Blogs => Player Blogs => Topic started by: chud575 on January 09, 2019, 09:30:51 am
Title: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 09, 2019, 09:30:51 am
Hi Guys,
My name is Josh Chudnovsky, and for the last 5 years I've been tinkering with an homage to Donkey Kong aptly titled "Castle Kong". The story about PauperBoy saving PrincessGirl from the evil BaronMan. And I'm happy to say I've finally finished it. There's even a cabinet!
This seemed like the most relevant place to post this. What I was hoping to do was share the game here and get some feedback. I'd also like to extend an invite to the 40 players who have scored 1,000,000+ pts to a streaming, winner take all, 10k$ grand prize tournament. If you know one of these great players please let them know for me, and I will be trying to reach out to each of them separately as well.
I will be posting more about the game on this thread, some screens, etc, and answering any questions.
If you want to check out the webpage, that's http://www.drowningmonkeys.com/castle-kong/ (http://www.drowningmonkeys.com/castle-kong/)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: danman123456 on January 09, 2019, 09:50:59 am
Thats very cool! Just checked the website I'm sure the Top 40 folks (and anyone else for that matter) would love to help you out as much as I can (with 10,000 things ive got going on) with this project!
Shoot me a message i think im still 21st or 22nd or something :D
Dan!
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: hooch66 on January 09, 2019, 11:56:52 am
I'm nowhere near top anything in this game but this looks really cool.
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 09, 2019, 02:45:48 pm
Thats very cool! Just checked the website I'm sure the Top 40 folks (and anyone else for that matter) would love to help you out as much as I can (with 10,000 things ive got going on) with this project!
Shoot me a message i think im still 21st or 22nd or something :D
Dan!
Awesome, thanks Dan
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 09, 2019, 02:46:30 pm
How about the million point Donkey Kong Junior players? Kappa
You will be invited to the Castle Kong Jr. tournament! :-)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: Bliss1083 on January 10, 2019, 10:51:00 am
Is there a deadline for a million point player to get in on the action? Od love a crack at it and maybe would push more of us to up our scores. Way feb1st deadline?
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 11, 2019, 05:25:11 am
Is there a deadline for a million point player to get in on the action? Od love a crack at it and maybe would push more of us to up our scores. Way feb1st deadline?
Lots of time. We are getting close to the beta. That's when everyone on this forum who wants one will get a beta key. Then I'll be using your feedback to tweak the levels, that could take another solid 30 days. Then we'll run the tournament on launch day. Btw your DK score can be on Arcade, Mame, or as far as I'm concerned, Switch (which i dont know if is counted here).
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: Bliss1083 on January 11, 2019, 08:02:21 am
Awesome thanks Chud.
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: homerwannabee on January 11, 2019, 02:45:28 pm
How about the million point Donkey Kong Junior players? Kappa
You will be invited to the Castle Kong Jr. tournament! :-)
That works! 8)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 27, 2019, 07:07:12 am
Hi guys,
so, as we get nearer to the beta, I thought I'd start discussing each stage; how they work, and where they got their inspiration.
You'll notice the term 'stage'. Staying true to DK, a level is a combination of stages, and our stage progression mirrors DK's.
Let's start with Stage 1: The Castle Wall (https://i.ibb.co/9WsNZYy/CKStage1.png)
Based on:The Barrel Stage Main obstacle in DK:barrels Main obstacle in CK:Oil Goops
Like in DK - as you get from Level 1 to Level 3 and beyond, the barrel stage gets consistently harder and then tops off either on the 3rd iteration or shortly thereafter. Here, you will face 1 vat of falling oil, and then incrementally more until there are 3 vats.
One of the trickiest parts of the design of this stage which I've had much less problem with on stages 2-4, and I believe I'm not done tweaking it yet, is being original while staying true to the intent of the barrel stage. The whole point of the barrel stage is to overwhelm you with incoming projectiles and force you into a mistake. As opposed to the elevator stage (timing) or the rivet stage (strategy), this stage is about controlled mayhem. It would've been all too easy to just make 4 ramps and have you jump over the oil nonstop and point press.
In CK, instead of 1 source (Donkey Kong) firing barrels galore at you, BaronMan has installed 3 vats that turn over flaming hot oil. Similar to DK, in CK the oil can land on a specific platform and start oozing it's way down until it leaves the screen entirely.
On the first ramp, you will encounter a knight. He can be avoided altogether, or killed with the pitchfork. On the second ramp is a moving platform that requires expert timing and also watching out above you as you will be pray to falling oil on ramp three are platforms that move up and down and require watching the oil pattern to decide when to go for it.
Climbing to the top of the castle wall forces BaronMan to grab PrincessGirl and get outta town.
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: Weehawk on January 27, 2019, 07:58:43 am
Seems oddly similar to this game from 2013:
Kappa
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: creech on January 27, 2019, 08:03:07 am
<Allen>
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 27, 2019, 02:08:31 pm
Yeah that was my original concept from 2013 (The cabinet is that old as well). I shelved the game because I wasn't happy with it. About a year ago a friend convinced me to finish it and so here I am. I'll take that down I guess... probably not good for promotion moving forward ;)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 27, 2019, 02:10:37 pm
anyways... more stage recaps coming soon.
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: Robert on January 27, 2019, 10:31:03 pm
I'll take that down I guess... probably not good for promotion moving forward ;)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on January 30, 2019, 09:11:34 am
Onto Stage 2.....
(https://i.ibb.co/prb947S/CKStage2.png) Name: The Courtyard Based on: The Spring Stage Main obstacle in DK: Springs Main obstacle in CK: Bouncy Cannonballs
"The Courtyard" isn't meant to be too hard, like the spring stage in DK, you can get to the final part fairly easily, and also there is a hidden shortcut.
Stage 2 introduces the archer's secondary weapon, the cannon...
And for the savvy player, a point press spot... (https://i.imgur.com/HVx1CY7.gif)
But most importantly, it features a very specific (on the 2nd go round of the stage) set of tosses that need to be timed if you hope to reach BaronMan (https://i.imgur.com/AJzxoRr.gif)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on April 22, 2019, 08:31:05 am
Hi Folks! Well I've got some good news. We're ready to launch the Beta of the game. We'll be uploading the beta to Steam today, and it will be open only to members of this forum.
Further - upon further consideration, the tournament will be open to all members of this forum, and im going to have a bounty for the first person to hit the kill screen.
Also - we're partnering with Haruman Customs to create mini arcades, which will be a reward tier in our Kickstarter!
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on April 23, 2019, 05:38:45 am
DM me if you'd like a key, thanks!
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on April 24, 2019, 01:03:19 pm
After some battling with GameSparks, it looks like the game is finally working, though the current build breaks on L1s2, will be fixed tonight or tomorrow! (Probably should put up a version #)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on April 25, 2019, 04:05:48 pm
Ok folks, the 1st stable build is finally up. We fixed all our critical labeled bugs, added a top 10 leaderboard to the main menu, and ive set the first high score at 70k. Who thinks they can beat that?!
(https://i.imgur.com/wcJzyhn.png)
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on April 26, 2019, 03:43:55 am
Sorry fellas - im also learning as we move along here. Steam is tricky. After you enter your code, right click on the game in library and select 'properties'. then select the 'betas' tab, and select the "beta - Beta for DK Forum members" from the pulldown, this will give you the most up-to-date build
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: DaLar on April 30, 2019, 05:03:55 pm
Reached a tuff obstacle; erratic balls :) Ends on board 11 (level 4-2) Courtyard 3rd time.
Title: Re: Castle Kong Dev Blog
Post by: chud575 on May 01, 2019, 07:42:16 am