Our Community Spotlight of the month is now live! Today we feature the work of GuilhermeRM, a freelance artist who makes a lot of very interesting Metroid fanarts such as crossovers and comic book covers. He even made a very fleshed out post-Metroid Fusion concept art series! We hope you’ll check out his work by clicking the link below.
Episode 13 – Metroid Randomisers
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Our thirteenth podcast is now available! This time around we are discussing Metroid randomisers, focusing on the fan efforts within the community and why Nintendo should include them in future titles. We also read out some of your messages from our mailbag! Podcast includes host Amanda, who is joined by Roy and Darren.
00:23 – Main topic: Metroid Randomisers
17:28 – Mailbag
22:22 – Bloopers
Internal Epic Games document reveals plans for a Fortnite Samus skin
An internal slideshow from Epic Games presented many promotional plans for the game that are planned for this year and beyond. This document, leaked from a recent lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, features a selection of characters which they want to make skins of (including characters that were never mentioned until now). One of them is Samus Aran!
However, there is no way to know which elements of this document were scrapped, and which weren’t. Nintendo tends to be very protective of their IPs, so it is possible that they refused this collaboration. Then again, Rocket League does feature exclusive Samus, Mario and Luigi themed cars on its Switch version (they are seen as other car models in online crossplay). Samus making an appearance in Fortnite is definitely still possible, and Metroid could greatly benefit of the visibility given by such a popular game!
Source: The Verge
Lego Ideas: Metroid project now in review stage
Back in January we shared news on a Lego Metroid project that had reached over 10,000 supporters on the Lego Ideas website, and we are happy to confirm that the project went into review in April, which means it will be considered by Lego experts, with the possibility of moving to production and sale! This is an exciting opportunity to see a Lego Metroid set that fans can purchase! The project gained significant traction in early 2021, and we are proud to have done our bit to spread the word and help this worthwhile project hit their goal. A big thank you to everyone who voted in support of it!
We will continue to update you on further developments from the project as time goes on.
Source: Lego Ideas
Chad Orr (DreamWorks) joins Retro Studios as a lighting artist
We can exclusively report a new hire at Retro Studios. Chad Orr, a Lighting and Compositing Artist, has joined Retro as a Senior Lighting Artist. Orr has an impressive collection of credits to his name, having worked on projects by Disney (Moana, Zootopia), Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Santa Monica (God of War) and DreamWorks Animation (How to Train Your Dragon 3, The Croods: A New Age). He’s even received awards for his work on God of War and How to Train Your Dragon 3. We can’t wait to see his contributions to Metroid Prime 4!
It’s worth noting that since our last post on job openings at Retro, the postings for environment and lighting artists have disappeared. This may suggest that Retro has all of the artists they’re looking for. There is still an opening for a concept artist, however.
Source: LinkedIn (must be logged in)
Updated job listings at Retro Studios
Throughout the development of Metroid Prime 4, Retro Studios has sought to hire talented developers from across the game industry to work on engineering the gameplay, concepting cutscenes, write the story and fulfill other responsibilities. The Nintendo careers page has been updated with new positions. In addition to these, Retro is currently still seeking more Concept Artists and Contract Environment and Lighting Artists. The new positions added are as follows:
- IT Engineer (Level 1 and 2, Contract)
- Level 3 Environment Designer
- Level 2 System Designer
As of December 2020, Retro was looking for a Boss/AI Designer and a Lead Technology Engineer. These jobs have disappeared from the careers page, suggesting they have been filled. As always, we will keep you updated about any new hires at Retro while we await a true unveiling of Metroid Prime 4.
Source: Nintendo Careers
Feature: The Pottery Pieces
Our feature for March has been almost a year in the making, and I am thrilled to finally be able to share it with you. As a lockdown project, I turned a broken flower pot into Metroid art. I was inspired by the Six Fanart Challenge that swept social media last year, and took it even further by painting 101 Metroid characters, enemies and items suggested to me by other members of the Shinesparkers team. In the turbulent year that was 2020, and after experiencing a traumatic layoff, this was one of many activities that kept my creative juices flowing and reinvigorated my love for Metroid. You can check out my paintings, and my thoughts on them at the link below.
Community Spotlight: Damian Merazzi
Our third Community Spotlight of 2021 is now live! This month we are featuring Damian Merazzi, an aspiring product designer with a passion for complex action figures. He is also a fan of Metroid who used a 3D printer to bring toys based on some of our favorite bosses, including Metroid Prime and Quadraxis, to life. These incredible figures even received attention from a designer of the Metroid Prime saga. We hope you’ll check out his designs, and should you have access to a 3D printer yourself, use them to make your own real-life Metroid bosses!
Megan Fausti (Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order) is writing Metroid Prime 4
It seems that a pretty major hire has evaded our attention for a long time! We have learned that a writer for Metroid Prime 4 was hired in July 2020 according to LinkedIn. Her name is Megan Fausti, and she has previously written games such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which was published by Respawn Entertainment, and Battle Chef Brigade, which was published by Adult Swim Games.
In previous posts, we’ve shared that Retro was hiring a storyboard artist. One of the responsibilities of this position was to “Help define emotional scenes that will resonate with audiences.” This, along with a former Star Wars writer being brought aboard to pen the next Metroid’s story, tells us that Metroid Prime 4 will have a larger narrative focus compared to previous games in the series.
Best of luck to Megan in her role!
Feature: Metroid.jp Interviews
Today, Shinesparkers has an exciting new feature to share with our readers: an exclusive translation of four interviews that were shared on Metroid.jp in 2003! The people interviewed include Yasuo Inoue, the director of the Japanese commercial for Metroid Fusion, Tadashi Konan, the founder of apparel brand The King of Games, Michael Mann, Mark Pacini and Karl Deckard from Retro Studios, and Japanese author Miyuki Miyabe. The interviewees discuss their interest in the Metroid series and the merchandise or work they have done for the franchise. This feature would not have been possible without Vectrex28, who generously translated these interviews for us. We hope you enjoy them!