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The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => Fan Stuff => Topic started by: Aridale on July 18, 2009, 07:17:15 PM

Title: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 18, 2009, 07:17:15 PM
I mentioned in SacredSorrows thread about his CV2 remake how Id like to see CV2 redone. That got me thinkin so I took my CVAdventure engine and a few days later I got this.

Its 8bit graphics but controls and play style is like the modern metroidvanias. All the systems from CV2 have been redone. The only real resemblance to the real CV2 on NES is the graphics and the maps.

This is a DEMO!! Dont expect a full game or for everything to work 100% Its only the town of Jova and its complete. All the interiors work etc. Day/Night is seamless nothin pauses the game not even merchants. Time doesnt stop indoors. You can buy stuff but it has no effect currently. Hearts are for subweapons strictly.

Its setup to be used in widescreen. It starts in fullscreen but it doesnt resize anything or change your resolution. In windowed mode its fully sizable etc. But it DOES retain the aspect ratio which is 16:9 so if your display isnt widescreen it might look funny in fullscreen but should be fine in windowed mode.

Controls:
Left/Right = Move
Down = Duck
Up = Interact. This includes npcs/signs/doors/everything that you can interact with
Shift = Whip/Confirm
Control = Jump Down+Jump fall thru jumpthru blocks
F1 = Toggle fullscreen - only works in the game not the title screen.
F12 = Take screenshot Dont recommend usin this. For some reason it doesnt capture every layer.

Everything else should be pretty self explanatory.

These screens are in fullsize this is the default resolution when not in fullscreen.

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg190.imageshack.us%2Fimg190%2F6176%2Ftitlescreamshot.png&hash=4b12069564ecdd837a692c0ffd8092c8)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg187.imageshack.us%2Fimg187%2F2641%2Fscreamshot01.png&hash=e28783ed9901d295c1e4ac33e95b44e3)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg118.imageshack.us%2Fimg118%2F5491%2Fscreamshot02.png&hash=44a1bd2a59b3d900caf54a1f04586646)

Nightfall
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg190.imageshack.us%2Fimg190%2F9983%2Fscreamshot03.png&hash=3a07698505b0d0af35f8d8a70e59bdc3)

Darkest night. 10pm to 2am Probably gonna make enemies x3 as hard durin this time.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg269.imageshack.us%2Fimg269%2F4452%2Fscreamshot04.png&hash=63834fe98f8a1275703ea186b3ebfa9f)

You can see the lantern lights at night... Not sure if I like the effect tho might remove it.

Get it here its about 3-4megs self contained exe
http://www.mediafire.com/?i2ydjgyoyqb

So anyway... Questions comments death threats etc? If you play it please say somethin dont just DL it and say 'blah blah blah rah rah rah' but not post a reply.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: SacredSorrow on July 18, 2009, 07:58:25 PM
Wow, that looks really good!

You kinda used an element of Ocarina of time, that's really innovative. I hope my menu turns out as good as planned. This looks really promising!


This is my first attempt in gamemaker, so obviously I'm probably not gonna have a demo until I can get all the mechanics together.

Are you using gamemaker?

I've kinda revamped most of the towns to make them a little different looking but positioning is the same. I've been working on a few death sequences too.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: SacredSorrow on July 18, 2009, 08:16:33 PM
I couldn't get the game to start
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 18, 2009, 08:22:21 PM
Its made with GM7 Pro it should run on just about anythin windows based... Hell I made it with windows 7
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: SacredSorrow on July 18, 2009, 09:05:10 PM
You should upload your erngine Bwahaha

yeah, I'm running xp... not letting me play.

Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 18, 2009, 09:09:30 PM
I dunno then man... Theres nothin special about it I just made a normal exe from GM7... It should work fine. Google up GM7 and xp and see if you can out anythin
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Rugal on July 19, 2009, 09:23:28 AM
Runs on my XP system just fine.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: SacredSorrow on July 19, 2009, 01:45:40 PM
I got it to work, the day to night transitions are really nice! If you could, I'd just have to alpha filter effect only the background, cause it gets hard to see.

