Aria of Destiny: New Blog

[Candescence]

Since Time Twisted is doing it, screw it, I might as well make a teaser/preview vid myself. There will be a proper trailer when SAGE comes around, no doubt about it. The music is Julius' theme from Castlevaia: Aria of Sorrow.

Yes, I am perfectly aware that the colours are slightly screwed, ARGH WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER.

[shadowgoten]

Hey candescence this is the first time i've taken a look at this thread, i'm very impressed by the progress you've made with your game. I"m actually looking forward to trying the demo this sage. The only thing I can really complain about with all the screenshots I've seen so far is alot of the interface graphics (aside from the health bar HUD) look a bit boring. A game like this needs some flair in that department, and I have a good feeling you'll get there, it seems like you're keeping the focus on gameplay which is actually a good thing.

[OverbounD]

I'll be honest originally I had little interest in the project but after watching that video it looks cool. It kinda looks like Castlevania a bit (not that I've played that much and can really judge that). Anyway I just wanted to let you know I'll be playing this at Sage for sure .

[Candescence]

Hey candescence this is the first time i've taken a look at this thread, i'm very impressed by the progress you've made with your game. I"m actually looking forward to trying the demo this sage. The only thing I can really complain about with all the screenshots I've seen so far is alot of the interface graphics (aside from the health bar HUD) look a bit boring. A game like this needs some flair in that department, and I have a good feeling you'll get there, it seems like you're keeping the focus on gameplay which is actually a good thing.

I blame the lack of an artist to work with. Whenever I make anything visual from scratch, it sucks balls. I'd have a bitmap font, but the custom plugin for that isn't really compatible with fonts for the Bitmap Font Writer. Still, yeah, gameplay is the priority for me.

I'll be honest originally I had little interest in the project but after watching that video it looks cool. It kinda looks like Castlevania a bit (not that I've played that much and can really judge that). Anyway I just wanted to let you know I'll be playing this at Sage for sure .

Glad you liked it, d00d. Yeah, it was heavily inspired by the post-SOTN games, and heck, the stats system is practically the same as SOTN's (except with Order of Ecclesia's stat multiplier system). When SAGE comes around, I hope you guys enjoy it, despite its flaws.

[Asuma]

The only I don't like (which is I'm sure someone must have told you) is the

mixed graphics. Other than that, it pretty interesting to see a game made in Construct despite it's still in beta.

[Candescence]

The only I don't like (which is I'm sure someone must have told you) is the

mixed graphics. Other than that, it pretty interesting to see a game made in Construct despite it's still in beta.

They have, I am aware of that, I once again blame the lack of an artist/spriter. If I had an artist/spriter to work with, believe me, things would look much better. Perhaps I should advertise for one during SAGE.

[Rawr]

This is actually looking pretty cool. Bonus points for Ashe, she was a cool character in ZXA (one of my fave Megaman games too actually!). I'm not too familiar with Castlevania, but this game is looking to be alright. The very megaman-esque platforming section in Marble Zone there was pretty neat.

I'll have to try it out at SAGE.

[Candescence]

This is actually looking pretty cool. Bonus points for Ashe, she was a cool character in ZXA (one of my fave Megaman games too actually!). I'm not too familiar with Castlevania, but this game is looking to be alright. The very megaman-esque platforming section in Marble Zone there was pretty neat.

I'll have to try it out at SAGE.

Hells yeah for Ashe! Funny, I wasn't exactly intending the platforming to be like Mega Man at all... XD

Anyway, another neat little announcement - before SAGE comes up, I'm gonna be making some last fixes to the game, but also making the last-minute addition of 360 controller compatibility! Since Construct 0.99.4 now supports 360 controllers, I can easily add that in. WOOT!

Edit: On second thoughts, maybe not - whether that feature is implimented depends on if I can get rid of certain problems.

[Candescence]

By the way, an article about the game was posted on Tssz, which surprised me, considering I wasn't expecting it.

So... Yeah.

[Michael B.]

That's neat, as for your project it looks pretty cool, but the FFVI sprites look a too big at a x2. I'd recommend trying to get them somewhere between x1-x1.5, because x2 makes the characters look out of proportion with everyone else. Aside form that, it looks like you've got a pretty cool project here!

[Candescence]

The problem with anything in between is that the sprites look, well, like crap. Honestly, somewhat larger heads are a small price to pay for making them look at least the right height.

