An experimental Castlevania 3 demo (and MORE!)

[NickyP]

... Why not use the actual map from CV3? You know, the ones I used as scenes and stuff?

[Vyck_St.Judas]

I ripped and edited Fuuma to match the CV style. I try to be thorough though, as i had only just started playing the game. Usually the cooler moves come later on. So I checked online, and found there was already a sheet on the spriters resource. Anything in the box at the bottom was NOT ripped by by me.
Fuuma actually animates more like a Contra character (upper body usually independent from the lower half)
He also seemed to be in quite a hurry as he only had running sprites. Walking, jumping, sub weapon toss, and fall have been added.

As far as the overworld goes, I'll have to figure something else out. I need to get or make better tiles. The map  you have is adequate, but not for what i mean. I was thinking more 2 play modes. Levels being more like dungeon areas playing out in 2D. the Overworld is how you get to the dungeons. It plays out more like a zelda game. Once you clear a (side scrolling) dungeon, You'd be taken back to the (top down) Overworld (Where the side scrolling character model is replaced by it's own specific top down model) and fight your way to the next dungeon.

I've really like both the straight forward action Castlevanias and the more explorative "Metrovanias/Castleroids". I figured this way I could scratch both itches. It may be too much for me though. This, Mine and Shadow Warrior's Double Dragon project, numerous sprite requests to fill, and my personal life would stretch me far too thin. Although I don't want to, I may have to just skip out on the overworld idea altogether.   

 

[Vyck_St.Judas]

Hey Nick! I'm a bit confused. I was doing the skeletons over, and I noticed that there are 2 of them.
Is this something you were doing for an effect?
I made new animations, but now I'm unsure how I should apply them.

[NickyP]

The overworld sprites are too cute. If you have trouble with overworld tiles, do what I did for ClaFan; use RPGMaker to make the maps! You don't need to edit overworld enemies either. Final Fantasy Adventure has plenty of CV-like enemies that fit so well, you'd never know the difference. Skeletons, bats, zombies, and even that floating eye thing. I can see White Mage being edited into Sypha, Red Mage being Alucard, the pirate NPC from FF5 for Grant.... Now that I think about it, I kind of like this idea. It's a shame I that I can't do platforms for crap, because this would turn out to be quite the awesome mod!

I have 2 skeletons for a reason. The first one doesn't throw bones or attack or anything; it just walks around. The second skeleton was added as an afterthought. So, I made a new folder and made it a seperate enemy, even though it uses half of the sprites of the first one. Just being efficient, y'know?

[Vyck_St.Judas]

AH! I figured that. I'm Making 3 different levels of skeleton.
lvl1. tosses bones overhead at mid range. 20hp
lvl2. gains a certain melee attack at close range. 30hp +2 aggression +2 speed
lvl3. throws it's grinning skull directly at you at long range. 40hp, +2 aggression, +2 speed
They all use the same sprites, but with 2 different remaps each. Each move starts differently, so with experience you can tell what move the enemy will perform by its wind-up.

I may have to give the shield ability though. A group of 2 LVL3 Skeletons gets rape hard very fast.

[Vyck_St.Judas]

Anybody have any sub-weapon ideas the want added?
already done so far:
Axe: anti air standard
Bone: same as Axe. bounces on contact.
Holy water: do i really have to explain this one?
knife1: standard knife, can pierce through multiple enemies.
knife2: double knife, larger collision box. requires 2 hits to kill. suicides on contact.
knife3: Gold knife, faster speed, greater mp cost, greater damage, suicides on contact.
Stake: Slow speed, piercing, greater mp cost, 2 hits to kill.
Sacred flame: Alternate holy water with vertical flame.
Skull: Grinning skull, functions like knife, only one hit to kill, bounces on contact.
Cross: Judeo-Christian boomerang. standard.

Note* The stopwatch is being used as an item, not a weapon. sorry guys.
If you have any other idea for sub weapons, from tactical souls to innocent devils, suggestions are welcome.
     

[Bloodbane]

 Thanks for confirming Nick, but that post was meant for Beastie.

 Anyways, for subweapon idea, I suggest iron ball, spear and sawblade. I have implemented the 1st two in CV Collab and for the last one, if you have played Portrait of Ruin, you know what I mean .

Either way, it taught me that BOR can't really handle top-down gameplay that well. At least, not properly.

 You have to script enemy AI and map system mostly. That's what I did in Contra mod. I knew that default AI can't be used so I have to script enemy AI myself (thanks to God it's worked!). OTOH enemies with default AI is so few I can use my fingers to count their number.

I've really like both the straight forward action Castlevanias and the more explorative "Metrovanias/Castleroids".

 Why don't you just refer to Gameboy & DS titles? these CV are explorative like Metroid too .

 Ah, I'm kinda lost here, are you serious about having overworld system?

[Vyck_St.Judas]

 Hey Bloodbane!
I don't fully understand what the Iron Ball does to be honest.
The spear is already used as a main weapon, But it's flight arc is highly useful, as demonstrated by Nick's Axe. Maybe a "Bola" would be good for that?

