GaMaYo will return one month today on Thursday 23rd May 2024 and once again in the run up we will be putting a spotlight on the amazing demos that are going to be on show at Tileyard North as well as the brilliantly talented creators who bring them to life!
If you would like to come to this event and/or join the GaMaYo network and develop games or support the games industry – then visit our Discord or Facebook .
The first GaMaYo highlight is…
Memora Wanderer
This is being developed by Matt Hall – we asked him a few questions and got him to tell us a bit more.
What would be your description of Memora Wanderer?
“Memora Wanderer is a cute nostalgic RPG with a low poly / pixel art hybrid artstyle. Akin to the isometric / top-down ARPGs and MMOs of the day where the importance lies in choosing your class progression, stats, skills, talents, and appearance (with head + headgear customisation).
It aims to be a balance between the loot-aholic RPGs like Ragnarok Online and Path of Exile, with a rich environment of smaller quests and stories present in games like Vanilla World of Warcraft and Oblivion.”
How did development start? (Were there any key inspirations or ideas that drove you?)
“I made a few isometric pixel art scenes, not intending to make a game at all (the isometric example is in the screenshots). Then for fun I experimented with a run animation for one of the characters in the scene, which led to making 3 run directions, and then 8 run directions. Its popularity made me want to try it in Unity, and then finally I switched out the isometric background for a 3D lowpoly one and it took off as a viable game to develop.
I’d always wanted to make a game like this, but I feared the scope of the game would be far too big.”
Tell us about the team working on Memora Wanderer?
“I’m a solo dev hobbyist from York. I graduated from Staffordshire University in Games Design and a few years later I picked up programming and became a Software Developer (which is what I currently do during the day). On evenings and weekends I started making pixel art and coded for game jams which got me this far.
I currently make all the visual elements of the game, the code, and do the marketing. Fortunately my Dad is a composer and was able to help out now and then with some BGMs, like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lB1inTM8SE“
What kind of experiences do you hope to bring players?
“I want to bring players familiar to Ragnarok Online back in time but in a “what if” kind of way. What if it had better controls, movement and camera angles? What if the world felt like it was living and not static? What if you actually had quests (real quests)?
And for other players, I want to share what I found fun with the ‘shopping list’ style gameplay of vanilla World of Warcraft. Small stories, mixed with gameloops to keep you busy. Where do I want to go to complete these 2 quests? Do I swing by the shopkeeper to empty my bag? Do I need to get a new weapon? Should I go train a new skill in town first? Or finish this craft recipe? Maybe I should spend this skill point here, or focus on these stat points there.
And I want people to get creative with their characters. It’s not just down to the class they play but the stats and skills they chose themselves. Whether that’s a priestly class that hits enemies with a book, or a swordsman class that designs a build around magic.”
In 10 words or less, highlight the appeal of Memora Wanderer?
“A cute nostalgic quest-driven experience with freedom to customise.”
What’s your favourite feature from games as a whole?
“My answer would be… towns!
In adventure games and RPGS, exploring and killing stuff is fun, but it gets a bit empty and repetitive at times. That’s when you go to a town and switch up the gameplay. I have fond memories of Hyrule Town in OOT, Clocktown, Mabe Village, Stormwind, Ironforge, Gold Paw, Costa Del Sol, Gold Saucer.
I keep wanting to put a lot of focus on making towns full and alive. Which is why so far I’ve been implementing ways for my NPCs to walk around in certain schedules, and to interact with nearby objects. I also want that variety of town styles that RPGs provide.”