Hell, I can't say anything.. I don't have a demo up yet. Once I get my engine together, it'll fall together a lot faster.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 19, 2009, 04:01:36 PM
In Reply To #8

Ive kinda changed the background blending on my current version. Instead of the mountains fadin by the sky color they fade with the cloud/horizon color. Dunno if anyone noticed but if you go all the way to the top of jova and stand on the x2high sides you can see the horizon at the top. Its white and fades to black at night. The mountains now blend with it and the trees blend with the day/night color. It makes a hard shadow of the mountains against the night sky and the trees just barely visible in the darkness. I like the over all effect more. If night seems way too dark you either need to play in fullscreen or have a look at your monitors gamma/brightness cause I made just I didnt make it TOO dark.

My LCD is calibrated almost perfectly for gamma and stuff and its fine on my game

Whatd you do to get it to work btw?
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: SacredSorrow on July 19, 2009, 10:19:03 PM
lol I closed it and started it again.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 20, 2009, 07:38:21 AM
70 views and only 2 real replies? One of which was to say it worked and nothin else...

I thought ppl WANTED fan games? I thought ppl wanted to PLAY fan games? Yet discussion threads draw more interest than an actual fuckin release of a playable demo.

Oh well I guess theres no point in continuin to work on it if no one cares enough to even play it /shrug
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: SacredSorrow on July 20, 2009, 08:58:09 AM
I played it again, but is the town the only accessable part right now? I want to kill things.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 20, 2009, 10:26:23 AM
In Reply To #12

Im makin everythin from jova over to the first mansion right now. I might release a new demo after I finish the first mansion
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: SacredSorrow on July 20, 2009, 03:06:17 PM
I'm stoked, are you changing up the mansion any?
I'm having a pain in the ass time just getting simon to work right. I hate DnD.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 20, 2009, 03:19:49 PM
In Reply To #14

Im gonna have a boss in each that guards the relic no oak stakes or vendors in the mansions. Other than they wont change other than how I have to change em for the stairs to work

And the only DnD function you need is Execute Code... screw DnD its a waste of your time. Start doin GML and go from there... Itll take ya 4x as long to get anythin done in DnD
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Rugal on July 20, 2009, 04:06:06 PM
Hey who do you think you are?

Sorry, I was in a bit of a rush then. The demo is really cool. Are you putting in the NES music, or using remixes? I know it's a demo, but I do hope you change the speed in which Simon swings the whip.

Im really looking forward to this baby. Don't stop working on it just because some people would rather reply to "Women getting fat in RPGs" threads instead.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 20, 2009, 05:07:24 PM
CV2's stairs looked and operated way better. The ones you did get in the way of jumps.

Use classic CV stairs. Preferably Rondo style.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: piscesdreams on July 20, 2009, 05:27:58 PM
Checked it out. Pretty cool, I like the HUD for sure. But the stairs were really weird, and the jumping and whipping combo was hard to deal with if I wanted to do a high jump and whip. Also I'm running Vista Premium Home and everytime I talked to someone and whipped it crashed, also whipping going upstairs disconnected the whip from Simon and he jerked around while gliding up on his own. Simon does walk a bit too fast too. But I understand this is a very early demo and know how it goes with early things in the game as I'm making a fangame myself. But very well put together already I can tell for it being a Game Maker game.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 20, 2009, 05:38:00 PM
In Reply To #18

man... you have some odd issues. None of that happens in mine. Im runnin windows 7. Try settin the compatibility mode. No idea why yours would be freakin out and actin weird. Mine works aok and runs at almost constant 60fps the lowest it dips is 57.

As for the stairs... they work like SoTN or any other new CV game. Dont try to play it and use the stairs like in CV2 NES its not like that. No you cant just thru em just like in SoTN and no you dont stick to em... again just like in SoTN. This game only LOOKS like CV2 the engine is more like SoTN or the DS games. Dont forget that when you play it. You cant go in like its an NES style CV cause its not... at all.

As for music... prolly original havent decided yet tho
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 20, 2009, 05:42:05 PM
This game only LOOKS like CV2

You better redesign all the maps then, because that doesn't work with the original maps at all.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 20, 2009, 06:26:29 PM
In Reply To #20

Ill change em just like I did jova. With the jumpthru blocks so you can get on em etc. It works perfectly fine once you realize it doesnt work like CV2s stairs. I might have to move the collisions in a bit so it looks like your more on the step tiles that way its not as floaty tho.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 20, 2009, 06:48:45 PM
It doesn't work very fine when its knocking me into water.

Sorry if you find this offensive, but it sounds like you're taking the lazy way out. Either figure out how to code in proper stairs (I'm assuming you didn't because you haven't figured it out yet) or redesign the stages to actually fit with the fact that you cant move through them. As it is, it really doesn't work. It is just incredibly bad design.

