Topic: Castlevania LoD 2D homebrew anyone?

[X]

ok, another thing i'm wondering about is whether i should keep the classic 'powerups' from the original, or should i use levels and experience points like any other metroidvania?

I'd hold off on the metroidvania thing for this project. Personally I'd like to see it as much akin to LoD as possible in order to help preserve what the game was. Not only to us as fans but also to the game itself. Just have power-ups along the way as they did in LoD or in a similar case, the classicvanias. If you need a good reference to how a 2D version of LoD would work out, then go play Rusty for the PC98. Like LoD you need keys to help you progress and you do find yourself backtracking throughout the level you're in, in order to proceed onwards. For the graphics you should check out The Spriter's Resource. They have ripped the graphics for CV64/LoD. Backgrounds, items, text, etc. They may or may not be what you want, but it won't hurt to peruse.

[Phil Belmont]

I did a new one !

This time 1st Boss in ''Forest of Silence''



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I will do some on my free time 

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[Arcraith]

yo. I'm actually the guy who started this thread, er, is it two years ago? 
Sorry it must have seemed like I was talking big about making the CV:LoD remake, but honestly one thing led to another, I was living overseas at the time, and then I had to move back and afterwards got embroiled in exam hell, then started my first year of doing engineering at uni, but believe me when I say that I've been thinking about this project on and off ever since I stopped posting. One of the reasons I signed back up to the forums was because Phil here necroed this thread and I was still subscribed. Well done Phil

So lately I've found myself some free time (it is the summer break here at the moment) and I decided that its time I got back into honing my amateur game dev skills. Up till when I last posted I'd been using stuff like Game Maker though, and I thought that I'd like to use this remake as an opportunity to try a more programming intensive method, since I am studying computer engineering anyway, itd be a big help to me.

So in the last couple of weeks or so, I've picked up C# and decided to use Microsoft XNA as the basis of my future 2D game projects. The only drawback is that the amount of stuff to learn and code is monumentally larger than, say, GM. At the moment I'm working on a tile-based game engine and a level editor to go with it, and though I'm well underway with that, it will be some time before I'm able to actually start on the remake, which I plan to have as my first project using the engine.

I must say I immensely enjoyed the n64 games regardless of what noises of derision anyone may care to make, and I have a good idea of how I envision a 2D remake of it in play. In the meanwhile if anyone has any general ideas, or is keen to help on anything except the coding (for now anyway), I'd really appreciate it. I started some threads in the General Topics section about death pits, face-on doors, best aspect ratios, and so on with this project in mind, so I'd be keen to see some discussion there! (or here if this case of thread necromancy will be overlooked  )

Something I want to discuss right away is a revamp to the subweapon system. The subweapons seemed to be the most interesting part out of the rather mediocre battle system in LoD, where the more of the same subweapon you collected, the stronger they became. Can anyone suggest any improvement on this?

And although I do want the remake to be faithful to the originals, I don't want this to be a graphical remake only in the sense that it is a transition to 2D, but maybe even a reinterpretation or overhaul of some parts of the game which could be better. As for the story and setting, I believe only some of the dialogue needs rewriting.

[TheouAegis]

Well I'm with the guy that said keep it a linear platformer. Just because SOTN was metroidvania ddin't mean LOD was going to be one in concept. Dracula's Curse wasn't a metroidvania even though Simon's Quest was, so the logic there kinda fails. There was no reason if they wanted a MetroidVania that they couldn't have done it a la Mario64/PoR.

I was going to have upgradable subweapons in my game (if i ever make it). Since it'll be a sequel to LoI, boss crystals will upgrade the subweapons. You can either just make the subweapons deal more damage, or do like LoI and have them change form too.

[X]

Jorge hasn't mentioned anything in this thread about Necromancy and it's been up 'n running for a while. So it's not something to worry about right now. In terms of the sub weapons... I don't see how they can be upgraded any more then they were in LoD. while it's true that LoI had the spell crystals, and depending on which crystal was equipped would allow for a different sub attack. In the end it's your call as you know what you want. 

[Arcraith]

He did:

I can certainly make the sprite.
That old sprite of mine needs some heavy work!
Also, Holy Thread Necromancy, Batman!

Anyway I thought maybe since LoD doesn't have the double and triple shot items, I could add those, and perhaps have it so that you can have all types of subweapons on you at all times and can switch between them like Julius can in the Sorrow games.
Also I was thinking of extending the types of subweapons beyond just the standard, that is including stuff like the bouncy crystal thing, the ashes of saints whatever its called, and stuff like that.

[X]

I just had a thought: You start out with all your sub-weapons, however you can upgrade them by collecting more of the same that you have equipped. I'll explain better; You have the Axe currently selected. You find an Axe sub-weapon after destroying a torch or candle. You collect the Axe and your sub-weapon becomes more powerful just like in LoD. And if you select another sub-weapon from your inventory you can upgrade them as well by collecting the same sub-weapon icon. And by bringing in the multiple shots as you mentioned you can throw more then one. Also by adding in all the other sub-weapons from SotN which you also mentioned, you could have them power up as well. this would allow you to get creative with them at a higher level of power.

[Arcraith]

Good idea and perhaps the more of a certain subweapon you obtain, the harder it is to obtain another one of the same type, and sometimes there will be some free subweapons sitting in difficult to reach places, and the player would feel like taking the risk to go and get them since they get increasingly rare. Perhaps you could even buy them from Renon at gradually increasing prices.
And in addition to a button to switch between the subweapons, different subweapons could be assigned to different keys. Though I do want to design the control system so that the game is able to be played using a gamepad, so might have to cut down on the hotkeys.

@TheouAegis:
I definitely agree that it should largely be a linear platformer, however some parts of the original game require backtracking and stuff which is interesting. For example the Forest of Silence where you have to backtrack to open gates, and the Villa where you do a lot of walking back and forth getting keys and activating events like the one with Rosa and stuff like that. And there is a lot of backtracking possibility with the Sun/Moon card system which could be expanded on. In a way its a little like Ecclesia and PoR where there are these small self contained metroidvanias. An idea I want to take from CV2 is that enemies get stronger and more plentiful at night, I don't know whether this is already the case the in 64 games.

Something I definitely want to preserve from the original is the slightly creepy atmosphere. Most of the later metroidvanias lack this sort of feeling, which I think all Castlevanias could really benefit from. I think its largely to do with the music and level design, the music which is really ambient and not upbeat like many of the tunes in other games.
And I think its reinforced by the slightly difficult control system, causing you to feel the tension while playing like the older games. Also the main characters aren't portrayed as nor play like uberbadass heroes who kick everything ass.
Also, the 64 games are pretty much the only ones which include lots of actual vampire enemies, which provides some creepiness because of the aristocratic horror setting. Pretty much the 64 games just had a darker setting, and that made them more like what I believe any CV should be like.

Also, skeleton motorcyclists are just plain win.

[TheouAegis]

I'm on my 3DS so this will be slow. °з°

Drac's Curse had backtracking in the clocktower stage. ReVamp said it was the same stage but with a door where blanks were and blanks where doors were. But it had two copies of the rooms for both directions. Might take a little planning to pull off.

[Arcraith]

hm I might play through that again to see what you mean.

One thing I kind of need to decide now is the screen res of the game, the aspect ratio and the tile dimensions, so I can streamline the editor progress a bit. I was thinking about making it 5:3 with a native resolution of 800x480 with tiles of 16pixels square. How does that sound?