Interactive Poster for Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

This poster is for Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Konami, 1989).

This poster uses music and sound effects by Hidenori Maezawa, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, and Yoshinori Sasaki. This project is not intended for profit or personal gain.

Help Trevor Belmont reveal the title of his adventure, and maybe find a snack on the way. Move with the left and right arrow keys, jump with Z, and attack with X.

I chose this game because I wanted to give others the feeling I had when I played it. My goal was to have a brief teaser of everything Castlevania III has to offer: excellent music, satisfying control of the player character, secret easter eggs, and a rich gothic aesthetic. I only wish I had time to include the steep difficulty! 

This is the closest thing I've made to a 2D platformer game, so it was challenging learning how it worked at first. I thought allowing the player to explore a little before seeing the name of the game would create a sense of mystery. Initially, I wanted to have a short level, but that turned out to be way too tough. The hardest part by far was getting the 2D gravity physics to work properly.

Here was the order in which I tackled the project:

1. 2D Physics

3. Palette

4. Spritework

5. Background

6. Interaction

7. Sound

8. Wall Chicken

Followed by bug fixes, mostly the hit detection and collision with the wall on the left. This project definitely taught me a lot of things I shouldn't do when programming a large-scale game with lots of objects and levels. I feel like a stronger programmer regardless.

Features of the poster (SPOILERS):

You can attack the gear in just the right spot to reveal the title of the game.

Break the blocks on the left side for some tasty Wall Chicken.