Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

I am making a spoof / homage of this great series. Expert opinions?

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Black_Crusher Posted 2/24/2007 11:27:31 AM message detail	Hello. I make computer games in my spare time (nothing fancy, but it's fun to do) and have started work on a spoof of Castlevania that's called... Wait for it.. Hasslevania- The Quest For Shuteye! Story: You are Rovert Bullhump and you just got a GREAT deal on a new house. Why would anyone sell a house like this for so little? Easy, your next door neighbors are none other than Drac and the gang- Castle Hasslevania! To make matters worse, tonight marks the 100th year for ol' you know who to arise- and he just won't keep the noise level down long enough for poor Rovert to get some sleep! What's a guy to do? He sets out to go and tell his new neighbor to knock it off. Idea: Okay, so the idea is to pay a lot of homage to one of my favorite series by including elements that are similar but not identical to the actual games. (So Konami won't come and get me, lol). There will be a lot of intentional humor, as our hero discovers some things in Castle Hasslevania that regular Joes aren't supposed to get a hold of. I even (god-willing) plan on having B-movie style awful voice acting just like the lovable lines of SOTN! Rovert himself is an homage to Alucard's backwards-spelling of Dracula. I am creating the game using Multimedia Fusion 1.5 and the graphics are going to resemble maybe a cross between the NES and SNES-era. It's still in its very beginnings but I'd like to ask the pro players of Castlevania games what they'd like to see in the game or things they'd like to see spoofed- lines, items, enemies, or otherwise. Keep in mind that I'm not "ultra-programmer" or anything, but if I can do add it in I will do so. Some of the more famous lines I want to have spoofed for sure include: "What is a Man..", "What a Horrible Night for a Curse", etc. The game will tend to follow more of the later Castlevanias as far as gameplay goes. There most likely won't be a gazillion weapons like there is in SOTN, but it's not going to be as straight-forward and challenging as the first NES Castlevania was either. I plan on using a SOTN-style map to chart progress, as well as un-Belmontesque weapons like swords and axes. I'm not sure about sub-weapons, but it's a likely possibility. I have to be careful not to actually rip-off anything, so using hearts for subweapon ammo most likely will not be in it. Two screenshots, in early stages, of the title and a basic room: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/hastlevania-title.png http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/room1P.png That's all! Is this the worst idea ever or worth a shot? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Equin Village: Dragon Quest meets Ultima? Nope, all mine!
misterpersonman Posted 2/24/2007 3:19:25 PM message detail	try to get this on AddictingGames when ur done lol --- DON'T LISTEN TO ONDORE'S LIES! Board 566660, Castlevania Social Board.
kevinski Posted 2/24/2007 3:32:13 PM message detail	Hahahaha...this sounds like it's gonna be pretty interesting. I've got a great idea for a joke: Rovert first walks into the entrance (livingroom?) of the castle and - since it's kinda dark - trips over a lamp. The lamp falls over and breaks, and out comes a heart. Obviously, you're not using hearts in the actual gameplay, but it'd be great as a joke. Just have Rovert look confused upon seeing the heart come out of the lamp, maybe even utilizing an Alucard-style "What?!" for added comic effect. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 2/26/2007 8:35:59 PM message detail	^^ That's a good idea, but I am actually going to use hearts now and here's why: ^^ I figure, think of all the games out there. How many of them have used hearts in some way? A whole bunch, that's how many! I spent basically a combined 15 or 16 hours over the past 2 days programming Rovert's platform movement and I can't believe how well it came out. I think that if I can nail the gameplay and make it fun, it'll go a long way. So here's some more info on what I've written out, tell me what you think: Weapons: Short Sword "Fast, Weak, Free" Lost Axe "Power at the cost of Range". I plan on making this weapon arc hopefully Family Whip "Double damage vs Undead". It will spin a bit then lash out for long range Pyro Mace-Iac "Lights Things Up!". You can use this to burn thorny bushes that block your way Blade of Del Duio "Whatta' Weapon!" The best sword is named for me, lol Holy Crap! "Blessed Bowel Movements". This will act as a grenade weapon Devil for Hire "Protects you- for a Fee". Follows you and attacks nearby enemies Weapons can be selected from your item screen. Like SOTN, you cannot sell weapons, only buy / find them. Some weapons require hearts to use, like the Holy Crap and Devil for Hire. Others may have special powers that also require hearts to do. So although there are no sub weapons, some of the regular weapons will act a bit like them. It's up to the player how to choose what weapon to use in certain situations. Slash through a bunch of weak enemies with the short sword, and use the more powerful axe to break an enemy's armor quickly. Items / Stuff: Money Bag- worth $25 Green Money Bag- worth $50 Gold Money Bag- worth $100 Red Diamond- worth $500 Key- Use these to open doors and chests Sm. Heart- Adds 1 to your heart supply Lg. Heart- Adds 5 (or 10, don't know yet) to your heart supply Candlestick- Break these and maybe stuff'll come out Chest Box- Ditto Warp Door- Use these to travel around Drac's castle quickly High Heels "Who named these things!?" Jump while getting out of a crouch for a super jump (requires 2 hearts) Floaty Ring- Most Likely will either allow you to swim OR fall slower, who knows lol Goo-Goo Goggles- See invisible enemies Hooded Cloak- Turn Into "Shadow Rovert". What could that be? Hmmmm? Armor- Reduces damage from enemies Shield- Ready this to block projectiles. * * Plans to try these somehow * * A store that pokes fun of the Librarian, the ol' softy The Metroid-style auto map Some way to joke about the inverted castle Crazy, way too big to be indoors type areas- lol, a football stadium? Maybe not.. Clue books ala Simon's Quest- only these will make sense I'd say this would most likely be done in a couple of months, sometime this Spring of 2007. If it gets delayed I can post it somewhere. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
solidsnake021 Posted 2/26/2007 9:08:10 PM message detail	Good luck, man. You sound very ambitious. --- Come visit for good crazy fun! http://z8.invisionfree.com/Ye_Olde_Humble_Abode/index.php?
AnotherGamer Posted 2/27/2007 7:45:01 AM message detail	Pick something else than Rovert as his name, the Castlevania HQ guy already used it for his comic dealies. --- Damned imbeciles. Why do you wish to fight? -Bahamut, FF8
Black_Crusher Posted 2/27/2007 8:34:47 AM message detail	HE DID!!??? GAH, that sucks! I don't know I like "Rovert". It's actually pronounced "Rov-VAY", like it's French. Maybe that will help distinguish it a bit- especially since the voice "acting" will let the player know how it's really prounced. I did the shield last night. Gonna' be a lotta' fun =) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/9/2007 4:44:28 PM message detail	How about pointless little joke items? For instance: Goggles - "They do nothing." (A reference to The Simpsons, of course.) Assuming that there are other characters that you run into during the course of your question, have them giggle whenever they see you wearing Goggles. I just think that it'd be funny. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
gainsborough589 Posted 3/9/2007 5:21:26 PM message detail	I had a quick little idea that might be pretty funny. How about, when Rovert first enters the castle, he raises a hand to knock on the door and Alucard comes running out, screaming his head off, yelling something like, "I'm sorry daddy, I promise I won't do it again, just tell Death to give me my toy's back!" I don't know, just a suggestion. --- Some people leave physical scars that go away after a while. I leave mental scars that stay there for life.
OsafuneKatana Posted 3/9/2007 5:43:43 PM message detail	Mr. Topic Creator. I salute you! This'll end up awesome! I thought of a spoof where a Belmont uses his belt instead of a whip. Every time he swings his "Whip" his pants fall down! But what you got is pretty good! --- "Now is the time to put aside your weak human side, and join me in remaking this World!"-Dracula, Castlevania:SotN
OsafuneKatana Posted 3/9/2007 5:50:53 PM message detail	Or how about making Dracula act like the Sesame Street Dracula rather than the SotN drac? He'd be like: Drac: Blah! Alucard! Where are you going? Alucard: I'm going out, dad. Drac: Blah! Clean your room first! Alucard: You're lame. I wanna live with mom. Drac: Blah! Go ahead. See if I care! I'm tired of your Shananigens anyway! Blah! And every time he attacks, he counts how many fire balls he shoots at you! 3! 3 Fireballs! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! --- "Now is the time to put aside your weak human side, and join me in remaking this World!"-Dracula, Castlevania:SotN
kevinski Posted 3/10/2007 5:33:50 AM message detail	Hahahaha...if he acted like The Count from Sesame Street, I doubt that I'd be able to play the game properly. I'd be too busy laughing my ass off. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing it. And the belt idea is just golden. I was thinking of something along the lines of having Rovert use a party noisemaker (You know, those things that you blow into in order to make them extend out.) as a whip at some point. You could also have a boss fight on top of a birthday cake, but the boss blows out all of the candles before the battle so that you don't have any means of getting power-ups during the battle. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
OsafuneKatana Posted 3/10/2007 10:49:24 PM message detail	How about throwing Forks or Spoons instead of Knives? And Instead of an Axe, how about a Boot? Think about it....he throws a boot at an enemy. Bear with me. I'm REALLY bored right now. --- "Now is the time to put aside your weak human side, and join me in remaking this World!"-Dracula, Castlevania:SotN
gainsborough589 Posted 3/10/2007 11:00:12 PM message detail	Try and make it so you're able to save, too. I hate it when I'm playing a fairly entertaining game on the computer and I have to stop and start over from the beginning. Oh, and by the way, HURRY UP, I REALLY WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME! --- Some people leave physical scars that go away after a while. I leave mental scars that stay there for life.
Black_Crusher Posted 3/11/2007 4:32:48 AM message detail	Wow, what a resurgence, thanks everybody! I now have a dedicated Hasslevania homepage set up that has all the current info on it: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye Homepage http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/HasslevaniaHOME.html That belt idea is great, the only drawback from my standpoint is that I've already drawn all of Rovert's (many, ack) animations including the Family whip. And the whole Sesame Street count thing is AWESOME. I can actually do a pretty convincing impersonation of the SS count (who can't, really?).. Now to fire up the purple MS paint and get to work.. AH! AH! Also as an interesting side note, The description of the "cookie" power up is a nod to the Cookie Monster "AH UM YUM YUM YUM!". Weird, Sesame Street has control of EVERYONE in town! I was thinking how in SOTN there are so many weapons that become outdated quickly and Alucard never uses again. I want to try to keep that down to a minimum in TQFS so I've made each weapon useful in different situations- maybe excluding the starting short sword. The Lost Axe, for example, is really strong but you can't use the shield while it's equipped. And it's really slow. But there'll be a lot of people who will use it all the time since it can take out most everything in a single blow. There IS (sorta') a Crissaegrim knock-off of sorts, but it's a lot more balanced. It's the Blade of Del Duio and it has the fastest attack speed with the whip being second. You can fire off 3 hits per attack and it takes about the same time to swing the short sword once. Plus, it's blue! If that wasn't good enough, it also doubles Rovert's walking speed- important because that also allows Rovert to make LONGER JUMPS... Hmmmm, I wonder if that will come into gameplay mechanics or puzzles or whatever later... But to make it so that it has a downside, every enemy in the game will do more damage to you if you have it equipped. To balance this off, you can also look for some defensive items to help you. The two most prominent are the Iron Armor and the Shield. The Iron Armor reduces damage from EVERYTHING in the castle and its grounds. This will include non-monster hazards like spike pits and traps. It took a lot of work, but I've made it so that the Iron Armor also shows on Rovert's person too. (Refer to homepage screenshots #5 and #6 to see it on.) Rovert trades in his orange jumpsuit for a neat-o grey and black suit of armor- and a dark purple cape! And then there's the shield. The shield is activated (when you get one that is) by pressing UP on the keyboard. It's important to note that it takes a second or so to ready the shield and also put it away. By pressing and holding the UP key, Rovert assumes a defensive stance in whichever direction he happens to be facing (right or left.) While in this crouch he can not attack at all. There will be many places in the castle where using the shield will be very important, though. We all know about those games where you have to deflect the enemy's arrows or whatever back at them with a shield, right? Think along those lines and you'll get how good it'll be to have the shield in general. Rovert's final weapon is actually a summoned sidekick devil. When summoned, Rovert defaults back to his short sword but you can select any of your collected weapons to use while the devil is out. The devil costs 3 skill hearts to summon, and an additional 1 skill heart per every 5 seconds or so. I needed to have the heavy cost because the devil will be a very powerful ally against the monsters you'll meet. I think I've blabbed enough for tonight, but thanks again everyone for all the interest! It'll only help me work harder to get the game finished ASAP. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 3/11/2007 4:58:11 AM message detail	GAH, limited characters per message post! It'll be really hard for anyone to convince me NOT to use the count from Sesame Street now- 3! 3 Fireballs! HA HA HA! That's golden, I gotta' try and do it that way! I was thinking of having Rovert meet up with others in places throughout the castle, including an ancient Belmont who got lost and maybe MAYBE Alucard himself somehow. Hah, maybe a "Yo yo Belnades" too. Don't worry, I already plan on having save rooms so that you won't have to play it all in one sitting. The last game I did (called Necropolis Rising) was one of my few "play all the way through" games but in retrospect I wish I would have put a save system in there somewhere. Since TQFS uses a simple encrypted array for all the information, it should be as easy as pie to implement the save rooms anywhere. The game does not have RPG-ish levels / experience though. One thing I'm taking away from my SOTN gameplaying experiences is that Alucard can get too strong for our own good. So Rovert can still get power-ups and strong weapons, but in order to win it's going to require some good ol' fashioned skill and resolve. You can still seek out and discover heart maximizers to increase your max. skill heart capacity, although at a balanced +4 per maximizer. OH! And the best health power-up is a coffee, since after all Rovert is tired and wants to go to sleep. This and all health power-ups will go the way of the first NES game where they are expended upon touch, rather than beating on a million spiders in order to stockpile apples for later usage. As of right now, I plan on Rovert having a single life. Upon "expiration" you can choose to retry from your last save file. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/11/2007 2:06:19 PM message detail	In my opinion, one of the first weapons (assuming that you begin with only your fists) should be a wooden baseball bat. It's important that it be wooden, because one area of Dracula's place should be located within a massive magnetic field that prevents you from moving whenever you're wearing anything that is made of metal. By the way, for maximum comic effect, you should have Dracula (Ever notice how his sprite in Bloodlines has purple skin?) actually count the fireballs as they come out. For instance, instead of having multiple fireballs thrown at one time, have them come out one after the other, with Dracula saying, "One fireball! Two fireballs! Three fireballs!" Then, he laughs and says, "Three fireballs!" After that, he'd teleport. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/11/2007 2:31:07 PM message detail	Kevinski, that's exactly what I was planning to do! Have him say them as they shoot out- One, Two, Three! Also, that baseball bat is such a good idea that I am going to actually going to change my shortsword to a wooden sword. The magnetic field areas of the castle would make it so you would have to go back to the wooden sword, or else maybe Rovert would get sucked into a giant magnet or something... AND if I did a wood sword all I'd have to do is just recolor the sword from grey to brown which would be a lot faster than re-drawing a new weapon completely.. of course I guess it all depends on how much time I have (which is a lot). Oh I dunno, it'll be either a wooden sword (I think it's called a bokken- I forget now) or a baseball bat though. Thanks for the great idea, I'll have to change it later tonight. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 3/11/2007 2:37:30 PM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 3/11/2007 2:56:10 PM message detail	..Of course, then how would I explain the Iron Armor in those areas? Or the whip that's already not metal? Oh the rigors of game development! I guess I could have the armor be made out of something else that's grey. Bulletproof vest won't cut it though since that won't explain the black under clothes and purple cape. Hmmm.. or make sure you cross those magnetic areas before you get the whip? Maybe it should make sense to get the whip last anyhow, since it's THE Castlevania weapon. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/11/2007 3:31:04 PM message detail	Hmm...good point. Well, it's unlikely that a person could actually carry this much stuff in real life, so just have him acquire a magical pack that can hold an unlimited amount of stuff, maybe removing it from existance while it's inside the pack. Of course, Rovert's standard outfit won't contain high amounts of metal, so he can remove the armor for certain areas throughout the game and store it in the pack. And the whip should be a chain whip. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
gainsborough589 Posted 3/11/2007 7:40:32 PM message detail	If you want Alucard to play a big role in this game, it would be cool to make it a kind of prequel to SOTN, where Alucard is still on his father's side and make him be a boss. If you still want him to be good, maybe the battle between him and Rovert will be what changed his mind into going against his father. That would be awesome IMO. Also, it would be nice to have either Shaft, or a relative of his, on Drac's side. Don't forget to have a ranged weapon that doesn't use hearts. If that's the case, it would have to be really weak, so to not be cheap. Those always help. I hope this helps a little. Really looking forward to playing this game. --- Some people leave physical scars that go away after a while. I leave mental scars that stay there for life.
gainsborough589 Posted 3/11/2007 7:45:04 PM message detail	Oh yeah, and don't forget to have really corny end-credits music. That always makes it better. ^.^ --- Some people leave physical scars that go away after a while. I leave mental scars that stay there for life.
kevinski Posted 3/11/2007 7:47:39 PM message detail	Umm...if I'm not mistaken, Alucard was never really on his dad's side... --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/11/2007 11:52:28 PM message detail	I'll have to start practicing my best "anime movie ending song" voice. Let's see, whatever could the lyrics be.. Rovert... You were just getting settled in. Rovert... Drac tried to do you in. Rovert.. Oh ROVERT!! Orange jumpsuits, they aren't ever "in". Blah, blah, blah! I could make one HELL of a cheesy song since I know a thing or two about music in general. Maybe hook my buddy's casio up or something haha. I only want the one projectile weapon (the holy crap) for Rovert, and it has to use hearts because otherwise it'd be a cheap and exploitable weapon. It's going to have other uses to like hitting faraway switches and etc. I made Rovert's death animation tonight, and let's just say it's a tad gruesome without an ounce of blood. Basically his skin, hair, and clothes drop off of him and his skeleton remains there for a second.. and then it too falls into a heap on the ground. Looks good, it'll be a funny overkill for when his boot gets touched by a bat or something though. I have the next two days off from work so I should be able to do a lot more then. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
FenixStryk Posted 3/12/2007 1:23:37 AM message detail	It actually looks great! Maybe you can release it for the Gameboy Advance ;p --- GamerTag: FenixStryk :\|: "By God, Fenix. You should run for president...." -JoeSmo91
Black_Crusher Posted 3/15/2007 11:43:49 AM message detail	Well, THAT'D be something, on the GBA! Drools I've changed the function of the ring a bit- it now lets Rovert breathe in underwater areas. As of right now, he also can't jump while underwater. The water looks pretty good, and really livens things up with all those bricks. The comparisons to Castle Quest might start to roll in but it's not that similar the way it's done. There ARE doors in this game too, although they are all brown (wood, duh). They can opened by a regular key, and although they respawn to locked status when you leave the room, keys are easy enough to get from candles and etc. There is going to be a challenging gameplay element that I've put in that is pretty different. Damage to Rovert vs. most things is time-based. That means the longer you're in contact with something, the more likely it is you're going to get hurt. If you can time your jumps right, you can actually land on some spikes ON PURPOSE and immediately jump up to reach higher areas. In fact with practice you can also do this to some enemies, a-la Legacy of the Wizard style. To honor that one spot in Simon's Quest where you had to squat down for 10 seconds in that random place in the sidewalk to advance, I've put something similar in this game (only it's way more obvious than the one in CV2- although not TOO obvious. It's just for some extra money, but it's still pretty cool. Weapons can be selected from the map / item screen by pressing keypad buttons 1-7. You can also select weapons on the fly without having to go to the inventory screen first if you want. Health power-ups will be somewhat limited as you can only find them or later on, buy them for a lot of money. Enemies won't drop health power-ups. This should make the game a lot harder and challenge players to use their brains and learn to conserve food for when they really need it, rather than eating everything in sight "just because". That's the update, thanks! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/15/2007 4:44:12 PM message detail	Can't you just change the ring's sprite to that of a snorkel or something? I mean, having a ring that lets you breathe underwater just sounds a bit odd. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/15/2007 8:05:45 PM message detail	Yeah, but no more strange than a ring that turns you invisible, Mr. Frodo! Not to mention that the holy symbol that protects Alucard from water in SOTN looks a lot like a snorkel to me. It's still early though, who knows what the game will look like when it's done? There could be NUKES in it by then, hurrah! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
misterpersonman Posted 3/17/2007 8:08:37 AM message detail	Can't wait for this to be done =P --- Son of a submariner! Board 566660, Castlevania Social Board.
OsafuneKatana Posted 3/17/2007 10:03:11 AM message detail	Those screen shots are lookin pretty good. Maybe you could do something with alucarT? --- "Now is the time to put aside your weak human side, and join me in remaking this World!"-Dracula, Castlevania:SotN
Black_Crusher Posted 3/17/2007 10:50:22 AM message detail	I don't see why not. Maybe make him narrowly get missed by a falling piano and have him say "WOW, THAT WAS LUCKY!" The game is shaping up to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. The enemies in it (so far) are easy enough- it's the artifical hazards like spikes and water that are.. um.. hazardous the most. The cavern ceiling actually looks like a bunch of turds instead of stalagmites- maybe I'll call it "Crappy Caverns" or "Fecal Foyer" haha. I want to have 100 rooms so that I can display a complete percentage somewhere. Or maybe have the total of rooms + secrets equal 200...? Something round to make it easy. I'm already up to 31 items / weapons / secrets and I'm only on the 11th room!! There's already a few things where you can see it, but can't reach it yet. And a few things where you'll have no idea they were hidden there in the first place until you go there from another direction later on. Look for kneeling platforms, strikable walls / objects, breakable walls, false walls, invisible bricks and way, way more! The map itself is going to be a little bit different. I tried to do a SOTN-style map and it's actually pretty time consuming / tough to pull off because I can't use an object array in MMF1.5 like you can for Visual Basic. So, what I intend to do now is have 2 maps that you can find (or buy, haven't decided yet). Think of these as map "upgrades". When you begin and press "enter", you'll call up your map of 100 squares. Rovert's position will show as to which room he's in but that's all. This is the default. When you get the first basic map and press "enter", the castle's rooms will be all drawn in on those squares and Rovert's position will be shown on where he is located at. When you get the "final" map and press enter, the same castle map will be drawn in and there'll be notation of some sort where all the secret rooms / other stuff is hidden. There's so much hidden already I can almost guarantee you'll find one secret per room (or close). Much like my playing the original Legend of Zelda when it also seemed that there was at least one secret area on every screen. I'm also using the speed effect of the Blade of Del Duio in a few different ways too. So far, there's at least two instances where having the extra speed helps your jump distance so you can reach a few hidden things you otherwise wouldn't know existed. Another instance of the speed boost helping you is for an area that you can't stay in for too long or else you die. Slap the B.O.D.D. on and run like crazy into the unknown, and hope you can figure out what to do before the familiar bone pile takes Rovert's place! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 3/20/2007 7:07:09 AM message detail	Okay, so I did a lot more over the past few days: The shop is all set. I tried to make it look both unique and yet exactly the same as the Librarian. I almost wanted to call him "The Dietarian" since half of what he sells is food. For now, his name is "Oldie the Ripper" (a-la he rips off people at his shop). The powers of the ring have been divided up and changed a bit. It's now called the Water Ring and is used to breathe while underwater (wow!). There's also a new item called the binoculars that will let you see hidden secrets like which walls to break or what to kneel on, etc. Secrets appear as green sparkles and I think it'd be a good prize after you've won the game (or towards the end) so you can go back through the castle and see what you couldn't find yourself the first time. Skeletons have now also been added (hooray!) and can be taken out in one hit from the Family Whip (smites the undead, remember?). The scream for the sound effect is HELLA' CHEESY but awesome- I'm going to keep it in hahahaha, you'll see. I've updated the Hasslevania Homepage with some new screenshots, including said shop and skeletons, as well as one of the castle's balcony outside areas. The next part for me is the first of the castle's elevator, which will look more modern than you might imagine in this setting. It has access to 5 of the castle's floors (B1 - 4) and that's only about half of them. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/20/2007 7:10:46 PM message detail	You should have a skeleton dressed up as an elevator operator inside of the elevator. And have some really cheesy muzak playing. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/20/2007 7:35:48 PM message detail	I was going to have elevator music playing, what if I made a cheesy MIDI of "Vampire Killer"? Do you think they'd sue me? Yeah, probably! The operator is a great idea- make him look all Bell-hoppish. I also want to have a skeleton band w / electric guitars and stuff too. A whole lotta' ideas up in the air! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
raziel4224 Posted 3/21/2007 3:53:56 AM message detail	sounds like an awesome little (maybe not little, but eh) game ur makin, hope this game of urs takes off, would really like to play it --- "I support diversity, I date midgets" - Denny Crane Would an agnostic dyslexic insomniac lie awake all night wondering if there really is a dog?
Black_Crusher Posted 3/21/2007 7:06:54 AM message detail	Thanks! It's looking like it's not going to be little, but I know what you mean! I just did a huge (for this game) underwater cavern that's 4 times the length of a normal screen. Since you can't jump while underwater you need to figure out which way to fall to continue. There's also now these metal floor / bridge things that open and close. Since Rovert can't jump he has to wait until the floors are closed and has to cross quickly or else he'll fall. And without the water ring you won't last 4 seconds in this area too! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 3/21/2007 11:05:02 AM message detail	Okay, here's the elevator operator sprite. Remember, all of these are small but when you play it everything's resized to fit the screen. I got an image of an "official" elevator operator off of google, and used his uniform's colorings and design to do this. http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/EO1.png I did a cool shark too to make the underwater areas more dangerous. It looks better when animated, but this'll have to do: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/FISH.png This one I did from memory because I'm into sharks haha. Now later I shall stick them in the water and make Rovert-ke-babs! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/21/2007 7:24:56 PM message detail	Having a muzak version of Vampire Killer would be pretty awesome. And I really like the elevator operator sprite. Very well-done. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
arukado_san Posted 3/21/2007 7:48:04 PM message detail	"elements that are similar but not identical to the actual games. (So Konami won't come and get me, lol)." I had a serious talk with a dev some time ago about the same toughs... The fact is that first they wont come after you, even if you use the same sprites, first reason, you will obviously not make money from it Second reason, if you own your copy of sotn, nobody can prevent you to make a mod from it And in last, you could develop an engine, where there is no sotn sprites at all, not any (just replace sprites with simples cubes or such) and then after, when the engine work, just make a mod for that engine, that use the very same sprites from sotn, and you could say its the "sotn" mod for your engine, advertising ppl that you need the original sotn rom to make it work (even maybe a little cd check) You cant get any problems from konami if you dont get any benefits from your game (in other words, just host it at sourceforge.net and release it as an open source software...) For ppl (i know they are a bunch) who would think its still illegal, type in google "opensource 2D engine" You will find a LOT of 2D engine, that you can load with any sprite from anywhere, you can play street fighter with ryu vs dracula if you want, and its 100% legal (since you inject yourself the sprites) The idea is the same here, of course if you want to do some money with that, it will not work (or will depend how much money you make from it lol) --- NITM Alucard (Matrix Room): 1228234.0% \|\| 11569971 Rooms NITM Richter: 207.8% NITM Maria: 209.3%
Black_Crusher Posted 3/22/2007 7:22:56 AM message detail	Great, thanks for the info! I'm not going to use any pre-existing sprites at all so even if Alucard is in here he'll look different enough yet still be recognizable. What I might do is to not mention just WHO anybody is by name, although I'll make it so that anybody who's played a Castlevania will know who is who. Who knows? The owl says hoo! That's a lotta' who! I just did a brief update to the page. Another screenshot has been added with the large underwater area complete w/ shark. The sharks came out very awesome!! The animation surprisingly is excellent for what it is. And from MS Paint to boot! The hardest part was trying to draw the frame where his tail comes at you since he swishes it horizontally yet he's drawn from the side-view. I also put the first two (of many) warp spheres in and it works perfectly. And on the first try too!! Warp spheres look like dark purple flashy orbs. They are a little bigger than Rovert and there's no way to miss them. Although there might be one or two eventually that are hidden from view.... --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/22/2007 8:12:58 AM message detail	Just curious: Are you adding a distortion effect to the underwater portions, or is it simply a transparent blue layer that represents the water? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
kevinski Posted 3/22/2007 12:38:19 PM message detail	By the way, you should have Dracula start out in an attack pattern similar to how he starts out in the classic Castlevania games (teleport, shoot fireballs, teleport, etc.), but - upon hitting him once - he then stops and says, "You didn't think that I was going to make it that easy, did you?" Then he attacks much differently. :) --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
kevinski Posted 3/22/2007 12:39:10 PM message detail	Or have him say, "Oh crap...I forgot that I was supposed to stop attacking like that!" --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
kevinski Posted 3/22/2007 12:40:49 PM message detail	Hahahaha...one more: Have Dracula throw a wine glass as he does in the intro to SotN. However, this time, his housekeeper comes out and starts to vacuum it up, drowning out his dialogue. He then starts yelling, "Hey! Hey! Shut that thing off! I can barely hear myself think in here!" --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/22/2007 4:41:01 PM message detail	Hahaha, here we go- the Elevator Music! I did it on my lunch break but I'm sure it's different enough, I suppose. http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/VKE-SONG1.mid I got the real game's midi from vg music and then went by ear and made this from scratch with Midi Maker. I switched some things around like the arrangement and most definately the key it's in though. This will likely be the only non-original music in the game because I want to use my own stuff for the rest. Of course the "best?" part of muzak is using a song that everyone will recognize, only butchering it to hell for comedic effect. Yeah, I'm going to have Drac do some crazy stuff don't you worry. Room progress is about 19/100 or so. That's actually really pretty good because most everything else is pretty much done. Well, except more enemies, the bosses, and maybe some extras like enemy log book. I've done one before so it shouldn't be too hard to do for this one. I haven't even begun the really hard enemies that shoot / throw things at you. The water is done by drawing a background, either dark bricks or the ocean cave (that's the one in the shark screenshot). Then there is an obstacled background (the bricks and etc that Rovert can stand on) that goes over it. Lastly I have to make the water and size it to where I want it to fit in the level. The water is light blue with 3 frames of animation done slowly. The animation is only for little different colored blue dots or bubbles that lie towards the top of any water source in this game. Then when the level runs I set all water transparency to 80% which is what makes it look like that. Since the water is one of the last layers to go on the level (aside from the inventory screen, map, and status bar at the top), anything under it appears to be in it. For levels where you have to drop into the water I use another colored blue strip that constantly animates for shimmer, and when Rovert connects with it while falling it makes a "sploosh" noise and a splash animation. I'm going to have a lot of water sources in the game, which will make finding the water ring all that much better for remembering where you saw those pools come investigation time later. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/22/2007 6:05:20 PM message detail	I was expecting the muzak to be a bit more upbeat (although not by much, obviously). Furthermore, isn't it a bit long for elevator music? If possible, I think that it'd be best to keep the muzak down the maybe fifteen seconds, simply looping it should you happen to need it to last longer. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
bloodblue7 Posted 3/22/2007 6:22:33 PM message detail	this game sounds... funny XD. ill definetly play when its done.
