[Sliver X]

Vengeance on Hell was what inspired me to to total conversion style hacks like Dragoon X Omega. If I had spare time I'd contribute music or something to this.

[Sinis]

Beginning to work on the Clock Tower level to make it into a Mountain side.  Its going to be interesting to edit the world map via the route selection screen when it comes down to it since it relies on multiple same sprites.  The part that I'm concerned about is where you escape the clock tower and the map shakes then leads up to the Clock Tower crumbling.  My objective is to edit literally everything within the ROM so I'll have to see on how creative I can get when the time comes to edit that section.  reVamp doesn't offer to edit it so I'll rely on YYCHR and what happens in real time game play after completing the level.










I'm still messing around with sprites so its not final yet.  I have the main majority of the stuff on what I need put in so now I just need to add extra stuff to make it look like an actual environment and to put those animated sprite sections to use.  May be simple stuff in the end but hoping to at least nail a decent plausible atmosphere for the level.

Vengeance on Hell was what inspired me to to total conversion style hacks like Dragoon X Omega. If I had spare time I'd contribute music or something to this.

For some reason, Vengeance on Hell is probably my favorite Castlevania 2 hack out there.  I really want to redo that with Ballzysoft's permission along with the other people that contributed to it as I found some bugs within the ROM when climbing up the stairs it would sometimes reset the game to the title screen and it was something else in some mansion that it would do the same thing.  For contributions I shall leave that decision up to you sir.

It would be cool if they were public so others could take advantage too. Or if you don't want this thread clogged up we could start a separate thread like the one that exists as a catch-all for Persona 3/4 research. I'm surprised by how few notes I have found for this game considering how important it is.

Stupid question.  Which section within the community forums should that be posted under?  I did a quick gander around and could not find it though I shall look again in case I over read by accident.

[Grimlock]

Something to consider:

You may be up against limitations in the game itself but if possible I'd recommend revisiting the areas that have a great deal of repletion and maybe work in some different tiles or even modify your graphics to better utilize black.  One of the secrets to working around the NES's limited tile availability is to utilize black where ever possible.  Your columns in the background look good and do successfully utilize black, you can use this technique in your foreground graphics as well.  Also you don't have to completely fill the areas that are solid such as platforms and walls, you can fade into black with transitional tiles, like the area between a lite surface and shadowed dark area.

Let me know if that makes sense, I can elaborate more if need be.

[SunGodPortal]

Stupid question.  Which section within the community forums should that be posted under?  I did a quick gander around and could not find it though I shall look again in case I over read by accident.

It was in the ROM Hacking section.

Persona 3+4 Hacking

I like the format of it. The OP is updated from time to time and that helps keep things organized.

[Sinis]

Something to consider:

You may be up against limitations in the game itself but if possible I'd recommend revisiting the areas that have a great deal of repletion and maybe work in some different tiles or even modify your graphics to better utilize black.  One of the secrets to working around the NES's limited tile availability is to utilize black where ever possible.  Your columns in the background look good and do successfully utilize black, you can use this technique in your foreground graphics as well.  Also you don't have to completely fill the areas that are solid such as platforms and walls, you can fade into black with transitional tiles, like the area between a lite surface and shadowed dark area.

Let me know if that makes sense, I can elaborate more if need be.

I was trying to make it feel like the player was traversing through a type of limited pathway through the mountain side.  Something like making the person feel that they are limited in space in certain areas but I'll definitely take your suggestion into consideration.  Thanks for the input.

It was in the ROM Hacking section.

Persona 3+4 Hacking

I like the format of it. The OP is updated from time to time and that helps keep things organized.

Thanks for that.  I'll most likely start the thread about it tomorrow evening as I'll get stuff together.  I had some notes written down but they're nowhere to be seen.  Wasn't much but no biggie to regain all the info as I didn't have much.  The main majority of it from my end would most likely be small stuff like which enemies share color palettes, reVamp guides from stage to stage, YYCHR info, etc.  I'm gonna document everything that I find because there are some stuff that I literally found in YYCHR that were blocks that even I didn't know.  Came across this issue while editing the Clock Tower level and seems there is a little 8x8 section that was a block.  I can't recall any area in Clock Tower that used that tiny spot for a solid block.  Gonna play that level tomorrow on the original game and see if I can find it.

[SunGodPortal]

Thanks for that.  I'll most likely start the thread about it tomorrow evening as I'll get stuff together.  I had some notes written down but they're nowhere to be seen.  Wasn't much but no biggie to regain all the info as I didn't have much.  The main majority of it from my end would most likely be small stuff like which enemies share color palettes, reVamp guides from stage to stage, YYCHR info, etc.

Cool. I'm gonna start doing experiments this week. Might be able to get some RAM and ROM addresses out of it.