Though I suppose there is a reason most fan games are mediocre.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 20, 2009, 10:34:19 PM
In Reply To #22

Am I gonna have to make you a video to show you that the stairs work perfectly fine? just because you cant grasp how to do it doesnt mean its my fault or I dont know what Im doin or Im lazy. They wont knock you in the water if you dont expect to jump thru em. I dunno what you cant understand about they work EXACTLY like SoTN and theres plenty of room all around em... /shrug

EDIT: Ok I couldnt make a vid because the capture slowed the game way down and the playback vid was laggy and generally ass so I did even better... I made a demo proving what Im talkin about.

This is the same exact engine from the demo (its actually my current build) but its just a small special demo room. Its a classic room from the library in SoTN. Its completely unaltered its not even tiles laid its an exact screenshot of the area used as a background. You control an unchanged Simon from the demo in this room and you can see it navigates just like it does in Sotn...

Press F5 and that pic from SoTN is turned off and youve got the Jova tileset matchin the layout of the room as best as an 8bit tile set can match a psx tileset. It doesnt look great and I didnt put a whole lotta effort into makin it look good but thats not the point. The point is the only thing thats changed is the VISUAL appearance of the room. None of the objects that you touch to move around in it have changed. You can navigate it the same as you could with the image turned on. F5 toggles it on and off.

If anyone cant understand how the damn stairs work in the normal demo now I cant help you and I doubt anyone else can either

http://www.mediafire.com/?dtmmmg2terd
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 21, 2009, 01:16:56 PM
I understand how they work. What I'm saying is they don't work very well the way you used them.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 21, 2009, 03:06:40 PM
In Reply To #24

I still dont see how... I can play the game perfectly fine with one hand while holdin my bowl in the other and takin bites between jumps... I NEVER hit my head on the steps... You can jump 3 blocks roughly on flat ground thats 48 pixels wide the water holes are only 32wide. the only way to hit your head on the steps above ya is to try to make the jump from 3 1/2 to 4 blocks away which is impossible to make even in CV2 NES or without the stairs above ya
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: piscesdreams on July 22, 2009, 11:19:59 AM
In Reply To #25

Because you're developing the game. I'm developing Bloodletting and over a year ago when I released the original beta demo tons of people had numerous issues that I never got because I was flawlessly playing the game, knew how to trigger the stairs perfectly, how to backflip, etc. That's part of being the developer so outside input is extremely important, ESPECIALLY cross platform testing.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 22, 2009, 03:31:55 PM
In Reply To #26

Hes the only one thats mentioned it tho. No one else thats played it has said anythin about bad controls or stair interact. Even my friends in RL that have played it and believe me if they thought it sucked theyd tell me
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 22, 2009, 04:33:49 PM
There are a few main differences between the others and myself.

1) They do not expect quality. Most people are amazed at any sort of fan game, regardless of quality. "Thats so cool!" they say. Partly, and there's nothing wrong with this, because they themselves cannot make something like that.

2) I do not care if I sound mean, or hurt your feelings. I know, it sounds harsh, but its true. This is a blessing in disguise though, because I will give honest critique without sugar coating it. Well, good if you actually want to do quality work.

3) I practice what I preach. I hold myself to the same quality standards, if not even more strictly. I don't settle for mediocre.

I'd actually like to see a successful project along these lines, but as is, it doesn't seem headed in the right direction.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 22, 2009, 05:33:33 PM
In Reply To #25

Yo!
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 22, 2009, 09:38:18 PM
In Reply To #28

So... based on a 1 room demo that took me 3 days to make in my spare time you dont think this is headed in the right direction? Boy Im glad you arent a professional reviewer if you judged every game you played based on the first room you start in before you even had access to anything else Id hate to know what youd review things.

I do appreciate the honesty tho I dont sugar coat stuff mself and I think your wrong. Ive made upwards of 40 oblivion mods that Ive released I have no idea if how many Ive made that I havent released. Im a good judge of my own work and if I dont think somethin is good enough to release I wont. This is no exception. Its been DLed almost 30 times and besides Jorge your the only one thats had a complaint so far. Atleast Jorge explains why he feels the way he feels not just says it sux and its gonna suck etc etc.