Black_Crusher Posted 3/23/2007 7:14:32 AM message detail	isn't it a bit long for elevator music? Yeah, maybe so but I didn't want to short change Vampire Killer =) Besides, this is no elevator.. it's a.... SKELEVATOR! (Yes, I said it!) The whole skelevator parts are done automatically, that is Rovert walks in and the operator asks him what floor he wants to go to, and then they rise / descend to that floor and Rovert walks out. I have the basics that I did last night. One thing I want to do is have the operator randomly spew small talk that will annoy Rovert, making him wish the skelevator was faster. I think there's a lot of potential for some good comedy there. I'll try to put up an early screenshot of the skelevator sometime later today if I can. It will be more flushed out eventually, and I'll replace the screenshot with the new one when it is. To the above poster, thank you! Yeah don't worry when this is ready I'll make sure to spread the word big time. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/23/2007 4:19:21 PM message detail	I, personally, don't think that you should mess with the elevator too much, as it should never be annoying to use something that is merely carrying you from floor to floor. Keep the experience as short as possible within the elevator. There's no point in cramming too many jokes into a single area. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
hermitmaster Posted 3/23/2007 9:04:05 PM message detail	Crete a character named Ala Carte. Keep up the good work! --- The Almighty Hermitmaster My collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/hermitmaster?objType=1
Black_Crusher Posted 3/24/2007 7:46:09 AM message detail	Hahaha, Ala-Carte.. He can be a sub boss that throws apples at you from time to time (which would heal Rovert, doh!) Kevinski, I made the skelevator move at a good pace now. It's taking longer to do than I thought (2 days so far- or about 5 hours) because it's such a big scripted cutscene in essence. And it already looks a lot better than the screenshot =) What happens: Rovert walks into the open skelevator and the operator raises his arm to the controls and asks which floor he wants to go to. upon pressing any key, a button display pops up to the left side of the skelevator that lists the buttons, B through 4. When the player presses either the "B" key or "1" to "4", the operator makes this big goofy skeleton smile and lowers the protective gate. When it's closed, the skelevator moves in the desired direction complete with a cool mechanical sound. Whenever it reaches / passes another floor the internal LED display inside the skelevator shows which floor they're on, and you even get an elevator "ding" to boot. When the desired floor is reached, he opens the gate and Rovert gets out and exits the shaft to the next room. It's coming out exactly as I imagined and I think people will be taking the elevator a lot just for the hell of it, lol. Things not skelevator-related done last night: The warp orbs are shown on the map as little purple circles. I think what I'm going to do is have one map you can get that is very detailed, but make it worth a lot of money. The good news is that you'll get what you pay for, as it will show warp orbs and save points throughout the castle- even areas you haven't been to yet. There will most likely be hidden things not revealed on the map though, as well as any areas outside of the castle. I also had an idea that there should be some rooms in the castle that contain mini games. I just D/L'd some cool Multimedia extensions that could be used for a variety of fun things. I want to try to cram a lot of extras in this game- but make them all coherent and not "just because". --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/24/2007 10:19:50 AM message detail	Sounds good. I'll check out the screens. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Offensive_Altar Posted 3/25/2007 10:53:51 AM message detail	Tag for a game that sounds fun. --- "Eh? Couldn't you just turn ? It's cheaper. And probably less of a shock to your family and friends."* ~ Alfran
Black_Crusher Posted 3/25/2007 5:07:58 PM message detail	Hey, your GameFAQs name sounds like it'd be a good area in Hasslevania: Entering: The Offensive Altar I am STILL doing the stinkin' Skelevator, and although it's coming out great, it's taking me way longer than I would have originally guessed. I have it so that Rovert can go up to any floor now, now all I have to do is make it so that he can also go down from any floor. It sounds so much easier than it is! By tonight I hope to have it complete and then I can work on actual rooms again. Oh, I'm going to keep the operator's chit chat down to one greeting. The greeting may change from time to time, but it won't be like he's trying to annoy Rovert, which was the idea at first. The elevator is pretty intregal to the game and player will travel it a bunch, so it can't be an annoying point in the game. And because the elevator was such a pain, I can pretty much guarantee this will be the ONLY elevator in the castle, lol.. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 3/27/2007 9:07:16 AM message detail	At long last and much toil, the skelevator is completed! So back to regular rooms, there are 2 more. There's also the very first "save" room, which looks a little like SOTN's. There's a coffin standing straight up on some cool carpeting and when Rovert touches it the lid slides off and he jumps inside. He's looking around all "WTF is this all about!?" and the lid closes. Some interesting sound effects and flashing coffin later, it slowly slides off and Rovert falls out with a thud. It's really pretty cool and since it's all in one easy group and 2 objects (coffin + lid) it'll be simple to put a few more throughout the castle. Whenever you continue, of course, you'll start out in the last save room you saved in. There's a new statue in the castle too, this time it's of Del Duio, who in this game is sort of like a poor man's Zorro. I've updated the balcony screenshot to show this new statue. There were a couple of jumps that would likely frustrate beginners that look like you can make the jump but hit your head on a ceiling and can't. This is intentional, as jumps like this require the speed boost of the blade of Del Duio in order to accomplish. For the first one, I made some grafitti on the far wall that reads "Del Duio Was Here" that should hopefully serve as a clue on how to eventually cross the gap. Is this too obvious or a good idea to give them a clue about how to reach certain jumps like this? (The room is sorta' near the beginning so they'll encounter it early.) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
gainsborough589 Posted 3/27/2007 10:54:46 PM message detail	I don't think it really matters. Some people may find it too obvious and some might not think anything of it, but make sure to have a couple of really challenging puzzles. Its cool and people get a feeling of accomplishment. It makes them think, "Wow, this was pretty hard, but not hard enough. MUHAHAHAHA!" Well, maybe not that, but it makes them feel cool when they figure it out, and anything too obvious kind of ruins it. People like solving puzzles, so its kind of hard to make them too hard, just don't make them too obvious. I also think the graffiti idea is pretty cool. It feels like some one was already there and thought nothing of the dark and evil castle. It would also be really cool if there was a room with a save and when you go to save you hear, "Occupied," but when you enter the next room, you find an unused save. It can maybe even be Alucard in the occupied save. Oh well. Keep up the good work. --- pineapples don't have sleeves
kevinski Posted 3/28/2007 8:51:47 AM message detail	Hints are always nice, so I think that the graffiti is a good idea. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/29/2007 10:33:30 AM message detail	Thanks! Yes, I now have 2 save rooms and let's just say that unlike SOTN, players who choose to look for secrets in save rooms might actually find something there... (Now THAT was a big spoiler, oh well hah) Thanks for the kudos on the graffitti, and as for a challenging puzzle the room I made last night is the most challenging of the lot so far- and not a single spike pit to be found! What it is, is that Rovert has to figure out a way to time super jumps to get on top of the opening / closing metal floors. It's hard- I've only done it 2 times since I made the thing last night, and when I finally did it I was all "YES!!!" so I guess it's mission accomplished there. What makes it tough is that once you make one jump, you have to quickly hop over to a regular brick and wait until the next floor cycle. There's even a locked door and new $100 golden money bag near there, so if the player is really skilled he can try to go the extra mile and grab some extra cash too. There are enemies in the room, but no tough ones. This is the first room of the new area "The Bog". Yes, in a castle, gotta' love it! Maybe I'll put a screenshot up within days to show you this new puzzle room! Yes, I think I will! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/29/2007 12:32:17 PM message detail	Question for you. Is the Bog area at the bottom of the map? If so, it'd probably make sense to make it a basement, seeing as how unfinished basements are often damp areas. It'd be amusing to see a washer and a dryer as boss characters. Maybe you could even throw in some mermen-type enemies. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/30/2007 7:20:47 AM message detail	That's a good idea, but no the bog is actually on the 2nd floor, which is the 3rd overall because there is a basement level already. The underwater caverns take up most of the basement areas as of now. I did a couple of cool things last night like put hint books in to help Rovert out. They only tell you simple phrases but can help if you get stuck. I'm finding while playtesting the game that food conservation is a key element to Rovert's survival, as there is no other way to heal yourself aside from finding scattered food items, or buying them from Oldie for outrageous prices. OH! And that reminds me you can also buy the high heels (jump boots) at the shop too, and for only $400. This should be everyone's first purchase, I would recommend. Other updates include the basement level of the skelevator being underwater, and some more secret things like destructible bricks. I plan on making the first boss monster tonight. I would have done it yesterday but I watched Rocky 6. Oh, why couldn't have I done the boss monster instead! (R6 was not that good, but Smallville was a repeat, what can you do?) I'll try to update screenshots when I can as always. When the boss monster is completely done of course that will be up there somewhere. As to the exact wherabouts of the bog, let's just say that I got the basic idea from the Abandoned Mine area of SOTN- Where the first time playing though I had no idea that such a giant area was hidden down there. So the bog is really just a good-sized area that doesn't really have any big signs saying "LOOK MA, THE BOG!!" The music for the bog is pretty good though, it was going to be used for my Captain of the Guard 2 game but I never finished it. There's another piece I've been sitting on for over a year, but it won't fit in any of the areas I've done so far. It'll be in here somewhere at the end. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 3/30/2007 9:46:01 AM message detail	Umm...from your food discussion, it sounds as though saving doesn't replenish your health. Is this correct? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 3/30/2007 11:00:22 AM message detail	Yes, that is correct. Although it might be unpopular, I've decided to do this for a couple of reasons. First, it makes any food that you find automatically very important. This means more variety in useful treasure as the player could be as stoked to find a cup of hot coffee as a heart maximizer (well, maybe). If food was found everywhere, why would the player want to risk / search out a way to reach that delectable apple or roasted chicken when they could just beat on skeletons for an hour like every other game and get their food that way? Secondly, it makes the game harder and adds a little resource management. Like I said before, conservation is key. Say if the player was 90% on health and they found a cookie. Well, they COULD eat it right away, but in actual fact they could be wasting some of that health restoration. Why eat it now when you can save it for when you really need it? I've tried playing this way and believe me it was way better grabbing the chicken near the beginning after some unsuccessful tangling with some spike traps rather than when I got hit by one bat. Another reason I've done this is called the "Anti-Everquest" act, although any MMOPRG could be used in EQ's stead. I sort of mentioned this in point one but oh well lol. Those games are all about farming items and let's be honest, it's not very exciting in general is it? If food dropped from enemies or candles, players would farm candles or spiders all day and make food next to worthless (although obviously still useful for the healing.) And I can envision just how easy the game would become... GASP! To counteract this, the only way to get food other than finding it is to purchase it from Oldie at the shop. And it's expensive. To buy a roasted chicken will cost you more than the High Heels, in fact. Oh, but they'll be buying lots o' chickens later on, believe you me! Now you may ask yourself: "Well okay, then what if the player just farms candles for cash and then buys the food?" Simple! For this we take a page from the wonderful NES game, Legacy of the Wizard and how they handle monster drops. In that game, what you need, YOU GET. If you are almost out of keys but have everything else, you will get keys a lot more often when you kill enemies. Conversely, if you have a lot of money, enemies will almost never drop any. This is what I plan to do for money bags that come out of candles. When the player gets an as-of-yet undetermined amount of moolah, the chances of getting money from candles either drops drastically or is set to zero. Well how do we get money then!? A couple of ways: Finding $50 and $100 money bags, Grabbing $500 red diamonds, treasure chests, searching for hidden money, Finding TREASURE TROVE(S), defeating boss monsters, and lastly gambling! There is going to be at least one (maybe two) incredibly well-hidden giant stashes of treasure that will increase Rovert's wealth by quite a bit. I will not disclose any information about the whereabouts of these troves upon release, aside from saying they're in there and maybe how many there are. The gambling I haven't figured out yet, but it's going to be one of those "mini-game" rooms I mentioned earlier in this thread. Lotta' talking, how's that? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
soundofspeet Posted 4/1/2007 2:26:18 AM message detail	The Offensive Altar? Hmmm...wouldn't that be, oh, the toilet? Just a thought. ;) --- Rated Adults-Only GamerTag: HT Tenrai
Black_Crusher Posted 4/1/2007 6:49:01 AM message detail	Keep it up, that's a good thought! I'm going to try and use "The Offensive Altar" in here somewhere, it's just a matter of where to put it. If it IS a toilet, y'know I do have a weapon called "the Holy Crap".. I was thinking of a spoof area of SOTN's Royal Chapel, but the bathroom is almost too good of an idea to waste. What to do?! Maybe I can have little cultists with goat heads running around? The first boss monster is.... DONE! Big Boss: THORNY BASTARD HP: 25 Area: The Bog Guards: ???? It's a thorny tree-like enemy that has 3 attacks: Thorn Slap- A thorny protrusion comes out of the ground and tries to hit Rovert. (1 damage) Thorn Wall- If Rovert stays on the ground too long hitting TB, rows of thorny arms pop out of the ground the length of the screen. (1 damage) Granny's Apple- TB throws an exploding apple at Rovert. It's green and is the most powerful attack. (2 damage) I used my "big boss" theme from the Captain of the Guard games not because I couldn't come up with anything else, but I think it's still the best boss music I've made for fights like this. I'll put up a screenshot of TB in a couple of days, and update his information on the website now. Speaking of music, I have two more MIDI pieces I did that came out pretty good. One is scary(ish) sounding- You gotta' love minor keys! The other sounds like it's off-timing (not 4/4 I mean) and is really pretty different but I like it. I can't wait to use them!!! I have to work 8 hours of OT today, so I only have 1 day off this week instead of 2. Tonight and tomorrow I should be able to do a couple more rooms. As always you guys'll be the first to know the latest and thanks! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/2/2007 6:47:11 PM message detail	I think an aspect of game design that is very underrated in its difficulty overall level layout. The placement of rooms, items, and how they interconnect with each other. Trying to make a mostly non-linear game like this is tough because you have to really plan and think ahead for just how the layout will be like. Dead ends, teases, secret tunnels, obvious passages, areas to backtrack to, teleporters, geez!! You don't want to hold the player by the hand, you can't make it TOO obscure, you have to check to see if they can ever get stuck anywhere (run out of keys, etc.). I think I have it to a really good point right now. I would estimate I have between 35-40% of the total castle done. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but it's not very easy if I want it done right. I even want to try to make it so that sequence breaking can be done, although that is gonna' be REALLY hard lol. Thorny bush barriers got the nod last night. Another way to keep Rovert and the player guessing what might lie of the other side.. and wondering just where the Pyro Mace Iac could be.. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 4/2/2007 11:52:06 PM message detail	I played a game called Return of Egypt lately, and I must say that - despite its short play time - the game was pretty challenging as far as level design was concerned. I don't really think that the level design was anything particularly special, per se, but it was very well-planned in relation to the special abilities that you could obtain. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 4/3/2007 9:21:44 AM message detail	Yeah, crap level design will ruin a game IMO. For this one, I originally intended the high heels to be an item that was found at a much later time. However I came to a point where it was just needed earlier than I expected, so then I had to decide on how the player would get it. I made it available in the shop because it would force players to actually EXPLORE a bit (gasp!), and made it cheap enough so that it wouldn't be a problem buying them. And in the time you spend finding the shop / collecting $$, you'll see a lot of areas where you can go back and use the high heels to get to. You'd also have most likely visited and learned how the save room works, as well as done danger jumps, and some other things. And since a super jump eats up 2 skill hearts a pop, you still can't over-abuse the move since you start out with a max capacity of 8 anyhow. The hint books also help first timers out, and although there's a bunch in the beginning rooms, you won't find many elsewhere in the castle (since the player already knows how to play by then.) A few offer tips, some act as signs, and none are neccessary. I want to make a lot of optional rooms / content which should boost the game's replayability. Now a lot of the other "blockades" in the game like one-way rooms, wooden crates (gotta' have wooden crates!), places that require speed to run across, watery areas, thorny bushes, buttons, false walls, and switches can be used liberally and the main area of the castle can be fully explored with the super jump ability. And, I increased the player's save file "storage space" by 100%, because I realized last night that I've already devoted almost 50% of the old file to secret items and stuff ALREADY. Now there's room for way more, the best news of all!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 4/4/2007 12:40:55 PM message detail	By the way, is the hit detection pretty accurate? The vast majority of SD games (i.e. Syd of Valis for Sega Genesis) that I've played have had pretty horrible hit detection, which makes the game less enjoyable when you consider how little range you typically have. Furthermore, I've noticed that all of the candles' flames in the screenshots appear to be blown to the right. Is there any reason for this? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
kevinski Posted 4/4/2007 12:43:52 PM message detail	By the way, you should implement some sort of Blood Skeleton (a red skeleton that gets back up shortly after you've killed it). I just think that it'd be kinda cool to see a bit more variation, since there appear to be a lot of standard Skeleton enemies. You could also implement a yellow variation of the Skeleton enemy and have it always run away from Rovert, possibly even smashing into a nearby wall of clawing at it desperately. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 4/4/2007 4:11:05 PM message detail	By the way, is the hit detection pretty accurate? It's...interesting, I'll answer it that way! If you mean Rovert vs. enemies with weapons, yes, it's very accurate. In fact while playing you'll see that you can actually hit enemies from every part of the weapon's animation. So, if Rovert starts by pulling the battle axe (for example) out from behind his back and there's an enemy behind him and the axe touches it, the enemy will get hurt. So although the eventual weapon destination may be right in front of Rovert, he might actually strike from up to 8 different points beforehand. (Useful for the swarm of bats that attack from time to time.) If you mean enemy vs. Rovert, remember that almost all damage is done to Rovert is based on touch duration. This is necessary because I've incorporated the danger jumps into the game. It's possible to reach a higher point on the screen by jumping on top of a skeleton's head- if done quickly. Too much contact with the skelly will hurt Rovert, of course. Some enemies like bosses will instantly damage Rovert upon strike. Also, all projectiles will instantly damage Rovert. Fortunately, most can be deflected if you have a shield, it's raised, and you're facing in the opposing direction. how little range you typically have. Your weapons actually have a pretty good range, and others like the Holy Crap can be thrown to reach about halfscreen distance. The Devil for Hire also has a decent-sized attack range as it follows Rovert around the castle. Furthermore, I've noticed that all of the candles' flames in the screenshots appear to be blown to the right. Is there any reason for this? No special reasoning, it's just that all the candles have the same timed animation, and in this particular shot it was on the "right" animation frame. Since it only has 2 frames of normal, standing animation I had a 50% chance of getting the "right" animation frame. And they all show the same one? That's low odds! By the way, you should implement some sort of Blood Skeleton (a red skeleton that gets back up shortly after you've killed it Absolutely! Consider it done. I need a tougher enemy for my new area, "Shipping & Receiving". I also want to start on some Skeleton archers. And zombies! it'd be kinda cool to see a bit more variation, since there appear to be a lot of standard Skeleton enemies LOL, wait until you see how many bats there are! But I get what you're saying. Most of what you see in the screenshots are the starter areas, and some skeletons may indeed by placeholders for better monsters later (after I've made them). I want to make some rat enemies somewhere in there too. Maybe they could steal the food treasures... Diabolical! I figure I would make the actual buildings and structures first, and then fill it with enemies (for the most part). There won't be too many basic enemies that'll give Rovert too much trouble, but the bosses are a lot harder as they should be. You could also implement a yellow variation of the Skeleton enemy and have it always run away from Rovert, possibly even smashing into a nearby wall of clawing at it desperately. I don't know about this one, but like every post on here I'll take it into consideration! Thanks for all the good questions, Kevinski! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/5/2007 6:43:43 AM message detail	Blood Skeleton is done! It's called a Brittle, they have 5 HP and collapse when it hits zero. After a little bit, they rise again. They can only be killed permanently by the Family Whip, since it's the slayer of undead nasties. I will post a screenshot of one of them in the Shipping Receiving area of the castle at lunchtime today. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
B W M Posted 4/5/2007 7:48:59 PM message detail	How long have you've been working on this? --- I am the demon lord of chaos!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/6/2007 6:08:16 AM message detail	Not too long, maybe 2 months tops. the graphics take about 50% of the total time, I'd guess. I'm making graphics for it all the time, like when I think of something cool to add I'll just go and make it then instead of completing the newest room (for example) . The game is a lot bigger than I first thought it'd be, so my more accurate estimation of when it'll be completed is this summer. I don't want to release crap, afterall! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 4/6/2007 11:24:46 AM message detail	Thanks for creating the Blood Skeleton. Again, the yellow variation was only intended for comic relief, so it's not necessarily a big deal. By the way, I do have one other enemy idea that would be kinda cool (and - possibly - very easy) to implement, seeing as how it could be very similar to the spiders in Simon's Quest. You know, the ones that came down on webs and threw webbing at Simon. Anyway, this enemy's concept is actually fairly old, as I've always wanted to create a video game of some sort. A long time ago, I was creating enemy concepts for a game entitled Ninjavania, which would take concepts from both Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden and parody them. One of my ideas involved a mummy that possessed ninja-like agility and entered the game play screen by lowering himself from the ceiling by his own bandages, somewhat similarly to the following image (which I located with a quick Google search): http://www.geocities.com/supersweetninjas/ninja1.gif Of course, my concept for the enemy's attack patterns were more complex, but I think that it'd be hilarious to create a mummy ninja with attack patterns identical to those of the spider enemies in Simon's Quest, replacing the web attacks with bandage attacks. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
bloodblue7 Posted 4/6/2007 1:09:38 PM message detail	Make a boss that makes fun of slogra and gaibon XD like... a bird and a lizard! that would be so fun to fight XD
Black_Crusher Posted 4/6/2007 1:12:11 PM message detail	"Super Sweet Ninjas", haha. I remember going through my friend's catalog he got from C-Town and they had all kinds of ninja gear & weapons in it. I remember you could choose from black, white, and camo. Blowguns too! Good times.. Your idea sounds more like a good boss enemy rather than a regular one. I'll need to fire up CV2 and find some spiders because for the life of me I can't remember how they attack. The whole entrance thing would make a cool boss opener, or maybe a cutscene somewhere. I'm still working on the Shipping and Receiving area of the castle, and it'll need a boss, but I have a GREAT idea for it already! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
hermitmaster Posted 4/6/2007 3:59:08 PM message detail	I have a pretty good idea for a boss. Rather than Medusa how about Mesuedya pronounced me sued ya, Dracula's lawyer. His main attack could be called Lawsuit From Hell, he would open a briefcase and shoot paperwork out of it. Just thought it would be kinda, funny, I mean who doesn't have an attorney these days ? Certainly the king of the vampires would. Just a thought. P.S. Do you plan on implementing the Count from Sesame Street ? I hope so. --- The Almighty Hermitmaster My collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/hermitmaster?objType=1
kevinski Posted 4/7/2007 2:00:21 AM message detail	You can see the spiders within the first minute of the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4we8iFk-fY By the way, there's some profanity in there, for the record. Consider yourself forewarned. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 4/7/2007 10:03:27 PM message detail	Hey Bloodblue7, we must have posted at the same time I didn't read your post until now. I think having a tag team of monsters as bosses would be a really cool idea so I think I'll try to work it in somewhere if I can. A bird and a lizard would be pretty cool, and fighting them at the same time could be a challenge if I did it right too! I really like the Mesuedya idea- and I know I can pull it off with what I know how to do already. And Dracula's lawyer? Gold! GOLD! As for the count from Seasame Street, I am still planning on having Drac be more like that purple bastard so the answer so far is a yes. When I do the voice "acting" for it towards the end, I'll know for sure though. And speaking of Medusa, I am going to put some of those awful, annoying Medusa heads in Hasslevania too- I just don't know whether to have them be actual medusa heads or something else. They'll have the same flight trajectory in any case. Kevinski, I was playing through Simon's Quest for a bit last night in an attempt to locate those spiders. Fortunately, I found some shortly after the 2nd town so it wasn't a long wait. So you mean just have the ninja mummies rappel down from the ceiling using their bandages and throw more around at Rovert? That sounds pretty doable too. This is a fun project, but MAN is it a lotta' work! Time for some late-night programming right now!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 4/8/2007 3:18:29 AM message detail	Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of for the ninja mummies. By the way, how about having the Medusa Head enemies taunt the player? For instance, have a platform-jumping section with Medusa Heads flying around to knock you down below (probably to an lower point on the same screen). Whenever one of them knocks you down below, it could say something along the lines of, "Oh, don't you just hate it when that happens?" You could come up with several other phrases, as well. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
DogKicker_Mcpee Posted 4/9/2007 12:39:01 AM message detail	How about after you kill drac a belmont run inside the room look around for a second and get pissed that drac is dead and he start to fight you but he is incredbly weak and after you kill him he gets back up and tell you that he is really... than he syffers a massef stroke and dies --- Altar boy o altar boy confess your sins to me you will find the grace of god inside my recktory. other people who know who sings this - 2
Black_Crusher Posted 4/9/2007 9:35:13 AM message detail	Well, I do know that I wanted to have a Belmont in the game, only Rovert finds him and he's really OLD. I don't know which Belmont (probably Simon, why the hell not LOL) but the thing is that he got lost in the castle and never made it out. Either that or you find his bones.. or talking bones? Or his ghost!? Either way this is going to be how you get the Family Whip I think, since that makes a lot of sense. The shipping and receiving area is just about finished, all I need is to add an AWESOME tip of the hat to Metal Gear that I've had in my head since before I even drew one picture for this game. I don't want to give it away, but I think a lot of people will love it (that played the NES version, at least). I made rats too. Nothing fancy, but they're pretty fast-moving (and easy to kill, as it should be). They look to be the size of dogs, when compared to Rovert. Big nasties. They'll be underground and in the warehouse. Probably some other places later too. I also have a cool idea for AlucarT. I figure since his gear makes him lucky, why not have him be in charge of one of the mini-games? Maybe a gambling game? But definatlely not like Ironsword's "bones" game. I suck at that one. And not like Zelda's "pick a coin" game either. Any ideas for a decent gambling game I could put in? PROGRESS REPORT: Game Areas completed: 4 / ?? Castle Rooms completed: 31 Outside Rooms completed: 5 Save Rooms completed: 2 Weapons placed: 3 / 7 Power ups placed: 3 / 5 Heart Maximizers: 4 Coffees: 1 Chickens: 3 Cookies: 2 Grapes: 2 Apples: 5 $50 bags: 3 $100 bags: 3 Red Diamonds: 2 Boss Monsters: 1 Regular Enemies: 7 Teleporters: 5 NPC Characters: 2 / ?? Mini-Games: 0 / ?? Total Secrets: a LOT, over 40 so far (walls, pitfalls, etc) I plan to have an average of 1 a screen, and a lot of rooms with 2 or 3 each. --- Those numbers are off the top of my head, but I think that's pretty accurate. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
hermitmaster Posted 4/9/2007 3:25:59 PM message detail	Blackjack, Roulette or Texas Hold'em. --- The Almighty Hermitmaster My collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/hermitmaster?objType=1
Black_Crusher Posted 4/10/2007 7:14:27 AM message detail	I was thinking a game that didn't exist yet if possible. I made a cool truck for the shipping and receiving area and uploaded the new screenshot of one in the dock on the website. You can only see the back of it, but there's going to be a scene in which you get to see the whole thing and a lot more lol.. The trucking company is UPC- Undead Parcels n' Crap. You can also see Rovert using the shield and a Drat (dog-rat) in the screenshot too. I finished the last room of S&R and put in another teleporter way up high. More on this later! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/10/2007 7:54:14 PM message detail	Hey guys, there's a Polish Clickzine called Slimaczek that just put up an interview / preview of Hasslevania. The original is in Polish, but here's the translated version if anyone's interested. (It's a little rough, but I'm sure you can work it out.) Interview / Preview: "ZapowiedŸ - Hasslevania", Slimaczek Clickzine April. 2007 (Poland) By: FanotherRPG Added: 04/10/2007 Source: Slimaczek Clickzine Link: http://p9d.webd.pl/slimaczek/numery/slimaczek_10/nr10/hasslevania.htm (English translation of original) FanotheRPG: "Why is your new game for which you even stop your great Equin Village 3: Legacy a platformer and not another awesome cRPG?" Del Duio: "Well, the best reason I can come up with is because it's NOT another role-playing game. I've always wanted to try my hand at an action / adventure game like Metroid or Castlevania, and since Equin 3 is going to take so long to finish I figured I'd best make it now instead of when I'm 80!" FanotheRPG: "Why have you decided to present again a fight between good (Rovert) and bad (Dracula which is very popular..)" Del Duio: "I wanted to have Dracula in it because you just can't have some other big bad guy in any type of Castlevania game, spoof or otherwise. There's actually going to be something different about my Dracula that should be pretty funny, but I can't really say what it is just now." FanotheRPG: "You write on your Hasslevania home page that your game is based on the Castlevania series. What do you see in those games that made you decide to make your own game based on the same rules?" Del Duio: "Castlevania has always been an awesome series. It presents all of the mythological monsters that everyone knows and some that you don't. It's extreme challenge factor from the first couple of NES games seems to have diminished in later installments, although the games are still very fun to play. The later games, Symphony of the Night in particular, feature more of the Metroid-based exploration mechanics that I like the most out of my games. Hasslevania will play out a lot like SOTN does, but I'm not going to say it'll be the next SOTN, since that's just plain crazy talk!" FanotheRPG: "Your graphical style still isn't maybe technically awesome, but it's great and even that game type changed is recognized. How you do it?" Del Duio: "I actually saw a great article on The Daily Click on how to improve your graphical style and a big point was to not use black outlines for your sprites. This, of course, is what I do for all of my games! I decided to try something different and use actual black very, very sparlingly and the result has largely been amazing. That's luck for ya'! Equin 3 will still use the graphical style that I'm most comfortable with, with the black outlines and etc. though." FanotheRPG: "One of the weapons is the Family Whip, are you thinking about using it for swings like in Indiana Jones games?" Del Duio: "No, but that's a great idea! The whip was extensively used in the early Castlevania games, so I wanted to include it in my game as well." FanotheRPG: "Would there be any secrets or bonuses for ending the game like in Necropolis Rising - Dark Powers which unlocked new options?" Del Duio: "I'd say almost certainly. Castlevania is becoming a series that's famous for its multiple endings and playthroughs with different characters. I'm sure I can come up with something!" * * * Just thought I'd share this article, see it's getting spread around like the butter!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
DogKicker_Mcpee Posted 4/10/2007 8:30:27 PM message detail	multiple endings sound cool maby it depends on secrets found and stuff oh and if you do diffrent caracters maby put a diffrent boss at the end like in dawn of sorrow and you could have a hidden room that lets you change your outfit like in re1 --- Altar boy o altar boy confess your sins to me you will find the grace of god inside my recktory. other people who know who sings this - 2
kevinski Posted 4/11/2007 7:28:55 AM message detail	More outfits would be awesome. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 4/11/2007 10:32:21 AM message detail	More outfits? You guys do know how much of a pain in the rear it was to just make the armor right? (Hint: a big one!) Maybe it'd be easier to make a helmet, but then Rovert's blue hair'd be covered up! Maybe that's not a bad idea afterall :O Maybe if the game was done and I had nothing more to add until its release I could mess around with things like that, maybe have some room or something with collectables you find that were on display or something. It's too early to think of that now though. Tonight is when I'll make my zombies and maybe boss #2. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/12/2007 10:20:57 AM message detail	Well, things turned out a little different than last time. I have it so that now Rovert can be a stowaway in that truck in receiving, and off it goes.. Now the question is, WHERE will it take him?? I can always slap a teleport orb at the destination to get him back to the castle (gotta' love those things!) My first thought was "Alucart's Casino & Burgers", or something like that. It'd be a good way to have the gambling joint in the game, without sacrificing a castle room for the space. What do you think? Maybe if you did well enough at the casino you could win a weapon? Dragon Quest 8 does this, and it's a neat-o idea that'd make the mini-game sort of worth your while. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
bloodblue7 Posted 4/12/2007 5:14:45 PM message detail	I was wondering why you didnt mention my idea XD If you're making the lizard before he dies have him try and shoot fire but only a puff of smoke comes out XD
Black_Crusher Posted 4/13/2007 4:10:17 PM message detail	I mentioned it a bit in with the tag-team bosses =) The zombies are all done! They are slower and have less life than the skeletons, so that equals easy pickin's for Rovert's weaponry. I've put them into already existing rooms and some have taken over where skellies once were. They may be easy, but the variety helps make things look way better. I put up a screenshot of one of the already-existing rooms that now has 2 zombies in it on the webpage. I think what I'm going to end up doing (and to avoid having 50 screenshots by this game's end) is to only have a max of 12 screenies on the page. That way I can replace one with another and keep things looking less cluttered. Who knows what'll be up there by the end?? I'm slapping awesome NES "Engrish" in places as well. For the truck stowaway we get one of my favorite lines from Metal Gear: "UH-OH, THE TRUCK HAVE STARTED TO MOVE!!" "All your base.." is too well-known, but it'd be cool to have a skelly say "I AM ERROR" Hahaha, that'd make no sense- just what I'm looking for!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/14/2007 11:14:10 AM message detail	Okay, this ought to be a popular move. What do you think? http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/ACAB-CASINO-MOCKUP.PNG NOTE: This isn't final, I'm just working out what looks the best. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
hermitmaster Posted 4/14/2007 11:27:23 AM message detail	Rather than Dracula, how about Tracula ? Dracula=Alucard Tracula=Alucart --- The Almighty Hermitmaster My collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/hermitmaster?objType=1
B W M Posted 4/16/2007 8:12:36 PM message detail	How about a parody of Galamoth, Legion, Death, and the Succubus? That would be so cool! Galamoth could now be like an old geezer of a lizard instead of the ultra-tough monster you face in SOTN. Legion could be a ball of rats instead of men. Death could be like Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. The Succubus... could be an old granny stripper that tries to scare you to death by lifting her dress, meaning you'd have to attack from your back just to not get freightened to death.. --- I am the demon lord of chaos!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/17/2007 7:08:15 AM message detail	I am for sure going to have some sort of succubus, although it might be in the form of regular enemies over a boss one. (Diablo's lower-level demon girls come to mind). My Multimedia Fusion's sound effect disc has a bunch of girl's "ooos!" and "ahhhs!" that'd be perfect for them. I thought a knock off on Legion would be great, I just didn't know exactly what to do for it. Maybe some worm that holds a bunch of appliances- a toilet, refrigerator, TV, toaster- and you have to destroy each one to get at the worm. Galamoth would be cool- Maybe I could have him ask Rovert if he's ever heard of the Beryl Circlet. When Rovert says no, he'll say "GOOD!!!!" and attack?? The gambling game is in the process, it's taking awhile because I'm trying to make some original game using dice. At least the whole 'getting to the casino' cutscene is complete as well as the way the fluorescent lights work on the outside. Different patterns work well for this. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/18/2007 7:02:03 AM message detail	Okay, here's the gambling game I came up with. For now, I'm calling it "High Rollers" but that could change. There is a flat entrance fee per try of $50. Rovert pays the $50, and gets 3 dice. The player then rolls all 3 dice and whatever the total number is, that goes up on the board at the right side as his first roll. The object of the game is to then roll all 3 dice and score a higher total than your previous one, with each sucessful roll being put up on the board. If you can do this 3 times, you'll win the 3rd prize (Red Diamond). Do it 5 times and win 2nd prize (Heart Maximizer), If you can do it six times you'll win the 1st prize, which will be one of the weapons. I still need to really test this out to see if it's too easy or too hard, but since you can only roll a 3-18 per attempt I'm going to guess it's probably not too easy to get 6 rolls in a row that are consectutively higher than the last. The inside of the casino resembles a bar, complete with a Medusa waitress, a cowbow zombie, and a biker skeleton. Alucart also has the "trails" effect that Alucard has while moving =) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/20/2007 7:33:45 AM message detail	Some new enemies now include Medusae (I think that's the plural of medusa) that act a lot like the Lamia of NES's "The Battle of Olympus", but her main weapon is a crossbow instead. Finally, some projectiles for that shield to block! And I also want to introduce THE most annoying enemy in all of Castlevaniadom will be making an appearance in my game.. sort of. Instead of medusa heads, we're going to get "Hoff Heads". Floating heads of David Hasslehoff lol.. The afro takes the place of the snakes for the hairpiece. P.S: I was just playing through Castlevania 3 last night for awhile and it reminded me of just how hard those old NES CV's can be. The medusa heads kept killing me by knocking me into a pit- grrr!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 4/21/2007 11:58:46 AM message detail	Sorry for my extended absence. I just bought a DS, and I've been playing Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin almost exclusively, ignoring much of my regular routine (aside from work, obviously). Anyway, Galamoth would be awesome, but not so much if you used the actual Galamoth character. Upon looking up the meaning of gala, I found that it refers to a festive event or celebration. How about having a boss named Gala Moth, and it just happens to be a moth with a gigantic 'fro and disco-style clothing? When he makes his entrance, he could say something along the lines of, "It's time to par-tay!" (To make it even more amusing, give him a James Brown-style voice.) Hahahaha...I realize that it'd be a bit obscure, but it'd be pretty amusing to anyone who looked up the meaning behind it. As for a Legion parody, how about a gigantic ball that's made up of baby skeletons, who bounce off of the floor once they hit it, yelling, "Weeeeeee!" If you'd like to go with your idea regarding the appliances and whatnot, though, why not make it a parody of both Legion and Katamari Damacy? Hahahaha...and I like the idea for Hoff Heads. Nice one. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 4/21/2007 1:49:31 PM message detail	Gala Moth would be cool. I could have it fly around until you destroy it's wings and it drops and runs around or something. During playtesting of what I have in Hasslevania so far, I farmed candles until I got the $5000 needed to buy the Sword of Del Duio from Oldie. MY GOD IT'S SO BORING TO FARM CANDLES FOR $25 A POP (and only rarely too). The good thing is that there will be so many interesting things to explore and do, nobody will WANT to farm candles for things, when they can just get cash normally by discovering new areas and rooms. Oh, and I made Alucart turn into a bat once you "leave" the casino. We'll just assume he has most of Alucard's powers for this game, I suppose. P.S: I had an idea that I've used in some of my other games where some enemies (i.e. thieves) can steal some money as well as damage you when they attack. Maybe that would be a good idea to put in this game too. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Chrono Trigger Cross Posted 4/21/2007 2:25:23 PM message detail	Just wanted to say great job so far, it's looking awesome! I'm very impressed with the work you've put into this so far. I'll let you know if I have any good ideas :P --- Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.
Kaluroth Posted 4/21/2007 9:35:02 PM message detail	This sounds pretty cool, I can´t wait to play it! The skelevator idea sounds great, it would be cool that after certain events in the game (i.e. defeating a boss) , you return to the skelevator and it suddenly stops, so that when the operator tries to fix the problem he discovers either a secret passage to a new area, a monster attacking, or something just to add some extra significance to that area of the game.
Black_Crusher Posted 4/22/2007 7:48:43 PM message detail	Thanks Chrono, yeah it's a lot of hard work but at the end I can say it was fun to make. I had thought about making a secret way of getting to level 5 of the skelevator before but decided against it. This was mostly because of the giant pain in the ass that whole thing was to make. I even wanted to make a level 33.1, which if anybody watches Smallville that used to be a secret floor of Lex Luthor's corporate building that held his super-powered prisoners in it. The good thing though, is that it works perfectly now, which I'm very proud about. One thing that is not shown from the screenshot is that the basement level of the skelevator shaft is actually filled up with a lot of water. In fact, when you first come across the skelevator, you're at the bottom and under water. It'll make a lot of sense when you eventually play it, as it didn't fit in as well before when there was no water at the bottom at all. And another thing people may not be aware of is that (so far) enemies do not drop or carry any kind of money or treasures. They are there for the sole purpose of slowing Rovert down or damaging him if possible. Not even boss enemies. However, boss enemies do guard places that have treasures that couldn't be reached unless you killed said boss enemy first. And I have to ask a question of you all: I was thinking about increasing the armor's effectiveness to make it so that not only does it lessen enemy damage but it also completely protects you from floor and ceiling spikes. It should be noted that this won't work like SOTN's Spikebreaker Armor. Instead you'd be able to use spikes as traversable floors. This would also open up a lot of new possibilities for backtracking to new places as I could have a little tunnel lined with spikes that Rovert couldn't jump or run his was through. He could only get through it by having the armor and normally walking through it. Aw, screw it! I like the idea too much. From here on, consider the armor to also reduce damages from all spikes by 100% !! Don't worry though, the armor will be tough to get, as not to abuse this awesome power too early. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/24/2007 10:45:04 AM message detail	Man, if I never see another casino mini-game it'll be too soon! After a LOT of playtesting High Rollers, it was found to be near-impossible to actually win anything, which resulted in some big changes to it. The biggest one is that there are now five maximum rounds instead of six, with the prizes being given out for a successful roll on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds. There's some visual changes too, most notably you can see 3 treasure chests above the room in the ceiling. The screenshot on the homepages doesn't reflect these changes yet, but I hope to put a recent casino shot up there within a day or two. The Medusae got a name change: Lame-ia. I did this mostly because I think I'm going to have the "Me-Sued-ya" monster lawyer mini-boss eventually that was suggested earlier in the topic. Too good of an idea to pass up. There's a new dangerous obstacle in the castle, the arrow slit. They can't be destroyed and fire off arrows at Rovert when he's within range of them. The rate is 1 arrow every 3 seconds. The arrows can also be deflected by the shield if you have one. The powers of the Iron Armor have now also been fully realized too! The armor is quickly becoming one of the best items in the game, as it now fully protects against damage from all manner of spikes, as well as lessens damage from enemies. It's not 100% that "The Holy Crap!" will be the first prize in the casino, as I was thinking about maybe putting the Binoculars in there instead. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
shin_kaito Posted 4/24/2007 10:28:16 PM message detail	Ooh! If you're going to have iron armor, you got to have rusty armor! Maybe it'll be completely independent of the iron armor, or maybe getting hit by water enemies will rust it bit by bit. If it does rust, you can get Alucart to spit-shine it clean for something in exchange (a cookie, a weapon, maybe just playing a game of 'high rollers'?) The dialouge between rusty Rovert and Alucart might go something along the lines of this: Alucart: (is busy tending to a gambling skeleton couple but a loud series of squeaks drives the couple off) No! Wait! Come back! I'll give you guys a free drink! I'll promise I'll get to cleaning the restrooms! No, please, don't leave! Skeleton lady: This is the worst place you've ever taken me to, George! (stomps out) Skeleton dude/George: Yes, dear... (Rovert comes in squeaking all the way) Alucart: (sighs and bothers to look up at Rovert's rusty armor) ...Again? Rovert: (stops walking, hence no more squeaking) Again...
Black_Crusher Posted 4/26/2007 7:33:58 AM message detail	Sitesled (my website host) has been down since yesterday, but once it's up and running I'll update the homepage with 2 new screenshots. One is the "official" casino insides and the other is the new area I'm working on, called "The Crystal Dungeon" for now. Blah, Sitesled, Blah! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/27/2007 10:42:34 AM message detail	Yay, it's back up and running! Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye Homepage http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/HasslevaniaHOME.html Included are the new shots of the Casino insides and a room from the Crystal Dungeon. One of the latest enemies, the Lame-ia, is also shown in the Crystal Dungeon room. They fire LIMITED bolts from their crossbows (for now at least), to make them not quite as hard as they were before when they fired unlimited projectiles of death at Rovert. Note in the picture that Rovert is without a shield... uh oh! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Biyte Posted 4/27/2007 5:28:21 PM message detail	Make a weapon that makes money bags appear more often? Maybe include some more armors? --- http://rakion.softnyx.net/lib/pop_img.asp?FileURL=/files/usrshot/HOLY%20CRAP!!%20EXPLOSION!.JPG OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/28/2007 6:57:46 AM message detail	I dunno about more armors, I mean the one you get is plenty powerful as it is. The "more moneybag" weapon is a good idea (Captain of the Guard has such a weapon called the Auction Hammer that makes coins appear a lot more for example), but what I was going to do is have special candles that look exactly like normal candles. These will be few and far between, however the drop rate of normal money bags will be a lot higher, and in very rare cases may even drop a green money bag ($50)! I figure these will remain a mystery until someone gets a green bag out of a candle and posts all about it over the internet, which would be awesome LOL. I'm going to be on vacation for the next week and a half, which should mean a lot more time to work on the game, and most likely a lot less posts from me here for a little bit. Hopefully I'll have a gigantic update by the end of it all! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Neofrodo Posted 4/28/2007 7:20:37 AM message detail	Can't wait for the update! :D --- It's not the great that are strong, it's the strong that are great! - Albel Nox
Biyte Posted 4/29/2007 12:04:30 PM message detail	I just noticed that the amount of weapons is a bit low.. try adding some pointless stuff, and like Alucard, let Rovert use fisticuffs! Another idea is casting spells, some minor spells taking up 1-3 skill hearts per use? It's always annoying when you're dying in a game with almost no way out (Dark Metamorphosis in mind here!). Instead of summon spirit or Hellfire, do something like summon pebble and Candlestick-Fire. (make them stronger than they sound lol) --- http://rakion.softnyx.net/lib/pop_img.asp?FileURL=/files/usrshot/HOLY%20CRAP!!%20EXPLOSION!.JPG OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/30/2007 8:51:14 AM message detail	The amount of weapons when compared to SOTN is not a lot, of course, but remember H:TQFS is not supposed to draw influence from SOTN alone! The room-nature and exploration seems geared a lot towards the NES game Castlequest too, and in that one your guy had only one puny dagger. And even in the original Castlevania you just had the one whip, more or less (subweapons aside). In that respect, Hastlevania has a good-sized collection of weapons. I don't think I'm going to add / subtract from the weapons I have now, especially since I've been integrating their powers to be used in different parts of the castle (like the BODD's speed for long jumps, etc.) The idea is, quality over quantity. Make every one of the weapons you can get be very useful for different parts of the game. While debugging, I've given myself every weapon- yet I still use the short sword a lot, believe it or not! I did think about having a special move for one of the weapons that consumed hearts, but it's not known if any will make it in the final version. This and the amount of weapons may be a disappointment to some, but I think that if you take the game for what it is, it'll still be fun to play. Here's the list of weapons with their powers, both completed and possible: Short Sword Damage: 1 The weakest weapon, but fast. No special powers. Lost Axe Damage: 3 Very Strong, but slow. It takes 2 hands to use, so you can't use the shield with it on. (POSSIBLE: Breaks enemy armor) Family Whip Damage vs. non-undead: 1 Damage vs. undead: 5 Super Fast whip that deals extra damage vs. the undead forces of Dracula. The only weapon that can kill Brittles. (POSSIBLE: Swing while moving, like Crissy) Blade of Del Duio Damage: 2 The fastest sword of the thief Del Duio. Doubles your walking speed (a big difference). Lowers your defenses- Enemies do +1 damage to you while you're using it. The speed boost aids some long jumps in places. (POSSIBLE: Change how you can get it- It's really strong for a store-bought item.) Pyro-Mace-Iac Damage: 2 The slowest weapon of all. Lights stuff up. Burns thorny bushes allowing Rovert access to new areas. Melts spider silk, causing spiders to fall to the ground, upside-down and helpless. (POSSIBLE: Set some enemies on fire, or perhaps changes the state of some enemies?) The Holy Crap! Damage: 3 Skill Hearts: 1 The priestly poop is Rovert's only projectile weapon, which makes it very useful. Hits buttons and switches from afar. Devil for Hire Damage: Instant Kills minor enemies Skill Hearts: 3 (Summon) / 1 (every 5 seconds it's alive) The devil follows Rovert around and goes after all enemies within range, killing them upon touch. The devil can be de-summoned by pressing the "DEL" key, but it also dies when it touches water or you run out of Skill Hearts. (POSSIBLE: Like the familiar in SOTN, it can press buttons that Rovert can't get to.) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 4/30/2007 8:53:05 AM message detail	Oh, and it should also be noted that the Devil for Hire doesn't replace any weapon- It acts like a familiar, so you can still use any of the other 6 weapons while it's activated. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Biyte Posted 5/3/2007 4:58:20 PM message detail	BUMP! --- http://rakion.softnyx.net/lib/pop_img.asp?FileURL=/files/usrshot/HOLY%20CRAP!!%20EXPLOSION!.JPG OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
B W M Posted 5/4/2007 7:51:45 AM message detail	Nice weapon list! --- I am the demon lord of chaos!
Biyte Posted 5/4/2007 11:19:20 PM message detail	Just suggesting one more weapon: Gnifyrt (Tyrfing spelt backwards!): 5 attack, Very Slow, will not allow for a shield and will randomly hurt you on swing (about 15% chance) and will randomly heal your enemy (about 20% chance). Also decreases your defense by one, like a weapon you can get not too early (but before any good weapons) in the game, made for pure power but is cursed. It might be hard to design though.. --- http://rakion.softnyx.net/lib/pop_img.asp?FileURL=/files/usrshot/HOLY%20CRAP!!%20EXPLOSION!.JPG OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
Black_Crusher Posted 5/5/2007 7:36:14 AM message detail	Well, it wouldn't be too hard to design at the start, but adding a new weapon in when I'm so far into the game would be very tough to do. This is mostly because I had the general framework down for each room / area already- The map pop-ups, Rovert's movements and weapon attacks, The weapon subscreen, etc. To add anything new like that would require a big overhaul of that framework. And since I'm almost to 50 rooms right now, I'd have to put those changes in ALL of them, yikes! The big additions in the game were the Crystal Dungeon rooms, which are now mostly all done, and me getting the shield block to work properly for Rovert. The sharks make a triumphant return at the bottom of a shark pit. 5 New secrets are tossed in there. Another heart maximizer sits below some ceiling spikes. Rovert could jump up there, but he'd risk getting hit by the spikes. How will he get up there without getting hurt? You'll have to figure that out! The area is tough, but really cool. Which is why the boss of that area can be none other than.. The Gala Moth! It's pretty funny. He has a pink trenchcoat and hat, sunglasses, and pimp cane. For some reason he reminds me a lot of the little wussy bad guy in Bruce Lee's "The Chinese Connection". (Or whatever that movie was when he fought Chuck Norris in the Roman Colleseum). "OH! Such rippling muscles!" HAHA.. I won't have any new screenshots to post until next week at least, but of course I'll update when I can. Thanks! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 5/5/2007 12:05:21 PM message detail	I don't believe that it was The Chinese Connection. That was the one in which there were those two feuding martial arts schools, and I don't recall Chuck Norris being in there anywhere. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 5/8/2007 8:58:09 AM message detail	Whichever was the one where the gang came in to bust heads around the other guy's restaurant. That was the one. With the "frilly" little guy with those big 70's sunglasses right? And didn't he have a gasp... PANTSUIT?? The Gala Moth's glasses look more like Elvis's, but potato, po-TOT-o, they say! His special moves so far are throwing disco balls that bounce around the room. Rovert can destroy them by attacking them (something he can't do with Thorny Bastard's explosive apples). The good news is that after a few bounces, the disco balls break. the bad news is that Gala Moth can have a couple going at once sometimes! The top tier reward for "High Rollers" will now most likely be the good castle map. A very worthwhile item, to be sure. And it leaves the Holy Crap to be found in the Offensive Altar! I'll have a screenshot up tomorrow (Wednesday). --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 5/9/2007 7:46:49 AM message detail	The Gala Moth is completed!! Thanks be to Kevinski and his great idea of the party moth, which turned into a pimp moth, but it's basically the same of course! The new screenshot is up on the Hasslevania homepage of this second boss battle. I am most likely going to change the background for his room, maybe into something a little more "pimp-ish", so for now there's just the basic "crystal dungeon" backdrop. One of the disco balls is shown too, as well as axe-toting Rovert. (not finalized stat-wise) BOSS #2 THE GALA MOTH HP: 19 ATTACKS: Flight, touch, disco balls REWARD: It's a surprise!! For now I have him with less HP than the thorny Bastard because he's way morre mobile. Thorny Bastard has stronger attacks on average however, and if you have any weapon stronger than the Short Sword against Gala Moth, he's kind of a wee bit easy to defeat. Since anybody who has some exploration time put into the castle by then should have at least one more stronger weapon, I'm most likely going to increase his HP total. Thanks all for hanging in there, it'll be... something else! I'll say that much lol. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
B W M Posted 5/9/2007 12:58:09 PM message detail	bump --- I am the demon lord of chaos!
