Rivals of Aether: A Free-to-Play Experience Born from Passion and Familiarity

When developing a game, scope is everything. For the creators of Rivals of Aether, scoping down was the key to success. Initially, they aimed to create an 8-character fighting game with 8 stages, a Story Mode, and practice features, all within a year and ready for launch in summer 2015. However, they soon realized that trying to expand into a larger team while using Game Maker as their platform would be challenging. As a result, they decided to focus on the core elements of their game.

The founders of Rivals of Aether, Flashygoodness and I, were a two-man team with experience in building local 2D games. Our goal was to establish the world of Aether and move onto bigger projects in the same universe. We wanted to build a small fighting game that would allow us to showcase our skills and creativity.

Rivals of Aether was never intended to be a massive experience, but rather a humble creation born from passion and familiarity with Game Maker Studio. As we began development, we decided to focus on 2D pixel art graphics, as I would be handling all the art and design initially, except for audio. This allowed us to maintain control over every aspect of the game.

Using Game Maker Studio proved to be a wise decision. In just two hours, I was able to get up to speed with over a week's worth of work in Unity, thanks to my prior experience with Game Maker. The familiarity with the engine and its capabilities made it easy for me to manipulate sprites and achieve the desired animation effects.

In retrospect, Rivals of Aether's design as a 2D pixel art experience was the perfect choice for us. It allowed us to focus on what we were most comfortable with – building 2D games using Game Maker Studio – and created a unique identity for our game.

In conclusion, Rivals of Aether is a free-to-play experience that showcases the power of passion, creativity, and familiarity with an engine. Despite its humble beginnings, it has become a beloved fighting game among fans and enthusiasts alike.

Rivals of aether free to play