Moonbound, the first game designed and developed by me, is coming to Nintendo 3DS in 2020!

[Akira_Tekagi]

Hello everyone,

I want to announce that Moonbound, the first indie game that I've designed and developed, is coming to the Nintendo 3DS console next year!

I love arcade games and Moonbound is one of my dream projects that I've wanted to develop and publish for almost 10 years. I'm currently planning to self-publish the game in Nintendo's American and European regions (including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa).

Here's some general information about the game :

---
Title : Moonbound
Platform : Nintendo 3DS eShop Games (Nintendo 3DS Download Software)
Genre : Action
Nintendo Exclusive : Yes
Languages (Game) : English
Languages (eManual) : English (American version)
Peripherals : None (for example Circle Pad Pro)
Touch Screen : Not used
Stereoscopic 3D : Not used

Project Summary : Moonbound is a challenging 2D arcade action game that forces the player to make quick decisions under pressure. The player controls an astronaut who is returning to Earth after completing a geological survey mission in the Beta Iridian solar system. The astronaut's ship is suddenly damaged by an explosion! The energy crystals that are used as the ship's main power source are ejected out of the ship and land on six different moons. The player must return all of the remaining crystals to the ship to be able to return to Earth.

Game features :
* Survive through over 30 levels of challenging 2D arcade action!
* Encounter different enemies and environmental hazards on six moons
* Two game modes - Story Mode and Arcade Mode
* Four difficulty levels - Easy, Normal, Hard and Hardcore
* Level selection - Start a new game at any level
* Music player - Listen to all of the game's music tracks

Other game information :
- Nintendo eShop genres : Arcade, Action
- Number of players : 1 player
---

Moonbound will work on all of the Nintendo 3DS console's models (Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL, Nintendo 2DS, New Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS XL and New Nintendo 2DS XL).

The game's first teaser marketing materials are now finished and you can view and download them here (public Dropbox link) :
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7thyv5ff6k5wsjn/AAASLJ9bjCe0tFwzWkMS3q9wa?dl=0

Contents of the teaser marketing materials :
- Moonbound's official logo
- The game's Nintendo eShop banner (original and wallpaper versions)
- United Earth Explorers (UEE) logo which is used in the game's story and as the game's icon
- The game over scene's background
- Soundtrack sample : Trogor (name of one of the game's moons, .mp3 format)

I'm leading a small development team and I have currently worked over 1900 hours on the project. I'm responsible for the game's design, programming, testing, publishing and marketing. The game is still in development. It's gameplay, levels, story and music are almost finished but the graphics of the game's levels still need a lot of work.

I'll post more things about the game here as its development moves forward. I would like to read your thoughts about the game and its marketing materials. I'll also try to answer your questions but there are several things about the game that I don't want to reveal at this time.

 

[GutsDozer]

Congrats bud I'll have to check it out.

 

[pixeljunkie]

very cool! I look forward to seeing this

 

[sr20det510]

Very cool!

Why did you go the 3DS route and not the Switch route.

 

[tangemo]

Congrats on getting eShop approval! The small mobile games studio I work for has been trying to get on Switch with no luck so far.

Best of luck, I look forward to checking it out!

 

[tangemo]

Apologies, error happened and double posted.

 

[Akira_Tekagi]

Very cool!

Why did you go the 3DS route and not the Switch route.

Thanks! There are many reasons for this :

1) Prior experience : I had programmed educational games for the Nintendo DSi and the Nintendo 3DS consoles before starting this project. Nintendo 3DS was already a familiar platform for me after developing games for it for two years so I didn't have to spend time to learn a new hardware platform.

2) Free development hardware : I managed to get the required 3DS development hardware for free from my previous employer!

3) Nintendo's policy changes : Nintendo changed their policies for 3DS development during the summer of 2016. I wanted to start developing Moonbound for the 3DS earlier (early months of 2015) but Nintendo's requirements were much too great for me at the time. I would have needed to start a company, buy development hardware and rent an office BEFORE I could start developing the game. The project would have been too expensive and risky. The policy changes made developing 3DS games much easier and cheaper.

4) Switch was not released when I started the project : I started developing Moonbound in September of 2016. Nintendo Switch was not released at that time. There was no way to know how successful it would become.

5) Moonbound suited very well for the 3DS : Nintendo 3DS is a great platform for 2D arcade games that use pixel art graphics. It has low resolution screens that have the look of old-school arcade games. It has the pad controls that the game requires. Moonbound could also be sold digitally in the Nintendo eShop.

 

[Akira_Tekagi]

I have been working hard on the game's graphics and I finally have something to show you! Here's the first teaser screenshot of Moonbound (400 x 480 px, top and bottom screens) :

This screenshot shows the game's level 2-2 from the desert moon Sharil. I captured it directly from the 3DS development hardware. This picture should give you some ideas of Moonbound's gameplay. It also reveals two of the game's enemies : Sand scorpioid and desert needler.

I also decided to publish Sharil's music (Moonbound_OST_02_Sharil.mp3, length 03:13) earlier this week. You can listen to it or download it here (Teaser_marketing_materials > Soundtrack) : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7thyv5ff6k5wsjn/AAASLJ9bjCe0tFwzWkMS3q9wa?dl=0

I've designed Moonbound as a fully portable classic arcade game for the Nintendo 3DS console. I could even say that it basically is a Neo Geo game for the 3DS which should get you exited! Moonbound has hand-drawn 2D graphics and animation. It has similar digital controls than the Neo Geo. The game also has a Story Mode which includes a lot of dialogue.

I've currently spent over 2350 hours on the game's development. It's development has been progressing well and I should be able to finish it during the summer. This means that Moonbound's American region version could be published in the Nintendo eShop in the fall. I'll post more screenshots of the game later.