Hello! Matt Kap here again, with another dev blog about Castle In The Darkness! Today I'll spend some time talking about the general design of the game! But before I do, I'll show you a piece of promotional art.

As I have mentioned in the past, my main goal was to create a game that would have been my absolute favorite as a kid, had it been released on a classic console like the NES. I loved action platformers and adventure games the most, especially those that allowed some exploration (Metroid, Castlevania 2, Faxanadu, etc), so the main choice was that simple. This has always been my favorite genre of video game.

But...

In order for it to work better in this day and age, I felt like I had to make some changes to the formula.

1. Movement: To keep up with modern design sensibilities (and to avoid getting shot at by angry players), I did away with antiquated game design decisions like ultra-slow (why do Belmonts always walk?) movement and not being able to alter direction mid-jump. Instead, you are free to run and dodge at a fast pace.

It takes just a couple seconds to run from one end of a room to the other, but by doing so you might not be seeing obstacles, traps, and secrets. The plus side to this is that slower players can choose to play carefully, and impatient players (like myself) can blast through the rooms after dying learning where the traps are! Also, you get more airtime by holding the jump button, so it's possible to tap jump to do a short hop, and hold jump down for a leap.

2. With the exception of projectiles, attacks come out as fast as you can press the button. So players can wait through an enemy's patterns and strike a few times to play it safe, or use that window to dice them up by fist-of-the-north-star-ing the attack button! You will still lose momentum while attacking on the ground, but no more taking damage because you're stuck with your sword out for half a second!

In the old days, slow mechanics were commonly used to extend gameplay time. So, by getting rid of those slow mechanics, the only way to extend gameplay time in Castle In The Darkness was to add as much content as I could. I'm hoping that players will appreciate this effort, and work together to uncover all the stuff I hid in this game.