Topic: Just another Castlevania fan-game...

[theplottwist]

I don't have a review per se to make. Just some points:

The good:

-LOVED the lighting on the candles. Loved.
-Loved how the flames move when the enemy is destroyed.
-The movement is spot on. I felt like playing Adventure Rebirth all over again.
-Loved how you're trying to implement Rondo's stair mode. But right now you can't jump onto the stair, just off of it.

The bad:

-The hitboxes are weird, specially with the bats. On more than one occasion I had a bat hurt me even though it was flying way above Simon's head.

And I have one suggestion - use this arranged soundtrack with your game to give it more personality (click the gray button, then click the "click here to start download")

[X]

The bats were causing me problems too. The gameplay is really good. So good in fact that I was hoping to smash a wall open for some meat. There was only one potion of heath recharge I found along the way. But I feel there could be another one since those 'bats' like to take lots of cheap shots at me 

There is one other thing I should mention before finishing up this post. The controller. It's nice to know I can use it however when I was taking hits the rumble would activate and it just felt irritating. The real irritating part came when after I died the rumble would not stop. I had to unplug my pad to make it stop. Now this could be a problem on my end but if not do you think you could remove the rumble? I just don't thinks it's necessary for a classic game like this one. It's just not doing any welcoming favors.

[Lanforse]

Ah, the bats. Sorry, I really have wrong hitboxes for them, already fixed it now.

theplottwist, you're the first man who played my game, thank you! As for soundtrack, I'm appreciate your help, but the soundtrack for my project is already decided. I have every song for every part of the game that I have planned, and it fits perfect for me.

X, thanks for the gamepad testing. I've already thinked about removing vibration, just wanted to show it to the public. It seems I can't impement it properly, so I think I will remove it in the next beta. Oh, and THERE IS chickens in the walls, the potions isn't the only way to heal yourself.

[eryson]

I've played the whole thing and it seems good!! the athmosphere is a trong point in your game!! 
but i've found some issues..

*In the Simon's walking animation, there's a Gray thing in the simon's chin, what not supposed to have.

*in the Merman's animation the order of the sprites playing is 1,2,3,1,2,3, making it awkward. The correct is 1,2,3,2,1,2,3....

*if you manage to reach the first boss and dies in the battle, you will return to the beginning of the stage, but the music of the second session (the beggining) will not play. (was supposed to have some checckpoint in the stage?)

[Lanforse]

eryson, thanks for testing!
I have fixed the Merman's animation and the switching of the music. There's also bug in the same place - when you die on this battle, the boss music starts playing again instead of "game over" music, I'm fixed this too.
It seems I don't paid enough attention to Mermans, how the hell I didn't noticed their bad animation..? They were one of my first enemies at all.
The "thing" in the Simon's chin exists in the sprite sheet that Jorge D. Fuentes gave me. In the first page of this thread you can see his gif animation, I think it's a part of his clothing or something like that.

[X]

Oh, and THERE IS chickens in the walls, the potions isn't the only way to heal yourself.

Sweet! Time to start breaking s**t. 

[Lanforse]

You shouldn't hit every wall in your way. I've made it not so obvious, but you should find it accidentally in your way through the second level.

[Lanforse]

Hey, everyone! I want to test something, it's about the level design and the player's progression. Can anyone help me?
Imagine you've got a situation like in the attached image below. The white arrow shows how you're walked here. Can you tell me where and how you will go next?

[eryson]

I think that can be hard to say without knowing what kind of stage it's supposed to be
So, What you're planning to this stage?? a Dungeon?? Cavern?? 

[Lanforse]

I think that can be hard to say without knowing what kind of stage it's supposed to be

It seems you don't understand me. Everything that you need is on the screenshot. You can see some platforms, some deadly (instant kill, yes) spikes and few candles. You had come from above so you should continue moving down. I just want to know which path player will see and choose.

[Belmontoya]

We need to know if the player can drop straight down through the platform he's standing on or if we are forced to jump over the spikes to platform with the lantern.

If Simon can drop through that platform then of course the player will take the safer route.

[Lanforse]

*sigh* Nevermind. Looks like the little bottom square platform confused everyone.
As can be seen, the next move is to get to the bottom platform with the torch in it. You can't drop straight through the platform, so there's only 2 visible way to do it.
The first one is to do a straight but dangerous jump above the spikes. The second one is to go back to the platform near the lamp and drop down from the right side.
I just wanted to know which of this two paths will you see, and if you can see both, which of them will you use.

[X]

Unless Simon's jumping is good enough to clear the spikes then I would take another route starting on the platform with the torch underneath. I would then drop to the next platform to my left, then move over to my right so I'm facing the torch then drop to the bottom platform from there. This way I'll avoid the spikes altogether.

[Lanforse]

X, that's the second path, good.

I'm making the caves location now. There will be pretty dark and lots of platforming stuff, but considerably less enemies than before. To be truth, I haven't a lot of new ideas for this place, so I really have some problems with the design. But as always, I will try my best.

[X]

If you're having trouble with level designs you could always examine Videogame maps; specifically those of the CV series. That should help you get a better idea of what you could do to help you make your game.