Fiska Posted 5/9/2007 10:00:50 PM message detail	Why? It's not like it was low on the list. --- FFT SCCs completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer In progress: Lancer, Priest
Black_Crusher Posted 5/12/2007 10:24:23 AM message detail	Well, I was kicking around a couple of ideas for the newest area (P.S. I usually design games "by the seat of my pants", with little written out beforehand) and the idea that I thought would be the coolest (IMO) is... ENGINEERING! Yes, for a castle! Now hold onto your hats because I'm busy working on a warp core from Star Trek: The Next Generation to go into it, lol. No, you won't be able to eject the core! I also think I'm going to give the zombies there little red shirts to wear. If you know anything about Trek lore, you'll get the joke. Engineering is also the largest single room to date, which will focus on high jumps and small platforms to get around most of it. It is 2 regular rooms wide and 3 rooms tall. It is here where Rovert shall encounter the dreaded Hoff Heads for the first time, who will attempt to make Rovert screw up his jumps and fall. I'm going to see Spider Man 3 tonight, but I want to try and complete this new section in a couple of days. Make it so, Number One! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 5/15/2007 8:22:26 AM message detail	Okay, while not bad, Spider Man 2 > Spider Man 3. Ron Howard's daughter has never looked better though!! Onto Hasslevania, where now engineering is just about complete. There's a screenshot of what I have now up on the Hasslevania Homepage, but it's going to look better than that in the end. There's even outer space and the red planet Mars on the horizon, er, out the window! Zombies are fitted with red shirts, but the real challenge to this new place is.. Phantom Bats They look like ghostified versions of normal bats, but you'll be able to "see-through" them, sorta'. They're a lot faster than normal bats, and like the good ol' D&D games of old they require magical weapons in order to kill them. (Blade of Del Duio, Pyro Mace Iac, Holy Crap, Tiny Devil). The family whip is not going to be a magic weapon, I've decided, which will make changing to other weapons to kill these and other ghosts a necessity,. This is because most people would want to use the family whip the whole game, once you get it that is. Ghosts are going to be very vicious versions of their normal versions, and without the right weapons a pack of them can keep Rovert from entering new areas.. (Who saw that coming!) Anyhow, engineering is a big ol' room that connects three other areas. Tonight I expect to finish de-bugging the thing. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Biyte Posted 5/15/2007 10:26:56 AM message detail	I can help you test for bugs. I've realized that i discover MANY bugs in games. --- http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=holycrapexplosionsr7.jpg OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
kevinski Posted 5/16/2007 8:54:49 AM message detail	Try not to make the Phantom Bats too cheap if they're pretty fast. I'd recommend giving them only 1 HP. The other Ghost-type enemies, obviously, can have more HP, but any flying Ghost-type creature should only have 1 HP if it's reasonably fast. Regular bats only have 1 HP, right? (If not, they should.) --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 5/16/2007 10:46:23 AM message detail	Yes, they only have 1 HP, as do the normal bats. The only flying creatures I want with more HP (aside from Gala Moth) are the Succubus, or whatever I end up calling them. I put a hint book in engineering to aid Hasslevania n00bs a bit for the phantom bats. It says "MAGIC TO KILL". It's not a whole lot of help but I do only have a limited space for hint text length. And in the spirit of Simon's Quest I didn't want to have the hints be too wordy for their own good. Okay, so I'm looking for a good new area to do next. I have some intense music, and I know that I want to use black bricks for it. I want it to have a claustrophobic feel, and be really dangerous. I was thinking of maybe an area called "Air Ducts", or "Air Vents".. maybe "Crawlspace". I want to incorporate another non-enemy for a hazard like a vertical laser or giant blade like a pendulum. Here's what I have so far: GAME AREAS: The Out of Doors Castle Entrance Underwater Caverns The Bog Skelevator Shaft Crystal Dungeon Shipping & Receiving Alucart's Casino & Burgers Engineering I also want to eventually have a decent-sized area that is outside the castle, on or near the roof, that plays a lot like the Castle Ironspire level of Wizard's and Warriors. This technically could be considered an "out of doors" area, although all of those places don't show up on the map anyhow. I might put an arcade in the castle, or maybe a break room complete with vending machine. It's a lot easier to SAY all of this stuff than actually, you know, DO it! Oh and any kind of testing phase is still too far away for me to think about, but thank you for the offer still, biyte. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 5/17/2007 8:07:14 AM message detail	I like the fact that the hint text is limited in length, as I definitely noticed a similarity to your description and those in Simon's Quest. As for the other area, how about something very similar to Castle Keep, complete with the stairway leading up to Dracula's chamber? (You could even include the hidden stairway that usually leads to some goodies.) Make it a regular area, though, complete with Dracula's throne room, with the throne replaced by a toilet and some nice bathroom muzak. Obviously, it should be something that'll just catch Castlevania fans off-guard, making them think that they're approaching the final battle. Even more amusing would be having Dracula sitting on the toilet whenever the player walks in, then having Dracula scream and teleport out of the room. You could even have a different boss barge in and fight the player. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 5/17/2007 8:29:37 AM message detail	Dude, those are some great ideas! I once had a game (it was unfinished) where you walk around some town talking to NPCs. Anyway, you enter one little room and talk to a red wizard who says "AH! This is the crapper, GET OUT!!!". It was funny because the room was nondescript. Maybe once Drac teleports (after an appropriate girlish scream, of course) you can drop down into the toilet and into a sewer system, that leads to the Offensive Altar. I could have a giant drop down a pipe or something.. I increased the speed of raising your shield last night because Rovert was getting owned by arrows due to his slow response time with it. There's also a computer in Engineering (not pictured in the screenshot) that sits at the very top of the room. When you reach the top of the room (which requires spending a lot of skill hearts for all the super jumps) you can activate the computer, which turns some metal blocks "on". These are one either side of the room, and act as mini lifts for Rovert. This way you can save skill hearts next time because you won't have to do as many super jumps to reach the top again. The activation saves from room to room and even on the save game file, so you won't have to keep turning the computer on every game. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 5/18/2007 9:13:30 AM message detail	How about having the player press Down while standing on top of the toilet, resulting in a Mario-esque pipe sound that leads down to the other area? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 5/18/2007 9:30:24 AM message detail	Well there are a couple of intstances in the game where Rovert falls down a secret entrance simply by standing on top of it, and one instance where jumping into a seemingly solid object to the left- he goes right through and inside it. I don't think that pressing down would be a requirement, but that sounds easy enough to test out. Whichever seems better, I'll work it in. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 5/22/2007 9:36:26 AM message detail	The new area is called "The Vents", and it has the black brick w/ metal motif going on. So far we have drats, phantom bats, and skeletons, but I'm sure there'll be some new enemy to try an' kick Rovert's orange-hued ass outta' the castle! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 5/23/2007 12:56:17 PM message detail	There we go! A screenshot from the vents and an updated engineering pic with a hoff head. I had taken the hoff heads out momentarily due to a bug that had them moving WAAAY too fast and mauling Rovert constantly. Everything's fixed now. Hoff heads are the only enemy so far that throw Rovert back a bit upon collision with him. This was done to emulate (a bit) how those annoying medusa heads from CV always knock the player off of those little platforms. The good news is that there are no bottomless pits of instant death in this game. (yet) Like bats, a hoff head can be killed in a single hit by any weapon. They make K.I.T.T.'s scanner noise of "woo woo" when you kill them. I thought it was funny O_o P.S: For those born too late, K.I.T.T. is the car from Knight Rider, Hasslehoff's first real show. I loved that show growing up, like every kid I knew! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Biyte Posted 5/26/2007 12:25:19 AM message detail	Bump, even though this board isn't so far down. --- http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=holycrapexplosionsr7.jpg OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
kevinski Posted 5/26/2007 5:37:44 AM message detail	Could you not add instant-death pits? Honestly, in SotN-style games, I think that they'd just be annoying. If you do happen to implement bottomless pits, how about making it so that they cause you to reappear on the side from which you dropped, like in Zelda games. Also, the Hoff Heads are funny-looking. They actually kinda remind me of Chris Sligh from this year's American Idol, and that brings up a funny idea... Just so you understand where I'm going with this, watch Chris Sligh's audition video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3717198917908811242 I think that it'd be funny to implement another version of the Hoff Head, called an AI Hoff Head or something along those lines, that cries acidic tears as it passes over Rovert. Of course, it'd be a really obscure reference. I suppose that the name for the enemy would need to be really obvious. By the way, do enemy names appear whenever you hit them? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 5/26/2007 7:25:42 AM message detail	I won't put in instant death pits mostly because the game is normally free-roaming in the four cardinal directions and making some places instant death by falling into a pit will discourage players from exploring pits for fear of an untimely demise. I guess the Hoff Heads do look a little like Sligh, especially if you throw some glasses on him. For now I'm just going to have one annoying floating head. You'll see that will be more than enough! The new corridor obstacle "Zapper" came out awesome! It reminds me of something you'd see out of Super Metroid (a little bit). The electricity arc is a bunch of shades of purple and white, and fast enough to look realistic. And not only will Rovert get hurt if he's between the zapper's generators while it's activated, the force of the shock will push him back like the Hoff Heads' impact blow. During the early stages of the game I was going to put the target enemy's name down at the bottom when it was attacked, along with its HP bar. I decided ultimately against this because at the time a lot of the monsters only had 1 or 2 HP so it wasn't worth it. The boss enemies, however, do have a cool little intro thing before the fight that says their names in big letters. It's not Hollywood by any stretch but I'm happy with the result so far. I also plan on putting enemy life bars for the bosses when you fight them. That'll help players determine which weapon is more effective against who. Oh, and one more thing- Some treasures and items that Rovert picks up DO show their names at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen in a little box that appears for a few seconds. Examples of treasures that show their names: Any currency ($25, $50, $100..), red diamonds, heart maximizers, any weapons or major items, any food. Examples of treasures that get the no-name shaft: Skill hearts, keys. At first I had every treasure get a name pop-up, but it got stupid because Rovert gets so many skill hearts and keys from candles that it might make the player not notice what the text box says when he DOES get something decent. This text pop-up box is also the same place where hint book messages appear, which is half the reason for the hints being so short. There is a distinctive sound effect for all hint messages, which helps players identify that they have indeed discovered a helpful hint. (If the giant floating flashing books didn't do the trick already.) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 5/29/2007 9:19:52 AM message detail	Well, at long last the Vents area is done! It's pretty tough, which is what I wanted. A short, difficult path to some new places. Unrelated, there is now a hidden treasury in the game. Nobody, NOBODY is going to find this one. It's not jewel sword room craziness from SOTN, but it's close. I think Metroid vets might be able to guess, but maybe not. The only way they will find it will most likely be the "New Game+" or whatever I use to give Rovert the binoculars. I think I'm going to incorporate a randomized vault combination to gain access to it as well. When the player starts a new game, a randomized code is generated. The code will then be split up into 3 clues in 3 hidden hint books- Each one has one of the digits of the vault's code. This way, even if you know where the vault is, you'll still need to seek out the hidden hint books to gain access to its goodies... AND this is all entirely optional! I want to make a lot of optional, non-storyline places to go to. This will reward players who like to explore, but won't penalize players who can't find everything. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Offensive_Altar Posted 5/31/2007 3:24:31 PM message detail	This game is just looking better and better. Defiently looking forward to this. --- "Eh? Couldn't you just turn ***? It's cheaper. And probably less of a shock to your family and friends." ~ Alfran JUS FC: 1461 2537 2836
Neofrodo Posted 6/1/2007 2:51:33 AM message detail	how's the progress coming? 20% or so?
Black_Crusher Posted 6/1/2007 7:51:48 AM message detail	Hey, it's Offensive_Altar!! Your area is going to be coming up soon enough. And it IS going to be Dracula's toilet. Somehow, someway, getting the Holy Crap will have to do with the Offensive Altar. I just haven't figured out exactly HOW yet. I agree the game LOOKS good enough, the challenge for me is to get it to PLAY just as well! NeoFrodo, I don't have everything mapped out entirely so I can't give an exact % of how much is completed (because I don't know how large the finished product will be), but it's for sure much more than 20% done. I have been going back to older areas and actually expanding them with whole new secret rooms- Last night for example I put not one but two new sections to the Bog (an area I thought I'd finished), and also expanded a bit on engineering so it's a bit more than just the one huge room like before. This part is actually really, really fun because I get to look at the "holes" in my castle map and figure out new ways to put things in there. I'll post again in a minute or two for a more recent progress report using the template from before. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/1/2007 8:14:23 AM message detail	Crap, actually I want this to be accurate so I'll have to consult my notebook and etc. later on tonight and post here again soon. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Biyte Posted 6/3/2007 3:56:45 PM message detail	Yo, is this going to be free? o.O --- http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=holycrapexplosionsr7.jpg OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/4/2007 3:19:31 PM message detail	Yep, this one will be free. I put in some other rooms, the placement of the Iron Armor, and as a surprise.. THE SUCKY SISTERS Twin Boss Succubi Red bikini one: More HP but slower Has a "sexay" woman's voice (MMF voice sample goodness!) Black bikini one: Less HP but faster Has the voice of a crow. Yes! CAW CAW!! Both of them have three methods of attacks- Touch for 2 damage (2 DAMAGE!) Black Heart Cyclone shot for 1 damage (Spins towards Rovert slowly. I use "cyclone" very loosely, lol..) Flash Heart Shot for 1 damage. (Shoots at Rovert in a straight line quickly.) They also are in a room lined with spikes. Rovert has to jump along little platforms and attack when he can. This is a tough fight, so to balance it out these bosses have less HP than the Thorny Bastard or Gala Moth. There's also a chicken down near the spikes in one corner. I've also expanded Shipping and Receiving a couple of rooms. AND I've put a secret in the game that I think is comedy gold. I can't talk about it, I don't want to give it away, but I know if I saw this way to open a secret room in a "real" game, I'd laugh my head off. Maybe it's just me!? I have a couple of screenshots that I will put up tomorrow (Tuesday) of some of these new things. And now for the progress report: Some say that's progress, I say that's cruel Rooms Completed: 64 Areas: The Out of Doors, Castle Entrance, Underwater Caverns, The Bog, Skelevator Shaft, Crystal Dungeon, Engineering, The Vents, Shipping & Receiving. Special Items Placed: High Heels, Iron Armor, Water Ring, Shield Weapons Placed: S. Sword, Lost Axe, Pyro Mace Iac, Blade of Del Duio Hearts Maximizers: 8 Special Candle: 1 Hot Coffee: 2 Chicken: 4 Cookie: 3 Grapes: 3 Apples: 3 $50 Bag: 3 $100 Bag: 5 Red Diamond: 7 Treasure Hoarde: 1 Bosses: 3 (4) Thorny Bastard Gala Moth Sucky Sisters --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/5/2007 7:48:42 AM message detail	Okay, the screenshots and the website has been updated with the new information now. I couldn't really think of a better name for succubus sisters aside from the Craptacular "Sucky Sisters", Sucky- Succubus? Get it? crickets Any better ones? At first I called them Sucky Sistahs but that was equally as blah. I guess it's not the worst name in the world. Maybe name them individually for the pre-boss fight name show? Right now it's "Double Trouble- SUCKY SISTERS" --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 6/5/2007 5:00:04 PM message detail	Sucky Sisters? Hahahaha...if that's some sort of sex-related pun, how about giving them more interesting moves? Ever play Castlevania: Bloodlines at all? If so, you'd know that Dracula could shoot fire from his crotch in his final form. How about paying homage to that particular ability by giving one of the Sucky Sisters a Burning Bush (Ooo...simultaneous Bible/sex pun!) move or something that shoots out of the crotch. Now, that would definitely be funny. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Fiska Posted 6/5/2007 5:27:00 PM message detail	I think Burning Bush has cemented itself with no further questioning as definitely in the game. --- FFT SCCs completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer In progress: Lancer, Priest
Black_Crusher Posted 6/6/2007 6:48:44 AM message detail	I think that's funny, but c'mon, I have little kids in the house people! I think if my wife saw the Fire Crotch manuver the computer'd get K.O'd by the nearest sledgehammer- which actually isn't all that far away from it, surprisingly. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/6/2007 7:51:48 AM message detail	Actually, ACTUALLY, I will put something like this into the game, but not with the sucky sisters. My idea: To have a big statue-thing blocking a doorway, with the room's entrance under and between the statue's legs, with one of the thorny bushes in the way. The only way to get past it would be to set the thing on fire with the pyro mace iac. Voila! Burning bush! I can even stick some jewels in the eye sockets that make some sort of horrified expression when the bush burns. As an aside, the pyro mace iac is becoming very useful in the game- a lot more than I originally anticipated. This is good because the thing is the slowest weapon in the game- even more so than the Lost Axe. At least you can use a shield with it! (There are some parts in the game that having the shield with you makes your life much easier.) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 6/6/2007 9:44:11 AM message detail	Hahahaha...well, as long as it wasn't really obvious, then I don't see the harm in crotch fire. Honestly, most people don't really think of the fact that Dracula has a face on his crotch and shoots fire out of it in Castlevania: Bloodlines. Still, I can understand your hesitance at putting such an ability in your game. The statue puzzle sounds good, though. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Neofrodo Posted 6/6/2007 3:09:52 PM message detail	That's cool. Can't wait for the finished product! :D
Biyte Posted 6/6/2007 9:34:01 PM message detail	Oh yes, in case you don't already have a "Save" Option, then you should add one. It gets very, very annoying playing a game u can't save/ won't autosave/ won't start again where you left off. --- http://img384.imageshack.us/my.php?image=holycrapexplosionsr7.jpg OMG! MY MAGE EXPLODED!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/7/2007 9:19:06 AM message detail	Still, I can understand your hesitance at putting such an ability in your game Oh trust me, normally I have problem with that stuff or worse lol.. I just know who is also going to be playing this this time! Biyte, yep there is a save feature- but only one file. So far there are 2 save rooms. I'm trying not to have too many of them, or have any close together. There will be 3 or 4 in the final product and you start from there when you choose to "continue a game" later. It's only for saving, and not for HP refills though! (There's an entry on this earlier in the topic.) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/7/2007 11:03:33 AM message detail	Oh trust me, normally I have problem with that stuff or worse lol.. Oh, my Engrish is coming along nicely! What I meant to say was that normally I have no problem with that stuff or worse. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/8/2007 10:33:51 AM message detail	Okay, now I know this isn't a new idea, but there are now Laser Bricks-TM in some areas of the castle. These actually came out really cool. They are invisible until you activate the computer, and then they become visible. Rovert can use them to reach new places. As of right now, I have it so that you can step on the bricks even if they're invisible- you just wouldn't know exactly where they are. At first I wanted to have it so that you couldn't use the bricks as platforms until the computer was activated (and thus showing them to the player), but now I don't know- it's kind of cool to see Rovert standing in mid-air in places. I guess this will be one of those last-minute decisions too. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/9/2007 7:24:55 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 6/9/2007 7:28:11 AM message detail	Okay some new ideas for bosses: DEAF: Drac's right-hand man. He's a ghost that played bass too loudly without earplugs in his youth and can't hear now. Appearance: He's going to look like the grim reaper, but with my bass guitar on him. I was thinking he'd attack with soundwaves. Also, if I put some sort of walls or barriers for Rovert to hide behind (so deaf can't see him), Deaf can't attack him because he doesn't know where he is. So attacks will have to be based on deaf's line of sight or something similar. BLACK N' DOOKIE: A jumbled pile of possessed electric appliances, held together by a massive turd monster. You'll have to attack the outside appliance "shell" pieces until they drop off to reveal it's chewy center. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
runepanic Posted 6/11/2007 4:17:21 PM message detail	you should make this wierd ass little familiar that just hangs out and doesnt docrap for you except annoy the piss out of you
Neofrodo Posted 6/11/2007 9:33:24 PM message detail	Have Black crusher, have you played castlevania 2? If so, could put the jumping blocks from 2 into this game? That would be awesome! XD
Kaluroth Posted 6/11/2007 10:37:42 PM message detail	How bout adding axelord knights and a Doppelganger boss fight? (you can use the word "dope" plus something else as a funny name)
Black_Crusher Posted 6/12/2007 8:33:39 AM message detail	you should make this wierd ass little familiar that just hangs out and doesnt docrap for you except annoy the piss out of you Yep, already we have the Devil for Hire, which does just that! In fact the screenshot I just posted has him in it. The screenshot is also of the new area, The Museum. I will most likely voice the devil, since my voice is the most annoying (or can be). Have Black crusher, have you played castlevania 2? If so, could put the jumping blocks from 2 into this game? That would be awesome! XD Yeah, I beat CV2 but it's been a LONG while. I don't remember the blocks, but I can replay it and refresh my memory. How bout adding axelord knights and a Doppelganger boss fight? (you can use the word "dope" plus something else as a funny name) I am going to have some sort of armored knights for common enemies. I don't know about the doppleganger because my enemy A.I. skills stink. Who knows? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/12/2007 10:04:20 AM message detail	Actually, I made a little mistake above because the Devil for Hire helps a lot. He can go after enemies on the screen and kill those with immunities in a single hit (phantom bats, brittles for example). I have to tweak it's range though, because right now the thing will fly off into other rooms and start killing enemies, lol.. In fact, I love how you get the Devil for Hire, but of course I can't say exactly how that happens. (It's a pretty big secret to find him, but people who try everything will find him most likely.) I will probably throw a hint book somewhere near the end that may give a clue on where he is to be fair. Remember in this game it's important to try and get as many heart maximizers as possible, because the Devil will eat them up pretty fast, not to mention you'll spend them on high jumps and holy crap projectiles. I am going through the game with a FINE TOOTH COMB and making sure that it is impossible to get stuck anywhere. This is kind of harder than it seems, as Rovert may exhaust keys or hearts and get stuck behind a door or need to make a high jump in order to get out. Should this happen to you, there will be at least one candle nearby. You may have to break it to get what you're looking for and if you don't get it go out of the screen and return a few times, but you won't ever get stuck. I'm working on DEAF now. ahahha! And lastly, I am piecing together a screenshot map of the entire game, outside areas included. I may have it as part of a promo eventually, but it's really cool to see the whole thing laid out in front of me. It makes the 5+ months of work worth it to see it all. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/14/2007 7:54:00 AM message detail	Another boss is done! DEAF Ancient Rocker HP: 50 (!!) Attacks: Kick / Touch: 2 damage Bass overhead chop: 4 damage (!!) Sonic Wave: 1 damage, unblockable Skelegroupies (support team): 1 damage, knockback Ah yes, this is my favorite boss so far. He is one of two optional bosses, which of course means you don't have to fight him at all. You may not even find him! (But you will, no worries) Appearance: Black-cloaked zombie monster, approx. 2 1/2 times Rovert's height wielding "Diggslayer", a red JP-90 Fender Jazz bass (tm) with markings identical to my own baby at home =). His cool pad has two half stacks w/ heads (big amps) mounted on either wall and two smaller speakers on the ceiling in the middle. Concert posters are also on the back wall (Tonight Only! 21+, DEAF, Hasslevania, 9pm $10) Setup: Rovert walks into the room whereas DEAF's little name intro starts up and the amps and etc. fire up. He starts moonwalking a bit to get some room, then starts walking around, swinging Diggslayer like an overhead axe chop. The soundwaves can be seen coming out of the speakers and it looks pretty good. THE HARD PART: It all goes by HITS taken, and not damage, but after a certain # of hits from Rovert (the # is randomized for fun times) all FOUR of the sonic waves from the speakers shoot downward in random directions. Unlike Gala Moth's discoball that rebounds around the room for a time, these pass through the floor if they don't hit you first. Then a new wave of sonic danger forms from the speakers, ready to go again when that magic strike count comes around. In order to block the door once the fight has started, I had a funny idea. Instead of a brick wall that collapes and seals Rovert in (like two other boss fights), a pack of fanatic "Skelegroupies" rush in to see their rock hero play. With a cheer, they rush in bouncing up and down, effectively blocking the door until the fight is over. Rovert of course can't get past the skelegroupies, and will take 1 damage and get tossed back a bit if he tries to. The skelegroupies never come out of the doorway, so you won't have to worry about them as long as you don't go near the exit. Look for a screenshot of this fight when I go on lunch later. Unrelated (perhaps!), there is now a new treasure in the game. A blue diamond! These are worth a whopping $1000. Also, the net worth of a treasure hoarde has been upped to $2000 (!!!), which is a gigantic amount of money in this game. The museum is about 1 or 2 rooms from being finished, and then it's roof time, baby!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/14/2007 7:58:07 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 6/14/2007 7:59:48 AM message detail	Oh, and the Lost Axe is an absolute boss killer too. Since most boss's projectiles can't be blocked by the shield (as of now) finding it will be a real help to Rovert. Devil for Hire will also always be ineffective against all boss monsters, so you know. Good luck! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/16/2007 6:38:47 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 6/16/2007 6:57:52 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 6/16/2007 7:01:31 AM message detail	EDIT x 2 Blah! Maybe I'll get this post right this time! * * * Okay, so last night I put a little cutscene in when you continue your game (from a saved file) that shows Rovert & the inside of his house along with the totals for the treasures you've collected. Right now, I have 60, so it reads: Treasures: 7/60 Percentile: 11% (In my playthrough now for bug testing I have collected 7 treasures.) Each treasure is worth approximatley 1.6%, but for some reason the program rounds this number down to the next whole number. So collecting 1 treasure will read 1% but collecting 2 treasures will read 3%, etc. If I can figure out how to display it with the decimal point I will. It SHOULD be easy enough.. I went with the Super Metroid completion ranking (items) over SOTN's completion ranking (map rooms visited). I just thought it'd work better overall. The way I have it set up now, it'd be easy to add new variables to the treasure completion check so I don't want to mess with it and screw it up later. Treasures counted include all items in treasure chests, all money bags and diamonds except $25 bags and $50 bags from special candles, all heart maximizers, all 3 casino prizes, all weapons (except your starting short sword), all power-ups (armor, binoculars, etc.), and all non-purchased food. Purchasing the Blade of Del Duio and the Shield from Oldie does count towards the treasure collection totals though. I also had an idea that maybe Rovert wouldn't get the binoculars and good castle map until the player won the game first. That'd be some good incentive (and increase replay value!), and would help players get a perfect item completion rating the 2nd time around. The only problem is that I wonder if non-SOTN message board members could win the game without a chance to get a detailed map the first time around? Metroid for the NES kicked my ass pretty good without a map long ago, so I'm kind of partial to not alienating the non-crazy, non-exploring type of players too. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
SARGENTPORTER Posted 6/16/2007 7:46:13 PM message detail	Well if they arent the exploritive type itll be their fault. If you can go with the beat the game first for the map and binoculers thing. Or you could try a seprete diffaculty lvl that the only change is you get the map. --- Only a fool puts other people down for no reason and types with an accent.
Offensive_Altar Posted 6/17/2007 8:54:15 AM message detail	Each treasure is worth approximatley 1.6%, but for some reason the program rounds this number down to the next whole number. So collecting 1 treasure will read 1% but collecting 2 treasures will read 3%, etc. If I can figure out how to display it with the decimal point I will. It SHOULD be easy enough.. Sounds like the treasure counter is an int instead of a float. --- http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/6173/jussigav8.jpg Mhm.
Black_Crusher Posted 6/19/2007 6:56:17 AM message detail	Wow, a whole lot more has been done to Hasslevania in just a few days. I have a big bag of potato chips, lots of tea (manly!), and staying up until 2am for three days to thank for it. NEW Backstory and extensive cutscenes to be shown before every new game! 100 years ago, Oct. 23rd, 1852, Simon Bellhump was called to the ancient castle of Hasslevania to do battle with Count Dracula. Only this time, he never returned.. Oct. 23rd, 1952 (the game takes place here): Rovert Bellhump gets a loan approval letter from Sam Shifty of Shifty & Sons that he can move into his new residence located at 2 Hasslevania lane straight away. But since Rovert can't get any sleep at his new pad (because of Drac and his crew), the only answer is retribution! And so, another Bellhump is drawn into the centuries-old battle with Dracula, only this time for less-than heroic reasoning.. * * * NEW ENEMY And it's a doozy! I wanted to have knights in my game somehow, and now I do. These are called "Zerkers" (berzerkers) and are really hard for normal enemies. They have full black plate armor and throw razor-sharp boomeraxes. (Axes that move like boomerangs). They are INDESTRUCTIBLE to every weapon except the Lost Axe, which now is the only weapon that can cleave heavy armor, and of course the Devil for Hire, which still kills it in a single hit. What makes this guy particularly tough is that you can block his boomeraxes with the shield, but you can't use the shield with the Lost Axe! Weeee!!! Mwhahahaha! There are ways to do this by using the weapon select hotkeys, so don't fret too much about it. Plus, they are sort of uncommon, guarding key places.. * * * NEW SAVE ROOM Which now makes for 3 total. This one is located high up in the museum, and has 3 exits (as opposed to the other's single exit). * * * SIMON BELLHUMP & THE FAMILY WHIP He's now in game! As a nod to the whole Metroidvania thing, when you find him he complains that he's been lost for 100 years because all the old castles were straightforward and not this backtracking, maze-like crap. He can barely walk now, so he gives you (his decendant, although neither knows it) the Family Whip- scourge of the undead. * * * 2 NEW TREASURES. Ooooo, oooooo!!! Where could they be?? NOTE: I plan on having well over 100 when the game is finished. * * * I'll try and post some screenshots of this stuff within a couple of days, but it's good to get so much done so quickly. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/21/2007 11:49:04 AM message detail	My recent playthrough is kicking my ass pretty good. I actually like it when my own stuff challenges me, but it gets sort of annoying too. "I am your creator, bow down before me or I'll... GAME OVER. Oh well, time to try it again.." It's playthroughs like these that really help me balance the game. For example, there is one room in The Vents that must have killed me at least 7 times going through it. The problem was that I never had enough health to make it through. So I added some hidden food, and it helped a lot. I'll say this, although the shield may be optional it'd be really hard to make it through some places without it. One thing I realized though is whenever you have to go to the shop it takes forever and a day if you're way up high in the castle, and there's only really one way to go there. To combat this, I've retooled some existing rooms and made new exits for them, leading to brand new rooms that specifically address this problem. Codenamed "The Shortcut", this cuts down time to get to the shop area significantly. Like a lot of things, this is an optional place and those who choose to explore it later with newly acquired items won't be disappointed. There's now also $250 money bags. And they're blue, wow! This will most likely be the last of the currency treasures as there are increments of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1000, and $2000. That's more than enough! And to think I was only going to have $25 and $50 in the beginning.. Going back and looking at the compilated map, I've found some places to squeeze secret rooms into. This so far is my favorite part of making Hasslevania, as well as looking over all of the pathways from area to area, and figuring out new ways to get from here to there. There's also going to be a new puzzle that involves a sleeping rat that is pretty funny. I remember someplace in SOTN where a rat is just hanging out on one of the walls. It didn't really do anything, but was a nice little touch, which inspired my sleeping rat puzzle. It should be cool if done right. Playthroughs -> Balancing -> New Pathways / Room Reconstructions -> New Moolah ->Secret Rooms -> Puzzle goodness -> Repeat --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 6/23/2007 1:07:23 PM message detail	I love small details like the ones found in SotN. I actually just picked up DoS, and I was amused to see Bigfoot (or the Abominable Snowman?) walking through the forest at the very beginning of the game. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
XAlucardTepesX Posted 6/23/2007 4:27:28 PM message detail	Hah, this game sounds amazing, be sure to let us all know when its in completion, im dying to play it. As for suggestions: Hmm idk, I cant really think of anything, i was going to spell Rovert backwards, but im slow and as I was about to do that, I see that it is Trevor, lmao. Grr idk cant think of anything... --- "Most People Are So Ungrateful To Be Alive" - Jigsaw Currently Playing: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, MGS3, Prince Of Persia, Onimusha 2
SARGENTPORTER Posted 6/24/2007 1:45:44 AM message detail	Ya this is sounding great so far. good thing you put on death or id have had youre head. --- Only a fool puts other people down for no reason and types with an accent.
JausLXXIV Posted 6/24/2007 2:31:22 AM message detail	Hah, this sounds like it's coming on great. I write games, too, and I always had an idea for something like this. Never got around to fleshing it out, though. Too little time. Black Crusher, any of your other games online somewhere? I'd love to see them. --- "You're like a blind man in a dark room looking under the bed for a black cat that isn't there!"
Black_Crusher Posted 6/24/2007 3:38:44 PM message detail	Wow what a lot of good responses! I'm making a ton of progress on this game lately- for example the Roof is already done, and also.... THE OFFENSIVE ALTAR IS COMPLETE!!! Hoorah! Guys, it's a WORKING TOILET ROVERT CAN TAKE A DUMP ON!! Complete with newspaper and Drac's message to his minions to "WIPE!". Rejoice!! It's pretty funny / gross what happens next, but it came out great! I am working on Black n' Dookie now, who may or may not be a Legion knockoff. He's the so-called "King of the Crapper", complete w/ crown and dual weapons- A drill and a Nail Gun. It's living crap, can you beat that? This may be how you get a certain awesome projectile weapon too.. There are also a lot of little details I'm putting in to make the game seem more alive. Signs are everywhere. Made up companies' products are everywhere- H2O's water pipes. Undead Parcels n' Crap's trucks and forklifts. God help me I want to even slap a friggin' helicopter in here somewhere! There are also now new ways to go about the castle- and complete areas that are completely optional to winning the game. A teleport orb is hidden in a great place. I had a great idea for how to get to Dracula's chambers so bear with me and check it out: Instead of the randomized treasure room codes, I'm going to have a 3 digit code to get into Drac's chambers. There will be 3 hint books scattered (very well) throughout Hasslevania that will have one of the digits in them. These will be randomized upon "Start a New Game", so nobody will be able to just rush the door and open it with some code spread on the internet later or whatever. I'm also seriously thinking about taking the Blade of Del Duio out of the shop and swapping it with another weapon. The sword counts as magic, doubles walking speed, and attacks many times per hit. It just sounds too powerful for a shop weapon. I'll probably make some hard-ass side quest deal to get it- Maybe have the lair of Del Duio with it at the end! That's a good idea! Yes, I also have a number of other games I made on my website, although I only have one that is anything sort of like this one now (platformer). It's only a demo for Captain of the Guard 2, and is nowhere near as good as this (although the story is funny). I have some decent length RPGs, a Zelda-esque game called Necropolis Rising where you play as the bad guy, some freebies and other stuff. So although Hasslevania is completely different from the rest, you can totally tell I made it, which is pretty cool lol. Hasslevania has a lot of nods to other games I've made, and a lot of my characters are statues in this game. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Starman907 Posted 6/24/2007 8:36:18 PM message detail	Well it sounds like your havin a hella good time makin the game. As for suggestions, hmm, how bout havin firebrand, icebrand, and lightingbrand in the game. You could have a sidequest for each one, and each one is good against a certain enemy plus they could shoot out fire, ice, and lighting balls. Thing is i dont know how much work it would be to get those in the game. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER The dingy THE DINGY.
Kaluroth Posted 6/25/2007 5:44:50 PM message detail	Is it possible to add button config. to the game? I mean, I was playing your demo of Captain of the Guard 2, and find it kinda hard to slash with space bar and jump with shift, I know that´s how most computer games work, but I think it would be better something more emulator-like, you know using the "Z" and "X" keys for example, besides I kept activating the Sticky Keys function of the keyboard, which totally busted my gameplay -_- The screenshot of the roof reminds me a lot of Castlequest, man I love that game, too bad I was never able to finish it, I got too frustrated when I ran out of keys or permanently got stuck on certain place. Well I guess button config. doesn´t matter I´ll end up playing Hasslevania anyways...
Black_Crusher Posted 6/26/2007 10:34:17 AM message detail	About the "brand" weapons, if I had thought of it at the start that would have been very possible, but because it's so far along now it'd be way too much work to code in new weapons, sorry. It's the same thing with a new suit for Rovert- it'd be just too much work to work it in now, more than 85 rooms in. Maybe in Hasslevania 2!! But one thing at a time lol! The button config can be a pain in the butt- I always have to turn off sticky keys when I play any Click game in general (Who uses sticky keys anyway? I hate that feature.) Necropolis Rising has the option to play with a controller as well as a keyboard, but I couldn't make this one controller-compatible because there is simply too many controls so it wouldn't work. (MMF1.5 supports only 2 buttons, for example.) I find the best way to play this game is to use my left hand for the left shift button and spacebar, while the right hand uses the arrow keys, numberpad to select weapons, (and the occasional "enter" to check the map or whichever). It took me about 3 hours yesterday, but Black N' Dookie is finished, as well as the whole of The Offensive Altar. This is the best boss yet. The background will look better, but here are two screenshot that show both attacks he has: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/BAD-SS2.PNG http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/BAD-SS1.PNG Set up: Rovert walks into a poop-soaked room buzzing with flies when he sees a giant metal mass in the middle of said room. Upon starting the fight he soon realizes that the mass of metal is alive! In keeping with continuity, like the Zerkers, Black N' Dookie's armor is highly weapon resistant. Only the Lost Axe can go through his Hasslevania-brand (tm) black steel armor. And of course the Holy Crap will always work, since it's magic and the coolest weapon ever. Black N' Dookie Fecal Furher HP: 28 Immune to all weapons except the Lost Axe and Holy Crap. Immune to damage while attacking (both modes) Special: All weapons count as 1 damage due to high armor rating. Attacks: Touch: 2 Damage Two-Handed Electric Drill: 3 Damage Dual Machine-Gun like Nail Guns: 5 Damage!! Black N' Dookie (BAD) holds up a giant black steel shield and wear a protective black crown / helmet. After Rovert beats on him and makes him mad, he has a 65% chance to attack with the electric drill, which has a long range and is unblockable. His eyes will glow blue slightly before he attacks with the drill, and his shield will flash with a blue symbol. He also has a 35% to do the devastating dual nail gun attack, which if I can get an animated .GIF maker will be my message board avatar until the end of time. It came out AWESOME! His eyes glow red and there's a red glowing crossed nails (like a skull and crossbones, sorta') that happens before the volley though to warn you. Rovert can deflect the nails with the trusty shield, and maybe even duck them altogether (but this may change). He's different in that you'd think that he'd be invulnerable while the shield is up, but the exact opposite is the case- Every hit with either the Axe or Holy Crap does 1 damage per strike. This is due to the high defense of BAD's steel shield. You can't hurt him while he's attacking, so you just have to survive / avoid his attacks and continue beating on his shield until you win. If that wasn't enough, Rovert can squish little poop piles on the ground during the fight, and has to avoid intermittent poop drips that rain down from the ceiling. In a related note, my wife thinks that Hasslevania is now all about poop and fart jokes. See what influence this little area has had on my whole project? Oh the humanity of it all! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/26/2007 11:22:28 AM message detail	Damn it with the 4 billion text character limit! Anyhow, the official Hasslevania theme song is done: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/hv-title2.mid It's the 3rd one I made, but the only one that really captures the spirit of the game and what I'm looking for. This will 100% be the main song for the final product. It's a midi, and sounds much better on a computer with decent speakers (especially non-tinny ones where you can actually HEAR the bass.) Every song in the game was written by me, the one exception of course is my rendition of Vampire Killer for the elevator music, which I did not write originally, of course. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/27/2007 6:53:14 AM message detail	Okay, so nobody has to go back through a zillion pages, Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye Homepage http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/HasslevaniaHOME.html I made Black N' Dookie's fight better, mass nails now fire out like crazy, and when (or if) you block the nails with the shield they spark and richochet, which looks cool. In this screenshot, Rovert is just about to get owned by the attack though. I changes it so that BAD is asleep when you first enter the room, and when you first hit the poop with a "squish", that's the sound that wakes him up. There are also some laser bricks in the room to help you with the battle, if you found and activated the computer first that is! Updated Screenshot: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/BAD-SS3.PNG A minor change is that when movable crates drop and land they now break, which means a couple of one-way rooms now become cool back n' forth passages and it creates new shortcuts. I should have done this at the start but at least it's done now. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/28/2007 7:37:58 AM message detail	There's now a monster book you can find in the game that acts as an enemy log book. This shows each type of normal enemy (non-boss), HP, and special info. There's also a short humorous story to go with each one. I'll probably also have an enemy kill count on there somewhere. Right now there are 12 pages, with each monster type taking up an entire page. You can acess the monster book from the screen that tells you your treasure completion ratio when you continue your game by pressing "M". There are some slight pointers in there to help people with some monster immunities, but for the most part it's just to flesh out some of the enemies and give the game more depth. I don't know if I want to put bosses in this book, but only time will tell I suppose. In other news, the Blade of Del Duio will remain in Oldie's shop. I figure if you can buy the duplicator it's not that unheard of to be able to purchase a super weapon from a store, right? (Calling Aria of Sorrow!) There also a new way to get to the shop, which really makes things a lot easier to go there and purchase food when your health is low. If you find this "back way" to the shop, you might be able to see Oldie doing different things when he thinks nobody's looking.. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/28/2007 1:44:00 PM message detail	Aw, I couldn't help myself so now this is going to be in the game too: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/ROOFFORT.PNG --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 6/30/2007 9:10:03 AM message detail	Two things, and they can both be shown in one screenshot: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/release-date.PNG This is a very early version of my version of the Clock Tower, called the LCD Tower. The LCD screen in the middle of the shot is going to be where you input the code to get to Drac's throne room. I'll make this better later, but at least you'll get the idea from this. The release date is the code shown in the LCD screen. The release date for Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye is August 21st, 2007, which should give me a bit less than 2 months to finish the game and go through it a million times to test for bugs and etc. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Therum Posted 7/1/2007 5:47:55 PM message detail	Tag. These seems neat. ~~~ *I'm not one to manufacture my own demise....~~~Life in a Glass*
Black_Crusher Posted 7/3/2007 8:03:12 AM message detail	Hi again guys, just to let you know my friend and I are planning on making a trailer for the game sometime this week. If all goes well, you'll be able to see some highlight reel-deal Hasslevania-ness pretty soon. I recorded a bunch of footage, so now all we have to do is edit everything together and put the music on top of it. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
raziel4224 Posted 7/3/2007 10:12:02 PM message detail	so, is this game finished yet? and if not any idea how far along u r in finishing the game so it can b played. and if these questions have allready been answered could somebody tell me the page number to look at for these answers? --- "I support diversity, I date midgets" - Denny Crane Would an agnostic dyslexic insomniac lie awake all night wondering if there really is a dog?
