Topic: Carmilla (Revised)

[Zydalc]

While I don't want to bump up this thread (and this), I've been thinking some more ideas as a follow up to these threads linked.

Maybe perhaps Carmilla can have several appearances like she first appears nude and caked in blood when she rises out of her blood soaked tomb, she then might don casual clothing like a trench coat and trousers, perhaps she'll wear medieval gothic armor when equipped, and lastly she'll have her elegant ballgown appearance which maybe different coloring like for example her black ballgown made from abyssal magic, she is able to cast unlimited Obtenabration magic or if she's wearing a Red Ballgown made from Blood sorcery, she is able to cast unlimited Blood Magic.

Or maybe it's best she always wears a elegant ballgown? Perhaps to solve practicability issues, Also maybe the gown/dress is self repairable like for example if it's 'damaged' revealing her legs/boots in a slit, it repairs itself? Also when she 'runs' or jumps, sometimes she briefly flashes a ankle which is a reference to how Victorians took it as a scandal back in those times. Since the dress moves like a actual ballgown which is designed for dancing and can be interchangeable for combat as well and perhaps she move like Stella when as if floating in the air?

Also I wonder what Carmilla's "True Form" would look like perhaps a nude woman with bat wings with a aura around her?

Anyways the reason why I'm resurrecting this topic is to see if anyone here is still interested making this game (or a similar concept game of playing as a Female Vampire in a Metrovania since it be awesome to have access to all those Vampiric powers like we have access to holy powers from Hunter/Belmont characters).

Anyways thoughts or ideas?

Anyways here's the sprites so far created by FanOfDracula:







I kinda wish such a game would turn into reality some day.

(Edit: I forgot to credit the sprite makers name).

[kaonstantine]

So, no heroine, but a villain as a main character? Would she be fighting humans or will she be rebeling against count Dracula?

I prefer female characters, always have. I can't offer any help because i'm dedicated to my project, but good luck with this.

[Zydalc]

So, no heroine, but a villain as a main character? Would she be fighting humans or will she be rebeling against count Dracula?

Anti-Heroine/Anti-Villian actually, she's sort of like Firebrand was from Demon's crest where instead of playing the straight up hero which is often tradition in Castlevania (which it's based on Ravenloft/D&D of course), the game is instead is pretty much grey-grey (or black-black depending on your millage) where she's fighting human hunters and course other rival vampires like her family members that betrayed her and their minions (well kinda a reference to VtM where Vampire politics is more often than not backstabby) and now she wants revenge sort of thing, kind of like the plot of Soul Reaver a bit. Since it would be interesting to explore from a different light from the Vampire perspective of things, like she also has other vampire allies as well as enemies which they got their own society not to mention seeing the Hunters and the Church itself as a threat that must take cover from.

Also I remember the town levels from LeCarde Chronicles, I think it would be interesting for having Carmilla using those towns as her 'hunting ground' as a way to 'hunt' (or seduce) on the human villagers to stockpile up on blood. Also there's the ballroom areas in the castles/palaces/mansions/etc that Carmilla can seduce and drink blood from mortals (or ghosts to gain mana) there after dancing with them while in her ballgown appearance (Which it uses the dancing ghost animations as she levitates them while dancing which is vampiric) which also gains much easier ways for her to seduce and drink blood. Well lastly, the human hunter enemies also provide blood during combat as well.

Basically, it's like if Castlevania got it's own "Demon's Crest" like spin off having a Vampire as the protagonist.

I can't offer any help because i'm dedicated to my project, but good luck with this.

To be honest I have no experience in game making that's why I'm asking people that willing to help me to do such a endeavor.

[SecretWeapon]

I believe that first you need to organize your stuff. Its already unlikely someone will drop from the sky and say "I'm going to do this" but without clear ideas, even less so.

[Zydalc]

I believe that first you need to organize your stuff. Its already unlikely someone will drop from the sky and say "I'm going to do this" but without clear ideas, even less so.

I don't understand what you mean by "organize your stuff" but it's more like someone who might be interested in this and maybe I might work with them or contribute.

[Super Waffle]

Needs more Maria

Preferably being bitten by Carmilla.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Needs more Maria

Preferably being bitten by Carmilla.

Send me the fanfic link when you are done writing.

[Super Waffle]

Here's a fanfic link

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12300900/1/Ghosts

I'm not sure it's the one you wanted tho.

[Shiroi Koumori]

Here's a fanfic link

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12300900/1/Ghosts

I'm not sure it's the one you wanted tho.

Totally unrelated to this post but I wanted that fanfic.

[Zydalc]

Let's stay on topic please? No thread derailments here.

[zangetsu468]

I believe that first you need to organize your stuff. Its already unlikely someone will drop from the sky and say "I'm going to do this" but without clear ideas, even less so.

