Every time I look for updates in the development of this game, the more I want to play it. Too insane, I think I will love it so much. I'll save you a little bit of praise for now, but I'm really blown away by every element I see you adding when you appear on twitter.
Quick question! If we buy the game now, will we get a Steam key in the future? I mean, I'm gonna toss some dollars your way anyways, but I was curious. The game looks fabulous, by the way!
Unfortunately, since I don't have a price decided or a set release date, everything I have listed here (demos, etc) are all free-or-tip and do not carry over to a Steam key purchase. Ultimately the tips help continue development since I'm doing this full time, but I'm still a ways from release to be able to set the page up for that ;-;
Hello! There's no current official Spanish translation to the game (yet), however the language file is completely external if you want to manually translate things for your own installation! When the game is finished there will be support for multiple languages.
Thanks a lot. There's a bunch of potential from what i see on the screenshots. I started playing it last night and i admit the graphics and programming does their job very well, except the music needs a proper fixing in the future.
Wondering about the music, since the game is a parodic homage to Castlevania, would it have some kind of funnier music inspired by classic horror movies rather than cut-edge action music themes?
Some of the music from the demo has been updated since (Bram Town Theme for example), and others will receive updates at some point in time, but I'm not really at a point in development where I want to stop forward momentum to go back and touch that stuff up just yet. Some of the tracks are lighthearted, others are a little more sinister- there's a track player in the demo (in the options) if you want to check out some of the themes from later in the game as well.
I don't understand this level.please explain it? thanks.I don't find it consistent with the game to me always at mega man level futuristic I mean . I mean you should be as gothic as possible
It's very important to remember this game is *not* Castlevania. If you're looking for that experience, play a Castlevania game. This is a parody that has a very lighthearted take on all of its inspirations. Also, I’ll be as “whatever I want with my game” as I want to be, thanks! It has plenty of gothic stuff already.
I have never been good at NES Castlevania and I am not gonna lie, this game really made me want to replay it because it felt so great. I am not super far in but I am heavily enjoying it. I do hope a control guide is added in the menus of the game rather than just when booting it up since I have been having difficulty getting subweapons working properly. Great game and I am sure to play more soon.
Yeah the little guide in the beginning is just a temporary thing. Eventually there will be full button mapping and such, along with options for a dedicated subweapon button~
Definitely not a matter of forgetting to do that, but it's extremely low priority and something I will add later on when I add key bindings/button mapping.
I can 100% assure you this game will be very hard with the imprecision of a joystick though, especially when it comes to navigating stairs and using subweapons, which contributes to it being a very low priority thing.
Hearts are ammunition for subweapons, however if you need to heal you can visit a church and talk to the save statue, grab a potion from the shop, or get a streak of kills on enemies without getting hit, which will generate wall meat. You can also attack certain walls in mansions that will drop meat for health.
Yeah, that Mansion has hidden blocks you can break to get health, and you can also kill 10 enemies in a row for weapon multipliers, but if you have max weapon multiplier, you get health from enemies
And by the way, are the churches' statue the only save point? So I have to find a village with a church to save? Cause every time I go back to game I have to start from the church
Check your Twitter. I sent you some free music you can use that i didn't release but created many years ago. Check it out :) let me know if you like it.
I'll check out the music soon, but as far as TASQ goes I'm not really looking for other music outside of my own and very specific guest composers when possible (the Yuzo Koshiro goal for example, which would have been a guest thing for 1 or 2 tracks). Otherwise I intend to do everything myself when I can. I will definitely check out your tracks though, because I always love listening to chip music when I can~
Inferior music will harm the entire project. Please put aside your own ego/hubris and admit that to yourself for the sake of this project and future ones. The only way you grow is to fall down, make mistakes, and get right back up.
If you keep repeating the same thing, then you will come up with the same results.
I am in touch with a fantastic freelance music composer willing to contribute some amazing musical tracks if you feel like adding in a proper composer to your team. They are currently on another project that is wrapping up and I could convince them to help you instead of immediately moving on to other work.
I would prefer they get paid for their work, but if you two want to talk and hash out financial details then that's up to you. If interested in this offer just reply to me and I'll post my Discord details so we can set it up. If not interested, then I wish you luck in this endeavor.
We already have Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon as far as throwbacks go, but fan endeavors like this help everyone enjoy a bit of 'Transylvania' in their lives.
You're also way overdue for a new/updated demo or some kind of release by now. Been about 5+ months.
Hey, this is precisely how not to respond to anyone, ever. I'm sure you think you were responding however respectful as you thought you needed to be, but here are a few things for you to keep in mind:
1) It's my game, so I can have any hubris over it I want. I can make whatever decisions I want for it. You have to work through some things if you think I'm not entitled to make my own decisions on my own game. 2) I frankly don't need your involvement or assistance. You can't "offer" me anything I don't already have access to. I know plenty of wonderful composers, artists, designers, etc myself, to the point that I don't need someone else to do exactly what you're doing. If the point was to bring them on as a composer, I would. That's literally not my goal or motivation with this project, as explained in my last reply to this thread. 3) You're not entitled to anything involving something I put my own time and energy into. Period. There aren't going to be anymore public demos, since the previous one is a decent enough slice of gameplay. There's no need for another. It conveys exactly what I'm going for with this game, and that's the point of a demo.
When you create your own game idea and your own IP without riding on the coattails of the Castlevania series, then you can have as much ego and hubris as you like. Until then, kindly check yourself.
What you've made is nothing more than the equivalent of a fan game for Castlevania (changing things here and there to avoid legal issues). I'd argue that rom mods/hacks made by far more talented individuals/teams have a greater precedent for this style of gameplay while also including original compositions superior to whatever you have offered in your demos.
When you're coding in 68k assembly language, then come talk to me about gamedev.
Attn daedalusmachina: The ego and hubris required to stomp into a developer's project, talk like this toward them, and act like you're doing them a favor is astonishing. As for the music needing a tune-up? I couldn't speak to that, but I sure wouldn't want it from someone marketing it like you are.
Based on the demo, I'm confident in saying this game appeals to a different part of the 'Retrovania' experience than the admittedly excellent Curse of the Moon does. This feels more like somewhere between Castlevania 2 and mild bits of Richter's route in Symphony of the Night; 'Adventures of Simon Quest' clearly fills a different space in the fandom than CotM.
