DUNGEONS & DOOMKNIGHTS: An 8-bit AdventureQuest for the NES
Created by Artix Entertainment, LLC
Battle through a new 8-bit "zeldavania" game in the world of AdventureQuest. Available on a real NES Cartridge and emulators.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Dungeons & DoomKnights Sneak Peek Screenshots
over 4 years ago
– Wed, Jul 31, 2019 at 07:33:53 PM
Greetings 8-Bit Undead Slayers,
Been fighting with some monster & projectile bugs for the next Boss Monster Fight test... so writing to distract you with shiny sneak peek screenshots XD
*Artix uses the skill Post animated GIF...it is super effective!*
Atop the mountain sits the DoomKnight's undead flying Dragon Castle. It has not taken to the sky yet... but when it does, the DoomKnight will launch an undead assault that will devour the world. Of course, our hero is preoccupied with another issue at the moment....
A DoomKnight's armor is cursed. Their talking weapon is cursed. But being able to command liches, death knights, and mummies? Priceless*.
(*Actual cost: Soul)
Home is where you hang your helm.... except, our hero does not wear a helm. Ever living on the edge when riding a dragon or chair boarding (shot that video in 2012). The new pixel art is really taking the game to the next level.
This past week, I have been working on the Despyramid (Dispair + Pyramid) Boss fights and unlockable Hero Skills. Which makes sense... these fights are intended to make use of your new skills.
On topic of new skills... I am working on adding a boat. Well, more like a plank. Useful in the open waters to evade sharks. But not so much in the sand sea desert where there are sand sharks. (No, really... we added sand sharks in the desert. You'll see soon enough in the next Boss Fight test.)
Battle on!
Artix
P.S. You unlocked the "Your name in the Credits" stretch goal. If you would like to see what a credits page is like, check out the credits we created (a.k.a. "Wall of Moglin Legends") and just released for the backers of our previous Kickstarter.
"Undead by Dawn!" - Moglins, Production, & Pharaoh of the Black Hole Sun
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, Jul 22, 2019 at 02:09:50 AM
"Undead by Dawn!" - Moglins, Production, & Pharaoh of the Black Hole Sun
Greetings and salutations 8-Bit Undead Slayer,
So, when is the best time to hunt the evil undead? At night when they are out of their crypts lurking? During the day when the Vampires are in their coffins? How about dawn or dusk... that magical in-between time when both the living and not-so-living are both at a disadvantage? In the case of ancient evil (including the Mummy)... no time is good. Because when someone wakes up from a nap that long, they are going to be grumpy!
A lot has happened since we last talked. Time to catch up!
We shipped 10,755 Plush Moglins to players all over the world
It has been an amazing (and craaazy) past few weeks here at the Artix Entertainment secret underground lab (still on the second floor). We just shipped 10,755 plush Moglins to the backers of our previous Kickstarter campaign, AdventureQuest: Moglins. It was a MEGA SUCCESS!!!
As a backer yourself, it is probably a lil’ bit reassuring to know we take our projects to the finish line :D Second, I am really proud of our extremely dedicated team. We did not simply fulfill our last Kickstarter— we over-delivered. The love from the players has been overwhelming. It feels good. Really good. And lastly, I know there are some amazing backers here who did not know us prior to the Dungeons and DoomKnights NES project... and probably did not know this Moglins thing was going on (or what a Moglin is.)
Yup! You will meet 8-bit versions of the Moglins in Dungeons and DoomKnights too. Finding as many as possible will be VERY important to your character. Moglins are magical forest creatures that help and ally themselves with heroes. They can be found across nearly all of our video games.
Dungeons and DoomKnights Production Schedule
We are now officially scheduled for an October cart flashing. The deadline crunch is on. But this should give us sufficient time for everything through testing and approvals. We will also be doing printed materials & assembly around that time. In the mean time, I will keep your unquenchable thirst for battling the evil undead at bay with more boss fight challenge tests.
"You'll poke yer eyes out, kid..."
Despyramid & The Pharaoh of the Black Hole Sun
The ancient undead are not to be trifled with. The undying Pharaoh of the Black Hole sun (Um, yes... I start singing that song every time I read that too) has gotten a few different boss fight treatments so far. None of which, in my opinion, hit the high note of "insane" but "not impossible" challenge you asked for after the Vampire Queen Fight yet. This is a good encounter for that because you will not reach this boss until much later in the game (unless you are crazy).
"Mummies!? We're ancient Gamer Dads!"
One of the new skills I foreshadowed in the last update is "Ward Ebil". This secondary skill consumes 1 skull to cast a momentary shield that reflects enemy projectiles back at them. I had been waiting to post an update until the fight was ready for you to test, but it needs to cook in the oven a bit more. Maybe we should just release the Chickencow fight for you to test first? O_o. I do not want your undead fighting thumbs sitting there idle... let me see what I can do for you this week :D
8-Bit Dungeons & DoomKnights Chiptunes!
almost 5 years ago
– Tue, Jul 09, 2019 at 12:21:28 AM
8-Bit Dungeons & DoomKnights Chiptunes
Greetings 8-Bit Undead Slayers,
Are you a fan of 8-bit music? Dungeons & DoomKnights' sound track includes seven original 8-bit chiptunes by Jongaar. Presenting the official track list!
