Game
Belgrad: Curse of the Castle
10 years ago

Belgrad Q and A


Here’s a list of questions about this game for the common Metroidvania player:

Does it have weapons?
Yes. They work like the old Castlevania weapons. (This means candle-smashing, too.)

Does it have Level-ups?
No. This isn’t an RPG.

Does it have equipment you can equip?
No. This isn’t an RPG.

Does it have those weapons you use to advance the game like in Zelda?
No. This isn’t Dragonian.

Are there stat boosters?
No. This is a gamer’s game.

Does it have a big map?
Yes. If one tester says it’s big, then it’s big.

Is there stuff you need to collect to progress?
Yes, but most of them work sort of like the Jiggies in Banjo-Kazooie.

Are there NPCs?
Heck, yeah. Talking to people is how you find out things.

Are there multiple characters to play as?
Yeah, but you have to play the game with the main character first, preferably.

Does it have a save feature?
Heck, yeah. A game this big needs one.

Why is this game rated Teen?
Disturbing imagery. Just… trust me on this one.

Will this game cost anything?
…uh… We’ll get back to you on that. You know… When it’s done.

Is it good?
That’s a matter of opinion.

Can I hax game?
Uh… no. Don’t.

Do you have a beta?
Heck, yeah. I just need to make bosses and cinematics, and somehow get a good soundtrack for this game. Do you know anyone who’s good at making Synthwave MP3s? I wish I could.

Can I play the beta?
Uh… in my past experience, if I release a beta, people won’t be as excited when the real game comes around. So, the answer is NO, unless you’ve got some good street cred and understand that QA stands for Quality Assurance. (I.E. making sure the game is actually good and NOT buggy!!!) Right now, the beta is pretty stable with two bosses.

Now, here’s a list of questions for the people who liked my previous games:

Does it have a sense of humor?
You know me too well. (…that’s a yes.)

Is there more conversing with characters?
Yes… and no. There’s less enforced investigating, but plenty of NPCs to talk to.

How is this a sequel to the previous Belgrad game?
It runs on the same engine, and built from the same source. It saves on programming time, I’ll tell you that much. Beyond that, it does deviate a lot from that engine.

Is it more action-packed than the previous one?
Oh, yeah. Monsters are everywhere this time.

Is it bigger than Dragonian?
No. Not in terms of gameplay, anyway. 30 MB (and counting) is bigger than 8 MB, and most of those are dedicated to filler music in MP3 format.

Is it better than Dragonian?
That’s another matter of opinion. The story isn’t, since it’s trying more to be a
game. Then again, it’s hard to write a good game story without it turning into a movie. This game is not a movie.

Is it easier to “Let’s Play” than Dragonian?
Oh, yeah. I’ve had to do quite a few speedruns on this to QA this game. It’s shorter, isn’t it?

Will you ever make a sequel to Dragonian?
Do you have YandereDev’s number? I love that engine of his. …but seriously, I’ll
get to it when I actually can make it.

Why are all the games you make strictly in English?
…uh… because I’m American, and I’m not fluent in other languages. Occasionally, I’ll use Google Translate, but that leads to interesting results if the language being translated is complicated.

Will you make another Dragonian?
Not yet.

Will you make another Shiro Ninja Mayhem?
Eh heh… no. Not now.

Will you make another …?
Not now.

When will you release this game?
When it’s done. Wait a few more months.

Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it when it gets here.

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In case nobody noticed before, a lot of elements of the Robot Maid game come from the Shiro Ninja games, and ideas I would've done for a sequel. This guy is gonna behave like a similar guy from Shiro Ninja Mayhem, but fit this game's art style.

What do you do when one enemy type you used before doesn't show up well on your new level's background?

Draw new graphics.

It's a good thing the previous variation was already skeletal, so I can just give it skin and swim trunks.

This is literally one of the first cutscenes, after the first level. Like I said, I'd rather do Sega CD-style cutscenes, but this will do.

...it's also the most complete-looking cutscene right now. I thought you'd like a look.

Meow.

Tigers are difficult to animate, especially since they have two joints for their hind legs.

Well, it kinda resembles a tiger.

So it begins.

It doesn't help that the three forms share parts, but not body arrangements, but nobody's perfect.

...hopefully, people will see this guy as an homage, and not as infringement.

If there's one thing I learned from looking at the graphics of NES Batman, it's that they put gray highlights with red shading to make metal look a little rusty.

I'll know if I did my job right when I get to actually making the level.

No, this is not the final boss. This is the boss of the last mainline level. There's a difference.

Also, I'm so glad I can pull off stuff like this. There'll be two more forms, though.

Part of the debugging experience is making sure enemies don't spawn in walls.

...but this is a great way to show off the shotgun in action.

Too much?

There are only so many ways to draw starbases, and all of them require a window into space. This one happens to also be a factory.

Also not the final boss. Again, I may have gone a bit too far in a few places.

Now that the rigs for this boss are done, I'd better get around to animating them.