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[JasonPickering]

so this is a small castlevania style game, and I don't mean the sprawling world. I mean the original castlevania, battling your way through levels, with a movement scheme that forces you to think before you act. I wanted something where the player needed to think about everything they did and just running through will end in your death. I only have two levels so far. but they are very dense content wise. so please give it a test and leave me with some feedback.

I guess the big thing I did with this is the jumping. I went with fixed jump arcs and no air control. Once the player leaps they are stuck in that arc. This forces the player to look before they jump, although I do force speed in certain areas. The controls are not 100% there, but they should give a good idea. I had three requirements for myself:

1. NES style controls. (arrow keys and two buttons)
2. Pico8 Color Palette
3. 80x60 Screen Resolution.

my original plan for this was maybe 4 levels, 3 enemies, 3 obstacles, and 1 boss. Kind of like a demo sized almost.

Current Build

[Kasperelo]

Looks cool, though I can't play it (Linux)

[ferreiradaselva]

Finally, man!

Looks cool, though I can't play it (Linux)

If you have Wine installed, you can play just fine (I'm using Linux, too).

[JasonPickering]

So I am working on this more. It seems like a lot of my game is based all on platforming right now, and doesnt have much use for the sword. I think I am going to try and focus a little more on that. I want the game to have a rhythm like sword, sword, jump, sword, jump, jump, jump. It seems more all jump all the time. I think I just need to work on some more interesting enemies that incorporate the sword. Right now the enemies are all very run up and hit. while the jumping is something you need to time. I think I need something like that. I think a good example is the shielded guys in megaman. You can only hurt them at certain times. It might also be a good idea to look into enemies that take more then one hit.

[JasonPickering]

I should have a new build up tomorrow. Its a room full of enemies. I created a bunch of enemies based off other enemies from other games I like.

so far I have looked at
- Castlevania 1 and 3
- Spelunky
- Mario

the new few things i have tested are:
- slimes that appear and charge the player
- spiders walk back and forth and also walk off ledges. similar to the red and green koopas
- Hidden Area. Smash out the breakable wall and a hidden room appears
- Breakable pots (Not even sure why i added these. I was drawing something and it looked like a pot, so I went with it)
- Axe skeleton. it walks back and forth and also throws axes at different distances
- walking skeleton. it holds a shield, but doesnt really do anything at the moment. I may create one that wields a sword and will slash you if you get close.

[BomberTREE]

80x60?
It'll be so hard to see incoming projectiles and enemies!
Good luck and have fun, subbed

edit:
Wowzers. I played the current build, that image doesn't do this little game justice.
I'm no longer worried about the screen resolution

[3dgeminis]

I get an error:

FATAL ERROR in
action number 1
of Key Press Event for Q-key Key
for object Obj_Player:

Push :: Execution Error - Variable Get 101144.Rm_004(100076, -2147483648)
at gml_Object_Obj_Player_KeyPress_81

[and]

Downloading now. Looks like something I want to play!

[xix]

 

This is cool. One thing I noticed: the scrolling isn't set up for left/right movements very well. It's hard to tap backwards to realign yourself for jumps without jumping where the camera wants to focus.

[JasonPickering]

New Update. Its not really a game at the moment so much as a test bed. I am just playing with enemies, seeing what feels right. once I have proper enemies in I will start playing with Level design. The slimes, snakes, and new axe skeletons make the game feel a lot better. They are much more interesting enemies.

3dgeminis: I often use the Q key for Debugging. So that's where that error came from.

xix: I am not really sure I follow.

as for the camera. I am not sure how I want it situated yet. Keeping it with a huge space in front of the palyer lets you see all thats going on, but also limits what I can do from both directions.

[c023-DeV]

Game feel/movement is good! Color use is solid too.

I enjoy the use of pixel chunks.

I guess its useless to complain about German keyboard having Z and Y swapped =(

Anyway, keep it up!

[JasonPickering]

C023-dev: A and S also work as controls. Are they together?

[JasonPickering]

Okay so my goal for this project to get it out there and released is the following.

- 6 Levels
- 2 Boss Fights
     - 1 having two forms
- Music, SFX
- a Few hidden secrets.
- an actual Title
- small story for the game

so The first level feels pretty done right now. The next level will introduce the Snake enemy and feature some more skeleton ax throwers. I have two kinds, stationary and walkers. Most will be walkers, unless they are on a small platform. right now the skeletons walk until they hit a ledge, but I might make them be more like the skeletons from castlevania or hammer bros and they will walk back and forth randomly. The slimes will be introduced in the 3rd level and will lead into the first boss which will be a big monster slime, climbing on the ceiling and trying to drop on you.

I am going to try and right out an actual Milestone plan tomorrow with some dates. Should help me keep on time. The Download up top has the new updated version. It moves to the next level, but there is nothing new in there, just a copy of the first level.

[BomberTREE]

I just love hearing the slashing sound but already being killed by the stinking spider.
Damn that spider.

[Zorg]

C023-dev: A and S also work as controls. Are they together?

In my opinion you should bind WASD and arrow keys to movement and multiple combinations for the A/B keys, too (additional to Z/X). The possibilities are endless: C/V, U/I, J/K, N/M, LMB/RMB, SPACE for the jump, CTRL/SHIFT/ALT for attack... There is no downside to many control schemes at the same time. I'd probably use WASD, SPACE and SHIFT (if i'm too lazy to plug in the controller).

Your game looks very good! Following. 

[lobstersteve]

I saw the art and after i read that it will be a castlevania style game i got really excited
So i played the demo and here is some feedback:
I finished it without dying, but that doesn't mean it's easy, it introduces the hazards well and i had some close encounters.
The art is great, a real eyecatcher.
Regarding the controls: against maybe some opinions, i find not being able to control your character in mid air an intersting choice. nevertheless i would maybe try to improve it a little - a bunch of times i pressed "right" milliseconds after i pressed jump and i jumped straight up, although i ment to jump right. it feels like if you try to press right and jump simultaneously you jump up and to jump right you first have to press right and then jump. maybe it's something you get into with time, but for now if feels unintuitive. also, as far as i'm concerned you can't attack in mid-air, and that should be an option. as far as i remember even castlevania let you do this - restrictions are fine if they mix well with level design, but that makes you a little too helpless in my opinion.
And yeah: also google for german keyboards.. there should be an alternative for Z+X, like Z+C or Y+X
Otherwise i'm looking forward for more 

[JasonPickering]

I think the main problem with the air attack comes to this right here.



so the bug walks back and forth. the player could jump in the air and slash the spider in mid air or jump up onto the ledge when the spider has walked away and then quickly slash the spider. I find the second example to be a more exciting option, which is why I am hesitant to add an air attack. I understand that castlevania had an in air attack, but it also had reasons for in air attacks. like enemies you needed to kill mid jump.

I will look into the jumping problem. the controls are a temp as I am slowly rewriting the code for them.

[Pixel Noise]

Cool!

It's probably a better move to start with a smaller production scope anyway; you can always enlarge it later if you want.

I'll have to check it out!

[JasonPickering]

Updated the file to have like half of a new level and it introduces the snake enemy.

[Quarry]

The controls feel extremely limiting in my opinion. Not being able to attack in air and not being able to slow myself when I'm stuck in that arc jump are quite annoying. Is there a reason so as to why you chose a fixed arc..?