Topic: Castlevania: Shadow of Ecclesia (Fan Project - New Demo Available)

[ProjectDread]

-Castlevania: Shadow of Ecclesia-
-Built with [DOMINUS ENGINE]-

Castlevania: Shadow of Ecclesia (Alpha Demo)

Test Shanoa’s resolve as you explore the “Decrepit Mansion”, a map created specifically for our Alpha Demo. Take advantage of a small arsenal of weapon glyphs and utilize powerful new combat abilities (such as the dodge roll and flying knee kick) to eviscerate your opponents. In addition, the Alpha Demo includes gear in your inventory that can alter Shanoa’s stats and appearance.

Download Link:
Castlevania Shadow of Ecclesia (Alpha Demo)

Gameplay Gifs:



Features in Alpha Demo:

• Includes 4 Weapon Glyphs that can be found while exploring
• 3 special equipment pieces that alter Shanoa's appearance
• "Art of Jaa" Flying Knee Kick melee ability
• "Heavy Attack" System, replaces OoE's "Glyph Unions".
  As a note: Not all weapons have programmed Heavy Attacks in this demo (will be in the next demo)
• Enemy Types: Bat, Skeleton, Bloody Zombie, Zombie, and Axe Armor
• Custom Controls support (works best with Xbox 360 / Xbox One controller)
• Lighting System

Useful Tips:
This demo does not include a tutorial. A proper tutorial mechanic is in the works and will be featured in future demos.

• Absorbing Glyphs - Hold [UP] to absorb Glyphs. Glyphs can grant Shanoa new weapons and abilities.
• Heavy Attacks - Press [UP] + [X] / [Y]. Releases a devastating attack for equipped Weapon Glyph.
• Slide Kick - Press [A] while crouching. Slide kicks grant immunity frames and can be used to evade enemy attacks.
• Back Dash - Press {B}. Moves Shanoa backwards. Grants immunity frames, use to quickly avoid enemy attacks.
• Attack Canceling - Press {B} while Attacking. Immediately cancels an active attack and executes a Back Dash maneuver.
• Dash Canceling - Press [X] / [Y] while Back Dashing. Cancels the Back Dash and executes an attack ability. Can be used with Heavy Attacks.
• Directional Dash - Press [BACKWARD] / [FORWARD] + {B} while attacking. Cancels an active attack into a Back Dash in any given direction.
• "Art of Jaa" (Flying Knee Kick) - Press [DOWN] -> [FORWARD] -> [X].[/b] Initiates a power Flying Knee Kick attack. Activates a brief cooldown when used.

Although this is the latest Pubic Release demo it is pretty outdated relative to the current closed build. We've added a significant amount of progress, and issues you'll run into in this demo may have been corrected. However, the general feel of the gameplay is still a fairly accurate representation of what the project currently plays like.  We're always looking for criticism and ways we can improve the project. If you have time, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the demo!

Previous Post Archive:

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New Update 6/25/15



More Screenshots:

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New Content Added, Build v0.63:

• New "Frontier Village" map
• Added the following enemies: Skeleton, Bat
• Numbers appear from enemies to show how much damage was dealt
• New "Global Room Refresh" system. Enemies will reset when you leave / enter each room
• Numerous bug fixes, optimizations

I'm still looking for people who have time to Beta Test and provide feedback, so if anyone is interested please post in this thread or, alternatively, send me a PM. Skype communication would be preferred but I'm open on this front.

[Recent Content]
Dominus Engine v0.57b Released!

Quite a large update for you guys! We added lots of new features to Dominus Engine and have included a teaser for the full game that we're building with it... Castlevania: Shadow of Ecclesia.




New inventory menu.



Main New Additions:
*Castlevania-styled room transition system
*Added a Hammer glyph weapon
*Added a functional start screen / glyph weapons selection screen
*Added 3 customization glyph slots
*Added Title Screen teaser
*Tweaked gravity code

Download link:
Dominus Engine v0.57b
Note: There is currently no error checking on the Custom Controls screen. You must input controls on this screen or else you won't be able to play the game!

[Older Content]

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More Screenshots:

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About:
Greetings! I'm ProjectDread but I pretty much go by "Dragon" or "DragonX24" everywhere else online. I'm technically new to these forums but I've lurked around for a while and was impressed by some of the sprite work and music compositions I've seen here thus far. Figured this would be a good place to go for some feedback on a new fangame I started up a couple of months ago. The "Dominus Engine" (or EcclesEngine, there's not an official title yet) is my framework that I'll use to build my own Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia inspired game. Dominus Engine is being built with Clickteam Fusion, and although I aim to make it play similarly to Order of Ecclesia it's going to have several unique features and design choices. Story elements and gameplay mechanics are still up in the air as nothing is really finalized yet.

