Ghost Song: A Journey of Hope Could Come to Wii U if Kickstarter Stretch Goal is Met

Well, it looks interesting. Kinda reminds me of Super Metroid and Kurovadis in terms of atmosphere.

If they don't do it with the normal goal, i'll just keep my money.

What a rip off, too many elements taken from metroid, I'd rather play the actual Metroid....

This looks pretty interesting but makes you wonder what a 2D sequel to Super Metroid would look like if Nintendo were to make one!

SO sick of all these accursed no good kickstarters and petitions for the WIIU. 7yr old hardware gets any game it wants. But if it has Nintendo on it, oh no we can't support that we need your money to do that. Nothing sells blah blah blah...I swear and you Nintendo fan boys are NOT helping the situation move an inch btw

@SmearyToast I disagree With you. I bought lots of indie games on Wii U And i love them, You're Argument is invalid.

So for $15 000 the game gets released, and they need 4 times that amount just to port the game to Wii U? That's crazy.

@ScorpionMG Just cause you say an argument is invalid doesn't make you right. You're stating its an "argument" (exactly what I am talking about someone like yourself is satisfied) Well majority of those who own the WIIU are not. So again its not an argument its a fact. (now theres a difference) There are many articles to support that. If you can't see it then I'm afraid we disagree.
_{Please, let's keep it civil — TBD}

@SmearyToast Do you actually understand the concept of Kickstarter?

Its look good like the art style hopeful it makes it to the Wii U,

So for $15 000 the game gets released, and they need 4 times that amount just to port the game to Wii U? That's crazy.

I think its going to other platforms too, surely its doesn't cost $45.000 to port it over?

@sinalefa
Wii U isn't one of their main priorities; they'd rather put other things in the game first, and then Wii U. So most of the money goes towards extending and expanding the game in ways they wouldn't be able to otherwise, and the last $15,000 or so likely goes to the costs of getting it on Wii U. Remember, they have to pay to port the game, pay to put it on the E-Shop, and they also have to pay to get it ESRB Rated, something they probably won't do if it it's just on PC/Mac/Linux.

@SmearyToast I disagree with you.
_{Please, let's watch the profanity — TBD}

@sinalefa If they are writing it in XNA it is not unreasonable. It is easier (And the end result seems to work better) than using Unity3D to do a 2D game. And actually porting an XNA game to work properly on anything else would likely need the full dev kit. (If you look at the Linux ports of some of the top XNA indie games they are absolutely terrible even stuff like Bastion which was done by people who were highly skilled). If it cost 20000$ for Retro City Rampage.

None of the indie games I really like are on the WIi U at all and they generally don't get made by kickstarters. (I can see the point of kickstarters for hardware projects). But ones that just say it will be like "list of popular games".

Giana Sisters looks ok but it doesn't play very well. (Thought it was my computer but the demo video's are just as bad).

The fact that even though it was selling well they just did another kickstarter straight away makes me think what is the point. They had the kickstarter money and the profits they should be able to finance the next game on their own. (They might have actually got my money for the next one because I do like Metal Slug but what makes it good is how tight it is and the amount of effort put into the animations).

The Castle of Illusion remake has convinced me that if you want you can actually make platformers look right so the background doesn't distract from the the game. It also looks much tighter.

@luminalace I'm pretty sure the sequel to Super Metroid is Metroid fusion, hence Metroid 4

I love the feeling this radiates. Reminds me of -obviously- Metroid, Aliens Infestation, and even Echo Nights Beyond in a way... If it lives up to that feeling, I'd gladly buy it for my Wii U!

(Mariobro4 is interested)

Yes! Great to see this game get some press. I've been following it's progress ever since an article on USGamer opened my eyes up to it.. It looks fantastic!

@bugaham @unrandomsam

Thanks for the explanation, sounds more reasonable now.

It costs money for a dev kit and rating if you're completely independent. I don't see how having a Kickstarter suddenly makes it an anti-Nintendo game

There's too many things in this game directly ripped off from Metroid. (and i DON'T want to hear that stupid argument how everything is rip off from something, 'cause this game actually copies some things blatantly, like those jumping monsters, level design etc.)

This has me upset, angry, and a little mad too! >:[

I'm sure it happens on other consoles but how come almost EVERY port to WiiU is crowd-funded?

No wonder WiiU's library is still relatively small. No one wants to practically bribe companies with money to play a good game. It's petty.

Also it would help if insanely critically acclaimed games like Mass Effect 3 didn't come to WiiU a year late. Companies complain about lack of sales on Nintendo consoles? Well then maybe you shouldn't be a idiotic foolish moron who delays video games 'til the frickin' Rapture.

Man that was a good rant.

Wow, that art style looks pretty amazing. Bit like a retro mix between Japanese sci-fi aesthetics of the 70s/80s and socialist sci-fi.
Hope it'll reach the goal and come to the WiiU. If the gameplay is half as good, that'll be a must buy!

@SmearyToast this game isn't being ported to MS or Sony systems, unless you consider Windows as MS. A lot of these kickstarters either only include Wii U or have it as the first console to be added. Anyway, this game has really sweet style, so I backed it.

Every WiiU game needs a Kickstarter right?

@WinterWarm these games are crowd funded because that's the route some indies are taking with Wii U. Why does that have you pissed? Cloudberry Kingdom is an amazing game, and I absolutely cannot wait for Shovel Knight (both kickstarted). @3DSAllDay, not every game needs a kickstarter. LOL!The way I see it, it only means for more games. And super awesome indie games at that.

