Castle Oblivion: Remake

[Luiishu535]

Wohoo! I just finished my playthrough of the game last night! Overall, I'm really proud of it and can't wait to release it. There are some a few things I'd like to tinkle with before I start beta testing. I'll probably release a longer update soon, showcasing the overall improvements/progress. Here are a few screens to leave you hanging:

Also, I might even go for the December 1st as a new release if all things go well!

 

[Luiishu535]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Beta Testing has officially begun! Wohooo!

It won't be long now until the game is released! Most stuff have been sorted out and I'm overall really excited and hyped to let everyone play this!

Some good news: overall game file size has been reduced from 192 MB to a whooping 89.5 MB!

These will probably be the last screenshots I show you.  

Hang on everyone, we're almost there. I can actually see the finish line, to be honest!

Once I'm done, I'll probably celebrate with a cold beer...IN SPACE! See you around soon!

 

[Luiishu535]

Hey, you look good today. I just wanted to let you guys know that the beta testing has been a good experience so far. I've made lots of changes in order to make the game less brutal (to avoid what happened with CO3), as well as some other small fixes. I've even finished a special release video, which I will release once the game is fully ready to be played.

As for a release date, I am pretty much all set and done with the game. I decided to give my writer some time to finish the game and fix potential dialogues errors. While the game won't be released this Tuesday, I think it feels wiser and more fair to take some extra time in order to make some final polishes. Since my testers will still be playing this game, this also reduces the amount of potential bug/minor errors etc. that may go unnoticed.

In the meantime, I will keep testing and see what I can do in order to improve upon the game even further. I'll probably go work on some manuals, as well as some pages with tips & tricks for the game.

You can expect a release in about 1-2 weeks. Hold your horses until then and stay tuned!

 

[WalkerMage102]

Everyone who's waiting for this game, Just wanted to let you know that it is indeed something truly special, and this is coming from someone who had no part in working on the game. Trust me, it will definitely be worth the wait.

 

[Luiishu535]

I apologize for the wait. I'm currently waiting for a tester to finish his test run. Since English isn't my first language, I think the extra wait is worth it. That way, I'll be able to fix potential dialogue errors that I might have missed. It's all the little things that count, you know? Anyway, there's a chance that the game will be released sometime during this weekend, so keep your hats on and stay tuned! 

 

[Luiishu535]

7 years have passed since the original, and now it's here, as it was meant and rightfully deserves to be.





 

I'm so glad that I managed to finish the game this year after all! Due to the scope and overall meat of the game (30-50+ hours of content), I'm a little surprised that I managed to have this done in less than a year. The thing is though; I could've never done this without the wonderful help that I've received. Here we go:

 

Adena:

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My good and inspiring Indonesian friend, what would I've done without you? If it weren't for your technical help, this game would suffer from the weird graphical glitch with the Caterpillar script that was evidenced in CO3. Your early testing reports were of great help as well. Thank you for everything and especially for being such a good and supporting friend. Our talks motivated me a lot to buckle and keep working hard on the game. I hope everything goes well for you in life and I can't wait to play your upcoming games!

amerk:

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It's been very nice to have an old fan of the originals still sticking around. Your critique on the early parts of the demo has been very helpful. Overall, your support and kind comments have meant a lot to me. I hope you, as an old fan, will be able to enjoy revisiting the Castle again after all these years. Thank you.

boos405:

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Your comeback truly awakened something in me. Something that I thought was long lost, together with the passing of the YT community. There's no doubt that your return motivated me. Thanks for your kind and supportive comments! I hope you'll find the game to play the game sometime. Take care and I hope your gets better!

captainregal:

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Your review gave me a lot of things to think about. I've gone back to it everyone now and then, making sure that I put the feedback I agree on in practice to the game. Thanks for taking your time to review and I hope to hear what you think about the game as a whole. An updated review for it would be really interesting.

Dalph:

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Thank you so much for kind comments and support. It really means a lot to me. As you are another fan of the originals, I can't wait to hear your thoughts on the remake. I sure hope it will live up to your expectations, and perhaps even beyond!

Frogge:

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I'm very proud to have you on-board as the game's official Pun Writer. Your puns have brought me (and others) many good laughs. Your constant support has also motivated a great deal. Uploading screenshots felt more meaningful, since I always knew that they would be followed by some form of pun (or in some cases useful critique). You are without a doubt the kindest frog that I've ever met. Hopefully, we'll be able to work on some games together in the future. Duo think that we'll make a good team? Ha! Caught you off guard with that one, didn't I?

