Castlevania: The Adventure papercraft diorama

@BLEAGH: Yeah, I also like how the cottonballs turned out. Originally, I was just going to do a waterline layer in front of the columns/platforms, but that would have looked kind of hokey, so that's when the idea of putting cotton, to represent fog/mist, occured to me, and it worked out brilliantly.

@Jon: Rushifell sitting in a chair probably wouldn't be the most exciting looking thing in three dimensions (it'd probably end up something like the Wizardry one below, except with a darker background and a smaller status box at the bottom). By the way, I don't know if it's just a glitch, or intentional, but have you ever seen some of Rushifell's projectiles turn into Firebrand sprites when you're fighting him? I've had that happen on more that one occasion, and it always struck me as strange.

I don't have any plans to do anything with electronic lights at the moment, but you never know. I imagine that it wouldn't be too hard to incorporate flashing LEDs into a diorama. If I were designing something like that, I'd probably make a hollow cardboard compartment, in the back of the diorama, mount the batteries, wires, switch, etc. in there, and then run the lights through holes into the front display area of the diorama. A motor would also be kind of a neat thing to incorporate, as you could make something like a working clock tower scene, with spinning gears, from Castlevania.

For Trip World I was thinking maybe the giant cake at the beginning of the food-themed stage, or that bridge area with the goofy owl you can knock off the screen. I also like that silly big cat that chases you around but doesn't actually harm you.


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For my fifth video game papercraft diorama, I selected a battle scene from ASCII's 1992 Wizardry Side Story II: Curse of the Ancient Emperor [original Japanese title: ウィザードリィ・外伝II:古代皇帝の呪い (Uiza-dorii Gaiden II: Kodai Koutei no Noroi)]. Said game was recently fan-translated into English--while I didn't do any work whatsoever on the actual hacking/reprogramming side of things (I don't know the first thing about that kind of stuff), I was credited with a consulting role, as the team utilized the monster and item translations that I had done, some time ago, for my colorized bestiary/guide for said title.

Here's the reference screenshot I worked from. Note that it's from the original, official Japanese version, the katakana characters, at the top left, マイルッフィク, spell out Maelific's name in Japanese phonetics, which romanizes as "Mairufikku". My party member's names are in English, because the game gives you the choice of using hiragana, katakana, or the English alphabet when you name them. I also edited out the plus sign, after BishopG's name, which indicates that he's equipped with an item that provides hit point regeneration, to give the party's names/stats a more consistent look. If you're curious, the "G" in BishopG's name stands for "Good", as in Good alignment. The Bishop character class must be of either Good or Evil alignment, not Neutral--the gods don't like fence-sitters--and I often create a Bishop of each alignment, for use in respectively-aligned parties, hence the "G" or "E" to tell them apart at a glance.



The decision to make this simple diorama was actually a result of my failure to make the steel latticed columns in my Operation C diorama the way that I wanted to. Because I ended up wasting all the graphics I had initially printed for said columns, trying out different designs, I needed to produce some more in order to finish that project.



As it would have been a waste to just print out nothing but the column graphics (two copies, in case I messed up again), I also put the components for this simple Wizardry Side Story II: Curse of the Ancient Emperor Maelific battle diorama on there, the fifteen characters, two pets, and three item drops from Samurai Shodown (熱闘 サムライスピリッツ or Nettou Samurai Supiritsu, which romanizes as Fierce Fighting: Samurai Spirits), and, finally, the twelve fighters from Fatal Fury 2 (熱闘 餓狼 伝説2 あらたなる たたかい or Nettou Garou Densetsu 2, Aratanaru Tatakai, which romanizes as "Fierce Fighting: Legend of the Hungry Wolf 2, The New Battle", which was never released outside of Japan). It took some creative arranging, but I squeezed all of that stuff onto one piece of paper!



As this was a relatively quick/easy project (start-to-finish, it only took part of the day), I didn't take any progress/construction photos this time. I separated the Maelific sprite into several layers/components, glued those back together, with spacers in between them, to give him some depth, and turned the party member names and hit points list into a box-within-a box to make it more visually interesting in 3-dimensional space.



Group shot of the five papercraft dioramas I've made so far:



Oh yeah, I also got some official recognition/love for these from Konami UK:

http://www.konami.co.uk/2014/06/24/mark-patraws-konami-dioramas/

Awesome stuff.

One day I'll rename this subforum to "M's Place of Creativity".

M said:

@Jon: Rushifell sitting in a chair probably wouldn't be the most exciting looking thing in three dimensions (it'd probably end up something like the Wizardry one below, except with a darker background and a smaller status box at the bottom). By the way, I don't know if it's just a glitch, or intentional, but have you ever seen some of Rushifell's projectiles turn into Firebrand sprites when you're fighting him? I've had that happen on more that one occasion, and it always struck me as strange.

