An experimental Castlevania 3 demo (and MORE!)

[darknior]

So beautifull stuff

[NickyP]

While all this talk is interesting, did anyone actually, you know, play the demo I uploaded? 

I still want to find out if that gameplay style is fun, you know!

[Vyck_St.Judas]

OH DUH!!! I just assumed It'd be a given that we had! 
I can't speak for everyone else, I enjoyed it. Breaking it off into sections seemed to work well.
I was disappointed that I couldn't make use of the platforms, But it's only an early build.
Secondly, the Axe flight arc is a bit off. It's Very useful for a direct approach, and practically a god send for Medusa heads, but Trevor has forward range covered with the whip. He'd would definitely benefit from the old anti-air flight arc.
 The enemies falling out of the sky is no big deal for now. They just need spawn animations. It's one of those things you get to when you get there y'know. All in all, I don't have any real complaints. The mechanics work for the most part. I would slow the "jumpspeed" when turning around in-air though. If you try to jump and turn, over an enemy, you wind up barreling right into them. Once you add platforms It'll give you much less precision than you'd need.

[Die_In_Fire]

beautiful those sprites attached on the previous page!!

I tried the demo, but I keep on trying to go up the stairs 

The lot of "wait" with few enemies works well, I think that the boring part of Bonusjz's Vampire Hunters was a "wait" with tons and tons of enemies, staying still until killing everyone... So I think gameplay speaking, this one is more fun that VH.

But i would prefer some enemies like regular skeletons, always die with 1 hit, regardless of the character.

and medusa heads could be just one-time passers like on the original games, and not a "rider", for that would be a good idea to use a spawner to keep the medusa spawning all the time on certain areas. I'm pretty sure BloodBane knows how to do that. That would give more a Castlevania feeling on my opinion.

always love to see nes style graphics, and if related to CV even more! 

[Bloodbane]

 Actually, I have some comments before but I decided to hold it until someone else give theirs .

 Anyways, my comments are:
1. Nice and simple gameplay
2. Missing platforms is disappointing. At least if you don't want to use platforms, erase them from background so noone would attempt at jumping on them.
3. Variation is great! Though Link should at least do something else instead of throwing knife such as tossing bomb or throwing boomerang
4. Bat is totally odd, flying back and forth in such stance. Also Alucard is the only one suffering from it. Others can walk underneath fine.

 As for platforming problem, you should start making visible platforms 1st. Once you mastered this, you can attempt making invisible ones.
 My useful tip for this is just spawn the visible platforms in the level. Play the level and see where they are. If you find some of them is wrongly placed, make a screenshot, open it in Photoshop and measure the distance needed to correct it's position. DON'T exit openbor while doing this though since you can see the fix by replaying the level. Repeat this step to all platforms .

 Although I highly recommend you to make platforms for this mod, there's something very very important you need to decide before doing that: Game rule

 Yes, I'm very sure you are aware that in most platformers, players are only required to go to end of each level. It doesn't matter if monsters are killed or skipped.
 This is very contrast with beat'm ups which requires players to kill every single enemy in each level.
 And, this is not without reason. Imagine this: in CV game, there are some bone heads, you can get to end of level only by killing some. Will you bother killing the rest? considering they might be placed on some platforms which might be high and far for end of level.
 See the point? imagine if players are required to kill them all .

 This is what I have thought deeply before starting Contra mod. I have set offscreenkill (with script that time) and design the levels so players aren't required to destroy every enemy. I have to admit I still miss some due to my perfectionist habit.

 Anyways, the decision is yours to make.

I think that the boring part of Bonusjz's Vampire Hunters was a "wait" with tons and tons of enemies, staying still until killing everyone...

 BonusJZ is a skilled player. That's why he set tons and hard enemies in 1st stage like this. I dislike this as well since 1st stage should be warming up and practice stage.

and medusa heads could be just one-time passers like on the original games, and not a "rider",

 That's easy. Just give medusa head jumpframe in SPAWN animation, set loop and offscreenkill, you are all set.

for that would be a good idea to use a spawner to keep the medusa spawning all the time on certain areas.