The saw blade I'm looking up now. It flies up like the Axe, But once it lands it zips behind you. That does sound useful. maybe it doesn't go as far forward as the axe? Trying to come up with a  limitation for balance.

Also made two Additions to the completed sub weapon list:
Ninja star, and Fireball.
Skull has been changed to function like holy water. It keeps rolling forward once it hit's the ground.
There weren't very many ground based weapons. so i got imaginative. This makes the saw blade idea perfect for what I need.

Looking into Ninja Gaiden Jutsu's now.

As pertains to the Overworld, I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it. If I take on too much at one time, I'll just wind up overwhelming myself. I'd like to see both this and my Double Dragon Project come to fruition. A big part of that is pacing myself for now.   

[Bloodbane]

 Well, TBH in Portrait of Ruin, I don't use Iron Ball often myself  . Main reason I added it in CV Collab is because the subweapon is very different than the other i.e it drops down.

 "Bola"? In Indonesian language it means Ball but the image is not about ball.

 Speaking of subweapon, I wanted to have very unique one but can't find much idea. Most subweapons are flying ones. Nothing wrong with that since flying projectiles are versatile.
 One thing crossed my mind ATM is bouncing axe like in Gods. Very unique and the only thing close is Drop Shot from Metal Slug series. Question is how effective this would be?

 Hmmm... skull reminds me to Soma Cruz, his 'subweapons' are totally different .

[Vyck_St.Judas]

Oh!   I should explain better.  A "bola" is traditionally a thrown weapon It's usually just a rope with a ball attached on either end. When you throw it, The rope catches on the target making the weighted balls swing around using centrifugal force. In this way the impact becomes much more severe.

Recently added sub weapons:
Vomit: creates a toxic pool wherever it lands for a short time. (close range. for zombies primarily)
Dragon's tooth: a tossed bone that summons a level 1 skeleton where it lands.

*Double Knife has been changed to Triple Knife". It functions the same way it does in the CV Collaborative project.

I have an 8-bit Soma sprite set (courtesy of the CV Dungeon). I wanted to give him a "bone" sub weapon that bounces when it hits an enemy. I'm also having difficulty trying to get the SoTN "jewel" set up. More to the point, There already is an axe. Do you think Super Mario's fireball would be a suitable replacement for what you mean?

On to progress:
The skeletons, zombies, and bats, have all been re-ripped, and re-coded. Along with several audio and visual effects from other games. I've still got Medusa heads, Flea men, and the Skeleton King to go.
I've also got to put the walls and platforms into the remade first level.
Those Medusa heads are going to give me hell, I just know it.

Once this is done, I think I'd like to set things up more in the platform way, using your spawners.
I just have no idea how to do this unfortunately. I've looked it up, but still cant seem to make sense of it all. One thing at a time though I guess. Would you like to try what I've got so far?

[Bloodbane]

 Oh that one! I've seen it in 007 movie "Moonraker" long time ago.

Do you think Super Mario's fireball would be a suitable replacement for what you mean?

 Emmm... no. It's odd to see bouncing fireball.

I think I'd like to set things up more in the platform way, using your spawners.
I just have no idea how to do this unfortunately. I've looked it up, but still cant seem to make sense of it all.

 Well, you need to read each function's description in oscript.c. There are various kind which its own way of spawning.
 Generic rule for all of them is:
- They are independent to entity it is spawning. So no need to edit the entity
- They will always spawn the entity until they are killed
- They respawn the entity if the latter is killed
- However, they can only spawn one entity at time. So if that entity is still alive, the spawner won't do a thing

 In Castlevania series, there are 2 kind of infinite spawners players always (or mostly) find: ground spawners & air spawners. The former is used for zombies and ghouls while the latter is for medusa heads and bats.

 I'll explain in detail on how to set each if you are interested .

Would you like to try what I've got so far?

 Sure!

[DJGameFreakTheIguana]

Damn Nicky, haven't even played clafan yet, lol. I'll download both your demos and play them later, after I take out the trash and play brawlers for a while, it's been some time since I actually sat down and played it, and my Laptop handles it and even more complex games with better speed. I even played Dungeon Fighter on this thing a few months back. 

x)

[Vyck_St.Judas]

Ok, Check your PMs. I'm sending you a mediafire link. Fair warning. I'm making all kinds of small adjustments, remaking it step by (sometimes Grueling) step, before i continue. I've also temporarily upped the difficulty. You can block with the special button if you need to.
I've kept most of NickyP's original resources. Some are still required to be there until I replace them all.
I still kept his logo. It still just seems more like the right thing to do. 

[Ashenwraith]

Cool game. I don't like Castlevania because it tends to be slow and boring, but this isn't.

I think it would be better with z-space, lower and longer jumping (kept jumping into enemies) and a wider aspect ratio.

I played with Johnathan and just cheaped my way through by mashing his attack or jump attack/staying under the flying enemy and chasing them. Then I discovered his invulnerable dash and became god-like.

His other moves seemed pointless since double jumping his special made him way too high. I think

[Die_In_Fire]

This project is turning pretty cool, I'm very excited to see the results, as both a CV and nes style graphics lover 

 "Bola"? In Indonesian language it means Ball

Same in Spanish