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The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => Fan Stuff => Topic started by: Dracula9 on January 01, 2022, 09:27:42 PM

Title: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Dracula9 on January 01, 2022, 09:27:42 PM
Hello, all!

There are a million and one things I could tell you about what led to this, but I'd rather keep things succinct and to the point.

In brief, the primary thing as is already fairly known that's been holding up development progress on Umbra has been art production; Plot is and has always been the primary and mostly-singular artist for all graphics -- a job that's absolutely massive and ridiculous considering how much work that scope actually entails. While there have been a handful of other artists floating around able to achieve the style and detail quality always envisioned for Umbra, the simple fact is that many of them are/were already involved in other projects and asking more of them on top of that would be rude. Not to mention, the workloads involved are such that any reasonable artist would charge or at least expect some manner of commission for, and with Umbra being entirely fan-created something remotely resembling an actual budget has never been a luxury we've been able to afford or even seriously approach (considering all the copyright law tiptoeing we've already had to do with a lot of things).

But, as life is unpredictable and oft-times unfair, Plot's personal situations have not been the best in recent years, and as a freelance artist by trade what time he has been able to do pixelwork has obviously been of the variety that gets him paid -- because things like bills and eating exist and of course take priority over all else, least of all a spare-time fangame.

But this project, the story of 1999 he's spent years building and wanting to tell, is of course still important to him and myself and everyone else involved. However, with his situations being what they are, the always-existing possibility of Umbra not being finished or able to be released grew larger and larger. And it's never been an option to do something like reuse a bunch of existing CV assets or simply outsource the graphical work en masse, because neither allow for cohesive and unified visual direction.

So I proposed an idea that initially began as a bit of a goof, but as I decided to play around more and more and got quite a lot of things working well very quickly the idea took off and got a life of its own; what about a scaled-back telling of the story in the same style and vein as the Curse of the Moon titles? With simpler visual direction, storytelling requirements, programming needs, etc., it would become possible to still get the story out there (albeit slimmed down) with a significantly lighter load on everyone's backs, most of all Plot's. Downsizing the project, or at least creating a more production-friendly variation of it, allows him to be able to contribute to it with a lighter burden to shoulder. In this way, it allows work to be done more easily, and give the Umbra version of the 1999 story a larger chance of existing, without sacrificing quality or cutting too many corners. And with the significantly simpler art direction, it's far easier for myself and potentially others to produce graphics that can all be cohesive rather than trying to match Plot's all-too-unique and incredibly detailed personal style.

I also want to stress that this project is not us saying we're abandoning the mainline Umbra project. If it ever comes to that, it will be stated directly and plainly.

So here we are! Presenting now for everyone, Seal of the Eclipse!

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/732780783978414170/862212994414149662/SOTEbig.gif)

Designed after the spirit of the CotM titles, with no effort to disguise the inspirations and homages, this project aims to present the Umbra team's vision of 1999 in a more traditional-CV light.

With a (comparatively) reduced emphasis on exploration, backtracking, and puzzle-solving, the focus for this has become rather akin to how CotM1&2 and CV3 and DoS handled things -- pushing the formula of standard platforming to accommodate multiple player characters who all have different strengths and weaknesses. Obviously this is not a new concept by any stretch of the imagination, but with its goals being smaller in scope it allows more intense exploration of how to get those key elements just right, and polish them to a shine wherever possible.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/732780783978414170/926985071263621190/unknown.png)

Art direction isn't the only thing affected and made less burdensome by the decision to try a project that's a bit smaller -- programming has been made substantially easier for me (while I have fewer things to have to do compared to something SOTN-like, those fewer things have to be hammered down darn tight, and that forces me to become better and more efficient at coding), and even such things as script/dialogue writing and music (which I already have like 90-something% finished) have been far easier to wrangle. As an example, I've put a small handful of the earlygame tracks -- read: tracks that don't spoil major things before the engine's even hit playtesting phase -- together in a video which I'll link below:



You've all heard most of our song and dance by this point via what we've come to call "main" Umbra, so I'll wrap this spiel up and save y'all some time. I don't want to prematurely say too much and give away the farm, but I also want to be upfront and transparent about where development on everything is.

Main Umbra as I'm sure everyone knows by now has been at an absolute standstill for quite some time with no signs of moving anytime soon.