Also, Programancer doesn't owe us a damn thing at this time. I don't remember there being a crowd-funding initiative for this, nor are any of us serving as the game's publisher. The delivery time-table for an unfunded game is half past whenever the developer is good and ready to share things.
This entire response to Programancer, demanding things and slamming the game's music, was way out of line. It is almost a perfect example of how NOT to interest a developer in your pitch.
I know you think you were being encouraging and generous, and that you maybe had to "break some eggs to make omelettes," but you need to understand that the ego and hubris is with you. You project your subjective opinion onto this game as an infallible truth while obviously not understanding the intent of TASQ. Your suggestions imply that you do not even consider the concept of how Programancer's own music is very likely to have integrity in the context of the project. And I'm guessing you have never taken on a project as TASQ, or any game development project . What all of this means is that you see yourself in a position you are absolutely NOT in. You speak to a developer (who owes you bugger all) in a way that not even project leads I've met would do.
If you wrote this comment with no malicious intent, then I hope this backlash, as uncomfortable as it is, at least inspires you to do a reality check. In the future, please refrain from this kind of unsolicited input. Just because you can reach out to a developer doesn't mean you should.
Often it takes an outside influence to let a game dev know what to improve upon. If they don't want any opinions or offers of help then they should probably have turned off comments. Just sayin. I've seen them respond to others (multiple times) claiming the music is ok to them and they aren't interested in any help for it. That's the primary reason I went with the tone that I chose. Harsh yet polite. Even perhaps a bit of cynical deprecation, if you will.
Dev has made it crystal-clear they don't want to put out the flaming dumpster-fire they have for 'music' and would rather have things 'their way' to the detriment of the entire project than to reflect and realize they may want to improve things if they want to sell the final product to a willing audience.
Wish em the best and hope that the final product, whenever it is ready, has a musical composition worthy of the gameplay. If not, at least it can make for some funny meme videos by the ones far worse than I am at completely tearing things apart.
I'm going to go throw money at Curse of the Moon 2 since I didn't realize it existed. I'd rather go get something that has good music than an amateur project that is inferior to most rom hacks of the genre.
I said there are no buts to this, yet here you are with a but that just further proves you do not understand the situation.
"Kill your darlings" is good advice, but to a limited extent and not the way you're using it.
"Outside influence" can indeed be a helpful way to improve a project, but it is a delicate and PLANNED concept, and you are obviously just trying to stroke your own ego here with subjective and shallow feedback.
You were never "polite," you were being self-righteous. You were not "harsh" either, you were being narcissistic. I already explained why your "approach" does not come off the way you apparently think it does, and now you're outright insulting the developer, too.
Finally, to reiterate: You obviously do not understand game development, you obviously have not worked in game development. You are a consumer who has played games before and thinks this is enough qualification to know better than the devs. It is not.
You are not in the position you see yourself in.
Take this with you for the future. Do not pester game developers any more.
Amazing game! I love the visuals and inspiration. You have some impressive skills about coding. The skull launcher with the whisp is very good to do. Slide is so smooth and helps a lot in the game. Congrats, man! Yuzo Koshiro needs be the game's composer.
Hey there! Just saw some gamplay of this and love how you brought back the classic castlevania aesthetic. I have been a huge fan of the franchise sense I was a kid and it has influenced my music greatly:D I see you are trying to improve on your music composition. If it helps I would love to compose/produce the music for you and even improve/mix and master what you already have! I have about 8 years of music production experience and I have already composed for a indie game before:D
Sure! There are a few in the demo that have been noted (and fixed on my source but not the demo) in the demo release devlog, so as long as they're not in there feel free
___________________________________________
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action number 1
of Other Event: User Defined 0
for object objSwoleArmorIdle:
Unable to find any instance for object index '0' name 'objSimonParent'
at gml_Object_objSwoleArmorIdle_Other_10
############################################################################################
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stack frame is
gml_Object_objSwoleArmorIdle_Other_10 (line -1)
called from - gml_Script_scrChangeState (line -1) - <unknown source line>
gml_Object_objSwoleArmorSwing_Step_0
Got this when I dashed right out of the room with the first swole armor.
Also I don't know if this is a bug or a feature but if you leave the game paused and go do something else for too long it resets to the main menu. Had just gotten the Grand Cross and lost my unsaved progress so now I have to get all the way back there if I want it back.
When I was showing the game at conventions, I had a system in place that would restart the game after a bit when it's in demo mode and I forgot to remove it from the Bram demo
Demo 3 looks really great! I like the new remix of the forest music! This looks like it will really be quite an amazing game. i hope you can get that composer on board. Thanks very much again for all you're doing.
Firstly Thanks for creating this ! Game looks and plays very good !
Loved your waterfall animations and use of color ! You must love the old Castlevania games a lot,as they all had this passage down to the severs in the first level and then up again. Awesome ! Searched the walls but so far no secrets.
Some feedback you might like to consider
- Would love if you implement some Scanlines and bloom effects . Would make the retro feel complete.
- I feel the music should be more catchy and powerful. Not sure you understand what I mean. I always loved the tunes in those old Konami games. Each games first stage had the Heroes main tune that followed into the next game. Bloody Tears, Simons Theme , Vampire Killer. All those tunes were really powerful and melodic. I am missing this here.
Besides that, its a great wip you got here. Keep up the good work !
There are a few walls with secrets~ One has an alternate boss in the Mansion~
Filters aren't really on the forefront of priorities at the moment since I'm still only about 15%-20% through development, however they'll probably make an appearance when I'm closer to being finished~ A scanline filter would be really easy to add!
As for the music- I do all of the music myself and I'm not a composer; however I feel like I need to mention that this isn't a Castlevania fangame, and as such the music doesn't try to be Castlevania music. I couldn't capture that essence if I tried because the music in CV is a masterclass in NES composition ;) I do have a number of tracks not used in the demo, and a few are uploaded here if you'd like to check them out~
Its really nice to see your reply. Appreciate it ! Thanks
About the secret path with the Boss, that sounds really cool ! Is it in this build ? Definitely will look for it ! :)
I understand you have other priorities on your wip list right now, but yeah,it would be really nice if you would consider scanelines , screen curves this to the list of things to possible add to the final build. It would make the retro feel perfect.
