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Random Theme Contest 3 - QUESTS


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#1 Jamian

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 10:12 AM

Here are the three entries, in the order I've received them. Congratulations to the contestants! As I was saying in the themes thread, we may have few entries, but they are all genuine entries (as opposed to joke ones) and you should find them all worthy of your time.

 

Polls will be posted later on.

 

 

 

 

Hollow Forest

by Moosh
 

A horror game where you go to war with moustaches under the time limit
 
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Download quest here
 
Description:

 

Near my home village there is a cursed forest, we've taken to calling it The Hollow Forest. From out of the cavern network beneath it seeps a crawling darkness, a black rot. It consumes everything it touches, turning woodland creatures into monsters and driving men mad. This shroud of darkness has hung over the forest since before I was born, but even still it continues to spread. Many have tried to find a cure for the rot, they have challenged the forest, and they have died for it. But lately, the forest that served as this village's livelihood for many years is all but gone and hard times have fallen upon us. More than ever before the black rot threatens to swallow us all. And so it is that I hear the forest calling to me. And so I answer the call. And so I enter.

 

Please be aware: This quest was intended to be played in 2.5.2 and those playing on lower end computers may experience lag. Even on a fast computer, there may be lag in the final area, I don't have time to try and optimize further before the deadline. My apologies.

WE Z3 SCROLLAN NOW! Hollow Forest is my latest in a series of contest quests where I seemingly always have to one-up the last in terms of sheer ambition. This time, I made a quest with scrolling screens and a completely rewritten engine (some parts were recycled from ZeldYs) in around two weeks. As you'd expect, it's pretty short as a result. I took a very loose interpretation of the theme, there are no literal moustaches (at least as far as you're aware), but many of the enemies you face feature in some way moustache inspired designs. Unlike most quests, you have very limited ability to actually kill enemies and even limited saving ability. Resource management is key to survival. If you find yourself getting stumped, remember to talk to your fairy partner in various rooms. He can sometimes give helpful hints. And he sometimes gives amusing banter as well.

 

 

 

 

Rite of the Storm
by Shane and Avataro
 
A student project where you befriend the wind and you learn a thing or two along the way
An artsy game where you explore dungeons with nature in new exciting ways
 
Gp43tdp.png rdUvNqf.png
 
 
Description:
 
A miniquest featuring a lot of Metroidvania elements. Built with no Zelda elements in mind.
 
Tips & Notes:
- Walk over save points to set the continue point.
- Spacebar map shows only the area you're in.
- Be sure to put the music and quest in your ZC folder or in a folder within.
 
Enjoy!
 
 
 
 

Grinding Mushroom

by RedTribeLink
 

Epic Mushroom Explorer

An adventure game where you go to school with dwarves and it's very grindy

 

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Download quest here

 

Description:

 

Travel throughout the realm searching for Legendary Mushrooms that are the ingredients to make a potion that will wake your classmates from a deep sleep.  Unlike the Slipstream, this is a simpler game, inspired slightly from Minish Cap, which is built to be expanded upon and fixed up later in the future (although not by a large scale).  The quest features:

- A simple 8x8 overworld
- Three small dungeons
- Unique exploring gimmicks
- Experimental gameplay mechanics

 

Note:
A final dungeon was planned for this game, but unfortunately, due to time, there won't be one for this entry (In fact, the ending will be a bit abrupt).  However, when this gets released to the database, there will probably be a final dungeon, along with some smaller add-ons. 


I think that's everything.  Hope you enjoy!
 

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#2 Eddy

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 12:24 PM

Awesome, I've been waiting for this day to come! I'll be sure to get started on these as soon as possible and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone's got this time round.

 

Sucks I couldn't make it, but oh well :P


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#3 Avaro

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 01:24 PM

Some initial thoughts I have on Hollow Forest: interesting concepts and amazing graphics! The only thing that reminds me this is a zc quest are the sound effects. I'm about 3-4 spellbooks in.


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#4 Matthew

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 05:04 PM

I'm really liking Rite of the Storm at the moment. Great music and atmosphere. Interesting plot. I am stuck on the maze in the first area though. :(


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#5 Deedee

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 06:51 PM

For Hollow Forest...

