Details
Link: Steam
Date Created – July 2022
Assets used: Rivals of Aether, Aseprite
Metrics:
(as of 11th January 2025)
Metal Harbor - Rivals of Aether Stage
“Rivals of Aether” is an indie platform fighter released in 2016. Since then, a large Steam Workshop community has grown, with members creating characters and stages for the game, most likely original characters or characters from other franchises.
After 5+ years of playing Steam Workshop creations, I wanted to attempt creating one myself. I decided upon Metal Harbor from Sonic Adventure 2, due to it being a childhood favourite of mine, and its lack of representation in the workshop.
The stage is created using Aseprite, a pixel art program that is common amongst workshop creators. I had done pixel art in the past, but this was my first major project utilizing it. One of Aseprite’s greatest benefits is painting on separate layers, which is useful for creating stages, due to elements appearing in the foreground and background. Rivals stages use a parallax, so all layers must be painted in full so that the layers can move with a parallax effect.
The stage was released onto the Steam Workshop on 18th July 2022. Over the following week, it rose in popularity, eventually becoming the most popular Steam Workshop file of the week.
As of 12th September 2023, the workshop file has 13,839 subscribers. This is due to a high popularity upon release, as well as a steady interest over time. Critically, it has a 92% positive rating and 4/5 stars.