Seal of the Eclipse has, in undisguised and blunt terms, made more progress in a year than main Umbra had in several. Currently it's at a lull, but not for lack of planning or severe nonproduction of resources -- it's a hobby project above all else and time just isn't as abundant as we'd like, on account of the world being absolutely insane to live in right now. But the engine is fairly solid, adding things and editing it is much more streamlined than main Umbra's as it lacks 4+ years of outdated bloatcode and obsolete assets tangling itself up, and what few bugs I've found aren't gamebreaking and several of them seem to be a result of a Win10 update actually affecting how GMS itself processes and compiles its runner and therefore its loading ticks, and working around that is much more tedious than correcting a mistake I wrote myself in codespeak that's identifiably mine. So all in all, it's a much easier time all-around to create things and get them in-engine and moving about the scenery than main Umbra ever was.

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/732780783978414170/926986499596095508/unknown.png)
The main crew, and their corresponding vampires.

I originally wanted this to be shorter, and I still prattled on -- trying to describe a mountain as a molehill isn't easy -- so I'll end for now with some gameplay footage (bear in mind, some things aren't perfect yet so don't be alarmed if a bug or borked behavior shows up) and some other minor goodies.

I'm really looking forward to the prospect of being able to show off updates even just a little more regularly than we've been used to in the past.



(And here are a few things I wanted to showcase as I'm quite proud of them, but couldn't exactly do so under typical gameplay footage circumstances since ingame situations for these either don't exist as they're shown below or are pseudorandom in their occurrence frequency)

(click to show/hide)
(click to show/hide)

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/732780783978414170/926987488986284032/unknown.png)

Thanks for reading, all!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on January 01, 2022, 09:58:04 PM
Oh man, this is really really cool! I wish you the best of luck with this, it's super impressive for a fan project!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on January 01, 2022, 10:09:32 PM
Good to see you back  :)

I actually like that title you got going here; Seal of the Eclipse. To me it sounds much better then Umbra of Sorrow. It literally speaks of what the game is about (like traditional CV titles of the past) and doesn't come off as odd or forced, like it has to be a trilogy or something. I've always felt that the sorrow titles were of Soma and his stories, nothing before him.

The sprite art looks fantastic. Going Curse of the Moon style really works out well here. And I'm also diggin' the 8-bit character art too. I can also agree that doing a watered-down version in order to get this thing going once more is a good idea as well. And from where I'm standing it's not a bad thing either.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Foffy on January 02, 2022, 01:05:04 AM
REALLY like the CotM 8-bit approach here. Do hope we still see Umbra one day, but this looks good too!

I have a question as to how one should consider this project overall. Is this merely an 8-bit attempt at Umbra, or something like Curse of the Moon and its relationship to Bloodstained, where a lot of its premise and ideas come from the "bigger" project but still being its own distinct take on concepts?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: theplottwist on January 02, 2022, 04:52:19 AM
This boy is looking great. Dracula9's call was the right move and this is likely the greatest chance Umbra's vision might get realized in game form. This dude is the friend for life everyone should have.

It's also the first time our pixel art can coexist without conflict.

I have a question as to how one should consider this project overall. Is this merely an 8-bit attempt at Umbra, or something like Curse of the Moon and its relationship to Bloodstained, where a lot of its premise and ideas come from the "bigger" project but still being its own distinct take on concepts?

It's definitelly a more CotM like approach. SotE is drawing from the main ideas on Umbra, but D9 arranged these ideas in a different path to suit a more Classicvania-like approach. Obviously I am asked about how things should play out. Having D9 listen to the entire project's ideas over and over and probably be the other person to know them inside out by this point made him capable to revision the gameplay approach.

Also, Chernabogue and Aensland praise. The songs you're hearing in there are also theirs, put through Dracula9's dark magic.

---------------

Also.... It just occurred to me this is THE debut of Lenora Belnades' final design. I hoarded it like a dragon and wound up never revealing. Well, this deserves it!

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Chernabogue on January 02, 2022, 05:59:03 AM
Immense GGs to my boy D9, the amount of work here is phenomenal and the game looks AMAZING so far!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Aceearly1993 on January 02, 2022, 06:26:36 AM
Greetings. Looks like there's gonna be lots of goodness post-2022. I can see your project has potential, keep up your excellent work!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Inccubus on January 02, 2022, 07:03:53 AM
I think I'm in love.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: OldSchoolArikado on January 02, 2022, 09:20:04 AM
Hello there. I'm the owner of Castlevania Latino. My team and myself are amazed with the announcement of your new project, and we desire to create an informative video, promoting Seal Of The Eclipse, for the spanish communities.

