Horn of Balance - an indie 2D zelda-like
I’m developing ‘Horn of Balance’, a 2D zelda-like featuring 12 non-linear dungeons, 2 interconnected worlds and a TON of secrets.
Right now, the project is live on Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hornofbalance/horn-of-balance) and we’ve almost hit the funding goal with just 24 hours left!
There’s also a free demo on Steam (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2738140/Horn_of_Balance/) and Itch.
I’m happy to answer any questions you might have!
Think you need to work on your assets, it looks too identical to Zelda. I don’t know that I could play that without constantly thinking about how every asset is just from Zelda.
@gibmiser
Fair enough if that’s how you feel, but the assets are actually all different. Literally. It’s just your mind playing tricks on you I’m afraid.Like I said, they are so similar that it feels like a knock-off. Why play a clone of an awesome game?
I’m not saying your game isn’t good, I have no idea. But it does not look different enough to grab my attention.
Just my hot take.
He’s 100% right. You gonna get slapped with a CnD for assets that similar.
@Splatterphace @HornofBalance naw it’s probably fine. “Zelda Online” got a cease and desist back in the day, but they were able to keep going after doing a paint over on all their sprites and tile sets and renaming the game to “Graal Online”. It was still very obviously a Link To The Past clone after the paint over, but they never got shut down for it. Horn of Balance’s art is much more divergent.
…which is why we’re suggesting altering the assets
None of the assets are “from” Zelda, they’ve all been redrawn, but they sure are quite clearly heavily inspired by A Link to the Past.
Not sure it bothers me tbh. I really enjoyed Zelda and having a chance to revisit that theme in a new way with novel adventures is welcome to me.
I have only one question.
Can you move and swing your sword at the same time?
In most 2D Zelda games you can’t, and it helps with positioning so you don’t run into the enemy when you try to hit it.
Most of the 2d Zelda clones I’ve played let you move and swing at the same time and it takes some time to get used to.
@Godort
You cannot move and swing at the same time. The sword would be too powerful if I allowed that.You CAN however move while shielding, using your flamethrower, and so forth. 😉
That looks awesome! Can’t wait to try it out!
@HornofBalance @games I do like the concept but the art, even if original, is a little bit too similar to the actual game assets. I am all for inspiration and I hope you do well.
I see a lot of people saying nintendo will take action against you, but they are young and do not know about Graal Online, which is your actual competitor. Link to the Past style games are fun and interesting, but graal has dominated the space against any similar game for decades now, especially those in the same visual style. Tunic had a good solution (unique visual style) and I hope people don’t have the same initial reaction I did upon seeing it (that this is a graal world)
Any plans to port to Android? The artwork looks great but I would suggest to invest some time to un-Zelda it so you don’t get the Nintendo curb stomp.
The pots and stone walls look the most derivative. I’d tweak those to look less-Zelda-like
I wish that the N64 and GameCube era of Zelda got more love. 2D Zeldas are great and all (especially Link’s Awakening and Minish Cap), but most of my adolescent gaming memories were formed in the early 3D era so that’s what I cherish most. Yet most indie devs seem to be Gen-Xers who trying to cater to Zoomers who really seem to have a thing for the 2D era, despite having no memory of it. But I would love nothing more than an indie title inspired by Majora’s Mask or Wind Waker.
I think early 3D graphics is just painful to watch nowadays. 2D pixelated arts can be wonderful, despite the obvious limitation, but when you switch 3D is just easy to ends up with something simply ugly. Cell shading and a good art direction can help, thought.