[Sinis]

Cool. I'm gonna start doing experiments this week. Might be able to get some RAM and ROM addresses out of it.

I've started the thread.  I'll add more to it as I need to jet.  Thread can be found here http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,21344.0.html

[Sinis]

Been a few since I last updated so I better throw up a few stuff.  Been messing around with a few stuff for stage 2 off and on these past couple of weeks to give me a plausible mountainside feel.  If I can't nail it too well then I'm probably going to change it to a burning town which was my original idea.  I already have a sprite set made up for it so just gotta see on what happens.


I understand some people may not like this idea that I'm going to do to the roster but I'm going to only have 2 playable characters throughout the game.  They are both going to be playable right at the start along with the game to be in Hard Mode.  I'm still keeping the side routes within the game so that way the player can see different areas in each play session and besides, I don't know how to 'tie' each level back to back yet and that kind of thing is being saved back for a few future projects.

Anyway,  here's the roster with sub weapons.  Vilheim from the first Vengeance on Hell makes her appearance to go after the demonic horde that has wrong her family.  The story of VoH II will be revealed later.

May or may not keep some names to the sub weapons.




Here's a test for the main title.  Things are still in progress as this is not final.



I might fill in the blood more to something similar like what  you see in the Japanese title version of Super Castlevania IV.




Once I get done arguing with myself on what to keep for stage 2 I'll post it up later this week or the next as I'm kind of busy with real life right now...seems it never ends but no biggie.



Take care for now.

[Grimlock]

Nice work on the weapons sprites. 

[Sinis]

Nice work on the weapons sprites. 

Thanks.  I'm gonna rework Vilheim's weapon once I get Ship of Fools finished up, or in between, depending on when I remember to do it since I get caught up in things lol.




More work has been done so hope you guys and gals don't mind screenshots.  Things are slowly progressing since I'm doing other things right now but at least I'm moving forward.  Went back to remake some things and add stuff so areas wouldn't feel 'empty' when traversing through the rooms especially in the beginning level.




I still can't design title screens too well so this is the final for now.



Level 1, Demonic Castle got some loving and which I feel is now complete.





Level 2, Sieged Town is maybe 7/8 done due to the fact that I'm not sure that I'm feeling good about the fire sprite that I made off of a reference that I found.  Already making up some others to replace it but here's what I have so far along with a defiled church.


I originally had a hillside planned from earlier screenshots but I scrapped the idea for that level.  May utilize it in another future hack but time will tell.


Level 3, Rolling Hills Cemetery.  Tried to give this a Rhondo of Blood feel to it.  The third picture is a reference from the first Vengeance on Hell's ending cutscene.




No programming is done yet as that stuff will come after every level and sprite is edited just in case reVamp doesn't like the ROM anymore.  On a side note, I'll probably get back to typing out stuff on the Castlevania 3 thread that I started for an open contribution thread later next week.  I'll probably tidy things up so it looks more presentable and user friendly instead of a cobbled up mess.





I know stuff is going slow with this hack but I'm taking my time to make things go together properly.  Hope people understand this and thanks for the patience in return.

[TheLuigiLightning]

Dude, don't apologize for the speed that the hack is progressing, because you're accelerating significantly, and even though the updates are far between, they're big ones.  You get a lot done each time.  Second, I've taken my first glance at the stage pictures, and... overall, they're okay.  I feel like they just need to be cleaned up a little bit, and then, they would be awesome.  This may have just been my first glance impression, but I noticed a lot black + other colour patterns, which wasn't that pleasing to the eye.  If that's what you were going for though, in order to give a desolate feel, I guess that's one way to do it, but Castlevania III felt desolate, but it was still very pleasing to the eye.  I feel like you have some really cool scenery and pallet choices that I like more than in Castlevania III, but due to the things I talked about that brought it down, it evens out to okay.  If you just clean it up a bit, like I said, there's no reason why it can't look 10 times better than Castlevania III.  Keep that in mind.  I'm sorry if I'm not articulating my criticism very well, I've only taken one glance at each stage screenshot.  When I've taken my second look in a little while, I'll try to elaborate.  Finally, the background of "Castlevania" on the title screen looked better with the more reddish colour.  I hope this was helpful, because I'm always happy to give input.
March 21, 2016, 05:19:38 pm - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)Okay, I've taken my second glance almost immediately after making my first post, and, as expected, I take back a number of things that I said; the 1st and 3rd stages look awesome.  My initial criticism only really applied to the second stage, and it's hard to articulate what it is about it that's not very appealing.  The best way I can put it is that it feels rough, while the 1st and 3rd stage are very smooth.  Take that as you will.

[Sinis]

Okay, I've taken my second glance almost immediately after making my first post, and, as expected, I take back a number of things that I said; the 1st and 3rd stages look awesome.  My initial criticism only really applied to the second stage, and it's hard to articulate what it is about it that's not very appealing.  The best way I can put it is that it feels rough, while the 1st and 3rd stage are very smooth.  Take that as you will.