There are no inconveniences by using the footage you provided in both YouTube and Castlevania Dungeon, correct?.

Thank you.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Dongled on January 02, 2022, 10:42:11 AM
This looks absolutely INCREDIBLE. I really hope this doesn't get shut down. One of the artists was in my discord and shared the link. VERY impressed. Followed the twitter. Looking forward to seeing this blossom into something that (hopefully) gets released!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: The Puritan on January 02, 2022, 04:42:01 PM
There are lots of things I thought I'd wake up to with the New Year, but a COTM-style adaptation of Umbra's story was so not one of them. I haven't been this hype since Lecarde Chronicles 2!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Sindra on January 02, 2022, 05:58:15 PM
Well Holy shit, I didn't know Umbra was taking a new form and being released so soon. I am very excited by the trailer.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on January 03, 2022, 12:23:52 AM
Hello there. I'm the owner of Castlevania Latino. My team and myself are amazed with the announcement of your new project, and we desire to create an informative video, promoting Seal Of The Eclipse, for the spanish communities.

There are no inconveniences by using the footage you provided in both YouTube and Castlevania Dungeon, correct?.

Thank you.

It *should* be fine but I sent Drac9 and ThePlotTwist a notification on Discord pointing them to your question just to be 100% sure, they should get back to you soon ITT :)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: BLOOD MONKEY on January 04, 2022, 08:17:24 AM
This looks huge, and it looks like there's been a serious and organized effort to finish it. Can't wait. This'll be the one.

Make sure it's getting posted on twitter :)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: zangetsu468 on January 04, 2022, 11:49:46 PM
This looks fucking amazing. Well done.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: mercurius on January 05, 2022, 06:28:52 PM
This looks wonderful!

Such a pleasant surprise, Dracula9!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Darkmoon on January 08, 2022, 05:30:12 PM
I look forward to playing it. ;)

Out of curiosity, are you interesting in an interview about your games and its storied development process?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: GuyStarwind on January 08, 2022, 11:46:48 PM
This looks incredible! I'll be following this for sure and can't wait to give it a try.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Kamirine on January 10, 2022, 06:21:57 AM
This looks amazing and I’m holding out hope for it’s completion/getting a chance to play it!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Draconic on January 10, 2022, 11:11:40 AM
This looks brilliant. I love the Curse of the Moon style, and how well you've incorporated old enemy sprites into it.
I do have to mention a concern though: Konami absolutely adores owning the Castlevania brand for the singular purpose of not allowing anyone to do anything with it because everything they do they do to spite their customers.

Maybe it would be a good idea to take the video down to avoid getting a Cease & Desist notice from them? I doubt they're as nice as Nintendo who at least let DoctorN64 finish AM2R before they had him pull it down from his site.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: theplottwist on January 10, 2022, 01:49:10 PM
This looks brilliant. I love the Curse of the Moon style, and how well you've incorporated old enemy sprites into it.
I do have to mention a concern though: Konami absolutely adores owning the Castlevania brand for the singular purpose of not allowing anyone to do anything with it because everything they do they do to spite their customers.

Maybe it would be a good idea to take the video down to avoid getting a Cease & Desist notice from them? I doubt they're as nice as Nintendo who at least let DoctorN64 finish AM2R before they had him pull it down from his site.

Hello, dude! I'm this project's co-director and am responding on behalf of the team. I see this is your first post here, welcome to the Dungeon!

We understand the perceived risk of keeping the video up, but it serves two purposes that the previous version of this project lacked:

1-Exposure to attempt getting future help from other artists/coders if the necessity presents itself.

2-Makes us transparent in the eyes of the big guys. We are not interested in taking a million steps to hide, just to be cancelled suddenly and summarily.

We are and have always been sharply aware of the possibility of the C&D, not once has this escaped our thoughts, and anyone believing we are unaware is misjudging our intelligence. The possibility is also why we aim to gain no profit from the project, and all assets are made from scratch, not ripped. We could lose the project and still utilize the assets elsewhere - nobody owns a single pixel we made but us.

