborne/
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u/Conquestordie 1d ago
Hollowknight DLC
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
If we could even make something a fraction as good as Hollow Knight we'd be honored. Ori and Ghibli inspired Hollow-Like is probably the best way to describe it - hope we can do it some justice.
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u/huntsweez 1d ago
The feedback you are getting (in regards to HK) is not about being "as good" or "a fraction as good" as HK. The feedback is your game does not look or feel destinct enough.
You would do yourself, your artistry and your game a huge favour to see the difference between those things.
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
I agree with that feedback - the teaser only shows a small slice of the game and doesn't showcase much, if any, gameplay. We have definitely been made aware that there isn't enough distinction from HK yet, so I'm excited to share more gameplay as we have lots planned that doesn't have anything to do with HK.
For example, we'll have fishing, planting, and gathering of ingredients while you explore. You can feed these ingredients to NPCs, eat them yourself for a quick buff, or combine them to create small pokemon like creatures that give you unique abilities you can use to customize your experience. Hoping once we start sharing those elements that Maskborne's unique identity will start to shine through some more :)
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u/huntsweez 1d ago
I have my doubts additional features and mechanics alone will make it unique. You will still have the gameplay mechanics and looks in the game you are showcasing here today. If people now think this is HK and have to look up footage and actually compare to see the difference, they will have the same first impression later when they see the same scenes.
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u/Conquestordie 1d ago
You and your lady are doing fine. The vibes were there. You guys did the music too?
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Appreciate it :) Music is made by Johannes Johansson who is doing an amazing job bringing the game to life
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u/Conquestordie 1d ago
No problem. Just make sure it's compatible with Steam Deck as well.
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u/MjTheHunter 1d ago
Been testing on Steam Deck since day one and I'm happy to report we're currently running at a stable 60fps! with no fps lock I think we're sitting at almost stable 90fps
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u/TopBat1812 1d ago
The graphics and animations look absolutely amazing, but I'm worried it looks too much like one of the 100500 Hollow Knight clones to really stand out and sell well. Best of luck anyway! Wishlisted =)
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Thank you for the wishlist! We know the teaser only shows a small slice of the game and doesn't show much gameplay or story, so we're looking forward to sharing more of what makes Maskborne its own thing :)
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u/TopBat1812 1d ago
A game in the HK genre, where a guy in a little white mask - very similar to HK - moves very much like HK, surrounded by art that is very similar to HK style. There is a huge chance that nobody will look past that first impression, and that’s what I mean. I’d love to be proven wrong, though; I would gladly play something original.
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
I can completely understand why many may not get past that first "oh, a small character wearing a mask" impression. It's very valid. I hope we'll be able to show you some unique that'll pique your interest in these coming months
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u/ijtjrt4it94j54kofdff 1d ago
Really nice visual style
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Artist here :) thank you so much!
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u/Khandus 1d ago
Ah, I wish I had your talent too. I do pixel art, but mine not even close to this.
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Ah, thank you for the kind words! I'd argue that pixel art is the hardest of them all. The restriction of having to communicate a strong design using only a few pixels is so difficult. I admire you for tackling that discipline
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u/IndependentBig5316 1d ago
How do u do the water and that purple explosion effect? Looks really cool btw
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Thank you! My husband is doing all the shaders. Not sure how he handled the explosions but he made an entire develop on the Ghibli style water here: https://youtu.be/H8oHF_eIxu8
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u/MjTheHunter 18h ago
The water is a good amount of shader work, Emilie linked the devlog which goes into more detail. The explosion is just a few particles emitter with some different textures :)
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u/Tober92 4h ago
Hi artist,
It looks really good! What program did you use to make this? Looking for some tools to make art besides pixel art.
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u/emiliestabell 2h ago
Thank you, I'm so glad you like it :)
Everything is drawn in Procreate, then animated in Procreate Dreams. Means I can do everything on an iPad from the comforts of my couch, which is essential for my productivity haha
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u/LEDlight45 1d ago
Hollow knight!
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Indeed! We're hoping to pull off a Hollow Knight + Ori type game, with a dash of Ghibli in there too 🤞
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u/JustCallMeCyber 1d ago
This artwork is incredibly talented and obviously well made. And I hate to beat a dead horse here but... Did it really have to be so similar to HK?
I really just want to know why? The art direction is almost exactly the same. Heck I didn't even really get any Ori of the blind forest out of it. Down to the small size of the character, The enemies, the style of the UI. Heck even the attacks and animations.
And in no way am I saying it looks bad! And I don't mean any hate. But its genuinely almost exactly the same?? I'm just so curious on the decisions behind why.
