As per my presentation during the defold game jam, I’m working on a metroidvania toolkit. Other game engines have these in their store, so I wanted to bring it to defold, but do it even better. I’m trying to create a very robust and flexible toolkit to help artists and developers to quickly prototype their game and get it into production. More time working on art, game feel, and game mechanics and less time creating the systems to enable all that. Here’s my current feature set, most of which I have enabled and working right now; however, I need to still modularize it and make it easier to use and still test for more bugs. Oh and polish. It needs lots of polish.
Please review the list of features, and let me know if you think I’m missing anything.
Player Movement & Abilities
• Advanced Movement System - Smooth acceleration/deceleration, variable jump heights, coyote
time, jump buffering
• Core Abilities - Double jump, air dash, wall climbing, sliding with i-frames, ground pound/slam
• Special Movements - Wall jumping, ledge climbing, backdash, blink/teleport, roll mechanics with iFrames
• Analog & Digital Input Support - Full gamepad support with customizable deadzones and input shaping
• Ability Progression System - Level-gated ability unlocks, ability experience/leveling, stamina management
World Generation & Management
• Room Generation - Multiple room types (normal, arena, treasure, corridor), biome-specific layouts
• Room Streaming System - Dynamic room loading/unloading, seamless transitions, preloading optimization
• Layout Editor - In-engine room design tools with visual editing capabilities. Drag and drop your rooms and have that layout reflected in the game world.
• Interconnected World Graph - Smart room connections with door/passage management to include locks/keys and ability gated progression
Combat & Enemies
• Melee Combat System - Light/heavy attacks, charge attacks, down strikes, parrying
• Ranged Combat - Projectile system with customizable damage and speed
• Enemy AI Framework - Patrol behaviors, attack patterns, boss controllers
• Combat Abilities - Combo system, critical hits, knockback mechanics
• Damage System - Health management, invulnerability frames, damage numbers
Visual Effects & Polish
• Particle Effects System - Dash effects, landing particles, critical hit effects
• Animation Controller - State-based animation system for player and enemies
• Visual Feedback - Screen shake, damage numbers, ability effect indicators
• Multiple Sprite Support - Placeholder assets included for rapid prototyping
Audio System
• Multi-layered Audio - Music controller, SFX manager, ambient sound support
• Dynamic Music - Context-aware music switching (exploration, boss fights, areas)
• Audio Feedback - Movement sounds (footsteps on different surfaces), combat audio, UI sounds
• Sound Effect Library - Pre-built SFX for movement, combat, and interactions
Save System & Progression
• Multi-slot Save System - 3 save slots with auto-save functionality
• Progression Tracking - Experience system, level progression, skill points
• World State Persistence - Room completion, collectibles, unlocked doors, boss defeats
• Settings Management - Audio, graphics, controls, and gameplay settings persistence
User Interface
• Complete UI Suite - Pause menu, inventory, minimap, dialogue system, shop interface
• Progressive Disclosure - Quest log, world map, boss health bars, death screen
• Input Rebinding - Full controller and keyboard customization
• Accessibility Features - Settings for hints, difficulty options, audio cues, localization system
Development Tools
• Modular Architecture - Self-contained systems that can be used independently
• Configuration-Driven - Extensive Lua config files for easy tweaking without code changes
• Debug Features - Movement debugging, input visualization, performance monitoring
• Content Pipeline - Room generation scripts, asset organization, build automation
Game Systems
• Inventory & Items - Item management, key items, currency system
• Shop System - NPC vendors, item purchasing, economic balance
• Narrative Framework - Dialogue system, cutscene support, story flags
• Fast Travel - Checkpoint system with teleportation between discovered locations
• Collectibles - Hidden items, completion tracking, reward systems
Technical Features
• Performance Optimized - Room streaming, object pooling, efficient collision detection
• Cross-Platform Ready - Supports multiple input methods and screen resolutions
This toolkit provides everything needed to create a full-featured Metroidvania game, from basic movement to complex progression systems, all built with industry-standard patterns and extensive customization options. Licensing model is yet to be determined. I’d love to just go open source, but we’ll see.