GreatRedSpirit:

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This awesome scripting wizard has helped me out numerous time. If it weren't for your help, the Auto-Life state would've been a buggy mess. I'm also pretty sure that you helped me out with adjusting the game's max level cap. The help I've received from you have done wonders to the game on the technical side. I'm still not sure how I'll ever repay you, but I hope I get the chance to do so sometime in the future. Thank you so, so much.

kelarly

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One of my biggest idols and not just in RM, but life in general. Without you, this remake wouldn't even exist! I'm glad to see you happy with this remake and I can't wait to hear the original Lord of the Castle's thoughts on the game.I owe a lot to you, buddy! Thanks for everything.

kenlan

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A big THANK YOU, my fellow Swedish buddy. Your overall interest and observant beta-testing has been crucial to the game's completion. You've truly done an amazing job and I hope that you'll continue to enjoy my future games. Cheers!

ksjp17

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Your critique (even from CO3) has been very helpful. I tried to take as much from it as possible and use it to make this game even more polished. It's all the little things that count, right? I hope you'll have some time to replay this game sometime. I'd love to hear your wise thoughts on the finished product. Thank you very much for sharing your valuable thoughts on my games.

Linkis:

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Thank you for your continuing support. I'm really happy to see familiar faces sticking around. Let's hope that the game won't be too hard, eh? Let me know if you'd ever get stuck or need help with anything in particular.

Matseb2611

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Like ksjp17, your critique and inputs have helped me a lot to shape this game into something even shinier and more enjoyable. Feedback is so crucial, since you're always very biased with your games as a developer. I'm looking forward to hear your thoughts on the finished game and I really hope that you'll see it as a step up from CO3. Thanks for your feedback and overall support. I'm looking forward to play some of your games. Hopefully, I'll be able to return the favor.

Riff:

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Thank you for beta testing the game and finding those small errors in the dialogue. Everything counts!

the13thsecret:

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Working with you have been a blast! Overall, I think we did a good job at working together. We faced many trials together, which we thankfully managed to power through. If all goes well for us in the future, I wouldn't mind working with you again. Cheers and good job! The remake wouldn't have been as good if wasn't for your awesome talents! Cheers, buddy!

WalkerMage102:

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Thank you for bearing with me during beta testing. I know a lot of patches were made, but I think they'll all be worth it in the end. Also, thank you for your kind comments and support!

Zachfoss:

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My fellow Canadian Mango, how can I ever forget about you? Even though we may not talk as much as we used to do nowadays, I'm still thankful for the talks we've had every now and then. Thank for your love and support, bro. I haven't forgotten about OR by the way. Good luck with it!

Zaphire98:

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Your support truly motivated me during the game's development. I hope that you'll enjoy this game, as I know I'll enjoy DoR and CD. Just remember to give me a call when you need a tester/or some help with your game(s). Keep at it, you'll have your games finished soon enough!

Zodiac12:

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Thanks for your feedback on the demo! I hope you will find attacking more useful now than it was before. I'm also glad to see another fan of the original. Cheers and let me know what you think of remake!

 

I'd like to thank everyone else that have helped/supported me. If you feel left out, then don't hesitate to let me know! For now, it's time for me to take a little break and refuel my batteries. 

I want to wish everyone here a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This game is my Christmas gift to you and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I had making it!

 

Download: http://rpgmaker.net/games/7548/downloads/7704/ 

 

[Matseb2611]

Heya man. Just played for a bit and liking it so far. Definitely better than the other version I tried. Didn't come across any bugs and you've done a good job setting up the atmosphere in each location with tinting, fogs, and lighting effects. Good story hook at the start too. Some of the encounters feel a tad repetitive (the 3 skeletons one comes up quite a lot, I noticed), but at least it's possible to escape them with no problem, so that's good. I'll post more of my thoughts as I get further.

 

[Luiishu535]

Thanks! The encounters are completely random and there are actually 4 different enemies in the Cemetery Woods (Hornets, Rats, Bats and Skellies). The encounter system in VX is kind of broken though, so it might be it that's causing it. I just downloaded Harbingers of Woe and am getting ready to play it. ^^

 

[Matseb2611]

Ah Ok. Yeah, I've come across some of those in the first half of the woods (before the village), but afterwards been mostly running into skeletons. Hehe. How does VX handle the encounters?

Btw, I liked reading that diary in the main character's house. It was a nice touch, because it conveyed his grief really well.

Cool! Hope you enjoy HoW. Let me know if you get stuck or have any questions.

 

[Luiishu535]

Ah, I see. That area (before the Dark Forest (Depths) is teeming with skeletons and skeletons alone, I think. I think it handles encounters the same way as ACE. I have encounter weird issues with it though; sometimes a battle can appear after just a step or two, when the encounter is set to 100+. 