Agreed, but if you're not a game designer or amateur and you don't know how to design stages/ environments/ hubs, then what are you going to be able to organise really?

OP, I think the best thing to move forward is go with the Carmilla/ Soul Reaver idea and make the villages a thing (stockpiling/ harvesting bodies etc.) Maybe storyboard out a few simple ideas (using the concept of the Carmilla sprite as a basis) if you don't know how to animate sprites etc - I certainly don't.
Try to present or sketch out a village design and how the player - as Carmilla - would use these to stockpile blood, for example: Would she hang the villagers on hooks over horse-troughs to drain their blood slowly but keep them alive to collect residual blood supply (perhaps so it does not spoil as quickly etc), how often does she have to replenish her supply of 'bodies'/ blood, how does Carmilla lure the people from the environment back to the village (hub) i.e. it doesn't have to be literal, maybe she assists them in some way and they visit her at that hub later down the track i.e. The more people she saves, the more she can feed off.

I think I understand your concept(s) but I am no game designer.

[Zydalc]

Agreed, but if you're not a game designer or amateur and you don't know how to design stages/ environments/ hubs, then what are you going to be able to organise really?

OP, I think the best thing to move forward is go with the Carmilla/ Soul Reaver idea and make the villages a thing (stockpiling/ harvesting bodies etc.) Maybe storyboard out a few simple ideas (using the concept of the Carmilla sprite as a basis) if you don't know how to animate sprites etc - I certainly don't.
Try to present or sketch out a village design and how the player - as Carmilla - would use these to stockpile blood, for example: Would she hang the villagers on hooks over horse-troughs to drain their blood slowly but keep them alive to collect residual blood supply (perhaps so it does not spoil as quickly etc), how often does she have to replenish her supply of 'bodies'/ blood, how does Carmilla lure the people from the environment back to the village (hub) i.e. it doesn't have to be literal, maybe she assists them in some way and they visit her at that hub later down the track i.e. The more people she saves, the more she can feed off.

I think I understand your concept(s) but I am no game designer.

Hmmm...

Well I remember in the original Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Kain had a disguise ability that allowed him to pass through villagers and allows him to speak to them without attacking him (which he gets a upgraded version later in the game disguising as a nobleman), maybe if Carmilla had a similar ability to make her appear 'human' and blend in with the villagers without attacking her.

I guess the player would have a variety of choices between seducing humans to drink their blood, or more riskier fashion doing the classic "stalking the night" jumping through windows, drinking blood those who are sleeping and jumping back through the window or basically trying to find ways to drink blood without alerting the guards/human populace of your presence which would unwanted attention and trouble.

Of course like in Vampire: the Masquerade, I think Carmilla can drink only half of the humans blood and let them live (which they don't get effected by vampirism especially since if assuming that Vampires having the "Embracing" method of drinking all the person's blood and dropping their own which is how you make a vampire which is used in VtM especially as a way to prevent vampire overpopulation of course) but I'm also thinking that your relations with humans can effect the ending as well, since if you kill a bunch of defenseless villagers in cold blood, it would lead you to a more monstrous results especially giving you a more 'eviler' ending but if you spare them otherwise, then you pretty much get the "Good ending" if you maintain your humanity this is only assuming if you added VtM's "Personal Horror" theme into the game which also plays into the whole "Beast I am Lest the Beast I become" motto.

But however though to be honest, I never liked VtM's "Personal Horror" theme due to it's impracticability and the game moralizing and punishing you for your actions even if it was just (due to the rigid hierarchy of sins that Kindred follow as if they're walking in a tight rope)  and also I remember in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Kain can slaughter entire villages with no consequences whatsoever so maybe it's best to not have that theme? Since once again, Castlevania vampires are not the Kindred from VtM and VtR however or assuming Carmilla takes place in it's own universe with it's own vampire type or maybe there's varieties.

Then again though, I notice that Vampires struggling to maintain humanity and not fall into monstrosity has been a theme in most vampire literature because vampires are after all monsters and they can be a tragic one.

Or the other idea that Carmilla can adopt a Alien mindset regarding humans or either that, maybe vampires are truly misunderstood and they're forced to do such acts to survive which they're alienated from human society which maybe the game can capture that mood which you're alienated from soceity and you need to blood to surivie and how to get it will brand you as a monster by the villagers to kill you.

Then again though, Carmilla is very much like Dracula anyways and not one of the more monstrous vampires or vampires slavish to their masters will which Carmilla is a Vampire in her own right which maybe she's a 'Progenitor" Vampire like Dracula or maybe she was turned by her "Mother" but maybe Carmilla dialberized her (drinking the blood of a another vampire till death) to gain all of her powers although this is once again VtM though.