I don't have any plans to do anything with electronic lights at the moment, but you never know. I imagine that it wouldn't be too hard to incorporate flashing LEDs into a diorama. If I were designing something like that, I'd probably make a hollow cardboard compartment, in the back of the diorama, mount the batteries, wires, switch, etc. in there, and then run the lights through holes into the front display area of the diorama. A motor would also be kind of a neat thing to incorporate, as you could make something like a working clock tower scene, with spinning gears, from Castlevania.

For Trip World I was thinking maybe the giant cake at the beginning of the food-themed stage, or that bridge area with the goofy owl you can knock off the screen. I also like that silly big cat that chases you around but doesn't actually harm you.

Click to expand...

On Rushifell, yes, I have seen him throw out Firebrand sprites. Doesn't happen very often. I've beaten the game over 300 times in the 20 years I've owned the game and, it's happened under 5 times for me.

Since you've played the game as much as I have...have you ever seen the super version of Zundo Druer? He's the first boss in the game but, he can also be fought on the world map as a random encounter. I've only run into him 5 or so times in the many times I've beaten the game. Not any harder...he just takes like 50+ Magic Buster hits to kill but, fights exactly the same.

There's also a bug in the ending when Firebrand comes up. You press down and A as he's firing the Darkfire and he falls through the floor. Doesn't freeze up the game. It goes right to the "Presented by Capcom" screen after that.

As for Trip World, I'd go for the forest level with the owl. I love how that level has layered backgrounds and it would be neat to see as a diorama.

Jon

Takumaji: Lol, then I'd REALLY get a swollen head. It is a bit of a shame that more people don't post artwork here, considering how large Neo-Geo.com's membership is.

Jon:
I don't think I've ever encountered the Super Zundo Druer you described--does he appear in a specific area on the over world, or can it be anywhere? Is he worth a shitload of vials if you beat him? I've never encountered that Darkfire glitch in the ending either, but then, I usually don't press anything during an ending unless a game prompts me to do so or I want to skip it and go back to the title screen.

I'll be honest and say I'm not sure where I've fought him exactly. I THINK it's near the end of the game where you're trying to figure out which cave leads to Rushifell's level. You don't get anything special for beating him. IIRC, it was 4 vials. First time I saw him, I was like "HOLY CRAP!!"

The ending glitch is something I found about 20 years ago. I do it every time, too. Even works in the Virtual Console version on 3DS. I guess whoever programmed that part of the ending didn't think to make that part of the ground solid. He sinks like a rock to the VERY bottom of the screen.

Jon

Wow .
I saw your Nemesis on shmups but didn't know you already made so many .
They are totally awesome .

The Foot Clan will fall!!! This will be a diorama of Michelangelo down in the sewers from Stage 1 of Konami's TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan. I'll probably stick several Foot Soldiers and Mousers in there too, and maybe some of those bats and Tubular Transports (the heli-bug things).





I didn't take any photos, but I've been slowly, but steadily, cutting out and gluing together all those Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury 2 sprites too, and mounting them on transparent plastic stands. I've got twenty done so far (9 FF2, and 11 SS) with seven more left to go. They're not hard to do, just tedious--about four a day is all I can tolerate at a time (my fingers/thumb get pretty sore after a while, cutting out tiny stuff like that). Maybe around Monday I'll have those done.

M said:

Thanks everyone!@ Super Mario Land 2: The 6 Golden Coins (I'm leaning towards the final Mario Zone level wtih LEGO style bricks and giant Bullet Bills).

Click to expand...

what about thwomps and maybe even popup book actions? I don't know what they'd be called but I mean the things that would at least side around from pulling a tab, sometimes they'd do more.

awesome as always! I saw snkrswm already took care of the obligation this time

I never thought of that, but, yeah, a sliding tab type affair would be kind of a neat thing to incorporate into a diorama. There are some fatass bee "Thwomps" in the beehive stage of the Tree Zone of Super Mario Land 2, but I don't remember if there were any normal ones.

On that note, I made a punji bamboo stake trap with a sliding tab for my TMNT II: The Arcade Game "Shogun Showdown" playset years ago.

Here's the chubby bee "Thwomp" I was talking about (which is actually a lot smaller than I remembered it):



And then there's these spiked columns, in Wario's castle, that function like Thwomps, but they don't seem to be alive/sentient (no eyes, frown, or anything like that), so, I'm hesitant to classify them as Thwomps:



Like I said before, currently I'm leaning towards the LEGO-esque level in the Mario Zone with the giant Bullet Bills:



But I also like the attic level, in the Macro Zone, as the book platforms would look neat in 3D. I dig that little 1UP gnome thief too (1UPs are hearts in the game, because without color, there'd be no way to differentiate a red mushroom from a green one):



I also like the 3 Little Piggies boss battle from the Mario Zone. The trio of houses, in 3D, suspended from the ceiling of a diorama would be cool, and the kiddy-style wallpaper is neat too:



Of course, I might just do something entirely different than any of these, because my tastes shift like the winds, so, I can't be trusted.

