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[IbizaPocholo]

This is from the Linkedin account of Marie Rouzié, the game's writer.

Main Narrative Designer and Writer on Castlevania Belmont's Curse:

Narrative Direction:
- Create the narrative direction of the game by taking into account:
o The IP core elements
o The game vision from the Creative Director and the publisher which includes an ambitious narrative
o The budget and team size
The narrative direction includes the setting of the game, the tone, the core themes, the player fantasy and the narrative philosophy (pushed vs pulled) to provide an ambitious narrative.
- Proposal and feedbacks to the Level Art teams and Character Art teams to create levels and characters coherent with the IP, the setting, the tone, the character sheets and the world building.

Narrative Design:
- Crafting the plot of the game through Word documents (core flow) and flow charts (core flow with its branches and optional contents) in order to help visualize the story within a non-linear game.
- Create a wide cast of 25 characters, including the main character, along with their personality, their backstory, their relationship to one another, the symbolism they represent within the game and their way of speaking.
- Design narrative systems to make the narration not only interactable but interesting and responding to the player actions: dialogue systems, conditions systems, quest systems.
- Quest design, including main quest and sub-quests, all fueling the player fantasy.
- Implement all narrative content within Unity and Yarn (a scripting system designed for narrative designers).

Writing:
- Write cinematics, in-game cutscenes (boss introduction and end, characters introduction, key narrative points) and dialogues for all 25 characters. Keep the writing quality consistent throughout the game and make the characters evolve as the player progresses.
- Write gameplay barks, item descriptions and Codex descriptions.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I hope it's Simon Questy. I love Simon's Quest games.

 

[L*][*N*K]

I am very excited for this game, like RPG Elements

 

[Toots]

I won't be too hyped, the head writer comes from Sciences Po (po as in chamber pot), which is the greatest school in France to learn shit, as the name suggest.

 

[Sentenza]

Too bad it can't feature a good art style.

 

[MrJangles]

Off my list then. Fucking hate rpg's.

 

[RoboFu]

Good , love it!

 

[tamago84]

I hope it's Simon Questy. I love Simon's Quest games.

Simon quest and link 2 and faxanadu were definitely interesting games of its era

 

[Herbspiceguy]

dialogue systems, conditions systems, quest systems.

More like 'metroidvania has metroidvania systems'.

 

[Hudo]

Bring Castlevania Symphony of the Night to Steam, you motherfuckers. Or don't... in which case I'll just continue emulating it.

 

[cireza]

Good. Let them cook.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Playing Chronicles Of The Wolf right now and if Konami had released this with maybe 10% additional polish/budget as a Castlevania title, phew.

MagiusNecros are you playing this btw?? Simon's Quest all over it

 

[Salz01]

Uhm …. 25 characters in game? … sweet Jesus.

 

[AJUMP23]

The game looks and sounds great. I want to play.

 

[R6Rider]

Game looks awesome.

And that song in the trailer....

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

One of my most anticipated games, Castlevania is finally fucking back

 

[adamsapple]

 

[diffusionx]

Symphony of the Night had RPG elements, what's the problem

 

[The Cockatrice]

Expected. At the very least they all want the Hollow Knight success.

 

[Zacfoldor]

I hope it's Simon Questy. I love Simon's Quest games.

There are some things I loved about it. but...

 

[Fbh]

I don't think anyone expected otherwise. RPG elements have been a part of the franchise since SOTN.
It was very unlikely they were going to bring back the franchise and do it in the simpler style of the original games.

 

[Sub_Level]

Off my list then. Fucking hate rpg's.

The trailer had damage numbers, dafuq.

 

[Zannegan]

RPG combat, gear, and progression systems would be great, but all this talk about the ambitious narrative has me nervous. Having 25+ characters isn't exactly a selling point if we're going to be dealing with modern Western character and narrative design.

Don't get me wrong, I liked some of the twists and turns of Soma Cruz's adventures, but the story mostly stayed out of the way, which was for the best. The writing set up a few epic moments and reveals, but let the player do most of the storytelling through exploration and gameplay.

I'm still hoping for the best, but devoting so much time to something that, for my money, should be ancillary is a little worrisome. This might be over the top as the games aren't at all similar, but this focus on the wrong thing kind of reminds me of all the Concord team's talk about cinematics.

 

[MiguelItUp]

I'm still really excited about this, even if I wish the art style was different. I won't let that completely sway me.

 

[Metnut]

Was on the fence but this seals it, just preordered.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Playing Chronicles Of The Wolf right now and if Konami had released this with maybe 10% additional polish/budget as a Castlevania title, phew.

MagiusNecros are you playing this btw?? Simon's Quest all over it

No but thanks for letting me know.

-------------

I hope cast of 25 characters isn't including big name bosses. But it likely is.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

No but thanks for letting me know.

-------------

I hope cast of 25 characters isn't including big name bosses. But it likely is.

It's essentially a commercially released fan game. It's Simon's Quest Classicvania with SOTN elements, great art and music and actually a cool story with fun characters, day/night cycle and all. Its on sale for $15 here and well worth it. I played for like 4 hours yesterday.

 

[WhiteWaterM00se]

Man, sounds like skill tree's to upgrade systems and possible branching game paths. Feels very Castlevania III.

Which is still my favorite Castlevania. This could go either way, but i am optimistic!

 

[Chittagong]

It's rare to see these days that someone can so clearly articulate what their actual job was. Impressive.

 

[John Bilbo]

I'll probably skip this one. I very much prefer classic vania.

 

[ssringo]

There are some things I loved about it. but...

You're not wrong but Infernax is very Simon's Questy and is pretty great.

Spoiler

 

[Little Mac]

Sounds great to me. Day one.

 

[videogamedude]

so fucking hyped for this game... everything about it looks hot

 

[Madflavor]

Off my list then. Fucking hate rpg's.

Why was it on your list to begin with? Castlevania games have had RPG Elements since the Clinton Administration.

 

[Madonis]

I think that sounds promising. I appreciate both types of Castlevania games, but personally prefer the RPG-like elements from SOTN and the DS releases, so building on that model is a good thing.

I assume those "25 characters" include a lot of named NPCs such as shopkeepers, villagers, etc. and various enemy bosses who show up throughout the story. Which, again, isn't a problem.

 

[MrJangles]

Why was it on your list to begin with? Castlevania games have had RPG Elements since the Clinton Administration.

Bloodlines, Castlevania 4 and Rebirth were huge favourites. I had no time for any of the others (yes, even sotn!), was hoping this might have been a straight up action platformer.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

You're not wrong but Infernax is very Simon's Questy and is pretty great.

Spoiler

Thanks for reminding me to get this game.

 

[Ristifer]

This just makes me more excited for this one.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

In a 2D game I prefer simpler action. Anyway, this looks too great to be bothered by badly implemented RPG elements, worst case scenario.