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Blog Entry 2: The Beginning Posted by Tyrone Rodriguez at 5:49pm Dev corner's back up! Well, it was never down, just had to put down the drawing pen to update some more on Castlevania: Order of Shadows. Two weeks to go before it's available and time for more information.

Our first installment was a quick and dirty introduction. This update is all about the beginning, how the project got started and how we came up with Desmond and family. As we're getting closer to the magic date, they've loosened the reigns and given us some freedom on what we can say.

The Castlevania Order of Shadows Drawings

So the story, Castlevania has always been about the story, right? For Order of Shadows, the initial storyline used in the high concept was drawn up by Paul Zirkle. In the original concept, the story centered around a character named Gryff LaRue and his family of mages and witches. Our peers on the other side of the Pacific thought it was a bit too aggressive on magic use and such-as the Belmonts are a family of warriors.

Using input from IGA, we revised the plotline to flow more like some of the classic stories. Part of the revision was to integrate the Belmont clan into the story, versus a family within the Castlevania universe with little to no relation to the vampire hunters. He also suggested that since Desmond was a Belmont, gameplay should focus on the whip as the primary weapon instead of axes or swords. Fans of the series know that the latest games in the series haven't always focused on a Belmont so the main weapons have been pretty diverse. It was a good call that instantly made the game feel like a Castlevania.

With the blessing to move forward with a whip-wielding Belmont the wheels started turning. Artist and game animator, Dan Baker, began putting together some really great concept art for Desmond; I gave it a shot, too, but nothing like the stacks of images we got from Dan.

As you can see from the various steps along the way, Desmond was initially conceived as a character closer to Alucard than a Belmont. We slowly shifted this look to more of the warrior-type character from the first decade of Castlevania games. As personal fans of the series, we wanted to see a character that would have the same appeal as Trevor or Richter, both very powerful character.

We finally settled on the Desmond you see in the game, the biggest difference between Desmond and some of the other Belmont men is his Kid Dracula-inspired hair. The Castlevania series has always been sort of self-referential and his spikey hair is a homage to a character most fans don't even know exists. Some of the other characters also evolved in this fashion, too. Take a look at the original cast concept and you might spot a few characters who are vastly different to their final design. Take for instance Dracula, the in-game character is waaaay closer to the classic Dracula.

Aside from the character aspect of it, maintaining the feel of the older Castlevania games was key. We wanted to make sure that existing and new fans alike could pick this up and recognize it as a Castlevania. Part of that has to do with staying consistent with the look that was established back when we were playing NES Castlevania.

IGA always went back to a single word to describe the series, gothic. I don't think there's a better way to play the look and feel of what we were going for. We played with a few looks, but ultimately settings on making the game look as close as possible to something aking to Sega Genesis or the SNES (if you don't what these are, you're too young and need to spend more time on Wikipedia). Check out the first pass on the opening area. It features the stairs and platform that have appeared in so many games. We ended up going with a garden and entrance that suited the cut-scene and mansion more.

More to come shortly. Until then go try the emulator and see how far you can get.

Blog Entry 1: Introduction Posted by Tyrone Rodriguez at 6:34pm Note: The first sentence of any blog entry or developer’s corner is always the most difficult. So let's skip it and jump to the whole introduction part. It'll save me hours of sitting in front of this MacBook unable to write a thing. I'll have to thank Chad for the four dollar Corona later.

I'm Tyrone Rodriguez and a member of the Castlevania: Order of Shadows development team, more specifically I'm the designer. Over the next few entries, I'll fill you in on Order of Shadows, the first Castlevania game designed from scratch for mobile and, incidentally, the first US-developed 2D game in the series. Pretty cool, huh? Just nod your head in agreement.

The Castlevania Order of Shadows Team

Everyone does developer diary's, blogs and other ways of getting fans more involved with the inner workings of game development. Sometimes they're informative, sometimes they're entertaining. But the main purpose for our dev corner is a pretty selfish one. After two decades of playing Castlevania I've finally been given the golden opportunity to design a game in the series. I've done my share of design work in the past, but it's very rare for anyone to be able to have a direct hand games they grew up on. Like any project, the team had its share of ups and down, but there's no doubt it was all worth it. Even with the headaches associated with development, it was still a ton of fun and in the last few months there have been a lot of interesting stories for me and the rest of the team.

Since Castlevania: Order of Shadows is a new game in the series, we need a little bit of background on the game. First, let's get one thing out of the way, it's not a port, it's not a remake. Order of Shadows is an entirely new game within the Castlevania series, new characters, some new enemies, new areas to explore and more weapons.

Order of Shadows is just for mobile, so you won't see this one on your DS or PSP. And we weren't an isolated team in the US without any proper supervision. Koji Igarashi (IGA), the current producer keeper of all that is Castlevania, was involved since the beginning, as far back as the early high concept. He provided input, direction and ultimately gave his blessing on the final design. The whole team has been very excited to have the chance to work with IGA, especially this being the first original Castlevania game for mobile.

So a brand-spanking new Castlevania game made just for mobile. Doesn't that strike you as odd? There's good reason for going with a new game. Konami Mobile gave ports a shot. For all intents and purposes ports “work” on mobile phones, but the guys that make it all happen quickly realized that to take advantage of the mobile platform, you have to embrace it—even with its shortcomings and technical limitation. You can't just take an older game, convert it over to a phone and call it a day.

Thus was born an all-new Castlevania, from a gameplay standpoint, designed specifically to address the needs of mobile phone game players and the interface offered on mobile. Order of Shadows is a completely new story, featuring new characters and, of course, Dracula. It's never been done before on mobile and that's enough reason right there to bring the spirit and experience of the Belmonts and Dracula onto an even smaller screen. But we wanted to do it right, right?

So, now you know why we chose mobile. My role in all this, aside from nightshift janitor, is leading the design of the game, primarily in overarching design issues as well as level design, level art and gameplay tuning. Working side-by-side with a lead programmer (Daniel), porting dude, (Paul) character artist (Dan), sound engineer (Vincent) and the director of production (Victor). Having a strong team has been crucial to putting together a polished game. But having a strong team AND help from IGA is even better.

That's it for now. Cut me some slack, this is just an introduction. I'll be back soon with more info. Promise. Chad, pass me another four dollar Corona...