The logic that "hiding" will help avoiding a C&D assumes that a given company, with millions of dollars and employees paid to keep an eye on internet movement, is not aware of fans' utilization of their IP. They are. There is no hiding.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: VladOfWallachia on January 11, 2022, 06:48:17 AM
We are and have always been sharply aware of the possibility of the C&D, not once has this escaped our thoughts, and anyone believing we are unaware is misjudging our intelligence. The possibility is also why we aim to gain no profit from the project, and all assets are made from scratch, not ripped. We could lose the project and still utilize the assets elsewhere - nobody owns a single pixel we made but us.

The logic that "hiding" will help avoiding a C&D assumes that a given company, with millions of dollars and employees paid to keep an eye on internet movement, is not aware of fans' utilization of their IP. They are. There is no hiding.

The trailer looks great, and it has fantastic pixel art, as expected from you guys. However, speaking as one game developer to another... with all that has happened in the past decade, how can you trust Konami to be the one to determine the fate of your game? It is their job to protect their IP, and if this project even remotely threatens their potential profits, they will shut you down. As an artist working to express oneself, why do you voluntarily choose to give the fate of your artistic work over to a corporation who has no love for their own legacy and fan base?

Game dev is such an insane grind and commitment, I can't imagine voluntarily giving Konami the power to kill my project, while simultaneously forfeiting my ability to widely distribute my work and make money off of it so I can continue doing creative work. You are giving so much up for nothing in return.

Sorry for being a party pooper, but you guys know where I am coming from. Most of the characters in Castlevania are public domain anyways, so legally making a Castlevania in all but official name is open to you. Is Iga's writing so captivating to you that you are willing to give up the fate of your project over to Konami? Why not take what you love about the series and express it in your own original way?

Again, sorry for disrupting all the positive vibes in here, but just wanted to give my thoughts, from one game dev to another.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Dracula9 on January 11, 2022, 07:29:53 AM
Can't give a company something they always had to begin with, friend. There is no "forfeiting" or "willing" to it. The power to terminate is a company's and theirs alone, and no amount of tiptoeing or trying to be sneaky will affect that at the end of the day.

If we wanted to do something else, we could/would/have. We've chosen to do this with all of that in mind. If people disagree with it or think it's foolish, that's their prerogative, but we're far from ignorant on the matter.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: theplottwist on January 11, 2022, 07:57:37 AM
The trailer looks great, and it has fantastic pixel art, as expected from you guys. However, speaking as one game developer to another... with all that has happened in the past decade, how can you trust Konami to be the one to determine the fate of your game? It is their job to protect their IP, and if this project even remotely threatens their potential profits, they will shut you down. As an artist working to express oneself, why do you voluntarily choose to give the fate of your artistic work over to a corporation who has no love for their own legacy and fan base?

Game dev is such an insane grind and commitment, I can't imagine voluntarily giving Konami the power to kill my project, while simultaneously forfeiting my ability to widely distribute my work and make money off of it so I can continue doing creative work. You are giving so much up for nothing in return.

Sorry for being a party pooper, but you guys know where I am coming from. Most of the characters in Castlevania are public domain anyways, so legally making a Castlevania in all but official name is open to you. Is Iga's writing so captivating to you that you are willing to give up the fate of your project over to Konami? Why not take what you love about the series and express it in your own original way?

Again, sorry for disrupting all the positive vibes in here, but just wanted to give my thoughts, from one game dev to another.

Hey dude! No need to be sorry, Your post clearly does not mean ill will, it's honest concern. I will answer what you asked in two separate responses.

About making something original:

(click to show/hide)

About IP rights:

(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on January 11, 2022, 09:04:03 AM
Draconic@

Hey, welcome!

Several non-profit CV works were already made and put out into the world by several Dungeon members. So far there have been no C&D from Konami about their works because -again- non-profit. Both the Lecarde Chronicles games made it out the door successfully and there have been other homebrew CV games that also made it out onto the internet. So long as there is no intention to make a profit Konami (for the most part) is willing to let these works slide.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Darkmoon on January 11, 2022, 09:49:45 AM
Well, on that front, the first Lecarde Chronicles isn't available online (at least last I checked) due to a DMCA. So sometimes copyright claims do get raised.

