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The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => Fan Stuff => Topic started by: Patheticmw on February 28, 2018, 12:09:50 AM

Title: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on February 28, 2018, 12:09:50 AM
It has been a very, very long time since my last entry, but I'm here to announce and release a surprise project that I have had virtually complete for a long time but hadn't released due to glitches when Windows 10 first released. Playing as Richter Belmont in 1792, the game features an alternate version of the adventure of Rondo of Blood or Dracula X. Not much story is present other than a brief introduction to the castle on the title screen. The game features a gameplay similar to and somewhat in between Rondo of Blood and Dracula X, with new, imported and reinvisioned enemies, items, and soundtrack from different Castlevania titles! The game features an easy to use single file save feature and hours of gameplay! Level design is based primarily on rearranged room configuration from SOTN. Eight Interesting stages, hidden upgrades, and boss fights are a bonus! Plus, once you beat the game, a secret "boss rush" mode is unlocked on your completed save file, classic of modern Castlevania titles!

This version is version 1.1.2. The game has been tested and currently no massive glitches are present to my knowledge. There are, however, a few minor glitches that I know of, but most are uncommon. In the event of an error message (primarily when an enemy drop spawns inside a wall) a few clicks on the ignore button will make the error message go away and the game should continue fine.

For a period of time, I will consider this game still in the public testing phase, so any glitches found can be reported to me and I may make an attempt to fix them. Some minor glitches have been intentionally overlooked as a means to make potential speedrunning of the game more interesting. Keep in mind that these intentionally overlooked glitches have no impact on casual play.

A link to the executable is below, and I will make posts with screenshots below this post. Feel free to share any of this content wherever you would like and please give it a play! Thanks!
*EDIT* (Sorry for necromancy, but its a game update, pls no ban!)   ;D
Here is a link to V 1.3, Enjoy and let me know what you think!
https://prezp00nage.itch.io/castlevania-ballad-of-darkness
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on February 28, 2018, 12:12:06 AM
Screenshots
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on February 28, 2018, 12:12:44 AM
Screenshots
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: VladOfWallachia on February 28, 2018, 07:05:55 PM
Are there any gameplay videos of this?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on February 28, 2018, 08:07:05 PM
Quote from: VladOfWallachia on February 28, 2018, 07:05:55 PM
Are there any gameplay videos of this?

https://youtu.be/A7p0B6ETJzA (https://youtu.be/A7p0B6ETJzA)
Jop made a nice set of gameplay videos playing through the entire game.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on February 28, 2018, 08:09:06 PM
Below and attached is a link to download the Readme.txt file that explains the contents of the game and how to play.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vqrldej6pmvmfzk/Readme.txt?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/vqrldej6pmvmfzk/Readme.txt?dl=0)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: BLOOD MONKEY on February 28, 2018, 08:53:25 PM
To put it bluntly, there's not a single aspect of the game that feels finished. Everything from the control to sound design to graphic design to level design is rough, unorganized, and inconsistent as hell.

I hate to put you down like this, I just can not bring myself to find any enjoyable aspects of this experience sans the fact that it's Castlevania.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on February 28, 2018, 09:16:57 PM
Quote from: Bloo on February 28, 2018, 08:53:25 PM
To put it bluntly, there's not a single aspect of the game that feels finished. Everything from the control to sound design to graphic design to level design is rough, unorganized, and inconsistent as hell.

I hate to put you down like this, I just can not bring myself to find any enjoyable aspects of this experience sans the fact that it's Castlevania.

Well... I know some of it plays rough, it's a rough version 1.0, it could be smoothed out. Still, I stand by that the designs of stages, enemies, bosses, and simply that the game can be completed warrant this to be a decent 1.0 release. There are a lot of minor glitches.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Jop on March 01, 2018, 09:50:21 AM
I must say its a nice work, yeah need some fix here and there but I hope this gives you experience to make something better in the future, I was really disapointed its Richter, Im really sad that people most of the time use Richter or Alucard, im tired of that but stil I enjoy the ride, some parts I get frustrated but emm I see how much of passion you give to your project, like I say before hope to see more in the future and better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW_Y_mnGJqA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW_Y_mnGJqA)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: VladOfWallachia on March 01, 2018, 11:23:18 AM
The way the camera instantly snaps up several pixels when walking up stairs makes me a bit dizzy. You should make the camera follow Richter more smoothly.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on March 01, 2018, 04:16:24 PM
Hey guys, glad to see some enjoyment and feedback!
I actually looked through a lot of things and made a little update for the game. I'm going to run through it tonight and make sure everything works right before I post, but attached is a log to see the changes. I think it might improve ratings just a little  :D
Hidden in case you don't want to see a few boss names in the updates.

