The Shrine

w00t.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6167519.ht ... op;title;8

Just hope the controller works well for it.

The only thing that wouldn't would be the d-pad and as somebody who can tear through the game without much difficulty I don't think I need to worry about that.

That's the only game (old) I can see being tempted to buy.

I've played other Castlevanias with really good gameplay, as good or better than SotN, but oddly enough, I can't find one with as good a soundtrack as SotN.

I guess most of them have been on the GBA/DS, which still has a shitty sound processor, so they haven't had much of a chance. They need to think about getting on a console again. I, for one, had fun with the 3D cousin they made for the PS2. I think 3D has evolved enough that you can create a good 3D game without too much fuss. (well, unless you do it half-assed and run into camera problems, but I don't expect Konami to have any problems with that.)

SineSwiper wrote:I've played other Castlevanias with really good gameplay, as good or better than SotN, but oddly enough, I can't find one with as good a soundtrack as SotN.

I guess most of them have been on the GBA/DS, which still has a shitty sound processor, so they haven't had much of a chance. They need to think about getting on a console again. I, for one, had fun with the 3D cousin they made for the PS2. I think 3D has evolved enough that you can create a good 3D game without too much fuss. (well, unless you do it half-assed and run into camera problems, but I don't expect Konami to have any problems with that.)

Metroidvania is dead on the consoles and will remain a portable only series from now on IMO. All 2 1/2 D games are portable only now, they just don't sell on consoles anymore

I love SOTN, and the demo is great and plays fine, but I don't know if I feel like shelling out for this game again. Blargh.

Sephy wrote:I love SOTN, and the demo is great and plays fine, but I don't know if I feel like shelling out for this game again. Blargh.

Die Monster, You Don't Belong In This World!

something about getting achievements for playing a game that I love just makes it infinitely more appealing.

bovine wrote:something about getting achievements for playing a game that I love just makes it infinitely more appealing.

I've thought about this too.

What is a man??

"Have at you!"

I d'loaded the demo and it seems to play fine as well, although it is irritating that it's not full screen. And yes, it is tempting to get achievements for playing a game I love but I'm not so sure it's worth $10 for me to do so.

You can stretch the screen in the options, Zeus. Looks horrible on widescreen though.

I just bought it. Plays fine to me. I'm tempted to make something like it, in fact.

Sephy wrote:You can stretch the screen in the options, Zeus. Looks horrible on widescreen though.

yeah, I imagine it would. But on my TV it's got the black bars thick on top and bottom too. Does it appear full screen on a CRTV?

I play it on my Opticlear NEC monitor, which is actually a computer monitor (albeit a super-sexy one that may indeed be the best five hundred bucks I've ever spent). The monitor is widescreen, and the action fills up the screen (looks great, too).

Maybe they actually decided to make widescreen the standard for it, and to hell with regular TV support? Seems kind of odd though.

Nev wrote:I play it on my Opticlear NEC monitor, which is actually a computer monitor (albeit a super-sexy one that may indeed be the best five hundred bucks I've ever spent). The monitor is widescreen, and the action fills up the screen (looks great, too).

Maybe they actually decided to make widescreen the standard for it, and to hell with regular TV support? Seems kind of odd though.

The programmer on the project we're working on told me that Widescreen is the standard for an XBLA release. I actually changed the GUI on the game to be widescreen which actually helped us out

Since when are you working on a videogame?

Nev wrote:Since when are you working on a videogame?

A couple of months now. I'm waiting on my programmer to finish his engine for the XBLA and for his crew to finish up projects so we can get it moving.

Huh.

You guys are indie I assume, or have you quit your day job too?

I have a massive bevy of indie dev resources as well as contacts at this point. We should chat sometime.

Yeah, indie, but he's from a well-known group. Something I can't yet divulge yet, nothing's been announced and stuff. You know how it works.

I'm just the designer and lead tester. I have no experience to do anything else. I can only draw stick figures and can't code my way out of a paper box. It was an old idea I had kicking around for a while (since I had my store in 2000). We had actually talked about this back then and he decided he wanted to do it now as a way to get familiar to Xbox Live Arcade and hopefully get some actual game publishing done. You need to get published something to get anywhere as you know and he's only gotten some contract work for cell/PDA games at this point.

Once we developed the idea it seemed to be something that could be feasible so he decided he wanted to do it. So now he's in the process of clearing other projects off his plate so we can work on this one and see it through. He's actually working on something else he's hoping to get published as well so this one may be #2 for him. Busy boy but he's a heck of a coder and he loves it. And he's starting to work on the engine (game's really in conceptual/design stages right now).

We're hoping it turns out to be a game with as many options and gameplay as a retail title as opposed to an XBLA title, but we'll see. We certainly have the ideas for it, but it may be too much for an XBLA game. We may have to hold stuff back to get it done in a decent amount of time. Can't get too ahead of yourself with these things.

I wouldn't dare quit my job for a pipe dream. I'm more than willing to spend a lot of my spare time doing something I'd love to do, but I wouldn't put that much risk into it. Right now, I'm doing it 'cause it's something I always wanted to do and I have the possibility of actually doing it now. It's really the same for him and the others he's with. This is a spare time thing and if it gets to the point where it turns into a success, only then can anyone start thinking about making it a career.

It's more a hobby than anything else right now, which is why a game that should really only take a month to develop is going to take a year. But it's fun and will be a great experience. Of course, I say this in the design stages before I have to playtest :-)

However you look at it, its very cool Zeus. Goodluck!

Flip wrote:However you look at it, its very cool Zeus. Goodluck!

Thanks Flip