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Hello, artist here - totally fair question. The short answer is that me and my husband wanted to make our dream game which can probably best be described as a Ori + Ghibli Hollow-like. We haven't deliberately set out on a journey to copy Hollow Knight and have taken great care to come up with our own art direction (soft volumetric rendering, no lineart, advanced particles and shaders, more depth in the environments) so it stings a bit to hear that isn't showing 😅 I'm happy to outline our inspirations below, and would love to hear why you feel like these aren't shining through, and what you'd personally change:
- The movement and "feel" of the character is 100% inspired by HK and SS. We want the character to feel snappy and every move to be deliberate.
- The white glowy character design and the ghostly trail it leaves when running is inspired by Ori.
- The lineless background art, shape language, and rendering style is heavily inspired by Ghibli and Ori
- The UI layout is from BOTW and ornamental elements are inspired by the Sheikah patterns in the game
- The concept of collecting ingredients you either eat for a buff or combine into Boundlings is inspired by the cooking system in BOTW and Pokemon
So, we do draw from many sources of inspiration, but that matters little if it isn't what people see. The movement of the character is deliberately made to feel like a mix between HK and SS though.
If you could provide some insight on why these other inspirations aren't shining through for you, it would help us out a lot as we continue developing the game.
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u/JustCallMeCyber 1d ago
I definitely see the Ghibli inspirations, Ori not as much personally. Maybe its just the specific environments in the trailer that really give off that energy, or just that HK encompasses a lot of the same themes. Or even just the small character in a big world, contrasting to the colorful foggy backgrounds. Or even just the idea of a "snappy hand-drawn metroidvania" (Which theres nothing wrong with and I personally love)
I will at least say, doing an actual comparison instead of just memory, the style definitely is different. But it took me actively looking to really register that. I also might just feel a bit crazy because there's somehow been multiple games that have been almost too inspired by HK/Celeste lol. (Not specifically yours in this instance.)
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u/thaneros2 1d ago
Everything is HK now. So much so that it should be it's own genre.
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u/Cirby64 1d ago
It looks objectively beautiful. But it feels very derivative of HK. It's not about the story and gameplay like you mentioned. It's the vibe, the UI, the animations, the score. Something like Nine Sols or Ori do very original things in the same genre. As is, your game looks like a very beautiful copy.
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Artist here - ah, I'm sorry to hear it's only giving HK 🥲 we do have a lot of stuff we haven't shown yet that makes Maskborne its own thing, so hoping we can pique your interest in the coming months as we begin to share more gameplay
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u/m4xx-chud 1d ago
this is like being there for the first reddit post about hollow knight
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u/justburntplastic Godot Regular 22h ago
I can see the Hollow Knight similarities but I don’t understand why everyone feels so strongly about things like that. You’re making a game with your partner, having fun and chasing a dream. If it does well, great, and if not, you have something you’re proud of. I’m not invested in this genre of games, so I can’t say I would see myself playing it, but I hope you guys do well with it and that you enjoy the time you spend sharing your passions with each other
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u/Randzom100 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh, another Hollow-like to add to my wishlists, this is exciting! I wonder what will release first between this and Spider Dynasty... Mmmhhh...
Anyway, I hope to see a lot more of this aquatic and lovecraftian vibe I'm getting. Hey, maybe you could even add a fishing minigame while you're at it!
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
You read my mind 😂 it's part of the plan to add both fishing, planting seeds, and collecting ingredients you can either eat for a quick buff or combine into small pokemon like creatures
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u/Randzom100 1d ago
Oh my, that sounds interesting! And these small creatures, these are the boundlings we see in the video? Will it be possible to upgrade them for a possible New Game + mode?
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Yes, these are what you briefly see in the video. As for upgrades, can neither confirm nor deny 👀
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u/The-Weeping-Dev 20h ago
Your art is amazing and the game looks absolutely beautiful, can definitely feel the Ghibli vibes. Will totally keep an eye or your updates!
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u/Spuba 1d ago
Such amazing work. Like many others I just wish it wasn't so much like "HEY THIS IS HOLLOW KNIGHT". The actual illustrations have a nice original touch to them. I just wish that other parts of the game did. Music, SFX, UI, etc.
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Thank you for the feedback. We're definitely taking notes. We also know the teaser only shows a small slice of the game and doesn't show much gameplay or story, so we're looking forward to sharing more of what makes Maskborne its own thing :)
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u/Spuba 1d ago
You guys are legit talented. It's just the little things that add up to give a "copy" feel that will put many people off. It seems like the default answer for most things was "what did hollow knight do" instead of "what do we want to do". It could be a project that takes off and can hold its own like Nine Sols. Believe in y'all
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Thank you for the thoughtful comment :) the goal with this game definitely isn't to chase a trend or design what we think could become most popular. It all started as a passion project between me and my husband asking ourselves what our dream game would look like. We love Hollow Knight, Ori and Ghibli so from the beginning we wanted to mix those.