That said, looking at the trailer, there's been enough work put in here to give this game it's own feel like even if they did get DMCA'd it wouldn't be impossible to change the game *just enough* to avoid it. The music would have to change, a few of the enemies (like he pirates clearly inspired by enemies in the DS games) would need to be swapped out, Julius would need a new name. Things like that. But the levels, most of the graphics, and the action are safe -- plenty of other for-profit games play in the same pool legally (and this is a non-profit game to boot). Beyond that, the big bads -- Dracula, Death, and all the rest -- are public domain. The worst a C&D would do it push the game back a couple of months or so to go from Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse to Seal of the Eclipse and likely it'd be just fine.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Draconic on January 11, 2022, 02:10:48 PM
The trailer looks great, and it has fantastic pixel art, as expected from you guys. However, speaking as one game developer to another... with all that has happened in the past decade, how can you trust Konami to be the one to determine the fate of your game? It is their job to protect their IP, and if this project even remotely threatens their potential profits, they will shut you down. As an artist working to express oneself, why do you voluntarily choose to give the fate of your artistic work over to a corporation who has no love for their own legacy and fan base?
Don't forget Iga. When Iga didn't like the idea of his concepts being reduced to slot machines, they took it more personally than I would take a racist remark, and have spent hours just spiting him. tbh, I initially thought that Seal of the Eclipse was Konami imitating Curse of the Moon's style just to gloat over the fact that they still have his characters and will never, ever return them. I mean, there are a lot of jerks in this company. I don't even think anyone there does any actual work anymore. They just outsource artists on Pixiv to create new cards for Yu-Gi-Oh and then let the money roll in by itself.

Game dev is such an insane grind and commitment, I can't imagine voluntarily giving Konami the power to kill my project, while simultaneously forfeiting my ability to widely distribute my work and make money off of it so I can continue doing creative work. You are giving so much up for nothing in return.
……Is Iga's writing so captivating to you that you are willing to give up the fate of your project over to Konami? Why not take what you love about the series and express it in your own original way?
Yes. Yes it is just that captivating.
It's all about the love of Castlevania, bro. Same principle that fanfiction writers like me work with. Except fanfics don't get C&Ds unless you try to sell them. Like what originally happened with 50 Shades of Grey. Because that was, and remains to this day, a thinly veiled Twilight Fanfiction written by a very, very sub-par fanfictioneer. Like as a fanfic writer, I cannot even begin to describe how angry 50 Shades of Grey makes me because it just solidifies the trope that all fanfiction is smut but written by morons who can't differentiate between homonyms.

Fair warning in case I end up sticking around, I ramble. A lot.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on January 11, 2022, 09:59:17 PM
Quote
Fair warning in case I end up sticking around, I ramble. A lot.

You're not the only one here that does that bro  ;) I myself
 don't but others have in the past.

And as for Twilight--*insert violent organ-tossing projectile vomiting sounds here* Got that outta my system, lol.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Shiroi Koumori on January 11, 2022, 10:06:47 PM
Welcome to the forums, Draconic!

Returning the topic back to the fangame.
Good job guys! This is makes for a very happy new year. ♫ヽ(゜∇゜ヽ)♪♬(ノ゜∇゜)ノ♩♪
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on January 12, 2022, 04:38:42 AM
The trailer looks great, and it has fantastic pixel art, as expected from you guys. However, speaking as one game developer to another... with all that has happened in the past decade, how can you trust Konami to be the one to determine the fate of your game? It is their job to protect their IP, and if this project even remotely threatens their potential profits, they will shut you down. As an artist working to express oneself, why do you voluntarily choose to give the fate of your artistic work over to a corporation who has no love for their own legacy and fan base?

It's a good and fair question, Vlad. One thing I've been wondering, though, is how much Konami actually cares about the IP at this point. Another famous fangame I'm thinking of, the Metroid 2 remake, was shut down by Nintendo, but also remember that Nintendo was actively working with the Metroid property, with Mercurysteam's Return of Samus (and continuing on with Dread). Castlevania, however...it's not just our bitterness as longtime fans speaking, but I think we can honestly and objectively agree that they're not putting much effort into the property. Aside from a mobile game, the most recent activity on the Castlevania front is...NFTs. So Konami isn't actually getting much profit from Castlevania games themselves, so they might not be as concerned about a fan game as Nintendo might have been when it was still planning on releasing brand-new games for its property. But as always, better safe than sorry, let's definitely hope this delightful project stays under Konami's radar for a good long time.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on January 12, 2022, 08:39:40 AM
So you're telling me Aeon the Chef went on to create a food delivery company? Amazing.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Kamirine on January 12, 2022, 08:49:25 AM
Quick question: will this game have a demo of some sort before it releases?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on January 12, 2022, 10:16:53 AM
Also that Requiem for the Nameless Victims outro was pure nostalgia. ????
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: SecretWeapon on January 12, 2022, 10:15:06 PM
Rooting for Bloodless Carmilla mode since today
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: yamabigdog on January 13, 2022, 09:16:32 AM
Looks spectacular!! Keep up the fantastic work, and Godspeed
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Kingshango on January 15, 2022, 01:50:12 PM
Looks amazing.

