icemann on 8/2/2012 at 04:06
Demo releaseInline Image:
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/421514_10150760293260760_763905759_12430767_651567277_n.jpgOk TTLG peoples the time has FINALLY come for a demo release of my remake of the NES game "Dragonslair".
You can grab the demo here:
(
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?v6fst18r11c6h33)
Note that I'll be bundling the level editor with it at a later point. Feel free to comment about anything you like/dislike/hate/love etc. Any and all feedback are appreciated. Or feel free to send me a PM if you prefer, or you can reach me directly on my email address of: [email]hockland@hotmail.com[/email].
Oh and also note that whilst gamepads/joysticks work with the game, be sure to turn off "analog" and use the arrow buttons for movement as using analog with the game is not working properly at this stage.
If the menu runs crazy when you run the game thats because you have analog switched on.
In either case enjoy :).
zombe on 8/2/2012 at 21:17
Erm ... i can not get past the very first gate thingie :/ (alive, i mean). What did i miss?
edit: by "gate thingie" i mean the moving wooden thing that also happens to be on the screenshot.
Al_B on 8/2/2012 at 21:32
You need to crouch while walking under them and get the timing just right.
zombe on 8/2/2012 at 22:00
Thought as much, but could not get through. Odd hitbox or i am just terrible with old games. PS: i think it should do no harm when it is on its way up ... unless full replication of game mechanics is the intended goal (hm, AVGN had something to say about this game iirc).
demagogue on 8/2/2012 at 22:16
The hitbox & boundingboxes for the world stuff are a little loose it feels like. I don't know if it's literally because the boundaries are out further or because the player sprite is a little stiff & lanky when he moves.
Renzatic on 9/2/2012 at 00:51
Yup. The game itself runs fine. I played through it three times to test it out, and each time was smooth as butter.
The gameplay, on the other hand, could be improved. My main issue is how the character jumps. The hop up fast, fall down slowly thing is strange, and doesn't feel at all natural. The gravity, the weight behind the character, is all off. Case in point, that last jump towards the end of the demo. You take a running leap, then float over to the platform you want to land on, bumping your head against the bricks each time. If this were a low gravity sci-fi game, or your guy has winged boots, you could get away with it. But as is? It's weird.
I'll try to find a game in my collection of old NES roms to use as an example of what you should be going for. But in the meantime, try to see what happens if your set the character to jump a little higher, and give him a little more momentum behind his running jumps. You want to make it so he arcs over a pit, rather than jumps up, then hovers over to the opposite ledge.
Edit: Found it right away. Considering the size and pace of your character is fairly similar, Castlevania III would be a good game to use as an example. Study the way the character jumps there. The weight and momentum behind it would be a fairly decent match for your character.
icemann on 9/2/2012 at 04:23
Thank you for all the feedback. In the current version falling speed is capped at a certain amount (gravity first pulls the player down by a set amount so that on each iteration the player falls faster, but I cap the fall rate to a fixed amount once it hits that or goes beyond it). I'll test out either just removing the cap which might might the game alittle too hard if a fall is massive, or cap the fall rate at a higher amount.
The way the spikes work I might change. What you see in the demo is exactly what happens in the original, other than the need to duck and go under.
Briareos H on 9/2/2012 at 10:19
Then how about an option to choose the gameplay as close to the original as possible and another improved game mode with more realistic jumping physics and collision?
Al_B on 9/2/2012 at 21:35
Quote Posted by icemann
The way the spikes work I might change. What you see in the demo is exactly what happens in the original, other than the need to duck and go under.
Yes, and please don't take this the wrong way, but the original was a dreadful game by all accounts. I've completed both levels of your remake and it's definitely playable, but some of the frustrations with it are things that you've copied from the original game.
I don't know how far you want to take it - but I'd be seriously tempted to take everything you've learned from putting the game together and put it towards your next project. As demagogue said in the other thread, the overall infrastructure you've put together is better than a lot of other no-show games and I'd love to see where you go from here.
icemann on 10/2/2012 at 14:59
Quote Posted by Al_B
Yes, and please don't take this the wrong way, but the original was a dreadful game by all accounts. I've completed both levels of your remake and it's definitely playable, but some of the frustrations with it are things that you've copied from the original game.
I don't know how far you want to take it - but I'd be seriously tempted to take everything you've learned from putting the game together and put it towards your next project. As demagogue said in the other thread, the overall infrastructure you've put together is better than a lot of other no-show games and I'd love to see where you go from here.
Firstly no offense taken in the slightest, I appreciate each and every bit of feedback I get.
1 of my reasons for releasing the demo was to get opinions from others, as I know first hand from the development of the other games I've done of how you can fall in love with your game (so to speak), and learned early on it's in the testing that you get the best information about what works, what doesn't etc. Plus I admit myself that unintentionally I started to like the original game alittle despite how bad it is (the its so bad its good type of thing, once you play it enough times and actually get better at it) as I had to play through the first level of the original dozens of times to see how enemy behaviors worked, player movement, get the level and sprite textures etc etc.
I have changed a fair few things over the original (for example in the original the rocks thrown/shot from the enemies killed you in one hit, I changed that to just causing damage, and it had ridiculous jumps which required pinpoint accuracy or you'd jump too little and fall to your death or jump too far and hit the wooden spike traps etc). I guess with the spikes I just got used to how they worked, again why I needed the feedback.
Jumping, shooting and falling speeds were from similar situations. Health and lives placement I improved majorly over the original also (in the original there was barely any extra lives in the game and health placement was quite low).
As to where I want to take this remake, I want to turn it into a good polished game (or to the best of my ability anyway). I'll admit that programming is not something I excel at, but I enjoy a good challenge (just look at the games I play for an indication :p). After pumping 3/4 of a year into it, I'd like to turn this into something awesome by the end of it all. Truth be told I'd love to make a "metroidvania" (ala Cave Story, Symphony of the Night, Super Metroid etc) style game, but you need to learn to crawl before you can walk so one thing at a time, so to speak.
All of this (as in the games I've done + continue to work on) is all towards my portfolio for hopefully getting into the games industry someday. But even if I don't I love making games, so that wont be stopping.
