Topic: Castlevania LoD 2D homebrew anyone?

[Aridale]

crystals never felt right to me. It just doesnt feel like CV without hearts

[uzo]

Hearts are the traditional candle drops. Its been so for generations, and Bloodlines eliminating them was lame. You just don't mess with series staple icons.

[Archdemon]

alright. decided, hearts are comin back. i'll change the list.

i'm going to keep the white 'save' crystals though. i'll make them look cooler, like part of a fountain or sculpture or something, and when you save, they do something similar to what they do in the 2d castlevanias.

ok, next i want to discuss whether the music remixes should retain the 'ambience' of the originals, or to be more traditional styled. the disadvantage of making the music less ambient would be its detrimental effect on the the horror theme.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

In Reply To #18

I have MP3 arrangements of "The Sinking Old Sanctuary" (the Art Tower), and "WatchTower" (The Castle Wall).

Let me know if you want 'em.

[Archdemon]

In Reply To #18

I have MP3 arrangements of "The Sinking Old Sanctuary" (the Art Tower), and "WatchTower" (The Castle Wall).

Let me know if you want 'em.

thanks man, i'll keep that in mind. your remixes are awesome.

btw, the remixes in the homebrew gotta have a consistent style, and i actually need a remix of every single song in the game plus a few more i guess.
i just wouldn't want to group your remixes alongside a ton of amateur ones.

about how long does it usually take you to make each remix?

[uzo]

In some ways the lack of music in CV64 was kind of lame. It seemed to be more lazy than lending to the atmosphere. Music can add more atmosphere than silence. Even if its ambient music, or just something simple.

[Archdemon]

hm, i guess SotN styled remixes would be the way to go. i'll probably use the original soundtrack first to see how ambient music would fit in 2d, and then maybe make a switch to a more SotN-like style.
regarding this, i'll probably rely more on the graphics, and the color pallet to express the horror mood.

anyway, lets discuss something more productive, um, about the improved subweapon upgrade system. the flaw i see is that if you want to switch your subweapon, you have to start collecting all over again, to upgrade your subweapon. perhaps i could switch it with a subweapon 'training' system where you have all of the subweapons to begin with but just 'upgrade' them from finding more throughout the game?

also, should i keep the 'powerups'?

another question: should the game be cross platform, or is just windows fine?

[Aridale]

In Reply To #22

if you could get it to run on psp too thatd be the shit. =D

[Archdemon]

In Reply To #23

lol. we'll see.
i guess cross-platform games attract more players...

alright then, in that case i'll use sdl. its gonna be tough, but its the best solution for cross-platforming. also, there are ways to port it to psp (taking your suggestion seriously here  ). ok, i've got some learning to do 

[uzo]

I suggest not worrying about multiple platforms. The likely hood of you getting even one working single platform demo is low. Try just getting anything working. Don't set your goal too high, or it'll never happen.

There are only an exceptional minority who can really make a large feature filled game with no budget and spare time.

You cannot make a game on a whim. It is something that must be in your blood. Something that you are completely deticated to. It is a monumental amount of work, and if you dont love every minute of it, you will fail to reach your goal.

As much as I hate to say it, using limited, "quick & dirty", and "do it for you" programs like Game Maker or Multimedia Fusion might be a better route for you to go. You cant just "learn SDL & C++" in a few weeks. Its a very long process, that could take years on your own.

Though, if you really use your spiral energy, maybe you can become one of the minority who can do the impossible, see the unseeable, and break the unbreakable.

[Archdemon]

In Reply To #25

awesome way to put it. 

i completely understand what you're saying, and its true that i'm only halfway through learning c++, but if you can spare some faith in my abilities, i'll dedicate my best effort to this project. learning stuff that i'm psyched about is one of my strong points. 

well then, i'll see what i can do...

[Aridale]

The biggest problem isnt dedication its burn out and roadblocks. Ive started countless projects and havent finished a single one all because Ive either got completely burned out and lost interest or hit some kinda roadblock that I couldnt get around and completely drained all my interest in continuing. I dont just mean my own games like your wantin to make here but everything including this and mods for other games (Ive a shit ton of stuff for Oblivion)

[uzo]

The biggest problem isnt dedication

Ive either got completely burned out and lost interest or hit some kinda roadblock that I couldnt get around and completely drained all my interest in continuing.

This is where dedication comes in. If you have it, you can forge your way through road blocks. If you do not have it, you quit.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

The weapon upgrade system of LoD was great.
The way you should have it is, the game remembers whether you're Lv2 or Lv3 at a Subweapon, unless you die.

If you save, it still remembers (unlike the real game in the N64, which would forget about your upgrade, much to my chagrin).

That means that if you collect three of every subweapon, you should be able to switch between 'em all by picking up a fourth, and they'd still be powered up.  Hopefully you won't die though... 'cuz then you'd lose all the upgrades, and that would suck.

[uzo]

Also would be cool if your last sub weapon stays on the stage for a little while like Dracula X. I hate to get a knife by accident when i had a triple cross.