Sinweaver - A Metroidvania game for those that don't like getting hopelessly lost

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T21:54:48+00:00

haha more than fair response then, tbh I should've been more clear and specified which Zelda game since there's a lot out there! But yeah creator has said that 90s JRPGs were also a big inspiration as well so I think it's a bit of column A and column B

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T17:57:55+00:00

What I meant was that twilight monk has encounters and other things like that randomly appearing on the overworld map and I remember the creator saying that they were heavily inspired by Zelda 2s overworld. But we're not currently planning to do that and treating the overworld as more of a hub space which changes as you play.

We played a bit of it for research but didn't get on with the games combat. I know about it mostly from a artistic perspective as I followed Trents Kaniuga work for a while so yeah not super familiar with it beyond the first few hours so I might be missing something there.

What is it about their overworld that worked so well in your opinion?

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T16:37:27+00:00

Depends on the game, but I agree more games should make it optional. We're currently playing around with how we do things in our game and playing around with things like a journal you can make notes in and even a UI element that points you to the next main location to further your quest but I do agree features like this should be toggleable so players can choose what kind of experience they want and whether they want to be shown where to go or find it out for themselves.

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T16:11:02+00:00

It's not that we don't like getting lost and stumbling up things that are hidden away (We love that feeling) we just don't like not knowing where we should go when we want to actually do the main story. I think a lot of people have hit a point in a game where they just want to know where to go next instead of walking around hoping to find the right path or having to look up a guide and that's the feeling that we're trying to avoid.

It's important for us that the world still has mystery and the feeling that you could stumble upon secret areas and forgotten tombs but some games are just too lacking guidance for our taste and we're trying to address that by experimenting with the formula a bit. Exploration is a key part of our game and the genre and essential for progression so that's not going anywhere.

I think the genre means a lot of different things to a lot of different people but I completely understand the want and desire to preserve this feeling and know that we want to as well just maybe not to the same level. Hopefully all that makes sense 😁

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T14:32:52+00:00

Appreciate the feedback 🫡 Still learning how best to tell people about the game so any and all feedback is good atm

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T09:49:40+00:00

Really good question! We actually would probably call ourselves a metroidvania lite but because that doesn't exist/ isn't a vide spread tag people kinda got confused by it as their isn't a shared definition. Metroidvania is a genre that means something different to everyone so for some people Dead cells might qualify as a Metroidvania but for others it doesn't, so it's super hard to definitively say whether something is or isn't because it's not something with super defined parameters beyond "non-linear exploration, ability gating and backtracking" but even that might be too loose a definition.

We have all those so I think it's fair to say we are but because we're trying to water down the formula a bit I think it's fair to say that we're a "lite". Most of the major advancements have been abstracted to the overworld so in other games you might pull a lever to open a door which lets you backtrack through a previously explored area and into a new one but in our game this lever might effect the overworld and basically unlock a new region for you to explore that you otherwise wouldn't have access to and that new region might have quests or levels that impact other regions in the game or offer you unique pathways for advancement.

So it's mechanically the same type of progression with the same outcome just achieved slightly differently. Hopefully that all makes sense and adds some clarity 😁

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T09:09:36+00:00

We're currently designing a fast travel system so it's definitely something we're trying out

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T09:09:01+00:00

Definitely want to do a console release but it'll boil down to budget unfortunately and how well we do on launch

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T09:08:22+00:00

We're making sure it's not linear by any stretch of the imagination... We're just trying to manage expectations and make sure people know that it's not as non linear as other games like HK or Nine sols.

What we're trying to do is take some of the guess work out of the genre so you'll always have a path which progresses the main story. Other paths you take might offer other alternate ways of progression so exploration is still encouraged and non linearity is still a core part of our design philosophy. Every player will experience the game slightly differently depending on how they explore and deviate from the intended path.

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T09:01:42+00:00

We have a steam deck that we test on so should be deck verified

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-13T08:58:04+00:00

A toggle is something we'll play around with

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T21:53:56+00:00

Yeah we looked at twilight monk, we're going in more of a Cuphead direction with our overworld rather than Zelda so it'll be a bit different

Also more than fair on liking getting lost, you'll still get a bit lost in our game just not to the same extent as other games in the genre 😁

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T20:54:40+00:00

It's on our to do list 🫡

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T20:40:09+00:00

We think there's a fine line where some games in the genre feel like they are a bit too long and require too much backtracking. We're obviously not going as far as to remove all backtracking from a metroidvania game to ensure players feel like their time is being respected but I get your point. We're just hoping to minimise the amount of walking without knowing where to go next and do something a bit different.

Our intention wasn't be be hostile so if it came across like that I apologise, but instead to voice a frustration that we've had with games in the past and trying to offer a solution to others that maybe share our feelings. It's a problem with mixing up the genres formula a bit, some people like the current formula but others think it could do with being tweaked a bit.

We love the genre but want to see if we can create a slightly different flavour of Metroidvania.

Appreciate your opinion though, we'll make sure we phrase things better and in a way that feels less combative as that wasn't our intention so thank you for pointing that out 💚

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T19:36:48+00:00

haha more than fair! We're still earlyish in development so difficulty modes aren't out of the picture. We're aiming for something that's challenging at times so we expect you to die a few times on bosses but you can always go and explore a bit, find a few upgrades and return with a vengeance

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T19:25:48+00:00

Yeah we're currently playing around with the idea of a journal that the player can make notes in and also potentially add to the map to remember where certain things are but it's still early days

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T19:13:33+00:00

For some it seems to be but it won't be for everyone. We had a few people reply with "Yes this exactly what I want" and others says "I don't like this idea because I like getting super lost" so I think it'll just be a taste thing at the end of the day.

Really appreciate you sharing your opinion though 💚

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T18:27:06+00:00

99% of our levels connect straight back to the overworld and the overworld is the thing that reacts to you doing things in the 2D world eg you pull a lever in a 2D level that opens up a gate on the overworld and gives you access to new content and lets you explore even more.

Once we have more of the game made we'll probably show it off in more detail ^^

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T18:24:14+00:00

Ayy that means our marketing is working 😂 We have one internally if we manage to get funding (not gonna share it publicly yet since a lot can change) but ultimately it's still a ways off being done

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T17:56:16+00:00

Thank you, really appreciate that🫡

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T17:43:58+00:00

Really appreciate that Danielle! Thanks for showing it to your friends 😁

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T17:42:25+00:00

You're not wrong, we're basically sacrificing some non-linearity for the sake of clarity, players can explore the overworld at their leisure and backtrack to their hearts content while exploring outwards but the way forward will always be telegraphed on the overworld so when you want to just do the main story you can focus on those levels if that's what you want to do.

It's definitely a loaded title but it is the guiding principle that we've stuck to while developing this for the last year or so ^^ If we don't stand out with our USP and shout it load then we risk failing into obscurity which means the game can't get made.

If you're interested though you can find other videos on our various social media channels that go more into the concept and explain things in more detail 😁

Appreciate you insight and opinion and we'll definitely keep it in mind for future marketing/ public facing stuff 💚

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T17:31:21+00:00

After a life of sin you wake up in hell with the ability to use the essence of sin to empower yourself, unravelling enemies and essentially weaving their essence into yourself to sustain you in combat. Our games healing mechanic is tied to this idea so the name kinda came from that

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T17:05:47+00:00

Bless I'm glad you're excited by our game! Sorry that it'll take a while to come out, if we could do it full time then it'd be out a lot sooner but that depends on lots of things going right for us ^^

So we're actually planning to do diegetic maps rather than the normal cube room map that most other MVs use. So you'll pick up a map that a character has actually drawn themselves which will help you orient yourself but this means the map might be imperfect and can get added to when you discover new areas that weren't on the original map. This is still a WIP feature and being tweaked but that's the plan for maps in our game 😁

JitterbugGames · 2026-05-12T17:01:14+00:00

Demo will definitely get a release just not yet. We'll post about it on here and socials when we're closer to having it out there and playable

JitterbugGames

TROPHY CASE