Kaluroth Posted 7/3/2007 10:51:14 PM message detail	^^ August 21, it´s on this page
raziel4224 Posted 7/3/2007 11:03:25 PM message detail	thanx for tellin me, cant wait to play it --- "I support diversity, I date midgets" - Denny Crane Would an agnostic dyslexic insomniac lie awake all night wondering if there really is a dog?
Black_Crusher Posted 7/4/2007 7:23:08 AM message detail	Hey no problem! Actually, I just uploaded the current LCD Tower / release date screenshot, which is how it'll look at the end. There are 3 buttons that Rovert can strike with a weapon, and that will raise a digital number by 1 for each hit. If you screw up and go past what you want, you can hit a 9 to turn it into a zero and try again. Hitting the left button changes the first digit, the middle the second, and the right the third. But, because a 3-digit code is not exactly of fort-knox strength, I'm going to have it so that you HAVE to find the three parts of the code first, and then enter the code to proceed. These code numbers will be displayed on the same screen as the treasure percentage screen when a player selected "Continue" from the title screen. This way, there'll be no way the player can forget them. A new obstacle is in the game now, and it'll be real obvious on what to do with it, but it's the giant candlestick. And it's huge. Unlike other candles or special candles, Giant candles block passages. The only way to get past them is to light the top of it from above, and it'll melt and open up the new passage below. To help with the freedom of obtaining items multiple ways, there are 2 ways to get the family whip, although one is a lot more obvious than the other. One thing that was unexpected is that when Rovert equips the Blade of Del Duio his movement is much better for EVERYTHING. He can make a lot of long jumps and move faster, sure, but also he can reach a lot of places that I didn't anticipate, which is just fine by me. Black N' Dookie is HARD. A real challenge. I've been able to beat him 4 times (out of maybe 7 or 8 so far). The tactic that seems to work the best is to equip the axe, jump down into the pit and wail on him and hope he gets the drill out. If he does, retreat a bit and wait it out, then repeat with the axe. If he gets the guns out (red symbol and eyes), either hotkey an ineffective weapon (like the short sword) and raise the shield as fast as you can before he shoots and deflect the nails, or high jump onto the laser bricks (you DID activate the computer first, didn't you?) or the room's side bricks and avoid the nails altogether. Black N' Dookie is also now HOLY CRAP IMMUNE!! I figure hey, he's made of crap, he should probably not be hurt by it either. To give people a huge hint as to what to use against him, there's a giant "No Axes" sign right before his room, in the style of the ghostbuster's "no ghosts", or "no smoking" signs. There is a possibility of a Boss Rush mode upon game completion, although this isn't confirmed yet. I've set it up now so that the bosses reset themselves every time you continue, so that I can test them out by using different weapons. I can't remember if I said it before, but the devil for hire is always ineffective against big bosses. There are significantly less food treasures the further up the castle you go, but if you look hard you can still find some, albeit apples and grapes instead of coffee and chickens (for the most part.) Lastly, I plan on making the trailer this Sunday evening, so look for it Tuesday the 10th, Godwilling. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/6/2007 8:07:40 AM message detail	There is a cool new room called The Freezer (pun intended, as always). It came out really cool, and it has some things that are unique to the castle. A snowball cannon launches snowballs at Rovert (these can be deflected w/ the shield). Also, new obstacles called Ratsicles are in there. These are drats that got in the freezer and became frozen solid. Ratsicles can be shattered by any hit from a weapon, and it's great fun to do, IMO. It's so cold in there that the only things that can survive are skeletons. And.. presses maniacal laughter button MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA pauses maniacal laughter button There will be NO map for your first playthrough, only a "location detector" akin to the so-called "map" you get in Castlequest (Or even the overworld rectangle from the first NES Zelda). A bunch of squares and Rovert's current position. You will get the map right from the start upon winning the game and playing it again, though, along with some other goodies. And yes, not having a full-fledged map the first time through will make it hard, although we're not talking Legacy of the Wizard dungeon with no map hard. resumes maniacal laughter button play MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA tape breaks --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/7/2007 8:29:59 AM message detail	I think I'm going to have as little music from my other unreleased / unfinished games for this one as possible. I made new big boss battle music for Hasslevania, which was sorta' sad only because I really like the big boss music for the Captain of the Guard games that I had before. The new music uses a bunch of strange instruments and is a lot faster and weirder-sounding. The drums alternate between the snare on the downbeat for one key, and the upbeat (i.e. normal rock) for the other. There's a lot going on, but ultimately it's a pretty short burst of manic noise. And, it actually fits the theme more and (can) get the player a bit more excited about squaring off against one of the game's tougher opponents. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Offensive_Altar Posted 7/7/2007 9:22:01 AM message detail	This game still sounds awesome. Black N' Dookie kinda reminds me of that Conker's Bad Fur Day boss, except he doesn't sing opera. Can't wait to see the trailer, keep up the good work! --- http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/6173/jussigav8.jpg Mhm.
Starman907 Posted 7/8/2007 5:49:20 PM message detail	not many people post in this topic, to me it seems like their excitement for this game is dieing down. But not mine, i still check this topic every day for updates. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER The dingy THE DINGY.
Black_Crusher Posted 7/9/2007 6:47:18 AM message detail	Thanks, I appreciate your interest Starman. I don't expect a ton of posts over the span of such a long time, so it's not a big deal. It took me 7 hours to do yesterday, mostly because of a LOT of technical problems with some programs, but the Hasslevania trailer is done! The main problems: File size is HUGE at 46 MB (!!) This is an .avi file. The quality was the best we could get, although it's not very good as the actual game looks a lot better. There is also a much smaller Real Player file at 1.2 MB, although the trailer is blurry. I think I correctly converted it to a flash file at 17 MB, although I can't say if it worked or not because I don't have access to any type of Flash Player at home or at work. The content itself came out great, and at 23 seconds it was really hard to decide just what to show out of so much material. In fact, there were a lot of things I wanted to put in there but couldn't because there just wasn't enough time, song-wise. (The clips all fit to the span of the Hasslevania theme song). If Real Player is a common media player with most people, that's probably the one that will be made public. So not every boss is in there (but 4 are), nor every area, and it doesn't look clear or sound particularly good (LOL What a sell!), but if you can look past it a bit and imagine what this was SUPPOSED to look like you'll have a great idea of what to expect out of the first of most likely a new series of games by DXF. P.S: I'm doing a bit of research to see if I can get some smaller file sizes, so I'll let everybody know here when the trailers are ready for viewing, which will most likely be later today. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/9/2007 8:25:47 AM message detail	Okay, I put up the three possible trailers on the Hasslevania Homepage. View at your own risk! http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/HasslevaniaHOME.html --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
JausLXXIV Posted 7/9/2007 10:12:49 AM message detail	Nice vid, but most of the scenes were kind of fast... BTW, how's sitesled working for you? I've been thinking of starting my own website, and I've been looking at free hosting sites. I'd like the opinion of someone who actually uses it, though it looks good for posting games (my main purpose). --- "You're like a blind man in a dark room looking under the bed for a black cat that isn't there!"
Black_Crusher Posted 7/9/2007 12:24:18 PM message detail	Thank you, yes towards the end the scenes go by kind of fast- if you blink you'll miss the toilet scene and the succubi for example. There was a lot of stuff that I had to actually cut out of this trailer because of room. It's tough to make the footage work together an over 11 or 12 second musical number. This is the first trailer I ever did before, and I'll be that much better next time now that I learned what not to do, lol. It's funny but in most of the shots Rovert has the iron armor on, but you'll spend most of the game without it, most likely. Sitesled is really good for being free. They use a simple WYSIWYG HTML editor that even chumps like me can use pretty easily. They have 1 GB of bandwith transfer a day, and 250 MB of storage space for your files. There were a lot of downtime issues last year that had me fuming (and most likely cost me some game of the week awards, but I digress haha), but this past year it's been great. Their big thing is that you have to have an actual webpage that people hit, so if you use them for storage alone you might get your account deleted. I had originally started using them for storage, which is why my website's address is not something people will, you know, remember or anything. Otherwise it would've had DXF Games in there somewhere. Which version of the trailer did you see? I'm curious to see if the flash one works and if it looks any good. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
AlucardBelmondo Posted 7/9/2007 1:38:59 PM message detail	Wow awesome. I was just on your website, and it said in one corner "Killer says: Hasslevania release date 8/21/07", which happens to be my 19th birthday so I think that was kinda cool. The game sounds really awesome. Good luck and good job dude. Oh, can there be some drunk vampires in it that are enemies? They could bite you and get you drunk and temporarily decrease your strength. Or something like that. And they throw beer bottles. Idk that's just something I think would be kinda funny.
Black_Crusher Posted 7/9/2007 2:13:26 PM message detail	I was planning on having something similar to the archery targets that involves bottles, that's weird! No beer in them though, they're going to be like those carnival games where you have to knock over bottles with a baseball- only in this one you'll have to nail bottles with the holy crap. If you want beer the patrons at Alucart's have some. That's a cool coincidence about the date, I picked that day because I figure everything (except movies) gets released on a Tuesday it seems. Tonight I plan on linking the LCD Tower with the Offensive Altar; A link that can be accessed only by doing a specific thing from another area.. And after that, another secret room that I really can't speak of or else it'll ruin it. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it at all! I want to try to have at least one "darkness" room, where all you can see is the area near you and blackness everywhere else. Maybe throw some spikes in there.. Now what does that sound like? Hmmm... More work, less blab- I have a lot to do before August 21st! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Starman907 Posted 7/9/2007 11:28:22 PM message detail	Still cant wait but until it gets done, but i've been playing undertown and i got to say its pretty dang fun. Kudos for the great games. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER The dingy THE DINGY.
Starman907 Posted 7/10/2007 12:44:59 AM message detail	sorry bout the double post but im kinda lost about what to do, i've explored the first 2 dungeon levels and all i've got left to do is (a figure out how to get to the next bottom level and, (b figure out how to get past the storage room door thats supposed to keep someone out or keep something in. If your gonna make me figure it out on my own thats fine but i would appreciate some help. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER The dingy THE DINGY.
Black_Crusher Posted 7/10/2007 8:34:24 AM message detail	Hey awesome, Undertown questions! Oh hells no, I'll help you out. I want my customer relations to be good! Okay, Undertown is an unfinished game (as you probably already know), but there are different levels that players can access: Outside area: Very small, with the forest, you start here. Town area: The first level of the dungeon, this has the weapon / armor shop, potion shop, training hall, anvil, inn, and black market shop (that's hidden somewhere). You can use the anvil to repair broken items you find in the maze if you have the FIX skill (Which is if your traits are Strong + Smart, I believe). You can attempt to steal from shopkeepers eventually if you have the STEAL skill, but fail and they'll attack you and maybe raise the prices too. There are two metal nuggets in the game that you can sell to the girl shopkeeper and she'll make items out of them for sale at Level 1: A big maze, and the first of the hard monsters. There are a couple of total darkness areas that you'll need to equip a torch or wear a light-producing item (i.e. Fire Helmet) to get through. You can still walk through these in the dark, but you won't be able to pick up any items that you can't see. The Goblin King (quest monster) is here. A lot of unique items. There is a mouse hole on one of the side walls that has cool stuff inside if you turn into a mouse first, and a hidden room with a TOUGH enemy guarding an awesome weapon. Level 2: A hard level that is the one I think you're stuck on. The storage room I think you mean has a very high lock rating, so if I were you I'd equip items that raise your lockpicking skill by a lot (only if to open the door). Then keep trying until you open it. Don't say I didn't warn you though, lol. There's also a few hidden rooms on this level, but sadly the stairs down to level 3 don't work, as that's as far as I got with the game back in 2001. There is more than enough enemies to get any character you choose to level up all of your skills (so character levels 7-10 or so). I figure the main reason to play the game is to try out different character builds. There are also a crapload of items in the game that were coded in that I added so that players can buy them for crazy shop prices. Also some items are only available by stealing them. You can even steal the girl's two swords she holds and dual wield them if you're lucky! I'm curious, what weapon(s) are you leveling up, and what traits or skills did you pick? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/10/2007 8:37:49 AM message detail	OHHHH! I almost forgot, but it's worth mentioning, I re-used the music for Undertown's dungeon for the Shipping & Receiving area of Hasslevania. I liked it too much not to use it again, although there are still 17 new tracks for this game (so far). --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
JausLXXIV Posted 7/10/2007 10:50:44 AM message detail	I've got a game development question for you: How do you deal with sound? MIDIs are EXTREMELY glitchy for me. They play way too loudly and freeze on their last note when I try to change songs, so I've been using WAVs. They don't have any sound glitching problems, but they're really big: of the 18.6 MB the game currently occupies, 18.0 MB are .wav files, and that's just NINE songs. Any advice? --- "You're like a blind man in a dark room looking under the bed for a black cat that isn't there!"
Black_Crusher Posted 7/10/2007 10:59:36 AM message detail	It's funny that you say that, because that's precisely the reason why I started making MIDIs in the first place! My favorite example is Equin Village. That game used to be 80 MB big, and most of that space was the .wav files for the music I did with my guitar & etc. When you compare a 14 MB .wav song to a 9 KB Midi, it just seemed like the natural way to go. I had to remake some of the guitar parts completely, but otherwise I'd never get half of my stuff up on the internet. (The overworld theme song in MIDI piano was originally done in real guitar and bass- same notes and all.) The result of switching to MIDIs? A 7 MB download. That's a 73 MB savings!! Some people use MP3's for their game music. It's a lot smaller than big .wav files, but you're still looking at maybe 3-4 MB a pop. Although I've never used any, I hear that .mod files are good for making game music. There's a program out there called Mod Tracker, and there is also supposed to be a bunch of open source mod files for anyone to use too, somewhere out there. I know that when making Necropolis Rising I had an issue for the opening sequence song on one computer that made it so that a high note never ended. This was quite a surprise (in a bad way) to me. I've been trying to change up my instruments and arrangements a bit when this happens so that these extended notes don't happen anymore. So far for Hasslevania I haven't had any music glitch issues, and I've tested them out on 3 different computers so far. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/10/2007 11:05:57 AM message detail	One of my fellow clickers named Phizzy compressed the 46 MB trailer by using an XviD codec into a 5 MB download last night. Here's a direct quote so I don't screw it up: "I suppose XviD's not a standard codec, but most people have it. VLC will play it (VLC will play everything), and so will your windows media player if you download the K-Lite Codec Pack." So if the 46 MB trailer is too large, you can try the 5 MB deal. He said there is no loss of quality, and since it's from the best quality (or the 3) trailers up there, I'd suggest it if you can play it. There's been a lot of trailer downloads, which I appreciate, and a lot of good response, which I also appreciate. The most common complaint is that there is too much going on to see just what is happening. I hate when movies do this, so I'll take that to heart the next time I make any sort of trailer. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Starman907 Posted 7/10/2007 12:07:52 PM message detail	cool, thanks for the help. As for what im using at the beginning i went with fast and tough; i was using that squasher sword, but i sold it for quest 2 so i've been using Azure death. Needless to say my sword skill got up to 100 so it's probably still quite a bit better than my ax but the ax will end up better so i'm goin with that. I'm using the silver armor i found in one of the dungeons and a fire helmet that i got off of a fire ogre (i like how the fire helmet works like a torch by, nice touch) and a plain iron shield. I'm level 8 and i guess right now im gonna get a bunch of money for the secret store. I dont think i gave anything too big a way and thanks for the advice again. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER The dingy THE DINGY.
Black_Crusher Posted 7/10/2007 1:25:39 PM message detail	Cool, good you found Azure Death already. That's a good axe because it also has +10 defense on it. I wanted another item to have a light effect since it became a pain for me to constantly swap it out with my shields while playing. If you found the ice helmet, it also has a compass effect which will help you map out the dungeon better. (You can also use the compass in the shop but you'll have to swap it out like the torch in places.) Silver Armor is one of the highest defense rating armor in the game, and if you get the shield it protects you even further from poisoning. I tried to put whole sets in the game (fire armor, shield, helm, etc.) so that when you wear it all it looks cool lol. On a side note, Insectivorious (the Squasher commander's sword) is also in Equin Villiage, and also does bonus damage vs. Insects. I should have put it in Hasslevania because it's one of the coolest 2 handers that I made. Maybe in the sequel, I need to make a list of all the weapons I missed this time around!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Mabjerk Posted 7/11/2007 5:09:42 AM message detail	Will this game have Item Crashes? --- Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting implies the chance of success. Chuck Norris wanders around aimlessly with a gun.
Black_Crusher Posted 7/11/2007 6:54:42 AM message detail	Nope, no item crashes or magic spells for THIS episode of the game I'm afraid. That will go on the list as well! I was thinking on having a special power for some of the weapons, but it never came to fruition. The biggest news today is that I spent all of last night working on a brand new (and previously unplanned) big boss called The Moat Monster, which is a big, bubble-breathing underwater dragon. It came out really great, although the different shades of blue for the scales was a pain in the ass to do. I'm happy because I've wanted to put an underwater boss in the game since day 1, and now have the place to put him. The only drawback to this, however, is that the planned boss of "Me-Sued-Ya" (Drac's Lawyer) has been scrapped. There was just no room for him for what I have left to make area-wise. Rest assured that nobody will be disappointed with the Moat Monster as a replacement. (And he's even optional too!!) There are two new screenshots up on the Hasslevania Homepage- One of the Moat Monster, and another of Rovert's complete aresnal. Note that the inventory screenshot was taken in the "Out of Doors" area, which never shows the map. Mwhahahaha!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Kaluroth Posted 7/11/2007 7:05:03 PM message detail	lol, the underwater candles are covered with a crystal
Black_Crusher Posted 7/12/2007 6:39:32 AM message detail	Actually, they're covered with small bubbles (which explains how they can burn underwater and not go out. See? Science and believability! My daughter thinks the flames inside are baby fish because they look like the baby fish Nemo in the kids' movie Finding Nemo. I'm glad somebody else noticed these. Speaking of bubbles, I came up with a great idea last night where there are now metal nozzles in the ground underwater (in places) that blow out giant, harmless bubbles that rise. Rovert can hitch a ride inside of these and use them to go up while underwater (impossible before- you can't jump while underwater) They will pop when they hit a wall, ceiling, or air, but the player has limited control while inside of one by pressing left or right. You can also pop it yourself by attacking while inside one. (Your sword or whichever will pop it if you don't want to rise all the way to the top, for example.) There's already a few secrets I put in that use these giant bubbles! But! You'll see these nozzles during your journeys but they won't be activated until you first find... THE BUBBLE DEVICE! This acts much like the computer does for the Laser bricks, and when it's active all bubble nozzles in the castle will spew giant bubbles for Rovert to ride. This opens up even more shortcuts and is really a big improvement in overall castle travel. Plus it gives me another chance to make a sign / computer display for Hasslevania, which is quickly becoming my favorite part of the game. I plan on making bubble travel optional and very helpful, but it won't be necessary to win the "main quest", if you will. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Starman907 Posted 7/12/2007 4:02:13 PM message detail	Still sounds great and i'm sorry to bother you again but i cant seem to find a use for the copper and indigo pieces, i have the fix ability and i have a blacksmith hammer the only thing i think they might be used for is to fix some armor but i haven't found any broken armor. Again sorry to bother you but thanks for the help. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER The dingy THE DINGY.
Biyte Posted 7/12/2007 8:52:22 PM message detail	THE BUBBLE DEVICE! Lol, how dramatic! --- [Insert Signature here]
Black_Crusher Posted 7/13/2007 6:34:36 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 7/13/2007 6:39:26 AM message detail	Starman: You should sell the copper & indigo pieces to the girl blacksmith near the entrance to Undertown. She will then have a lot more items new for sale per piece. Copper weapons and armor have decent power and some fire resistance. Copper armor + the helmet looks really cool too, IMO. Indigo gear is stronger and grants bonuses to your SP totals, which is great if you're going the spellcasting route. If you need any more help, feel free to ask here or you can also contact me at dxfgames@gmail.com. Oh, and you can use the blacksmith hammer + fix skill + anvil to repair ANY broken items you find, not just armor. This might include weapons, armor, shields, etc. Broken items can be found in the maze as well as drop off of your enemies. This is also how you can get a really awesome set of rare armor that drops off Ghost Knights. (I think they're called ghost knights, it's been awhile but they are armored w/ horned helmets and shields with swords in the lower maze level.) Biyte: Yes! We here at work refer to going on google as "TO THE GOOGLE DEVICE!", so I thought this was very fitting. It's supposed to be like in Batman or whatever when something goes wrong and then Batman goes "TO THE BATMOBILE!". I added some more giant bubble nozzles so that now there are three 2-way passages that used to be one-way before. It totally opens up the game in new ways and makes it even more open for exploring however you want to. Plus, it's very fun (and mostly non-dangerous) to mess around with Rovert in the bubbles. One new thing though is they won't pop when they leave the water, only now when they hit a ceiling, wall, enemy, arrow, or you attack with a weapon and release yourself. This now allows me to consider giant vertical hallways with no platforms- Rovert might be able to "fly" all the way up to somewhere cool if you've found the bubble device first! I think I'll work on that tonight. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/14/2007 6:44:06 AM message detail	Okay, it's only a minor update today but you can't buy the Blade of Del Duio at the shop anymore. It's been replaced by the Lost Axe, and the price tag of $5000 still applies. the BODD is somewhere better now, so now players can't somehow get it too early. It was just too powerful for when you can possibly get it. I'm running into a slight problem with the game though, and this might sound strange but it's getting too big. I gave myself a main castle area to be used for the map that is equal to 90 rooms, space-wise. This does not include areas and secret rooms that are outside of this area (and therefore also not on the map). As of right now I have a total of 97 rooms in the whole game. BUT, I only have 7 rooms left that can fit into the castle's "map area". This is just not enough because I want to put more of them in there. I don't want to be forced to "squish" the rest of the LCD tower and Drac's Quarters (and even a little of The Roof area) into a measly 7 rooms of space. So the problem is the space I gave myself for showing Rovert's location & the castle map is not big enough. It isn't near complete. I thought 90 rooms of space would be way more than enough but no dice. Think of it as if somebody had a map of your house, but only the 1st & 2nd floors. Without showing the basement or the attic it's not a complete representation of your house. Since I had a specific map layout system built into each room over 7 months ago, it's way to integrated to go back and change without a major overhaul / redrawing of the whole map. But I can't leave it how it is because it's just the middle section of Castle Hasslevania. Almost looks like a big square. My two options are: 1.) Go back and make the map's rooms smaller, which will allow me to (hopefully) include the complete Hasslevania game area on the player's map. The drawback to doing this is that I'll lose a lot of detail on the map that I've spent a long time trying to make accurate. Or.. 2.) Kill the map completely. Like it never existed or was an option. This would increase the game's challenge by a LOT, as when I say kill the map I mean the whole thing, even the Rovert location beacon and the blank square grid. The drawback to this of course is the difficulty increase, although I think it'd maybe give players the whole "Wow and WTF do I go now??" feeling that I got when first playing Metroid. The good news is that the different game areas of Hasslevania don't look all alike, which the first Metroid's places kind of do. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Kaluroth Posted 7/14/2007 1:14:32 PM message detail	How about not showing the whole Drac´s quarters in the map? I mean it would make sense since its the last stage, you could do it a la chaos realm from Castlevania AoS, I don´t know if that would be possible though.
Black_Crusher Posted 7/14/2007 2:00:00 PM message detail	Of course it's possible, because I haven't done it yet! I made up some really epic (for me at least haha) sounding music that's perfect for Drac's Quarters the other day. I think that the darkness areas just might be in Drac's quarters itself (or at least partially). You're right I shouldn't show too much, unless the player doesn't get the map until the 2nd time around anyhow. I figure if they can win it mapless first, they deserve the whole map. It should be noted though that the map only shows areas / rooms / and non-secret doorways. It doesn't disclose the wherabouts of any treasures at all. (That's the binocular's job). With the binocular / map combo after you win, it ought to be fun. I have decided to go with redrawing the map, and have already spent a long time making something that works and still allows for a lot of expansion. All I had to do was take my 90-square map grid and divide each square by 4. Sure, the squares are smaller and they no longer say "SHOP" and etc on them, but they're still color-coded. I'll have to come up with another current location beacon though, because the Rovert head one I have now is too large for these smaller room drawings. Sooo... There will be a map, and it will show the whole castle & etc, but you'll get it only after you defeat Dracula AND it won't show how to get to different areas exactly. I even thought of a funny way to set up a sequel that takes the characters out of a Castlevania-type setting and into something else completely, but I'm jumping way ahead again. Tonight, I need to finish my bubble tower puzzle (I'm having technical difficulties with it, blah) and put the new style map in there. And change the treasure where the Lost Axe used to be. Geez, I hope August 21st wasn't cutting it too close! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/17/2007 7:37:59 AM message detail	A whole lotta' programming going on these past two days! I'll keep it really short and to the point: Basic "crap" map: You start out with one, and it won't help you much but it's better than nothing. You will get an upgraded map the second time you play it through. Rovert's life bar is now orange instead of red. A new enemy: Manny O' Warrior, the Irish Jellyfish. The animation came out swell. Big bosses now have colored-coded lifebars (what a big help this is!) Three codebooks are now in the game that directly affect the endgame puzzle with the LCD tower clock. It should be noted that the codebooks are not hidden at all, but require some brains to get anyhow. The randomized LCD code at game start works perfectly and will ensure no cheap rushing to the end by using a static code that gets passed all around the internet. A new pathway via teleport orb to help people get from near the starting area to the ending area. Darkness rooms- are coming! Screenshots have not been updated, but the homepage's information has. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/18/2007 8:51:46 AM message detail	I just updated all 12 of the screenshots with mostly beginning area stuff and some of them showcase the graphical improvements that I've made in places. I think I'm going to leave these screenshots up for the duration so I don't give too much away by accident. There is one that also shows what the "crap map" looks like when you start the game, and also the first time the Hasslevania Dracula has been shown, although he's just on a sign in this one. I've tried to make him a twisted and evil version of the Sesame Street count, although I'm not 100% positive what he'll actually sound like yet. I plan on beginning voiceover work in a couple of weeks and everybody's personality will get flashed out then. I ended up spending 4 hours last night working on a puzzle for the Devil for Hire. I think it's funny, but my wife thought it was gross. You will be the judge later! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/19/2007 8:10:07 AM message detail	Hello again, after a long night of fixes and movements of whole locations around I have some really exciting gameplay improvements that I think I can pull off despite it being so late in production. Something I wanted to do from before that I think I might be able to make work- and really make the game a lot better if I can, so listen to this.. Weapon powers! Requirement: Magic Book (The book will show up on the Continue Game screen if you have it, along with the Monster book and code numbers. You will be able to read the magic book and learn what the spells do and their requirements so it's no surprise to the player later.) Action: Shift while crouching & meeting requirements Limitations: Duration (where applicable) lasts while in the room, negates upon leaving. * * * Short Sword Spell: Insomniac's Rage Duration: One room Requirements: $100 & 12 skill hearts Desc: Adrenaline rush that increases Rovert's damage with the short sword Lost Axe Spell: Hero's Health Duration: Instant Requirements: $500 & 35 skill hearts Desc: Refills health meter by +4-10 points!! Family Whip Spell: Bellhump Blast Duration: Instant Requirements: 16 skill hearts, Hurts Rovert by 1 damage Desc: A giant wave of magic that seriously hurts vampires and destroys all minor undead instantly Pyro Mace Iac Spell: Burnflare Duration: Instant Requirements: 10 skill hearts Desc: Waves of fire that injure all enemies on the screen Blade of Del Duio Spell: Instant Thief Duration: Instant Requirements: $50 & 3 skill hearts Desc: Creates a key for doors and chests Holy Crap! Spell: Fecal Fortitude Duration: One room Requirements: $75 & 10 skill hearts Desc: Reduce damage from enemies by 1 Devil for Hire Spell: Take me shopping! Duration: Instant Requirements: $200 & 9 skill hearts Desc: Devil flies you to Oldie's shop * * * I figure this will be great because the moves require both skill hearts AND cash, so you won't be able to abuse this too much. The axe would have a very high cost for its health magic, but looka' there, you can now recover health after you've exhausted your food supply!! I don't want to make it a full health recovery deal, and even though the cost is high I have no doubt people will be doing it in a boss battle or when they're very far away from the shop. I just thought of the spell effects while riding the train / bus to work, but I think that these are pretty varied and useful. Instant Thief may sound like it's crap (and it IS a weak spell), but then again the weapon that it's off of is really awesome so it's nothing more than a cool perk. And, I made a little theme song called "Dirty Devil" that plays whenever the devil does one of his scripted mischief scenes. When players hear the song fire up, get ready for something crazy to happen with him! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Black_Crusher Posted 7/20/2007 8:47:39 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 7/20/2007 8:56:53 AM message detail	Hi, a couple of things but first and foremost I noticed a huge increase in hits on the Hasslevania homepage and after some digging around I found out that somebody put a preview about it up on Indygamer's newspage. I have no idea if the person saw info about the game here first, but I just wanted to say thank you very much!! Okay, there's good news and better news! Good News Me-Sued-Ya will once again be in the game, only as an NPC and not a boss character / fightable enemy (Is fightable a word??). I remember playing Aria of Sorrow and Arkudo or whoever seemed to pop up in places and just talk to Soma, and then go away. Think of it as Me-sued-ya doing the same sort of thing. Basically, he's here to remind Rovert that breaking and entering is um.. ILLEGAL. The general police rule of "No noise after 9pm" will also come into play, and I think I can really go with this NPC and have a lot of fun with it. Better News Not only did I begin to make the weapon power spells, I FINISHED THEM COMPLETELY IN 6 HOURS MWAHAHAHA!! Unbelievable but true, this will defintely be part of Hasslevania gameplay, and makes for some awesome new strategies / Rovert can now become (almost) as super-powered as Alucard is. Almost! I want to spend some time on balance issues, and see how the inclusion of magic affects everything. Spell effects are small, but pretty flashy considering the small amount of time I had to make them. There were only minor changes to the spells from above so I'll list the changes here again because I love redundancy: Short Sword Effect: Insomniac's Rage Cost: 12 skill hearts & $100 Duration: Cancels when you warp / leave the room Desc: Laughing crazy faces drive Rovert looney and grant him a +1 damage bonus to ALL of his weapons. Family Whip Effect: Bellhump Blast Cost: 16 skill hearts, $200, & 1 HP drain Duration: Instant Desc: Rovert summons the ghosts of Bellhumps past in the form of white crosses. Kills everything on the screen and seriously maims boss monsters. Pyro Mace Iac Effect: Burnflare Cost: 10 skill hearts & $100 Duration: Instant Desc: Rovert burns with intensity, spontaneously combusting in a non-life threatening way. Deals 1 HP of damage to every enemy on the screen, including killing Phantom Bats outright. * * * Now, HERE's where I need you, the hopefully eventual players, to help me out a bit. In order to use these powers, I have it coded so that you need a "Weapon Powers" book, which looks purple with a magic sword on the cover. I just can't really decide on where to put this in the game, but I came up with a few ideas that I'd like you to say what you'd most like to see it: Option A Some NPC (not made yet, no biggie) will give you the book after you've found all the weapons / devil for hire as a reward. Option B The book is easily obtainable near the start of the game, so that Rovert can become very familiar with the spells as he slowly gains new weaponry. Option C You don't get the book at all the 1st playthrough, but its included in the list of items you'll get after winning the game during the 2nd time through. Option D It's purchasable in Oldie's shop during any playthrough, but it's going to cost a LOT of money. Option E It's hidden in the game somewhere, only it's not easy to get as mentioned previously in Option B. * * * C'mon guys, oh ye' of experience and videogamey guruship! What would YOU want to see in the game? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
Kaluroth Posted 7/20/2007 7:17:28 PM message detail	I would vote for option E, but I´ll rather obtain it after a REALLY HARD optional boss fight :P
Black_Crusher Posted 7/21/2007 7:21:15 AM message detail	I was thinking that too, but the only one that would be hard enough is Black N' Dookie (since his reward is minimal item-wise). But, taking him out opens up a lot of stuff map-wise so it balances out. The other bosses are all guarding good items already. I will think about changing this, thanks for replying Kalrouth! I put up a screenshot of Rovert executing a Bellhump blast in Engineering if anybody wants to see it, the effect is pretty cool. (So much for sticking with the same screenshots until 8/21, hah!) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Equin 3: Legacy and Hasslevania!
kevinski Posted 7/21/2007 10:35:05 AM message detail	Gah...it's been so long since I visited this topic. It's nice to see that you've made so much more progress with the game. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
raziel4224 Posted 7/22/2007 3:59:14 AM message detail	hows the game comin along? --- http://world6.monstersgame.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=114227041 Would an agnostic dyslexic insomniac lie awake all night wondering if there really is a dog?
