Question of the Month

Almost twenty years ago, a small group of people had a vision. Borrowing from the worlds of horror and mythology, they conjured up a tale of good versus evil on a grand scale, and, while their tale was anything but groundbreaking, they struck a chord whose reverberations are today still felt. It's true that years later their vision and its ongoing legacy continue to interest us in one way or another. Staff members have come and gone, directors have changed, control has switched, genres have been jumped--and here we still stand, and no shortage of issues has surfaced as a result: What's the true order of the series? Why are there so many lost titles? Was shifting to 3D the right move? Should we ignore certain games in the lineage, as Koji Igarashi suggests? Why are these games losing popularity in Japan? Is Mathias "Dracula"? I've had my say site-wide, and now, here, I turn it to you, the loyal Castlevania fan, for your input.

The Question | The Answers | Past Questions and Answers

 

The Question for April 9th-

The Background: In 1999, the Konami division KCEK did the inevitable and brought the long-running Castlevania series into the world of three dimensions. This effort manifested itself as Castlevania 64, which was exclusive to the Nintendo 64. While many would argue as to the game's quality, Castlevania 64 was both a critical and a commercial disappointment. The number-one complaint by critic and consumer alike: "It just doesn't feel like 'Castlevania.' "

KCEK followed up this effort with the much-improved Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, but consumers continued to turn a blind eye. It was by now obvious that something important was lost in the translation from 2D to 3D, but it was and still is difficult to pinpoint what, exactly, is missing.

After returning to its side-scrolling roots with a three-game stop on the Game Boy Advance, Castlevania was ripe for another shot at tackling 3D. With Koji Igarashi and the division of KCET (which created the latter two GBA titles and generally receives credit for Symphony of the Night) behind it, there was hope that their newest title, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, would buck the trend and deliver to the masses a worthy adventure. In the past, even Koji, himself, had criticized the N64 titles and especially its developers for "not understanding Castlevania," so it was at least clear that their "mistakes" would not be repeated.

Though idealistically different, Lament met pretty much met the same fate--consumer indifference. There are plenty of reasons as to why people are skeptical and sometimes rejecting of the 3D offerings, but I naively trust that it has more to do with the games' overall quality than the dimensions of their worlds. But questions still remain: How do you make this series work in 3D? How do you make it feel like the celebrated classics? How do you satisfy the dual need to get the core consumer's attention and pull in the larger on-the-fence crowd?

I ask you:

• (1) A sizable budget. If the big guys upstairs, the Konami head honchos, are going to treat our series as low-budget--naively categorizing it as a property capable of selling on its name alone--then we'll have no choice but to compromise; we'll be forced to repeat our working formulas forever and run the proverbial treadmill. We'll need somewhere in the range from $500,000-800,000, and the difference will be made up by cutting corners as best we can by using our fifteen-plus years of experience in working on consoles and in creating software.
• (2) We absolutely must produce a great game. Whether it "feels like Castlevania" or not, we have to in these competitive times strive to break away from the pack and put out a product that will floor critics and consequently consumers alike. Otherwise, we'll get nice, polite "yeah--you, too" reviews, and indifferent consumers will readily pass up our new title and instead grab the nearest high-octane first-person shooter.

• (1) The main dish: Our new engine. More than a decade ago, a group of developers created a little title called Super Castlevania IV. Though it superficially resembled past titles, its gameplay was elevated through the use of new ideas, the most obvious of which was a fairly new technique of sprite manipulation through rotation and scaling; the key, however, was that the "ideas" were the focus--both in the game's presentation and in its marketing--and the foundation of all the work that followed. In 1997, the group that brought us Symphony of the Night did much the same (though lacking the marketing muscle due to the series' unfortunate designation) with the idea that (a) an RPG-powered character should have free reign within an enormous castle and its upside-down sibling and that (b) the pace should be his to set. We need to examine the next-generation systems, understand their capabilities, test their limits, and ultimately allow the respective architectures to dictate where we're going.
• (2) The old reliable, our sprinkled-in condiments. Before we even finish the engine, we'll look back at our series' past and isolate what worked versus what didn't and subtly mix in these elements to give our product an old-school flavor. Certainly, we don't execute this plan in halfhearted fashion and simply supply the hearts and the familiar sub-weapons, hit on all the typical bullet points, call it a day, and hope that our fans won't notice. Instead, we look at what defines the series and utilize it (not ignore it and hope that it goes away) in a way where provided to our wonting audience is an experience that "feels" derivative though its presentation and gameplay are atypical.

