Topic: teaser.

[KaZudra]

"Don't you realize, my bloodline is cursed."
-looks up at the sky-
"My forefather suggested my kind to hunt the creatures of the night and the lord of darkness, but what he never saw was centuries of pain, being an outcast, trained from childhood to hunt the night, being feared by the very people you protect... unable to finish the job... never living a normal life and watch your kin and children suffer the same fate."
-writhe in pain-
"That cursed whip only listens to it's "lover", the blood flowing through my veins, the color of my soul... she yearns still"
"Times are different now, don't you see?"
"Things are not so disparate, still a lineage of killers unknowing if the job will ever be done."
"No, I've chosen my fate. So did you!"
"Your choice is our bane, did you ever fathom that? I wanted to be a scholar! not a hunter!"
"Ever since Julie, you've been like this, come to your senses, we can still do this!"
-a moment of silence-
"The time is nigh, now strike me down"
-hesitant-
"I........no."
"It's too late for me, the ritual is almost complete, now do it!"
-teary eyed-
"You're the closest thing I ever had to a brother, and you want me to murder you?"
-breaking a heartfelt smile-
"You're the only one who can set us free..."
-long pause tension grows-
"I'll...see you on the other side, promise?"
"Always."
---------Off to Sleep---------

What do you think so far?

[Lelygax]

It is kinda mean that no one said anything about this script, what you are planning to do with it?

[KaZudra]

It's cool, I'm re-working it with the new script.
Legitimately working on a game is pretty hard work, especially when there's work and distractions (playing other games).
it's more of a pre-alpha draft. I was just looking for some criticism to improve on the writing, I don't want it to be too deep it's cringe-worthy, nor do I want it too shallow to make it read out to be a typical FPS story.

Still, there is plenty in the works... But I really, REALLY should cook up some graphic development, but art direction is a hard one-way task.

Best I can say is that it's being re-worked to be familiar enough to be castlevania, but different enough to be recognized as-is. So that means Dracula and Belmont needs tweaking to get into cousinhood rather than uncanny valley, kinda like Axiom Verge is to Metroid.

[Lelygax]

Well sounds like a prologue to me, a really deep one. If you accept Castlevania as an example this script would fit PoR or OoE writing level, at their tragic moments, since they aren't too "text heavy" apart from these kind of moments that really tries to express something.

I would like to hear more opinions from more experienced and well versed people here, in english and in writing, since I too wanna to expand my world in that area. While some can say "read book X or watch movie Y" I prefer feedback than only trying to learn without feedback.

I can't do much about art, since I can only draw stick men and edit sprites slowly. But I know that you can do awesome edits and art, your deviantart shows it well.

[KaZudra]

Here a a few Design Concepts on paper;

The Dragon-pyres: Vampires are a loose staple to Castlevania, I want to bring in a few things new to vampires as they are, well, fictional. So the higher ranking Vampires are part of the Order of The Dragon, which those vampires take more draconic aspects, as Dracula can go full on dragon, lessers will have dragon like abilities.

Demonic Vampires: Here's a twist, when a Vampire is exposed to sunlight the burst into flames, What if the vampire doesn't die by fire but rather reveal their true demonic form? as the veil of darkness allows them to keep a human form.

Living Castle: "This castle is a living creature of chaos" (or something like that) why not make it more literal? When I played GTA4 and seen the heart of happiness attached to chains, my first words were "That's some real castlevania shit right there." how about giving the architecture of the castle some living elements? Giving the player more than just defeat dracula, but the castle itself as well.

The Dragon's head: a vision, the Staircase your winding up is a spiraling one, in the background is a dragons head, as you scale up it gets closer as your final fight will take place there, this is a highly technical one since I have no idea how to make it happen without 3d modeling involved.

Megaman elements - Spells in metroidvania games (especially DoS) are mostly throwaway, I'm thinking of implementing just a few that act like megaman powerups that are much more useful in both exploration and boss fights.

The Weapon - Sword + shield + Whip = This thing.

[zangetsu468]

The Dragon-pyres: Vampires are a loose staple to Castlevania, I want to bring in a few things new to vampires as they are, well, fictional. So the higher ranking Vampires are part of the Order of The Dragon, which those vampires take more draconic aspects, as Dracula can go full on dragon, lessers will have dragon like abilities.

I think "Dragpyres" sounds catchier. Dragon-pyres is a bit longwinded.

The Dragon's head: a vision, the Staircase your winding up is a spiraling one, in the background is a dragons head, as you scale up it gets closer as your final fight will take place there, this is a highly technical one since I have no idea how to make it happen without 3d modeling involved.

Make it a stone staircase and make it come alive when the top is reached and you could have a full blown Medusa-titan-boss battle.

[coinilius]

Dragpyres kind of sound like a Vampire themed drag-revue though... Dracopyres maybe?  Just use the 'Oder of the Dragon' name rather than any shortened version?

Like the idea of sunlight revealing a Vampire's true form, that under darkness they can maintain a human disguise... that is a very interesting take on the mythos.

[Lelygax]

I like these ideas and the living castle thing because I also have this idea. But instead of GTA4 it was from LoS2 trailer and SotN dialogue, also a bit of AoS. This would be better used as a twist.

[KaZudra]

Castlevania is kinda lacking creative tweaking IMO..
At this time, aside from LoS it's been mostly same-old same-old,
Something has to be fresh and new added, not in the concept, the journey.
Time to shake things up a bit, bring in outside elements and implement them as if it was always there.
Legends that are retold over and over need something unique to give it identity.
Every Castlevania has something that makes it stand out...
Very few break the mold enough though,
At this moment, I'm in development hell learning new things, experimenting, compiling concepts,
No guarantee if any of it see the light of day...
In the end, sometimes things get lost...
Afterall, it is the very nature of time itself.

2 things that has to be said.

Less is more, but more in areas will always be appreciated.
I'm making this game rather simple, but not without challenge and a level of complexity and ambition..
Vibrant Colors with gothic architecture, and creative spins.
Entertaining story with a gameplay that is fun,
Such challenges I face while making games.

[KaZudra]

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[VladCT]

Nice sprite, though I'm not too keen on the outlining.

[KaZudra]

Nice sprite, though I'm not too keen on the outlining.

I thank Lelygax for them, he found the incompleted sheet I posted awhile back, which I lost. but there were plenty to kickstart the project again, I just need more tile and backgrounds to make more interesting level designs that aren't just remixes of older tiles.

The background tiles aren't for show, they are a highlight of an alternate route.

[theplottwist]

Question that has nothing to do with your project: What font did you use to write "Accursed Seal"?

[KaZudra]

Question that has nothing to do with your project: What font did you use to write "Accursed Seal"?

This.Also, this is why I'm asking for backgrounds and tiles, the only graphical resources I have at the moment are a custom simon and whatever I can get on the web.

Also to note, the Day/Night transitions will not be a mechanic BUT will be present for show. Building the game via Unity at 720p native.
Sprites will be scaled 4x Native for default, but the 1x and 2x variants will be for perspective and background.