Black_Crusher Posted 7/22/2007 9:14:50 AM message detail	Really well. By putting in magic though I did two things I didn't expect. 1.) Completely change the gameplay after you obtain the magic book (however that will be, who knows?), and 2.) make a huge amount of bugs for me to fix :( That's what I did all of last night- fix bugs because I didn't put magic in from the very begining and playtest it for more than 5~8 hours or so before putting it throughout the whole game. I got the "shopping spree" move to work now, because in rooms larger than 1 room size (320 x 200) the camera would mess up before. Now it works! I am putting in a great cutscene of sorts- Something extra for Rovert to do that has nothing to do with the gameplay at all but is funny and I think a lot of people will like it. I can honestly say I don't ever remember seeing any other game with this in it before, so that's a good thing. It has to do a bit with Deaf's new backup band, modeled after one of my favorite bands RUSH. Their names are: Gouly Lee, Neil Hurt, and Alex Deadson. They jam in the background when you fight Deaf. After you beat him everyone leaves but that still leaves Neil's awesome gigantic drumset... --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
Neofrodo Posted 7/23/2007 9:10:11 PM message detail	I hope you haven't set the difficulty level of this game to the hellish difficulty like Castlevania: Dracula X had. I still can't beat Dracula in that game. ;_;
Black_Crusher Posted 7/24/2007 9:14:47 AM message detail	No, not at all. When you compare it (IF you can compare the two I mean) to the old NES CV's it's a cakewalk. I'd say that the difficulty is easy to moderate, with it being hard in some places. (Black N' Dookie FTW) Sometimes you'll have to use the hotkeys for weapons on the fly to attack immune enemies one after another. (Phantom bats -> Knights is the best example). Other hard instances are different types of castle hazards mixed in with just the enemy you DON'T want to see there. This is rare and shouldn't detract too much from the game. Another hard part can be food supply, but it's a lot easier now that I've made magic. (Axe heals and the Devil can fly you to the shop where you can buy food.) Most of the difficulty will be the same like the old NES Metroid- Trying to figure out where to go or where the secrets are. That's the good kind, in my book. I'm very glad I made the LCD code randomized because even I can't cheat now lol. I think I've fixed all the magic bugs, and have completed the last room in "true" Hasslevania. Onto the end game for real this time. The placement of the magic book is now set, and it's a combo of "tough to find" and "need to buy it". The Skelevator Operator now has over 20 different things to say (not voice overed for these) to Rovert which will give little tips and information about Hasslevania and flesh the game world out more. There's two great cutscenes that are entirely optional and mostly exist just to give players "something to do for the hell of it". Think confession booth-like, but it's sure not the confession booth lol! The ninja is now a ninja salesman who eluded castle guards and is now hiding out inside somewhere. Me Sued Ya makes at least two appearances and includes one of the spoof lines I've been waiting to put in here for almost 8 months. The opening credits / DXF logo are all in there now too. In short, everything looks to be according to schedule. AND I've even thrown in extras when I can because I have the time to do it in too! BTW, High rollers is hard to win the top prize due to how stupidly lucky you have to be to roll 3 dice 5 times in a row consecutively higher than the last roll. The top prize, while nice, is NOT NEEDED TO WIN, so nobody jump off a bridge or anything ok? (lol...) I just needed to do it and make sure my treasure percentages are correct. (i.e. make sure you CAN get 100%) Just remember everybody, NOBODY is saying this is going to be the next SOTN or even one of your lesser-liked Castlevanias, and nobody's saying it any louder than yours truly. If you want a laugh, or something to do, and best of all a FREE game to pass some time, well then this might be the game for you. The expectations are getting a little too high it seems like, and from what I've heard already I don't want this to be any kind of a disappointment. If people enjoy it and want to toss a quarter or two my way that's fine but isn't my main goal. Otherwise I would have planned to be selling this from the start. ..Maybe that should be my disclaimer! T-minus 22 days and counting! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
Black_Crusher Posted 7/26/2007 8:13:10 AM message detail	I don't know whether or not to have most of Drac's Quarters be total darkness rooms. It makes it way harder, yeah, but people would most likely want to "see" their final destination I would guess. Maybe I'll just have the first couple or so. Either way, Darkness rooms so far are HARD because you can see only a little sphere of the area you're in and the rest is pitch black. You have more vision range than the NES Dragon Warrior in a cave without a torch, but not much. Fortunately for Rovert most of the lights get turned on after a certain point on the screen. I think I'm also going to have it so that the only weapon that can hurt Dracula is the Family Whip. Makes sense, right? I was also thinking maybe the holy crap could also hurt him- maybe only have it do 1 damage with the whip doing a lot more. I have a pretty good idea of what the end fight will be like, it'll just be a matter of putting it all together in a decent way. This will also make people want to hunt down the Family Whip to make the battle more managable. Some improvements last night, most graphically. The good map you can get is now a VERY good map as it shows you the locations of invisible walls leading to the outside secret rooms. Doorways are also shown to give people an idea of how to get into places. This same map can be viewed from the "continue game" screen, and it also lists most of the castle area names (they're all color-coded, you'll see). This makes getting the castle map a huge treasure and will greatly help people to their eventual goal of 100% should they choose to try it. And really, if you like the game why wouldn't you try it? Ninja Bradley, Salesman, now has a great little animation that looks a lot like what a real ninja would do. It's funny but the person this is modeled after is an actual 4th-degree blackbelt, and is also slated to do the voiceover for Rovert himself. You'll be controlling a 4th-degree blackbelt in some regard people, and that's cool! Me Sued Ya has now been given amazing feats of acrobatics. There's one cutscene that looks great as he escapes that really shows this off. The "Shopping Spree" power will not work in some places and these are boss battle rooms and save rooms. Everywhere else it's okay to use. I'll have the devil make some sort of smart-ass comments when you try to use him in a restricted area. Bug testing is a killer.. It's possible I might need to enlist a couple of beta testers for this but be warned it'll most likely spoil the game for you and some people might not want this. It wouldn't be for another 2 weeks or so, most likely, but interested parties can contact me and I'll set it up. I'll post here if I do end up needed some beta testers later. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
kevinski Posted 7/26/2007 3:00:32 PM message detail	I don't like the idea of dark areas. Why not mess around with implementing odd effects in the final area, such as those found in the last level in Bloodlines? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 7/26/2007 10:55:08 PM message detail	I think I'm going to just have a couple of rooms in darkness. I think it'd make it too hard to have a whole area like that! I just added another cutscene that shows Deaf's backup band CRUSH having an infighting session. It adds nothing but character to the game. I love that stuff!! The Hasslevania trailer's getting killed over on Gametrailers. I don't know who put it up there but it's had something like 3400 downloads (WOW). I took a screenshot that's awesome- It shows all these professional, million dollar trailers the likes of Metal Gear and then Rovert vs. Black N Dookie right smack dab in the middle of it. HAHAHAHA. And it's a shot from the trailer, which I admit looks really bad quality-wise. See for yourself: http://gametrailers.com/game/5273.html I'd guess 2 or 3 out of 10 of today's kids will like this =) Looks like I need to stock up on a LOT of that character to make this work!!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
Biyte Posted 7/27/2007 2:59:11 PM message detail	Hmm, i forgot. Will Rovert be able to Lvl up in this game? --- [Insert Signature here]
Black_Crusher Posted 7/27/2007 6:06:28 PM message detail	Not in Quest for Shuteye, but absolutely a big YES for its sequel. There's a lot of things I'm going to do differently for that one when the time is right. The best way to increase your power is to collect heart maximizers so you can perform more high jumps, holy crap tosses, spell moves, and eventually feed the devil to keep him around. You always have 16 HP, in an orange life bar format, but you can increase the amount of hits it'll take to kill you by picking up the Iron Armor or casting Fecal Fortitude. If you have the Iron Armor and Blade of Del Duio both on, the effects cancel each other and enemies will hit you for normal damage, like this: Rovert state. . . . . . . . . . . . . Modifier =========. . . . . . . . . . . . . .====== Plain ol' orange . . . . . . . . . . none Iron Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -1 damage Blade of D.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . +1 damage F. Fortitude Spell . . . . . . . . . -1 damage (melee only) I'm trying to tweak the gravity / jumping a bit now to make it better, wish me luck! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
Starman907 Posted 7/28/2007 11:34:20 PM message detail	Ya, they really didn't think much of the game. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER He took my ogres, I DON'T LIKE THAT! Nobody owns ogres, BUT ME!- Malacath, Elder scrolls Oblivion
Black_Crusher Posted 7/29/2007 7:26:12 AM message detail	^^ Yeah, but crappy comments & exposure is better than none at all. That's how I'm choosing to see it! ^^ I kind of have some bad news about Hasslevania, and that is it's not going to be ready by 8/21. Aside from my plans falling through for the voiceovers for later today (I'll be able to try to get something together for next week if I'm lucky), I've had a few playtesters tell me that they were uncomfortable with how Rovert jumps. I figure that if the hero of a platform game has crappy jumps then I'd better do something about it. The main problem is that my coding has been very integrated together with how Rovert moves and jumps around. A lot of flags, variables, and etc. Take one out and it screws up everything. I've been (unsuccessfully) trying to attempt to alter what I already have without having to completely re-do his platform movement, but it doesn't look like that's going to be possible. And since I've seen what I CAN do but never did, I wouldn't be able to release Hasslevania and stand behind it 100% if I didn't fix it. The good part about this, however, is that the game that you will eventually play (should you choose too- I'm no dictator, lol) will be a lot better and more mechanically sound than what was coming in 3 weeks or so. I really want this to be done and have it out there, but I also don't want to spend 8 or 9 months totally immersed into this project and have people give up or become frustrated over something as simple as how Rovert jumps around. Especially since they would most likely spend a long time trying to find secret passages and etc normally. In closing, for now I've slated the release date as "later". I don't think this will set the game back for very long, but the final game will be a lot more fun to play, and that's the most important thing, after all! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
kevinski Posted 7/29/2007 10:14:16 AM message detail	Well, a platformer with bad jumping controls is rarely fun to play. The wait will be worth it. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 7/29/2007 11:13:49 AM message detail	Yeah, except maybe Castlequest. But when I meant this'd be influenced by it, I didn't mean THAT part of it lol.. Dont' worry, my code is being analyzed by one of my TDC friends who's really good at this sort of thing. Hopefully, he'll give me some pointers on what needs what and where! I was thinking as long as I have some downtime I may as well think about a possible new area to open up the Outside. One of my favorite parts of CV2 were the eerie forest areas. You know, I do have this huge blank canvas to all things to the right of Rovert's house afterall.. Oh, and although he's still purple, my version of Dracula looks like he could kick the crap outta' Rovert a million times over. Hey, good to have a giant purple Dracula for the end boss, if you ask me! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
Black_Crusher Posted 7/29/2007 10:11:56 PM message detail	Awesome, can't talk too much now, but I figured out a way to get Rovert to jump that's a lot better than his previous method. I'd say it's a cross between Kuros (from NES's Wizards & Warriors) and Mario. The jumps are a lot more forgiving and you can plan out where you want to land a million times better now. Okay, I gotta' go! NINJA SMOKEBALL!! poof --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye 8/21/07
kevinski Posted 7/30/2007 12:03:30 AM message detail	Erm...Bloodlines already featured a purple Dracula. And he could shoot fire out of his crotch in his final form, as has already been stated in this thread. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 7/31/2007 1:11:46 PM message detail	Yeah, I remember, "burning bush" and all of that lol. I think what I meant to say was that he's also about 7 or 8 x Rovert's size. At first I wanted him to be a regular person's size, but then figured naw because he's always giant in his final form in CV games, at least the ones I remember. I gave mine a big sword too, although he'll attack mostly with fireballs. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 7/31/2007 1:29:00 PM message detail	I'm new on this thread but i think its awesome what your doing. Make sure to continue updating us on everything! --- ~The closer you are to light the greater your shadow becomes~
kevinski Posted 7/31/2007 11:12:36 PM message detail	That's one thing that's always bugged me about Dracula: Why in God's name is he so tall in his human form? Honestly, I'd prefer that Dracula battles be similar to the Doppelgaenger battles in SotN. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/1/2007 7:41:40 AM message detail	@ Magic: Thank you! Don't worry Kevin, I have a good idea on how Dracula gets to look like how he does in the game. I did an extended Skelecopter scene between the pilot and Dracula last night- It came out pretty good, and will be way better with the voices (whenever THAT happens..) There is actually going to be a lot of little audio-only things that Dracula says throughout the castle, that are funny, so that by the time you actually meet up with him, you already know him and hopefully will enjoy his character. The cutscenes are really flushing out some of the minor characters and making them a lot more interesting, IMO. And when do the cutscenes pop up? Well, There is a "real" way to go about completing the game (the most obvious, maybe) So follow that route and you'll see more of them. Of course, I've made this so that there are numerous ways to win and go about the castle, so maybe you'll see other scenes depending on where you go to first. It's exciting to think of new ways to put things in. Already the skelecopter's in the game 3 times, and I'll probably toss it in once more, who knows? Undead Parcels N' Crap hasn't had a showing since the Truck in Shipping & Receiving.. Maybe I could do something with them as well. I was thinking that if I don't do a "new game+" or whatever, I'll make the castle map a more obtainable item. I haven't decided on this yet, and there's still lots of time to do so. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Fiska Posted 8/1/2007 11:10:35 PM message detail	kevinksi... You don't by chance like Kavinsky, do you? --- FFT SCCs completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer In progress: Lancer, Priest, Monk
Neofrodo Posted 8/2/2007 1:58:46 AM message detail	This looks a lot like one of the classic NES platformer games. And when i say that, I mean it looks AWESOME! :) Keep up the great work! :D --- This post is against the ToS. Regardless of Intent. - CJayC
Black_Crusher Posted 8/2/2007 7:11:34 AM message detail	This looks a lot like one of the classic NES platformer games Yep, that is exactly what I'm going for. If I can make it as fun as one, we'll be in business! MMF lets me do some cool tricks that I don't think the NES did as far as fades, transitions, and semi-transparency, which is pretty cool. I made my own transition using 2 big black rectangles in some places that works well. If anyone's seen the old Popeye cartoons where the ship's two doors open and close to show the title, it's sort of like that, only black. There are also some "olde tyme" circle transitions like an old movie. Rovert has a lot more mobility than Simon in the old CV's, but less than Alucard. He moves sort of slow, but can turn in mid air. If he equips the Blade of Del Duio (BODD) his walking speed is doubled, which is very noticeable. When he attacks with any weapon while jumping his forward progress stops and his descent to the ground begins. If you swing a weapon while walking you will briefly stop walking too. I tried to get the BODD to give you the "swing while walking" property, but it never worked right so it's not in there. Last night I think I fixed the last of the platform bugs that popped up after the jumping / gravity changes. If I see anymore I'll fix them straight away. I have set tonight aside to rework the Devil for Hire so that he's not so buggy. It shouldn't be very hard- I already have all the basics for what I want him to do, it's just a matter of perfecting it and pasting the events into the 92 frames that need it that'll be tedious. Lastly, the voiceover recording has been rescheduled for about 8pm Saturday night, AND I think I can also get one of my friends to help who has done some awful (translation: awesome) kung-fu theatre voiceovers for our stuff in the past. My God, if it doesn't offend everybody it'll be hillarious. And although it's an extremely MINOR and NOT MAJOR thing, there are some "not so bad" swears and at least one mention of "JC"'s name in here, although it all fits together. Just wanted to warn anyone that wants to let their 4 year old play it later. Don't worry, it's not a sailor / truck driver roadshow, as we're probably talking like 3 swears in the whole game, which has a lot of text already. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 8/2/2007 4:46:30 PM message detail	You don't by chance like Kavinsky, do you? I'd never even heard of them until now. I certainly like what I've heard so far, though. I love electronic music! :) --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/3/2007 10:51:33 AM message detail	Oh man, I saw some really great inappropriate humor on the way home on the train yesterday that is going to make its way into Hasslevania somehow. I tried so friggin' hard not to laugh at these two drunk "gangstas" who were making fun of EVERYBODY that was walking by them on the bench while waiting for the train. Trust me, this was WAY funnier than it sounds now. I have been trying to fit the whole "zombies in the jail cell" from SOTN in here somewhere, and now I have a great way to tie the two pieces in. I will try my best tomorrow to capture the spirit of these two idiots to use for my game =) I redid the death screen, and now it's WAAAAY better than it was before. Before, all I had was a black screen with an orange "GAME OVER" tag that floated upwards and slowly disappeared. It worked okay, but instead now we have a cool looking firey shot of an Undead Rovert in hell. I had wanted something similar to SOTN's deathscreen where it has that whole "Tonight is a good time to go walking the doggie", or whatever it says lol. I always thought that saying didn't really fit all that well. The picture also reminds me a little bit of a scene from the old PS1 title "Legacy of Kain". It doesn't really look like it I guess, it just reminds me of it. As in a lot of Hasslevania, there's a sign in hell. I never got around to working on the Devil for Hire last night because it took me roughly 2 hours to get home from work, and I had to work late anyhow. I'd do it later today but I have to get all the text written down and ready for tomorrow since there won't be any other chances to do so except for then. I've still been practicing my version of Count Dracula, which is funny because it doesn't really sound like me at all. There are some games I've voiced in parts where I just use my own voice, but in this one I want to try impressions and etc. since I've been doing similar things for years and years just walking around and crap! I've heard back from one of the people who is playtesting what I have so far, and the word is that the new jumping system makes a big difference in a positive way. He has a slight issue with the floatiness at the apex of Rovert's jump, but then again I don't think he's ever tried Wizards & Warriors either. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Kaluroth Posted 8/3/2007 3:25:01 PM message detail	"Tonight is a good time to go walking the doggie" LOL! Dude that made me laugh for several minutes! BTW, turning those drunk gangstas into prisoner zombies sounds like a kick-ass idea
Black_Crusher Posted 8/4/2007 6:48:32 AM message detail	Right now it says: GAME OVER This lesson in frustration brought to you by Del Duio & DXF Games The thing is, I think it sounds sort of pompous. I had the doggie bit in there but figured people wouldn't get what I was talking about. I'm also mulling over the idea of randomized quotes for this part, the only thing is that the font I'm using for most of the static drawings is Sim Sun, which blends the text color with the background it's on- Making most things look like @$$ if I don't make it a part of the actual picture. I'll see what I can do. I wrote the rest of the script last night, including some texts for scenes that do not yet exist. I figure to do this all now so we won't have to re-record voices later and risk the sound not being the same. I've changed the castle entrance music to a slightly more upbeat, rocking song than what I had before (well, rocking for midi I suppose), which seems to fit better for now. It's weird but I still get the occasional player movement freeze when casting a spell (although it's getting better), and yesterday it froze up on me while casting Devil for hire. I could still open up the backpack / map, and select weapons, but couldn't move and enemies didn't hurt me. I ran the program again and it worked like it should. Ah, bug testing.. It sucks! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 8/5/2007 9:31:48 AM message detail	Yeah, that sounds a bit pompous. I like the idea of having random quotes on the Game Over screen, though. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/6/2007 7:19:24 AM message detail	Yeah, that's what I'm going to do, change it to random stuff that makes no sense! The voice over recording session didn't go over all that well, as we had a lot of technical problems with Cubase (or is it Q-Base??) on my friend's machine. You'd THINK it'd be easy, like 1.) Press Record 2.) Say Stuff 3.) Repeat! but NOOOOO... So we hardly got anything done in about 5 hours of work.. The worst part is that I can only go over there maybe once a week if I'm lucky. What we did get was pretty much what I was looking for though- The voices have that same "recorded in a bathroom" sound to them that SOTN does. Maybe they have a little more echo to them but it's not too bad. It's also amazing how much voice overs can take out of you, energy-wise. I was pretty exhausted at the end, although a lot of that was from saying these huge lines again and again and not have them record or sound right so we had to keep doing them over. Yesterday I spent a lot of time improving the game's menu system and treasury. Before it had one of those REAL old school menus where you had to type the letter for whatever selection you wanted (C= continue, S= Start Game, etc.). One playtester suggested that I put in a better menu that could be controlled with the arrow keys. It made a lot of sense so it's done now. I think I just made a quickie menu to get into the game for playtesting before and just never thought about making it better until now. Another big thing yesterday was I've changed the treasure collection screen a lot. Instead of just showing some of the bigger treasures and the total percentage on the continue screen, you now have the option (from the continue screen submenu) to view Rovert's treasury. This is a separate screen that shows every type of item you've collected, and also how many are still left (if there are more than one of that same type, like food or money bags). So if you collect just one apple, on the screen an apple will appear with a "1 / 6" next to it. Larger and unique treasures will show up at the bottom, weapons and power ups show up on the right side, and the complete percentage still appears in the upper right-hand corner too. I had to wade through all the numbers, and discovered that I had made 2 mistakes for the treasure variables, which explains why I was only ever able to get 98% of them when I KNEW that I got them all. The only thing that's shown on this screen that doesn't count towards your total is the short sword you start with. So you could have an empty treasury that only shows "Weapons: 1 / 7" and still have a 0% collection percentage, since the collection total is only concerned with weapons 2-7. There are STILL bugs that pop up and freeze Rovert, and I think it has to be somehow related to the weapon spell moves. When I get around to fixing the devil for hire, I'll also try and redo the coding to try and fix this. I could easily take the spells out completely and fix everything in like 5 minutes, but I want to try my best to save them if I can. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 8/8/2007 9:28:41 AM message detail	R.I.P. for the magic spells / weapon moves for this chapter of Hasslevania. It just didn't work out, and caused way too many bugs that I couldn't narrow down and fix, even after countless hours and hours of trying to do so. The good news is that the gameplay is back to how it was originally intended. The game is a lot more stable / solid now that I don't have to worry about the random freeze or bug because of the spells going wonky on me. All in all, taking them completely out was the best move overall. The devil for hire has been reworked to be a lot more stable, and has been given a big speed boost to make him all that much more helpful to Rovert / dangerous to the enemy. Because he's been improved, his skill heart consumption rate has been upped to -1 / 4 seconds (from -1 / 5 seconds.) The weapon book is still in the game. The big difference here is that although it no longer grants the ability to use spells, it can be read from the continue screen for details on the different weapon types. And because it's still a magic book, once Rovert gets it he'll gain a permanent +1 damage bonus to all melee weapons for the rest of the game. The random death quotes are also done, and I thought of 17 of them for now. Since the font Sim Sun looks dumb if it's not part of the picture, I just made 17 different pictures with the sayings on top of them already. A little more work, but it looks lots better. The Underwater Caverns actual "underwater" part now has new music too. It's actually really pretty good IMO, and marks the first time in the game that one area has two different pieces of music. Rovert's treasury had a graphical overhaul to look better. Orange was used! Lastly, once Dracula's Quarters are finished I plan to make one or two more secret areas at least. (While I have to wait for the voiceover sessions I might as well make myself useful right?). --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Fiska Posted 8/9/2007 3:09:29 AM message detail	Yeah, Kavinsky is a pretty good DJ (he's one guy). You like electronic music? May not be your flavor, but try Boards of Canada, probably a good album to start out with would be Music has the Right to Children. --- FFT SCCs completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer, Priest In progress: Lancer, Monk
Black_Crusher Posted 8/9/2007 9:43:26 AM message detail	Wolves.. Children.. of OTHER wolves.. And with this decree, Dracula ushers in the game in an all-new opening cutscene! This (and a lot more) was some of what we actually got down onto "tape", so I spent all of last night devoted to Dracula and the sub devil. The opening cutscene takes place before the title screen, and it's about 2 minutes long. It can easily be skipped too, so you don't have to sit through it a million times whenever you want to play. (Unlike Shining Soul 2, AHHH!!!) The devil has a great new "mischief scene", which promptly gets him banned from a particular area afterwards. I also gave him things to do while Rovert is busy saving in a coffin, riding the skelevator, or participating in High Rollers (or other, top-secret stuff). His favorite thing to do so far is read the newspaper, but also look for him to make fun of things and hit on Lame-Ia. Which again leads me to thinking, the devil is very very powerful. I may have to reduce his attack strength or he might be this game's version of the Crisagrim (sp?). He adds a lot though, so once you get him I'd advise to use him whenever you can spare the skill heart drain. Names for the Credits screen I've been going back through this topic's pages and putting together a list of people who suggested things that I ended up using for Hasslevania. I'd like to list you in the game's credit screens, but wanted to ask if you wanted to use your real names or your screen names. I have to use my real name in the game, but you don't have to. If you'd like to use your real name and are on the list below, please e-mail me (don't disclose it here) at dxfgames@gmail.com Contributors OsafuneKatana Kevinski Offensive_Altar soundofspeet hermitmaster Kaluroth * * * I don't think I missed anybody, but I'll make sure to double-check. I would also like to say that just because a suggestion wasn't included doesn't mean that it wasn't awesome! There were a ton of great ideas, and maybe some of them will show up in a future sequel. I'd like to thank everybody for listening to me blab about this project for almost 8 months now. I've spent literally thousands of hours on this game, and it's not even finished yet! I will make sure that the finished game will be something.. else! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Ashenshugur Posted 8/9/2007 10:01:50 AM message detail	Wow, this has been one of my all time favorite threads on gfaqs. Congratulations on your game, and everyone that has helped you with it. --- I NEVER DRANK HER BLOOD! NEVER! BUT I NEEDED IT! You see it changes color when it dries. It never stays! I Have to keep the WALL WET! (Johnny)
Neofrodo Posted 8/10/2007 11:07:27 PM message detail	Yeah. Hopefully it will be out soon. :) --- This post is against the ToS. Regardless of Intent. - CJayC
Black_Crusher Posted 8/11/2007 7:03:30 AM message detail	Yeah, I hope so too! Every time I sit down in front of the computer with an old man "groan" I say to my wife: "Well, this thing's not gonna' program itself.." I need a vacation! I made more stuff last night that requires the Devil, and have a cool idea for later. I think I goofed a bit on the treasure percentage though, because I'm trying to get everything and it still said I was missing 2 red diamonds. It'll work when it's done don't worry lol.. I'm so glad I made those little things for the sub devil to do while Rovert's saving and stuff. It really makes a big difference, and it only really took like a day or two. I just posted in the 'crappy ending song' thread that I am also making my own cheesy ending song for this- sung in full voices. Complete with wicked video gamey MIDI bass and drums and corny as hell lyrics about Rovert. It'll be 100% guaranteed awful! I can't wait :O I plan on listing the credits during this part, with a scroll from bottom to top. This is where you will see the GameFAQs contributors as well. That may be enough reason for people to try and win it! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 8/11/2007 10:24:10 AM message detail	I'm new to this topic, so i have some questions 1. how do we win? 2.What program are you using to do this? 3.How much did you pay for it? --- ~The closer you are to light the greater your shadow becomes~
Black_Crusher Posted 8/11/2007 12:30:02 PM message detail	Hey, no problem at all! I'm going to be the first game company that tries to answer everybody's questions if I can help it! 1.) The main objective in Hasslevania is to of course take out Count Dracula. You explore the castle and surrounding grounds (and a few other places) looking for weapons, items, treasures, and other prizes in order to obtain passage to new areas that further your adventure along. It has gameplay very similar to SOTN or Metroid. I've spent an incredibly long amount of time making many different paths to allow players to obtain the same item in different ways, and sometimes in different order too. Using this method, people will no doubt discover the "easiest" path, or "hardest" ones. They might even discover strategies that I haven't even thought of yet! Rovert can seek out and destroy six big boss enemies along the way. Some are required to kill in order to advance to the endgame (because they guard an intregal item or something). Some are optional- if you want to kill them and reap the reward, go right ahead. If not, no worries! The first big quest you'll discover is that there are 3 batskin-bound codebooks in 3 very different areas of castle Hasslevania. Getting one of them will reveal one of 3 digits to the door barring the way to Drac's Quarters and the endgame sequence. The best thing I've done with these is made it so that these digits are always different for everyone's new game, so it won't be like the code is "666" and people can just rush the door and enter this code to get to the end faster. The codebooks are not even hidden from view, but they DO require a bit of brain for you to figure out just how to get at them. Getting the codebooks is essential to solving the LCD clock puzzle- You could sit there all day guessing at random codes, and even guess the correct code- but if you don't have the codebooks first it won't open. Finally, your known digits are shown on Rovert's Treasury screen that can be accessed from the continue game menu. (In case you forget, which I do a lot lol..) This game is of course a parody, but I think I've done a pretty good job of making it my own as well. Sure, you have Dracula, but there's a lot of my personal touches throughout which should make this a very original game as well (I hope!). Although the voice overs are going to quadruple my final filesize, I still plan on using a ton of them to better tell the story of Rovert's first meeting with Dracula. Throughout the game there are many cutscenes and special events that are triggered when you play. Some of these I don't think I've ever seen in any videogame, so I'm really proud in parts of this. To help you out, you can save up money and purchase items and food at the lone store. Food and money management will come into play here, because the only way to recover Rovert's life energy is to either find food (limited amounts), or spend lots of his hard-earned money on some at the shop (unlimited food, but high prices). To further help you out, I've also included an optional "weapon" called Devil for Hire. He's a wisecracking sub devil familiar who can be summoned at will (and at the cost of Rovert's skill heart supply) to follow you around and basically kick the crap out of most minor enemies. He is also required to activate certain events, and generally adds a lot of depth to the gameplay as a whole. And like I said, if you don't find him the first time it won't hurt your chances of winning the game just by yourself. His personality is extremely different than Rovert's, and the ensuing clashes should be pretty fun to watch unfold. Currently, I'm working on ways to lessen the subdevil's power for better game balance. continued.. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 8/11/2007 12:30:18 PM message detail	2.) The game is being made by using a program called Multimedia Fusion 1.5. It's a great program created by a company called Clickteam. This software is a bit outdated now, only because they've since released MMF 2. When I bought this in 2005, it cost me $99 US for the non-developer's version, and to me it's totally worth it. It allows you the opportunity to do some really cool things that might otherwise be difficult with a "real" programming language like C++ and etc. If you've ever done any object-oriented programming, it's sort of like that in that you can drag different objects / backdrops / counters and the like to a frame, and then go behind that frame and make it all work by coding different events. So, MMF allows you to do a lot of things, but make no mistake it doesn't do things for you. It's a great graphical rendering device for games (for instance it allows me to change screen resolutions and import my own pictures into active objects that can display animations). It also has easy features that let you add your own smooth scrolling effects and play .wavs and .midi files. Best of all, there are lots of free plug-in "mods" that can let you accomplish even more things. They have some semi-strict licensing for the product, however. If you're like me and get the regular version they will allow you to use it to sell your own games. HOWEVER you need to include the information about their company somewhere on your game that's visible. I usually put this in the title screen. If you get MMF developer, which is a lot more (MMF1.5 developer was $300 IIRC), You don't have to include any mention of them at all, plus it comes with a few more programming options that I don't need, personally. Whew! That's a lot! Okay, so in closing, they give you the tools to make your own games, and you have to supply all the graphics, sound, ideas, and coding yourself. It takes awhile to get really good at it, IMO. I've had it for almost 2 years and although I'm a lot better than I was, I learn new things with each passing game I make. The graphical options of MMF (especially) have kept me creating new games in MMF, instead of Visual Basic 6 like I used to. (Most of my older games were made in VB6). There are pros and cons for everything, so it might not be for you, but whatta' speech nonetheless! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 8/11/2007 12:44:20 PM message detail	Wow thanks a lot for the information! I think its incredible i wish i knew how to do some of that stuff. I was considering this kind of stuff for a career and this seems like a really good start to see what its like. Sounds like a sound investment so i think eventually I'll try it out. I can't wait until you finish, I really look forward to playing this game! I really like the idea's you are using for the game and stuff like the familiar will add a lot to the gameplay! Keep up the good work! --- ~The closer you are to light the greater your shadow becomes~
Starman907 Posted 8/11/2007 10:53:53 PM message detail	You should start a list of things to (if you choose to do so) put in the next game. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER He took my ogres, I DON'T LIKE THAT! Nobody owns ogres, BUT ME!- Malacath, Elder scrolls Oblivion
Black_Crusher Posted 8/12/2007 7:20:27 AM message detail	Well I have some ideas, sure, but I mostly want to make sure that this one turns out okay for now. I put something in the game last night that I think will be really popular. There's one room with a hole in the ceiling that's really high up. So high that Rovert can't get up there, even with a high jump. By standing on the highest point that he can go, he releases the sub devil, who then flies up and into the hole (with his signature tune playing all the while). Once inside the hole, you play AS the devil for hire himself. For this part, I gave him his own lifebar and HP. His HP is significantly lower than Rovert's. There are obstacles in this high-up room that shoot, and if the devil gets hit by one his health goes down by 1/4. Four hits and he's killed. Getting him killed in this room will end the game though, so you still have to be careful while in here. If this proves to be fun (it is so far) I'll try to add some other parts to the game where you play as the devil. The best part is that I've thought of a name for him now: Chris, named after the Chrisaegrim sword, mostly because he's super strong for a lot of the game. I figure that'd also go over well here! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 8/12/2007 8:28:50 AM message detail	Good idea ={] --- ~The closer you are to light the greater your shadow becomes~
Biyte Posted 8/12/2007 12:47:58 PM message detail	9 days to go! I think... --- [Insert Signature here]
Biyte Posted 8/13/2007 5:46:30 PM message detail	Er... bump? Just in case TC Still has some more info. --- [Insert Signature here]
Black_Crusher Posted 8/14/2007 7:33:41 AM message detail	More than 9 days I'm afraid. I'll let you know when it's coming out don't worry! I made it so that all the doors now remember when they've been opened, so you won't have to waste a bunch of keys to keep opening them all the time. It's a big difference, and since I had the room in the save file, it only made sense. I fixed some more bugs (nothing new here), and made it so that the devil couldn't attack brittles while they're down on the ground in a heap. Instead, he'll hover on them until they get up, THEN kill them lol. And for anyone who's seen the bathroom part of the game on the trailer, well it looks a little different now sure, but I'd suggest taking Chris there sometime too. Unlike a lot of the side events in the game, this one can be done repeatedly for sts and giggles. I think if I can't get anyone to help me record more voices anytime soon I may have to do them all myself with my 4-track and ancient tech. That'll be a last resort, but I don't want this coming out in 2050 either. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next:** Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Biyte Posted 8/14/2007 10:59:05 AM message detail	Oh yes, are there any rooms where you can see through the a wall? Because the devil for hire may fly through it killing the monsters on the other room and stuff like that... --- [Insert Signature here]
Black_Crusher Posted 8/14/2007 1:55:22 PM message detail	The only thing I can think of that's similar is there are false walls and other things that when Rovert goes behind / into one they get transparent and you can see both Rovert and the wall. So far these are just to bridge rooms together and don't have any enemies in them. If there were enemies in there, then yeah the Devil for Hire would charge at an otherwise normal wall and kill the enemy, alerting the player that there was something up with that section of wall. I don't want the devil for hire to be able to be used like SOTN's fairy though, where he tells Rovert where things are hidden. That's what the binoculars are for anyway! The sub devil will attack anything it can within a certain range. If an enemy moves out of his range after it's been targeted, Chris will continue to pursue it until it's been caught and killed. So far, any minor enemy can be OHK'd by Chris. (One-Hit Killed). I'm going to have a lot more of Hasslevania's obstacle defenses be able to kill / de summon him to balance things out. So far: Kills the sub devil- Rovert / Player by pressing the DEL (delete) key Touching Water Getting hit by a zapper Scares him away (same thing as killing it, but oh well) Enters a dark area If he enters a boss room fight. Injures the sub devil (In player-controled devil rooms only) Arrows Snowballs Maybe more! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 8/14/2007 7:10:01 PM message detail	Brilliant. Any estimate on when it will be done? --- ~The closer you are to light the greater your shadow becomes~
Black_Crusher Posted 8/15/2007 8:46:04 AM message detail	Well, since I haven't done one of these in a lotta' months maybe this will help.. GO PROGRESS REPORT!! Game Areas completed: 16 / 18 Castle Rooms completed: 101 (area-wise) Save Rooms completed: 3 / 3 (most likely) Weapons placed: 7 / 7 Power ups placed: 5 / 5 Heart Maximizers: 16 Coffees: 4 Chickens: 6 Cookies: 6 Grapes: 5 Apples: 6 $50 bags: 11 $100 bags: 7 Red Diamonds: 8 Boss Monsters: 6 / 7 Regular Enemies: 14 types Teleporters: 14 NPC Characters: 10 / 12 Mini-Games: 1 Devil Rooms: 1 / ?? Darkness Rooms, temporary or otherwise: 4 * * * I just started getting back to Dracula's Quarters after a really long delay caused by making sure the rest of the castle was working correctly, adding a lot of sub devil stuff, bug fixes, getting rid of the spells, blah blah. I would GUESS that it'll be out before Halloween, and maybe a lot before, but that's my best guess. I talked to my buddy about continuing the voice overs yesterday and we're going to set something up this weekend I believe. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 8/18/2007 6:44:14 AM message detail	We managed to get a lot of voiceover recording done last night, and it came out really pretty well. Rest assured that I think we're going to capture the bad B-movie acting that I've wanted in here since day 1. Brad (voice of Rovert) did such a good job that he's also now going to be doing the voices of Me Sued Ya, Neil Hurt, and a few others. For someone who's never even played SOTN (or probably any CV aside from the first NES one long ago), he's making some of these lines sound pretty legit lol.. Accenting strange parts of the sentences, pausing that makes one sentence sound like 3, etc. While I was hearing back some of these strange, badly-acted lines, all I could think about is Mr. XBOX360 Junior staring at the screen saying "WTF!? THESE GAEM IS SUCKS!!1!!" At least you guys here will know that it's not supposed to be taken too seriously :D At this rate I'd say maybe 2 more recording sessions tops and we'll be completely done with all the voiceovers. When I printed the script I wrote, out came near 15 pages, so there's a lot of material here. The core game I have now without any voiceovers in it at all is just under 10MB, and of course the core game isn't finished yet. I hope I don't aggravate to many people out there but by including these voices, and so many of them, well it's going to make this eventual download downright gigantic. This will be a nightmare / impossibility if you still swing the 56k way (which I do at home, still). Also if website hits are any indication, Hasslevania should soak up all of my allotted bandwidth per day very quickly upon release. I've had a lot of my other stuff kind of get "snatched" up on other websites where they tell their visitors about the game and then hotlink it directly.. Anyhow, I don't like this in general because my website doesn't benefit from the person's visit, and the bandwidth gets "stolen" in the process. I may try to regulate downloads to come mostly from the Hasslevania homepage. I'll have to look into it. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 8/18/2007 8:44:53 AM message detail	What kind of audio compression are you using? In either case, I have 3.6 terabytes of transfer each month with my Web host, so I'd be more than happy to mirror the download for you. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/18/2007 10:14:42 AM message detail	Holy crap, awesome! I needed to google terrabyte lol.. That might definitely be a plausible option, I appreciate the offer a ton, that's really cool! I'll make sure to let you know if I need a mirror before release. There is no compression on the audio as far as I know. Brad's using Cubase (I specifically checked last night to make sure I spelled it correctly this time) and we're adding the effects on top of the overdubs and then exporting the files to .wav format. I then am going to go back and edit them into pieces so that they'll fit into the game for every text pop-up that's supposed to have one with it. I mean, of course the uploaded one will be compressed in a zip file, so it will be smaller than the one that people would actually play on their computers. If I remember correctly I think that the files are in 16-bit format. We were messing around with more and got some sort of error, so 16 is what we stuck with. I didn't want to try and convert them into MP3s because MMF has built-in abilities to play .wav and MIDI files and also be able to use these files in conjunction with certain events that I know I'll need. The biggest one will be along the lines of "If (specific v/o line) is not being read and player presses any key, then display next text message and play appropriate v/o for it". There might be a way to do this with other formats, but I've never really done any kind of significant voiceovers with MMF before so it beats me. At least it sounds like you'll have no problem getting the game, that's good! To save some space- There have been some omissions to the script that didn't really work out in practice. So far, 2 "drac-isms" have been cut, as well as a 20's style reporter doing the opening narration. For what these add filesize-wise, it wasn't worth it. There are still 3 more "drac-isms" that came out good and DO fit, so those are in. (NOTE: Drac-isms are things that Dracula says over the castle's loudspeaker system that resemble something you'd probably hear at a supermarket or department store.) The only shame in the narration is that I spent like 40 minutes trying to get it right haha. It's hard to talk accurately in those rapid-fire responses similar to those black and white movies of old. Anyway, I don't think anybody'll miss them because Dracula opens the game with some intro lines and it works a lot better that way. Some things came out exactly right on the first take. I did double duty for one scene where I had to alternate between a conversation with Dracula and Deaf and try to keep it straight. It's no Mel Blanc, but the actual words will find special meaning to people who know SOTN. Others might scratch their heads, but at least I'll also give them some pretty colors to look at! Brad's Neil Hurt sounds GREAT. It almost sounds pro, like some elf from a Rankin-Bass creation during the holidays. He also had to do two extended scenes where Rovert talks to Me Sued Ya. Most of my voices sound similar in places, but hey we're trying! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 8/18/2007 11:21:57 AM message detail	1 terabyte = 1,000 gigabytes --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Eternal248 Posted 8/19/2007 4:26:48 PM message detail	Bump for what appears will be quite a fun game! Quick question though: is it downloadable or will it be played in the server? Thanks! :D --- Team Member of Holepunch's Tweaking Army!
kevinski Posted 8/20/2007 1:17:10 AM message detail	It'll be downloadable. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/20/2007 7:16:45 PM message detail	Played in the server? I don't know how! Man, I was right on the money about file size. I incorporated all the voices that we have in the game- and keep in mind that this is maybe 40% of the total voices I'll have- and anyhow, the game's size went from 10MB to... 56 MB and change!! Hooray! We're looking at a possible 110-130MB download here people! Winzip'll take care of some of that. I've seen people use WinRar before but I've never used it myself, is it better? Who knows, who cares!? Anyways, I'm not going to worry too much about the size now. I'll get the game how I want it to be, and work that part out later. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Biyte Posted 8/21/2007 12:18:10 AM message detail	Oh yes, another notable thing is knockback. Please don't let Rovert get too much knockback, it is insanely annoying when Medusa heads (in this case, Hoffheads) knock you off a platform and you fly for a while and when you land, you get a huge delay... --- [Insert Signature here]
Black_Crusher Posted 8/21/2007 6:40:44 AM message detail	No worries, Biyte. So far there are only two places where Hoff Heads are, and the knockback is pretty minimal. Other things that can knock you back are zappers and the Skelegroupies when you fight Deaf. It's a good thing the zappers knock you back, otherwise they might kill Rovert outright. Not to drop too much of a hint anywhere, but one might be able to use such knockback to their advantage somehow. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 8/21/2007 9:36:24 AM message detail	I could try re-compressing it with 7-Zip to see if that would reduce the size at all. From my experience, 7-Zip offers superior compression, anyway. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/21/2007 12:12:13 PM message detail	That's what I heard this morning too, Kevinski. I D/L'd 7-Zip to my zip drive earlier and will try it out later tonight with the file I have now to see how much it clips. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 8/22/2007 12:58:25 AM message detail	You can even make a self-extracting 7-Zip archive that'll still be pretty small in size. That way, there's no need for someone to download 7-Zip in order to decompress the game. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/22/2007 6:53:01 AM message detail	Yeah, I also heard that but when I tried it out last night I couldn't figure it out. (He said that there's a box to check to make it self-extracting but I didn't find it yet.). The test turned a 56 MB download into a 53 MB one with normal compression. I didn't try anything greater only because I wasn't 100% sure it wouldn't mess up anything somehow. I doubt it would, but who knows? Dracula's Quarters have a lot of darkness areas BUT you can find and activate a lightswitch of sorts that gets rid of the shadows for good. Expect this to be the hardest part of the whole castle, especially before you find the light switch. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 8/22/2007 10:10:03 PM message detail	The box that you'll want to check is Create SFX archive. You'll notice that the file extension will automatically change from .7z to .exe. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 8/23/2007 6:54:00 AM message detail	Okay great, I'll try that later today. I spent three hours last night trying to debug two measely little problems for two metal vertical moving platforms in two different rooms. For one, the camera was very jittery when Rovert was riding up it, and then Rovert himself was jittery on the way down. The other was worse- One in Dracula's Quarters where he could ride it just fine, but couldn't jump while standing on it (which is intregal that he does here). He just got stuck in this jumping animation and rode up and down the platform like he was otherwise standing still. Anyways, I had to go through basically everything to find the problems, but it's done now. After all that mess, I stayed up way too late trying actual progress. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 8/25/2007 7:24:23 AM message detail	I'm not going to be posting here for awhile. It's not because I'll be ignoring anybody, it's just that I'm going on vacation (nothing good, but meh) for a week. I'll still be able to work on the game while I'm on it at times because I'm insane and can't enjoy myself like a normal alie- erm, HUMAN BEING!! I hope to at least finish Drac's Quarters and get most if not all of the new area done. Maybe some more voice overs near the end. Thanks to everyone for making this big-ass topic stick around, in the end it should be worth the rather long wait =) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 8/25/2007 7:38:12 AM message detail	Alright. Have fun! --- ~The closer you are to light the greater your shadow becomes~
Biyte Posted 8/25/2007 1:00:00 PM message detail	Cya! Ok guys, remember to bump this topic whenever it seems to be dying. --- [Insert Signature here]
Biyte Posted 8/26/2007 12:45:09 AM message detail	Boomp --- [Insert Signature here]
Chrono Trigger Cross Posted 8/28/2007 3:03:25 PM message detail	bumptown --- Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.
Biyte Posted 8/31/2007 12:01:03 AM message detail	Bumped. --- There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures that arukado_san allows to live.~fathedred
Lance123 Posted 8/31/2007 6:44:04 AM message detail	lol? this sounds like I might wanna play it. --- But enough talk, Have at you!