There's not too much here yet, but I'm looking for some feedback and would like your opinions on the project so far. A playable alpha demo is available at the bottom of this page, it's attached to my DeviantArt page so please check it out and leave a comment! All criticism and ideas are appreciated! Future iterations of Dominus Engine will be uploaded here, so I'll to keep you guys updated as progress continues!

Current Features in Tech Demo:
*Flash build available and HTML5 planned (near future).
*Most physics are implemented, including: Walking, Jumping, Double Jumping (possible upgrade), Crouching, Slide Kicking (possible upgrade, does not currently damage enemies), Back Dashing, and Slope Detection.
*Basic attack system (supports multiple physical glyph weapons although only the Sword is currently available.)
*Basic damage recoil system (attack differs depending on player state).
*Functional mana system (attacking drains MP, cannot attack when MP is zero)
*Basic enemy system, includes re-spawning zombies.
*Wygol village exterior map (ripped by Geckosan)

Planned Features:
*HTML5 build and export options
*HP system and death (not hard to do, most likely will come sooner rather than later)
*Castlevania-styled camera system (functional prototype complete, just not included in the Tech Demo)
*Pause screen, menu system
*Multiple selectable glyph weapons
*Different enemy variation
*HP Increase item / MP Increase item

Roadmap Ideas (open to suggestions):
*Weapon elemental abilities
*Enemy elemental resistances
*Leveling system?
*


Where do I play?
Interested in trying out the latest Dominus Engine tech demo? Click Here for the latest DeviantArt public flash beta!

Windows Version Now Available!
Click Here for the Windows executable version
_{Note: Dominus Engine will automatically default to joypad controls if one is detected. Custom controls are planned for future releases. x1, x2, x3, and x4 scaling, and full-screen mode are supported.}

Questions? Comments? Feel free to post your opinions here and I'll answer what I can. Cheers.

[Chernabogue]

Woah, that's freaking awesome. Nice job!

[darkmanx_429]

NICE!!

It makes me happy that more people are using MMF2/Clickteam Fusion 2.5 on the Dungeon!

For a minute I thought I was the minority here!

[X]

I would like to put in a request for your game. Glyph whips. There weren't any in the original game sadly and this was disappointing as whip is somewhat of a set-standard when it comes to Castlevania. And make it strong glyph too 

Good luck with your project and Welcome to the Dungeon ProjectDread.

[Shiroi Koumori]

That looks really nice!
Welcome to the Dungeon ProjectDread!
You might also want to join the monthly contests that we're holding here. 

[theANdROId]

I completely agree with the whip glyphs statement!  Otherwise, what you have already is amazing!

[Dracula9]

Very nice! I'm not sure what else to say that hasn't been said, but this is impressive.

Also, I've run into a bug. Obviously this scenario is unlikely in the finished version, but it still could happen. Shanoa can't slide if she's touching a zombie.

[ProjectDread]

Hey guys, thanks for the comments and the welcoming. I'm pretty horrid at spriting so I probably wouldn't be very useful at the monthly competitions but I'll check into it, haha. Also, interesting idea concerning the use of Whip Glyphs in the game; figured I'd try something with it. Here's a teaser.

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-Very WIP Whip Glyph-
Basically opened up Portrait of Ruin and ripped the graphics and attack sound from the default Vampire Killer in the game. The whip sprites themselves had to be modified quite a bit to be used in my engine, but I'm surprised it worked without too many issues. Realized though that I'll need to tweak the weapons system a bit to better support unique weapons such as whip types

@Dracula9:
Thanks for the comment. Currently the slide kick doesn't damage enemies but I'm trying to think of the best way to implement this. In the other DS Castlevania's, the slide kick attack always seemed useless to me so I'm trying to think of a better way to do it here. One idea I had is perhaps adding invincibility frames to you while you're slide kicking so you'd do a minor amount of damage to enemies you collide with while passing through them as well. Problem with this though is you could just slide kick through everything and not have to fight any of the enemies. This could be remedied by adding a cool down to it, but I'm not sure. Maybe I'll just keep it like the original game. You guys have any ideas?

[X]

Nice! However I would personally make the whip just a tad longer. Say two extra chain-links longer..? Kinda how Richter's Vampirekiller in PoR was longer then the one Jonathan used.

[Inccubus]

Nice work!
It's good to see more Castlevania projects popping up.