[Shonumi]

Hey man, pretty sweet that you were able to get acknowledged by TSSZ, congrats on that. This game has really been shaping up over the past few months, and its good to see such a well made example produced by Construct. Your game could be a poster child, or something of that order.

I too was a bit unnerved by the FFVI sprites size. Perhaps it may as well be solved by collecting some custom made sprites that'd better fit the heights of the other characters. Though I don't know how you would feel about such a move, given that you might want to use strictly only original sprites by preference.

[Candescence]

I'm all for custom sprites, but their availability is another thing entirely. Spriter's Resource has, like, 2 FFVI customs (and surprise surprise, a couple dozen FFVII ones), and those two aren't even close to what I need.

[Cyber Rat]

Work with what you have, and when you're near completion, start asking at sprite forums. Heck, you can use that TSSZ article as 'oh look, I even have publicity' when asking for help.

[Candescence]

Huh. That makes sense, really. Might as well focus on the gameplay before the visuals, after all, and if the gameplay's good enough, I'll get enough publicity in the long run to convince at least someone to help out. Thanks for the advice, d00d.

[Candescence]

Alright, SAGE has come and gone. And for anyone to who didn't notice in the SAGE booth...

I have a new development blog for this game.

And here's some screens of additions I've been making since SAGE...

And to note, I have other news. I’ve been thinking about porting Aria over to Endri’s “Sonic Attitude” engine, well, when Attitude comes out, that is. The Euphoria and AI features, combined with the simplistic scripting engine, among other things, make this a seemingly irresistable idea. HOWEVER. My main problem? I can’t model a damn thing. Of course, I lacked an artist before, but this time, it more or less completely prevents me from using Attitude. I know, from what Streak said, people don’t like doing stuff for other people. But, if anyone who can model and stuff, and wants to team up with me to create a 2.5D Aria, that… Well, would be really awesome.

Then again, the likelyhood of that happening is slim, unfortunately.

[Candescence]

I've made an update to the blog involving the story. Also...

I'll make this quick. Basically, I'm gonna finish a new build soon. It's gonna be a slight overhaul of the control system - customisable controls. No more alternate control scheme EXEs, there'll be another EXE to customise the controls with. Also, Xbox 360 controller support, at last! Other things:

- Menu selection changes fixed, you don't have to tap twice to get the damn thing working.

- I think I fixed the music doubling problem.

- Slight changes in Julius' animations, as well as changes in his collision masks.

Also, next blog post, I'll outline what kind of changes I'm gonna make to the game - it'll likely be one hell of an overhaul.

[Candescence]

I've made said blog post, look at it yourself. Now...

It's done! The new build is finished. I managed to fix those nagging issues and, as a bonus, I made some more additions as well.

- There is now a seperate sub-attack button, but you can still use Up+Attack, though this can be toggled if you so desire in the customisation exe. I'm considering dropping the Up+Attack thing entirely to make way for attacks that can be aimed Metroid-style. Like Bass. The Up+Attack method is more reccomended for use with a keyboard. Don't use the 360 controller's D-Pad, it is terrible.

- The character select screen has been modified. There is a LOT more space for future additions.

Also, Xbox 360 controller support. You might wanna experiment with the control configuration.

And lastly, as I neglected to mention this in the readme, the configuration exe is controlled via the mouse. Just click on the control tags once each, and after clicking one, press the desired button. There's also buttons to save and load your configurations. It's somewhat crude, but it works.

Edit: Link deleted due to unforseen problem.

[Sslaxx]

I'm getting a bizzare "Disc cannot be found" error message when running the game. It's trying to locate drive D: to find media. The game does appear to continue past this point though (regardless of option selected, it seems).

And this might be related, but the controls are completely non-responsive. I note the menu fades out and then fades back in on start-up.

What version of Construct is this using?

[Candescence]

... Oh, son of a... I just realised what the problem was. Dammit, Lucid. I'll upload a slightly-updated version that fixes the bug later today.

[Candescence]

Alright, new EXEs that I've 'fixed'... It should work properly, now.

New Link

[Candescence]

Posting the contents of the blog update:

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:

* 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.

So, yeah. If I implement equipment and items, should I remove levelling altogether?

[Cyber Rat]

Well, Wonder Boy had leveling through equipment and it worked well...