In Reply to #29

I cant reproduce the whip error you mention... its possible its already been fixed in my current version. Im workin on the inventory system now and thats a lot of interaction with the message boxes so its possible in my changes Ive already fixed it and didnt know it.

Again with the stairs... atleast your a lil more indepth. So... move the stairs farther from the water and make solid blocks before the jump thrus? Or is a purely visual thing based on where the stairs are with the water? Im always open to suggestions that dont include the original CV2 stair method. Im not makin those I refuse.

Ive already tweaked the night darkness. It hit me just how dark it was after I finished Jova Woods. Its still dark but the backgrounds are blended as much so it while the actual darkess lvl is the same theres more visible still. I dunno bout the torches Im still not entirely convinced I like the effect at all. Puttin a light around Simon is out... I dont think thatd look good at all. The overly dark darkness is more a result of too much brightness around the screen vs how dark it actually is. A big bright patch followin Simon around would only make things outside that patch even harder to see.

The jumpin is variable yes. Thats intentional and I wont change it. I want you to be able to have complete control over the jumps and movement in air. Remember it only LOOKS like an NES game that doesnt mean its spose to control like one.

The "hill" tiles you mention arent flat on the bottom they look like this

\

where you hit your head is where you connect based on the height you jump. If your hittin your head on the bottom its cause thats cause you were directly under the bottom.

So far the 2 mentions of this hittin your head problem is tellin me 2 things 1) ppl dont realize you cant jump thru the stairs 2) maybe the stairs are too close to the water. Maybe its never effected me cause Im more of an "edge" jumper vs a "middle of the block" jumper. I dunno

Heres some new shots. 3 from Jova Woods 1 from Jova. The first two show the same area one around noon the other around 9pm the 3rd is the bridge around 9pm and the 4th is Jova about the same time. These are the new night time settings. Any improvement? Try to view em fullscreen with no bright colors around em. That why you can see what they look like ingame with fullscreen on.

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg507.imageshack.us%2Fimg507%2F8127%2Fscreamshot1.png&hash=9c5b318c286e579180690827d4751beb)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg24.imageshack.us%2Fimg24%2F4884%2Fscreamshot2.png&hash=9999bd0760c640d778fbde6f044829dd)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg24.imageshack.us%2Fimg24%2F1332%2Fscreamshot3.png&hash=f23d9a0ab6000bd94e114bc79d8b0bc5)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg507.imageshack.us%2Fimg507%2F8130%2Fscreamshot4x.png&hash=27a31a3d65167d61561f5e830e8f1ca1)

Also: Does the "idle" sprite suck? Its the gate sprite from CV1 I edited. I think it looks kinda meh but its not too awful.

EDIT: Heres a pic of the inventory currently... while Im at it.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg406.imageshack.us%2Fimg406%2F8127%2Fscreamshot1.png&hash=8b0a6f3930dc1783ff52ac7a8d65303b)
Dont mind the 2 reddish squares theyre for alignment. The 50 at the bottom is a debug var. As you can see by the location of the items in the pic this inventory works in the order you get things not the order the game displays em in. It also takes position in the room into account and tries its best to keep itself completely onscreen. You have to really want to get it to clip off the screen for it to happen
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Inccubus on July 23, 2009, 07:46:12 AM
In Reply To #30

The problem with your stairs and some ppl is pretty simple.
1) You are using a layout that was designed with passable stairs in mind. You'll probably have to make some significant changes to prevent problems.
2) The graphics you are using make ppl think they can go through the stairs. I strongly suggest changing the stair graphics to reflect this or most veterans will continue to have this issue. Another possible solution is to make the stairs to turn off collision detection if Simon is below a certain relative point.

My opinion on the night time darkness is that it is way too dark. And I can't agree with the argument that brightness of surrounding stuff effects visibility because my desktop is black. The background darkness is fine, but the blocks and objects shouldn't be as dark especially with such a bright moon visible on the screen. Also, the lanterns in the towns should be way brighter. They should provide illumination or not be present at all.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 23, 2009, 08:28:25 AM
In Reply To #31

So do you think the lanterns light should be bigger? or just brighter? And yes the light around dark things effects how dark they appear its an effect of the human eye. You can take a dark gray square and surround it with white and itll look black like 0,0,0 black. Theres plenty of examples in those visual gag flash animations and "IQ" tests. And every monitor calibration guide will tell you not to try to do it with light sources around the monitor or lights on in the room.