@3DSAllDay Seems like most indie games need a kickstarter. (Where they say we are going to copy some super popular game). Its getting worse first it was stuff that was basically people still learning that would have been just available for free on Newsgrounds or whatever. Kickstarter is going to end up with a bad rep which is going to make it bad for the things that really couldn't ever be done without it. (For making a game as a work of art it can be done whilst working a day job take longer but less artistic compromises no time pressure.) Making hardware is a different thing entirely there is very few people with the money to finance many of the great things that are being done from kickstarter.

I love Metroid games and I'm all about supporting indie devs but I would rather see an original idea. I hope this project does well and the creators can use the profits to make a game with more individuality.

@ScorpionMG

I kinda wanna know your original post now. XD

@Sir420

I guess it's just not my view of the gaming industry. I'm not into indie games as much.

This looks like a Metroid rip-off with not very good graphics. And 45.000$ to port it? WTH?

Seriously? It looks a lot like Super Metroid with a little touch of Megaman X. Indie games can be really good but come on, a rip off doesn't do any good to anybody.

SMH at a lot of you people. Nintendo doesn't seem to care to make a new Metroid. Might as well let some other devs fill the shoes. I'm always up for a Metroidvania.

@WinterWarm That's fair. It wasn't my view either until a couple years ago. I took a break from consoles for a couple years only to be drawn back in by Skyward Sword, Rock Band and BitTrip. Runner. My tastes have since changed. I would love to see something for everyone on Wii U, and that's why I find crowd funded indies so exciting. With Unity on Wii U, anyone with enough determination, hard work, and support can try their hand at bringing new ideas and innovation to the gaming community. Steam already has this sort of infrastructure, but Wii U is so much more convenient than constantly setting up wired USB and/or Bluetooth controllers to my PC.

Seems a bit close to Metroid. Except for zombies and a ghost-girl the creatures seem really, really close to the original 3 games.

Still, that's a good game to copy.

Wii U stretch goal complaints are so weird to me. Making a game is a ton of work and very hard to predict time/money needed especially if you are indie (and even the big guys regularly delay things by months and they have done it for decades). So, yeah, there is a price that makes it worth promising. This is not surprising and shouldn't be agitating. Especially since the Wii U has such low market penetration.

we want a real metroid game not a want be game

This is definitely a Metroid clone! It looks pretty nice though!

For everybody who keeps calling this game a "ripoff," Ghost Song originally started out as a Flash game on a Game Maker-esque software called Stencyl. The fact that Matt White, the creator, largely programmed this by putting blocks together (yes, Stencyl's programming is like that) is already an impressive.
Stencyl being a "Game Maker," however, Ghost Song largely had numerous limitations set upon it. It being a Flash game, Ghost Song was largely restricted to being playable within a browser, so its derivative nature wasn’t necessarily a choice so much as a required limitation. So yeah, what you’re seeing is gameplay of a Flash demo, not a console version.
The dev shots you see are completely nonindicative of what the final product will be, as the developer plans on completely rebuilding the game from scratch.

It's one thing to be inspired by Super Metroid. It's another to be a clone of Super Metroid. This game is so close to being Super Metroid, it kind of looses it's own identity right away. Not interested. I'll keep my money for something a bit more original.

@unrandomsam I am not saying that the games with kickstarters are bad im just saying that there seems to be a lot of kickstarters for the WiiU and I have not seen any for the 3DS.

Great art design

Pity nintendo haven't released a 2d Metroid in 10 years.

This looks great!

Hey guys, my name is Matt, and I'm the creator of Ghost Song. The existing build of the game, the one that is shown in images and videos, was made completely by me. Design, art, and programming. The kickstarter is to bring on a full time programmer and spend all our time on the game to make it bigger and better.

I understand, and came into this expecting, a certain degree of skepticism about the game's similarities to Super Metroid. This project began about a year ago, without as much of a specific plan except that I wanted to make a Metroid-like because Nintendo clearly has no interested in it (The last 2D Metroid came out in 2003). It was sort of a cathartic exercise at that point, with no ambition beyond putting it on flash portals. I meant no harm, I had only love.

Since that time, the design and ambition for the game has grown extremely, and I've introduced many gameplay mechanics that have never been in a Metroid game, (RPG system, inventory, stats, a pet system) as well as a rich and memorable story.

http://www.ghostsonggame.com/miscd/battle-s.gif In this gif (warning, it's a bit big at like 5 megs) you can see the floating damage numbers and critical hits. These were disabled from the trailer to keep it clean looking.

Moving forward, rebuilding the game on Unity, I'm open to making some further changes around the margins to give the game a bit more of its own feel, and, in fact, have plans to. That said, it will still be similar to Metroid, and either you like that or don't.

I must disagree with the more fiery comments that it's a lazy rip off or whatever else some have said. It's not. I eat, sleep, and breathe this game, and I feel I have something to offer with it.

Thanks for the lively discussion.

I kind of wish people would stop asking for a 2D metroid sequel. Yes Super Metroid was fantastic and has aged beautifully, but there are so many indie developers like this who can replicate the feel of those games and provide similar experiences.
What is far less feasible is for them to take gaming to entirely uncharted places and create landmark titles which move the industry forwards. We need Nintendo to innovate with it's franchises and take them to new places not continue to sell games primarily on nostalgia. (Nsmb, DKCR, LozLBW).