 

[zangetsu468]

OP, Given that this is a fan game with no budget which you can not physically create yourself, I think you have too many ideas floating around. Take the 3 best ideas and roll with them when it comes to the logistics of 'how' the game works.

You mentioned a Noblewoman 'disguise' of sorts and ability to slay villagers etc.
Why not just give Carmilla a Demon mode, where she can use this throughout the game for an attributes boost during combat.

- If she approaches a human in Demon Mode she can drain their blood and revitalise HP straight away.
- Without Demon Mode, she can't rejuvenate HP.
- If she approaches a human in normal form, she can opt to save them and they return to the village (hub)
- At the village/ hub, the player can choose who to drain for blood (if anyone) in order to rejuvenate HP.
- The more villagers Carmilla kills (after a certain percentage e.g. 15%, 50%, etc) will affect the ending. How, is up to you.. Maybe the good ending is more evil and Carmilla causes a massive bloodbath etc.)
- Demon Mode itself can only be sustained temporarily (using meter) before it starts to consume HP (once meter is depleted).

Pretty simple example of a gameplay mechanic huh?
This creates a dynamic i.e. if you start using Demon mode to feed on humans from the get-go, you can never stockpile enough people at the village (hub) to rejuvenate later down the track. If you take the easy way out and never save humans, then you get the crappy ending. Maybe in the good (evil) ending, you collect and sacrifice enough humans in one place i.e. one big enough hit to resurrect Dracula.. or something, I'm just spit-balling here.

It needs to be kept simple with strong and specific ideas/ dynamics, don't reinvent the wheel just add these dynamics to the platforming genre. Particularly if you are trying to get someone else to pick up the programming side, with you being the ideas. I think a series of boards/ sketches/ diagrams kept clear and informative are the best way to pitch this to a potential game designer.   

To nail your ideas down, don't worry about what kind of person the protagonist/ anti-hero is. Rather, pick the gameplay mechanic you want to work and you think will be the most enjoyable/ suitable to the theme of the game and THEN create your reasoning around this/these mechanic(s). Doing it the other way is placing rationalisation>gameplay which doesn't really work. Gameplay is already a rational and functional element, so create your reasons around this. The example I always give people is the New Gundam Anime which used reasons such as "Giant robots don't waste fuel turning around in space"(while transporting cargo), you get my drift..

[Zydalc]

OP, Given that this is a fan game with no budget which you can not physically create yourself, I think you have too many ideas floating around. Take the 3 best ideas and roll with them when it comes to the logistics of 'how' the game works.

You mentioned a Noblewoman 'disguise' of sorts and ability to slay villagers etc.
Why not just give Carmilla a Demon mode, where she can use this throughout the game for an attributes boost during combat.

- If she approaches a human in Demon Mode she can drain their blood and revitalise HP straight away.
- Without Demon Mode, she can't rejuvenate HP.
- If she approaches a human in normal form, she can opt to save them and they return to the village (hub)
- At the village/ hub, the player can choose who to drain for blood (if anyone) in order to rejuvenate HP.
- The more villagers Carmilla kills (after a certain percentage e.g. 15%, 50%, etc) will affect the ending. How, is up to you.. Maybe the good ending is more evil and Carmilla causes a massive bloodbath etc.)
- Demon Mode itself can only be sustained temporarily (using meter) before it starts to consume HP (once meter is depleted).

Pretty simple example of a gameplay mechanic huh?
This creates a dynamic i.e. if you start using Demon mode to feed on humans from the get-go, you can never stockpile enough people at the village (hub) to rejuvenate later down the track. If you take the easy way out and never save humans, then you get the crappy ending. Maybe in the good (evil) ending, you collect and sacrifice enough humans in one place i.e. one big enough hit to resurrect Dracula.. or something, I'm just spit-balling here.

It needs to be kept simple with strong and specific ideas/ dynamics, don't reinvent the wheel just add these dynamics to the platforming genre. Particularly if you are trying to get someone else to pick up the programming side, with you being the ideas. I think a series of boards/ sketches/ diagrams kept clear and informative are the best way to pitch this to a potential game designer.   

To nail your ideas down, don't worry about what kind of person the protagonist/ anti-hero is. Rather, pick the gameplay mechanic you want to work and you think will be the most enjoyable/ suitable to the theme of the game and THEN create your reasoning around this/these mechanic(s). Doing it the other way is placing rationalisation>gameplay which doesn't really work. Gameplay is already a rational and functional element, so create your reasons around this. The example I always give people is the New Gundam Anime which used reasons such as "Giant robots don't waste fuel turning around in space"(while transporting cargo), you get my drift..

