Cassonia is a 2d pixel art zelda-like my brother Conner and I (Trevor) started developing 3 years ago. It's centered around collecting five magical crystals, putting them into shrines, and defeating a final boss that took over the land of Cassonia. Along the way, the hero will need to delve into five dungeons (with other optional ones) and defeat a boss in each. Like in many Zelda titles, you will obtain various items that change how you interact with the world, letting you explore more and unlock new paths as you progress.
Unlike The Legend of Zelda, though, we want Cassonia to be a living, breathing world. We love the Zelda-type genre, but we have never been a fan of how unimmersive some of the entries can be. It doesn't really feel like you're in a real world where the villagers interact with each other and life goes on when the main player isn't around.
If you've ever played Breath of the Wild, you might know what I mean. Throughout the game, Zelda will tell you the mission to save Hyrule is urgent, and you must hurry. However, if you know anything about the genre, you'll know she doesn't really mean that. It's not urgent, and it doesn't feel urgent either. That's because the world isn't alive; Link can take as long as he wants to save the princess and it won't make a difference. We didn't enjoy knowing everything was essentially on pause for us, so for Cassonia we're going to make choices much more meaningful. That being said, player freedom is important, and we won't force the player into doing something before they're ready.
So we're striving for our game to feel different, to be a world that feels alive and full. Similarly, we're adding a lot of character growth and story! One other unique aspect with Cassonia will be finding out more about your character, learning and helping the different villagers, and seeing a story unravel as you progress.
If you don't enjoy reading, though, don't worry (but I have a feeling you might if you read this far)! We're aware not everyone has the same likes as us, so we're trying hard to let you see story and character developments only if you want. If you'd prefer the more traditional 2D Zelda experience, you'll be able to enjoy solving puzzles and fighting monsters without reading through much dialogue or helping villagers.
With all that said, the biggest influences for us are A Link to the Past for designing the world and dungeons, and Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger for the character development and story. So if you're a fan of those types of games, we think you'll love Cassonia!
Well, that was everything I wanted to cover in this first blog post. If you'd like to be updated when a new update is out, join our newsletter on the Contact page! Let me know what you thought of it at [email protected]! I'll read everything, and would love to know what you thought of it!