Spoiler



#6 Avaro

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 08:59 PM

I'm really liking Rite of the Storm at the moment. Great music and atmosphere. Interesting plot. I am stuck on the maze in the first area though. :(

 

If you are still in need of help: The solution for the maze is on another screen. The tablet gives you a hint.


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#7 Moosh

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 09:52 PM

For Hollow Forest...

Spoiler

Hahahaha. Hahaha.

Spoiler


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#8 Deedee

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Posted 19 January 2017 - 09:54 PM

Hahahaha. Hahaha.

Spoiler

Ha.

Spoiler


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#9 grayswandir

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Posted 20 January 2017 - 09:49 PM

PZz7856.png

 

 

:(.


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#10 Eddy

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Posted 21 January 2017 - 04:48 PM

Finally managed to get through all three quests and I must say, this was a pretty good set of entries. I'll try to go through all three in as much depth as possible:

 

Hollow Forest - First off, I'm going to admit that I just couldn't be able to finish this one for reasons I'll explain in a bit. Overall, I'm quite mixed with it, but from what I did play, I really did like what you were going for. The screen design really gave off that dark and spooky atmosphere which suited the theme pretty well. The ideas you had were really cool too, especially with the save idea and the rot trying to kill you for being in the dark for too long. The ideas with the spark rod and having limited supplies is pretty cool too, felt like a kind of survival game (which I guess was the intention). Also the Z3 scrolling was fantastic and it made the quest feel a lot like Super Metroid. However, I kinda just had to give up after the underwater bit in the 2nd area since the quest just got horribly annoying, frustrating and tedious for me. There were several areas where I felt like way too much stuff was happening at once (especially with the underwater bits), and being pressured under 10 minutes can be really stressful to play, though I understand it's part of the theme so I can't really say much with that. Some of the puzzles were pretty interesting, though I think one of the puzzles to get the lantern requires forced damage from what I saw as you had to jump all those blocks in the dark, and I'm pretty sure you're guaranteed to take damage every time. I guess it isn't that much of a deal, but I was never really a fan of forced damage in anything. I also dislike how when you run out of time, everything you had completely disappears. That can get a little tedious, especially when you get lost, run out of time, and then find out you got to collect some stuff again. Thankfully most items are optional from what I've seen. I also feel like the difficulty can get a little intense at times, especially when certain enemies can kill you really quickly (doesn't help when you have limited ammo so you're kinda avoiding everything and sometimes that can be really hard to do). Other than that though, I really did want to finish this, but I guess the quest just got too tedious for me and I didn't really want to continue anymore. I'll probably watch a playthrough of the rest of the quest and then I can see what I missed, but from what I played, the quest has promise.

 

I wasn't expecting to write that up for so long, got a little carried away lol.

 

Rite of the Storm - IMO this was the best entry out of all three. This quest felt a lot like Hitodama in some ways where it's one big labyrinth to explore with a few different paths you can take. I will admit, I don't think the Metroidvania idea was put to its full potential since a lot of the quest felt quite straightforward at times, but it was still really nice to play. I really like how every area felt so unique with their own puzzles and mechanics. Only one puzzle right at the end got me real good, but a lot of them had really clever solutions. The difficulty was around the perfect curve you'd expect and there were plenty of upgrades to find throughout the quest. Though there was a bit of a lack of bosses, the ones in the quest were amazing, especially the final one. But yeah, for two weeks you two did a really fantastic job and I guess the wait was definitely worth it in the end. Screen design is also really unique and I do like the custom EZGBZ graphics. As for a bit of criticism, I'd probably try and make the quest a bit more non-linear for a Metroidvania in some places (maybe make it so that you go between areas a bit more often), but that's just a minor thing. Good job to both of you.