Its completely fine and understandable on what you said before and after so its all good sir.  I know level 2 feels kind of stuffed and that is what I wanted to aim for as level 2 will most likely be the only one like this.  Its pretty much a remake from one particular town that I have in mind to show on how it was added on to since the events of Vengeance on Hell.  I need to play through VoH and Simon's Quest to find out if Ballzysoft renamed this town or not as I never really paid any attention to the names of the towns, and areas, in his hack via the message signs and 'hint' books.


I also want to explain on what I am aiming for.  On what I want to do with the level background layouts, I am trying to keep things in a type of Castlevania 3 graphic vibe but with a new feel and atmosphere to it.  Some levels may be darker than others while some may be bright but with some dark areas as I want to do this to try and get that somewhat diverse feeling to it as if its a real area as far as 8 bit sprites can handle and give off.  I'm going to experiment more with certain levels on some sprites that I have in mind to make that I hope gives off that feeling of exploration, especially to make the player feel that they are passing over or under something.  Since I've wised up on how they put the sprites into Castlevania 3 I feel confident enough to do this though it just all depends on which areas rely on the same sprites from previous levels so it will be interesting indeed lol.

[TheLuigiLightning]

That's fine if you're going for a rough feel with stage 2.  I still would recommend cleaning it up just little bit, because it's very hard to find the sweet spot of something seeming legitimately torn and shred, and avoiding it seem like a pixel mess.  With my 3rd, it's not as messy as I remember, and I think it could work, but the big thing that takes away from the atmosphere is the blackness patches near the stairs.  Would it be possible to add some colours there, or does reVamp limit you in that way?  (I actually tried using reVamp, and I know how much of a pain in the ass it is.  I've never really had the patience to do anything with ROM hacking).

[Sinis]

With my 3rd, it's not as messy as I remember, and I think it could work, but the big thing that takes away from the atmosphere is the blackness patches near the stairs.  Would it be possible to add some colours there, or does reVamp limit you in that way?  (I actually tried using reVamp, and I know how much of a pain in the ass it is.  I've never really had the patience to do anything with ROM hacking).

The area by the stairs was on purpose as I wanted it to feel like an area within the buildings' shadow though it might change as I'm already reworking level 2.  I played through it again today and asked myself as to why I added those certain things.  Hoping to free up some 'blocks' in reVamp's background selector.  For color wise, its kind of limited as reVamp allows only 4 palette sets on the screen at once so there is some clashing of colors as I want to use as much colors as possible in certain areas while still remaining within the ROM's normal size area.  If things go slightly over (though it looks like things won't be) I'll just look into expanding the ROM a bit.  There was a document on here somewhere that explained how to do so but I haven't picked it up yet.  Gosh I can't remember on who they were but on another website a few years ago a person told me I can expand the ROM a bit as it won't effect reVamp at all.  I haven't put that statement that they gave me to the test yet and when I do I'll let people know if its true or not.



On a side note...before I forget.  For those that are curious about the characters I posted back some time ago, I got side tracked.  I'll finish the sprites this weekend and get them out.  Don't really know on where else to post them other than this thread.
March 23, 2016, 02:10:25 pm - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)Small update today.

I've changed around a lot of things which freed up some background blocks in reVamp along with the YYCHR.  Got some new animations made but still working on a few tidbits before level 2 is done.




The first GIF shows a floor fire in the background that I'm still messing with.  I thought about using more of the animation areas in the YYCHR but felt this would do instead of over doing it plus I have a few more ideas to throw in and hope it works out decent instead of making it look and feel stiff.  I also want to add on a tiny extra area for the fire for it to blend into the background so that way the black block line isn't there.  If the game had 4 animation blocks instead of 3 I'd be able to make a fully plausible fire animation but feel this will have to do lol.

The blinking in the background is to represent on what's going on with how far the fire has spread within the town.  Felt I had to do this instead of making it feel blank like the previous GIF in a prior post showed.  There isn't much I can do to further the fire animation but thought about adding some ash animation here and there at some places but will mainly be on the outside of the buildings since things are limited on the NES. 


I also understand about the podium that you attack to reveal an item.  It will be moved along with others that I may have in the way so things don't clash with the background animations.

[resq]

Hi. I support this mod. I'm not a huge Castlevania fan but I love hacks and this looks wonderful so far. I hope it gets finished.

[TheLuigiLightning]

What is HAPPENING???!!  What did you do to level two???!  It's an apocalyptic fire seizure, and it's going to destroy everything, we are doomed!  (Dracula, my man, you've really outdone yourself this time.  You've ripped through time and space, causing inter dimensional flashes of matter to splatter colours of doom and destruction right before everyone's very eyes.  All hail Dracula, dude, my manpire, sir).