 Ah, I have made such scripts and it's available in Contra: Locked 'N' Loaded and in CV collab. IIRC bat spawner uses this.

[NickyP]

Yeah, I... never really planned on making platforms for this mod.  I left them in the background for decoration, but I see that it can cause some confusion! I'll keep all your suggestions in mind as I/if I make more!

Though I won't lie, I also threw together a 16/32-bit version of the same idea. Not CV3, but the whole 2D CV beat em up etc.



Isn't that Richter sexy, btw? I got it from here: http://jonnyaguiar.deviantart.com/art/Richter-Belmont-Sprites-217728517

[Vyck_St.Judas]

Yeah That set is freakin' sexy. I copped that one a while back myself. The one I found didn't have the guys name though, so I was crazy disappointed. I do sprite work on other forums, so as a rule, if I can't credit the creator I won't bother using it.
On a side note. Do you think you can get any use out of this guy for your 16/32 project?
I ripped him a while back and planned to do things with him, But I'm just way too behind schedule with sprite requests to realistically put in the time. I don't want to be "empty promise guy", I just get too excited with ideas and wind up agreeing to things without considering the time involved. By the time I double check the task load I'm overwhelmed and start procrastinating. Anyway, if you want to use it go ahead. I don't really need any credit for the rip. enjoy 

[Die_In_Fire]

I just remembered, Vyck was working on a nes castevania mod isn't it? still in the works?

[Vyck_St.Judas]

Yes, and Double Dragon. DD had to be started over as I just wasn't working neatly enough, There are also some things I have to learn in order to turn out the product i have in my head.
I'm happy somebody remembered. Thanks Die_In_Fire! 

[NickyP]

On a side note. Do you think you can get any use out of this guy for your 16/32 project?

Eh, maybe. I kind of like him, but I already have Alucard and Jonathan for sword users. Plus thats more frame work I have to set up, and ehhh  Maybe. Though I'll tell you what, if he were edited into Getsu Fuuma*, that'd be sweet!

And even though it's not related to the CV3 project, it IS made with the same philosophy... so here's a quick demo of the 16-bit version:

http://www.mediafire.com/?jfl6rclst26dfia

It uses some assets from the CV Collab, but I assure you, a lot of it is mine too!  The controls are exactly the same as the CV3 demo, only now with the addition of sliding (duck+jump). You are invincible when sliding too.

*A long lost NES Konami game that is basically CV: Japanese Mythology Edition

[BeasTie]

Was about to post other day but Bloodbane made the same points, I agree with what he said.

Yes, I'm very sure you are aware that in most platformers, players are only required to go to end of each level. It doesn't matter if monsters are killed or skipped.
 This is very contrast with beat'm ups which requires players to kill every single enemy in each level.
 And, this is not without reason. Imagine this: in CV game, there are some bone heads, you can get to end of level only by killing some. Will you bother killing the rest? considering they might be placed on some platforms which might be high and far for end of level.
 See the point? imagine if players are required to kill them all .

Could easily get around this thou by just having an endlevel item, that's a doorway/passageway to the next section.

[Vyck_St.Judas]

So far:
The in game font from CV 3 is done and applied.
Fiddled/rearranged the title screens a bit, cleaned up all the happy pixels.
Drew a new CV logo from scratch. Everything is aligned to the Press start and menu options.
Did not touch the NYP logo as I felt it would seem disrespectful.
Re-drew Trevor, used the edit from CV dungeon as a base. No worries, It's still very under-complicated.
In the process of coding him. Ripped also "Fuuma" from "Getsu Fuuma-Den" for the NES.
Re-made the entire first level, Broke it up into 320x240 chunks for grouping, removed stairways, adjusted platforms. applied the NES palette to everything. I should have something to show by late afternoon/early evening if my girlfriend doesn't drag me kicking and screaming to planet fitness. I hate that place. I've never wanted to beat somebody's face in with a dumbell until the day I stepped foot in there...Ahem...
 