Anyway... you guys that think its too dark do you have CRT monitors? I shall tweak the darkness moar!
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 23, 2009, 07:23:19 PM
In Reply To #32

Suggestion:  The walkable tiles in the stage should have a different brightness level.  That way, you can have that 'night-time' look on the background tiles, but Simon (or, rather, the player) will not have issues traversing the platform elements.  I'm not saying super-duper-bright, but just less dim so you can still see the flooring.

'cuz otherwise, those woods are gonna be damn difficult (as difficult as in real life without a lantern).

Or, put a lantern on Simon like how they did it with Link in Twilight Princess or Yoshi in Yoshi's Island in dark regions.

I agree with Incubbus that if you changed the tiles on the stair graphics, it might make veterans 'click' in their mind that these are SotN-style 'hills',  and not really stairs like in the oldschool games.

I think the whipping error happened because of a popup from another application that happened momentarily while I was whipping (perhaps).

-Jorge
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 24, 2009, 03:58:55 PM
is this a better indication that you cant jump thru the stairs? (had to scrap the jumpthru stairs... waaaay too many issues)
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg521.imageshack.us%2Fimg521%2F4884%2Fscreamshot2.png&hash=6f5983357900a9471201df3442924a3a)

And... monsters!! Ahh!!
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg407.imageshack.us%2Fimg407%2F8127%2Fscreamshot1.png&hash=38258743d4bff2d19d8796ee4e79ef03)
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Inccubus on July 25, 2009, 09:49:50 AM
In Reply To #34

That's better, but it still needs a little something...
Like this maybe?
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi256.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fhh189%2Fkoala_knight%2Fscreamshot2edit.png&hash=465db2cf57a6bb2c9e3a2dc2faf15ea3)

Also, about the lanterns. They should be brighter, not bigger.
They look like they are dimming as it gets darker. I totally agree with Jorge about keeping the ground blocks and Simon brighter as it gets dark. It just makes it too not fun when you can barely see anything.

Oh, BTW I'm on a CRT.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 25, 2009, 10:20:45 AM
In Reply To #35

wtf I replied and got some white screen with some gibberish on it and my reply never got posted...

Anyway yeah I like that I think Ill go with that it looks good ty.

Ive already tweaked the lanterns lights at night and adjusted the settings for night. Im thinkin about makin light come from the windows at night too. I know everyone locks themselves inside at night to be safe from dracs minions but surely they dont sit around in the dark right?

Heres 2 pics of the new night settings 1st is normal night 2nd is "witching hours" from 10pm to 2am when enemies are 3x stronger than day
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg106.imageshack.us%2Fimg106%2F8127%2Fscreamshot1.png&hash=df91e210dbf384d732a335b7481f5398)

(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg401.imageshack.us%2Fimg401%2F4884%2Fscreamshot2.png&hash=dc540f8fdde0e8cced2cae1cbd401594)
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 25, 2009, 10:25:44 AM
Damn, Incubbus and I both wanted to help and he beat me to it!
Here's what I was thinking about.

See, Symphony has background objects as well as foreground tiles... which means it can create the illusion of 'hay guyz there's stairs here but they're in the background... the REAL Stairs/Hills are these'.

For example:
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inverteddungeon.com%2Fjorgefuentes%2Fimages3%2Fcv2new-mockup2.png&hash=680d642a1c343428eb550309fcd06077)

So I went and recreated this in your image from the Town.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 25, 2009, 11:29:40 AM
In Reply To #37

I get what your sayin about the visual clues but man those stairs are hideously ugly lol. No offense to you the sprite work is your usual fantastic job but they dont look good at all with the block colors. Right now Ive got it set up with Inccs suggestion and Im likin it.

The method you bring up is good but it looks a lil too cluttered for 8bit
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Giz on July 25, 2009, 11:49:23 AM
...They're better then what you already have and your edit so I don't see why you're complaining.  ::)
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 25, 2009, 12:04:36 PM
In Reply To #38

That's totally fine.  His stairs look pretty good as well.  I was just doing them the way the Castleroid games do them.  they make them very thick to purposefully let you know that they're solid objects.

Take a look at stair objects in AoS's "Inner Quarters", HoD's "Shrine of the Apostates", SotN's example above, or DoS, the area under the Condemned Tower, for other examples (DoS's area has the 'background stair' ones as well as the forground stair ones.