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on March 01, 2018, 10:04:36 PM
V1.1.0 has been dropped! The link in the original post has been updated, but I'll post another link here. A lost of stuff has been fixed, primarily immersion things(backgrounds, sound effects, etc.) jumping, and clipping errors. I appreciate you guys that have played and given me feedback, and you guys would be the most valuable to hear from again, so it would be pretty cool if you guys gave this version a run.  :D  Not every glitch is fixed, there are still a few that I know can be annoying on occasion, but quality has improved. As a single tester and designer its hard to get everything out of my runs because I play it a certain way, and I know everything that is going to come, so please give feedback! Thanks guys, and I'll update again as soon as I have enough feedback to work with and a few things to fix.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/47zb0vv4r5p3jqp/Castlevania_Ballad_of_Darkness.exe?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/47zb0vv4r5p3jqp/Castlevania_Ballad_of_Darkness.exe?dl=0)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: ProjectDread on March 03, 2018, 09:28:35 AM
Played through some of it, and here are some of my thoughts in a list.


You have a lot of content here (such as stages) which is good. I would, however, suggest that you invest more time into the game engine itself on your next project. Right now there are lots of stages to play through but it is difficult to control Richter and he's really buggy, which makes progressing through the rest of the game difficult. It also looks to me like you're not making use of collision boxes and are instead using Richter's sprite to handle all collisions. This is probably why he bounces back and fourth if you keep walking against walls. Try to master the basics of the game first with things like movement, jumping, and player controls. Then once that plays and works well, move onto stage design.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on March 03, 2018, 12:25:05 PM
Quote from: ProjectDread on March 03, 2018, 09:28:35 AM
Played through some of it, and here are some of my thoughts in a list.

  • It feels jarring having to use the mouse for certain things. Everything should be able to be selected with the keyboard as the primary controller.
  • Variable jumping would be a nice addition, right now Richter feels difficult to control.
  • You can select levels you've already completed on the map screen and there is no option to back out if you clicked on the wrong stage.
  • Pressing the "subweapon" button makes Richter play the animation even if he has no subweapon equipped.
  • Richter rubber bands back and forth if you constantly walk against walls.
  • Default Game Maker Studio particle effects are jarring and do not fit with the rest of the games aesthetics
  • The health counter /numbers do not fit in with the rest of the graphics

You have a lot of content here (such as stages) which is good. I would, however, suggest that you invest more time into the game engine itself on your next project. Right now there are lots of stages to play through but it is difficult to control Richter and he's really buggy, which makes progressing through the rest of the game difficult. It also looks to me like you're not making use of collision boxes and are instead using Richter's sprite to handle all collisions. This is probably why he bounces back and fourth if you keep walking against walls. Try to master the basics of the game first with things like movement, jumping, and player controls. Then once that plays and works well, move onto stage design.

Thanks for the feedback! I feel like I may have released this game a little too early, but part of that was to help find these types of errors. I fixed some of the things you mentioned in the newest update if you want to give that a shot and see how it feels and maybe give more feedback on that. I am actually using sprite masks for Richter, and honestly the left wall rubber banding is a glitch that I'm not very sure why it happens. I think I need to specify more parameters in a code somewhere, it may have something to do with checking for stairs. The most important thing I fixed in the newest version that you mentioned is jumping. I think if I would have had jumping the way it is now from the start, the game would feel a lot more completed. I plan to make more updates as needed, so please give more feedback! Sometimes as a solo creator and tester I get too used to things that I forget to fix them or may not realize that they are ugly lol.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on March 04, 2018, 04:37:29 PM
Hello guys. Just here to post a JoyToKey configuration for Xbox controllers that feels very good to me. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, JoyToKey is a program that lets you map buttons on a controller to a keyboard and mouse, allowing you to play games with a controller that don't have built in controller options. You'll have to go find the program on your own (A simple google search of Joy to key shows the download link as the first result), but just put the configuration file here in the same folder as the program and it should detect it automatically. You can change my settings in the program to whatever you would like, but the default is set up allowing you to see what buttons are used so you know what to remap if you want. This also will serve as a substitute to using a mouse, as I've mapped the right control stick to be the mouse. (Not saying this is the same as an update or a change, but it can be used as a substitute if preferred.) I honestly think the game plays a little better with a controller, so I would recommend checking it out. Again, still working on updates, let me know what you guys think.  :D