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I got a good start on the TMNT diorama yesterday evening. Later this afternoon/evening, when I get home, I'll probably be pretending I'm a plumber and installing pipes.

these are simply stunning. awesome.


Looking forward to that TMNT diorama!

Unfortunately, I've exceeded my 10 Gig Photobucket bandwith, so, most of my image links won't work for a while (in retrospect, the extra traffic from Konami UK probably tipped the scales). They'll be back up, eventually, but it may take several days. In the meantime, you'll have to visit pages at my DeviantArt account instead if you want to view my stuff.

Here's the finished TMNT: Fall of the Foot Clan diorama:
http://kramwartap.deviantart.com/art/TMNT-Fall-of-the-Foot-Clan-Diorama-Pivot-464578461
http://kramwartap.deviantart.com/art/TMNT-Fall-of-the-Foot-Clan-Papercraft-Diorama-464577554

The finished Fatal Fury 2 figures:
http://kramwartap.deviantart.com/art/Fatal-Fury-2-Gameboy-Sprite-Figures-464579189

The finished Samurai Shodown figures:
http://kramwartap.deviantart.com/art/Samurai-Shodown-Gameboy-Sprite-Figures-464580551

I also invented a tabletop combat game for Samurai Shodown, here's the rules:

The Samurai Spirits Tabletop Combat Game!

Rules:

- For two players.

- Each player starts with twenty hit points. You can use small objects (coins, buttons, etc.) to represent them, or just write them down on a piece of paper. Whomever runs out of hit points first loses the duel.

- Combat is waged on a round-to-round basis, with two six-sided dice (one for each player). Ideally, each player should have a different colored or sized die to avoid confusion. For each round of combat, both players roll at the same time, whomever gets the highest number wins the round and deals damage equal to the difference between the two values. For example, if I rolled a two, and you rolled a six, you'd win the round and deal me four hit points worth of damage (six minus two is four).

- If both players roll the same number, no damage is dealt, as their blades have become locked! Roll again to see who wins the struggle. The victor retains their weapon, while the loser is disarmed (again, no damage is dealt this round). If both players rolled identical numbers again, then they both lose their weapons. An unarmed player suffers a -1 penalty to all their future attack rolls until they reclaim their blade. For example, a disarmed player who rolls a six must subtract one, resulting in a five. To pick up your lost weapon, you have to roll doubles. When you're unarmed, at the beginning of each round of combat, prior to the actual fight, you may roll your die twice, if you get the same number both times, you've successfully reclaimed your weapon and return to full attack power, if not, then the -1 penalty to your attack rolls continues. You may only make one attempt to pick up your blade at the beginning of each round of combat, but you may continue to do so every round until you succeed. If an armed and an unarmed player arrive at the same number during combat, after penalties/bonuses have been applied, then the armed player deals one point of damage to the unarmed player--no locking of blades occurs. If two disarmed players roll the same number during combat, nothing happens and no damage is dealt.

- When any player is reduced to five, or fewer, hit points, their "rage gauge" fills and they become more dangerous! All their combat die rolls gain a +1 bonus until the end of the duel, or their hit point total rises above five again by consuming food. For example, if you roll a six, it becomes a seven while you're enraged and armed! If you've been disarmed, the enraged bonus effectively returns you to full power, even without a weapon.

- Every three turns (rounds 3, 6, 9, and so forth), Courier Man Hikyaku suddenly appears and throws a surprise into your midst: a coin, food, or a bomb! One of the players (it doesn't matter which) rolls a die to see what Hikyaku has lobbed between the two of you: 1 or 2 is a coin, 3 or 4 is food, and 5 or 6 is a bomb. Note that the effects, if any, of Courier Man's gift take place immediately, before the round's normal combat occurs. As such, a coin or food might turn the tide for a losing player, while an explosive bomb could cheat you of victory!

Coins can be "saved" or used immediately. Each coin gives the player one chance to re-do one of their die rolls, providing the opportunity to change fate. For example, if you're down to your last two hit points, and you rolled a three, and your opponent rolled a five, you can spend your coin to try one more time to get a better result. Note that if your new roll is worse than the original, you can still use your first results (for example, if you rolled a three, spent a coin, and got a one, you can still use your original number instead of the new, lower value). When it appears, both players roll their die in an attempt to grab the coin, the highest number claims the money, if it's a draw, nobody gets it and the coin disappears. There is no limit to the number of coins that you can collect, or spend, but each one is only worth one re-roll.

