Progress has been coming along… Very slowly. I’ve decided to go as far as redoing the engine, using the Construct version of Damizean’s 360 engine. The problem is, he needs to finish it, first, and I haven’t really been able to contact him lately.
So, basically, here’s some more things I’m intending to do with this revamp.
Endri has actually offered to port his AI code to Construct. Which would mean the possibility of doing stuff that I would’ve reserved for the Attitude engine, such as a four-man party.
“Sub-Attacks” will now pretty much be the term for character-specific sub-attacks, rather than sub-attacks/weapons. Why? I’ve decided to include the traditional Castlevania usage of sub-weapons alongside them. Some character’s sub-attacks will be removed and replaced. For example, Ashe’s sub-attacks will be replaced, but Julius’ ones will go unchanged, Sonic’s shield attacks will be converted into sub-weapons.
Specific sub-weapons can be found in certain areas.
Examples of Sub-weapons:
<span></span>
Robot Master weapons
Other Castlevania sub-weapons (knife, holy book, rebound stone, etc.)
Sonic 3 shields, possibly a Chaos Emerald
Whether this game will feature the Item Crash ability remains to be seen.
I’ve just bought Symphony of the Night on my XBox 360, and observed some design elements that aren’t present in other Castleroids. I’ll compile a list of things that aren’t already in Aria, I may consider including and not:
Considering:
Interactive environments, such as switches, that cannon early on, etc.
Style of weapon equipment: SOTN, unlike Aria of Sorrow and beyond, has a protaganist who can only use a sword, and one kind at that, so the various types of swords felt more like upgrades. AOD works in the same way, but thankfully, there’s a whole bunch of characters with different weapons and such, so you can figure out your own fighting style without being forced to just one type of weapon.
Not even considering:
The method used for spells: The last thing I want is Street Fighter-style move lists, thank you.
Hearts: This is a Castlevania staple, kinda unfair for other series, and an MP bar renders it kinda redundant anyway.
SOTN-style item usage: Having to equip an item in order to actually use it then switch back is kinda a pain. I’ll stick with more traditional item use, thank you.
Bad voice acting
And finally, here’s something I’ve been thinking about, in terms of levelling. Aria has the “Castleroid-style” RPG elements, including levelling up. However, to counteract players grinding their asses off to the point where even bosses are piss easy, I’m considering having all bosses keep to roughly the same level as the player, the only real statistical advantage the player may have would come from equipment. Provided that I finally manage to implement items and equipment, I’ve been wondering… Perhaps it would be a good idea to remove levelling altogether? I’m still thinking about it, but I seriously want a second opinion.
0 comments