Welcome to the first post of several that will be discussing the core design, mechanics and story of Tetropolis. In these posts, we hope to provide enough information about the game to give you a good understanding of how Tetropolis will play. While it certainly does have some familiar aspects to it as a metroidvania puzzle/platformer, there are some rather unconventional elements.
As you may have noticed, Piece, the protagonist, is a square. Instead of having the character “float” along unnaturally in the game, we wanted Piece to feel like a square – slightly unwieldy but connected to the world and behaving like you would expect. While the handling is a bit offbeat in feel and takes a moment to get used to, it ultimately allows you full control over Piece’s movements; even more so with the addition of in-air adjustments to allow for precision platforming.
We couldn’t call Tetropolis a game inspired by Super Metroid without having some character abilities and upgrades. As you explore the world, you will come across other shapes that you can acquire and transform into at any point in time. Turning into these shapes allows you to fit into certain spaces, navigate tight spots and use the shape specific abilities that can be triggered by pressing the “ability” button. For example, the first ability you acquire is the square’s slam ability which allows you to break through weak structures and destroy certain enemy types. The acquisition of these shape-specific abilities is essential to the progression of the game. You will not be able to access certain areas without these skills.
Since you may change into each shape at will and each shape can perform its own skill, you can chain these shapes and their abilities together. For instance, say you want to jump up to an out of reach platform, however there is an enemy waiting above. You could use the line shape to spring up there, swap to the square mid-flight and slam down on the enemy, neutralizing the threat. There are many different shapes and abilities to combine!
We plan on having various challenges that will test your dexterity and ingenuity! In our next post in this series, we will be discussing one of the most important mechanics in Tetropolis: one we’ve been guarding very closely. Be sure to check back soon!
