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Offline mercurius

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #15 on: January 05, 2022, 06:28:52 PM »
+1
This looks wonderful!

Such a pleasant surprise, Dracula9!

Offline Darkmoon

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #16 on: January 08, 2022, 05:30:12 PM »
0
I look forward to playing it. ;)

Out of curiosity, are you interesting in an interview about your games and its storied development process?

Offline GuyStarwind

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #17 on: January 08, 2022, 11:46:48 PM »
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This looks incredible! I'll be following this for sure and can't wait to give it a try.

Offline Kamirine

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #18 on: January 10, 2022, 06:21:57 AM »
0
This looks amazing and I’m holding out hope for it’s completion/getting a chance to play it!

Offline Draconic

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #19 on: January 10, 2022, 11:11:40 AM »
0
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.

Offline theplottwist

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #20 on: January 10, 2022, 01:49:10 PM »
+3
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.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2022, 01:52:03 PM by theplottwist »
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Offline VladOfWallachia

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #21 on: January 11, 2022, 06:48:17 AM »
0
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.

Offline Dracula9

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #22 on: January 11, 2022, 07:29:53 AM »
+3
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.


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Offline theplottwist

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #23 on: January 11, 2022, 07:57:37 AM »
+2
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)
« Last Edit: January 11, 2022, 08:21:14 AM by theplottwist »
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Offline X

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #24 on: January 11, 2022, 09:04:03 AM »
+2
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.
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Offline Darkmoon

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #25 on: January 11, 2022, 09:49:45 AM »
+2
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.

Offline Draconic

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #26 on: January 11, 2022, 02:10:48 PM »
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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.

Offline X

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #27 on: January 11, 2022, 09:59:17 PM »
0
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.
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Offline Shiroi Koumori

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #28 on: January 11, 2022, 10:06:47 PM »
0
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♩♪

Offline Gunlord

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Re: Castlevania: Seal of the Eclipse
« Reply #29 on: January 12, 2022, 04:38:42 AM »
+1
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.

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