One small little nitpick though, Young Julius’s strut looks casual, more like “Going out for a night stroll” and less like “This is it, im gonna kill Chao.. I mean I’m gonna kill Dracula, for real this time!” Other than that, amazing stuff, keep up the good work.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: theplottwist on January 15, 2022, 01:55:24 PM
Looks amazing.

One small little nitpick though, Young Julius’s strut looks casual, more like “Going out for a night stroll” and less like “This is it, im gonna kill Chao.. I mean I’m gonna kill Dracula, for real this time!” Other than that, amazing stuff, keep up the good work.

Hello! That sprite was not final by the time the teaser was recorded. You can find the final one (or the closest thing, since development only ends when it ends) on our twitter post. (https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1480614819371827204) Trust me, we know very well the importance of the Belmont strut.

Lenora is also not final, btw.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Riggles on January 16, 2022, 06:50:23 PM
Looks absolutely fantastic! Couldn't help but to join this forum and follow the progress posts.

I have a question regarding resolution. So it seems the game 1x res would be 400x256p. 32px being HUD and the graphics themselves being 224p.
Thing is that I'm a big fan of the look of retro games on CRT's and use CRTEmudriver a lot of times for the few 240p pixel art modern games there are (not alone doing that).
Recently made a tutorial on how to do that kind of setup as well, sharing display modelines and scaling scripts for various games.
I'd absolutely love for that to be possible with this project once it's ready for a release, or testing.

The "problem" is that it's 256p. (aspect ratio being a bit wider than 4:3 doesn't matter, as you can adjust vertical size of the CRT to get the right aspect ratio)

Would it be possible to have an HUD overlay option rather than the black bar? Like Castlevania IV for example. Or maybe a slimmer 16px HUD bar as an option.
Another solution would be to have the game be able to play a tiny bit slower, down to 57-58Hz 256p, to squeeze out those extra lines, but not every TV can display that kind of thing.

I know, really weird request, and totally understandable to not implement this, as us doing this on CRT's aren't too many. The slim HUD or overlay would be the best solution for this. I would love to share pictures and videos of that.

Hopefully this question doesn't come off as an obnoxious request or anything. Totally Looking forward to this either way!

Here's a mockup of the game in a 4:3 window with a potential 16px slim HUD:
(https://i.imgur.com/eFioZTS.png)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Dracula9 on January 17, 2022, 06:31:53 AM
Hello, friend! Welcome to the Dungeon, glad to have ya!

No, I'm not partial in the least to the reduced HUD as it was structured the way it is with specific purposes in mind (e.g. horizontal bars for other characters is structurally impossible without ridiculous crowding), and the option of an overlaid one is a no-go since a solid black behind it ensures the information on it will never be confused or hard-to-see against anything under it.

However, adding an option to toggle letterboxing to increase the vertical dims to something more CRT or 4:3-friendly MAY be a viable option. Won't be as ideal, but the current resolution was set specifically to cater to the fact that a lot standard monitors on the market today are likely built to 16:9 specs (or that's what a majority of PC gamers, as far as I'm aware at least, are probably using).

I also considered the possibility of an also-toggleable CRT filter. But in either case, these aren't immediately-pressing priorities, so final decision(s) on these won't come until further down the line, which means there's at least a solid chunk of time to brainstorm solutions for things like this.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Riggles on January 17, 2022, 07:26:12 AM
Ah okay, well the resolution is the issue, since the max a CRT TV can do is 240 visible lines, to go up to 256p you'll have to start reducing game speed and output 57-58Hz instead. Aspect ratio isn't an issue as you can adjust that on the CRT itself. Not sure how difficult it is to have adjustable game speed (like a hidden .ini option to specify what refreshrate the game should run at). But that affects the speed of the game, 2-3Hz makes for slightly slower gameplay/animation, so it's a weird compromise and I don't expect such a weird option to be included.

