Castlevania II - COA (Linear Reboot) & Castlevania II - SQ (Linear Reboot)

[Googie]

I'm really digging the progress, the pics are really cool. 😎😎😎😎😎😎

[Sephirous]

Bone Dragons have a new home for now, They just make more sense here.

I am thinking something different for the Sewers stage, Yeah blood is wonderful but the blood still gets used in the Catacombs. I just have to find a good medium between the two.

On a side note the games humor of giving me a hard time with stage 9 by using graphics from stages  3 5 and 6 causing Stage 9 to be a mess are no more. I'll simply change the graphic sets for each individual screen making it so the player literally takes a trip through the center of the castle viewing segments from The Lab, The Sewers and Future Stage very much like how Alucard in SOTN upon defeating a stage can take an alternative route to find hidden parts of previous stages taking him to another part of the castle. Once I get there I will post some pictures making it more clear.
Trying to explain this mess isn't going to do any justice. Imagine, Stage 2 being larger than what you can play through while actually in Stage 2. But for later in the game returning to that stage to see a part that was previously not accessible. 

[DavidtheIdeaMan]

Looking very lovely,also just take your time with the mod,I don't care how long it'll take because I know waiting for it will be worth it,even though it won't be non linear I will still play it,besides you can one day come back to it & make it non linear again,it's up to you,but anywho,good luck with the project. 

[PachaWillWatchYa]

Well, Drac is pretty much done, I wish I could do more justice to the staff on last sprite, but oh well: http://www.mediafire.com/view/cdqcn8qe24af0d4/Dracula.png

[Tsukiyomaru0]

don't know if someone pointed this out, but your screenshots have patterned dithering to them.

[Sephirous]

don't know if someone pointed this out, but your screenshots have patterned dithering to them.

That is because I enlarged them so you could see the sprites closer.
Stretching them causes the quality of them to deteriorate a little.

[Morinis]

I probably should update on progress for boss sprites.  I'm still busy with stuff in real life so things are moving slow but steady.  Medusa is almost done as I am still working on a plausible slithering animation for her stationary position.  So many videos I've watched on snakes to try and get it right.

Just...ignore my version of Richter.  I was too lazy to make a sprite sheet from Optomon's version so threw mine in at the last second for a size comparison.




Started reworking on the 3rd form.  Just messing around right now so stuff will change.


By the way Sephirous, that skull might be problematic.  I mean, I can fit it in no problem but that 'brain' part on top of the legion thingy for Dracula's 2nd form relies on a different color palette.  Might look odd but I'll fit it in this weekend and mess around with the color palette to see if its used by other sections within the game.  If its not then I'll go ahead and finish up the 2nd form and get that stuff sent to  you and let you do the color palette to how you want it and HOPEFULLY I'll get Medusa done within the week.  Dracula's 3rd form will take me a bit because its literally slapped around in the CHR data so I'll have to finish up the sprite, fit it in and tweak it as I go along so it can fit appropriately unless if you know how to change the data there for the boss sprite to switch out with this one then I can get a mock up CHR data sent off to you.


Once that's all done I'll move back to the Richter sprites and get those done and sent off.  Once that is all done I'll work on another boss that I figured that I'd try my hand at.  Can't have a Castlevania game without a Rhondo of Blood/Dracula X boss.




For now, I'll keep watch on where you want to go with the 2nd form and see on what you want me to do with the 3rd form.

[Sephirous]

Wow, Those are coming along Fantastic! 

I have begun trying to insert Dracula's First Form that PachaWillWatchYa created.
It's taking some time however because separating Dracula's Sprite into pieces for the CHR is a little challenging but I'll get it.

[ShadowOne333]

That Medusa's looking hot.
I'd certainly whip her... if you know what I mean. :p

[Sephirous]

@Sinis

I should be able to edit the colors for the Skull fairly easily as long as they aren't merged with the health bar colors.
Searching with the hex editor for the 3 Color Values in sequence then changing them all to the same colors should work.
It is what I did with the Hand Shaking Scenes and Map Screens since they used a separate hero color sprite palette from the main Hero Sprite Palette.