Fenix Frenzy Posted 8/31/2007 11:18:30 AM message detail	Can't wait to hear more about it. I always did have a thing for MMF games (I think Nikujin was one as well). Be sure to drop us a line when it's done, I'm calling dibs on this one for TIGSource grin --- I refuse to change my signature until Odin Sphere is given an EU Release Date: Started - 23/05/07
Biyte Posted 9/2/2007 12:54:56 AM message detail	Bumpzor --- There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures that arukado_san allows to live.~fathedred
Black_Crusher Posted 9/4/2007 8:05:40 AM message detail	Dibs on TIGsource? What do you mean exactly, are you going to put it up there or something? Please make sure not to hotlink it or it will be the end of everything as we know it, bandwith-wise. Hello everybody again!! 301 posts? Cool! I managed to enjoy my vacation a lot more than I expected to, but I still put a lot of work into Hasslevania. (I went away for a couple of days out of state, which was nice) I'm going to try and remember the important things, but I'm sure I'll forget everything I added or changed around, so when I update the homepage I'll include all the latest info. The biggest news is that Drac's Quarters is DONE. Finally, the most challenging area of the entire game is complete, and it's a pretty decent size too. The entire place is Darkness, baby! You CAN go through it in the dark, but you'll quickly see that is a crazy thing to do. Your first order of the day in here should be to locate the power switch, which will turn on all the lights to the darkness rooms. That's any darkness room- even ones in Hasslevania proper. There are a lot of nods to the original Metroid in DQ's that are sure to piss everybody off at first (in a good way?). Remember that invisible floor before the energy tank in Ridley's quarters? The huge-ass vertical climb of impossibility to escape Kraid's? Well... none of those are in here in any way! Or ARE they!!? Keep in mind that the battle with Dracula doesn't even take place in DQ's!! After you get through it, you'll be treated to a few extra outside rooms that you were previously unable to get to before figuring out the LCD Tower's puzzle / combo. I have begun on the final fight, and unlike every other boss fight this one will take place in a bigger room that scrolls around a bit. Dracula is so big, he needs the extra room! Treasure counts are continuing to rise. As of right this moment, there are 101 collectible treasures that count towards your overall percentage. And with about 25 more spaces left in the data array, I'm not done yet baby! I've added even MORE teleporter orbs in some secrety locations that will let Rovert travel all around the joint. Once a player has memorized where these are (along with where the bubble nozzles and giant candles, etc.) He'll be able to go through tons of neat-o shortcuts. Maybe this will help him get the best possible ending time-wise! I want to have more than one ending. My first bet is to have an "okay" ending. This will be the one most people get the first time they play. That is, however long it takes to win + any item %. Then one for a high or complete item %. Maybe one for a fast time, who knows? That should be towards the last of the things I end up doing for this anyways I'd guess. Voiceover-wise, I have secured the fabled tones of Oldie the Ripper as well! This was the one that was pretty touch and go for awhile, but I was nice and asked good ol' Unca' Reech for the help and he did a funny job with it. He even ad libbed some minor swears! If you guys knew him, he's the nicest old guy- almost 65 or so. He doesn't know a thing about SOTN, or any video games in general, but with the way he delivered the opening line to Rovert you'd think he was a B-Movie expert! It has a very, one sentence into 5, accenting all the wrong words that matches most of the rest of the voices and fits together great IMO. I brought over my 13-year old TASCAM 4-track and my Ibanez bass processor with a cheapie mic to do sort of a mobile recording deal, because I was unable to use the "real" gear and computer that we've been using for the rest. To that end, Ninja Brad thinks we should be able to complete the rest of the voice overs this weekend, maybe as early as Friday night. We'll see! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 9/4/2007 8:06:53 AM message detail	Damn character limitations! Doesn't GameFAQs know how much I like to blab!? Okay, lastly I was at a Gamestop yesterday and like I always do I looked for any of the GBA Castlevanias that I don't own yet (Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance.) These places NEVER have them, but I check anyways. To my shock they had HOD for a paltry $14.99. I never really checked into this one, and know nothing about it at all, and it's really pretty good. I can't believe how much that game rips off from SOTN though. Much more than Aria of Sorrow did. And although I can get used to the constant blue outline around Juste Belmont, I don't know if I can take a hero with friggin' CONS too seriously. I mean really! The game's pretty challenging in places- mostly when they throw a Victory Armor or Feathered Demon in out of nowhere that can hit you for 50 damage when you've been used to 4 the room before. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 9/6/2007 7:40:18 AM message detail	Wow, what good luck I had last night. I forget if I've already mentioned it here or not, but I changed the way that doors work about 3 or 4 weeks ago (IIRC). They now remember when they've been opened, so you won't end up wasting a lot of keys going from room to room. While this is a good idea, it ended up causing some slight problems for my game logistically. I had always planned on making the doors re-lock themselves whenever Rovert left the screen since the very beginning. As such, I made keys available for purchase in Oldie's shop and a semi-common drop out of normal candlesticks throughout the castle. Well, now your biggest "waster" of keys- the castle's doors- are out of the picture as soon as you open them. Keys open up treasure chests too, but as long as you get the treasure inside (and who wouldn't?) they also disappear forever. I've been replaying what I have so far, and towards the endgame with most every item my Rovert had 53 keys left over. FIFTY-THREE!! What to do? Anyhow, last night while watching TV I had this cool idea on how to get rid of those keys, but in an interesting way. I was thinking about some kind of 'key donation box' that gives you something if you put enough in, but instead thought of something that I think is cool: THE KEY MACHINE! This is another of Dracula's strange machines that can be found, and its only purpose is to convert Rovert's keys into money. But, not at face value! (Ex. keys can be bought from Oldie for $100 a pop, but the key machine turns 10 keys into a $100 money bag). At first glance, this may seem like a waste of keys, but when you've opened all the doors and chests or whatever, your extra keys will just sit there rotting away doing nothing. With the key machine, you can now turn them into something useful. IMPORTANT: If Rovert has less than 10 keys total, nothing will happen when he stands on the machine's lower platform! Here is a brief explanation of what happens when Rovert enters the Key Machine room: Rovert walks into the room and sees the Key Machine. It is HUGE and takes up almost the entire thing. By standing on it's lower platform, a glass cylinder comes down from the machine and closes in around Rovert, sealing him inside. A whirling noise and flashing lights tell us that something is happening now, and one by one, a total of 10 keys are systematically taken out of your inventory bar at the top of the screen. When 10 keys have been collected, the machine now displays some lights and a "Key x 10" LCD deal and makes a computerized noise for a few seconds. Once the machine has computed everything, the glass cylinder retracts upwards and into itself, and with a small explosion a gold $100 money bag ejects from the machine's rear metal exaust pipe downwards and hits the ground with a metal 'clank'. Lastly, Rovert says his signature line: "I CAN DO IT!" To say that this machine is well-hidden is an understatement. It's in one of the most out of the way rooms in the whole game. All I can say for a hint is that you won't have much time to find the secret passage that gets to it. You can always try to get to the room, but you'll only have a few seconds to find the passage each time you try, is what I mean. Oh, you'll see! The Key Machine came out 100% exactly how I wanted it to, and it only took me about 3 hours from start to finish to complete. The version now will be in the finished game as is. Whenever I have a decent idea for the game, I'll throw it in if it makes it better. That should be my motto. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 9/6/2007 5:05:16 PM message detail	Oooh, good idea's. So what is the size of it (memory wise) as of right now? --- Not changing sig until Castlevania DXC remake comes out.
Biyte Posted 9/6/2007 5:38:46 PM message detail	Welcome back! Even though it has already been probably like 4 days... have fun? Btw, I think the Key converter should change keys to a bit more than 100, maybe 300? (Unless Money is really rare / Keys drop from enemies) --- There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures that arukado_san allows to live.~fathedred
Kaluroth Posted 9/6/2007 10:06:04 PM message detail	Hey, It´s been awhile since I last posted here, everytime I wanted to bump the topic someone else did it already (>_>) about this key machine, how about making it give different rewards depending on the number of keys you donate at once? for example: 10 keys = $100 20 keys = $250 30 keys = Red diamond btw, how´s the % progress, have you planned a second release date?
Black_Crusher Posted 9/7/2007 10:28:49 AM message detail	MagIcN3v3rDI3s Thank you, and as of right now it's 57.9 MB. This is less than half of the total size it'll be when it's done, as the voices take up most of the space. And tonight we plan on trying to finish the voiceovers! Biyte Yes, thanks! It's easy to get burned out from my work at times (although GameFAQs mass posting makes it a lot more bearable lol). It was very well worth it! I toyed with the idea of the key converter changing keys into other items or more money. I just figured that if the reward was too great, it would lessen the value of other, hidden treasures you have to seek out like $50 and $100 bags (and greater, but you know what I mean). Keys don't drop from enemies, though. No items or money at all drops from minor enemies, but there are a couple of boss monsters that drop some cool things. Until it's out, nothing's set in stone though, so we'll see! Kaluroth Hey, welcome back! A lot has changed since you last posted, and seriously, a lot of progress has been made (even though it seems like this game is taking forever to make!) Your idea can be done pretty easily I would think, I could have a switch Rovert could toggle between 10, 20, or 30 keys for the machine to accept. I used 10 as a throwaway number to test out the machine while making it, and it just seems to have "stuck". I might incorporate a key number selector for Rovert to donate, but it'd most likely be 2 or 3 set numbers like 10 or 25. I'm very hesitant to announce any new release date, since the last one went so horribly lol. All I can say is that I really want to make sure there's no bugs or anything else that I'd miss by mistake, and that the final product I can stand behind 100%. As time goes by, I'm thinking up new things that seem to perfectly fit the game- and these things would never see the light of day if I had hurried up and released it on 8/21 like I expected to. Since the game is going to be very big, I've already decided to let my RL friends have first cracks at it before it goes public, because I'm not sure how easy it'll be to download from my website when it does (unless the previously mentioned mirror offer stands, then that will help a lot). After that, I will give the people who have helped me here with the game a day or two to download the game from a secret underground bunker or something. It's the least I can do for the help afterall! * * * I did some minor additions to the game last night, mostly some more of those "little things" that will give the game some life & character. The bog is looking a lot meaner now, because a sickly greenish fog is rolling around the entire area. I still have to mess around with the effect because it's rolling a bit too fast and it makes me dizzy! And there is more grass, and some butterflies and even giant toads living there! You can stand on top of the toads, but they don't do anything and just sit there and croak every now and then (like real toads!). The butterflies look pretty cool, and aside from the first time two of them meet an untimely demise from Thorny Bastard's branch whip, they can't be harmed so the scenery lives on! (These same butterflies magically come back to life when you revisit the screen after the battle though, so no fear.) Some of the larger machines of Dracula now have a very specific bat emblem on them that can be found in other places of the castle. These are smaller, and have a red outline around them. Machines to get the nod: The Warp Core, The Skelecopter, and the Key Machine. I know this will be no SOTN, but it's going to be my best game at least! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 9/7/2007 7:37:22 PM message detail	I think it will be better than some of the more recent castlevania's. Lol. --- Not changing sig until Castlevania DXC remake comes out.
Fiska Posted 9/8/2007 1:01:55 AM message detail	Was that an "eloel" or a reference to Lament of Innocence? Yes, I know, it was "eloel," but it fit nicely with your sentence. --- FFT SCCs/challenges completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer, Priest In progress: Lancer, Monk, philsov's FFT v1.1
Black_Crusher Posted 9/8/2007 7:19:42 AM message detail	EXAUSTION! TOIL! STRIFE! TACOS! These are the four feelings after last night's massive voice over recordings. We made great time, but it still took forever and a day to complete. The only thing we didn't finish was the cheesy ending song, which we will at a later date. A couple of cool ideas that I didn't expect came out that I'll share while recording though: The skelevator operator's voice sounds awesome, and so does Alucart's. I used a combination of elderly guy + boris karloff + pitch shifter for the operator, and it sounds nothing like either of us. He only has two lines in the game, although he has a lot of text to say for the player to read (hints and stuff). At first I wanted to give Alucart the same accent as Dracula (the game's only 2 vampires after all), but when I tried to do it that way it kept slipping into sounding too much like Dracula himself. The end result is a lot more low key and metered rhytmically (he doesn't accent at odd times like Dracula does). I guess you could say he sounds like a weird version of Dexter from Dexter's laboratory. Sort of?? The script called for a computer voice to make an announcement the first time Rovert enters engineering. Brad did this voice, and it sounds a lot like a cross between Irona from the old cartoon show Richie Rich and Rudy from the Jetsons (George Jetson's work computer). It was so funny, I knew that we had to have a lot more computerized voices in Hasslevania. We did a bunch of ad libs for different scenarios that could possibly be used everywhere in the game, most notably when Rovert activates a machine (bubble device, power switch, etc.). And if the castle is slated to blow up at the end, hell we've got that covered too! Our friend pitch shifter comes into play to give life to Chris Subdevil next. I think it sounds funny, but I suppose if you're not a giant fan of Alvin and the Chipmunks you may not like it haha. Although I read for his lines involving the Prison Zombies scene, I'm not exactly sure the scene will end up being used as I originally had envisioned it. For now that'll be on hold until I can think of a decent way to put it in. Ninja Bradley, Salesman sounds a lot like a slimy Bruce Lee. I was supposed to do his voice, but it sounded like a very bad Mojo Jojo (from the Powerpuff Girls- a show I have never before watched... ever!). So Brad got to impersonate one of his idols, and WITH ALL THE HEAVENLY GLORY!! (From: Enter the Dragon, Lee's best movie, IMO) The skelecopter pilot sounds like a very poor Jeff Foxworthy, which is just what we wanted! He was a total of 3 speaking scenes- one major with Dracula and two minor lines. Most times you hear a pilot's voice they are very calm and in control-sounding. The challenge was to make our pilot very NOT in control-sounding, lol.. The biggest problem of the night was not having our voices give out doing Rovert and Dracula, which far and away was the bulk of the remaining script. I had a lot of trouble trying to nail the same exact voice that I did weeks ago for some reason. A lot of Rovert's lines were deleted by accident, so Brad had to redo a lot of lines a couple of times over just to get it sounding right like before. And on the drive home, I got tacos. Nothing like 1am tacos!! Now to spend a lotta' hours tonight splitting up these giant wav files into smaller ones to be put into the game tomorrow. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 9/10/2007 10:55:30 AM message detail	Current file size: 102 MB (!!) And I still have a lot of Rovert / Devil conversations left to input into the random cutscenes. It shouldn't take too long, since they're already recorded and split up into their own files. Let's see.. The Key Machine now has a selector located on the top of it. Rovert can move the switch just like he interacts with everything else in the castle- by attacking it with his weapons. The switch is defaulted to OFF (switch is right). Hitting it once switches it to 10 KEYS (switch is in the middle, a "10" is displayed). Hitting it again switches it to 40 KEYS (switch is on the right, "40" is displayed). Hitting it from there resets the switch to OFF. 40 Keys is pretty steep, but it's the only way to get a prize that can only be found here. I will not even list it on my website until someone else finds it first, that way it'll be a real surpise. It's nothing too amazing, but I want to hold some sort of mystery here! The bog's mist has been fixed and I think it looks great. Boy, does it really add a lot to the atmosphere! It's been slowed down, and doubled up to look like a creeping thick fog. I'm going to add some small fish to the water in the game to make it look better too. Probably tonight. Voices have been added everywhere, including the final confrontation w/ Dracula, Ninja Bradley, The Computer, The Skelecopter scene, Alucart, some Devil stuff.. A lot more I can't think of but it took a lot of time to make sure it all worked. I'm still checking on some stuff to see that there's no bugs with anything caused by adding the voices, which happens. I'm drawing Dracula's different animations, and it's really hard. The sprite is complex (for this game, anyway) and big. I always have trouble animating anything that's not like 32 x 32. I'm sure people will be able to tell too! Oh well, it might take awhile but I'll try my best to make it not look like total crap. Hmmm, not much of an update, but that's what went on recently! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 9/11/2007 12:38:04 PM message detail	There's eight new screenshots up on the Hasslevania Homepage now! Some new things are shown for the first time, and some old things are shown in their updated and new versions. Look for: Some of Dracula's opening monologue, Rovert in an underwater bubble, The Key Machine, Inside Alucart's, Underground with Chris Subdevil, Another Skelevator shot, a mysterious outside castle area w/ giant candle, and a shot of a new room in The Bog complete with Hoff Heads. My Rovert who took these screenshots has a lot of stuff, which is why he has the devil, iron armor, and all the weapons in many of these screenshots. I still left 4 of the older, oranger, screenshots up though. Hey now you can see the Key Machine at least! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 9/11/2007 2:28:50 PM message detail	Just take it easy on the Metroid game play elements. There's a very good reason that I don't play Metroid games; I hate them. Oddly, SotN is one of my favorite games of all time. Still, it's drastically different from Metroid, as the overall feel is just so much smoother, and all of the RPG elements add a lot of depth to it. I'm not a huge fan of HoD, though. That game had horrible music and some pretty uninspired level design. I absolutely love Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, though, so you should check either of those out if you don't have either one. Honestly, I daresay that PoR is very close to being as good as SotN. And yes, my mirror offer still stands. I'm not really doing anything else with my Web site at the moment, so the heavy bandwidth use involved really won't be a big deal. Besides, as I've already mentioned, I really have more bandwidth than I know what to do with. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Therum Posted 9/11/2007 3:28:55 PM message detail	From: kevinski \| Posted: 9/11/2007 3:28:50 PM \| #313 Just take it easy on the Metroid game play elements. There's a very good reason that I don't play Metroid games; I hate them. Disagreed. Metroid is excellent, as most would agree. ~~~ Member of the Kranp Council™ ~~~First Seat~~~
kevinski Posted 9/11/2007 7:09:42 PM message detail	I never said that Metroid games were horrible; I merely stated that I hate them. The vertical escape scene in the original was just boring. The escape scene in Super Metroid was pretty awesome, but that sort of scene obviously wouldn't fit into a game of this nature. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Therum Posted 9/11/2007 7:34:30 PM message detail	kk ~~~ Member of the Kranp Council™ ~~~First Seat~~~
Black_Crusher Posted 9/11/2007 8:39:20 PM message detail	Well, it's not EXACTLY like Metroid per se, but I did put some things in there to make Drac's Quarters more challenging. Thankfully, my version is a lot more forgiving should you happen to "fall for it". In fact one of them brings you to a secret room that people might have otherwise missed! but that sort of scene obviously wouldn't fit into a game of this nature. Well now I wouldn't say that! If I can make helicopters, drum solos and a toilet fit, a self-destructing castle could definitely be done. I'm not saying that's what I had planned, but it's definately doable. I had a nice idea on how to transition from the defeat of Dracula to the "new game+" or whatever it's going to be called that should be interesting. So, anybody see my Dracula yet? What do you think? Kevinski, thank you for the mirror offer still. That's a very nice gesture from somebody I hardly know =) You with some others will be on the list to receive Hasslevania in advance, so I hope you end up liking the game you host!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
theyugiohkid Posted 9/12/2007 8:08:59 PM message detail	this is probably a stupid question, but what would be required to download this game? does it go directly to my computer? or would i need a ROM or something? im kinda new to all this downloading stuff.
kevinski Posted 9/13/2007 1:47:04 AM message detail	Hahahaha...wow, Drac looks more like The Count than I ever would've expected. Be sure that you keep the counting idea in-tact. Otherwise, there's no point in him looking like The Count. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/13/2007 9:46:41 AM message detail	All that's required is an internet connection, and the patience to wait for a possible 120MB download. Once you have the Hasslevania zip file (or whatever it ends up being compressed as, I'll let everybody know way ahead of time), you just unzip it wherever you want to. One of the reasons why the game is going to be so large is because there are hardly any dependancy files that go with it. So what you'll get in the folder will be the game (Hasslevania.exe or similar), A readme file with the instructions on how to play, the player's save file, and the only dependancy file called cnc232.dll. I usually make this .dll file invisible so it won't be an eyesore. As long as you keep the Hasslevania .exe and this .dll file together in the same folder, it doesn't matter where you put them. Double click on the .exe and you're ready to go! Thanks Kevinski! He ended up not sounding too much like the Count (well maybe before puberty hits, lol), but I still plan on having the signature one, two, three! THREE FIREBALLS! attack. I can always record this stuff by myself at home afterwards. I was thinking on having his sword actually be a separate being- like the Sword Familiar from SOTN- only it's against you this time. Since Chris subdevil ducks out before every boss fight, I may not do this afterall since it'd be really hard. I spent a lot of hours (always a LOT of hours, notice?) last night making some cool-looking additions to many rooms like bushes, cool-looking haunted trees (much better than what I have already- when you add these in with the old ones it makes for a lot of variety), seaweed, various underwater stuff, a new fish (perch), cattails (plants that grow near ponds and lakes), and the like. Some of the weeds are in the foreground in places too, which looks pretty cool when Rovert walks by them (adds a bit of depth). But best of all, I've expanded the starting area to go right from Rovert's house. It used to be blocked off, but now you can continue on and through a creepy moor with some of these new plant additions. But it seems that there is another dead end here.. just a lonely-looking, abandoned mini-fort locked up with a metal gate. Doing this new outside room gave me a slew of new ideas as well. It may be disorganized, but somehow I work better when I jump all around this way. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 9/13/2007 4:35:17 PM message detail	After reading what you have done with this I think i might dish out the money for Multimedia fusion to do something in my time for a long while. --- Not changing sig until Castlevania DXC remake comes out.
Black_Crusher Posted 9/14/2007 12:12:22 PM message detail	That's great! Hopefully you'll have a lot of fun with it. Just remember that like anything else, it might take awhile to get the hang of it / make decent games with it. The version I have came with 2 CDs- One is the installation disc and the other has a bunch of program examples and other stuff like sound effects that you're free to use. I'm sure MMF2 has better extras, but I don't have it so I can't say for sure. If you do get it, you should check out the largest Click community site, The Daily Click. The people there are mostly helpful and aside from games or apps there are also helpful articles written by the members and staff there. There's also a big forum so you can ask questions if you have any or get stuck. I still ask questions there from time to time, because nobody can know everything! Their website address is: www.create-games.com * * * I made another outside secret room, and a lot more background life like plants, coral (for the salt water area, the underwater caverns), and even some apple snails that just sort of glide on by, oblivious to everything. I had an interesting idea for a minor sidequest but I'm going to leave that for last after the main game is done. I would guess that Hasslevania is about 90-95% completed. Most every voiceover that has been recorded is in the game. Hasslevania proper is completed. Rovert's jumping and general gravity don't seem to have any more bugs. There doesn't appear to be any more bugs left over from the magic spells that were taken out. Every boss fight except Dracula's is done. Alucart's has been checked and rechecked and is ready to go. All the secret rooms have been throughly tested except for the one I just made, which I'll do later tonight. The shop works 100% correctly like it should. The menu system works like it should. The treasury screen and count SEEM to be fine, but I will recount and recheck everything at least two more times before release because if that's messed up and shipped out that'll be a big problem later for people. Gotta' be able to get 100%! The secret treasure hoarde is complete (There is only one in the game. There were two of them but I took one out in favor of something else). Castle and grounds "redecorating" is maybe 20% done, but a lot of the harder stuff I did first to get it out of the way. Every weapon is obtainable. The devil is obtainable and works a lot better than before. The one devil room I have so far works 100% too. Teleporter Orbs send Rovert where they should and back again and are fine. Every machine that can be activated works. The key machine works in every mode every time. Cutscenes and the voiceovers that go with them match up with the texts and work great with each other. (You can't skip the voice cutscene bits, but you can skip the first one that plays every time you fire the game up.) Mind you, once it's done I need to still go over everything with a fine-toothed comb to fix little minor things here and there. The good thing is that I've been doing a lot of playtesting myself every 3rd day or so and have already fixed tons of bugs and other things that came up. Yesterday I found out that you can fall off and down to the bottom of one of the screens if you jump in a certain place. Anyways, this wasn't intended so The camera will just show the secret bottom area with no Rovert- as he is infinitely falling far below the camera's sight. You can hear him attack when you swing your sword around, but you can't jump or do anything else (because he has to be on solid ground in order to jump). I'll make sure to put this in my list of stuff to do tonight. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
hermitmaster Posted 9/14/2007 5:02:37 PM message detail	I'd be happy to do some beta testing if needed. I'm already listed in the credits anyway. :) --- The Almighty Hermitmaster My collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/hermitmaster?objType=1
Black_Crusher Posted 9/15/2007 7:25:17 AM message detail	Yes, I think for something like this I'll need maybe 2 of them. I don't want the game out early to too many people, even if it's the beta. I'll make sure to let you know, and thanks for the offer hermitmaster! I fixed the last of the semi-huge main bugs last night where sometimes if you opened your inventory / map screen (game gets paused) and closed it, Rovert wouldn't be able to move. It hardly ever happened, but it was annoying. Anyhow, it should be gone now. I'll test it more later just to see. There's a new MMF extension called flame object that's just been released this past week that looks pretty cool. They may be working on a version that my MMF1.5 can use, and if so I'm going to see if I can use it for a couple of parts of the game. The only thing is if the fire effects look a lot better than the rest of the game (or my own sparse fire effects I already have in there) I won't use it. I want everything to have similar stylings throughout. I've played some games before where the graphics don't really mesh well with each other and it's distracting. Oh, and on the sequence-breaking side, I found out that there's a boss fight you can completely bypass with the proper equipment. You can get the treasure without having to fight said boss. It's not really "easy" to do, but I think I'm going to leave this alone. It'll reward people who are trying everything while exploring. If you want, you can grab the item and then go back and fight the boss in reverse order. And actually, doing this will make the fight a little easier too. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 9/15/2007 11:38:55 PM message detail	I offer for 2nd position if its not taken. lol. --- Not changing sig until Castlevania DXC remake comes out.
Black_Crusher Posted 9/16/2007 1:56:03 PM message detail	Just leave your donations of goats and gold at the altar on your left. Mwhahahahaha!!! There's going to be some funny cutscenes that devlop the relationship between Rovert & Chris. The first of which is subtitled: "An evening with Chris". There will be at least four of these, in addition to the normal castle cutscenes. Basically, the hint to the player on where to activate these special cutscenes is to look for objects or other things that require two people and summon Chris (if you don't have him out already). That's as much of a hint as any. I have a ridiculous example of one of these in my head that won't make a lick of sense but will be awesome if I can pull it off. I want to redo the credits screen into a scroll, since I have too many people to thank to fit carefully on one screen. This can be accessed from the opening menu screen at the start of the game. For ideas that you guys had (that were used either exactly, partially, or otherwise inspired) I will list your GameFAQs board names and your contribution to the game. This should be pretty easy to do because I've done lots of scrolls before. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Biyte Posted 9/16/2007 5:52:22 PM message detail	Gasp, Can I be listed in the credits? lol.. When do you think you will finish this? On a side note, can I beta test? : ] --- There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures that arukado_san allows to live.~fathedred
Black_Crusher Posted 9/17/2007 3:34:28 PM message detail	Hi Biyte, I finished the credits screen last night. I was up until 2am or so making sure it worked okay. You're not in there (yet?), but if you do beta testing later I will put you in with the other testers for sure. For the idea contributors (we part we care about here), I listed your GameFAQs names along with the idea or what inspired me to go ahead and create something in the game. To be fair, I went through this very thread from the start just yesterday again and all contributors will be listed in the order that they appear with the suggestion from this topic. It's strange but I was messing around trying to make a MIDI version of the beginning of an old song that my band used to play long ago (1993-1995). Anyhow, I thought it came out pretty good, and by coincidence the length happens to almost synch up perfectly with the credit scroll. So now that music plays for the credits screen. The credits can be viewed at any time from the start menu, as the endings will have something different to them hopefully so I won't have to be redundant and list the credits again. And I've also put the original Hasslevania title music back in the game for a second main theme. The song that plays in the trailer is the first song you hear when you run the game, but then every time you die and return to the start menu the second theme will play. I liked the second theme a lot and wanted to use it in there somewhere. And for the mini-game I've got planned all I can say is it involves a quarter, an anti-aircraft gun, and a bunch of bats. I hope I can pull it off because it'll be awesome! Oh, I also had a funny cutscene idea that involves a telescope like the one in SOTN. Only there ain't no boatman on the other end of this one! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Kaluroth Posted 9/17/2007 4:30:52 PM message detail	^^ Not sure if I was too helpful but... am I on the credits? :D
kevinski Posted 9/17/2007 8:17:59 PM message detail	To be fair, I went through this very thread from the start just yesterday again and all contributors will be listed in the order that they appear with the suggestion from this topic. Ooo...nice. That means that I'm first, huh? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/18/2007 10:30:00 AM message detail	Second, but you have the most used ideas at 3. OsafuneKatana is the first one. you're on there too Kaluroth. Here's what I have for you two: kevinski: The idea of an elevator operator (later became the skelevator operator), using the blood skeletons in some way (later became Brittles), and the most important one Gala Moth. You even said about what he should look like! I think I have the idea pretty well down pat- pink overcoat and pimp hat, bellbottom pants, a little pimp cane, Elvis sunglasses.. Plus in keeping with the 70's theme he throws discoballs around. If I didn't show that the game is set in 1953 I don't know if people would be able to tell what era this game takes place in at all! Kaluroth: Idea to inclulde axe knights (later became Zerkers, although technically I was going to anyway, but meh lol) and the idea of not having a map for Drac's Quarters like the chaos realm in Aria of Sorrow. So when people complain that the place is too hard (and they will), I will say it's your fault! Mwhahahaha! * * * I have the set up for the new mini-game done- Rovert is blocked from playing it at first with the "pay 25 cents" sign that's also going to be in a few more places. To pay, you'll need to find the quarter first. The quarter can be reused as many times as necessary- not realistic, but who cares really? So, you pay to get past the door, and the down this little brick passageway. At the end is a short metal vertical tube with a doorway. At the top is a gun turret with an eye slit. There's also a red police light type of deal on the very top, and two huge gun barrels jutting out of it at about a 45 degree angle upwards and away. When Rovert walks into the tube, the door slides closed, and a metal whirring can be heard. This is the motorized lift to carry Rovert into the Turret. At the same time, the red police light flashes. You can then see Rovert get lifted into the control turret through the eye slit, and then an air raid siren goes off. Lastly, the most common transition I use (the black 'Popeye' sliding doors method) closes out the scene and into the mini-game. Believe it or not, that is the hard part of the mini-game. The actual game SHOULDN'T be too tough to make, and it should prove to be a hell of a lot more fun that High Rollers too. I plan on it being some sort of Duck hunt game, only instead of ducks and the NES zapper it'll be bats and the anti-aircraft cannons. I even want to have it look a bit like it's from Rovert's point of view, (like Samus' visor in Metroid Prime, but obviously not as good!), so the display will be shown from the other side of the eye slit. If Chris is flying around, it's presumed that he stays in the tube because he's not part of the actual mini game in any way. Besides, Rovert would probably "accidentally" shoot him down anyhow. Look for this mini game to be done tonight if all goes well. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 9/18/2007 10:48:07 AM message detail	Here, something like this, a GameFAQ exclusive! http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/Hasslevania-AA-gun.PNG I'll probably gussy it up later, but at least the basics are down. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 9/18/2007 4:46:38 PM message detail	Thanks for the info! --- Not changing sig until Castlevania DXC remake comes out.
Kaluroth Posted 9/18/2007 9:04:27 PM message detail	Yay, I´m on the credits! Anyways, I´d like to expand my contribution list, so I´ll suggest the greatest idea of all: Add more weapons!!! .. ... .... Just kidding, don´t kill me yet (>_>)
Starman907 Posted 9/18/2007 9:24:37 PM message detail	Aww i'm not in the credits, and after all the questions I asked you about undertown... just kidding, but it still sounds like it's gonna be a winner. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER He took my ogres, I DON'T LIKE THAT! Nobody owns ogres, BUT ME!- Malacath, Elder scrolls Oblivion
Black_Crusher Posted 9/19/2007 6:50:04 AM message detail	I'd add more weapons if I had more space on the weapon selection box in the inventory / map subscreen, but I had planned it all out to perfectly fit a total of 7 (6 weapons + 1 devil for hire at the end). If there's a sequel I will add more weapons, promise! At the time, I figured that 7 weapons was better than the 1 whip Simon had in CV1. I didn't compare the totals to SOTN's because of course 7 < 100,000 swords and etc. Starman, yeah sorry about that. There are a lot of Hasslevania supporters rooting for me to do well / finish the stupid thing, but for the credits I just wanted to add those who had ideas that were used in some way. Not that I don't appreciate the support though! One way or the other, this looks like it might be downloaded thousands of times from people who either 1.) like the idea and want to play it, or 2.) hate / make fun of the idea and want to validate it further with a whopping 2 minutes of playtime. (Although I hope the giant filesize will deter the latter.) So in a way, you guys will be up in lights (albeit dimly lit ones for awhile.). The editor of Indygamer is going to get an advance copy to review for their readers, which when it was featured there before in a screenshot drove my website's hits way up for awhile. It should prove to be good press. One day, if enough people like it, it'd be awesome if Hasslevania was added to GameFAQs games list too! I saw that a couple of freeware games have been added recently here (Cave Story and Within a Deep Forest), so I guess anything's possible. I gotta deliver the goods first though! I was sick for most of the late afternoon and all through the night into this morning, so I didn't get to work on Hasslevania at all. I wanted to- I even loaded the project up and started doing the inside view of the eye slit for the AA gun, but I was too wiped to continue. I already feel better this morning, so I'll finish the mini game tonight instead. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 9/19/2007 5:46:14 PM message detail	Ahh...never mind. I see what you mean. You're listing me second because the first idea of mine that was actually implemented was posted after his. My bad. By the way, what are the specs of the computer that you've been testing the game on? Also, how long does the game take to load initially? --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/20/2007 6:53:00 AM message detail	I can double check later but I think it's a 2.6Ghz processor, generic video & sound cards that came with the thing, 528 RAM. I think it should run on a much slower machine, however some places that use big overlays (like the underwater caverns) would cause severe slowdown on ancient machines like the one I've made most of my games on before. That was a 500Mhz, 256RAM job with a GeForce 2. So unless you have something like my old machine, you should be fine. Load time is next to non-exisitant, which surprised me a bit since all the .wavs are contained in the single .exe file. So, it should only take like 1 or 2 seconds after you double click the Rovert icon to be off and away! I was still sick last night, but I've almost finished the AA mini-game. The game is now called "Bat Blasters", and controls are as follows: (space bar) fire cannons (the cannons alternate, right and left) (arrow keys- 4 directions) move the crosshairs to aim the cannons within the eye slit viewing range. (shift + left or right arrows) rotate the gun turret left or right a bit. When you press fire, the shells will come from either the left or right side of the turret, depending on which barrel's turn it is to fire. The bullet will travel to where the crosshairs were at the time you pressed fire. So, if you press fire and then move the crosshairs afterwards, the shell won't follow the crosshairs around, which is good. You have limited ammo, which is displayed at the bottom, along with a current kill count on the left and a "best" kill count on the right, which will save along with Rovert's other stats. All I need to add is the bats, and a better background for the skyline and it'll be done. Maybe another hour or so, which isn't bad. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 9/20/2007 8:05:06 AM message detail	By the way, I've noticed that the game appears to display in a widescreen resolution. It isn't going to look really squished on regular monitors, is it? By the way, you probably have 512MB of RAM, as that seems to be a more standard amount. I have a 1.7GHz Pentium 4 and 512MB of RAM, so I suppose that I should be fine. And the loading time definitely sounds reasonable. I'm used to freeware games that people make in other, easier-to-use applications that cause initial load times of 15-20 seconds. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/20/2007 10:02:39 AM message detail	By the way, you probably have 512MB of RAM Ack, yeah you're right. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night d'oh.. Hmmm, well, no it's not widescreen but the opening dracula scene LOOKS like it is. I needed a black background for the text to go on, and since it may not look as good with just the one bar at the bottom, I put one at the top too. (I didn't do this for Necropolis Rising, which looking back was a minor mistake). Everywhere else in the game the text is different shades of brown on lighter brown backgrounds. It's supposed to sort of resemble parchment (although it doesn't really). Anyhow, whether the decision was an artistic disaster or a good move, we'll have to wait and see. Right off the bat there's going to be a 'minimum reqs.' screen somewhere in there, and everyone will have this stuff but it's worth noting anyhow. Small Fonts- Yep, everyone has these but if for some weird reason you don't, the text may appear very huge and won't fit right. This shouldn't be a problem for anyone. 320 x 200 resolution support- This one may effect people. If your monitor supports 320 x 200, the game will appear in full screen. If it doesn't, it should appear in the center of the screen in the next available resolution size. MMF does this automatically so the program won't crash. On my work's computer it does this. The picture is roughly twice of the screenshot sizes you can see on the HV homepage. There is a solid black frame to fill out the rest of the screen. I've read recently that a lot of flatscreen monitors don't support 320 x 200, but that a lot of the regular "deep back" monitors do. Mine at home and Brad's play the game in full screen mode. Sticky Keys- If you still have this option enabled, you should definitely turn it off, since the game uses the shift key a lot. (jumping, turret, others) A lot of click games use the shift key because it's been a long-standing default key in those types of programs, and lots of click game programmers are used to the control scheme. I will even draw up a keyboard display that will show players the most comfortable and likely way to play Hasslevania. Since it doesn't use a joystick, some people who aren't familiar with a keyboard setup like this (and especially mine, which are usually different than other click games) may find it useful. I'll put this in the main menu too. I'm not sure if I want the in-game speech cutscenes to be skippable or not. Some are sort of on the longish side, and if you hear one and die and restart you'd have to hear it again. (If you hear it and save and THEN die, you won't have to because the game will save that you already heard the conversation earlier.) It'd be a lot easier not to skip them, because doing it by accident would skip a lot of useful storyline mumbo-jumbo, if you're into that sort of thing. I'll make sure to recheck my computer's specs later kevinski, because if I goofed up about the RAM, who knows what else I'm capable of this morning. O_o --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Biyte Posted 9/20/2007 5:52:26 PM message detail	Great work. When do you think you will finish? --- There is no theory of evolution, just a list of creatures that arukado_san allows to live.~fathedred oooeeEAAAAHHHHH! ~Zoom
Fiska Posted 9/20/2007 8:51:42 PM message detail	August 21. Just kidding... Give him time. --- FFT SCCs/challenges completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer, Priest In progress: Lancer, Monk, philsov's FFT v1.1
Black_Crusher Posted 9/21/2007 7:25:36 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 9/21/2007 7:27:03 AM message detail	Fiska you wound me, Have at you! I take it as a lesson maybe to not give myself a deadline again unless Blizzard somehow hires me and wants something done at a specific time. Other than that, after I took the deadline off of myself I got a lot more relaxed (in a good way), and even thought of some things that otherwise I wouldn't have put in the game, like Bat Blasters. I didn't even open up the project again last night, I was still too sick (being sick sucks, btw). One good thing is that on Sunday I SHOULD be able to finally finish the voiceovers for good. This will be an important step, because it will be the last part of the game that I needed to rely on outside sources. Everything else I can do myself, so the only things that'll hold me back would be burnouts, sickness, and the like. So let's see what I have coming up- Finish Bat Blasters, Finish the voiceovers (including the cheesy / crappy ending song I wrote lol..), finish the subdevil cutscenes, finish the fight with dracula, make some sort of segway to the ending(s), check the treasure counts a couple of more times, add some more treasures, check the door values and make sure they work, test for any more fall-through the side of the screen glitches, make sure some things pause while the map is up like arrows and zappers, make sure the devil gets killed when arrows and things collide with it, probably more I can't remember now.. See, easy! (??) I do still want to add one more area to the game, but what's happening is I'm running out of space to put another area somewhere where it will attach to what I have and it'll make sense. In any case, this area will just be for some extra exploration and most likely won't have any boss enemies or super-duper powerful items. It'll just expand on the game area a bit, like the moor area of the Out of Doors does when you go right from Rovert's house. All that being said, the game is still very, very far along and I don't plan on it taking many more months or anything. You guys will be the first to know when it's getting ready. Since everything's kind of been made out of order from the start I just need to bridge it all together. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 9/21/2007 9:45:20 AM message detail	I seem to remember you stating before that certain areas are marked with special colors on the map. To make testing easier on your part, why not put a special code (to be released maybe a month or two after release to the public) that marks the location of each piece of treasure in one color and each special item in another color to help yourself out. That way, it'd probably be easier to keep track of everything. Besides, it'd make a great code for the public. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/21/2007 11:13:09 AM message detail	To help me answer that one, ladies and gentlemen Mr. Sir Michael Caine: Caine: NEVAH!! Thank you, your majesty! --- Oh no, I don't want the treasures and all that mapped out, that'd make it too easy. As it is, the binoculars are a giant help and will probably help people find like 97% of the stuff. BUT, as it just shows things that are amiss in some way, it's still up to Rovert to figure out what to do with all this newfound information. As far as color coded-ness goes, you're right. When you get the good map, all the areas that are on the map are colored in by rooms to help you differentiate. I'd say this map shows maybe 80% of the total game area of Hasslevania. Oh, and while looking through some older files I found an unfinished guardian statue (remember, the burning bush statue?). Anyways I just finished it and it's.. well, you'll see but it's another homage to one of my favorite games. And it's no ripoff either, hooray! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 9/21/2007 1:20:34 PM message detail	I realize that it'd make the game far too easy as far as treasure hunting goes, and that's why I recommended not releasing to the code to the public until a month (or more) after the release date. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 9/21/2007 7:04:20 PM message detail	Dude today in comp. apps i had to make a flyer for something and I almost did it for Hasslevania! But my friend was like ok we can keep it but just not shut-eye. And I just decided to go with his idea. --- Not changing sig until Castlevania DXC remake comes out.
Black_Crusher Posted 9/22/2007 7:14:41 AM message detail	Just not shut eye? But it's the only Hasslevania there is! That's awesome though! I almost want to make myself a T-Shirt with the little picture of Rovert and Chris on it somewhere. It'll probably end up being something like when we made hats for our band- We ended up making a grand total of 2 of them.. and there were 3 of us! Kevinski, I also have a screenshot map of the game that shows where every treasure is located exactly that I could release later. It wouldn't be in game though, it'd be an extra picture like one of the FAQs in-depth pictures or something. I wouldn't want to spoil all the surprises too soon after it's out, so it'd probably be a couple of months afterwards like you suggest. I think too many people might go strictly by the treasure map and would skip exploring things for themselves. --- I did manage to finish Bat Blasters all the way, and I"m happy with how it came out. There are 20 bats and 29 bullets per game (29 bullets fits the display perfectly, which is why it's the weird number and not 99 or something). The game ends when you run out of bullets. There's no time limit. The best I can get so far is 14 kills. The bats all fly out at different speeds from the start, which makes it a bit interesting. The slow ones are a piece of cake most of the time, but if you don't aim too precisely you can still miss. Every now and then a bat turd will splosh on the viewport and slowly slide down. I guess this is the "return fire" portion of the game, although you can't get hurt during bat blasters in any way. I uploaded the up-to-date game this morning so I could grab a screenshot of BB, but forgot to check the transition to the BB game last night after I finished it, and it doesn't jump to the scene like it should. It's seriously a 2 second fix, grrrr... Anyhow, I'll make sure to have a screenshot of BB ready for you guys within a couple of days, even if it's another one of those GameFAQs exclusive deals. I called Brad up last night to confirm the voiceover appt, And he forgot and is busy this weekend. I myself have to work some OT tonight which rules out any V/O work on it tonight instead. So it looks like another week of waiting to finish the stinkin' voiceovers. AHHHH!!! At least it's only one more session before it's done. Man, I can't wait for this part to be over with. I've decided that the new area will take place underground. I already have a couple of underground-themed rooms and figured that's the best place to expand upon. It's here where you will be able to find the new guardian statue, which is far and away the largest of the game's 5 types of statues (so far, I plan on making a few more before it's done). Although it doesn't look anything like it, I got the idea of the large statue underground from that part in the mine area of SOTN with the Cerberus (?) head entranceway. Since you can fry the bush between this guardian's legs and go to the next screen, it's sort of similar. The last parts I did were make these purple crystal sparkle things to liven up the Crystal Dungeon area (an area I don't update much because it's old and "landlocked", which makes expanding upon it next to impossible). Also the big water source found there has some new underwater plants and stuff. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 9/22/2007 9:54:07 AM message detail	The screenshot map sounds good. Pity about the voiceovers being delayed again, but I'm sure that they'll be completed the next time that you're able. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/22/2007 10:11:23 AM message detail	Here, this is a mockup of what I'll most likely do later tonight. I'm guessing this area will be some sort of tomb, and would make an excellent place to feature some of those phantom enemies we talked about much earlier in the thread. I suppose the only bad part is that players would have the means to kill these new phantom enemies by the time they got inside the tomb, as you'd need the pyro mace iac just to burn the statue's bush to get to them. Other places in the game that have phantom bats, you're not guaranteed to have a magic weapon to kill them yet. (This way adventurous types can try to brave the phantom bats and get hurt to get to places earlier than normal, or you'll have to seek out magic weapons elsewhere and return later.) Anyway, here's my idea: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/TOMB-MOCKUP.PNG Can you guess what the statue's a nod to yet? I was thinking on having very little color in this place, which will make Rovert and Chris stand out even more than they already do. This could also be where the prison zombies are located. I made the underwater caverns background black and white and put it here (without the water of course), and when you recolor the grass and thorns to a brown / grey / sort of greenish they look dead and fit. Note the eyes of the statue- They're the same red diamonds you can collect throughout the game. These are set in its head though, and are just for decoration.. or ARE they? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 9/22/2007 10:28:50 PM message detail	Bwahahha! Pure genius. I downloaded the multi-media fusion trial and I completed their little sample game and then I kinda just got confused. Lol. --- Not changing sig until Castlevania DXC remake comes out.