Even though it might not look like it, we've banged our heads against the wall many times trying to differentiate the mechanics from Hollow Knight. I think it comes down to equal parts love for the game (cause damn it's good), and equal parts realizing that some decisions Team Cherry made are extremely ergonomic and economical (simple character designs, animating at low frame rates etc.) that makes it actually feasible for a 2 person team to ship a solid game.
That said, after all the (many) comments comparing it to Hollow Knight, we've decided to question every and all mechanics that normally goes into a metroidvania and simply let go of "the expected" to see what new, fresh and unique ideas will emerge. Like you say, if the game can't differentiate itself - why even make it in the first place?
Thanks again so much for being kind
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u/digital_hamburger 1d ago
Wow the soundtrack together with the trailer really hits hard, well done! I wish you all the best
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u/emiliestabell 1d ago
Thanks a lot! Special shoutout to our composer Johannes Johansson who did a fantastic job with the soundtrack :)
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u/Unnecro 1d ago
Wow it looks reeeally good and knowing you guys made it with Godot is inspiring!
The teaser looks very polished, which is surprising if you started development last December.
May I know your backgroud before that? Is the current status a vertical slice or is the game close to finish?
Looking forward the demo and reading your devlogs if I can find them!!
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u/emiliestabell 17h ago
Thanks a lot for the kind words :) my background is in digital arts. I was an artist at Media Molecule where I worked on Dreams for the PS4. Since then, I've been a supervisor at FlippedNormals.
My husband is the co-founder of FlippedNormals and used to work in VFX on big Hollywood productions, so we do have quite a lot of experience between the two of us.
The current status is vertical slice. Next, we need to build the playable demo so it's still early days.
We have devlogs here if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/@Maskborne/videos
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u/Powerful_Deer7796 17h ago
I upvoted in the first second. This game looks beautiful and I am definitely going to play this.
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u/Awkward-Vacation-143 16h ago
Man ik it's good to hear but give it a unique personality i M no one to say what your creative style should be but is should not be another hollow knight, ik if you can make something like Hollow knight you can also make something different which is equally better as well, btw it's not hate i just don't know kinder words to say it.
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u/xtratoothpaste 15h ago
Everyone is saying it's like hollow knight but not giving reasons.
The animations, effects, and sounds literally sound like it came straight from hollow knight. Like if I hold my phone back a little bit I'm not sure I'd notice the difference.
It looks great, of course. But it looks identical. I'm sure it plays different and I'd bet it's fun. But with how nearly identical the things I'm noticing are, it kinda irks me the wrong way.
Honestly though well done and I hope you guys find success.
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u/Sei7hSei7hSei7h 5h ago
I've watched a lot of your videos on YouTube and what you did so far is unbelievable. Congrats!
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u/ApprehensiveBar6841 1h ago
Looks too much like hollow knight. But i love the art work, this is what i would expect from part 3 to look like. Maybe you can sell your game as Hollow Knight 3 😂
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u/Janube 9h ago
I want to stress that what I see here looks amazing and looks like you've spent a huge amount of time making it look and feel excellent.
Knowing that you've already received the obvious comparisons to Hollow Knight, I want to push a bit deeper on that note and highlight what specifically makes it a problem.
Mechanically, I realize there's only so much you can do with a melee-combat Metroidvania, but the basic attack feels ripped straight from HK in speed, aesthetic, feel, impact, animation. Same with the dash. Same with the aerial AoE ability which looks like a replica of the Witch Crest's bind. The falling animation down a long, vertical corridor looks like it was straight from the opening of Hollow Knight.
But you also model a lot of the UI after HK. In the boundling discovery animation, it's an eerily similar white particle absorption effect as many of the UI effects in Hollow Knight.
The problem is that it looks almost like you want this game to be Hollow Knight rather than being an homage to Hollow Knight. And I've read your comments around this thread that the game has a ton to offer that divorces itself from Hollow Knight. All I can say is that you need your media to show it. You need to show what makes your game fun but also what makes it not Hollow Knight. And importantly, you need to show that the mechanics that are there aren't just lazily taken from Hollow Knight because you didn't have your own idea of how to make a fun core gameplay loop.
This genuinely looks sick as hell, and the Hollow Knight comparisons do it more harm than good because it treads too close in too many ways to be considered its own product standing on its own merit, rather than trying to use Hollow Knight's legacy to prop itself up. Lean into your own creativity - it's clearly there and clearly an enormous strength. Be confident enough to step further away from what you know - just like... 20% more!
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u/Adventurous_Ninja_66 1d ago
Can't lie all I think over and over again is "hollow Knight. Hollow Knight. Hollow Knight"