As for the quality of the stairs, I whipped them up (lol, vampire killer humor) in 10-15 minutes or so, so that's kinda irrelevant.  Ha ha ha!

@Giz:
Must you be an annoyance in every thread you reply in?  It's like you WANT to get banned.

Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 25, 2009, 04:54:27 PM
In Reply To #40

Well I made my own version like the ones you did. Its an "8bit" recolored version of the stairs you posted from SoTN
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg521.imageshack.us%2Fimg521%2F6943%2Fimage120.png&hash=5b183bd4393e4269f1cfe8d0af60b17b)

I still think its hideously ugly tho =/
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 25, 2009, 06:34:07 PM
Lawlz that's pretty good.
You gotta give the NES credit.  It's done some pretty stuff with only three colors per tile.

That's actually pretty alright, but I don't know if that type of stair would fit a town (might fit a mansion better).

Okay, so that's half of the problem solved.  The other half is how Simon rests on those stairs.

Right now you have him with his feet halfway out of the step, with his front foot on the stair.  I think for a more realistic look, you want to have him either with his sprite's center right on the stair, but such that the stair is in front of him (that's how SotN does it with Alucard when he runs up the stairs in some spots) or use his "Stair" NES animations only when he's on those slope platforms (like how Simon does it in Harmony of Dissonance's Boss Rush).
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 25, 2009, 06:52:24 PM
In Reply To #42

I think I still like Inccs better so Im gonna stick with it til somethin better comes along regardless of where that somethin comes from lol.

Your right about the stair animations tho the biggest problem is detecting when the players actually on those slopes not so much the animations
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 25, 2009, 08:13:27 PM
In Reply To #43

you have to program 'slopes' to be different objects than 'platforms' and assign them a collision point near their center, so that Simon knows when he's on one and no longer on one.

That'd also help with the animation problem.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 25, 2009, 08:27:21 PM
Jorge hit the nail on the head with the stage redesigning. Follow Jorge's idea, and elaborate on it.

Also Jorge is right on the slopes. Honestly though, something so simple...
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 25, 2009, 09:02:06 PM
In Reply To #44

that would work if they were stairs like the old games but these are only stairs cause they happen to be 45 degree angles. It has nothin to do with the object as to how its climbed. It can be any solid object with any sprite with any kinda raise or lower even half circles... hell move over its height pixel by pixel. It has nothin to do with the objects themselves... just the sprites which are invisible once the games runnin

In Reply To #45

and if its so fuckin simple lets see you do better mr know it all
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 25, 2009, 09:11:35 PM
Whoa whoa, I did not mean to cause animosity.  Calm down, guys.

@Aridale:
If what you're saying is true, then it seems to me like the problem would solve itself if you offset the hill/slope's location (its anchor point) 8 pixels to the left or the right of its graphical tile (depending on whether the stairs climb towards the left or the right) and that would place Simon's sprite right in the middle of 'em, thus causing him to look like he's halfway inside the stairs.

I deal with this problem when I was designing my homebrew.  We chose stairs over hills only for that oldschool feel, but we analyzed the problems for both methods.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Giz on July 25, 2009, 11:25:25 PM
Quote
@Giz:
Must you be an annoyance in every thread you reply in?
yeah

But in all seriousness, what little I played seemed pretty decently made. And while I didn't play much due to lag (not an issue of your engine but rather my computer), I got a good enough impression. The biggest fault I can see right now is more in the controls. In the future, I'd suggest either altering them or adding the option to configure your own control scheme. Another issue was that the view jumps around when you enter new rooms, like the church; my suggestion to fix this would be to monitor the view and assign it a specific location once you enter and either 'lock it' in place, or if the room is large, put it on an already defined path of movement.

It also looks like your character is 'falling' sometimes while he's walking down steps. It's very shaky. I'd suggest revising your code there. Out of curiosity, what method did you use to pull it off? I may be able to assist.

Quote
and if its so fuckin simple lets see you do better mr know it all
Slopes are actually a pretty simple matter once you know what you're doing, particularly with them at an already defined angle.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 26, 2009, 12:08:27 AM
Quote
@Giz:
Must you be an annoyance in every thread you reply in?

yeah

Whether you think you're funny or not, I don't think you're going to make it here much longer.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 26, 2009, 08:40:46 AM
In Reply To #48

The view does exactly what your sayin. The problem coulda been the lag you were talkin about. Its not noticeable on mine at all. The only place a see a slight "hitch" is changin rooms entirely. All the shops in Jova are actually in the same map as the rest of the town.