Black_Crusher Posted 9/24/2007 7:31:28 AM message detail	Those example games, haha, I remember I did the breakout clone one and it also took a little while to sink in. I figured out screen resolution changes with that "save the damsel" one, and that a game in 320 x 200 could look pretty decent. --- Alright, for now I'm calling the new area the Moo Tomb. I'm not positive the way to get there will stick around til the end- it's not bad, it's just kind of obvious on what to do. I'm not really all for obvious things in the game if I can help it. I did manage to finish a lot of little things (mostly more bugs) over the last couple of days. The gateway to the Moo Tomb looks almost exactly like the mockup above. When you fry the bush, a pleasant MOOOOO!!!! comes out of the statue and the eyes get all glowy and etc. For now I have it so you can do this every time you go back to the screen, but that's kind of stupid (albeit funny) so I'll make it a one-shot deal and leave the passageway open permanently after you do it once. I think the next phantom enemy to appear will be the phantom zombie. I'll probably change his name to something better later. I could do what I've done before with some phantom bats, and place them close to enemies or obstacles that require another weapon to tackle, so that you'd have to make quick weapon hotkey swaps on the go. This would put some challenge into the area. And I guess once I have these phantom zombies I could make a couple pop up in other, pre-existing areas of the castle too. And then update the Monster Book of course. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 9/25/2007 1:45:59 PM message detail	Okay, I moved around an entire area so that you could gain access to the Moo Tomb earlier than before. Whether or not you can make it past the first room (cow halberdier statue), that's another story. To fill the void left by the old MT space, I put another secret room in. You can't ever have enough, right? I updated the HV homepage with 3 new(er) screenshots. They are: Moo Tomb entrance, The Moor Keep, and an action shot of Bat Blasters. I had to wait for a bat to crap on the window for the screenshot, so that you could see it in all its "glory". And nobody knows what the significance of the cow is yet? Gheesh! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 9/25/2007 9:33:59 PM message detail	I dunno...the bull statue reminds me of the minotaur boss or that thing that chases Richter in Rondo. Aside from that, it also kinda looks like the bull from those Looney Tunes cartoons. shrug --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/26/2007 7:35:59 AM message detail	Yeah it does look like the looney tunes bull, I didn't think about that before. Well, the whole area is supposed to be a secret (sort of), so what I did was tie one of my favorite secret areas of any game into this one a bit- The Secret Cow Level from Diablo 2. This is why he's holding a halberd. I could kill a couple of birds with one stone by having the cow reference, the extra area I wanted, and the burning bush statue all in the same place. I made two more rooms for the Moo Tomb last night. I really like the look and feel of the whole place. I've re-used the music from CotG2's Creepy-Ass Caverns for this place (since I'll likely never finish that game anyhow). I think I might put another fog effect in here, but if I do it'll look a lot different than the bog's. The theme of the area is undead / phantom enemies only. That means no regular bats, Lame-ia, Zerkers, and etc. If you have the whip already you'll be able to blow through this place pretty easily I would guess. Remember though, that phantom enemies AREN'T effected by the whip because although special it doesn't count as a magic weapon in this game. The Phantom Zombie is now in the game too. They have triple the HP of a regular zombie at 6, and can run more than double the speed of a regular zombie too. PZs can hit for 3 damage (base value) and can only be hurt or killed with a magic weapon. So far I have skeletons, PZs, and phantom bats in the Moo Tomb. There MAY be a whole new enemy designed for this place, but I can't say just yet in case I don't make one. In general, the Moo Tomb is looking to be straightforward, which is very different than the rest of the game. That's not completely awful though, or set in stone. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 9/28/2007 9:29:13 AM message detail	I wanted to go back to my roots and take in some of the really difficult games from my youth last night. Since I'm going to try and make Hasslevania an "old schooly" type of game, I figured I would replay some NES favorites. Game 1: Wizards & Warriors 2: Ironsword For the first time in years, I sat down around 11:30pm or so and tried to beat this game again. When I ran out of continues and got the "enter your name that will never be saved in any fashion" screen I was on the volcano section of the fire level, which amounts to level 3-1. There are just way too many cheap hits from enemies that fly at you from all over the screen. Lesson learned for Hasslevania: Do not throw a ton of enemies at the player that they will have no chance to avoid the incoming damage. But Ironsword was nothing.. Game 2: Ghosts N' Goblins Oh my God. People, if you've never played this game I can seriously tell you that this is the HARDEST GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED. I've played Dragon Warrior 2, The Seventh Saga, Blaster Master, and DeathLord, but this beats them all. I had a save state (I had to use save states, I HAD TO!!) from the start of stage 2 (and even that was hard to get). So I began.. and died, and died, and died some more.. and lived for awhile, but then also died. In the end, and after about an hour of playing this awful, awful thing, I had died at least 75 times. No joke, it was that crazy. And where'd I end up? The very end of stage three!! All of that and I only got one stage further along. They say that in order to truly win this game, you need to play through it TWICE!! What are you kidding me? I shut the computer down in frustration and took home another valuable lesson: Hasslevania will not be programmed to be the root of all evil, ever plotting to destroy the player himself as well as his orange facsimile in Rovert. There will never be enemies that can move 5 times faster / better than Rovert that will appear from out of thin air and kill him in two hits. Rovert will be able to make all of his normal jumps and can change direction (a bit) in mid-air and will not fly through the air like a dope and into a bottomless pit of doom. Rovert won't get pummeled by bosses that can't be circumvented. My God, my game will in no way be like Ghosts N' Goblins if I can help it. * * * That aside, it was more bug fixes as always. Also, the entrance to the Moo Tomb has been obscured. It's no longer easy to find. People who check everywhere and try everything will find it though, I'm sure. I added another little Subdevil cutscene, and this one involves singing at an inopportune time. It should be funny. I will finish the Moo Tomb this weekend, and most likely the voiceovers either tonight or Sunday if tonight falls through again. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
arukado_san Posted 9/28/2007 2:12:47 PM message detail	Hahahaha that was realy funny to read this You need to take a bit of recoil on this You are speaking of gameplay logic that is 20 years old now, its cool, i mean, i did loved thoses game, when i was a kid lol, now whe are in the 20th century, not that im saying a old school type game is bad idea, its good idea, but, you CANT compare it with a 20year old game They had a lot of limitation that you dont even think about The first and most important was the price of the game itself, witch influct a LOT on his replay value at this epoq It would have been a shame to make a game you could beat in just 1 hour, and also, the need of beating it twice to see the good end, at that epoq, that was realy a replay value on the game life time Seriously try to reconsider that experience you had with old games, i mean, you was correct almost on all your reviews, but, dont be angry of this, dont look the "bad" sides, just forget them and concenter on the "good" sides, they had a lot of excuses for the games to be like that ;) But of course i agree you should not make a game only for "godlike" 2D scrolling skilled people, that would be bad idea lol, of course you need to do a game that suit everybody Why not considering a difficulty setting if you are so much worried about it ? ;) --- NITM Alucard (Matrix Room): 1228234.0% \|\| 11569971 Rooms NITM Richter: 217.3% NITM Maria: 216.6%
kevinski Posted 9/29/2007 12:12:47 AM message detail	I recently bought Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers for NES. Hasslevania just might be even more enjoyable if you added a huge, throwable apple sub-weapon. :P --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 9/29/2007 7:21:20 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 9/29/2007 7:26:54 AM message detail	How about a throwable poop weapon instead!? BOOM! I was thinking of having some challenges built into the menu of the game itself. You know how people always try Naked Alucard challenge, solo white mage challenge, swordless quest for Zelda and etc? The problem with those is that the player can always change his mind as soon as the going gets rough. This is why I thought of something like this instead.. 20 skill hearts challenge By selecting this option, the game starts you off with a maximum 20 skill hearts and THAT'S IT BABY! All the hearts maximizers in the game are gone. This will be very hard to win with, but I'm sure it's possible. If that's too hard, you can always try the.. Original Orange challenge This challenge makes the iron armor disappear from the game. Aside from your defense not being able to increase during play, you will also HAVE to find the Blade of Del Duio, as either that or the armor is needed to win the game. Some places and shortcuts will be restricted, but it is possible to win the game without the armor. Just really hard. If that's not to your liking, why not try the.. Decaffeinated Run The easiest of the challenges, this game takes out every coffee in the game. As of now, that's six coffees that heal +10 HP each. This will make people spend a lot more money at Oldie's shop. Devil-less challenge Chris Subdevil is removed from the game (including the cutscenes that feature him). This might make it hard for those who've found him before and are used to playing with him. If you can't find him normally, this won't really be a challenge at all. * * * And instead of time, I could make it so that you'd get a different ending for the game depending on which game you've won. (Normal, 20 Hearts, Original Orange, Decaffinated Run, Devil-less). Actually, the more I think about it the more I LOVE the challenge start game option idea!! And as if this wasn't good enough, we've finished the last of the voiceovers last night, along with the cheesy endgame song.. complete with the worst singing you've ever heard, I guarantee. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
CaptainBlue49 Posted 9/29/2007 9:09:08 AM message detail	Instead of throwable poop, how about throwing an alarm clock that, if it hits, does minor damage and the enemy is actually frozen as if the stopwatch was used. The only issue is that the alarm clock is thrown at a random trajectory each time. It could cost 5 hearts per use, but for 100 hearts, you throw tons of clocks that bounce around, making SURE that every single enemy in the room is frozen. And instead of being frozen for 5 secs, if they're frozen by that crush, they're frozen for a whole minute! Think of it as a desperation move. If you could, you could even program it to only work if you're at less than 1/4th health! --- Captain Blue fights with every ounce of his life. He fights the forces of evil, for what is right. This is all that Blue has ever wanted; to do the right thing.
Black_Crusher Posted 9/29/2007 10:43:50 AM message detail	That's a good idea Cpt. Blue, but you're about 9 months too late! The Holy Crap is already one of the weapons Rovert can find in the game, and for balancing issues it's also the only one with projectile attacks. One more thing, although I wasn't too sure about using the Prison Zombies bit, we tried again and got the voices down almost exactly like what I remembered seeing / hearing that day waiting for the train months ago. To give a hint, this scene is an origin scene for somebody, and that will explain something else you may find later in the game. In any case, look for it pretty early on to set up future events. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Kaluroth Posted 9/29/2007 4:41:34 PM message detail	The preset challenges sound really cool, but have you considered adding some "rewards" such as infinite hearts gameplay or something, you could unlock them after completing certain challenges if you don´t want it to be cheap
Black_Crusher Posted 10/1/2007 7:29:41 PM message detail	Ah, but think of the bragging rights! Nope, I haven't thought about any of that yet, it's too early. I will though! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
arukado_san Posted 10/2/2007 12:45:52 AM message detail	"complete with the worst singing you've ever heard, I guarantee." Where to download soundtrack of the game? lol --- NITM Alucard (Matrix Room): 1228234.0% \|\| 11569971 Rooms NITM Richter: 217.3% NITM Maria: 216.6%
Black_Crusher Posted 10/2/2007 7:49:48 AM message detail	LOL, nope you guys are going to have to win the game for this "reward" ahahaha. It's probably the worst use of 16MB ever (uncompressed, so it'll be a bit less than that), but it will PROBABLY be worth it, when it all comes down. All the music is MIDI except for the end song, which has MIDI music transferred to a wav file by magical means, and then the voices went on top of that. It's very video game-ish, and cheesy but not in the slow ballad SOTN way. And it's also really crappy but that's the way we wanted it. We kept some voice cracks in there for good measure. The devil even has a line in it. I have the prison zombies' scene basically all set. All I have to do tonight is add a couple of more things and that'll be done too, along with the Moo Tomb. There's a hamlet-esque scene between Rovert and some bones that should prove insulting to someone, I'm sure. Sometime this week I'll finish Dracula's battle. I've been putting it off because the graphics for him are hard for me to do. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/3/2007 7:57:27 AM message detail	Awesome, okay so now the Moo Tomb is done, and the Prison Zombies are done too! A couple of things: There is going to have to be some sort of minor disclaimer somewhere near the beginning stating that the game uses minor swears and (simulated?) alcohol drinking, and some other (yet minor again) bad taste things. Just to cover myself- Nothing's bad IMO but you know how testy some people can get about the stupidest things. Changes! Ah yes, one of the coveted codebooks has been moved! This marks the first time since I put them in that the location of one was moved to a different place. However, some more laser bricks were added to the room where it was, and now yet another shortcut exists where one wasn't before, which makes it about a million shortcuts. Questions???? I am thinking about changing one of the defining properties of phantom enemies, and that is that they're killed by magic weapons. So far this means the Pyro Mace Iac, Blade of Del Duio, and Holy Crap weapons can injure / kill these creatures. I was wondering what people might think about having it so that only FIRE can kill these phantom monsters. This means that the Pyro Mace Iac is the only weapon that can hurt these guys, and would lend weight to the fact that the Family Whip (scourge of the undead, remember?) is useless against these guys. The Pyro Mace Iac is one of the items that is needed to win the game, and is pretty unmissable, so this might make a lot of sense. Hammered for the end of time! The Prison Zombies are some interesting, non-interactive guys that just sit down on their bench (in their cell) and chug 40s all day. And by the looks of all the empties around them, they've been doing this for a long time too. Rovert can activate one of 4 responses from them simply by walking past them from either direction. They will freak out and say something, usually something like this: "EEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!". While in "freak out" mode, they can't say anything else, so if you want to hear another comment from the dynamic duo you're going to have to leave and re-enter the screen. If you happen to have Chris out with you, there's a possibility you'll hear something completely different on your 4th pass as well. And possibly, a release date?? Yes, it's true. If all goes well I plan on releasing this on my birthday, Nov 21st. This is my present to myself for all the time and energy and no sleep that I've put into this game. Rain or shine, this is when it's coming out. That leaves me plenty of time to finish the game, as well as lots of time to fix anything that my playtesters have found that I haven't. Which leads me to.. Playtesters There will be 3, not including myself. If hermitmaster and MaGiC nEvEr DiEs still want to do it, I should have something ready for you in about 2 weeks or so. The 3rd person is one of my TDC buddies and knows a lot about MMF in general, so that will be a big plus when debugging and stuff. I'd like you to try to finish the game without any guidance from me if possible, but if necessary I can provide each of you with a screenshot map with the locations of every treasure if the going gets rough. This will severely spoil the game for you though, so you may not want to use it. I finished a lot last night, there's not much that's left. I've filled almost everywhere with secret rooms and stuff when I thought it needed it, and tried to make different paths to the same items when I could. There's over 100 things to collect. And some bosses can be bypassed or skipped altogether if you wanted to. And I have a great idea on how to end the game when that time comes. Hang in there everybody, it's on the way! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/4/2007 7:11:02 AM message detail	Wow, that was easy. The challenges (and a new start game menu) have all been implemented.. already! The 5 "new game" options: Vanilla: The normal game for first timers and purists Original Orange: The Iron Armor is gone, some areas are restricted to you Sans Devil: Chris Subdevil is removed from play. No backup for you! Decaffeinated Run: All the coffees are removed from play, which might mean more shop runs for Rovert Heartless Bastard: Start the game with 20 max skill hearts, but every heart maximizer in the game is removed * * * Selecting the main menu option "Start a New Game" will lead you to a new, secondary menu which lists all of the above game possibilities. To the right of that list is another window that has a brief description of what each challenge entails. Winning the game on different game modes will yield different endings. If I get really ambitious about it, It's possible I could have 10 possible endings (5 game modes + 5 game modes with say 80%+ of items collected??). It's too early to say, but it wouldn't be that hard to put in there, aside from all the drawing for them. Upon dying and returning to the Hasslevania main screen (and hearing the second title music), there's now a seizure and paralysis-inducing mega flashing screen. I don't know, but for some reason when I think of the old NES games there seemed to be a lot of them that had these crazy flashing titles. I've rescinded my earlier statement about changing the phantom monsters- they will still be susceptible to the game's three magic weapons. No sense in changing something that works well now after all. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Kaluroth Posted 10/7/2007 5:03:16 PM message detail	Is the mysterious WTF Zone still on the game?
Black_Crusher Posted 10/7/2007 9:18:29 PM message detail	Ah, very observant Kaluroth! The answer: Although the WTF Zone might not be in the finished game, it hasn't been confirmed as being out of the game at this time either. Hope this helps! The Moo Tomb kind of stole the WTF Zone's thunder. I needed a final area to add, and the MT seemed to fit much more than the WTF Zone would have. It might make some sort of appearance somewhere, but if you saw this game's map you'd see how little empty space is left to put new rooms into. * * * I drew a bunch of character portraits for everybody yesterday, took forever but at least now you can tell who's doing the talking now. It's a little weird because Rovert's portrait pic makes him look like this snide and savvy hero, when in reality he's sort of a dumbass. (Thanks be to Brad's interpretation of the character- I changed some of the writing around to fit Rovert better after I knew he was a dimwit.) Because the sprites look so simple (facially especially) some of the close ups might take you by surprise. Alucart has some mean-looking red eyes in the close up, and skeletons look pretty different too. And the finishing touches have been put on the skelescope as well too. Rovert can find a tele- er.. skelescope and look out of it to see a little scene. I like this a lot because it gives me another chance to show some characters that were only in one other part of the game before. Of course, should you find these characters before the skelescope and do something, the skelescope will be "out of order" and you won't be able to look out of it at all. The prison zombies are hilarious, IMO. But I'm pretty biased so I guess we'll see Nov. 21st! I want to make a .gif of them and use it as a board avatar someday. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/8/2007 9:11:42 AM message detail	How thoroughly have the challenge modes been tested? It's possible to get through each of them, right? I'm mainly concerned with the skill hearts limitation. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
Black_Crusher Posted 10/8/2007 9:58:02 AM message detail	Me too, that's the one I'm trying out first actually. My first impressions of this challenge is that it's actually easier in the beginning, because you start with 20 max hearts instead of the normal 8. It doesn't take too long to catch up with you though, especially once you get the Holy Crap. The biggest challenge for players using this challenge is that they will need to buy the ancient axe from Oldie instead of having it be optional like before. This is because Black N Dookie is impervious to all but two weapons- The axe and the holy crap. However, even with the full 20 hearts thrown at him, Black n' Dookie will still have HP left over. Because you'll need to buy the axe, you'll have to search the castle further than expected just to find diamonds or money bags and return to the shop later. Black n' Dookie is equipped with Hasslevania brand Black Steel Armor. This is also the same type of armor that Zerkers are wearing too. That means that Zerkers can only be injured by Rovert by axe or the holy crap. The big thing here is that the subdevil can kill Zerkers if you don't have the axe or holy crap yet. (He runs when he sees Black N' Dookie though, so you're out of luck there still.) Speaking of the devil (hah), with a full payload of 20 skill hearts you'll only be able to use him a very small amount of time. It's 3 hearts to summon him, and then a little over a minute before you're out of hearts completely. (-1 heart every 4 seconds) And this is assuming you don't use hearts by high jumping or firing off a holy crap projectile either. So your backup is limited for this challenge too. Another challenge for those with 20 max hearts comes in Engineering. This room is really big, with a lot of small platforms for Rovert to jump up on. The thing is, you might fall a lot, which means you'll end up wasting some high jumps in here just to get around (each high jump costs 2 skill hearts). Couple this with there being almost no candles in Engineering and it's tough at times. And not having a lot of extra skill hearts might make players not want to high jump all over the place looking for secret items and other hidden things. But the biggest challenge playing "Heartless Bastard" will be in darkness areas, especially those in Drac's Quarters. Without the instant killing abilities of Devil for Hire (he's afraid of the dark and unsummons himself in these places), you'll have to be really careful while running around in these places. My usual strategy for darkness areas is to throw holy crap projectiles around and into the darkness, usually killing enemies before I ever have to see them. Doing this too many times will quickly deplete your skill hearts and may leave you in a pickle later. As far as two of the other challenges go, they simply take a single item out of the game. (Iron Armor or the Devil). These have both been tested as far as the item in question is removed upon starting a game with that challenge. And the game plays out normally as if Rovert never got the item in the first place, so that works okay. The decaffeinated run is more of the same, only it takes the 6 or 7 odd coffees out instead of a single item like before. If the coffee was in a treasure chest, the chest is removed too. When I beat the Heartless Bastard challenge, I'll know for sure that it works, but so far every heart maximizer that's supposed to be somewhere is gone, so it looks like everything's fine. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
stevegauch Posted 10/8/2007 2:45:40 PM message detail	oh, oh! do the wtf zone like... which GBA castlvania was in the 2030ish? aria of sorrow? its got that one zone [floating gardens or something like that] had all the rooms far away from each other, connected with warp-like doors. --- From: Lord Albel: Rydia was never innocent to begin with. She was in bed with Cecil less than twenty minutes into the game.
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 10/8/2007 4:56:03 PM message detail	^ Ugh I hated that level. I think it is aria. --- Game Board That Way!------------->
kevinski Posted 10/8/2007 7:59:09 PM message detail	I've never played Aria, but Dawn had an area like that, called The Abyss or something along those lines. But yeah...I hate that area. --- Current Game Collection: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin Current Winamp Playlist: http://www.kevinski.com/winamp.htm
theyugiohkid Posted 10/8/2007 9:50:04 PM message detail	is there perhaps any lava or fire hazards in this game? i'm a fan of fire. --- MEGAMAN FOR BRAWL!!!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/9/2007 8:14:21 AM message detail	do the wtf zone like... which GBA castlvania was in the 2030ish? aria of sorrow? its got that one zone [floating gardens or something like that] had all the rooms far away from each other, connected with warp-like doors. Aria of Sorrow, an awesome game IMO. I only didn't like that area too much because the map for it was all over the place, a true precursor to the WTF Zone if I ever saw one haha. If the WTF Zone is to exist at all, I think it will remain a secret until someone discovers / posts about it somewhere, much like the 40-key reward for the key machine. Some things will remain a mystery to all. ^ Ugh I hated that level. I think it is aria. MaGiC, are you still interested in beta testing? I haven't heard from you in a while and I'm trying to get my team together ahead of time. E-mail dxfgames@gmail.com if you're still interested. (Keep in mind some things will get spoiled / ruined for you, so if you want it all to be new and fresh, you might not want to beta test things out, which will be cool either way.) I've never played Aria, but Dawn had an area like that, called The Abyss or something along those lines. But yeah...I hate that area. You should play it! I haven't played Circle of the Moon yet, but it blows the doors off of Harmony of Dissonance. My vision of the WTF Zone will look nothing like any other area in the game at all. Remember, IF it is to be included, it will require a lot of out of the box thinking to find it. If I can manufacture some sort of glitch to get to it, that'd be pretty cool. is there perhaps any lava or fire hazards in this game? i'm a fan of fire. You know what, I don't think that there is! There's fire in the game, but no hazards yet. Well, I mean there's fire in the "you're dead- game over" screen, but it's just a static picture. So as of now, nope no fire hazards to speak of, sorry. * * * Heartless Bastard playthrough report: I am happy to report that it appears I've made a challenging game, even without the self-imposed challenges. Buying the lost axe left me with little spare change for some of Oldie's more delectable snacks like the roasted chicken, which made me die again and again in areas of the bog that an armor-less Rovert was not supposed to be at yet. (I had saved at a nearby coffin with 1 HP, ahahaha??). Anyhow, this let me check and make sure all of my random comments on the death screen worked (well, most of them ahaha?). It seems that although the weapon vs. monster collision system is heavily tilted in Rovert's favor, sometimes there's just too many monsters around to not get hit at least once in awhile. After farming candles for some extra cash a bit, I journeyed to engineering. The hoff heads were aglow with Christmas-y cheer as they flew across the expanse looking to knock poor Rovert down to the zombie-infested floor below. And one did (the bastard!). So, running low on health again I found a hidden bunch of grapes and equipped my newly acquired pyro mace iac to deal with the phantom bats that loomed high above me there.. (yada, yada, no spoilers here, blah, blah, lots of things later..) And then the moat monster killed me dead, which was very unexpected, as bubbles are not usually fatal one would think. And of course, thinking I could not be killed at this juncture, I didn't save the game for a long while, which made all of the above pointless in the end. * * * So, because I underestimated the game and didn't save when I should have, I lost all my progress and items because I had a big head about the whole thing. Let this be a lesson to future controllers of Rovert- If you get something cool, save your game when you can, because you never know what could happen to you in Hasslevania and the comfy confines the surround it!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/9/2007 9:41:28 AM message detail	I hope that it isn't possible to save your game in a spot that could potentially leave you stranded, even if it's due to low health. How many save files can you have, and is it possible to choose different files to save to each time, just in case you'd like to keep one of your old saves active in order to allow you to go back to it if you seriously screw up somewhere? --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/9/2007 10:15:51 AM message detail	hope that it isn't possible to save your game in a spot that could potentially leave you stranded, even if it's due to low health. How many save files can you have, and is it possible to choose different files to save to each time, just in case you'd like to keep one of your old saves active in order to allow you to go back to it if you seriously screw up somewhere? Two of the three save points are in places of relative safety. The other is in a more dangerous place, but by the time people get there they should be able to deal with any problems that arise. One awesome thing about putting the new gravity in the game is that now Rovert jumps at a curve instead of a straight up and straight down triangle. This allows him to be able to jump over a lot of enemies (although it's still dangerous so you have to be careful while doing this.) Since ground enemies like skeletons and zerkers are almost the same exact size as Rovert, they are of course the easiest to jump over (watch out for zerkers' boomeraxes though!). You can have 1 save file. This means that if your little brother gets his mitts on your game and starts a new one, your old one is lost. I apologize in advance if this happens to one of you later. If you want to make a backup file, you can manually do it by copying the save gamefile called "STATUS" and putting it somewhere else, like another folder. then if you screw up or whatever, you can just move that file back and re-write the original. Whichever copy of the file STATUS exists within the same folder / location of the Hasslevania.exe is what the game will read and write information to and from. Since this isn't automatically supported by DXF, please be careful not to write over a good file with a crappy one by mistake! I've made maybe 2 games ever that used multiple slots for saving, and never had much luck with either. If there's to be a sequel I will look into having multiple save slots if that feature is requested a lot. Multiple saves, for sure more weapons.. I do have a cool idea for a sequel but man that's so far away so I shouldn't be thinking about it yet anyhow. I think I'm going to wait to see if I can garner some donations from Hasslevania to warrant a sequel though, because right now the time and energy drain is pretty extreme. That's a good one, Donations = sequel. Well, I guess I haven't tried that yet hah. I suppose I can't give it all away for free everytime. I think it'd have to be more like donations for time and effort, rather than material, like the way people used to sell Everquest characters on eBay did, or something. A penny for your thoughts, a dime for Hasslevania? I hope I don't alienate anybody with talk of the business side of things. At any rate Hasslevania 1 will remain free for all even if my wife doesn't like the idea, lol. Maybe I need some lawyerly advice :/ --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/9/2007 10:30:01 AM message detail	Well, it's probably better to go with a donation approach, anyway, as it doesn't necessarily alienate anyone if it isn't a requirement. Furthermore, it's hard to put a price on something like this, as it's possible to get the real deal on an actual console for $19.99 or so. I'm certain that people will be thankful for it, so I'm sure that donations will go well. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
kevinski Posted 10/9/2007 10:33:21 AM message detail	By the way, regarding AoS, I've played both DoS and PoR, so I'd rather not play anything that's too similar to either. Amusingly, I'll probably buy SotN on XBLA whenever I get an Xbox 360, as well DXC for PSP whenever that's available, despite already owning NitM for Saturn and SotN for PlayStation. I just can't get enough of that game. Of DoS, PoR and SotN, I honestly like DoS the least. PoR was simply amazing, but still can't top SotN. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
kevinski Posted 10/9/2007 10:33:40 AM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
kevinski Posted 10/9/2007 11:20:34 AM message detail	Also, you wouldn't happen to be a fan of the Valis series, would you? I understand your stance on using existing properties for your own games, but I think that it'd be great to see a new, non-hentai Valis game that was available on something other than a mobile phone. You should try something along those lines for your next game if this really takes off, as the Valis series is actually fairly similar to the Castlevania series in some respects. And I don't feel as though the Valis series' storyline is exactly perfect, anyway, so it'd even be cool to see some sort of a revisioning of the series with fresh, albeit similar, characters. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/9/2007 11:30:45 AM message detail	What's funny is the other week I was in a Best Buy and they had not one but TWO copies of DoS left! This amazed me because you always hear about how rare CV games get and how they never make enough to go around. For only $19.99 too! I half wanted to buy one for the DS I will eventually buy someday, just to make sure I secured one for myself later. I did the same thing with Metroid before I knew it was going to be such a huge hit that anybody could get. I think I will go the donations route too. There are a few freeware games I would have paid for that I've played, but seriously I've seen some people try to sell bejeweled clones for like $20 and it's disgusting. I'm all for supporting the little guy, but enough is enough. You do have to consider the competition, and the reality is people in my situation can't stand with industry giants like Blizz or MS so they shouldn't fool themselves into thinking as much. Some of the price tags I've seen on shareware games I would never pay for, and I'm biased in this regard too. That's why the donation angle could be a success. The way I see it, even $1 is better than $0. If this works for me I may never have another pay game available again. I put a lot into Equin Village and Necropolis Rising, but if another unit never sells it's almost a waste of effort since nobody would be playing / enjoying the whole game. To me as an artist first, this is what eats at you the most. In order to stick with a project for 1, 2, or even more years you really have to throw yourself into it fully. That's why the e-mails I do get from people saying they've enjoyed my games means a whole lot to me. I'd rather something be appreciated by 10 people than have 1000 downloads to the tune of "um.. meh?" --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/9/2007 11:39:23 AM message detail	Do you mean Gold Valis? (Is that what it was called, for the Sega?) I think my buddy Rich had that game a long time ago, but I can't say for sure. As far as next projects go, I still have a very unfinished Equin Legacy I need to get back to, and HV2 possibly. And then there's my warehouse RPG I always wanted to make! I might be able to make a little game like a warehouse RPG (please don't laugh ahahahahaha) in a month, but then again I think I said that about this game too. I've had some interesting offers lately. One guy from Australia offered free spritework for one of my current / upcoming projects and they look pretty good. I've always done my own thing, but the possibilities seem to be opening up now for other things in the future. Hopefully Hasslevania will be the editor from Indygamer's new favorite game and it gets a good preview up there. Dream of the day when we can get Chris Subdevil glasses at Burger King! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/9/2007 12:44:31 PM message detail	Actually, I was referring to the Mugen Senshi Valis game, known simply as Valis in the U.S. If you're unfamiliar with it, you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugen_Senshi_Valis You can read about the games, themselves, right here: http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/valis/valis.htm As you'll notice, the Valis games were never exactly outstanding. There's really only one of them that I'd consider to be great, with the remaining ones either being confusing as Hell, having serious control or hit detection issues, even being ridiculously difficult in general. Still, the series' storyline is great, albeit somewhat hacked together. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/9/2007 1:29:29 PM message detail	being confusing as Hell, having serious control or hit detection issues, even being ridiculously difficult in general. Still, the series' storyline is great, albeit somewhat hacked together. Wow, that does sound like Hasslevania to a tee! The game I was thinking of was called Gollvelious for the Sega Master System. I googled Valis and sort of remember the Sailor Moon type chick, but there's a lot of anime out there with school girls with those Navy uniforms huh? I think the correct way to do this would be to take at least a 3 or 4 week-long break from coding and stuff after HV is done. I can spend that time supporting it and keeping it off of French game compilation CDs (this happens a lot!) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/10/2007 6:57:22 AM message detail	The WTF Zone is done now! To be honest, it was in the pile of things to take out of the game, but it's been refined a lot. It's more of a room than a zone, however I can safety say that it is the most hidden part of the entire game. No screenshots of it will be posted until someone finds it first (no offense, but fat chance of that happening anytime soon haha). I'm happy because just like the way to get to the warp zone in Mario Brothers, it's doable but tricky and takes a bit of timing and skill. Finding your way to the WTF Zone might give you a big edge, although since the place counts as an official glitch of sorts who knows what weird or unplanned things might happen once you go through there. I'm purposely not supporting what happens after you go through the zone, because I think that'll be fun to see how many strange things might happen that I didn't expect. No clues, no hints. If you are paying attention to how the game works and how Rovert interacts with it you might have a shot of discovering this yourself. I made a video of me getting the trick to work in case someone says that it's impossible later or whatever. And it still took me 4 tries to do right. But when I did it, I got that "YEAH!" feeling (I think I even said it) that hard parts of games can give you when you do it right. That's good! Now arkudo_san has a reason to play aside from the ending song! I also fixed a lot of bugs, some involving the new portraits for the characters. It looked like Rovert did a lot of talking to himself over at Alucart's but it's all fixed now. And there's a new item too. I'm calling it a Hearts Refiller, and it looks like a hearts maximizer only purple instead of red. Getting one of these refills your skill hearts to maximum. As of right now, the only way to get one of these is to do well at Bat Blasters and continue to do well there to get more later. It's all tied to your "best" total for that game. You need to shoot at least 10 bats down before your ammo runs out to get the first hearts refiller. You can get additional refillers each game you play next, as long as you beat your best total each time (and the total is over 10). I think this is a different and useful reward for a little mini game that's purely optional. If you qualify for the reward, it will be on the ground outside of the cannon when you exit the Bat Blasters mini game. Not that you would, but jumping over it and exiting the screen will make it disappear, so be sure to get it when you see it otherwise it's a waste that time. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 10/10/2007 4:26:38 PM message detail	I'm still up for beta testing. Its just I would only be able to test on weekends on account of I'm very busy during the week. --- Game Board That Way!------------->
Black_Crusher Posted 10/11/2007 9:57:11 AM message detail	Hmmm, I think that due to the scope of the game you really have to be able to test for longer than just sometimes on the weekends I'm afraid MaGiC. I test this thing every friggin' night, no lie, and even now I still find things that need a' fixin' later. And then the start of the next night is when I fix those things and do more playtesting to find other mistakes. It's okay though, I have 3 other testers already and with me that should be enough to get it all straight by release time. Sorry about that, but on the bright side nothing will get spoiled for you in the end. The game is actually pretty solid, which is good since I would hope so after so many fixes completed already. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Buzda Posted 10/11/2007 11:39:47 PM message detail	I have no idea how well the game actually plays, but the graphics look really good for a homemade game. Also, is there going to be a variety of music? --- www.geocities.com/pitfighter_2 Where purple tank tops are in.
Black_Crusher Posted 10/12/2007 8:41:42 AM message detail	Thank you! Having spent a lot of time on the graphics (and experimenting with a completely new style for me), I appreciate that comment a lot. As for how it plays, it's my first ever platformer but gameplay has been increased a bunch since the new gravity system has been implemented for Rovert's jumps. This game is exploration over combat, but there's still lots of enemies that need a' killin' so no worries there. There is a LOT of music, I can say that much for sure. All of the tracks are in MIDI format, and so far on a few different machines I haven't had any weird MIDI bugs that can pop up from time to time. Every song I have composed (if you can call it that lol) myself, with 2 exceptions and they are the skelevator music and the credits theme. The music that plays for the skelevator scene is a remake I did of the CV classic "Vampire Killer". Somewhere in this thread there's a post with a link to the actual MIDI that's in the game if you want to hear it for yourself. The problem with this, is that since it wasn't originally done by me it's also the only possible future problem I could have with this game if for some weird reason a lot of people like it and it takes off somewhere. I did give credit to the original composer and in no way said that VK is my own song. The credits music is just a reworking of the intro section of a song that my old band did back in 1993 called "Headache". The intro was / is supposed to be like a soap opera-ish ditty, and then it cut into a heavier theme for the rest of the song. The credits reworking is of that soap opera-ish part of that song. And since our band did it, that's permission enough for me! Off the top of my head, a track listing might go something like this: Hasslevania theme (as heard from the game trailer) Hasslevania theme, part 2 (when you die and get returned to the title screen) Money Talks! (treasury and Oldie's shop, can be heard at the shop in CotG1) The Out of Doors (also heard in the 2nd level of Captain of the Guard 2) Castle Entrance Overwater Caverns Underwater Caverns (both songs are for different sections of the Underwater caverns Vampire Killer musak (skelevator) Look out below! (skelecopter scenes) Death March (The bog) Devil's Due (subdevil scenes) Moo Tomb (also heard in the 3rd level of CotG2) After hours (The museum) Slowboil Station (heard in Engineering) Air Pressure (The Vents) The Roof (I'd been sitting on this song for 2 years waiting for something good to put it in) LCD Tower Interlude (The Offensive Altar) Big Boss #1 (Every boss fight except Deaf and Dracula) Big Boss #2 (Deaf's fight / Crush cutscene, heard in boss battles in CotG1 and 2) Cool Cool Cold! (Ze Koolah) Weird Ass (Crystal Dungeon) Shipping and Receiving (Heard in Undertown's cave levels) Alucart's Casino & Burgers (Heard in CotG1's Oceanic Volcano & CotG2 cutscenes) Mission: Dracula! (Dracula's Quarters) Showdown: Dracula! (not done yet) You're Dead! (Rovert gets killed, heard in CotG2 when you die) You're STILL Dead! (The game over screen) And the "best" for last: Oh Rovert! (Ultra-cheese, extra crap, ending song with bad vocals) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/12/2007 8:48:11 AM message detail	Continued: I might have to make some alternate skelevator music just so I know for sure there's not going to be any future legal issues. I've already talked to a couple of people who assure me that parodies are completely legal as long as you don't use any copyrighted images or names (and most likely music, which is why I may have to make a new song here). The best example they gave was with Weird Al Yankovic. I guess he doesn't even have to get the artist's permission to do his song parodies, but does anyway which is cool. That big problem he had years ago with Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" was because Al's record company saw big dollar signs with Al's parody, and told Al that Coolio gave his blessing for the parody but in actuality never did. Look ma, it's behind the music! In any event I think you can say that Hasslevania will stand on its own and is a bit more than a fangame, hack, or true parody. I would say it's heavily influenced by Castlevania, especially the story parts maybe, but it's also very different from anything else. (I hope) This was originally supposed to be called "Del Duio vs. the Castle of @$$holes" before I got the idea to incorporate the whole Castlevania theme. It's main folder on my desk is still titled "COA", for example :) Del Duio (the character, not me) does make a cameo of sorts in the game, and is pictured in a few of the paintings found throughout Hasslevania. That was the sprite I was going to use before I came up with the Denver Broncos themed Rovert sprite. I'm glad I did because his orange, blue, and brown really stands out from the rest of the game's colors and enhances the entire look of the thing, IMO. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/12/2007 8:53:03 AM message detail	Crap, add three more to the song list: Headache intro (Credits) Progress for Later (Save Rooms) Reading is more gooder! (Music while reading monster book, weapons book, or viewing map from the title screen. Yes, it's supposed to be that grammatically mangled haha) --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/12/2007 9:00:31 AM message detail	From what I remember, Coolio was pretty disgusted by Amish Paradise. I, personally, thought that it was hilarious, but Coolio was supposedly disappointed about it, as he felt that Gangsta's Paradise had an important message that was destroyed by Amish Paradise. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/12/2007 10:52:29 AM message detail	Churnin' out the butter! First I'll build a barn, Then I'll build anutter! Hahaha, how can you get mad at lyrics like those? Touchy touchy. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Starman907 Posted 10/12/2007 9:54:34 PM message detail	Black_Crusher Posted 10/12/2007 11:52:29 PM message detail Churnin' out the butter! First I'll build a barn, Then I'll build anutter! Hahaha, how can you get mad at lyrics like those? Touchy touchy. Hitchin up the buggy Churnin lots of butter Raised a barn on monday Soon i'll rise anutter A Valient effort if it was from memory. Oh and is anyone else havin problems with g-faqs, all the letters seem to be way out of order and messed up. Or am i going crazy? --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER He took my ogres, I DON'T LIKE THAT! Nobody owns ogres, BUT ME!- Malacath, Elder scrolls Oblivion
Black_Crusher Posted 10/13/2007 8:00:05 AM message detail	A Valiant effort if it was from memory. Lol, thanks it was! I was even doing the little dance, but that doesn't come through the keyboard too well. Oh and is anyone else havin problems with g-faqs, all the letters seem to be way out of order and messed up. Or am i going crazy? Not me, at least not yet! * * * I just re-released one of my old games and I had to address some bug fixes with it, but tonight I will try and finish all of Dracula's pictures. That will be the hardest part of the final fight. I have the whole exit sequence planned out. I don't expect there to be any delays with the beta copy, so please hang in there! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Eternal248 Posted 10/15/2007 10:14:20 PM message detail	I don't know any coding or anything but I can help test throughout the week. --- Team Member of Holepunch's Tweaking Army!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/16/2007 9:48:10 AM message detail	Thanks, but the three testers I have now should be good. If one of them drops out I will contact you. On Sunday my family did a charity walk for Autism and something my daughter and I ate there gave us food poisoning that night, so I haven't had a very good couple of days. I couldn't even be in a room with the light on yesterday, much less stare at a computer screen. I couldn't even watch the baseball playfoffs! I don't think I've ever felt so sick in my whole life, it sucks if you've never had it before. On top of that, my website host (Sitesled) is still down for like 4 days. It has had little or no downtime for more than a year and now it decides is a great ol' time to be down for days and days.. The last thing I was working on for Hasslevania was Saturday- I was working on Dracula's battle and did all the graphics at least, which is good. After he talks to you he throws his sword, but I don't know if it will be sentient (like the sword familiar) or if it'll just stick into the wall and be done with it. Aside from the fireballs, I expect there to be some sort of bat form attack in here too. If I feel better tonight I'll try to finish it but I have to go right now bleh. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Buzda Posted 10/16/2007 10:32:55 PM message detail	Sticking with Castlevania tradition, is Dracula going to have a ridiculous second or even third form? Also, sorry to hear about you and your family getting sick :( --- www.geocities.com/pitfighter_2 Where purple tank tops are in.