Food restores hit points equal to the roll of one die, plus one. For example, if you get the food, and roll a four, you get five hit points back. Please note that your hit point total cannot exceed the starting twenty. If you have eighteen hit points, and regain six of them through the consumption of food, you only go back up to twenty, not twenty four--those extra four hit points are "lost". Food must be eaten immediately, you can't "save" it for later use. When it appears, both players roll their die in an attempt to snatch the food, the player with the highest number gobbles it up, if it's a draw, nobody gets to feast and the food is lost.

Bombs instantly deal one-to-six hit points worth of damage to one, or both, players. Roll a die to determine the amount of damage inflicted, then roll it again to find out who got caught in the explosion: 1 or 2, player on the left is damaged, 3 or 4, player on the right is injured, 5 or 6, both players are caught in the blast. Curse you, Hikyaku!

Have fun dueling!

Pics are down...so want to get a glimpse. The TMNT one is rad.

The bandwith problem has resolved itself, so I'm good to go again!









I decided to go with the attic Super Mario Land 2 scene for my next diorama:

M said:

Click to expand...

WOHA! This is the shitz...

Finished the Super Mario Land 2 diorama over the weekend:



This is what things looked like on the morning of the second day. The background and base aren't glued together at this point, as I hadn't assembled the wall/window trim yet.



While I was working on those components I came to the unpleasant realization that, when I was separating said trim from the background in an art program, I had goofed up and forgotten to recolor the wall light gray and left it white (so, if you do use my sheet, I'd recommend using a fill tool to color in that big white box, in the top left corner, before you print it). Fortunately, I had a relatively easy fix for my mistake: I took my smudge stick (a pencil with a piece of tissue paper rubber banded around the end that's smeared with pencil graphite) and rubbed the white square down with that to darken it up.

I also made the three books at this stage, which are hollow rectangular cubes. I did contemplate making them solid and more realistic, with actual paper pages, but, because two of them need to hang out in the air, in defiance of gravity, I decided it was wiser to leave them as light as possible.



Here are the "floating" blocks and stacked books drying, with dice supporting them from underneath until the white glue sets. Speaking of which, if you've ever doubted the strength of white glue, note that, in the finished version, nothing is holding all that stuff up in the air but said adhesive and the vertically-orientated book!



The 3x3 group of coins was the most annoying thing to fabricate. I mounted them on a transparent plastic lattice and then glued the stem of that structure into a slit in the base to make them "float" (the red part of the illustration is what I cut out of said plastic). If I ever make another Mario diorama, I'm definitely going to want to avoid picking a screen with a lot of floating coins again!

I was going to do something similar, for the Proteus 911 starship, and it's two Options, in my Nemesis diorama, but decided not to, as transparent plastic tends to reflect light, especially a camera's flash, which detracts from the illusion a transparent support structure should provide. In this case, I felt that nine wire, or paper, supports would look even worse, so, I used the plastic instead.



The finished product:



Materials:
Cardboard, game graphics printed out on white paper, white glue, newsprint, lined white notebook paper, permanent marker, pencil graphite (to darken up the white background that I forgot to make gray before I printed it), and transparent plastic (coin support lattice and figure/item stands only).

Dimensions:
8.4 cm (3.3") x 7.5 cm (3.0") [widest point x highest point]

Time:
Three days: July 3-5, 2014.

These are very cool! I love the small scale you are working with. I think the Super Mario Land 2 diorama may be my favorite.

Would an overhead game like Link's Awakening work as well, or does the side view just work better?

Cheers,
Ben

Amazing attention to detail and just overall quality. Very impressive.

@Hans: Thanks!

@le geek: While I think the medium is best suited for side-scrolling environments, other artists have done overhead view games, so, it can be done.

I have contemplated doing an overhead game like Zelda: Link's Awakening, Final Fantasy Adventure (Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden), or a vertically-scrolling shooter, but I haven't decided on what the best approach to that would be. On the one hand, I could try to replicate the view from the player's perspective (essentially looking "down" into a vertically orientated box), or, I could try to make it full-on 3D from any angle, not just above, which would be more work and trickier. Of course, Zelda: Link's Awakening, does have side-scrolling areas (usually populated with Mario enemies), so I could circumvent the whole overhead dilemma and do that instead.

M, I've always loved your work. This stuff is fantastic!

Wow! cant wait to see more especially the fatal Fury and Sam Shodown scenes! Congrats on getting the nod from Konami!

Damn, those SamSho and Fatal Fury figures are so boss.

Just noticed this thread. Man that's some awesome work!

Awesome! Maybe try some Ninja Gaiden Shadow? So awesome!

Thread title change! These are great!

I didn't realize this was updated with new dioramas.