About the Music , for a non musician you did a great job. And for sure it is for a matter of taste. The most important thing here is you are happy with it,and its matching the vision you have.
What I meant was not how it should match a Castlevania game,I can see this is not an Castlevania fan game . I think its inspired by it and for sure many other games you loved and want to see again.
Want I wanted to say is how important music is to a game, and how it can influence the whole games experience. When you look at games like Thunderforce 3, or the castlevania series,the music is a big factor why you play those games and what feeling they are leaving with you. I personally love those games with a catchy melodic OST ! If you like I could put you in touch with a good friend of mine Gryzor87. Maybe you heard his compositions in Games like Maldita Castilla or Hydorah. He is doing awesome retro music and maybe he could support you or if you have any questions he could consult. He is very familar with the Famicon tracker and NES style music. Check it out if you like. I am sure he has some useful tips maybe.
Anyway, I checked out the link you send me, thank you.
In any way, looking forward to see more from you and your wip.
This game looks great, but if you sell it and don't have legal rights to use characters, names, sprites etc. you might find yourself getting sued, later. You don't want to work so hard on the game only to lose the rights over it, or to pay large sums of money to the copyright owners, just for using a couple of sprites or names without a license. In my opinion it's best to prevent potential problems than to solve them later (with great financial cost). Just a friendly advice if you want to consider it. Good luck with the game! Again, it looks awesome, congrats!
Already covered, already avoided. Non issue. I see this a lot, and honestly the easiest response is: "I'm not using anything Konami created, including names, likenesses, assets, story, etc".
Here's what Konami owns from Castlevania 1 2 and 3: -Code -Graphics -Music -Levels -ORIGINAL Characters (Belmonts, supporting characters sans Alucard, which is from a movie. The design is theirs however.) -PARTS of their story- the ones they didn't lift from other works (almost everything).
Here's what Konami did not create: -Literally everything else, as it was lifted from Hammer horror, Universal horror, and mythology.
Simon Quest's Transylvania Adventure is about the titular hero- "Simon Quest" (an obvious jab at CV2, which to spoil the joke is taking the piss at the fact that Konami stole a majority of their story), going on an adventure to resurrect Dracula to kick his ass (another jab). It's a piss take on NES games as a whole, and takes inspiration from a number of different things.
It does not however use any material owned by Konami, nor does it try to seem like it does. It's just doing exactly what they did in the 80s with Akumajou Dracula.
And that, as Forrest Gump states- is all I've got to say about that.
Awesome concept and game! Have you thought about the possibility of turning this into a rom that could be played on actual NES hardware? I am sure that would be a larger undertaking, but it would be neat.
unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to convert the game to an NES rom just because it breaks so many NES rules, buuut I have thought about making a companion piece somewhere down the road that would be an NES rom 🤔
My feedback so far. I like the look and feel of this game, I am a big fan of the original Castlevania games, but fell off after the Super Nintendo version.
1. I specifically liked the birds, and felt like I should not be offered the option to remove them. 2. I love the limited color palette. 3. The game really feels like the old Castlevania games, like this could have been Castlevania II in an alternate timeline. Well done!
I have a few concerns.
1. It feels almost too similar to the original right in the beginning. 2. I was maybe expecting something more like Castlevania II (since the name evokes that title) and that has a more perpetual world in which you start off in a town. 3. Game mechanics seem good so far, I did notice that I can move past the first boss without fighting him. The big armored guy... (maybe he's not technically a boss?) 4. I plan to play more, but I am a bit concerned about whether saving the game is even possible? Of all the things about Castlevania, that is the one I do not miss!
To address concerns first: The build is just a mansion demo- meaning it's just that slice of the experience showcasing only the Mansion portion of the game. The overall experience is an adventure that has you exploring Transylvania- going to towns/areas and finding what you need to enter the mansions. The demo itself only demonstrates a small portion of the whole experience~ Any additional options (dipswitches for birds for example) offered in the demo are just for demonstration purposes. Progressing in the game goes from an exploration adventure where you talk to NPCs and try to figure out what you need to do, and then when you enter a mansion it becomes more of a traditional action game with a lives system- running out of lives simply takes you to the mansion entrance. It's a hybrid of old and new~ The first mansion's design is intentionally familiar; a bit of a nod. By the time you make it to that point in the game proper, the player will have played probably a half hour of content far removed from standard CV. Plenty of checkpoints, places to explore, and things to do~ Structurally I consider the game similar to something like Link's Awakening in terms of how you progress level to level.
Being able to move past the boss is definitely not intended! I'm pretty sure when I added his intro I forgot to implement the boss boundary activation~ I'll have to look into it. Thank you for catching that!
The game has saving in churches, however there's no reason to have saving enabled in the demo since it's just the mansion~
On my Twitter I post regular videos and updates if you'd like to check it out~ Lots of different stuff to see. Here's a link to my sizzler that shows things that aren't in the demo: https://twitter.com/Programancer/status/1254133716315709449
In the end the goal is to have an experience that feels both fresh and familiar! In the end it should feel like a little bit of Castlevania, Shatterhand, Power Blade, and a whole lot of NES tropes.
- Graphics upgrade is very nice! Great use of color pallet!
- weapons options list is good! I guess that is a preview of what weapons the game night have? The Slappy Hand whip conquers all!That was funny!
- Going up stairs is smooth.
Cons
- I found it really hard to get my guy to go down stairs. He would eventually do it but finding the sweet spot to get him to latch onto the stair going down was difficult. I was using a Logitech 310 controller if that makes any difference.