About the slide. I think simply adding in a short delay after a slide attack before you can do it again should mitigate the possibility of abusing it's invincibility frames. Plus, sliding through an enemy's feet to avoid the fight is really no different than jumping over them. Yeah just having a slight delay would be a good balance between avoiding enemies and the annoyance of getting hit pretty much every time a slide is attempted.

Whip length seems fine to me. Shanoa isn't a Belmont after all and she isn't using the Vampire Killer itself.

[Rudolph LagnaGaisaer]

Good work.There is a bug where if you hold one direction and press another you will walk without the animation.
not trying to discourage you, but seems that the  engine and language  that  you use are fit to 2D only games. and All Order of Ecclesia Assets Excluding rarely thing's like the HUD that contains the lifebar and some menus are 3D objects that doesn't rotate over the X axis. and 30 to 50 % of the enemies including Shanoa are just glued pieces of these object's each one containing a separated hitbox. that's why the Slide does damage and you still take damage if get hit.

[BLOOD MONKEY]

Wait a sec, what about this? : http://rezzzah.deviantart.com/art/My-castlevania-engine-271366399   It has the same exact controls, intitial equip, everything. It kinda confuzzles me. I hope I don't sound like an asshole.

Also, could you upload that windows version? My eyes hurts.

[Lelygax]

Good work.There is a bug where if you hold one direction and press another you will walk without the animation.
not trying to discourage you, but seems that the  engine and language  that  you use are fit to 2D only games. and All Order of Ecclesia Assets Excluding rarely thing's like the HUD that contains the lifebar and some menus are 3D objects that doesn't rotate over the X axis. and 30 to 50 % of the enemies including Shanoa are just glued pieces of these object's each one containing a separated hitbox. that's why the Slide does damage and you still take damage if get hit.

Except that you can do all of that on 2D and no one would even notice the difference, except for that polygon enemies (peeping eye from PoR is a good example). You can add separate hitboxes that changes according to the animation if you wanted also.

Actually this bug that you mentioned is pretty common in fangames using built-in engines as a base and can be easily fixed, but almost everyone forget to do that, another similiar bug that can happen in these games is press up+left or up+right, so I ever try these combinations when Im testing something xD

[ProjectDread]

@IssoBelmont: Could you elaborate more on how you performed glitch? When you hold left + right at the same time I made it so Shanoa just stops moving, so I can't seem to recreate it. Also, I'm pretty sure Ecclesia is using some sort of 2D skeletal animation system for a lot of enemies. Even though it will be a pain in the ass to copy some of those assets (mostly bosses), I can emulate most of the enemies without too many issues. Slide kick having a separate hitbox near her feat is also easy mode, it just hasn't been implemented yet.

@ZeroSaberGreen: Ah, I played the Rezz engine some time ago and he's one of the people who initially inspired me to start this project as he seems to be the only person I could find who attempted to make a DS Vania engine. The control method in his game is comfortable for a DS-to-keyboard setup so I thought I'd use it on my game as well. Besides that and the fact that you start with a sword, there aren't many similarities to be had. Dominus Engine was programmed from the ground up so most things including the weapons system, physics, damage recoil, enemies etc. feel and function very different.



11/30/2014 EDIT: Thanks for the feedback guys, I made some minor changes to the engine and updated the DeviantArt Public Flash build.

Updates on build v0.39a:
*Attempted fix for an animation glitch that could cause Shanoa to slide, attack, and stand in place at the same time. Please let me know if this corrected the "hold left+right" animation glitch.
*Fixed an audio glitch where the "landing" sample would play upon starting the test level.

Click Here for the Windows executable version
_{Note: Dominus Engine will automatically default to joypad controls if one is detected. x1 - x4 scaling and full-screen mode are supported. Custom controls are planned for future releases.}

Click Here for the latest DeviantArt public flash beta

[ProjectDread]

Hey guys, project update. Started working on the Menu Screen / UI a while back. Here's a teaser:


Also, I'm looking for people who may be interested in joining the team and assisting with the project. As of now, here are the current positions available:

Beta Testers:
Mainly looking for people who have time to test and analyze early builds of the game to find bugs and make other gameplay-related recommendations. Will have early access to prototype builds of the game before public releases are available.

Spriters / Graphics Designers:
Create custom assets and make modifications to ripped Order of Ecclesia graphics. Right now I'm focusing on the start screen, and am open to suggestions here.


If anyone is interested, please send me a PM or reply in this thread. Feel free to post any questions you might have, happy holidays!