[Concept] Vampire Killer Beaumont #1

So, yeah... I've been recreating Castlevania within GameMaker recently. Though I intend to pivot towards the direction of Elayne Beaumont, I'm just focusing on the engine using pre-existing assets for efficiency. I've shown some of that earlier this month.

I'm not an experienced game developer, even if I have dabbled before... So I want to keep the scope of this project small. Maybe just a level or two as a proof of concept. I'm going to use this Concept Art post to talk a bit about this project.

Visuals - Player Sprite

Although I've been focusing on the programming side, I do want to think about the visuals soon - even if only for concept purpose. Although it's worth noting that... I have no prior experience working with sprites, so I don't fully understand how to think when working in that medium. I will have to learn and consult with more experienced artists for help.

My sprites should follow the same basic dimensions seen on the NES in Castlevania, so I can simply swap the assets later without breaking any the coded logic. Though I do want to make some stylistic changes... Like enlarging the character's head. That will make it look a bit cuter, and by virtue of being less realistic, means I can emphasize the boobas more.

NES sprites were typically limited to 3 colours, but I'm not limited to that rule. That said, I do want to carry the spirit of that aesthetic. Castlevania looked uniquely colourful despite its horror-themes. This was, in part, due to the dark backgrounds, which contrast our sprites. It looks a bit Halloween-like in nature. Spooky, but still fun! 

I will be going with 4 colours. In the chosen sprite, that is: brown, orange, skin pigment, and white for subtle highlights. Though that may change in the future.

Dynamic Collision System

Castlevania apparently had an incredibly sophisticated collision system. You'd think the player had a mask covering the entire sprite determining how players collided with the world, but nope... There were 4 separate collision POINTS. I didn't even know about this until consulting with someone experienced with looking through the code of CV1 & CV3. You see that? I'm consulting professionals, that's how you know I'm serious!

I've already set up these points (and some of my own), which is why I have to maintain the same dimensions in the player sprite. I don't want to redo these numbers. This system is how the player can jump into blocks above them but still collide with blocks ahead of them.

Visuals - HUD

Honestly, it's way too early to think about the HUD. But it looks like it might be challenging, since I have a lot more horizontal screen space than the NES did. 

I'll need to figure out how to best use that space, especially if I remove some information - like player score. Games like Bloodstained utilize their screen width by featuring the details of other player characters - but that's a much larger scope than I have planned right now. Still, I wanted to play with some rough concepts.

As you can see, I also tested my earlier sketch. I need to see how it might look in-game, so I placed it alongside Simon. I also created a rough sprite adaption too (my first ever sprite, I think)... It's not as readable as it could be though, and the dimensions are a bit too tall. I will need to be a lot more mindful of how I use shapes and blocks of colour here.

Visuals - Updated Player Sprite

Although impressive for a first attempt, my early sprite was lacking. The shapes were a bit awkward and I wasn't making informed decisions. So, I consulted with another artist much more experienced with pixels. Hopefully, they will provide even more help in the future. You can see the sprites on the left are so much more interesting than the first attempt (right).

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Anyway, that's enough for now. I just wanted to give you a brief idea of what some of what this work was looking like. I'll try to find a more interesting way of incorporating this type of work into my posts in the future, especially if there's a lot of interest in this project.

Don't forget to eat & sleep.