That's all I have to give in terms of input. It really does look like you're making a great game overall. Are you guys familiar with The Lecarde Chronicles games by Migami? Those are some other great CastleVania fan games I recommend checking out.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it~ I'll have to check those other games out sometime! I'm trying to develop a bit in a bubble to try to not leech ideas from other indie games coming out soon, but I'm definitely interested in the classicvania revival going on right now~
I actually *just* fixed the stairs issue I think you're referring to! Basically the way stairs are set up is that they're a 24x16 collision box, so if you're on the upper right of a staircase that goes / and you're 1 pixel too far to the right (literally the upper right corner of the step) Simon wouldn't latch on, but would as far as 24 pixels to the left. Same with if you're on the top left of a staircase that goes \. I did some tinkering and managed to get that range extended so Simon tracks under those conditions much better~ When I rewrote the stairs from the first proof of concept demo, it was an absolute nightmare, so it was a tad more difficult to change something like that (it affects jumping onto stairs), but so far I have 0 bugs after applying a fix~
Ok, keep up the great work! I know Migami had some struggle with it in Lecarde Chronicles 1. They opted to use the rope mechanic in the sequel. So it's sounds like you're not alone in that! I don't know if reaching out to Ed Findlay's aka Retrogamer3 could be of any assistance. I think he built his own game engine from the ground up. He did a Vania game of his own. He seems to have the stairs mechanic sorted out. Maybe he'd be happy to help. He's also got his own remake of CV 2 in the works. He's posted a couple videos on YouTube about it. If there's any chance of people being able to help people, I'm all for it. Both you guys are magicians! Thanks so much again for what you're doing.
If you're looking of a music composer who is a fan of and has their finger firmly on the pulse of the music of the Castlevania series, I recommend Jeffrey Montoya. He did the music for the Migami CastleVania series. He's done remakes of the Konami soundtrack as well as original pieces for the Lecarde Chronicles. I saw in your comments that you don't consider yourself a professional composer, so I'm trying to help with that. I do think the music you've already done is interesting in it's own way. Maybe Jeffrey can work with you. Ok, fan boy out lol. Whatever works best. Thanks again.
You're doing a really great job. The balance of the game - like the crossing between CV1 and CV2 - is probably what it should have been back when they made CV2. But hey, without the flawed original, who would have been inspired to create a game like this one. Wishes of much success with this project. God bless.
Wow, cool game! I think Simont Quest is a very underrated game, Is my favority castlevania from NES. I like really view people like too, is really cool which you have added also Richter Movements.
It's really fun to see "Simon" doing the Slide, or Back Somersault, great addition!
Some points I'd like comment to you
1. Have you thinked add translations support? I would like translate the game in Spanish, however is not possible make this properly yet, please add spanish characters in the font, or use one with these :P
Hey there! I actually just added translation support over the past few weeks with Spanish and German in mind~
There’s also a fully featured options menu for a myriad of things including controller/keyboard input~
I have pretty regular updates on progress on my twitter account if you would like to follow progress :) I’m not sure when the next playable demo will be, but the game has come a very long way since this proof of concept demo
Good man. Also, is the slide move really suppose to go that far? It seems ridiculous to slide half way across the screen so fast when the character walks so slow. I'd say tone it down a lot and maybe give a powerup that lets you go farther.
Yes- while the slide is on by default in the demo, it's not part of the normal game. It's intended for a game mode that gives you the "Ninja-Esque Bandanna", which gives you sliding, backflips, etc. There are various gameplay modifiers that change how Simon attacks, moves, jumps, etc and provide a more tongue and cheek experience.
I'm pretty sure it's either not working at all, is at least a 6 arrow combo, or is a 5 arrow combo that doesn't end in right. Don't ask me how I know, lol.
Bug: the text in the textboxes remain so that when you talk to a new person, the new text overlays on the old text. Have to close the game entirely to get an old conversation to go away.
That’s actually a result of the surface issue- not entirely sure why it happens for some people and not others sadly. I had implemented a fix when I originally discovered it, but I’ll keep looking! Thank you
Bug: In the screen just right of town, at night, I fought a skeleton, a bone got thrown at me. I lost the last of my HP during that hit. I clipped somehow through the ground (diagonally hit a corner?), fell through the terrain, then fell forever. The screen then kept scrolling right to the far edge, and stopped at the scroll-to-next-area boundary.
Got a soft lock, and could not activate the UI at all to try to reset myself, had to escape out of the game.
The proof of concept demo was removed a couple of months ago because it’s completely outdated (and people were confusing it for the current state of development)- The Mansion Demo is the one here and then on my patreon I have the whole Bram area (and an updated mansion). Eventually that demo will make its way on here as well
The specific control I was suppose to press to activate the statue wasn't obvious to me, nor was the hitbox. It wouldn't be NES-authentic, but it might be useful to have a "press <xyz>" prompt on some of these things.
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Played through the demo. One word - amazing.
I hope it's not a secret but what kind of engine did you use for this? I love the look and the tight controls.
Thanks!
I'm working with GMS2, Famitracker, Aseprite, and a number of other tools
Every time I look for updates in the development of this game, the more I want to play it. Too insane, I think I will love it so much. I'll save you a little bit of praise for now, but I'm really blown away by every element I see you adding when you appear on twitter.
thanks ;0;/!
Quick question! If we buy the game now, will we get a Steam key in the future? I mean, I'm gonna toss some dollars your way anyways, but I was curious. The game looks fabulous, by the way!
Thank you!
Unfortunately, since I don't have a price decided or a set release date, everything I have listed here (demos, etc) are all free-or-tip and do not carry over to a Steam key purchase. Ultimately the tips help continue development since I'm doing this full time, but I'm still a ways from release to be able to set the page up for that ;-;
Fantastic! The art is very beautiful. Congratulations!
Thank you~~
Hello, Will the game come to steam at launch?
Absolutely~
YEEEEEEEEEEES
Hello, can someone help me by telling me how to put the game in Spanish? PLEASE AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH .... GREAT GAME, SUCCESS!.
Hello!
There's no current official Spanish translation to the game (yet), however the language file is completely external if you want to manually translate things for your own installation! When the game is finished there will be support for multiple languages.
Will the game be free at completion or will it have a Steam release?
Steam release planned, possibly consoles down the road
Thanks a lot. There's a bunch of potential from what i see on the screenshots. I started playing it last night and i admit the graphics and programming does their job very well, except the music needs a proper fixing in the future.
Wondering about the music, since the game is a parodic homage to Castlevania, would it have some kind of funnier music inspired by classic horror movies rather than cut-edge action music themes?
