Children of Moss

Children of Moss is a 2D action adventure roguelike game set in a megastructure

I have been working on Children of Moss for almost a year now in complete secrecy aside from a few screenshots here and there. I have been struggling with finding the right time to start showing people the game and explaining what I was making because I had yet to decide on the direction of the game. I had character art, animations, environment art, and a vision for the world it was set in, but still needed to commit to a genre or gameplay design concept. When I first started the project I was also still learning Godot, so I didn't want to show people the game until I was sure I knew what I was doing. Around December of last year I finally had an epiphany and chose a very specific direction for the gameplay of the project, and just last month in March I finally solved the biggest issue that needed to be solved in order to make my concept work on a technical basis. At this point I realized that game developers never know what they are doing, but kept studying best practices and seeking mentorship with more experienced developers. I am now being held at gunpoint by my loved ones to finally start a devlog for the game.

The Pitch

In Children of Moss you play as a character named Meadow

Meadow small but tenacious force of nature that has a unique set of abilities centered around their relationship to plants.

The game's world is set in a megastructure inhabited by giant machines and creatures

There will be a big emphasis on atmosphere, environmental storytelling, giant boss battles, and lots of immersive systems like leveling up a party, item management, town building, crafting, and farming.

There is an interesting spin to how these systems are integrated into the game, especially in regards to farming but its a secret for now.

The Hook

Lots of people will tell you that your game needs a hook, an elevator pitch that captures someone's imagination without even seeing the game. I firmly believe that most of my favorite parts of the games I hold dear to my heart are incapable of being quantified that way. Though in order to create something you do a need to have a goal and a way to communicate that goal. I think hooks and pitches are actually sometimes more useful when used internally for communicating with team members and explaining what you are working together to achieve. If you find yourself in a setting like the Game Developers Conference or PAX and find yourself talking to potential investors, you are expected to describe your game using other games because it helps cut to the chase. Not only do these investors hear the titles you are comparing your game to, they are hearing that your game may be comparable in terms of financial success. This is a limited form of communication for me personally, because so many of my inspirations don't scream financial gain.

If I had to describe Children of Moss using other games, id say this is Monster Hunter combined with Armored Core with visuals comparable to Rain World and Hollow Knight.

If I were talking directly to an investor I might describe it as Hollow Knight, but with robots and plant creatures instead of bugs even though the game's systems differ quite a bit from Hollow Knight.

Ultimately I can't show off the true hook of the game just yet because it needs a visual overhaul before its ready to show off. But its really cool, trust me. You're free to guess in the comments and if you guess the right thing I'll confirm it. If you guess an idea that is cooler than mine I WILL steal it.

Speaking of stealing ideas, this project originally start out as a metroidvania inspired by Hollow Knight, which you can kinda still see in the visuals. I found that the exploration and aesthetic of Hollow Knight is what made me fall in love with the game, but not necessarily the metroidvania aspects. In fact, I feel like the openness of Hollow Knight in comparison to other metroidvania titles is what set the game apart and made it so good. This game feels like Hollow Knight in its movement and melee combat currently, but there isn't as much precision platforming and level progression is more centered around problem solving and combat dexterity rather than player upgrades. Hollow Knight's levels are made to make a cohesive world feel big. Children of Moss is set in a world so big, where you are is arbitrary. The game's levels are primarily being designed as arenas for the player to fight massive enemies. There will be lots of exploration as well, but the game wont have a locked progression of any kind but will focus more on meta progression.

Earlier this year I decided Children of Moss would no longer strictly be a metroidvania and started exploring other genres and gameplay concepts, the project quickly started to gain an identity of its own. I still wear the Hollow Knight influence on my sleeve with the visuals and attention to animation/game feel, but the game currently shares more DNA with Monster Hunter than anything else.

Big Robots

Ultimately the biggest goal I had with this project from the very start was to bring justice to the trope of giant monsters and robots in indie games.

It has almost become a comical meme to see some sort of colossus in an indie game trailer. As a gamer, my main gripe with this trope has always been that you rarely get to interact with these colossal beings in a meaningful way. You see them in cut-scenes, in the environment in the form of corpses, or as a decorations for the distant horizon. Finding a way to make this sort of scale work with pixel art is a very hard problem to solve, so I totally understand why this is so rare and sympathize with the people who have leaned into that trope before me.

Those who follow me know that I have always had a fixation on big robots and colossal beings, so naturally my goal with this game is fulfill the desire to pilot a giant machine and to fight other giant machines/creatures in a way that's genuinely fun.