Totally understandable not wanting to put in additional work for an alternative sacrificed HUD for such a niche audience.
As for scanline shaders, I think it would be possible for users to use reshade to accomplish that.
(I can not wait until modern displays can compare to CRT in motion clarity with new strobing tech, because looks wise, shaders can get pretty darn close nowdays)

Put the 240p mockup on a 4:3 CRT for fun. (Standard def 16:9 CRT's are common in Europe, but the game would look great on either)

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Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Dracula9 on January 17, 2022, 08:34:15 AM
It MIGHT be doable to drop 16px off the vertical at the bottom and turn gameplay reso to 208 instead of 224, which would give 240px maximum and not sacrifice the HUD at all.

I have no idea how this will look in terms of what's already been built, but I can play around with it and see if it affects anything poorly.

If it does mess the resolution "look" in a way i don't like but doesn't hinder anything gameplay wise I can definitely just include a "CRT friendly" option that forces this reduction, probably able to be set before anything else loads in the runner so there's not any cutoff in title/menus.

It SEEMS like a simple enough thing to try and include for, so while I won't promise anything solid (least of all make promises this early on) I'll at least fiddle with it and see what sticks.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Riggles on January 17, 2022, 08:39:41 AM
Oh that sounds awesome, as said, it's not important at all in the grand scheme of things and doesn't really affect anyone, we're all looking forward to how this game is shaping up either way! Just a cool extra if there's not too much effort involved of course.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Jop on January 18, 2022, 06:06:00 AM
I hope im not late for this :v

https://imgur.com/rZMETyP

and by the way nice work, this looks so cool :3
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: The Puritan on January 24, 2022, 06:07:48 PM
*squints harder at that silhouette beside Quincey Morris*
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on January 24, 2022, 06:59:54 PM
*squints harder at that silhouette beside Quincey Morris*
He's holding a sasumata right? So probably Japanese?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Scarlet starlet on January 30, 2022, 08:13:04 AM
This is great. Wish you guys the best. I hope it doesn't end like the harmony of despair PC port
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: aensland on January 30, 2022, 09:28:45 AM
D9 made an amazing job re-arranging our work in 8bit, he and Plot are such geniuses
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on January 30, 2022, 10:31:06 PM
So will we be getting monthly updates or anything like that?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: LoneChild on February 02, 2022, 05:33:01 PM
I can't believe it took me so long to discover both of your projects.

I've been catching up with all the posts and uploads for more than two hours now, but I've had to take a minute to login here (hi, old friends btw) and leave a little testimony of the admiration and joy I feel for what you guys are doing.

Maybe it's just the dear old "fucking hell, new Castlevania announced!" feeling hitting hard after all this time - It probably is XD - but right now, I can't even concieve Konami sending you a c&d, because of the amount of love, effort and talent you're obviously putting into this. No fucking way.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on March 29, 2022, 12:12:02 AM
Not a super big update, but if any of you aren't following the project on Twitter (you should!) or have that platform, they posted brief character bios for the four heroes :D

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1505196613765054465

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1502747717503787008

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1500082066842689541

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1498003878184427526
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on March 29, 2022, 10:39:44 AM
Nice! Info cards on the four heroes. I wanna see some villains next.

It's probably just me but I notice that their outfits don't seem that contemporary with that of the late 1990's. Timothy's outfit is the closest however the current military of the time doesn't issue their soldiers knee-high boots. Rather, they wear combat boots. Hammer's outfit from AoS is a decent example of an actual soldier's uniform. But it is of course artistic choice. Gotta make the heroes stand out from the crowd somehow  :)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Shiroi Koumori on April 01, 2022, 02:40:05 AM
This is exciting! :)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on April 01, 2022, 09:24:47 PM
Nice, a villain update! :D

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1510076341206593538
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on April 02, 2022, 10:02:52 AM
Olrox's info suggests a possible 'assist the heroes' until he's achieved his goal. IGA did something very similar in CoD with Zed helping Hector.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Shiroi Koumori on April 03, 2022, 01:40:16 AM
Very interesting... I'm looking forward to that subplot. hehehe.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Belmontoya on April 06, 2022, 01:06:52 PM
Junki's Orlox design is ????
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on April 08, 2022, 10:39:38 PM
Camilla reveal!