Some of the music from the demo has been updated since (Bram Town Theme for example), and others will receive updates at some point in time, but I'm not really at a point in development where I want to stop forward momentum to go back and touch that stuff up just yet. Some of the tracks are lighthearted, others are a little more sinister- there's a track player in the demo (in the options) if you want to check out some of the themes from later in the game as well.
Too bad i don't have windows. Art from the screenshots is exquisite! Amazing job!
Thanks!
I do ideally plan to port this to Mac and Linux when it’s done as well, so hopefully you’ll get a chance to try it~
It’s explained in game.
It's very important to remember this game is *not* Castlevania. If you're looking for that experience, play a Castlevania game. This is a parody that has a very lighthearted take on all of its inspirations. Also, I’ll be as “whatever I want with my game” as I want to be, thanks! It has plenty of gothic stuff already.
I have never been good at NES Castlevania and I am not gonna lie, this game really made me want to replay it because it felt so great. I am not super far in but I am heavily enjoying it. I do hope a control guide is added in the menus of the game rather than just when booting it up since I have been having difficulty getting subweapons working properly. Great game and I am sure to play more soon.
I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Yeah the little guide in the beginning is just a temporary thing. Eventually there will be full button mapping and such, along with options for a dedicated subweapon button~
I found a shinny skeleton, but I couldn't get it. if anyone find it too please let me know
please remember to put the joystick option thanks
Definitely not a matter of forgetting to do that, but it's extremely low priority and something I will add later on when I add key bindings/button mapping.
I can 100% assure you this game will be very hard with the imprecision of a joystick though, especially when it comes to navigating stairs and using subweapons, which contributes to it being a very low priority thing.
What does the hearts do? If it's use to heal so can u tell me which button to do it pls. Thanks.
Hearts are ammunition for subweapons, however if you need to heal you can visit a church and talk to the save statue, grab a potion from the shop, or get a streak of kills on enemies without getting hit, which will generate wall meat. You can also attack certain walls in mansions that will drop meat for health.
U mean the mansion which have an unlockable gate?
Yeah, that Mansion has hidden blocks you can break to get health, and you can also kill 10 enemies in a row for weapon multipliers, but if you have max weapon multiplier, you get health from enemies
And by the way, are the churches' statue the only save point? So I have to find a village with a church to save? Cause every time I go back to game I have to start from the church
Yes, when you save at a church you start at that save point
Check your Twitter. I sent you some free music you can use that i didn't release but created many years ago. Check it out :) let me know if you like it.
Kanaida - Inverted Kastle
I don't think I was notified of the tweet!
I'll check out the music soon, but as far as TASQ goes I'm not really looking for other music outside of my own and very specific guest composers when possible (the Yuzo Koshiro goal for example, which would have been a guest thing for 1 or 2 tracks). Otherwise I intend to do everything myself when I can. I will definitely check out your tracks though, because I always love listening to chip music when I can~
Inferior music will harm the entire project. Please put aside your own ego/hubris and admit that to yourself for the sake of this project and future ones. The only way you grow is to fall down, make mistakes, and get right back up.
If you keep repeating the same thing, then you will come up with the same results.
I am in touch with a fantastic freelance music composer willing to contribute some amazing musical tracks if you feel like adding in a proper composer to your team. They are currently on another project that is wrapping up and I could convince them to help you instead of immediately moving on to other work.
I would prefer they get paid for their work, but if you two want to talk and hash out financial details then that's up to you. If interested in this offer just reply to me and I'll post my Discord details so we can set it up. If not interested, then I wish you luck in this endeavor.
We already have Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon as far as throwbacks go, but fan endeavors like this help everyone enjoy a bit of 'Transylvania' in their lives.
You're also way overdue for a new/updated demo or some kind of release by now. Been about 5+ months.
Hey, this is precisely how not to respond to anyone, ever. I'm sure you think you were responding however respectful as you thought you needed to be, but here are a few things for you to keep in mind:
1) It's my game, so I can have any hubris over it I want. I can make whatever decisions I want for it. You have to work through some things if you think I'm not entitled to make my own decisions on my own game.
2) I frankly don't need your involvement or assistance. You can't "offer" me anything I don't already have access to. I know plenty of wonderful composers, artists, designers, etc myself, to the point that I don't need someone else to do exactly what you're doing. If the point was to bring them on as a composer, I would. That's literally not my goal or motivation with this project, as explained in my last reply to this thread.
3) You're not entitled to anything involving something I put my own time and energy into. Period. There aren't going to be anymore public demos, since the previous one is a decent enough slice of gameplay. There's no need for another. It conveys exactly what I'm going for with this game, and that's the point of a demo.
When you create your own game idea and your own IP without riding on the coattails of the Castlevania series, then you can have as much ego and hubris as you like. Until then, kindly check yourself.
What you've made is nothing more than the equivalent of a fan game for Castlevania (changing things here and there to avoid legal issues). I'd argue that rom mods/hacks made by far more talented individuals/teams have a greater precedent for this style of gameplay while also including original compositions superior to whatever you have offered in your demos.
When you're coding in 68k assembly language, then come talk to me about gamedev.
Banned :)
lol dumb
jeez dude,they are just a person that wants to make a game! so what if its not a rom hack?
Attn daedalusmachina: The ego and hubris required to stomp into a developer's project, talk like this toward them, and act like you're doing them a favor is astonishing. As for the music needing a tune-up? I couldn't speak to that, but I sure wouldn't want it from someone marketing it like you are.
Based on the demo, I'm confident in saying this game appeals to a different part of the 'Retrovania' experience than the admittedly excellent Curse of the Moon does. This feels more like somewhere between Castlevania 2 and mild bits of Richter's route in Symphony of the Night; 'Adventures of Simon Quest' clearly fills a different space in the fandom than CotM.
Also, Programancer doesn't owe us a damn thing at this time. I don't remember there being a crowd-funding initiative for this, nor are any of us serving as the game's publisher. The delivery time-table for an unfunded game is half past whenever the developer is good and ready to share things.
This entire response to Programancer, demanding things and slamming the game's music, was way out of line. It is almost a perfect example of how NOT to interest a developer in your pitch.
