Topic: ANATHEMA - Classicvania Coming to Steam

[X]

I do agree, the stairs are from decades ago game design and leave you vulnerable.

That was one of the points to having stairs was to challenge the player in some other way. I personally would like to see them stay since having stairs function like ramps is somewhat cheap. But that's just me.

Slight tease with the website...http://www.anathemagame.com

Nice tease 

[piscesdreams]

Don't get me wrong, I like the good ole stairs in traditional Castlevania games. But with the change of making gameplay much faster and more acrobatic, the stairs create a really soul sucking break of pace. Additionally, they have been removed to help this game stand more on its own without having too many Castlevania tropes.

Yes, essentially Death is our big bad and a vampire is his minion, but we've fleshed out the back stories tremendously and neither operates like Death or Dracula in game. Originally the game was a shameless clone, but when we saw there was actual interest in the game and on Steam especially, we knew we needed to make it stand out to a point where it can't be called a blatant rip off.

I've been working on this revamp from the ground up since May, and will have some actual in game stuff to show off in a while. I'd just rather wait til it has more coats of polish for a demo.

[X]

I agree that it's a good idea to take your time to deliver a product worth showing. Too many companies nowadays like to throw their stuff into the consumer market before it's finished and then release patches and DLCs after the fact    If this were still the pre-internet days they would not be able to pull off such cheap stunts.

[Belmontoya]

love your designs but I gotta say I'm not a fan of the hood.

Wearing a hood isn't practical for battle. It blocks peripheral vision and hinders hearing. I get it if you want to turn down the sexual tones. But this is over kill IMO.

Your first costume wasn't overtly sexual btw. Simon in CV4 wears skimpy barbarian clothes and no one complained because it's a guy. I thought you were going for that look. Sexy can still be tasteful. I think your last costume had a perfect balance, but just needed color.

[piscesdreams]

The new design is also an attempt to also stray away from the stereotypes of Castlevania character design. There are plenty of games where a character wears a hood, even ye olden knights wore chain mail hoods at times. Another reason why I'm not as worried about complete and absolute realism is because this is a video game that deals with the subject of a human inheriting the powers of Death himself that involves magical abilities.

And finally, the MAIN reason, it's far easier to animate the bangs than long flowing hair.

[Gren4]

I apologize in advance for this long post, but if Pisces can do it, so can I.

I know I'm “just the composer,” but as someone who has been heavily involved with the revamp of Anathema through the idea process, I thought I'd offer my two cents worth on why we decided to revamp it in the first place.

The Greenlight campaign and the demo level that Pisces made really opened our eyes to a lot of what we were doing wrong. As we would play the demo with feedback in mind, we thought, “What can we take from this? Do we want to appeal to Castlevania fans, a wider player-base, or both?”

Ultimately, we chose both.

Not everyone is a Castlevania super-fan. I would argue that most gamers today don't even remember what Castlevania once was. Instead, they may only remember the series in its Metroid-vania or Lords of Shadow iterations. That's unfortunate (in Pisces and my opinions). Our intention was to bring the old-school, level-based design of CV back to the masses, all while giving Anathema its own identity.

The problem was, after that initial demo, we realized that it didn't inject nearly enough of its own identity. So in May, we started from the ground up with questions like, “What can we retain, what can we get rid of, and what can we add to make this its own thing?”

Pisces and I were both in rock bands several years ago. Usually when you start a band, you begin by playing covers, or other peoples' songs. The main purpose of this is to hone your skills – your ability to play. For two creative people like us, you eventually get bored with that; you want to create something that you can stand by and say, “I made that. It's mine.”

Analogous to that, Pisces has made some amazing fan games over the years. I beta tested “The Bloodletting,” as a matter of fact. As I was playing that game, I thought, “Dude, why don't you do your own thing? This is great, but you're having to live and create within the confines of something that's already been established.” Of course, I didn't say anything, because I didn't know where he wanted to take his developing skills at that point. All in all though, I'm personally glad that Anathema is branching out.

I don't say any of this to discourage anyone from making a fan game – quite the contrary. I encourage fan games. Like with playing covers, it helps in honing your skills. But at the same time, I also highly encourage the desire to make something your own. It's very well known to all of you, as well as the two of us, that Konami's ship is sinking fast, so fan games are something that could very well be the only thing which keeps Castlevania – at least in the traditional sense – alive. And again, this was the original intention behind Anathema. But at the end of the day, just like Pisces said, Anathema was simply becoming “Castlevania with a new coat of paint.” We wanted something more.