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1512527871377608706
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on April 09, 2022, 09:46:24 AM
Very noice  8)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: The Puritan on April 14, 2022, 03:28:49 AM
Sharing some driveby love for the OST preview. I especially like Burning Purpose, Soldier With a Grudge, and Anxious Vessel. I hope Big Battle makes it after hearing the Umbra version.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on April 14, 2022, 09:55:58 PM
Its been months...  :(
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on April 15, 2022, 02:42:52 AM
Its been months...  :(

They're updating on Twitter :D And speaking of which...

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1514721912236265472
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on April 15, 2022, 09:47:44 AM
Interesting. Is Hendrick an original character? I've never heard of him before.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on May 06, 2022, 01:02:22 PM
https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1522663887136505856
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Inccubus on May 12, 2022, 04:19:28 AM
Looks like things are progressing well.
May this project continue to fly under Konami's radar.
Good luck guys!
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on May 20, 2022, 02:30:16 PM
https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1527763113919057920
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on May 20, 2022, 05:44:14 PM
Oooo, another character pic  :)

This one definitely has the Sypha vib going for it.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on June 03, 2022, 06:01:50 PM
https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1532888983553945601
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on June 03, 2022, 06:24:45 PM
I have to wonder if this is the same military organization that Hammer answers to in the future.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: VladCT on June 06, 2022, 09:48:50 PM
https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1532888983553945601
Y'know, the guy gives me Colonel Longhena vibes to be honest.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Shinobi on June 07, 2022, 01:37:03 PM
Rainier Berthold? I see Attack on Titan reference there.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Gunlord on June 11, 2022, 01:10:30 AM
Rainier Berthold? I see Attack on Titan reference there.

XD

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1533168498385555456
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Shiroi Koumori on June 11, 2022, 01:15:29 AM
hahaha! There we go.  :D
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on November 22, 2022, 09:49:49 PM
So is this project completely dead or what?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on November 23, 2022, 09:06:08 AM
It has been a while, I'll agree. However they could still be ironing the kinks out of the final product.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Foffy on November 24, 2022, 08:20:59 PM
The Twitter account has shared details about characters and music. I imagine that's easier to show off than work-in-progress gameplay.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Shinobi on November 26, 2022, 12:20:43 PM
This game was announced last january with a little progress and you expect that it will be released around this year especially if it was developed as a non-profit game? Even Lecarde Chronicles 2 or Wallachia Reign of Dracula took about more than two years before it was completed and released.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: theplottwist on November 27, 2022, 01:44:21 AM
So is this project completely dead or what?

It is. We actually moved on to greener pastures. I apologize for not clarifying. The reasons are many, I'll be super direct:

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Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on November 29, 2022, 08:05:05 AM
OOF
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Chernabogue on December 02, 2022, 09:36:20 AM
FOO
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Foffy on December 04, 2022, 04:38:09 AM
Don't swerve me and nearly break my heart with that kinda post!  :'(
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: X on December 05, 2022, 09:02:33 AM
I got caught too  :-X

However if the fan game was really going to be cancelled theplottwist would give out a far more in-depth explanation as to why. He's thorough that way  ;)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Dracula9 on December 15, 2022, 02:19:51 PM
I'll weigh in from my end of things as well.

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Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: The Puritan on March 05, 2023, 02:37:04 AM
Can't believe I didn't realize this back in the Umbra thread, but the town of Iomi is absolutely a nod to Yomi from Simon's Quest isn't it? The last town (a lifeless one at that) you visit on your way to the castle ruins? Good on you guys for the reference.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: theplottwist on March 05, 2023, 01:13:50 PM
Can't believe I didn't realize this back in the Umbra thread, but the town of Iomi is absolutely a nod to Yomi from Simon's Quest isn't it? The last town (a lifeless one at that) you visit on your way to the castle ruins? Good on you guys for the reference.

That it is. Not only a nod, but the same town centuries later. Expect a few more nods like this.
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: EstebanT on March 30, 2023, 11:35:55 AM
Any updates on this?
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Scarlet starlet on February 05, 2024, 09:05:20 AM
Are you guys alive or did Konami snipe the project
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Foffy on February 05, 2024, 05:59:34 PM
Literally yesterday they posted an update on the project!

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1754068636480774220 (https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1754068636480774220)
Title: Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
Post by: Scarlet starlet on February 06, 2024, 02:31:02 AM
Literally yesterday they posted an update on the project!

https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1754068636480774220 (https://twitter.com/demoncastlewar/status/1754068636480774220)
Glad to see they are alive and kicking. I did check their twitter before posting here but I couldn't see any posts whatsover, so I thought the page went private and got worried.