@DaedalusMachina
Never been more baffled by a comment on itch. Are you for real, or is this some kind of elaborate troll ?
wtf dude
@DaedalusMachina
I know you think you were being encouraging and generous, and that you maybe had to "break some eggs to make omelettes," but you need to understand that the ego and hubris is with you. You project your subjective opinion onto this game as an infallible truth while obviously not understanding the intent of TASQ. Your suggestions imply that you do not even consider the concept of how Programancer's own music is very likely to have integrity in the context of the project. And I'm guessing you have never taken on a project as TASQ, or any game development project . What all of this means is that you see yourself in a position you are absolutely NOT in. You speak to a developer (who owes you bugger all) in a way that not even project leads I've met would do.
If you wrote this comment with no malicious intent, then I hope this backlash, as uncomfortable as it is, at least inspires you to do a reality check. In the future, please refrain from this kind of unsolicited input. Just because you can reach out to a developer doesn't mean you should.
There are no "buts" here.
Kill your darlings.
Often it takes an outside influence to let a game dev know what to improve upon.
If they don't want any opinions or offers of help then they should probably have turned off comments. Just sayin.
I've seen them respond to others (multiple times) claiming the music is ok to them and they aren't interested in any help for it. That's the primary reason I went with the tone that I chose. Harsh yet polite. Even perhaps a bit of cynical deprecation, if you will.
Dev has made it crystal-clear they don't want to put out the flaming dumpster-fire they have for 'music' and would rather have things 'their way' to the detriment of the entire project than to reflect and realize they may want to improve things if they want to sell the final product to a willing audience.
Wish em the best and hope that the final product, whenever it is ready, has a musical composition worthy of the gameplay. If not, at least it can make for some funny meme videos by the ones far worse than I am at completely tearing things apart.
I'm going to go throw money at Curse of the Moon 2 since I didn't realize it existed. I'd rather go get something that has good music than an amateur project that is inferior to most rom hacks of the genre.
lol curse of the moon 2 is good so you throwing money at it is the only smart thing you’ve said so far
I said there are no buts to this, yet here you are with a but that just further proves you do not understand the situation.
You are not in the position you see yourself in.
Take this with you for the future. Do not pester game developers any more.
Concerning the music, you're overthinking it. It fits the game and that's what matters. ;D
Amazing work!!!!!!!!
Amazing game! I love the visuals and inspiration. You have some impressive skills about coding. The skull launcher with the whisp is very good to do. Slide is so smooth and helps a lot in the game. Congrats, man! Yuzo Koshiro needs be the game's composer.
Hey there! Just saw some gamplay of this and love how you brought back the classic castlevania aesthetic. I have been a huge fan of the franchise sense I was a kid and it has influenced my music greatly:D I see you are trying to improve on your music composition. If it helps I would love to compose/produce the music for you and even improve/mix and master what you already have! I have about 8 years of music production experience and I have already composed for a indie game before:D
Great demo! Really brought back memories of my childhood. the gameplay is on point, and the visuals are superb. Hey, I even liked the music. Good job!
Thank you ;o;/
Do you want people to report error messages when they get them?
Sure! There are a few in the demo that have been noted (and fixed on my source but not the demo) in the demo release devlog, so as long as they're not in there feel free
___________________________________________ ############################################################################################ FATAL ERROR in action number 1 of Other Event: User Defined 0 for object objSwoleArmorIdle:
Unable to find any instance for object index '0' name 'objSimonParent' at gml_Object_objSwoleArmorIdle_Other_10 ############################################################################################ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- stack frame is gml_Object_objSwoleArmorIdle_Other_10 (line -1) called from - gml_Script_scrChangeState (line -1) - <unknown source line> gml_Object_objSwoleArmorSwing_Step_0
Got this when I dashed right out of the room with the first swole armor.
Also I don't know if this is a bug or a feature but if you leave the game paused and go do something else for too long it resets to the main menu. Had just gotten the Grand Cross and lost my unsaved progress so now I have to get all the way back there if I want it back.
Ah yeah that was an oversight on my part!
When I was showing the game at conventions, I had a system in place that would restart the game after a bit when it's in demo mode and I forgot to remove it from the Bram demo
Also good catch on the swole armor error- I'll get that fixed up quickly! Thank you
Demo 3 looks really great! I like the new remix of the forest music! This looks like it will really be quite an amazing game. i hope you can get that composer on board. Thanks very much again for all you're doing.
;o;/ Thank you~
Great!! Fishing if very fun
I'm glad you liked it!
I tried to make it have some skill based nuance without being too terribly difficult~
The game looks and plays great. Love the music.
Firstly Thanks for creating this ! Game looks and plays very good !
Loved your waterfall animations and use of color ! You must love the old Castlevania games a lot,as they all had this passage down to the severs in the first level and then up again. Awesome ! Searched the walls but so far no secrets.
Some feedback you might like to consider
- Would love if you implement some Scanlines and bloom effects . Would make the retro feel complete.
- I feel the music should be more catchy and powerful. Not sure you understand what I mean. I always loved the tunes in those old Konami games. Each games first stage had the Heroes main tune that followed into the next game. Bloody Tears, Simons Theme , Vampire Killer. All those tunes were really powerful and melodic. I am missing this here.
Besides that, its a great wip you got here. Keep up the good work !
Cheers
Hey there! Thanks for checking out!
There are a few walls with secrets~ One has an alternate boss in the Mansion~
Filters aren't really on the forefront of priorities at the moment since I'm still only about 15%-20% through development, however they'll probably make an appearance when I'm closer to being finished~ A scanline filter would be really easy to add!
As for the music- I do all of the music myself and I'm not a composer; however I feel like I need to mention that this isn't a Castlevania fangame, and as such the music doesn't try to be Castlevania music. I couldn't capture that essence if I tried because the music in CV is a masterclass in NES composition ;) I do have a number of tracks not used in the demo, and a few are uploaded here if you'd like to check them out~
Its really nice to see your reply. Appreciate it ! Thanks
About the secret path with the Boss, that sounds really cool ! Is it in this build ? Definitely will look for it ! :)
I understand you have other priorities on your wip list right now, but yeah,it would be really nice if you would consider scanelines , screen curves this to the list of things to possible add to the final build. It would make the retro feel perfect.