So with these things in mind, we began to rebuild and rethink the entire shebang. In the new version, you'll still see familiar things that are inspired by Castlevania – namely the gothic aesthetic and vibe, and the main character's primary weapon being “whip-like.” Beyond that, we drew inspiration from all sorts of games we loved from the past, all while putting our own stamp on it. In the end, however, Anathema is its own beast.

In the coming months, Pisces will probably begin trickling out a slow drip of information – probably some more screenshots, videos, (maybe) some music, etc. - all starting with his new design of the main character several posts above.

We sincerely hope that you enjoy what we're working on, as we're trying to do our dead-level best to deliver a game that strikes a balance between an homage to the games of our past, yet is still something that you've never played before. And again, we both appreciate the continued feedback and support!

-Gren

[Belmontoya]

Hey Gren!

Nice post.

You and are not so different. I'm also the composer of a game: Migs sequel to the Lecarde Chronicles. I understand where you're coming from in every way as I also come from a rock band background!

Mig and I also have an original game in the works called Wallachia. It's based on the real history of Vlad the Implaer. But I digress.

My 2 cents is that a little practical sexiness with the costume is a good thing. More importantly I vote against the hood. It's a side scroller game, you'll basically be looking at the side of a hood the whole game. Plus it seems odd to have the protagonist and antagonist both in hoods.

I get the hair physics problem. My suggestion is to give her a short haircut. Think Olivia Wilde in tron with a Joan of arch twist. I was looking forward to the female protagonist in this game and it just looks like you guys are hiding her now.

I love the new weaponry and armor. But from the waste down I prefer the old costume.

I love your project and mean absolutely no offense. I'll be happy either way. I'm just throwing a suggestion out there.

I'll be keeping an eye on this! Keep fighting the good fight brothers!

[Belmontoya]

I forgot to mention that I know you want to avoid the Castlevania stereo type, and I totally get that. But with this design you'll just end up getting Assassin's Creed comparisons anyways. So it doesn't really solve that problem.

But something like short hair has never been done in CV to my knowledge. You could even go nuts and make her bald. lol... I think I was joking on that last part.

Sorry, I can sense myself getting annoying so I'll shut up about the hood.

Let me just say on another note that Death currently looks absolutely fabulous! I love the color you gave him. I've never seen him in color before with a clean ornate design like that. It's not very often that you see an original looking Death these days. :-)

[X]

I agree with Belmontoya. In the attempt to make this game stand out more on its own you might be damaging it in ways not yet considered until it's too late to revert. With the hood and all that it does look more and more like assassin's creed territory. If it's inspired by Castlevania and that hype train has already left the station? Then let it be so. Otherwise you'll risk pulling off a J.J. Abrams stunt where the damage will be far worse then if you simply just stuck to your guns. There are ways of differentiating your game from Castlevania. It will just require a little more time for thought.

[piscesdreams]

Well, here's the thing, the game hasn't garnered press and while it is greenlit, I've seen better numbers. So at this stage it really isn't going to be damaging because it isn't exactly well known yet.

Regarding the short hair, I personally do not like short hair on women so this is a personal preference for me. However, this is the design that we have decided upon and will be maintaining this design throughout development. If we keep going back and redesigning things we will never make progress.

Just wait til you guys see the new stuff in action.

[eryson]

....Or she can down the hood during the gameplay, i will like to see her beautiful face during the game!

[piscesdreams]

That's where the cutscenes come in

[piscesdreams]

We wanted to share a track from the Anathema OST while I continue working on things for the big slew of updates coming. Gren has been working incredibly hard on the OST and this one is too good to not share. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.

[X]

Nice track!    The main theme of the music is not overshadowed by the guitar in any way which works out very well.

[Lelygax]

You've hooded her so she resembles more Death? While I don't like it too much (more because it covers almost all her face and AC's vibe) I think that you will make something surprising in the end, just take care to doesn't forget what made Castlevania good, because if you ignore that too it will be difficult to notice the homages without being a CV fan. 

I like how she reminds me of this enemy, Night Stalker/Zeldo: