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| neo0r0chiaku
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|  "Re(1):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 5 May 12:06  
quote:
Chop-Chop Master Onion sez: U Linkin': BAD
But fear not, Alucard found the link hidden inside an obscure wall!
What a cute, cheeky splash page. The real dream would be if he can peel away Toru Hagihara away from Konami, assuming that he's still there, since he's the guy who actually directed Rondo of Blood and is arguably equally important, if not more so.
Other thoughts: aside from the Belmonts, all of the Dracula games are just capitalizing on old horror movies and myths anyway, so I wonder how many Inafune-esque "striking coincidences" Igarashi can get away with? 
The Castlevania series, for most of its run, had by far the most memorable music to this day. Michiru Yamane was the heart and soul of the music production. To bad she left because she made the games more enjoyable to play at any given moment. That was a huge loss for the series.
Long Live!
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| neo0r0chiaku
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| "Re(3):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 5 May 21:26:
quote:
The Castlevania series, for most of its run, had by far the most memorable music to this day. Michiru Yamane was the heart and soul of the music production. I think most of the Cafe will agree about the importance of music to the Dracula series, and Yamane's work on Nocturne/SOTN is masterful. However, it's worth noting that she's had very little involvement with most of the series, and certainly none of the foundational 8- and 16-bit games. If you stretch it, you could probably consider the Sinking Old Sanctuary track on the Mega Drive outing a masterpiece, but outside that and Nocturne, we're left with her music for maybe one portable game and the dumb 3D ones? The soul of Dracula's music lies in a diverse group of composers in the early games.
Me personally, I think her best work, or at least the ones I enjoyed the most, is from Bloodlines, Dawn of Sorrow, and The Stolen Seal. The 3D ones, Lament of innocence and Curse of Darkness, even though they were not as great, I still enjoyed playing because of the music. The musical score for Castlevania 64 did not deserve as much credit as it should have. Again, I was encouraged to finish the game due to the dark music atmosphere it had. Yamane was not involved, but that team did an awesome job.
Regardless, lets hope IGA gives us the game we have been waiting for quite some time.
Long Live!
[this message was edited by neo0r0chiaku on Tue 5 May 21:29] |
| karasu 1488th Post
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| "Re(1):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Wed 6 May 00:35
Oof, where do I even begin with such a thread? My love for this material is I think pretty well known around these parts, so I'll avoid waxing poetic about the series. I'll also avoid delving too much into the "nostalgia bomb" concept that Ishmael brings up, since I've endlessly yapped on and on about that.
quote:
Other thoughts: aside from the Belmonts, all of the Dracula games are just capitalizing on old horror movies and myths anyway, so I wonder how many Inafune-esque "striking coincidences" Igarashi can get away with?
Well, I can't imagine in a case like this that there will be any shortages of "striking coincidences". After all, most non-regulation Metroidvanias draw very heavily on the source material, with little regard to infringing on the original. Take for example Koumajou Densetsu, which is so close in appearance (and even naming) to the original that it's pretty startling.
Anyway, my quick tally shows that within the video games category of Kickstarter, roughly 99.8% of all projects are Metroidvanias. But of course I exaggerate. In truth though Metroidvanias (probably second only to roguelikes) account for an alarming number of indie games, so while I'm still a bit rolling my eyes that someone somewhere feels like they need yet another, at least this one has the involvement of IGA.
My real hope is that the project, should it actually exist and get funded, will try to introduce at least some innovation to the formula. After all, we can all remember the days when the franchise actually tried to do new things, rather than just building on the corpse of its predecessor. But I'm not holding my breath!
You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.
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| nobinobita 1396th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(4):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Wed 6 May 15:18:
quote:
It's worth mentioning that Koumajou Densetsu straight up traces the sprites of CV, though the dialogue/cutscene art for the game is an astonishingly good likeness of SOTN's style, as well as just being astonishingly good.
Agreed, it's quite good. My real point is just that we have so many Metroidvanias out there, some of which come damned close to SOTN in quality. I'd love to think IGA will innovate in whatever he ends up doing and that we'll end up getting something truly good that's not just more shameless nostalgia pandering.
Did anyone play Harmony of Despair? What were your thoughts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWeb9r-vvy0
I was intitially turned off by the hacked together feeling of it, the zoomed out camera, lack of emphasis on exploration and mood. But looking at videos of it years later, it actually looks fun, and it is probably one of the more 'innovative/different' takes on the metroidvania format.
Whatever Igarashi does on Kickstarter, I'm looking forward to it as long as he's got a good crew and they do something with vision, and not something where they constantly have the backers voting on what the final product will be.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Wed 6 May 15:19] |
| neo0r0chiaku
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| "Re(7):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Thu 7 May 01:48:
quote:
Did anyone play Harmony of Despair? What were your thoughts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWeb9r-vvy0
I was intitially turned off by the hacked together feeling of it, the zoomed out camera, lack of emphasis on exploration and mood. But looking at videos of it years later, it actually looks fun, and it is probably one of the more 'innovative/different' takes on the metroidvania format.
Whatever Igarashi does on Kickstarter, I'm looking forward to it as long as he's got a good crew and they do something with vision, and not something where they constantly have the backers voting on what the final product will be.
Great idea at the time, but for solo players, it was not intriguing to play. I never had the time to play with others online but indeed it look fun with others.
I just hope IGA brings it back to the 2-D side-scrolling type. There is still room for extraordinary game play improvement from its predecessors.
What kind of art style do you think the game will be in? (Assuming he's pulling his own Mighty No 9 here).
Old school standard def sprites?
HD sprites?
Flash looking animation (dear god no!)
Vanillaware style puppet animations? (Konami pioneered this long ago)
Realtime side scrolling 3d? (Dear god NO NO please no)
A total 3d game? (Is this even necessary after Bloodborne?)
Claymation??
Pastel oil painting on glass??
[URL=h
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Based on your examples and others, it depends on what system he wants to release the game on. Before that, you have to ask the question on what type of systems Castlevania performed and sold well on. In the past decade, I think the ones released on handhelds performed better then the ones released on consoles. But I may be wrong as in my opinion I prefer the side-scrolling format. With that said, I would say use the art style based on Guilty Gear/Blazblue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOpJ10YEiwI&spfreload=1
Or Super Robots Wars (mainly Z and @ series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_xQ28v_Xq8
This kind of art style looks 2-D but its technically 3-D. I have always wanted a Megaman game in this style as well. KOF did it and it looked amazing.
Long Live!
[this message was edited by neo0r0chiaku on Thu 7 May 01:49] |
| karasu 1490th Post
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| "Re(5):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Thu 7 May 01:54
quote:
Did anyone play Harmony of Despair? What were your thoughts?
It's a bit of a funny story. I bought it at launch for the X360 and didn't care for it, despite playing it quite a bit. Then, about a year ago, with my X360 put away, I rebought it on PSN to give it another chance, especially since they had added a bunch of new characters and maps. I still didn't find it fun in the slightest. I'm not sure exactly how it fails for me-- it's a hack job, for sure but I don't think that's it. Mostly I just found it unimaginative and boring. But that's just me.
quote:
Whatever Igarashi does on Kickstarter, I'm looking forward to it as long as he's got a good crew and they do something with vision, and not something where they constantly have the backers voting on what the final product will be.
Yes, I agree, but I think that's just it-- the nature of Kickstarter is that the loudest voices, not necessarily the highest dollar amount backers, get heard the most, which is in a way what makes it unsuitable for game projects. I think IGA is in for a surprise when he finds out how many of the backers for such a project are only looking for SOTN2 with completely fresh material yet somehow paradoxically exactly like SOTN in every way.
You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.
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| Lord SNK
59th Post
Occasional Customer
| "Re(8):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Thu 7 May 03:29
quote:
What kind of art style do you think the game will be in? (Assuming he's pulling his own Mighty No 9 here).
Can i hope in a sock puppets stop motion style?
quote:
Or Super Robots Wars (mainly Z and @ series)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_xQ28v_Xq8
This kind of art style looks 2-D but its technically 3-D. I have always wanted a Megaman game in this style as well. KOF did it and it looked amazing.
But aside from the pre-rendered 3D used by some OG games, the other games are all 2D sprites.
In the Z series a lot of sprites are animated with separated parts (head, torso, legs, etc.) so they can save a lot of time (and space?) on single animation frames, but this result in some attack animations looking more cheap.
Some (not so) older SRW games had every frame of animation completely hand drawn, for example SRW J for GBA had really a ton of animations it was a miracle seeing that game runnning on a GBA, every single unit, with their unique attacks, all beautifully animated moving on that little screen on a system with such limited hardware!
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| Maou 2789th Post
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| "Re(5):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 12 May 02:49:
quote:
Well, it's now Officially A Thing.
I'm... I guess excited! I suppose if I should trust anybody to do something like this right, it's IGA. Plus it's apparently 2D!
EDIT: Wowee was that a corny/cheesy/goofy trailer, but it's somehow fitting!
I loved the goofy nod to the start of the SFC outing. A pleasure to see Yamane involved, and I guess people liked the Rockman Zero games, too. If only he could poach Hagihara.
It's interesting to see him cast his lot with the US, where the series has probably done better in recent years. It does make for some weird differences in standards, though. David Hayter voice acting as a stretch goal...? Uh, okay, but I'll take Wakamoto.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Tue 12 May 02:55] |
| Spoon 2866th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 12 May 03:39
quote:
Well, it's now Officially A Thing.
I'm... I guess excited! I suppose if I should trust anybody to do something like this right, it's IGA. Plus it's apparently 2D!
EDIT: Wowee was that a corny/cheesy/goofy trailer, but it's somehow fitting!
I loved the goofy nod to the start of the SFC outing. A pleasure to see Yamane involved, and I guess people liked the Rockman Zero games, too. If only he could poach Hagihara.
It's interesting to see him cast his lot with the US, where the series has probably done better in recent years. It does make for some weird differences in standards, though. David Hayter voice acting as a stretch goal...? Uh, okay, but I'll take Wakamoto.
I'm almost certain that the David Hayter thing is a Western-looking jab at Konami.
Too bad Kojima (the artist from SoTN, not HIDEO) couldn't be a part of the project. She even got mentioned as an FAQ!
The extremely low monetary goal for this project concerns me, though. Just the staff listed, even if many of them are not working full-time on it, is at least 24 people, not counting however many people at Inti Create are on it! The current stretch goal is just 800k! This project will certainly take longer than a year! Inti Creates is also still working on Mighty No.9! How is this all getting paid for?!
I worry because I don't want to see something I want crash and burn due to financial mismanagement.
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| Maese 762th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(7):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 12 May 10:48
While I don't see the artwork as terrible as Nobi says, I mostly agree with the skeptical side of the Cafe: does the world really need another 2D metroidvania? Is actually IGA the true guardian of the Castlevania essences? Where is Kojima (Ayami) when we need her? What is a man?
BUT...
... This must be the most compelling kickstarter campaign I've ever seen. Whoever they are, the PR dudes really did their homework here; with all those "what is a backer?" meta-jokes they managed to reach the soft spot of the old, grumpy Castlevania fan in me. And the video, simple and silly as it is, is just adorable. You can feel real passion and devotion for the game these guys are trying to create, and that's something I deeply respect. All my previous rant notwithstanding, I'm SO willing to join IGA's army of the night!
Or maybe I'm just being deceived,
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
for we all now that Igakula's words are as empty as his soul
End of Spoiler
. Oh well, time will tell!
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| neo0r0chiaku
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| "Re(8):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 12 May 11:50:
quote:
While I don't see the artwork as terrible as Nobi says, I mostly agree with the skeptical side of the Cafe: does the world really need another 2D metroidvania? Is actually IGA the true guardian of the Castlevania essences? Where is Kojima (Ayami) when we need her? What is a man?
BUT...
... This must be the most compelling kick starter campaign I've ever seen. Whoever they are, the PR dudes really did their homework here; with all those "what is a backer?" meta-jokes they managed to reach the soft spot of the old, grumpy Castlevania fan in me. And the video, simple and silly as it is, is just adorable. You can feel real passion and devotion for the game these guys are trying to create, and that's something I deeply respect. All my previous rant notwithstanding, I'm SO willing to join IGA's army of the night!
Or maybe I'm just being deceived, . Oh well, time will tell!
It is still good to see game genres from my childhood days coming back alive. Or at least our favorite series are returning to its roots. I I really have not played any current generation games. Last new game I played was Azure Striker Gunvolt and KOF xiii. Still playing Megaman ZX Advent and Castelvania Order of Eccelsia. Games like:
Mighty no.9 - creator(s) of MegaMan
Attack on Cataclysm - Creator(s) of KOF
Bloodstained - Creator(s) of Castlevania
Shows that there is still interest in these types of games we always wanted.
However, these games have not been released yet. Only time will tell if our satisfaction will outweigh our anticipation. I wonder if they plan to create a game before Bloodstained is released like how IntiCreates came out with Azure Striker Gunvolt before Mighty no.9. Now if only the creator(s) of Street of Rage and Trasure-Inc get inspired by this and come up with some new games on their own.
Long Live!
[this message was edited by neo0r0chiaku on Tue 12 May 12:05] |
| Maou 2790th Post
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| "Re(6):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 12 May 13:49:
quote:
I'm really worried about the quality of art on display so far. It's a far cry from the level I expect from Castlevania. It feels very amateurish. The more you look at it, the weaker it gets.
Nobi's right in all his criticisms of the art. That said, this criticism comes if we use Nocturne/SOTN as the gold standard, whereas in fact the early 8-bit art was inexcusably poor, and there have been so many truly awful designs in post-Nocturne games without Kojima, as well.
The funny thing is, monster design is relatively unrestricted here, in that the mythical and horror movie tropes are all freely available, and it's just a matter of having a good enemy designer for this particular game to adapt the archetypes.
quote:
Is actually IGA the true guardian of the Castlevania essences
...sort of! It was actually Hagihara who directed Rondo of Blood, which set the stage for the series' transition to exploration (yeah, I guess Akumajou Densetsu/"III" sort of did in a way), and who co-directed Nocturne. I personally have yet to see an exploratory Dracula game that equalled these two, so arguably it's been hollow with Igarashi. Put more positively, Igarashi managed to make some decent stencil games with limited resoures. Not that there's any fight to be had, here: Hagihara completely vanished from the scene and is almost impervious to internet searches in both Japanese and English. Likely a higher-up in Konami at this point.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Tue 12 May 14:29] |
| nobinobita 1402th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(7):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 12 May 17:34:
quote:
I'm really worried about the quality of art on display so far. It's a far cry from the level I expect from Castlevania. It feels very amateurish. The more you look at it, the weaker it gets. Nobi's right in all his criticisms of the art. That said, this criticism comes if we use Nocturne/SOTN as the gold standard, whereas in fact the early 8-bit art was inexcusably poor, and there have been so many truly awful designs in post-Nocturne games without Kojima, as well.
The funny thing is, monster design is relatively unrestricted here, in that the mythical and horror movie tropes are all freely available, and it's just a matter of having a good enemy designer for this particular game to adapt the archetypes.
Is actually IGA the true guardian of the Castlevania essences...sort of! It was actually Hagihara who directed Rondo of Blood, which set the stage for the series' transition to exploration (yeah, I guess Akumajou Densetsu/"III" sort of did in a way), and who co-directed Nocturne. I personally have yet to see an exploratory Dracula game that equalled these two, so arguably it's been hollow with Igarashi. Put more positively, Igarashi mana
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Haha ok some of those are pretty bad. I will defend that early art though. As much as I love Kojima's work, I also have a soft spot for the Belmont's when they were barbarians in leather shorts slaying NBA sized Bella Lugosis. The image you linked to is at least well drawn (and I'm not just saying that cos I'm pretty sure its Nintendo Power era Katsuya Terada). And as bland as some of those other designs are, they at least showcase a basic understanding of how clothes work. The new game, whoever drew it almost certainly learned how to draw clothes by studying video game concept art and not actual real life. It feels empty.
Maybe I'm being too harsh though. It's early. And I did enjoy Mighty Gunvolt. There's hope for the game yet.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Tue 12 May 17:35] |
| Maese 764th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(7):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Tue 12 May 17:47:
quote:
Is actually IGA the true guardian of the Castlevania essences...sort of! It was actually Hagihara who directed Rondo of Blood, which set the stage for the series' transition to exploration (yeah, I guess Akumajou Densetsu/"III" sort of did in a way), and who co-directed Nocturne. I personally have yet to see an exploratory Dracula game that equalled these two, so arguably it's been hollow with Igarashi. Put more positively, Put more positively, Igarashi managed to make some decent stencil games with limited resoures. Not that there's any fight to be had, here: Hagihara completely vanished from the scene and is almost impervious to internet searches in both Japanese and English. Likely a higher-up in Konami at this point.
I completely agree. I, too, am under the impression that Iga was not precisely the key human factor behind Rondo and Symphony's awesomeness. However, creative prowess aside, you can't help but loving the man for his sheer commitment to his work. The guy seems really likable, as it transpires from this piece about how the Kickstarter video was created. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Polygon's copywriting but, for what's worth, I've found the article quite an amusing reading.
EDIT:
quote:
The image you linked to is at least well drawn (and I'm not just saying that cos I'm pretty sure its Nintendo Power era Katsuya Terada).
Hahaha, you're right, that pic totally looks like Terada's Nintendo-era art!
[this message was edited by Maese on Tue 12 May 17:50] |
| karasu 1492th Post
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| "Re(7):Re(10):Dark Night Prelude" , posted Wed 13 May 03:07
quote:
That said, this criticism comes if we use Nocturne/SOTN as the gold standard, whereas in fact the early 8-bit art was inexcusably poor
Aside from seeming as though it might be Terada, I'll defend that image because it successfully channels AD&D art of the day, which I'm sure was an unspoken influence on the 8-bit era games. What I find awful in a truly charming way are the manual illustrations from the early games, works that were certainly dashed off in about 5 minutes by some barely-paid intern or underling.
I'm no great fan of the art for Bloodstained, but it's early stuff, so who can say what the finished product will look like? And for anyone who's worried that Kojima isn't involved, at the rate this thing is being funded, my guess is that she'll be pulled in at some point, in some capacity.
Given that the original top-level stretch goal from when this launched yesterday is about $5000 from being smashed, and given that an enormous and baroque variety of new stretch goals and 'backer achievements' are now out there, I'm positive that everybody involved knows what a cash cow this is. I'm already seeing Facebook posts saying how 'major publishers don't know what they're talking about' when they suggest no one wants these kinds of games. But honestly I think a bunch of its success (just like Igarashi and Mighty No. 9) comes from this idea that getting this game made is a kind of middle finger to Konami for not pursuing more 2D Metroidvanias, where people can feel like they're helping IGA get away with something. My personal opinion is that this might very well blow away some previous records for total Kickstarter hauls in the games category, but I suppose we'll see.
You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.
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| Mosquiton 2038th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(2):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Wed 20 May 05:05
quote:
This gon' b gud.
I am almost behind this sentiment, but one thing bothers me.
Crafting! I see no place for it. To quote the noble Alucard, " 'Twould be best for this world if crafting were to disappear forever." Why would I want to spent my time in menus in a game like this?
I have no desire to "farm" for "mats" here. The idea repulses me. Crafting is an "RPG element" in the same way that gristle is a "steak element." Would anyone really say that Curse of Darkness is their favorite Castlevania? I hadn't just forgotten it was a Castlevania game... I had forgotten it existed at all!
I don't have a problem with random drops. I don't mind if a weapon is a "rare drop." I accept it as part of exploring the game, and discovering the unexpected. I don't typically need to find every weapon in a game anyway. Provided the game is constructed in such a way that I end up laying my hands on a variety of interesting things, having the possibility of finding things is enough.
As another disclaimer, I want to mention that "enhancing" items you've found or bought (which is similar to crafting) can be rather enjoyable to me. Nothing stops you from using a weapon or piece of armor just because it's not level 3, and there are times when I'm happy to take any excuse just to keep enjoying a game.
However I am loathe to have to carry around a "piece" of a rare weapon that is of no use on its own, or worse, all but one pieces of a weapon that would be amazingly fun to use if I would only take the time go to a specific point in the castle and repeatedly enter/kill everything/exit the room until I got my fifth and final flaming demon testicle. Now, instead of discovering the unexpected, I'm laboring for the completely expected. I'm not interested in this.
Maybe I'm overreacting, or maybe I just felt like going on a little rant this afternoon. Maybe this game isn't going to fatally compromise itself trying to cater to base grinders and speedrunners (joking, everyone is free to like what they like!), but fortunately my money is not a crucial ingredient for them to craft the game.
I'll have to see how this goes.
/ / /
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| Abster 374th Post
Silver Customer
| "Re(2):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Tue 26 May 10:08
Don't look now but...
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iga/bloodstained-ritual-of-the-night/posts/1241538?ref=backer_project_update
quote:
Today’s big news is a surprise so late-breaking we’re still pleasantly shocked ourselves. (It all came together last week.) The Alchemist’s Treasure sleeve ($100+ tiers) will feature special cover art by Ayami Kojima.
Even IGA was surprised! Here's what he told us: "Honestly, I really didn’t think we could convince her to join the production, so I’m overjoyed by her participation. And really, the level of involvement isn’t really important for me. The most important thing is just being able to work closely with my old friends again. We created something amazing before and to get one more golden opportunity to do this again makes me so happy. Thank you Ayami. Thank you for making time where you really had none to create this art and add your style to the project.
And here's Kojima herself: "Unfortunately I can only offer a small amount of time to show my appreciation and excitement for IGA's new project, so I'm happy to know that the art team working on it is so talented—and, more than that, that they really seem to have passion for the material they're working on. It gives me confidence that this will be a game that fans will really love, and I know I personally am looking forward to seeing how great it will be."
While she’s still too busy to commit to anything more than this art, things just feel a little more right around here now that the character designer behind so many great Igavania games has a place in the campaign. We can’t wait to see what she comes up with.
The sleeve illustrated by Kojima will be included in all Alchemist's Treasure tiers at $100+. It's an outer case that will hold the physical release (in its existing case, with backer-exclusive slipcase), the soundtrack CD, and the retro strategy booklet. It will fit snugly into the Collector's Box ($250+ tiers) which we'll talk more about later.
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| Baines 432th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(9):Re(10):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Fri 12 Jun 01:04:
quote:
Baines, that's so interesting. I guess perceptions vary widely, or else the standard Kickstarter video really is quite dismal. For me, Igarashi feels sort of surrounded by these hammy Americans and the casual-yet-highly-managed tone of the website messages throws me off, but you're right, at least he gets to talk a lot in the videos about what he cares about, and his interpreter/handler is translating accurately. It'd still be nice if the non-US Kickstarter page were up to par.
As Spoon says, you get several videos with developers that perhaps shouldn't be on camera.
Making matters worse is that a lot of Kickstarters already look shaky if you look closely at them. Then, rather than competent reassurance, you get a video which is either narrated by a snake oil salesmen that is obviously selling dreams or by a guy who looks just as shaky as the project sounds. Sometimes this only reveals the truth. Text doesn't always reveal how out of their depth or clueless a lead dev might be, or just how poorly thought out a project might be.
Peter Molyneux is almost special, though. One of his "meet the people working on the project" style videos to me portrayed a silent development hell. The working devs seemed scared to be caught on film. Molyneux seemed to only have a vague idea of the work people were doing and to the state of the game. He'd talk to someone, and on camera would just start hyping features that didn't exist. When a dev said the game didn't do that, Molyneux in his sugar and sweetness voice would tell the guy to see if he can add it. You could just feel the developers slowly dying inside.
(To be fair, according to developers who worked on the project, the development environment on Godus was apparently worse than what I felt from watching the video.)
With the Iga video, you get the image of a knowledgeable involved developer. He's serious about his work, but having fun. He's not making big promises. He's believable when he talks positively about the contributions of other developers, not forcing it, talking about it in natural conversation, and not overhyping it. It is rather different from videos of developers trying to sell sell sell an idea.
[this message was edited by Baines on Fri 12 Jun 01:16] |
| karasu 1505th Post
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| "Re(10):Re(10):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Fri 12 Jun 02:57
Well, it's official: Bloodstained is now the most funded videogame ever on Kickstarter. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest-- if anything I'm glad that if anyone's getting paid by a Kickstarter for a Metroidvania... oops, er, I mean IGAvania, it's IGA.
Speaking of that term Igavania, I wonder if it might be that while -vania could be legally shown to be short for Transylvania, Metroid- is just the name of another company's actual game-- and that that's the reason for the change of term.
Maou, I agree with you about the smarminess of some of the Americans in the video, but I have a bit of an icky feeling about the whole enterprise, with all of the talk of the game's actual cost, and the sideways way in which the Kickstarter was never explicitly represented (until it was pointed out in the media) as being the last little bit of the needed funding, the bulk of which was coming from... who knows?
