Topic: Castlevania Chronicles - Dracula's Curse...2D or 2.5D?

[ProjectDread]

You should post some screenshots or videos about how the 3D rendered graphics look in-game.

[BMC_War Machine]

Here ya go dude:
http://www.mediafire.com/watch/t4efmpfa9j3e9ww/Super_C_proof_of_concept_in_CTF2.5.avi

The end is shitty looking because that's where i stopped - the ramps are chopped up lol.  But this only took me less than 10 minutes to get the ground made up and put in MMF.  Notice also that one of Bill's boots looks like it stretches, that's something i'll have to fix on the render, but this could very well be done in mmf.  Granted, right now there are several little things - muzzle flash goes a little crazy, bullets sometimes, but this is more or less just showing that it can be done and look good, so pay no mind to the coding as of now lol.

[Corpsecrank]

I just played the dracula x remake on psp in 2.5d and I think it sucked balls. 2d is the only time castlevania has been castlevania as far as I am concerned. So far every attempt to take a castlevania game beyond 2d has been disappointing even the ones that were still somewhat fun. It just doesn't feel like a castlevania game once the graphics are no longer flat. Even if the angle remains locked so the view is the same as it is in 2d the game handles differently and no longer has the same feel to it. I mean people even complained about the use of mode 7 in scv4 so I would consider what a change in graphics will do to the overall reception of the game.

If you really want to do this in a way that might succeed there are a couple things you could consider. Games on the snes by rare used a 3d model to produce 2d sprites by using the model like a clay animation and took snapshots of the model posed for each frame of the sprite animation. That might work and even look really amazing without the game being a 3d environment with a locked camera on it which I think is where the game begins to lose it's feel. In a 2.5d game the 3d models have to much freedom to float about if that makes sense. Unlike a 2d set of sprites with individual set frames to each animation that play out predictably in order every time the 3d model can move around more freely making it feel much different.

The other option you could consider is doing a high res remake of the current sprites. I am way more interested in a good HD upgrade of the existing sprites for a castlevania game than I am anything else that has been done. You keep the feel of the original because the frames are the same and play out with the same predictable pattern but the visuals are now crisp and detailed and not chunky and pixelated. I love sprites don't get me wrong but high detail smooth graphics are also amazing and the game handles exactly the same either way so it retains the feel. Anyhow I doubt this is the direction you want to go in since you were initially thinking 2.5d but this is another option that isn't really being explored. When I think of high detail 2d I think of a more hand drawn style of remake but this doesn;t even have to be the case you could also use vector graphics to create really sharp graphics while still remaining 2d and an example of that would be stuff like steamworld dig or maybe the HD spelunky I think both of those used vector graphics as a base to create the sprites used which also has a psuedo 3dish effect due to shading with gradients and lighting in the engine. Just keep in mind though that the sprites in those games are not whole graphics for each frame they use individual pieces like a puppet. The arms legs torso head etc are all individual pieces created as vector art and then rotated and manipulated around to create the frames of animation. It adds a lot of smoothing to the animation without feeling as loose and floaty as a 3d model would.

[KaZudra]

Keep it 2D unless you want to utilize the 3D on Klonoa levels of awesome, shifting angles, winding stairways, and other such could gave a stage more depth rather than flat, but this requires a good deal of effort and some out of the box thinking to make it work

[theplottwist]

Here's my opinion on the matter. This goes for Anathema too:

Keep the 2.5D for the backgrounds. Create your tilesets and scenarios with a 3D program, BUT when inserting them into the game, use a color-reduction tool with a fixed palette of vibrant colors to make them blend nicely with the sprites.

I'm fairly certain that this is what Konami did on the DSvanias, because the color count on those backgrounds is CRAZY high to be done purely by pixel-art. Not only that, but I can spot numerous instances of automatic anti-aliasing and numeous others of automatic shading, slightly corrected with traditional pixel-art.

Keep the enemies and characters in pixels only.