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nuk0qt4q6gvoe8p/Castlevania%20Ballad%20of%20Darkness.cfg?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/nuk0qt4q6gvoe8p/Castlevania%20Ballad%20of%20Darkness.cfg?dl=0)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Zuljaras on March 05, 2018, 11:54:20 PM
I am also using GMS for my game and at the start I used the mouse to select stuff. However after that I made it so that mouse + selecting with keys is used. Also mouse selecting is used for touchscreen stuff.

Believe me it is essencial to make keyboard keys usable. I also thought that Joy2Key was the right way but it is only a workaround.

Polish is the key to everything. Take your time and add only key functionality.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on March 07, 2018, 12:13:06 AM
Quote from: Zuljaras on March 05, 2018, 11:54:20 PM
I am also using GMS for my game and at the start I used the mouse to select stuff. However after that I made it so that mouse + selecting with keys is used. Also mouse selecting is used for touchscreen stuff.

Believe me it is essencial to make keyboard keys usable. I also thought that Joy2Key was the right way but it is only a workaround.

Polish is the key to everything. Take your time and add only key functionality.


Hey Zuljaras, I'm a fan of your castle of nightmares project, so I appreciate your input greatly! I'm currently implementing a lot of new things, so keyboard functionality on the map is something I am definitely looking at since so many people are commenting on that.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on March 07, 2018, 12:17:32 AM
Hello everyone, I will soon be changing the game file into the newest updated version, so if you are wanting to play the game, I would suggest waiting until I put it out after a couple test runs. In the spoiler is a list of updates for the game. The version I will be releasing soon is V1.1.2. A lot of things that people have commented on have been fixed as well as some other things I found along the way. If you have already played an older version of the game, your feedback on newer versions will be most valuable, and please everyone else give feedback too! Thanks!  :D

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on March 07, 2018, 09:59:10 PM
The original post has been updated to include the link to the new version of the game. The current version is a huge upgrade compared to the original so I encourage everyone to give it a try and tell me what you think!  :D

Here is another link to the newest version and attached is the update log
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t1b3q22dnt62w12/Castlevania_Ballad_of_Darkness.exe?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/t1b3q22dnt62w12/Castlevania_Ballad_of_Darkness.exe?dl=0)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Ballad of Darkness *NEW* Castlevania Fan Game by Patheticmw
Post by: Patheticmw on May 13, 2018, 01:15:20 AM
I've noticed that some people, even on very capable computers, are experiencing low frame rates at certain points in the game, while some people, even on lower end systems, don't experience this at all. I personally don't experience it on my home PC, so it's kind of a hard problem to narrow down, but I'm almost certain it is some disagreement between certain versions of Windows and the version of Gamemaker I used to make a lot of the game. Some people can resolve this issue by running the game as an administrator and/or running it in a compatibility mode for a different version of Windows. If neither of those options work, I'm sorry, I don't know how to solve it except by trying to play on a different computer.  :-[ Even a lower end computer may be able to avoid those problems. I haven't had much time to work on this game recently, but I still may make more updates in the future, especially if it ever picks up a little more steam. Thanks to anyone who has played! (Also, I made this game in an engine format that should be pretty workable around a lot of new variables or redesigns, the goal when I first started was actually to make a classicvania engine, so if anyone wants to try it, just message me with your idea and I'll be glad to send you a copy with a couple tutorial stages to show how things work. I'll try to check messages on this site, but I will definitely be easier to message on Steam, which I have linked in my profile.)