kevinski Posted 10/16/2007 11:09:56 PM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
kevinski Posted 10/16/2007 11:10:52 PM message detail	Oops...I meant to say that the movie files are unnecessary, as you already have an embed from GameTrailers. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/17/2007 9:10:10 AM message detail	Thanks, they should have called it the walk for botulism, lol...? I did drac's teleport last night, and a few minor things but that was it as I was still under the weather. Tonight should be much better and I should get more into finishing that fight. I don't know about ridiculous forms, but there's something like that already kind of in the game that for spoilers reasons I can't really say now what that is. I already have Alucart turn into a bat in the game, so in this one we've established that vampires can turn into bats at least. (Although Alucart is Rovert-sized and Dracula is Rovert-sized x 10). So, Sword toss Teleport Fireballs Some form of bat attack, maybe a huge "summon bat swarm?" This might be cool. -- Damages: All weapons will do normal damage vs. Dracula, and if you have the Weapons Book you will get a +1 damage bonus to those attacks. Exception: The Family Whip kicks Dracula's ass the most and does 7 damage per strike. As of now I don't have the weapons book bonus included, as the whip's bonuses vs. Dracula are way better anyhow. Examples: Dracula, let's say for now he has 100 HP (which is a ton, but this will make math easier) Rovert attacks! w/ sword & no weapons book: (total damage = 1), will take 100 hits to kill dracula w/ BODD & weapons book: (total damage = 3), will take 34 hits to kill dracula w/ Family Whip: (damage 1 / 7 vs. Dracula), will take 15 hits to kill dracula So you can see although it helps the story along (and you in the long run) if you get the Family Whip before facing Dracula, it's not necessary to win the game. -- It's cool Kevinski, I'm probably going to be looking into getting some domain space or whatever they call it myself soon enough. Sitesled is a free host, and they haven't really had any downtime this year at all, but every now and then you'll get these 4 or 5 day blackouts that totally take you by surprise. It would be nice if they were to e-mail everyone and warn them about scheduled maintenance or whatever (I mean they DO have mine on file.) Unless it was some huge ginormous meltdown or something, and then I guess there's nothing you can really do about that anyhow. But, how would you go about mirroring a whole website? I don't have any solid HTML backups to speak of (stupid, I know, I'm not really the web guru or whatever they call them). Most of the website was a million image files, with a few downloads and a few more text pages. So nothing too complicated, just a LOT of nothing too complicated! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/17/2007 11:11:16 AM message detail	Well, downloading an entire Web site is actually pretty easy. Still, just so I get everything that's Hasslevania-related, you could just download the contents of your directories and zip it up for me. I know that there are images that aren't accessible directly from your page, so it'd be nice to catch everything. If you'd like an inexpensive Web host that offers a ton of storage and transfer with ridiculously good uptime, I'd recommend Servage.net. That's who I use, and that's why I honestly don't mind making offers to host content for people. I actually have a referral code, too, which I believe would benefit us both. (I can't exactly remember what we'd get out of it, as I don't actively refer anyone. I just know that we get extra storage and/or transfer, and I maybe get a month or two of free service.) I don't necessary pay much attention to how much storage and transfer Servage offers, though, because it increases pretty often. I'll often receive e-mails, stating that my capacity has increased for no apparent reason. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/17/2007 6:37:30 PM message detail	Hmmm, I never realized you could download the whole kit n' kaboodle but I supposed that'd make sense. That is something I for sure need to do, for the one day their server melts permanently. Most of the images used for the site (Hasslevania and otherwise) were all from within, maybe a couple from photobucket but I can't remember exactly now and have no way to check. GG Sitesled. I checked out Servage like you said and it sure does seem like you'd get a crapload of stuff. $6 something a month doesn't seem like much, but it'd take a bit of convincing my wife it's a good idea. She wasn't all that high on Everquest monthly rates back n' the day but at least this is for something creative and not crack-related like that blackhole of life, happiness, and prosperity that EQ was / is. I would most likely not need half of what they offer but that doesn't mean that one day I wouldn't. They say they give you a domain name for free- like what, Black_Crusher.com or something? Sure'd beat what I have now, and even that is a lot easier to remember than it used to be. I could use the donations I already have for a few free months while I figure it all out. Sitesled has a really easy to understand HTML editor that even dummies like me can punch their way through. How is it with yours? Do they have templates you can use if you want to? Do they offer message boards (oooh, that'd be cool eh?). That's more or less what I'd want from my site- a snappy name that's not an eye chart or eyesore to behold, a lotta' bandwidth, no crappy downtime shenanigans like now, possible download counters, a message board, and the possibility of actually making it look halfway decent too. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/17/2007 10:43:42 PM message detail	The only real downside to Servage.net is the way that you have to pay for it. Rather than simply paying month, you need to pay for several months at once. I pay every six months, for example. I believe that you can pay every three months or twelve months, as well. Regarding the HTML editor, no, Servage offers no such thing. They do, however, offer automated installers for various site management tools, as well as forums and whatnot. If you're familiar with Drupal or anything of that nature, then you'd realize that those would be more than sufficient for managing a Web site. In fact, Drupal has a forum built right in, although I'm not a huge fan of editing themes and whatnot. I figure that it takes so much work to edit the themes that you'd might as well just code your own site from scratch. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
kevinski Posted 10/17/2007 10:46:42 PM message detail	Oh, about the free domain name: Yes, you can choose your Web address. Furthermore, the free one can be swapped out for another domain name at any time, completely free of charge. Unfortunately, I've always wanted to keep kevinski.com, so I've never really had the opportunity to take advantage of this. My mom registered a domain name a while back, and she hasn't been using it, so I was gonna just swap it out for another. I then realized that I'm only able to swap kevinski.com out for another domain name for free, and I really don't believe that I'd like to get rid of my current domain name. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/18/2007 7:06:38 AM message detail	That's unfortunate :( I'm sure for most people what they offer (i.e. no websites for dummies) is the better deal, but for me I can't really devote a ton of time to something like that for now. Pulls out the old man cane and glasses "Ye see, when ye get old and get kids an' stuff ye don't hardly have no time far nuffin no mar!" Cane disintegrates under the embarrassment of the awfulness of the impersonation" I guess it sucks that Sitesled is still down, but on the positive side Hasslevania is still not finished and by God they should be operational by then one would assume. Thanks for all the info kevinski, you've been a big asset to the Hasslevania project! * * * On a happier note, the light at the end of the tunnel is no longer a pinhole but now a full-fledged bottlecap! I made huge strides with Dracula's battle last night, and fixed some glaring teleportation issues that have now been resolved. As of now he does only have his two main attacks (three if you include trying to bodyslam him without attacking, which won't work). They are 3 fireballs and bat storm. And teleport too, but that's not really an attack per se. Even the speed boost of the BODD might not be able to help you in this fight, as Drac can teleport in on either the left or right side of the visible screen no matter where you go. You could still use the BODD's speed boost to help you avoid the fireballs (which are slow, as of right now) if you don't have the shield at the time. Fireballs will be able to be blocked by the shield, and I'll probably go back and make the killer hearts the Sucky Sisters throw at you shield blockable too. The only projectiles that won't be will be Thorny Bastard's exploding granny smith apples and Gala Moth's giant disco balls (although the disco balls can be destroyed by your weapons). So the basics for Dracula's fight are all set, now it's refinement time, and then well.. the end sequence I guess! I think the day I finally make the end will be really weird, as I won't be able to believe that the damn thing is finally finished after so long! I will e-mail the beta testers once it's ready, which could still be in as little as a week's time. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Fiska Posted 10/21/2007 1:27:32 AM message detail	If I PayPal you $10, can I beta test too? --- FFT SCCs/challenges completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer, Priest In progress: Lancer, Monk, philsov's FFT v1.2
Fiska Posted 10/21/2007 1:29:00 AM message detail	Hell, make that $20. You deserve some money for this. --- FFT SCCs/challenges completed: Archer, Oracle, Geomancer, Priest In progress: Lancer, Monk, philsov's FFT v1.2
Black_Crusher Posted 10/21/2007 8:04:26 AM message detail	That's a nice offer Fiske, but with Sitesled STILL down (8 days & counting) there's not much I can do in the way of files, game updates, or PayPal buttons anyhow :( I realize the service is free, but what crappy customer service! Not a single "Hey we're sorry our machines blew up, have a good day!" e-mail or anything. Oh well, it's not looking like it'll be DXF's permanent home anyways, so for now I'll deal with it. I was playing Hasslevania last night, and all I can say is I don't think anybody is going to complain about how easy it is, especially once they start to get pretty far into it. There have been some minor hiccups that occurred while playing my heartless bastard challenge game that have popped up (this was expected), but they should all be easy to fix later tonight when I work on the game more. I think people who have completed the game before or at least have played through it a lot and know where things are located will appreciate all the shortcuts and tricks you can do to get places faster using items or skills you've picked up while playing. (Whatta' run on sentence!) I know I do already. So far in the game I've just got beyond the LCD puzzle, and the room after it is kicking my ass. It's mostly because I'm cheap / lazy and don't want to go and visit Oldie to buy food and regain my health to full. I figured I made it so I should be able to fly through everything with low life, but that's not the case here. I'll have to make the shop run and try it again to see if I fare better. Unfortunately for Rovert, I know what comes AFTER this room so he's in trouble later. There is also some recorded dialogue that is not going to make the cut into the game. Mostly because I can't really figure out where I'd have it pop up, and secondly because it doesn't really add enough to the whole Hasslevania experience to warrant the big increases of filesize. (Since every spoken line I add increases it by at least 1-2MB). Maybe it will show up somewhere else down the road, who knows? There's more than enough character blabbing and craziness so far for anybody to miss it. I ended up going to my friend's wedding & reception last night and couldn't work on Drac's battle but by God tonight I'll finish the thing! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Biyte Posted 10/21/2007 1:52:20 PM message detail	Sorry I could post here recently, I got warned for not doing a Combo Breaker and when I checked my posts after 48 hours, It said I had posted 13/10 messages -.- --- oooeeEAAAAHHHHH! ~ Zoom
Black_Crusher Posted 10/22/2007 9:03:13 AM message detail	Hey, my website works now hooray! More than a week later, it has resurrected itself suddenly and without fanfare. I also found out my Necropolis Rising game won The Daily Click's game of the week award too, so this morning is a good one! Last night I finally finished Count Dracula's battle! It's finally done, woooooooo hoooooooo! I also put another item in the game, the Boom Box, that if found will let you listen to all the game's music from the continue screen. I'm in the middle of the ending sequence right now, and hopefully I should get that done with by tonight. After that, I need to address a few more minor problems and do a final check for the item count in the treasury and it should be beta testing time! Oh yeah, and GO SOX!!! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/23/2007 4:51:24 PM message detail	[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]
Black_Crusher Posted 10/23/2007 4:56:48 PM message detail	It's a bit big (but not compared to the last one), but here's a little gameplay trailer I recorded that better shows what the game is like: http://del_duio.sitesled.com/Hastlevania/HVGameplayTrailer1.zip The file is 27MB and change, which is loads better than the old 46MB one, and this one's much clearer at 90% res. Includes the brief intro (I skipped the Drac opening scene to save time), a save room, and parts of The museum, The Offensive Altar, and the Bog. Rovert is fully loaded in this game and I display each weapon as well. I don't think this gives too much away- I just didn't want to restart a new guy just for a minute long gameplay demo while I'm still trying to win it using the "Heartless Bastard" challenge. If Gametrailers embeds it again, I'll throw it's streaming ass up on my website but for now only you guys (and later The Daily Click) know about it. The title picture I put together using images from the game and the Sim Sun text I love. The prison zombies are those guys in the lower right-hand corner, drinking away. The menus shown at the beginning may not look like that when it's done, as I'll have a couple of weeks to improve upon some aspects graphically and they might get an overhaul. Please, if you have any questions or comments about anything, ask away as we are entering the testing phase later this week. Thanks! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Buzda Posted 10/23/2007 9:24:50 PM message detail	Is there any way you can get a trailer up on YouTube? --- www.geocities.com/pitfighter_2 Where purple tank tops are in.
kevinski Posted 10/23/2007 10:16:22 PM message detail	Why is Rovert able to stand on those spikes in the one area without being hurt? --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/24/2007 6:00:30 AM message detail	No, I wish but my home connection is 56k and my work filters out anything fun (Youtube, most anything else). Rovert can stand on the spikes because he has the Iron Armor on already. He's pretty far into the game where I am now. I'm almost done with the Boom Box screen already. It's pretty easy to do so now all I have to do it make it look better later today. The ending is a perfect setup for a sequel of sorts, and one I've had in my mind for months now. It should be fun. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/24/2007 8:40:21 AM message detail	I'm uploading the clip to YouTube right now in order to make it easier for people to view. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
kevinski Posted 10/24/2007 8:52:58 AM message detail	Whenever it's available for viewing, the video should be located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwElzeAK4KA --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/24/2007 9:52:17 AM message detail	Wow, that's awesome thanks a lot!! Of course, this clip could be a dancing pig for all I know since I can't see it! I'll put this link on my website instead of the old one right now. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/24/2007 10:43:54 AM message detail	Yeah, definitely update the embedded video on your site with this one. This clip is much better, in my opinion. It also made the transition to YouTube very smoothly, with the sound remaining synchronized with the action, unlike a lot of other videos that I've seen on YouTube. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/24/2007 1:10:50 PM message detail	I sent you an e-mail about that a little while ago. Also, I looked at your game list finally. DUDE, you have D&D Warriors of the Eternal Sun?? AHAHAHA me and my friend used to play that game and there were some parts of it we still joke about today, mostly when I'm trying to come up with monster names or whatever and I'll say "Baby Beastman", "Mama Beastman", "Great Uncle Charlie Beastman"! I remember on the back of the box it said something like "Over 100 enemies!" and then you actually play the thing and they're all basically the same monster with different surnames like the stupid Beastmen. Ahahahahaha.. But seriously though, I think we got up to a pyramid maze which was really hard because the auto map kept erasing on us. I think it happened whenever you went up or down a floor while in there. Anyway, yeah Baby Beastman FTW. Ahahahaha. I didn't look into the "M"s yet, but if you don't have it yet you should check out Might & Magic II for the Genesis. It's an excellent port that's very challenging until you discover the cheap-ass Blade Cuisinart trick. It's really fun to do and gets you some incredible weapons early, but then after that you're way too strong and still stuck on that game's riddles and stuff. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/24/2007 1:19:24 PM message detail	HA! Just so nobody thinks I'm on crack I looked up the monster list for that game and LOOK! BEASTMAN BEASTMAN, BIG BEASTMAN CAPTAIN BEASTMAN, FEMALE BEASTMAN, HUGE BEASTMAN LIEUTENANT BEASTMAN, SMALL BEASTMAN, TINY BEASTMAN, YOUNG BEASTMAN, WARRIOR You just can't make stuff like this up folks! "Say Jeff, we need 100 monsters for our new game. Any ideas?" Oh Jeff, you asshat. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/24/2007 1:27:41 PM message detail	Ugh...I played that D&D game for about ten minutes before permanently retiring it to my shelf. I'm not even a fan of M&M games, and there are a ton of games that I own and will probably never even get around to playing. As for my games list, I really need to update it some time. It doesn't even reflect my new PlayStation games, nor does it include my Wii games. By the way, have you ever played Vectorman? Hahahaha...the version that's included with Sega Smash Pack Vol. 1 on Dreamcast was butchered from an audio perspective, and I gave my roommate a direct comparison between the two. I love the look on people's faces whenever they hear how horrible the Smash Pack verison sounds. Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGLgkVJ7zec Smash Pack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U26lJ-U4vrA --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/24/2007 1:47:40 PM message detail	I was surprised at the lack of NES titles on your list, actually. C'mon! No Dragon Warrior / Quests at ALL? Isn't Vectorman the prototype for Viewitful Joe, the comic book game, right? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/24/2007 2:26:27 PM message detail	Vectorman and Viewtiful Joe are nothing alike, aside from the fact that they're both side-scrolling action games. As for NES games, yeah...I need to upgrade my list for those, as well. I recently picked up Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and Guerrilla War. For PlayStation, I purchased Chrono Cross and MDK. Also, despite not having Wii for very long, I have Alien Syndrome, Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire, Mario Party 8, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Wii Play and (of course) Wii Sports. I've also already purchased $50 on Virtual Console titles. My Wii is out for repairs, though, as the GPU was screwing up. I honestly hope that my MP3C save file's in-tact whenever I get it back, as I can't see myself playing through that game again. God, the level design in that game pisses me off. That's probably why I've never really cared much for Metroid games. It's so idiotically impractical. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/24/2007 6:57:24 PM message detail	I dunno, I never really considered Prime and their FPA / FPS ilk a true Metroid game. Super Metroid is probably the pinnacle of the Metroid franchise to me. Just like how a true Castlevania game has to be a 2d deal. It's funny I was at Gamestop the other day looking for a good deal on a DS (They're still $120, too rich for my blood right now) and I didn't see a single GBA or DS Castlevania, but like 6 or 7 of the newest PS2 one. The name escapes me right now, how embarrassing, but it had a black cover. The good thing about 2d Castlevanias is at least they don't look like they're going to lose any ground to the 3d ones. But with the disgustingly popular Prime series I can't say the same about the Metroid franchise. I can see them never making another 2d Metroid and being happy with it, and that sucks. You should get Zelda 2 Adventures of Link for your VC library. A lot of people don't like it but I think it's great and very hard compared to other Zelda games. * * * Back to Hasslevania a bit, I'm going to be putting some things in the game as background objects in the Offensive Altar zone soon. These "things" are mentioned in one of the cutscenes and will be labeled with a certain swear word. Now I'm in the crowd that thinks comedy doesn't have to have swears in it, just some wit. Rest assured like I said before this won't be a sailor and pirate show, a' cussin all around, but for some reason I think this particular item / word combo works. I s'ppose time will tell, eh? I can't remember if I said anything about this already (probably not) but I wanted to mention that my Castle Hasslevania is going to sort of be a sentient being of sorts. There are about 5 or 6 instances where its computerized voice pops up and says something. I also think this kind of works. This happens most notably when you activate one of the Mechanisms of Dracula (i.e. Bubble Device). --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/24/2007 8:00:51 PM message detail	I hated the second Zelda game on NES, and I hate anything that's even remotely similar to it. Ever play Battle of Olympus? My God...that's the most frustrating NES game that I've ever played. Hate it, hate it, hate it! Anyway, I just picked up Dracula X Chronicles (solely for SotN - sucks that I'll hafta play some of DX in order to get it unlocked), so I'm gonna be entertained for quite some time. It kinda sucks that it was just released today, though, as I hafta go back to work tomorrow after three days off. Boo... --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
kevinski Posted 10/24/2007 8:02:49 PM message detail	By the way, you should use the voice of K.I.T.T. for the computerized voice. Maybe you could even throw in a nice little laser brick that resembles that red thing that goes back and forth on the front of the car. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Eternal248 Posted 10/24/2007 10:23:10 PM message detail	Gameplay vid looks awesome! My goodness how I'd love to make my own game. I've been working on the storyline of one for a few years now, but it'd be too big to be made, I bet. Nonetheless I can't wait until I can defeat the Count with Rovert! --- Team Member of Holepunch's Tweaking Army!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/25/2007 7:12:23 AM message detail	Nonetheless I can't wait until I can defeat the Count with Rovert! Yeah, me too! My save is right before his fight though, so it shouldn't be long. I can check to see if Rovert's exit strategy works like it should, leading up to the cheesy ending song, oh I can't wait!. Making a game is a lot of hard work, I won't lie, but if you have the drive and resolve to actually complete it and it comes out well there's nothing else really like it. Everybody has a hard drive full of unfinished or unrealized games. I think my completion ratio is something like 1:4 or so, although it's getting better the last few years. I've been doing some sort of game making since I was in 7th grade, so that's about 18 or 19 years. A lot of my really old stuff really sucked, but that's what happens when to try to teach yourself BASIC or Pascal or VB6 or whatever. There was one summer I spent trying to make an RPG on a very old black and white TRS-80 (!) that had a drive for 12" floppy disks lol. And then a lot of years on my Apple IIe which taught me a lot. Maybe someday I'll look back and wish I had formal training or whatever but I still had a lot of fun doing it the way I did. Kevinski, Battle of Olympus is one of my favorite NES games! I haven't reviewed it here yet because it's been a long time since I've played it and wouldn't remember it right. They ripped off AoL's engine, but made a better game IMO. The only real difference is that I was able to win BOO but only get to the 6th palace of AoL. I'll bet those forest slimes probably pissed you off to no end- those guys fall down from the trees and can somehow always hit me no matter how much I try to stab them with the starting club. I got the idea for Hasslevania's Lame-ia from one of BOO's boss enemies- The Lamia that kidnapped that little kid who you need to rescue in order to get the Staff of Fennel. The boss fight with Hades is a real classic one too- He's invisible but if you use the moon crystal to make the full moon come out it casts a shadow on the ground to tell you where he is. And the cyclops? And the minotaur? Oh, good stuff! I also had a PS1 game called Herc's Adventurers that was a blast. If you're a skeleton aficionado you'll love that game as there's about 20,000 skeletons in it (no lie, it's pretty close to 20,000). And the only K.I.T.T. in the game is the "woo woo" sound when you defeat a Hoff Head. You can hear it in the video. I like how the laser bricks came out with the fading greens and all, so I don't think K.I.T.T.'s scanner will get the nod, at least not there. He'd be an awesome mini-boss, but it would really be out of place hahaha. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/25/2007 7:34:09 AM message detail	I've always wanted to play Herc's Adventures. I've heard that it's a great game. And I hate pretty much every aspect of BoO. Some enemies are too freaking hard to hit as a result of your character's ridiculous range and the enemies' freakish dodging skills. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/25/2007 8:26:45 AM message detail	Yeah, the gods in that game are awesome. They are Gods who KNOW it, if you get what I mean hahaha. And they take up the whole friggin' screen too when they pop out of nowhere. Their dialogue is great and pretty funny. A great and original idea they had with that game is that you could die 5 or 6 times and go to Hell. Each time you died you got a little further away from the exit which brought you back to life. Die the whole 5 (or 6 times) and your game was completely over and Hades won. The only part of that game that is really annoying are the KILLER FISH. Let me tell you, these are on par with Medusa heads in terms of annoying-ness. I almost always played as Althena (you can choose either her, Jason, or Hercules at the start- and it's two player co-op too!). Althena is great because her special skill is a rain of arrows that you can aim pretty much anywhere on the screen. You can jump in the water to lure killer fish to a certain spot, climb out and nail them all from the safety of the shore. They only do like 1 damage, but they will constantly hit you while you're trying to swim some vast watery expanse. And there's a lot of them in the water too. The endgame is really weird though- you end up in the Lucasarts movie studio or something like that. I remember I didn't have enough strength to lift something in there, so I don't know if I ever truly won it or not but a very enjoyable game nonetheless. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/25/2007 8:29:12 AM message detail	Oh, and I just won Hasslevania on the Heartless Bastard challenge, so it is possible. Some things I noticed though is if you have the Family Whip that Dracula is really pretty easy. Getting the whip isn't guaranteed though, as I'm sure some players will try to bash their way through Drac's Quarters and beyond without it. Doing it that way is extremely difficult though as I've littered the joint with Brittles. (The whip is the only thing that can truly eliminate Brittles. Other than that you'll just knock them down for a few seconds). The end sequence looks just as I wanted it to which was a nice surprise the first time through. I had run into a couple of snags during the HB challenge that I fixed last night. A big one was this huge pit that requires many super jumps to escape. Since you can only do a maximum of 10 at full HB skill hearts, I thought that was cutting it too close. I'm really trying to make sure that nobody can ever really get stuck in the game anywhere. So, during a HB challenge there is a wooden crate that covers up this hole that can't be pushed away and blocks any possible chance of getting stuck in there. There was also one other secret place that needed an alternate exit in case you were out of hearts and couldn't high jump out. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/25/2007 12:12:51 PM message detail	You know, since Brittles can be such pains in the ass without the Family Whip, maybe you should consider making a boss that summons Brittles (even if in a sequel). You should also make a Brittle that's kinda like the Spear Guards in Castlevania. You could name it Brittley Spears. Hahahaha... --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
joeysampson Posted 10/25/2007 2:01:20 PM message detail	I'm glad you stuck this out. When and where will I be able to play it? =P
Black_Crusher Posted 10/25/2007 2:08:59 PM message detail	Brittle that's kinda like the Spear Guards in Castlevania. You could name it Brittley Spears. Hahahaha... Damn you and your genius, now that the game is almost done! I will have to look into that a bit. I did want to put maybe one more enemy in the game, but I don't know if people will revolt over a third skeleton. Although I could make him purple or blue. That IS a good idea. Maybe have them have next to no mobility so you'd probably use your holy craps to take them out. The game is almost ready for beta testing. I've just done some ending pictures actually. It does appear that it will be ready for the November 21st release date. The bad news is that Sitesled has been down all day again, so nobody can check the site and see any news for themselves :( --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/25/2007 2:35:04 PM message detail	You should just set up a blog on blogspot or something... I was thinking of archiving the contents of this thread and maybe putting it into a timeline of sorts. As for news, yeah...it kinda sucks that SiteSled is down again. You should really consider paying for Web hosting. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/26/2007 7:48:53 AM message detail	I was also thinking it'd be sort of a shame to lose this thread eventually but I don't think there's an easy way to archive this stuff. Copy / paste to text files maybe? I finished the game!! The first ending is all set and the bugs I know about are all fixed. I've contacted the beta testers and 1 out of 3 have got back to me so far (it's still early though since I just e-mailed them last night). I plan on having it ready for them to test tomorrow if Sitesled is functioning. It's down now, but on my webhit counter website it says I had 16 hits for a brief window early this morning so it looks like it's trying to come back to life at times. My inital guess of the eventual filesize was 140MB, and what I have now is 136MB uncompressed, so that was a pretty good guess! Two Rovert / devil conversations were recorded but ultimately not used. I suppose I can go through those conversations and pull some choice words or phrases out and use them later, but we'll have to see about that. The main thing is I wanted a solid beginning, middle, and end and now I have that to give to the testers. While they play it looking for more bugs (I'm sure there's some I missed it's inevitable in a game like this I think), I'm going to make some things look better and etc. I still want to add some more animals or insects to certain areas of the game, and the skelevator shaft looks like it could use some more things in there to liven it up a bit. The cheesy ending song is in there too, and I think this game has the best ending that I've ever done, at least how it's set up and stuff. I think if people go into Hasslevania and don't expect too much (remember, it's a free game by an untrained dope more or less) they will be pleasantly surprised. Or offended. Hahaha, we'll see about that too. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
hermitmaster Posted 10/26/2007 10:52:41 AM message detail	If you plan on comprressing the file use 7zip. It's freeware and it's updated frequently and compresses at a higher rate than anything else. Just my opinion though. I use it and it works great. --- The Almighty Hermitmaster
Black_Crusher Posted 10/26/2007 11:55:19 AM message detail	Yep, I got 7z on my flash drive right now in fact. I'll try that first. Somehow my Hasslevania Homepage was ERASED this morning while trying to update it with some new information. I didn't find out about this until a little while ago, so I have temporarily set up another, less-detailed homepage there. I will go back and rebuild it later but what I have there now will have to do. What a crummy surprise that was! Well, at least Sitesled is up and running again and I guess that's good news. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/27/2007 12:46:43 AM message detail	Archiving threads is really easy. All that you need to do is save the source, then be sure to download the applicable graphics and style sheets, then organize them in the proper manner. I also prefer to kill the hyperlinks, simply changing their targets to # in order to keep their appearances the same, without allowing them to be used for navigational purposes (aside from the page numbers and previous/next links). --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/27/2007 8:47:27 AM message detail	Well you make it sound easy! I wish I knew more / better HTML skills and etc. I'm happy to report that the beta build has been sent out to the testers this morning! The 7zip on ultra compression knocked off 6MB but still the file is a whopping 131MB big! I am now working on backgrounds for some of the rooms that just had brick walls in them before, and will be looking to make the game better in little ways. This morning's task is in the Offensive Altar and should really give player's the scope of just how disgusting that place is supposed to be. If Fiska reads this here, one of my testers hasn't replied to my e-mails I sent him 2 days ago. If he doesn't get back to me by tomorrow at the latest you're in for #3. I sent you a PM a little while ago. (And no, he doesn't have to pay for it, you naysayers out there!) The treasure tally is in. I spent about 2 hours re-entering it all last night and double-checked everything. There are a grand total of 107 treasures for Rovert to find in Hasslevania. This doesn't include any treasures you get out of candles or special candles though. I was really hoping to have there be 108 (like the 108 Stars of Destiny for the Suikoden games, ooooo!) but no dice as my save file has been completely filled up at this point. No biggie. Oh, and the mystery challenge was the last thing I did yesterday and it's one hell of a "new game+" or whatever you call it. Rovert can only gain access to this by winning the game first, and then starting a new one and picking the last, previously unattainable game option. The catch is that he has to start this game right away. After he saves for the first time it's business as usual, but the option to start this special game is a global variable that is contained outside of the save file (which believe it or not is necessary to do). You will be happy to see the stuff that you get though, although I won't go into it here as to ruin any surprises you may find later playing it yourselves. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MagIcN3v3rDI3s Posted 10/27/2007 9:42:28 AM message detail	Haven't check in in a while haha. Man, I can't wait to get my hands on it when you put it up for download. --- With darkness all around, a ray of hope is found!
kevinski Posted 10/27/2007 11:16:27 PM message detail	Did you make the file into a self-extracting (.exe) 7-Zip file, or did you simply leave it as a .7z file? I honestly hope that you did the former, as .7z files aren't exactly the most commonplace archive types. I have 7-Zip on my computer, not everyone else will. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/28/2007 7:43:59 AM message detail	One of the testers was having issues with the game not saving properly, and if he runs through my checklist and still can't get it to work it may be 7zip related somehow. I'm not sure if it makes some files read-only or what, but I never had any issues with WinZip so the fixed beta I made last night was re-distributed in WinZip instead of 7z. It added 5MB to the size, but really, if you have to sit through a 20 minute download vs. a 21 minute download does it really matter in the end? It was awesome- one of the last changes I made before finalizing the original beta kind of accidentally took the UPC truck out of shipping & receiving, among other more minor mistakes. Rovert could jump out of the huge hole left by the missing truck and fall forever into the abyss under Castle Hasslevania. This sucks a lot worse than it sounds! There was also another part where just walking into the room gave you a free axe! I must've been testing a room before and gave myself the axe there and forgot to take it out, but it's out now. While I was trying to right my wrongs last night I spent about 2 hours on some code to make sure that the Devil for hire didn't drain hearts while the map screen is up, which is supposed to act like a pause button. There are 132 frames to the project and 90% of them had to have this code in them, and I couldn't just copy & paste because I had to enter an event group and manually deactivate / activate the devil for hire events individually. Fortunately when your baseball team is kicking the Rockies' ass, it doesn't seem to matter than it takes 2 hours to do. I believe that the beta they have now should be solid enough now. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/28/2007 8:41:15 AM message detail	I doubt that 7-Zip changed a file to read-only, as I've used it a lot in the past and never had such issues. Be sure to figure out which operating system(s) your beta testers are using. If they're using an older version of Windows, for instance, make sure that maybe that isn't causing the issue. By the way, I realize that there's a Quit command on the main menu, but is there a way to quit the game or return to the main menu from within game play? I tend to come across a lot of games that have no way of doing so, which forces you to press Alt+F4 in order to get out of the game. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/28/2007 9:38:11 AM message detail	By the way, I realize that there's a Quit command on the main menu, but is there a way to quit the game or return to the main menu from within game play? Yep, the ol' reliable "Q" button is an immediate exit to desktop. Most of my games have this because I too hate playing games where there's no really easy way to exit without dying or whatever. I thought it was unlikely that 7zip could possibly change anything to read only, but I figured it might be a solution to his problem with the file. I've never had any kind of continue game type of problems that he's having, so I thought maybe he could be running the program still in its compressed format. There are those who run programs while still zipped that I've heard of over on TDC. I don't know why you'd do that but I can't really think of any other reason there'd be a problem. My other tester simply said that the "game was awesome", which doesn't really give me any feedback on whether his save was screwy too, but I would guess he'd say if it was. I'm still short a tester, and since you've been in it forever anyhow do you want a go at it kevinski? Most things I'll change from here on out would most likely be graphical and a few different songs, but the core game would remain largely the same as it is now. I haven't given out the screenshot png map to them because I want to see how people with no previous experience do with finding things and solving the castle by themselves first. If you do, e-mail me and I'll get you the link to the updated beta straight away. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/28/2007 11:40:14 PM message detail	I'm downloading the beta now. Thanks for including me in the testing. Your timing couldn't have been more perfect, as I have the next three days off. :) --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/30/2007 11:06:34 AM message detail	Okay good, the updated beta that was WinZipped does not have the save file problem that the 7z one did. Weird, but who cares I'm just glad it works like it should! I am not going to have the Vampire Killer elevator music in the game afterall, and I've made some new tunes to replace the scene in the Skelevator Shaft and Oldie's shop. Before, I was re-using my Captain of the Guard's shop music for Oldie, but I wanted something original and specially made for this game if possible. It's a lot faster paced than the old song, but it's cool because it's all drums at the start- which is when Oldie shouts his obscenities at Rovert so now you can actually HEAR them! Before he had to compete with all the music and it made it tough to catch what he was saying sometimes. Black N' Dookie and Thorny Bastard got brand new backgrounds and they look way better. The bog got 2 new signs and some lightning bugs (or fire flies, depending on what part of the world you live in). Engineering got two different types of LED displays, and yes one looks a lot like K.I.T.T.'s scanner! A section of the Vents was narrowed some to give it a more claustrophobic feeling. A few bits n' pieces were put in the skelevator shaft (like a spider in a web that you can't fight). And for laughs I've sprinkled little piles of bones all around Hasslevania, which I guess is supposed to denote warriors who tried to kill Dracula before but failed. All in all, this part of making the game is very fun. If I can think up any other little things to add I will. Testers: Any new news to report yet? Fight and bosses yet? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/30/2007 3:22:00 PM message detail	The distribution of keys is really uneven. There are times when I get three keys before getting to the first door, whereas I sometimes get none by that point. Is there any way that you could increase the likelihood of getting keys from certain candles? --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/30/2007 3:58:17 PM message detail	Actually, the key drop rate is pretty high. I made them drop at (I think) 10-20% of all destroyed candles. The reason was that initially all the doors reset themselves, which made Rovert require a boatload of keys in order to go anywhere. Common sense prevailed eventually though, and I used a big part of the save file to save each door's status (open or closed). Unfortunately by then I had already made a bazillion candles that were still programmed with the old key drop rate and it'd take way too long to fix them all. So although uneven, in the end you will end up with a ton of extra keys kevinski, you'll see. That's why I made the key machine in the first place- to give Rovert something to trade his millions of extra keys for that's more useful to him. And if you're just not getting any at all to drop for a weird reason, Oldie sells them for $100 each at his shop. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
kevinski Posted 10/30/2007 4:29:06 PM message detail	Ah, I see. Well, in the sequel, how about just implementing a Jewel of Open-style item or something? That way, the key issue would be resolved. --- My Games: http://users.ign.com/collection/kubevubin My Wii Friend Code: 4316 5426 7514 8383
Black_Crusher Posted 10/30/2007 4:40:02 PM message detail	I'll have to add that to the sequel list too. For now, I want to see if anybody can win this one first! I think it sets up something nice at the end though that should be a good idea for where the next game would be going if there is one. --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Black_Crusher Posted 10/31/2007 1:50:47 PM message detail	Eh.. it's possible one of my testers quit because he said the game is way too hard and he can't get anywhere. I've asked him a few times to just say he needs help and I'll tell him where to go next but it's not looking too good. The funny thing is this guy has won Lab Rat #37, and I think that game's a lot harder than Hasslevania is. I didn't see this coming, but what can you do? --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
Kaluroth Posted 10/31/2007 7:35:44 PM message detail	I volunteer as a replacement :P
Black_Crusher Posted 11/1/2007 6:15:29 AM message detail	Sure, e-mail me sucka! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
theyugiohkid Posted 11/1/2007 7:51:10 PM message detail	Black_Crusher, do you have any suggestions for someone who likes creating games on an RPG maker, but just cant seem to keep their attention on it? and, if you dont mind, what is your e-mail address? --- MEGAMAN FOR BRAWL!!!
Eternal248 Posted 11/1/2007 9:04:34 PM message detail	Blarg, a few posts earlier and I could've been a tester! :P 'Twill be a good birthday for you when it comes out, eh? =D --- Team Member of Holepunch's Tweaking Army!
Black_Crusher Posted 11/2/2007 7:37:58 AM message detail	Black_Crusher, do you have any suggestions for someone who likes creating games on an RPG maker, but just cant seem to keep their attention on it? Yep, the best advice I can give you is: Take a break from it! Sounds weird, I know but it's true. Hasslevania has burnt me out at least 3 times over this span, and the only way to pull myself together and get back to it was to take a break from everything about the game totally. It can be a day, or 3 days. The biggest break I took from this was 2 weeks during the 4th or 5th month I think. For each game I stick with and finish there's about 3 or 4 more that sit on my hard drive for all eternity to remain unfinished because I tried working through the burn out stages instead of getting the hell away from them for awhile. My Equin Village game took me 3 years to make, but there was a huge break in there at about 6 months or so. I just couldn't handle it anymore, so I forgot about it and went and did something else. The thing is, if you really like your project and you think it's really worth making, you'll think about it eventually and want to return and try to finish the thing. And the best part is, you'll have fun making it again instead of trudging through it and seeing it as some pile of neverending work. And best of all, when you come back to it you might have some really good ideas that will greatly improve your game that you never would have thought of before. For Equin Village, that good idea for me was completely changing the inventory display so that instead of a text list of your items it shows their pictures instead. Sounds easy enough to do, but trust me it wasn't. Even Hasslevania has been improved a bunch after some breaks. I can't imagine ever going back to my crappy gravity for Rovert's jumping like I had used for most of the development time. Was it hard to change? Very much so, mostly because I had built the castle around how high Rovert could jump and now some puzzles didn't work out right and some areas were difficult to get to that were easy before. The spell system, while I thought it worked for awhile, turned out to be murder on my coding as it would constantly freeze up for no apparent reason and screw up some of my other important events. So they had to go, and that took a long time to fix the damage they had done. In the end, I believe I have the game I had imagined out- although maybe it's looking to be a little harder than I originally intended it to be. and, if you dont mind, what is your e-mail address? dxfgames@gmail.com If you have any questions I can try to help you out. I'm going to be away in Philly for this weekend so if I don't get back to you right away I will when I return. Just remember, it doesn't matter the medium- RPGMaker, Multimedia Fusion, C++, BlitzBASIC, whatever. If you're not having fun making your game it will quickly squash you and make you sick of it. Unless Miyamoto himself is paying you $1,000,000 to hurry up and finish your game you should take a break when you feel the darkness coming lol. * * * 'Twill be a good birthday for you when it comes out, eh? =D You betcha! I already have another one brewing in my head that is pretty different.. at least in my head it is! That's another thing about taking a long time to make a game. You've been so into it forever, and it's all you're doing, that all you want to do in the end is get the damn thing out and start something else that's entirely different! My next one won't be a platformer, if I had to make a safe guess. I hope people will cut me a little slack on Hasslevania because it really is my first attempt to make a Metroidvania type of game ever. It sure was fun, though! --- DXF Games official website- http://Del_duio.sitesled.com/ Coming Next: Hasslevania: The Quest for Shuteye!
MehSound Posted 11/2/2007 2:09:18 PM message detail	too much pages to read >.< is there any official site for the game or something? also, where can I find screenshots? the ones in the first page doesn't work thanks =D --- shiny thing
Starman907 Posted 11/4/2007 2:18:34 PM message detail	WHY IS THIS NOT DONE YET !!!?!?! jk, i don't want you to rush a game and make it crappy. --- Never put a crotch fire out with a sword... EVER Wii FC: 4109 4482 4401 4812
Black_Crusher Posted 11/4/2007 8:30:02 PM message detail	Sure, you can go to my website in my sig and follow the links to the Hasslevania Homepage that way, there's some screenshots down at the bottom. I have a new homepage that's almost done and will be ready when