1. (1) A reactionary hero. If the action is streamlined (that is, not complex to where the hero has more powers than he needs), even a more casual gamer will feel compelled to play. If you mix in RPG elements and hundreds of weapons, you're overwhelming the player with an exhaustive number of options where only a few will suffice. Aria's soul-stealing system is an example of what works; there are a lot of options therein, yes, but manufactured is a pure Castlevania flavor--it's fun, it fits in with the series' many themes, and the player will appreciate the relativity.
2. (2) A depth of challenge. We certainly don't want to supply a Ninja Gaiden-level of madness, but we want the player to put time into the experience, to justify his or her $50 purchase. There's no impetus to play through a title like Harmony of Dissonance a second time because you know where everything is, you lose that sense of exploration, and you know that victory is a slugfest away. How about we try something new: Maybe we can exploit a feature where generated are random bosses, items and areas that change the scope each time, so that any replay is at least partially unique? This is "depth," and it certainly hearkens back to when games like Dracula's Curse and Rondo allowed us to decide between alternate routes or at least conjured a sense of replayability.
3. (3) Special effects. Though they shouldn't dominate the action, nothing wows the player like twisting and turning rooms, upside-down castles, and wild whip-swinging action (as seen in Ratchet and Clank and Metroid Prime). Anything beats zigzagging around and around generic-looking hallways that lead to other like-patterned halls. This is where "knowing the hardware" comes into effect.
4. (4) A dose of nostalgia. Everyone remembers instances of in Simon's Quest entering into the castle while haunting music underlined the final stretch, or finding the ruins of Mother Brain's hideout, Tourain, in Super Metroid. Supplying such instances early and often will go a long way in capturing into the action the hardcore fan while educating newer players as to the rules of this universe; this may even encourage them to go back and discover the series' past. Some familiar tunes wouldn't hurt the effort, either--especially if we skip around any redundancy by instead remixing tunes from Belmont's Revenge (like Praying Clouds, the Cloud Castle theme) and other obscure titles.
5. (5) A lot of unique monsters. While it was always a series' trademark, Symphony of the Night took it to a new level. It would be wise for us to continue this trend, for the sake of our new-and-improved soul-stealing system.

• (1) Overly complex systems and excess weaponry via RPG systems (as mentioned).
• (2) The lack of controlled potency. We can't allow our hero to become so powerful that it makes a mockery of any "challenge" presented.
• (3) The zigzagging style of platforming. Let's try not to bore the audience to death in light of our creative deficiencies; let's give them Metroid or Rygar-styled level design, where secret entrances are many, where the player is surprised by his or her sudden discoveries, and where the world is almost alive in how it connects and functions. If Dracula's castle is as advertised a "creature of chaos," let's at least give it a pulse.
• (4) Radical camera system. In a 3D world, bad camera control can be a fatal flaw. Too little control (a fixed-camera) and you can't enjoy a world that can hardly be seen and digested; too much emphasis on always capturing the best viewpoint and it's instead an eternal struggle between man and camera. Rather, we'll look to games like Banjo-Kazooie and Ratchet and Clank for examples of quality camera control.
• (5) Repetitive bosses. This is tied into "challenge." We must strive to come up with boss guardians that resemble those seen in Belmont's Revenge and Circle of the Moon. Fighting these large cretins should be a fun and memorable experience; if the player can instead memorize their patterns and react in kind to sleepwalk through the battle, it's just another sign of laziness and lost opportunity.
• (6) Confusing story elements. It can't be "Dracula versus the Belmonts" forever, true, but there's no reason to delve into the well of wackiness to supplant the old theme. Aria of Sorrow did an admirable job--telling a very interesting story--but it was told in too complicated a way. Lament of Innocence worked much the same. And God only knows what was going on in Harmony of Dissonance. We need to tell a story about people and not confuse gamers with abstract ideas like "a transient castle was born out of my ill will." It does negatively affect your enjoyability when you can't follow from plot-point to plot-point without consulting a guide.

Now we have to pick a good time to release our game. The holidays are always a good choice, but we want to pick a date before December--before people start feeling the pressure to save up for the dreaded holiday rush. Halloween is the perfect date because it sets up numerous marketing possibilities. Really, we couldn't ask for a better-themed holiday. For Japan, we coordinate a release at around the same time, which is still good positioning even without a concurrent holiday.

July 8th 2004 - April 9th 2005: How should Konami utilize the Nintendo DS in the creation of a new game? Using its unique configuration, what ideas could be used to reinvent Castlevania-style play?
The Answers (including mine): Page 1 | Page 2

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