About the Music , for a non musician you did a great job. And for sure it is for a matter of taste. The most important thing here is you are happy with it,and its matching the vision you have.
What I meant was not how it should match a Castlevania game,I can see this is not an Castlevania fan game . I think its inspired by it and for sure many other games you loved and want to see again.
Want I wanted to say is how important music is to a game, and how it can influence the whole games experience. When you look at games like Thunderforce 3, or the castlevania series,the music is a big factor why you play those games and what feeling they are leaving with you. I personally love those games with a catchy melodic OST ! If you like I could put you in touch with a good friend of mine Gryzor87. Maybe you heard his compositions in Games like Maldita Castilla or Hydorah. He is doing awesome retro music and maybe he could support you or if you have any questions he could consult. He is very familar with the Famicon tracker and NES style music. Check it out if you like. I am sure he has some useful tips maybe.
Anyway, I checked out the link you send me, thank you.
In any way, looking forward to see more from you and your wip.
Cheers
This game looks great, but if you sell it and don't have legal rights to use characters, names, sprites etc. you might find yourself getting sued, later. You don't want to work so hard on the game only to lose the rights over it, or to pay large sums of money to the copyright owners, just for using a couple of sprites or names without a license. In my opinion it's best to prevent potential problems than to solve them later (with great financial cost). Just a friendly advice if you want to consider it. Good luck with the game! Again, it looks awesome, congrats!
Already covered, already avoided. Non issue.
I see this a lot, and honestly the easiest response is: "I'm not using anything Konami created, including names, likenesses, assets, story, etc".
Here's what Konami owns from Castlevania 1 2 and 3:
-Code
-Graphics
-Music
-Levels
-ORIGINAL Characters (Belmonts, supporting characters sans Alucard, which is from a movie. The design is theirs however.)
-PARTS of their story- the ones they didn't lift from other works (almost everything).
Here's what Konami did not create:
-Literally everything else, as it was lifted from Hammer horror, Universal horror, and mythology.
Simon Quest's Transylvania Adventure is about the titular hero- "Simon Quest" (an obvious jab at CV2, which to spoil the joke is taking the piss at the fact that Konami stole a majority of their story), going on an adventure to resurrect Dracula to kick his ass (another jab). It's a piss take on NES games as a whole, and takes inspiration from a number of different things.
It does not however use any material owned by Konami, nor does it try to seem like it does. It's just doing exactly what they did in the 80s with Akumajou Dracula.
And that, as Forrest Gump states- is all I've got to say about that.
I recognize that cross you have in the Bela Cemetery! Nice inclusion!
Yeah! That cross was a fun reference to work from~
I'm pretty sure this game was made for me. I'm SO excited for a full release! Great job!!
Hey! Thank you for checking it out~
daaaaaamn, nostalgic art, nice.
Awesome concept and game! Have you thought about the possibility of turning this into a rom that could be played on actual NES hardware? I am sure that would be a larger undertaking, but it would be neat.
unfortunately I wouldn’t be able to convert the game to an NES rom just because it breaks so many NES rules, buuut I have thought about making a companion piece somewhere down the road that would be an NES rom 🤔
My feedback so far. I like the look and feel of this game, I am a big fan of the original Castlevania games, but fell off after the Super Nintendo version.
1. I specifically liked the birds, and felt like I should not be offered the option to remove them.
2. I love the limited color palette.
3. The game really feels like the old Castlevania games, like this could have been Castlevania II in an alternate timeline. Well done!
I have a few concerns.
1. It feels almost too similar to the original right in the beginning.
2. I was maybe expecting something more like Castlevania II (since the name evokes that title) and that has a more perpetual world in which you start off in a town.
3. Game mechanics seem good so far, I did notice that I can move past the first boss without fighting him. The big armored guy... (maybe he's not technically a boss?)
4. I plan to play more, but I am a bit concerned about whether saving the game is even possible? Of all the things about Castlevania, that is the one I do not miss!
Hello! Thank you for your post~!
To address concerns first:
The build is just a mansion demo- meaning it's just that slice of the experience showcasing only the Mansion portion of the game. The overall experience is an adventure that has you exploring Transylvania- going to towns/areas and finding what you need to enter the mansions. The demo itself only demonstrates a small portion of the whole experience~ Any additional options (dipswitches for birds for example) offered in the demo are just for demonstration purposes. Progressing in the game goes from an exploration adventure where you talk to NPCs and try to figure out what you need to do, and then when you enter a mansion it becomes more of a traditional action game with a lives system- running out of lives simply takes you to the mansion entrance. It's a hybrid of old and new~ The first mansion's design is intentionally familiar; a bit of a nod. By the time you make it to that point in the game proper, the player will have played probably a half hour of content far removed from standard CV. Plenty of checkpoints, places to explore, and things to do~ Structurally I consider the game similar to something like Link's Awakening in terms of how you progress level to level.
Being able to move past the boss is definitely not intended! I'm pretty sure when I added his intro I forgot to implement the boss boundary activation~ I'll have to look into it. Thank you for catching that!
The game has saving in churches, however there's no reason to have saving enabled in the demo since it's just the mansion~
On my Twitter I post regular videos and updates if you'd like to check it out~ Lots of different stuff to see. Here's a link to my sizzler that shows things that aren't in the demo: https://twitter.com/Programancer/status/1254133716315709449
In the end the goal is to have an experience that feels both fresh and familiar! In the end it should feel like a little bit of Castlevania, Shatterhand, Power Blade, and a whole lot of NES tropes.
That's great! I will be following this, and I will share thoughts if any more occur to me.
2.1 Demo Thoughts:
Pros
- Graphics upgrade is very nice! Great use of color pallet!
- weapons options list is good! I guess that is a preview of what weapons the game night have? The Slappy Hand whip conquers all!That was funny!
- Going up stairs is smooth.
Cons
- I found it really hard to get my guy to go down stairs. He would eventually do it but finding the sweet spot to get him to latch onto the stair going down was difficult. I was using a Logitech 310 controller if that makes any difference.