[Morinis]

@Sinis

I should be able to edit the colors for the Skull fairly easily as long as they aren't merged with the health bar colors.
Searching with the hex editor for the 3 Color Values in sequence then changing them all to the same colors should work.
It is what I did with the Hand Shaking Scenes and Map Screens since they used a separate hero color sprite palette from the main Hero Sprite Palette.

I just have no clue on that boss's color palette yet since I haven't looked that far into the game.  I should have but never crossed my mind as I normally sprite first and do everything else second once I come to it down the road.  I'll just go ahead and work on the rest of the damaged skull sprite once I'm done with Medusa and the 3rd form.  I'll also see about looking into making the sprites into a bitmap image for easier insertion.

[Sephirous]

Figured since I am working on the Dracula Sprite Insert, I would start editing the Keep.
This is a picture previous to when I found out that it's pretty much going to be a black screen for the background during this segment due to a lot of NES Limitations, So the final result will differ a little.

I am also going to remove the Sitting Sprite for Dracula causing him to appear randomly on the screen versus sitting on the throne and standing up.

October 15, 2016, 02:15:09 AM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
Using the unused space that Stage A had, I was able to expand the stage a little adding some enemies where there weren't before.

October 15, 2016, 02:32:14 AM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
Note - I modified the keep so the lower platform now is level with the water underneath. It gives more room to the player and doesn't look so crowded.

[MathUser2929]

That Richter sprite kinda makes me think a NES take on ROB would be interesting.

[DavidtheIdeaMan]

Lovely work on the game you guys,the Castle Keep is looking very lovely,the more I see sprites & screenshots,the more I want to play this game,keep it up guys! 

[Sephirous]

Started updating The Clock Tower.

[DavidtheIdeaMan]

It's looking very lovely!

[Sephirous]

Figured since Dracula's Clock Tower uses the same sheets as the normal clock tower I would start working on the last stage. Aside from the planned Dracula's Golden Statue Head Area, I have been noodling with the idea of creating what I call "Dracula's Maze" an area where you must take a leap of faith down a shaft a few times hoping there are not Spikes at the bottom. Strangely this idea came to me by playing Mario Party where you have to choose a pipe to drop a treasure chest and hope it gets to your character. This is not by any means difficult to remember, Once you jump down you can easily remember which shafts are the correct ones, But challenging the first time down at least.

I have been keeping the difficulty to a minimal to avoid creating a brutal mess of enemies and stuff through out the game.
But I think for the last stage, it should have at least some deeper difficulty to it than the rest. It is the last stage after all.

[cospefogo]

I have been keeping the difficulty to a minimal to avoid creating a brutal mess of enemies and stuff through out the game.But I think for the last stage, it should have at least some deeper difficulty to it than the rest. It is the last stage after all.

Yes! I think it is the best way to go...
But be careful to not fall into the pit of the "too difficult" game.
There is a lot of hack out there, brilliant hacks, marvelous jobs, that simply fail miserably due to the superhuman exaggerated difficulty... at least in my humble opinion.

I am really anxiously waiting and wanting Cadence of Agony!

Thanks, Seph.

[DavidtheIdeaMan]

That sounds really interesting Seph & good job on finishing the redone Clock Tower,now only the Library stage is the only one left,unless it'll make it into the game?

[The Rooser]

If you want feedback on your level designs, I would love to playtest what you have so far.
October 19, 2016, 02:17:44 PM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
And in the spirit of criticizing level design:

... I have been noodling with the idea of creating what I call "Dracula's Maze" an area where you must take a leap of faith down a shaft a few times hoping there are not Spikes at the bottom. Strangely this idea came to me by playing Mario Party where you have to choose a pipe to drop a treasure chest and hope it gets to your character. This is not by any means difficult to remember, Once you jump down you can easily remember which shafts are the correct ones, But challenging the first time down at least. ...

I think this is a bad idea. It randomly punishes players the first few times through. (Players should be punished for being unskilled at something, not for being bad guessers). Then, as you say, once the solution is known it becomes trivially easy. In other words: the sequence would never test the player's skill at the game.