Anyway, I saw you had done a top down GBC style mod before, and it gave me what I can only consider a very over complicated idea. Have you thought of adding a small interactive Overworld to your mods? Not simply a map. More like the First nes Ninja/Hero turtles game. Where you had to fight your way top down zelda style to the the next 2D side scrolling dungeon/Sewer area. Just an idea to throw around. That's 2 play styles, in one game, using an engine geared mainly towards another.
I drew extra top down Trevor sprites just in case. I'll re-download your old demo and see if i can finagle something.

[Bloodbane]

Could easily get around this thou by just having an endlevel item, that's a doorway/passageway to the next section.

 You missed my point. My point is: will this mod be like platformers in which players are only required to reach end of level or beat'm ups in which players are required to kill every single enemies in level?

Have you thought of adding a small interactive Overworld to your mods?

 How would the overworld map look like?

[NickyP]

You missed my point. My point is: will this mod be like platformers in which players are only required to reach end of level or beat'm ups in which players are required to kill every single enemies in level?

The bold one. 

So far:
The in game font from CV 3 is done and applied.
Fiddled/rearranged the title screens a bit, cleaned up all the happy pixels.
Drew a new CV logo from scratch. Everything is aligned to the Press start and menu options.
Did not touch the NYP logo as I felt it would seem disrespectful.
Re-drew Trevor, used the edit from CV dungeon as a base. No worries, It's still very under-complicated.
In the process of coding him. Ripped also "Fuuma" from "Getsu Fuuma-Den" for the NES.
Re-made the entire first level, Broke it up into 320x240 chunks for grouping, removed stairways, adjusted platforms. applied the NES palette to everything. I should have something to show by late afternoon/early evening if my girlfriend doesn't drag me kicking and screaming to planet fitness. I hate that place. I've never wanted to beat somebody's face in with a dumbell until the day I stepped foot in there...Ahem...

All sounds good! And hey, if you take over the CV3 one, you're more than free to put your name on it. It's not like I can sue or anything! 

Also, I'll take those Fuuma sprites if you don't mind... 

Anyway, I saw you had done a top down GBC style mod before, and it gave me what I can only consider a very over complicated idea. Have you thought of adding a small interactive Overworld to your mods? Not simply a map. More like the First nes Ninja/Hero turtles game. Where you had to fight your way top down zelda style to the the next 2D side scrolling dungeon/Sewer area. Just an idea to throw around. That's 2 play styles, in one game, using an engine geared mainly towards another.
I drew extra top down Trevor sprites just in case. I'll re-download your old demo and see if i can finagle something.

As fun as my Gameboy Dungeon Explorer was to make, it was also... well, super frustrating.  Like, much harder than it really had to be. If you play it you'll think it's a mess, but it's really refined compared to what it looked like before. Either way, it taught me that BOR can't really handle top-down gameplay that well. At least, not properly. My point? I can't see myself doing another mod like that, any time in the near future! The world map in ClaFan is the best you'll get for now!

Speaking of ClaFan... I'm going to make a third stage in the 16-bit version of the CV experiment, release it, and then put it aside. I want to go back to ClaFan; I'm really only one quest away from the next release (I like my updates to have substance!). I still look back on Rivulet City Ransom with great sorrow as I reflect how I lost interest in a project that had so much heart put into it... I don't want ClaFan to be the same!

But then again, I have so many other abandoned heartfelt projects... Maplevania 2 has a stage and a boss, and a story that included Joan of Arc and different endings. Megaman Power War Episode 2 was almost done the last time I looked at it, all I need to do is finish Bubbleman and Wily. And don't even get me started on Fire Emblem: Fire Wars! Sigh. If only there were clones of me, then I could probably finish something more than once every 2 years... 

[Vyck_St.Judas]

Dude, BB asked what i meant by overworld so I'm putting together a map. Just drawing The bloody map is giving me a headache! aiyaaah...