Jools Watsham has some bad news for you guys: Treasurenauts, one of our anticipated games for the 3DS, is getting delayed. The reason for this is that Renegade Kid is working on a new game for the 3DS called Xeodrifter.

Xeodrifter is a sci-fi platformer inspired by games from the Metroid and Castlevania franchises, specifically Super Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission, and Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. It started life as a 2D demake mock up of Moon Chronicles that Jools fooled around with in his office. After finishing up the real Moon Chronicles, Jools came back to it and the project took off.

It should be noted that even though this started as a demake of Moon Chronicles, Xeodrifter is completely separate from that game.

As for what the game is about, here’s what Jools had to say in his developer diary:

Xeodrifter is the story of an interstellar drifter traveling the stars on a mission of exploration. In this particular installment of the story, we join our nomad as he embarks on the exploration of small cluster of four planets in the omega sector, after a collision with a rogue asteroid damages his warp drive. A scan of the neighboring planets reveals a number of energy signatures on the planets that may provide the special material needed to fix his warp drive and get back to cruising through the cosmos.

As for what we know about the game itself at the moment, the layout has pretty much been completed. Enemies will be added in soon. The graphics are inspired by the NES. And, similar to Mutant Mudds, there will be foreground and background areas you can access.

Scan this with your 3DS to check out a 3D image of the game.

In addition to news about Xeodrifter, Jools gave a quick rundown on the state of projects at Renegade Kid. Treasurenauts has been put on the back burner until this game has been completed. Cult County, after an unsuccessful crowdfunding, has been put on hiatus. And the Razor game they were going to create has been all but cancelled due to issues for the publisher.

If you want read the full developer diary, click here.