Vermanubis

Composer & game dev

I talk about jRPGs, Metroidvanias & fighting games

1/2 of @ghosthanddev

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

Music reel update for Ghost Hand

#indiegame

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

Now if my calculations are correct and I adjust for drag at our current altitude, you should get fucked up right about here

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

That said, the previous area leads — with some rooms in between — into this room, where the space is obvious

Once you reach an area that's as visually and spatially striking as this, it's like the 3rd act of a drama. You need some preamble to justify the drama of act 3

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

On the topic of architecture in MVs:

what kind of vibes is this shot giving? Does it feel high up, tucked away, underground, vast, claustrophobic?

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

If this all is giving a particular impression of the space, a few specific things are the reason for that, including camera behavior and the layout of the room

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

@griseous_ssb You got it sir. Exactly what's happening. No visible floor, ceiling or walls are what I'd bet give that impression

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

That is to say, I really, really want to make sure places in Ghost Hand feel like places, not winding caves

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

With environments & tilesets this stunning, it'd be a shame to resign any sense of space & location to the standard gelatinous, formless cave-labyrinth designs common to the MV genre

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

But from a human pov, I get why they're maybe doing this. I've heard the existence of YCG hinges on this game going gangbusters, and it takes some balls to risk frustrating people or alienating them with those kinds of stakes

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

However you feel about fine-tuning difficulty, I think it's a little dumb to not acknowledge that giving players an at-will out does have an effect on the experience

How pronounced is the effect? Idk, but at least enough for it to be a mistake to handwave it away

[Yacht Club Games @YachtClubGames]

Hoping to make the game easier? Amp up the challenge? Looking to get WEIRD???? 🥸

We’ve got you covered. Mina the Hollower has tons of built-in modifiers that customize your experience from the lenient to the punishing. 💪

What kind of experience are YOU going to craft? 👾

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

One of the greatest experiences in a game for me is when I've crossed some kind of point of no return and I stand to lose a lot if I don't lock in

Happens all the time when I have access to save states where the temptation to make exceptions when I dread losing progress

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

And quantity > quality is generally the case in MVs, even if ones I really love like most of the handheld Castlevanias.

So to some degree, the tradeoff of interesting architecture is fewer, but higher-quality and more purposeful rooms

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

Good architecture in Metroidvanias makes a big difference, in the sense of how spaces are shaped, framed & lead into each other to create a convincing sense of location

Lots of spaces in MVs are kind of incoherent and just feel like caves

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

There's some cross-section between good architecture and the map structure itself too. Like a lobby in a building is distinct cuz of its dimensions and relationship to other rooms, in a MV, if you repeat similarly-themed rooms over and over, it diminishes the sense of location

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

Coyote like

[jennnnnaaaaa @uh_its_jen]

Lady came running into the hospital covered head to toe in mud saying she hit this dog and it went running into the swamp so she had to catch it. Took me a minute before I said “guys I don’t think this is a dog.” So anyway, placed my first IV in a coyote🥴😭

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

I gave the film a bad review because it kept telling me "try not to cum"

but the object was clearly to cum

So yes I would call that bad move design (laughs)

[Genki✨ @Genki_JPN]

Shigeru Miyamoto says he finds it strange that film critics were so negative about The Super Mario Galaxy Movie! via Nintendo Patents Watch/ @NDW_info

“Regarding the critics' reviews of the first film, I remember thinking, ‘they have a point.’ But I figured this time would be different... only to find that the they were even harsher than last time, which I found rather odd (laughs).

We stepped in from another medium and did our best to help energize the film industry. And yet the very people who are supposed to champion the film industry are the ones being so negative; it’s truly baffling.”

https://t.co/08GcmhdNzv

[Vermanubis @Vermanubis]

Lots of people gamble with money they don't have, and if you decide to have kids without being prepared for & accepting a possible worst-case scenario, you're gambling with money you don't have

[小山（避難所） @Segah02457547]

夜泣きもしない、ウンコも漏らさない、わがままも言わない、さらに超美人で超優秀で親を盲愛する「理想の娘」で子育てごっこするのはそりゃ気持ちいいだろうけど、それをきっかけに子育てしたいとか言い出すやつは全員ヤバすぎだと思う。

[✨Ghost Hand - Follow us on Kickstarter! @GhostHandDev]

Hey everyone,

About time for some development updates. Early last year, we did a soft reset on development.

We decided to expand the scope of the game a bit and address some things we weren't happy with.

That said, we're aiming for a demo by end of 2026. Hopefully sooner!