Castlevania Dungeon Forums

The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => Hardcore Gaming 101 => Topic started by: Jorge D. Fuentes on June 28, 2013, 08:02:10 AM

Title: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on June 28, 2013, 08:02:10 AM
Odallus: The Dark Call on Indiegogo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHs9bqFdgAM#ws)

Saw this story on Kotaku.
Funny, this team reminds of some of the people here.

This is a retro-looking title in the same vein as Demon's Crest, old Castlevanias, etc.

Kotaku Article (http://kotaku.com/this-indie-8-bit-platformer-harkens-back-to-the-castlev-608417100)
Official Website (http://joymasher.com/odallus/)
Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/odallus-the-dark-call)
Greenlighting on Steam (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=155556863)

Marco looks like a cousin of mine. :)
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: beingthehero on June 28, 2013, 10:34:20 AM
I played their previous game, Oniken, and it was absolutely superb. If anyone can make a great nod to Castlevania, it's these guys.
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Inccubus on June 28, 2013, 01:43:57 PM
Indeed. I got Oniken last year. Very awesome. Felt like I was playing a nes game on an emu. Looking forward to this title too.
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Pfil on June 28, 2013, 07:23:43 PM
This is definitely something I will be playing!
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: DragonSlayr81 on June 28, 2013, 07:36:25 PM
THIS is the type of game I can get behind. Looks fantastic.

I always saw the NES style as being timeless, even though a lot of my peers think otherwise. There's a certain charm to that 8-bit style that I others, nowadays, can see despite it being "outdated".
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Pfil on June 28, 2013, 11:03:34 PM
And another positive things about 8 bits graphics is that everything looks pretty. Modern games can be breathtaking visually, and unbeatable in terms of beauty (Bioshock Infinite, Skyrim... even Twilight Princess and Mario Galaxy). But when they are not BEAU-TI-FUL and PERFECT, they tend to look ugly to me (I mean, everything that's not anime and medieval/ancient/victorian/fantastic/etc. looks ugly to my tastes on 3D... but on 8 bits, everything's beautiful. If I could play games like Battletoads and Toxic Crusaders and believe them to be nice, it's because everything looks nice on the NES.
And when they REALLY are beautiful (like Castlevania 3) it's a kind of beauty that tends to make us use our imaginations for completing what's not there where the pixels are. And that's fantastic.
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: kaonstantine on June 29, 2013, 01:23:22 AM
Wow, those guys are fantastic. Their work is very inspiring: Great intro, nice levels, great design, beautiful 8-bit graphics.

And another positive things about 8 bits graphics is that everything looks pretty. Modern games can be breathtaking visually, and unbeatable in terms of beauty (Bioshock Infinite, Skyrim... even Twilight Princess and Mario Galaxy). But when they are not BEAU-TI-FUL and PERFECT, they tend to look ugly to me (I mean, everything that's not anime and medieval/ancient/victorian/fantastic/etc. looks ugly to my tastes on 3D... but on 8 bits, everything's beautiful. If I could play games like Battletoads and Toxic Crusaders and believe them to be nice, it's because everything looks nice on the NES.
And when they REALLY are beautiful (like Castlevania 3) it's a kind of beauty that tends to make us use our imaginations for completing what's not there where the pixels are. And that's fantastic.

Totally agree wit you. Nowadays games are visually outstanding and technically impeccable. Day by day, game producers are more and more obsessed with imitating the way things look in reality. The number of polygons per model has to increase year by year. I respect that philosophy, I know high resolution graphics are a nice feature. But what will happen when hyper realistic graphics become the standard? Why every big game company seems to follow this ideology? (except for anime/cartoon, like you said). Why is so necessary to make things look like if they were real? What has happened to the artistic reinterpretation of the world/enviroment?

Maybe that's why i love some medieval/ancient/fantasy 3d games. The artistic reinterpretation is still present (magic things, mystic elements, unreal landscapes, fantasy creatures, stuff with strange appearance, etc). 8-bit graphics feel more traditional, more "handcrafted". They are always beauty for people who enjoy imagination

Sorry for my bad english  ???

Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Dark Nemesis on June 29, 2013, 01:51:45 AM
And another positive things about 8 bits graphics is that everything looks pretty. Modern games can be breathtaking visually, and unbeatable in terms of beauty (Bioshock Infinite, Skyrim... even Twilight Princess and Mario Galaxy). But when they are not BEAU-TI-FUL and PERFECT, they tend to look ugly to me (I mean, everything that's not anime and medieval/ancient/victorian/fantastic/etc. looks ugly to my tastes on 3D... but on 8 bits, everything's beautiful. If I could play games like Battletoads and Toxic Crusaders and believe them to be nice, it's because everything looks nice on the NES.
And when they REALLY are beautiful (like Castlevania 3) it's a kind of beauty that tends to make us use our imaginations for completing what's not there where the pixels are. And that's fantastic.

You've speak out my mind. I still find many 8 bit games charming and go back and play them through emulation.
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: DragonSlayr81 on June 29, 2013, 08:31:21 AM
I believe 8-bit games aren't outdated more than they are a "style" than often used nowadays, but it's kinda like music. Just because, say, ragtime or baroque is not culturally relevant doesn't mean people who like that music can't compose NEW songs in that style, or even do GREAT new things with it. When a style is established, it's there forever. Whether or not people want to return to it, it's up to them. History's shown us people, despite looking for new ideas, have a facination with that which came "before".

Interestingly enough, I think the 8-bit movement, now, is more liberated, because they aren't tied to what they can and can't do as far as Nintendo of America dictates. Look at Oniken and the decapitation sprite animation. That could never be done back in the day. Now, there are so many awesome possitibilies regarding 8-bit gaming, it's pure awesomeness in itself.

Hell, I think big companies should jump on that wagon. Kinda like Capcom with Mega Man 9 and 10, get some teams to do NEW 8-bit games. Obviously those games won't have a big bloated budget, and you could release them on PSN, XBL, Wii U, IOS/Android/Ouya, Windows/Linux and go crazy. Hell, big NEWER companies could even reimagine new properties in 8-bit(Rastan-esque God of War, Price of Persia-esque Assassin's Creed). It's an interesting venture.
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Inccubus on July 01, 2013, 05:40:37 PM
Exactly! That's basically the thought behind a whole slew of hush-hush games I'm working on.
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Pfil on July 01, 2013, 10:59:02 PM
I'm glad to hear it, be sure to post some videos when they are playable!
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Inccubus on July 02, 2013, 10:21:45 AM
Will do!  ;D
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: C Belmont on July 05, 2013, 01:59:51 AM
Has anyone had trouble getting the demo to work for this? my computer keeps registering it as a threat.

edit: never mind I just didn't see the run anyway button
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Lecardus28 on July 07, 2013, 07:54:49 PM
I don't know how powerful my PC has to be to play it...

Looks like it would be low power, but I don't have a good PC to begin with...
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: C Belmont on July 08, 2013, 05:37:37 PM
The indiegogo campaign has been updated to include new stretch goals one of which is a Wii U/Ouyah version. I'm really hoping they can reach all their goals because being able to play this on Wii U would be awesome.
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 08, 2013, 07:04:52 PM
Wii-U would be awesome, especially Gamepad Controller Play.
It's how I play most of my Wii-U titles (like Super Luigi U).
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: DragonSlayr81 on July 14, 2013, 09:36:35 PM
This is a bump for good measure, as this title NEEDS to be made! :)

Interestingly enough, I saw this other one which is also very CV-ish:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/523651724/legend-of-iya (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/523651724/legend-of-iya)

I think both these games NEED to be made, and both got my support!!!!
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Pfil on July 15, 2013, 11:30:01 AM
Legend of Iya...
Just reading this is enough to want it:

- A vast, labyrinthine world reminiscent of the classics like Super Metroid and Castlevania SOTN.
- High quality graphics - like the best SNES could offer. None of that crude hipster-pixel here!
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Lelygax on July 16, 2013, 12:52:09 AM
We had a conversation about this months ago, I even discovered that the developers are from Brazil (I was really surprised) and then we discovered another games and demos in their website. Thanks for bringing this subject back, since its a really good game :P
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Pfil on July 16, 2013, 11:12:54 AM
Hi Lely! It's been a while since we were in the same post!  :)
I'm happy to see you again!
Yes, it's a great game from what I've seen. And I particularly liked the fact that, apart from taking inspiration from CV and mentioning it, they refer to as "crude hipster-pixel" to so many crappy games trying to follow the retro trend.
I believe their heart is in the right place and an excellent game will come out of this!
Title: Re: Odallus: The Dark Call
Post by: Lelygax on July 16, 2013, 03:41:30 PM
Im happy to see you too :D
Yeah, they are at the right path, now they only need to continue until the end.