Anima Island

Anima Island is a 2D virtual pet monster-raising rpg with strategic real-time battles and hand-painted 16-bit SNES-style pixel art!

Heavily inspired by Digimon World 2000.

Disclaimer 

This is an early prototype. Balancing is very broken, the battlesystem is very bare-bone, and a lot of bugs are potentially included. Feedback is still very appreciated! :) The start menu has an option "Demo" which skips all intro Story and throws you directly into all features without explaining them.

Story 

After a failed experiment by your eccentric science friend, you awake on an unknown island inhabited by a few people and mysterious creatures called anima. Soon you learn about the Wicked King, a looming danger that turns wild animas into ferocious beasts that endanger the otherwise peaceful island. Unite the local inhabitants and fight with your anima companion against the Wicked King's plans.

Main Features

• Virtual pet / Tamagotchi system with RPG elements
  • You care for your personal anima companion
  • The anima will get hungry, sleepy, sick, fatigued and more
  • Behavior can be reinforced with praise
  • Actions have interdepdent effects on the different needs
  • Every anima has a unique character that randomizes the needs
• Evolution System
  • Currently only one anima with one evolution
    
  • In the final game over 50 unique animas
  • Every anima will have up to 6 different evolutions, with multiple evolution levels, creating many unique evolution lines
• Trait System
  • Every anima has it's own trait tree with talents that can be unlocked by fighting enemies. When the anima evolves, the tree of the next evolution is appended to the current tree,  creating a large number of trait trees combinations
• Strategic real-time Battlesystem
  • Create strategic action sets that are usable during fights
  • In the final game you will fight over 30 unique enemies and 8 boss enemies
  • Training and treatment of the anima effects how quick and precise it will react to commands
• Town Sim
  • While exploring the island, you will discover over 20 friendly people and many friendly animas in the final game
  • By different means you get them to join your town in the center of the island
  • Every inhabitant unlocks a new capability in the town that will help you to prepare for even greater adventures
  • Learn more about the stories of the different characters as the town grows

Roadmap

• Beginning of 2025 release of a first Tech Demo

• End of 2025 release of polished Demo

• Overhaul of Battlesystem mechanics
• Improvement of graphics (LF artists)
• More content

• End of 2027 full release

Looking for you!

I am currently looking for pixel-artists who want to work on this project! Major topics are:

• Polishing of existing sprites
• Creation of new tile sets
• Character and special effects animations

I can offer freelance work or long-term collaboration, if it's a good fit! Send me an email to steffen@animaisland.com with your background and reference pixel art.