Akumajō Dracula X: Opera of the Red Moon

[Gemini]

General Info
Genre: Metroidvania
Language: Multi 6 (Eng, Ita, Fra, Spa, Ger, Jap)
Developer: NO-Maki! (aka myself)
Platform: Playstation
No. of Players: 1
No. of Discs: 1

Description
This project was created a long time before Order of Ecclesia, and it was going to introduce the first female heroine ever in a metroidvania, but Shanoa stole Maria's spotlight. So what is it now? It's just a prototype with a cool main character who can blow up a demonic castle using only two fingers. Oh no, that was the Saturn version of Maria. This one should be a lot more balanced and a little more complicated. She will be able to use items, and other goodies already implemented in the kernel database. It's also supposed to have a mini-world map, and I swear I didn't copy this from Ecclesia game.
At the moment Sin (character designer) and I are the only ones working on the game. I really need a couple people for all the gfx (many monsters will be ripped from other Castlevania games, fortunately), and somebody else for sound and music. :/ I wanna see Maria in her stabbing pose (she lacks the frames). Feel free to send me a PM if you're interested!

Features

• Maria will be able to use weapons (for the first time ever, woot);
  
• Elemental orbs, used for particular spells;
  
• Special abilities, like the "MEGA! Buster" from Saturn Maria;
  
• Shen-mue/God of War "tap a button!" scenes;
  
• Abuse of the environment or weird strategies to kill some of the bosses;
  
• The "guide" option implemented in the DS Castlevanias;
  
• Many seekitz!
  

Story
First of all, there's no Dracula in here! This game is supposed to be a gaiden, so it will take some elements of the original story, but without making up absurd stuff typical of homebrew projects.
The game takes place 1,5 years before Symphony of the Night, a few months before Richter goes missing. I can't really tell what the story is about, but it will involve some organization called the Zodiac Society, whose base is located in Serbia. How does Maria get there? You will find out as soon as a demo is out. :p

Screenshots

PC build of the engine, used for fast&simple debugging (very limited at the moment).


The real thing running.


Equipment menu.

Sketches:



Links
Blog of the project.