[Googie]

This is lookin' real cool, I love the progress...

[TheLuigiLightning]

Seriously, you're crazy dude.  This is turning into something else.  When I said to clean up level two, that wasn't code for "destroy everything in existence".  It also wasn't code for "rip through time and space, causing seizure inducing flare all over the galaxy.  Children in Africa certainly didn't need this.  This should be the last level, or maybe a bonus level, if only that was possible.  All we really need now is a harmonic, tritonal, 8-bit version of Edge of the Blade by Journey, and this level would be complete!  (Okay, I'm just messing around, I'm sure you know that.  This is really cool what you're doing).

[resq]

Seriously, you're crazy dude.  This is turning into something else.  When I said to clean up level two, that wasn't code for "destroy everything in existence".  It also wasn't code for "rip through time and space, causing seizure inducing flare all over the galaxy.  Children in Africa certainly didn't need this.  This should be the last level, or maybe a bonus level, if only that was possible.

I have to concur. The children in Africa - you should always think about them first.

[Sinis]

Hi. I support this mod. I'm not a huge Castlevania fan but I love hacks and this looks wonderful so far. I hope it gets finished.

Trust me when I type this, its going to get finished as I'm not abandoning this as too much time and effort has been put into this already.  There is no ETA when it will be finished as I'm going back to other levels to tidy up stuff while I continue onward.  Once I feel comfortable with when all the levels are done then I'll go back to editing enemy sprites and other stuff....THEN program editing for music and small stuff will come very last.

Seriously, you're crazy dude.  This is turning into something else.  When I said to clean up level two, that wasn't code for "destroy everything in existence".  It also wasn't code for "rip through time and space, causing seizure inducing flare all over the galaxy.  Children in Africa certainly didn't need this.  This should be the last level, or maybe a bonus level, if only that was possible.  All we really need now is a harmonic, tritonal, 8-bit version of Edge of the Blade by Journey, and this level would be complete!  (Okay, I'm just messing around, I'm sure you know that.  This is really cool what you're doing).

I know your messing around so its cool.  Think I'm about done messing with level 2 as I don't have much room left within that level to do stuff.  I have plenty of room for the rest of the game but level 2's background blocks via reVamp are used up now lol.

This is lookin' real cool, I love the progress...

Thanks for the comment.  Hope people will like the level style as I'm trying to go after that first Castlevania difficulty while putting in a Rhondo of Blood and now a SotN vibe to some areas while keeping things original and within the Castlevania 3 look.  I gotta admit as I'm having tons of fun with this hack lol.






A small update.  The character sprite sheets I promised will be released later this week as I'm sprucing them up still.  I've literally put them into separate C3 ROM hacks to see how they feel and I'm making adjustments before I release a few of them.  Now for ROM progress.





So these are the final fire sprites.  I had to ditch the ash idea as I'm pretty much out of room for background blocks in reVamp for this level.  I might go back to edit some stuff but right now I'm setting level 2 to the side as I've messed with it a lot this past month.  Already put up a sticky note to remind me to do this.





I've already made tons of progress on Level 4 A.  I was going to wait to bring out update screenshots until I got Level 4 B partially done but didn't want to be rude and not respond to people.  So, named this level The Ancient Causeway.  This level is not going to correspond to how the Ship of Fools layout was intended to be (wondering around the ship) as I want to make it feel as if the player is moving forward via going upwards to finally reach a higher ground.  You will noticeably see that change when traversing around.  This level was originally intended to be some sort of broken dam concept but I trashed the idea and went with a forward type environment instead.  I'll most likely go back to Level 3 and change the background sprite in the VoH reference area so it corresponds more directly on with seeing Level 4 A in the background.  For the first boss encounter, I've made darn sure after its defeat the player auto scrolls to the second area of Level 4 A since Medusa/Gorgon won't be used at that particular spot.  Right now its a small toss up between two bosses that I want to put into there since I had to throw one out the window as it wanted to walk to the left side of the screen and pop out on the right side.  Guess its something to how its AI was programmed to read its room layout as it literally said, or in this case showed me, "Screw you, I'm going for a walk!" and popped onto the right side after it took a few cheap pop shots at me then proceeded to pimp walk to the left with its cold shoulder waving goodbye.  To counter this, I instantly smacked it with my reVamp pimp hand and used another boss instead lol.  [/end humor]



On a side note, I know that I use Vilheim a lot in the screenshots (Sypha) when I upload them.  To explain this, I am making this hack have pro and con areas for both characters so that way the player will need to strategize on which character would be best suited to use in order to traverse through the environment more easily. It is highly possible to go through each area with just using a single character but the challenge factor will be greatly increased.  Some areas will need to utilize both characters and knowing of how damn slow it is switching between each character I want to increase the switch time so it doesn't feel like a tedious process.