Seeking help for an epic fangame collaboration

[HereComesTom 2,267]

For the last two and a half years or so, I've been programming and building a fangame...alone.

 

At the moment, it's a platformer/shmup called Weather Factory Meldown, where you can play as any of the main six and switch between them on the fly, and you use the Elements of Harmony to fight your way past storm elementals infesting the weather factory.  It's also got a level editor so you can create and share your own levels---I have another thread discussing it here:

 

http://mlpforums.com/topic/114199-fangame-weather-factory-meltdown/

 

I would love to turn this into a game that lets players explore Ponyville at their own pace, has multiple levels showing off different locations in Equestria and beyond, has sidequests with fan-favorite background characters, and contains an epic story worthy of Friendship is Magic.  But I know I can't make the game that awesome on my own.

 

If anyone is interested in helping me, what I really need at the moment is feedback on the game and the editor.  I'm planning on continuing development on the game engine and the editor, adding features like the ability to create your own playable characters, NPCs, items, dialog, and cutscenes.  But before I can get to those fun, interesting, challenging features, I need to know what's user-friendly and what isn't, and what works for artists and level designers and what doesn't work.  When you're the only audience for your own work---well, you tend to lose sight of how user-friendly your tools really are.

 

Here's a link to the game itself, complete with editor, if you want a look:

 

http://staticvoidgames.com/games/WeatherFactoryMeltdown

 

And some tutorials videos I put together for the editor:

 

 

If you're interested in hearing more about how I got the idea for this game and where I'd like this game's future development to go, I have some youtube videos explaining that, too (note that nothing in my plans is set in stone):

 

 

I've also attached a zipped file containing some images from the game, which can be used in the editor:

 

WFM game images.zip

 

Please let me know what you think; I'm looking forward to your feedback

 

EDIT:  I've updated to version 0.2.0, which has parallax-scrolling backgrounds.  I've also added some speaker-NPCs, but I still need to add an inventory/equipment system, custom enemies, and a lot more.

Edited October 11, 2015 by HereComesTom

[HereComesTom 2,267]

I've uploaded version 0.1.0 of the game; it now has the ability to make your own custom playable characters.  ...Hopefully, that feature will be more attractive than previous ones...