I'm sure it will be a fine game, and I'll certainly pick it up, but to me this game in particular shows how Kickstarter is being used less and less for its actual mandate-- that is to crowdfund small or niche projects that couldn't get made otherwise.
You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.
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| Professor 4294th Post
MMCafe Owner
     
| "Re(7):Re(10):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Fri 12 Jun 03:41
quote:
Why is the translated Japanese Kickstarter page so poor, not in terms of language but in terms of conveying the same information rather than what you would want to know (what the hell is "Igavania," an acronym that does not make sense in this context?), and in translating FAQs but not the answers? The US market is surely the largest for old monster movie stuff, but the inbalance strikes me as odd. Still, I guess a good game might come out of it!
Oh wow, I didn't realize there was a Japanese page until you pointed it out! I just checked it, thanks.. ...IT'S SOULLESS, lol. Although to be fair, that's pretty typical of Kickstarter projects even originating in Japan, probably because there's very few backers. I don't think it's that the Japanese audiences aren't interested, it's more that doing so is a pain. There's no Japanese page for the registration and there's no support for e-money; noone uses Paypal here.
Personally, I'm a bit concerned about the project after seeing the last video. I thought Inti Create had some seasoned developers but they seem... well, inexperienced. Everyone at the office was looking at Igarashi while he was being filmed, which seriously reminded me of how interns here would crowd around the doctor as he checks his patients.
I always considered Igarashi to be the typical "came from the dev-field" producer who doesn't push his staff to their limit, which is good as long as they're innovative. Hopefully that'll be the same for this project.
Oh, and here's a link for Maou-
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201506/11080350.html
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| Maou 2806th Post
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| "Re(8):Re(10):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Fri 12 Jun 07:09:
quote:
IT'S SOULLESS
Hahah, doesn't it suck? But thanks to the link you sent, Prof, at least there is more useful information in Japanese now. Hope your fears on Inti Creates end up not coming true---at the very least, I like the way in this interview, Igarashi emphasizes the passion and energy of staff, and seems intent on allowing the same energetic and playful environment he had in other games that allowed for weird touches like peanuts, the rubber duckie, the deadly confession room in the library, the tragic birdkeeper, and so many other quirky asides...since he used to do it himself when he was young!
Now if only he would come up for a sensible Japanese title for the new game...
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Fri 12 Jun 07:14] |
| Spoon 2912th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(9):Re(10):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Fri 12 Jun 08:07
quote:
IT'S SOULLESS Hahah, doesn't it suck? But thanks to the link you sent, Prof, at least there is more useful information in Japanese now. Hope your fears on Inti Creates end up not coming true---at the very least, I like the way in this interview, Igarashi emphasizes the passion and energy of staff, and seems intent on allowing the same energetic and playful environment he had in other games that allowed for weird touches like peanuts, the rubber duckie, the deadly confession room in the library, the tragic birdkeeper, and so many other quirky asides...since he used to do it himself when he was young!
Now if only he would come up for a sensible Japanese title for the new game...
I just hope that the final boss enters saying, "You thought it was Gebel... but it was me, IGA!"
Among the most memorable enemies for me in SotN are Legion and Yorick. I couldn't strike down Yorick without saying "Alas, poor Yorick!" aloud. What a wonderful idea to have an incidental character be based on Yorick, and for him to be chasing his skull around.
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| Maou 2807th Post
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| "Re(10):Re(10):IGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" , posted Fri 12 Jun 11:00:
quote:
I couldn't strike down Yorick without saying "Alas, poor Yorick!" aloud.
Outstanding! You win the Cafe's monthly Classy Gentleman award.
Fun fact: despite the awful acting, rewriting, and terrible copyediting I witnessed the one time I was unfortunate enough to play Nocturne/SOTN in English, they did add a few clever references, "Yorick" being one such improvement from the lame original, "Soccer Boy." But fear not: there is other foolery about in the original to make up for this: somewhere in the castle, there is one skeleton who fights with a whip and who is named 死門, or Simon, but with homophone "gates of death" instead of the usual シモン script. I usually feel a little bad when Alucard one-hits him.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Fri 12 Jun 11:06] |
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By the time it came out I was far too used to the reused assets to be disappointed. 
I guess they need to appeal to their target internet audience.