About the controls... was it the keys you didnt like? like how I used shift and control? I dont really play it with the keyboard mself unless Im just doin a quick test. I play it with a ps2 controller. It works aok with any of the joystick/controller mappin software. I use XPadder for everythin.

GMs joystick support is ass without dlls or addons and I dont really wanna mess with it. Im tryin to keep it as small and simple as possible.

About the stairs. I completely rewrote my slope findin code last night and got all the stair climbin animations workin. Heres a pic of movin on the stairs. The top 2 are stoppin in "good" positions where hes seated on the stairs exactly. The other 2 are when you stop in "bad" positions and hes not seated on the stairs quite right. Its still the same stairs as it was before so of course his visual position doesnt match the visual tiles 100% of the time.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg194.imageshack.us%2Fimg194%2F4651%2Fstairexample.png&hash=cddc61d792f8f9626f20bd58cad0eef7)

Is that what you were talkin about from HoD Jorge?
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Giz on July 26, 2009, 09:18:45 AM
Yeah, it's that you're using ctrl and shift. I'd recommend using A and S or Z and X (with the left key being jump and the right key being attack).

As for the view, I meant more along the lines of how it looks like this when you first enter the room:
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv493%2FGizmonicgamer%2FSIMONSETENR.png&hash=6da7b2a69b7346d4ac56eedcf80186b6)
Which doesn't really look that great. There's a large amount of useless black space, and half of the room itself isn't even in view.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Jorge D. Fuentes on July 26, 2009, 09:45:06 AM
In Reply To #50

In HoD, Simon's feet 'snap' to an 8x8 location on the stair grid, so that even if you're running up and down the stairs, it always moves you forward a bit so that your feet snap to it.

So Simon's feet are always on the right spot on the stair.  With a little work, you can polish the way you're doing it and it'll look awesome!

Also, I agree with Giz on both the controls set up as well as the view.  I was using Ctrl/Shift so much that it triggered the 'stickykeys' menu in Windows, which triggered the 'Simon's whip is outside of his body' glitch.

The view problem's is apparent in small rooms like the church and the shops/houses.  I suppose you could kill it by playing the game double-size and sticking to a 512/480 resolution or something.  I kinda like that it's big and open, but it does make for a somewhat disorienting view, the way the camera is centered on Simon...

In my homebrew, we had the camera follow the hero only when not near the edges of the stage.  This way, when you start the stage your camera 'snaps' to the edges' and it only moves if you move beyond that certin point.  With your large stage resolution that might not be feasable though.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 26, 2009, 03:41:38 PM
In Reply To #52

well hell if I was gonna make him snap exactly on the stairs locations why would have even used the SoTN style stairs in the first place? I woulda just used the oldschool stairs which Ive always despised. Whatd be the point in havin per pixel stairs if I was just gonna make him move 8x4 every step hes on em?

I can see the point about the controls tho I always turn sticky keys off so that didnt happen to me but I can see where it could. I was thinkin about a WASD control style. Maybe 1 and 2 on the numpad for attack and jump? Some ppl may be on laptops or somethin tho. Maybe like you said.. z and x for attack and jump and arrows for movement like most flash games. Thatd prolly help with enter vs shift problems with openin the inventory when you mean to attack and etc as well.

I know you guys say the view doesnt do what your talkin about but it DOES. I just dont have it workin 100% right now. If you move into the church itll lock so you cant move toward the right and make the screen scroll into the darkness. Same of the other shops. I just havent adjusted the Y heights in that demo. Its only workin on the X axis. I cant remember but that version might lock the Y axis too after you get to the center of the room. The entire town locks you Y view at the water the shops and church are below all that. It does work its just not exactly spot on in the demo.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 26, 2009, 03:48:51 PM
and if its so fuckin simple lets see you do better mr know it all

http://www.dimondsoft.com/castlevania/
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 26, 2009, 07:27:43 PM
In Reply To #54

ok... whats that spose to prove? Youve got the same stair movement mine had til I added the actual stair animations? You think yours is better cause its not 8bit? I dont get it
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Giz on July 26, 2009, 07:32:05 PM
Aridale, His engine is coded in C++ if I recall correctly, much more advanced and equally much more impressive, and he has stairs that work perfectly fine SOTN style.