That's all I have to give in terms of input. It really does look like you're making a great game overall. Are you guys familiar with The Lecarde Chronicles games by Migami? Those are some other great CastleVania fan games I recommend checking out.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it~ I'll have to check those other games out sometime! I'm trying to develop a bit in a bubble to try to not leech ideas from other indie games coming out soon, but I'm definitely interested in the classicvania revival going on right now~
I actually *just* fixed the stairs issue I think you're referring to! Basically the way stairs are set up is that they're a 24x16 collision box, so if you're on the upper right of a staircase that goes / and you're 1 pixel too far to the right (literally the upper right corner of the step) Simon wouldn't latch on, but would as far as 24 pixels to the left. Same with if you're on the top left of a staircase that goes \. I did some tinkering and managed to get that range extended so Simon tracks under those conditions much better~ When I rewrote the stairs from the first proof of concept demo, it was an absolute nightmare, so it was a tad more difficult to change something like that (it affects jumping onto stairs), but so far I have 0 bugs after applying a fix~
Ok, keep up the great work! I know Migami had some struggle with it in Lecarde Chronicles 1. They opted to use the rope mechanic in the sequel. So it's sounds like you're not alone in that! I don't know if reaching out to Ed Findlay's aka Retrogamer3 could be of any assistance. I think he built his own game engine from the ground up. He did a Vania game of his own. He seems to have the stairs mechanic sorted out. Maybe he'd be happy to help. He's also got his own remake of CV 2 in the works. He's posted a couple videos on YouTube about it. If there's any chance of people being able to help people, I'm all for it. Both you guys are magicians! Thanks so much again for what you're doing.
If you're looking of a music composer who is a fan of and has their finger firmly on the pulse of the music of the Castlevania series, I recommend Jeffrey Montoya. He did the music for the Migami CastleVania series. He's done remakes of the Konami soundtrack as well as original pieces for the Lecarde Chronicles. I saw in your comments that you don't consider yourself a professional composer, so I'm trying to help with that. I do think the music you've already done is interesting in it's own way. Maybe Jeffrey can work with you. Ok, fan boy out lol. Whatever works best. Thanks again.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2n5RUHlbJ4T_1H0ya7zsw
You're doing a really great job. The balance of the game - like the crossing between CV1 and CV2 - is probably what it should have been back when they made CV2. But hey, without the flawed original, who would have been inspired to create a game like this one. Wishes of much success with this project. God bless.
Thank you for the kind words!
If you want to check out more recent developments, I have tons of updates since this proof of concept demo shown on my Twitter~
Wow, cool game!
I think Simont Quest is a very underrated game, Is my favority castlevania from NES.
I like really view people like too, is really cool which you have added also Richter Movements.
It's really fun to see "Simon" doing the Slide, or Back Somersault, great addition!
Some points I'd like comment to you
1. Have you thinked add translations support? I would like translate the game in Spanish, however is not possible make this properly yet, please add spanish characters in the font, or use one with these :P
áeíóúÁÉÍÓÚñÑ¿¡ , etc
2. Check these hacks, have some nice improvements
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1032/
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/4150/
2.1 In game map
2.2 Control their x-velocity in mid-air while jumping
3. Please a option to modify the game controls.
Hey there! I actually just added translation support over the past few weeks with Spanish and German in mind~
There’s also a fully featured options menu for a myriad of things including controller/keyboard input~
I have pretty regular updates on progress on my twitter account if you would like to follow progress :) I’m not sure when the next playable demo will be, but the game has come a very long way since this proof of concept demo
Thanks for your reply.
I'm not active in twitter, but ok I'm following you just in case heh
I would like more something as a Telgram group to check the news :P but ok
Does the game or will the game support fullscreen, 2x, 3x ?
That's been implemented as of last month, however I am waiting to upload a new demo until after I have some more story based content to show
Good man.
Also, is the slide move really suppose to go that far? It seems ridiculous to slide half way across the screen so fast when the character walks so slow. I'd say tone it down a lot and maybe give a powerup that lets you go farther.
Yes- while the slide is on by default in the demo, it's not part of the normal game. It's intended for a game mode that gives you the "Ninja-Esque Bandanna", which gives you sliding, backflips, etc. There are various gameplay modifiers that change how Simon attacks, moves, jumps, etc and provide a more tongue and cheek experience.
I find your work simply magnificent <3
Thank you~!
Stuck at the spirit woods...
I'm pretty sure it's either not working at all, is at least a 6 arrow combo, or is a 5 arrow combo that doesn't end in right. Don't ask me how I know, lol.
Go left from Spirit Woods and you'll exit it. It's a looping room with no current combination to exit (there's nothing past it yet)
Options cannot be chosen via keyboard, it always starts new game and offer saveslot.
From known issues:
It's not featured at the moment. Just a placeholder for when it's available. (Part of the issues list on the game page)
Bug: the text in the textboxes remain so that when you talk to a new person, the new text overlays on the old text. Have to close the game entirely to get an old conversation to go away.
Love the game so far. Youve done some great work!
That’s actually a result of the surface issue- not entirely sure why it happens for some people and not others sadly. I had implemented a fix when I originally discovered it, but I’ll keep looking! Thank you
Bug: In the screen just right of town, at night, I fought a skeleton, a bone got thrown at me. I lost the last of my HP during that hit. I clipped somehow through the ground (diagonally hit a corner?), fell through the terrain, then fell forever. The screen then kept scrolling right to the far edge, and stopped at the scroll-to-next-area boundary.
Got a soft lock, and could not activate the UI at all to try to reset myself, had to escape out of the game.
Ah I think I know what's causing that. Will get it fixed. Thanks!
Hey ,Can i Ask you how did you download Trynsilvania ?????
I have only Mansion demo ????
maybe that was on an old version of the demo? it was a long while back that I made my post.
I think I read on Twitter that the dev is sick right now, but I suspect he'll reply after he gets better.
The proof of concept demo was removed a couple of months ago because it’s completely outdated (and people were confusing it for the current state of development)- The Mansion Demo is the one here and then on my patreon I have the whole Bram area (and an updated mansion). Eventually that demo will make its way on here as well
Ok
Can I have The Outdated version ??????
PLZ
And When The Full-Version Will Be Ready???????
The specific control I was suppose to press to activate the statue wasn't obvious to me, nor was the hitbox. It wouldn't be NES-authentic, but it might be useful to have a "press <xyz>" prompt on some of these things.