Complete Golden Axe Remake 1.4

[O Ilusionista]

Phoenix from Fighting Master will serve as minions for Eve in the eagle level to complete the eagleception

makes total sense

 

[kimono]

Today, I would like to illustrate the work of @maxman in setting up the stages and of @Lycan77 on the recoloring of this fabulous Norfolk.
Lots of new animations like the classic pain, fall, rise, attacks and grabs.

GA2 level 3 is in place and the first appearance of the Norfolk boss has 2 phases (to be added in a future update): one with his shield and a second with it destroyed.

 

[shirakani]

The two part shield makes me think... how can we make it shake slightly on hit/block
This also applies to hit enemies, is there a way to induce a slight shake, like moving the X offset by 1 rapidly...

 

[O Ilusionista]

GA2 level 3 is in place

I liked the result so far. I know it's still a work in progress, but I noticed a few points:

0:10 I saw that you're aiming for cohesion in the graphics (which I think is great), but then it would be necessary to change that life bar, because it has many color tones and the Mega Drive couldn't produce graphics like that.


From what I could see in the video, you're using an image for the life bar and altering its X scale, correct? You could generate that image with 4 tones and red and use dithering to create smoother transitions between the colors, so it would be closer to the style.

0:14 I don't know how much you want to replicate the original game, but the RunJumpAttack isn't controllable in that way - once you executed it, you couldn't control it in the air. Since it's a high-damage attack, I suggest it shouldn't be controllable either.


0:31 It doesn't make sense for the enemy to get up just to lose their head (literally). This should happen automatically on the last hit, without the enemy falling to the ground.

0:35 I would remove this "wait," as the screen didn't even move 50px before another pause. This slows down the flow of combat too much, hindering the sense of progression in the game. In the original, this pause happens in this place, but there are 2 differences:

1 - The first fight happens without the player moving the screen.

2 - Since the resolution is 4:3, you have a sense of progression between pauses.

Knowing how to balance the space between pauses completely alters the rhythm of the game.

1:10 You can see the enemy's shadow "leaking" outside the bridge. A simple way to avoid this is to place a fglayer there, recreating only that part of the scenery - although this can cause problems in the final battle, when someone falls near the bridge.


Another simpler solution would be to shorten the shadow. It would still leak, but much less.

Oh, and I think it would be worthwhile for you to separate the layer with the water and the island in the background into different layers (you could even use the "Water" effect on the water sprite). This would help with the sense of depth in the level

 

[shirakani]

0:14 I don't know how much you want to replicate the original game, but the RunJumpAttack isn't controllable in that way - once you executed it, you couldn't control it in the air. Since it's a high-damage attack, I suggest it shouldn't be controllable either.

0:31 It doesn't make sense for the enemy to get up just to lose their head (literally). This should happen automatically on the last hit, without the enemy falling to the ground.

As far as replicating the original game goes... you can't run along the z plane nor escape roll or block either. The original game felt rather stiff in that way so since we have all the additional mechanics, the aim is to allow a more modernized feel while still being true to how the original games played.

Think of it overall as how classic Castlevania was with its fixed jumping to how SOTN established the modern standard... We're going for similar as there is no need to strictly stick to dated design principles that just isn't fun.

"Fun allowed" vs still challenging, fair and balanced IMO is the way to go. The runjumpattack has been nerfed damage wise since it's new utility makes it powerful.

I should also mention, the GA1 vs GA2 cast have been completely redone gameplay wise so that they feel very different to each other. They also have their respective game sound effects and new special moves. Something to look forward to.

Regarding the 'get up and lose head' bit... this is a bug we can't yet resolve and I have no idea why it does that. At times, the enemy simply dies on their feet while the head goes flying, this is how it should behave. Other times, they get knocked down, get up, then the head decap occurs... it gets even more confusing when 'attack5' (the head decap attack) is called from throws and such... Seems to me like there's the base engine reactions, and then there's the extra code for the decap and at times it just prioritizes reading one over the other.

 

[O Ilusionista]

the aim is to allow a more modernized feel while still being true to how the original games played.

I confess I have a certain apprehension about the expression "modern," as it's often used very loosely to refer to anything or as if it were better. I can give you a series of "modern" things in recent beat 'em ups that are worse than their predecessors. SOR4 is full of that, for example.

My point here wasn't to be a purist, it was to think about balance. It's an attack that causes high damage and, in that way, becomes very OP. I say this because I myself made that mistake in my game – exactly with that attack.

 

[kimono]

I understand your concern O' regarding this runjumpattack (and thank you for the tips and thorough feedback ): yes, this attack seems unfair because few enemies can counter it with an animation upper, nor are agile enough to dodge it.

Player feedback suggests that this move should be controllable, so a good compromise would be to nerf it so that it is not used repeatedly.

Regarding the HUD, @Bloodbane is using it for magic spells and has adjusted it (thank you very much!), and you can see an excerpt on Gilius GA2. I will take the time to respond to the other points raised.