His point was, you challenged him and he responded. And no offense intended, but his blows yours out of the water.

Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 26, 2009, 07:41:41 PM
In Reply To #56

oh if his is c++ then I agree... but I still dont see the difference in the stairs. The only difference is visual
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Giz on July 26, 2009, 07:47:19 PM
It also has varying angles, which is a trait that you have not shown possible with your engine, even if it was, i doubt it would be utilized.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 26, 2009, 07:58:30 PM
In Reply To #58

mine does... its pixel perfect slopes Ive mentioned it before. And no it wont be used cause Im makin CV2 so hows that matter?

And my chars CAN tell their on a slope see the pic above of Simon on the stairs. I already said I rewrote my slope code to include the actual stair animations
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: uzo on July 26, 2009, 07:59:11 PM
The only difference is visual

Take a better look.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Giz on July 26, 2009, 08:03:37 PM
Quote
mine does... its pixel perfect slopes Ive mentioned it before.
No it isn't. If the character "falls" at all while going down a slope and does not do it smoothly, it isn't.

Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 26, 2009, 08:18:44 PM
In Reply To #61

yes... it is... Just not in the demo thats out. I dunno how many times I gotta say it... I. rewrote. the. stair. code. to. include. the. stair. animations. not only is it smooth up and down the slopes he plays the stair animations now. Thats the last time Im sayin it.

As for this closer look I need to take show me an example. I dont see it. Your Richter goes up the same 45 degree angle slopes as my Simon the exact same way. So whatever your thinkin yours does over mine... Im not seein it
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Giz on July 26, 2009, 08:33:49 PM
-EDITED BY MODERATION-

No need to bark orders to others.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on July 26, 2009, 09:02:15 PM
In Reply To #63

theres no reason to prove the size/angle of the terrain... thats not relevant at all to CV2... which is the game Im makin. As for the smooth stairs... Youll see in the next demo. Id make a vid but the capture blows ass. The only game of any kind Ive ever been able to capture from is oblivion.

And why do I have to prove it? Your so convinced is his "perfect" have you played it? I havent seen a public demo and theres only 1 vid on the site. Everyones so convinced his is better than mine how come I havent played his? Mines in this thread for anyone that wants to try it. Sure the build is about a week old or so now but its there... publicly available

EDIT: Well like I said... the capture is ass but heres a vid. I think you can prolly tell the stair movement is smooth up and down.
http://www.mediafire.com/?yyyozovg52m
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Thaddeus on August 16, 2009, 11:24:54 AM
I'll have to check this out. Simon's Quest holds a special place in my heart. It was the first Castlevania I ever owned. Really great classic...

I'm sure you've played Dracula's Shadow. It and CastleQuest happen to be two of my favorite fan games. I've always wondered why more homebrewers don't do anything using Simon's Quest. And there are so many areas that Castlevania II could be improved upon, too...

The project looks great. Keep up the good work, and don't be discouraged by the negativity.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Inccubus on December 20, 2009, 01:30:27 PM
Indeed. You just keep on working on your project and listen only to the constructive criticism.
How's your progress coming along. I'm extra curious to see how your engine comes along as I have been picking at the original ROM for a few weeks now.
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on December 20, 2009, 05:29:15 PM
holy necro bump =D I havent actually worked on the engine in a while =/ The first mansions finished cept for... one thing... all the music and sound effects are in. Thats where I stopped. I went back and played it again yesterday after not seein it or touchin it for months... If I can find a good vid capture tool Ill get some vid of everything Ive got done so far
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: Aridale on December 26, 2009, 03:25:50 PM
FINALLY!!! Found somethin that can capture it just fine. Heres a link to the 1st vid of 4 in the playlist of a demo playthru of what I finished.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3nuqfRPfMA&feature=PlayList&p=9837A50DD1CDCD47&index=0

The quality is pretty horrible cause of youtubes conversion but its damn better than any of the captures I tried before
Title: Re: My CV2 Remake DEMO
Post by: MeSako on December 27, 2009, 03:02:10 PM
I have a question.. In the intro text shown in the video in the post above, why not tell the story of WHY Simon is going after Dracula??

Looks good this far BUT:
1: Gets far to dark at night.
2: The whip stays extended for to long after an attack.
3: Have the rooms appear in centre of the screen instead of the left, looks really weird now.

Other than that.. keep up the good work :)

PS.
This after I tried the demo in the first post!