Little Guys

There will also be plenty of situations where you have to fight many small enemies with or without the help of your various companions

Something im work shopping right now is a state machine pipeline that allows for a very diverse range of characters that the player can swap between, each with their own unique abilities.

There will be lots of little guys in Children of Moss. When I say lots, I mean LOTS. I have tons of existing characters which I have made new sprites for, and I have created lots of new fellas and don't plan on stopping any time soon. If you have followed my work for a long time, Children of Moss will definitely have a lot of familiar faces that you may recognize from my pixel art.

Here are some of the little guys I have drawn for the game:

That's all for now!!!

I would love to go into depth about all the various aspects of the game I have planned and yap forever, but a strict rule I have tried to adopt is "show, don't tell." I find it is best to not explain too much about what a game will be ahead of time and instead just focus on developing the game itself. Going forward I will talk less about the game conceptually unless there's a working version of the game with those concepts in motion.

I have lots more to show, and I am constantly adding things to the game

There will be lots of frequent updates so if you follow me here, on bluesky, instagram, newgrounds, or twitter, you'll be able to stay in the loop. If there's a platform you prefer that isn't on that list, let me know and I'll look into it!!

https://bsky.app/profile/cutlaska.bsky.social

https://x.com/Cutlaska

https://www.instagram.com/cutlaska/

How you can support Children of Moss!!

I wont lie guys, im way over my head here and can use all of the help I can get with this project. This means help in any sort of way whether it be financial support, spreading the project through word of mouth, or giving feedback.

What do you get in return for supporting Children of Moss?

The maximum amount I would ever charge for this game is $20. So I figure if you have contributed a total of $20 or above in donations across patreon, kofi, etc, you will not only get a key for the game when it comes out, but you will also have a lot of opportunities to play early versions of the game.

I will definitely have some fun merch for the game made eventually, right now im thinking of making sticker packs that can be shipped to Patreon supporters of a certain tier. Let me know in the comments if there's a certain type of merch that you would like to be available!!

https://ko-fi.com/carrion

Ko-fi is honestly the best place for donations, and I will be uploading the same updates there.

Me working hard and googling how to use Github

Vermin Genesis

In January I went to San Fransisco to participate in the Global Game Jam and ended up making a game called Vermin Genesis.

Vermin Genesis is basically a survivor-like game but with giant boss battles and an emphasis on player mobility that calls for incredibly aggressive combat. You play as a pissed off bird named Vermis and your objective is to kill the last remaining humans on earth and finally end the plague of mankind.

Vermin Genesis will be playable SOON!! I am currently just polishing the UI and re-balancing some items for the game. I'm sticking to my rule of "show, don't tell" so you will have to wait until the demo comes out to learn more about the game. However I will say that while this project is much different in terms of aesthetic, perspective, vibe, etc, the core gameplay mechanics in Vermin Genesis are basically a prototype of what I have planned for Children of Moss.

I am also happy to announce that I will be sticking to my brand of having lots of little guys in Vermin Genesis. This is Buck, shopkeeper and mason of the Godless Frontier.

GDC

After participating in the Global Game Jam, I was invited to showcase Vermin Genesis at an event at the Game Developers Conference. It was kind of insane to watch 70 people play my game, but I was really happy to see that everyone ended up wanting to play multiple times after getting used to the control scheme and gameplay loop. I got a crazy amount of feedback on things I would have never thought of it not for watching people play the game in person. While everyone really liked Vermin Genesis and gave a lot of really valuable feedback, the reactions people had to Children of Moss were so much stronger despite it being a very rough visual demo and lacking in comparison to the systems implemented in Vermin Genesis. Literally every person I showed Children of Moss off to was immediately sold on the game solely based on the visuals, which was very affirming for me. It made me realize that it has a lot of potential, so I decided it would be best to wrap up my work on Vermin Genesis as soon as possible and get back to work on Children of Moss. Between the two projects I have learned a lot about how to polish a game with Children of Moss and how to make a game feel fun from moment to moment with Vermin Genesis.

Me working on Children of Moss after fighting the security guard at the Salesforce Tower

Pixel Art Park

In October I will be attending Pixel Art Park!! One of Japan's biggest pixel art conventions. I'll be showing off both games, selling merch, and meeting lots of other pixel artists.

If you want to play Children of Moss, the firs place it will likely be playable will be in Japan on October!!

Feel free to check out the website if you're not familiar!

This also means I will be working on creating a lot of merch, both related and unrelated to my projects. I will be making separate posts about this stuff in the near future but I already have a few designs I'll be making stickers for.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far! I look forward to showing you more of my projects in the near future :>

love you all,

Carrion