I'm glad you liked it! It's one of the last things me and my writer added before the release, so I'm glad that it was worth it. ^^

 

[Matseb2611]

Ah yeah, I think the way it handles encounters is that it takes the number you set it as, then multiplies it by two, and then picks a random number between 1 and that number. So on a map with 100 steps, encounters could trigger anywhere between 1 or 200 steps. So I guess 1-2 step encounters are still possible, but very rare. Hehe.

Good stuff. Sometimes adding nice little touches like these near the end of development really do help to enrich the game's setting.

 

[Luiishu535]

Ah, then that makes sense. So, in other words, only people who are really unlucky will get a battle by walking 1 step. xD

Yeah, things like these really do matter. The main reason the diary was added was because we didn't want players to dislike Vincent too much for what he did. I personally enjoyed the fact that he's no perfect hero that would throw himself through fire and flames just to save some random NPC that he's never even met. I think his imperfection makes him a lot more human and easier to relate to. This has also left Vincent a lot of room for character development, which I enjoy. 

 

[Matseb2611]

Oh yeah, I agree. He might be a noble knight and all, but he is still human. I think him fleeing in the face of terror was a normal thing to do, and it's only afterwards his guilt kicked in. The diary was a great way to see what emotion he went through and how this guilt consumed his whole life. That's pretty much what happens in real life too, so really great touch there.

Btw, I've beaten the liche/wraith lord in the forest depths and got a new party member. Challenging fight, but not unfair. It's good to have a tank in the party now.

 

[Luiishu535]

Awesome! That boss used to be very unforgiving, but thankfully that changed during the beta. Hanz has a pretty important role in combat, as he can deal some really nasty status effects to the enemies. In this game, most bosses are also weak to usual status effects like Poison, Blind, Stun etc.

 

[Luiishu535]

I just wanted to chime in and thank everyone for helping the game reach over a 1000 downloads! It really means a lot to me; to get rewarded for something that I've poured so much time and effort into. I hope that everyone who's decided to give the game a shot has enjoyed it thus far! Also, I forgot to update you guys on a little something that happened over at RMN some time ago. Something that could possibly be a message from Satan himself!

I've noticed something really strange lately...

Could this game somehow be...approved by Satan himself? If so...I guess I'll just take it as a compliment. Thanks dude!




Is Vincent possessed? Well, I'm afraid that we may never receive an answer to that. Only time will tell...or yet another cryptic message.

 

[Luiishu535]

Yo-yo-yo! Long time no see, homies! I've finally decided to take my next step as a developer to join the somewhat huge indie website called Game Jolt! The first game I have posted is this one (mainly since it's the game I'm most proud of so far). You can check it out right here: Castle Oblivion: Remake - Game Jolt Edition.


I also want to let you guys know that I am indeed working on my 5th game ATM, which should be revealed pretty soon (it's a pretty short game, so it won't take too long for it to release either!). If you're a fan of Adventure games, then make sure to stay tuned!


Thanks for all of the support and kind comments so far!

 

[Anthony Xue]

Hi there. Just started it, but as soon as I leave the house and get into the village (Port area), things are becoming -in-cre-dib-ly lag-gy. So slow, in fact, that it wasn't much fun anymore, and my machine is not a slow one. Any advice?

 

[Luiishu535]

I have never experienced any lag during my playthroughs of the game. Do you have a lot of different windows/programs up and running meanwhile you play the game? You don't need a PC with the latest tech to play the game without lag, heck, even my PC is pretty old and I experience zero lag.

 

[EnderRydel]

I also seem to be having a problem with lag. It was noticeable in Port Brinks and a few other maps, but not bad enough to break the game or make me unable to play.


However, once I hit the Great Sea area it became so bad that I literally couldn't even move the ship without pausing the game constantly to bring up the menu. I managed to crawl my way through the lag to the Northern Coast but now that I have to explore the sea again to find the entrance to the pirate's lair, I don't think I'm going to be able to continue. The lag is so bad that it's literally unplayable. I think it might have something to do with the size of the map, though I'm not sure.


Given, my computer is a hot piece of ****, so it could be I simply lack the processing power. It's odd though, as I've never experienced such debilitating lag with other RPG maker games. 

 

[Luiishu535]

The Great Sea is one of, if not the biggest map in the game. The main reason for the lag is the amount of events (treasure chests, animations, animals, transfer points, etc.). Since the PC I'm using was (and still is) pretty old and behind (tech-wise) when I developed the game, I never thought that this would become a problem for players since the game ran perfectly on my (under-powered) PC.


I'll see what I can do against the lag. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience. This is something that I'll have to be extra careful with now while I develop my games. Thanks for letting me know about this and I'm sorry for the late reply!