Crypt Crusader
Symphony of the Knight
Despyramid
Labyrinth of Chaos
Moglin Magic
Dungeons & DoomKnights
Undead Assault (Artix's Theme)
"Wow, that sure seems like a lot of songs!" ...and your right. Too many. We have way more Jongaar music than cart space O_O. So, it is likely that some of the songs will only be in the CHAOS ROM. But if your pledge tier includes the soundtrack, then you will get all of them! And also...
Heavy Metal Remix
Inspired by some of our favorite heavy metal retro game re-mixes... Jongaar is doing a special version of our favorite songs from the Dungeons & DoomKnights soundtrack. So far he has done "Despyramid" (Despair + Pyramid = XD) and the vampire themed "Symphony of the Knight which you heard in the recent Boss Fight test. (Although, the web version seemed to play the song waaaay too fast.)
In our first backer-only post, you got a peek at the Vampire Castle and helped us test out the vampire queen boss fight. Your feedback was amazing! Thank you :D
Turns out, we have impressively skilled retro-gamers who want the game to be HARD. Please remind me to make some of the CHAOS ROM bosses virtually impossible to beat so, if you do beat it, you get legit bragging rights. The Vampire Queen was a great first test. As a skill based challenge, even new players who insta-died on their first try were able to learn the sequence of events-- and once mastered, they could consistently beat her every time. Safiria is a pretty early boss, so this fight should be medium difficulty.
Difficulty boost in the fairest and best way...
Bats fly longer and change direction when colliding with a wall (instead of dying)
Speed of both Bats and Vampire Queen adjusted (66.6% more wicked)
The Vampire Queen is harmful while in bat form
NOTE: I did not update the web version with these changes yet. Busily breaking the new Holy Wasabi special skill. (It is like Holy Water, but more practical for re-animated Sushi)
Also fixed a gazillion tiny bugs and side glitches...
There were a ton of glitches and bugs in the test. (Some intentional... like the weird select bug) Thank you to everyone who diligently discovered and tested them. I have fixes for almost all of them complete. Except for that weird glitchy line of static that happens when the game is secretly saving right before you walk into the boss room.
Chaos Labyrinth vs Despyramid
As hinted in the song names, two areas you will be exploring are the Chaos Labyrinth and the Despyramid. They will have interesting boss fights too... but you will need to use new skills to overcome them.
Battle on!
Artix
P.S. Did you try that new idle game we made with the creator of Cookie Clicker yet? IdleQuest is available free now as part of the new Artix Games Launcher.
Vampire Queen Boss Fight & New Music
almost 5 years ago
– Sat, Jun 29, 2019 at 01:57:43 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Gold Carts & Moglins & the Byte Off Awards!
almost 5 years ago
– Tue, Jun 18, 2019 at 02:09:49 AM
Greetings 8-Bit Undead Slayers,
What an amazing way to kick off a new week. This morning, we were informed that the ship sailing our 27,000 plush Moglins from our other Kickstarter just docked in the Port of Tampa. They must have found gold out there on the high seas.... because also this morning, we received three giant boxes filed with 700 GOLD NES Carts!
700 Gold NES Carts
Gold Carts Ahoy!
Love it when a plan comes together. Considering how challenging these were to find/acquire/produce, I cannot believe how insanely quickly they arrived. The quality is amazing! You are going to love them. I do.
But the Gold Carts don't have souls... yet.
Like the main DoomKnight villain of our NES game, these gold carts are currently hollow on the inside. Well, technically there are some screws in there. We need to stuff these carts (and the gray ones too) with the finished game, pcb boards, and all the other final physical things (instruction manual, box, sleeve, etc).
Next week, to help get Dungeons and DoomKnights to the finish line, how about I send you a demo of the new never before seen game area? That is, if you want to help test an area and a boss fight. This is completely optional of course. So, if you only want to experience the full, finished game... do not download the testing ROMs when they become available. But there's going to be a Vampire in this first one. So good luck resisting her alluringly pixelated 8-bit charms XD
Last night was the Byte-Off 2019 awards. Dale Coop won "The New 8-Bit Hero" award which is a special award for the person who contributed and helped the community of NESMakers the most. Oh man did he deserve it.
Dungeons & DoomKnights would never have been possible without help of Dale Coop. He used his assembly language programming skills to add new features to our game from axe throwing, reflective shields, and even being able to save. He is friendly, helpful, and one of the most amazing people I have met in the NESMaker community. Way to go Dale Coop!
Battle on!
Artix
P.S. Be sure to keep an eye on my Twitter & Facebook this week... our game studio is about to be flooded by 27,000 Moglins and... no matter how this goes down, I am going to take LOTS AND LOTS pictures for you.