Well what I originally had in mind that Dracula is not even present or involved in the story, it's just Carmilla seeking revenge against her family members who betrayed her centuries ago by locking up in a blood filled coffin until Laura frees her centuries later (since the game takes place in the early 1870s...around the same time Carmilla novela was released) which they quickly become friends due to sharing alot in things in common (not to mention Carmilla is also sort of a mother figure to Laura since her died during child birth I think) and I think Carmilla then kills Laura's father with her request (due to legitimate reasons) before setting after her family members. Since this is probably the only thing faithful to Sheridan Le Fanu's original story I can come up with which I'm trying to figure how to fit Baron Vordenburg and General Spielsdorf into the story which they are the human hunter enemies that Carmilla fights.

Basically, the game is similar to the LeCarde Chronicles as a basis but instead of Efrain Lecarde, It's Carmilla being the protagonist using Sheridan Le Fanu's novel as a backdrop in short.

Although things could change if this doesn't work into a standard Castlevania story involving Dracula and Carmilla being a rival vampire we play as though (or maybe we could just change the name of the Vampire into like "Lucita de Aragon" based on the signature Lasombra character from Vampire: the Masquerade).

Anyways as for gameplay mechanics and what's fun...well the game is about being a vampire which you're not a hero at all and from their perspective, things are Grey and Grey as opposed to the Belmont's Black and White worldview and it's about having fun being the vampire although I'm been thinking on the whole villager part which maybe it could be better exploring what it to be a vampire which I think you prefer being low profile (no combat) which maybe you have to be invited into people's homes just to seduce and drink the blood of those who live there, or sometimes you have enter taverns, inns, etc seducing mortals to drink their blood, or sometimes you can jump into windows drinking the blood of people sleeping but if the town discovers your a vampire....well expect slaughtering and hunters being on your tail.

Of course though Human Hunter enemies also serve as means of getting blood via combative means.

Then once you enter the more High Society and Caslte areas, there's ballroom areas where it's free blood to seduce mortals by dancing with them and drinking their blood.

Although I'm not so sure if Carmilla can drink blood from monsters though if it's possible however.

Anyways the goal is that I'm trying to find a way to make Carmilla a sympathetic and compelling character and perhaps very likeable and at the same time feeling like you're a outcast alienated from human society which Laura probably represents that connection to humanity (which rather Laura might have gone through the same situation when Carmilla/Mircalla was mortal) and of course their relationship is more egalitarian and healthy compared to anything else especially I think Laura wants Carmilla to turn her into a Vampire as well.

Lastly if not least, no matter what you do to humans will not affect your relationship with Laura since she perhaps sympathizes what it's like being a vampire and maybe perhaps, if you slaughter humans I think you'll get the Good ("Evil") Ending where you embrace Laura or if Carmilla 'maintains' her humanity, then you get the Bad ("Good") she doesn't embrace Laura due to self-pity and thus remaining alienated and lost once more. Maybe it could be a backwords "take that" allegory to the whole Personal Horror theme where the game actually rewards you doing monstrous acts (or rather indulging yourself as a vampire) and punishes you for "maintaining your humanity" which I actually like this idea.


(Actually to tell you the truth, I'm trying to find a way to present Carmilla as a feminist character or rather the game has feminist undertones that I'm also trying to present that "Good" and "Evil" doesn't really objectively exist since it's Grey-Grey since maybe perhaps Vampires represent freedom from the afterlife whereas the Church enforces the patriarchal status quo)

[SecretWeapon]

1- By 1870 the Austrian Empire (explicitly mentioned in the novel) didnt exist anymore.

2. Carmilla didnt get locked in the coffin. Sleeping there was just part of her vampiric curse but she moved around freely

3. In Castlevania, Carmilla already had Laura in 1792.

----------------
The best moment to have a Carmilla story in CVerse is before Rondo. Carmilla's novel events happen around 1770 -1780 in this version while the game events happen just before RoB. Shaft's cult (Which Laura joined and became a high ranked priestess) ressurects her to help them track down Drac's coffin/remains. First part of the game would be against the Renard vampire hunters (Carmilla delivers Maria to Shaft) and the later half would be against Carmilla's mother and grandmother from the novel (the ones actually holding the coffin, they framed the Renards) who basically pull a Brauner and raise the Castle. The Grandmother would be the final boss.

Mechanic-wise it'd be similar to OoE. Two "weapon" slots that consume MP but instead of just a trigger we'd have two (since consoles have 4 triggers): One would be "Laura" skills and the other would be the typical magic stuff like turning into a wolf or a bat. Instead of item crashs i thought of a demon form too that would turn Carmilla into her typical bossfight form.

Like OoE too we'd have a base (Ecclesia) which would be Carmilla's waterfall fortress/Shaft cult (unlike Ecclesia, it'd actually have npcs and quest givers) base, a city central hub (Wygol) with quest givers and flavor npcs too and a variety of locations you can go to from there.

If the game is 2.5D it could have extra costumes like LoS Carmilla and Laura or Annette and Maria