 

Grinding Mushroom - You've always made some pretty good contest entries and this one is no exception. I really like the idea you got here, and the way to get upgrades is very unique with the theta and epsilon tokens. The dungeons were pretty short but they were quite cool and the puzzles were quite creative (especially the ones with the Cane of Pacci in the third dungeon). The design is pretty nice and seems like your usual Pure quest. Some places could look a bit better though and use a bit more detail (like the forest), but other than that, things were pretty decent. Sucks that you didn't have enough time for the final dungeon, but I imagine it must've been pretty cool. Other than that, this was a pretty solid short quest and I had fun playing it.

 

 

But yeah, nice turnout overall. Looking forward to seeing the polls whenever they come up and good luck to everyone and their entries :D


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#11 Moosh

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Posted 21 January 2017 - 10:26 PM

I think one of the puzzles to get the lantern requires forced damage from what I saw as you had to jump all those blocks in the dark, and I'm pretty sure you're guaranteed to take damage every time.

It's not actually forced damage. You can flick the spark rod as you jump across and you won't take damage. You can also land on the platforms holding the torches to create safe spots with the spark rod.

 

Also if you'd believe it, the difficulty used to be a lot worse. The ability to continue from the last save point wasn't always a thing. At one point any death would result in lost progress. Funny how I'm the only one who used Skip Continue Screen in this contest despite usually being strongly against it...


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#12 Eddy

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Posted 22 January 2017 - 06:05 AM

It's not actually forced damage. You can flick the spark rod as you jump across and you won't take damage. You can also land on the platforms holding the torches to create safe spots with the spark rod.

Ah I guess that explains it then. I honestly thought you had to activate all three at the same time lol.

 

Also skipping continue screen, very evil I see :P



#13 Russ

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Posted 22 January 2017 - 05:46 PM

Now that I've played all the entries, I'll drop my brief thoughts here.

Hollow Forest - It's a bit hard to separate my thoughts as a player from my thoughts as a creator here. The quest is a technical masterpiece, and I'm amazed you got the engine up and running so quickly. No complaints. The gameplay itself is a bit of a mixed bag. I feel that the quest starts out okay, if not a bit tough from how ill-prepared you are, then dips down in quality when you get the lantern (the area's atmosphere is cool, but it can be a bit of a pain to navigate), then really leaps up in quality at the third area for a pretty strong finish. The difficulty curve is also weird, since the second area feels the hardest for not-so-fair reasons, while the final areas feel legitimately hard in a much more satisfying manner. The final boss was pretty cool, and the ending... well that sure was an ending. All in all, it clocks in at second place, though from a quest maker's perspective, I wanna give it first for the insane scripting effort.

Rite of the Storm - Not only is it my favorite in the contest, but I'm tentatively calling this quest for Quest of the Year 2017. Nearly everything about it is fantastic. The mood, the graphics, the items, the puzzles, the progression, etc. People have been comparing it to Hitodama and Yuurei, and I definitely feel like it's an apt comparison. While it's definitely it's own thing, it calls them to mind in a few places. My only real complaint with the quest is the story. I suspected some sort of twist for the ending along those lines, but the reveal itself felt a bit nonsensical. I still don't quite understand what all happened, partially because there's not enough explanation. It felt like the ending expected the player to go "I see why they had to do what they did," but... I don't. But it gets bonus points for antagonists with Latin names. Not sure if "Heaven" is the most apt name for him, but it certainly fits the theme, and I'm not gonna be too picky when Latin is involved. :P

Grinding Mushroom - What's this? An actual Zelda style quest in this Zelda Classic contest? What do you think you're doing? No but in all seriousness, it was kinda fun having a "normal" quest thrown in the mix. I like the upgrades system, but I do have some issues. A big problem is inconsistency. You can swim... but only in this one area. You can burn unlit candles, except for the puzzles where you can't. The Cane of Pacci puzzle that Eddy praised actually bothered me because it's the only spot in the game where you can do that, and I want a bit more explanation for why it works here and nowhere else than "Well it's a different color sign". I'd have loved to see that concept applied elsewhere in the dungeon, but ah well. There's also the issue of the abruptness of the ending, but I can understand why, what with two week constraints. I did feel a bit cheated though, collecting all those upgrades you can only get after Level 3 only to find they were pointless. As one more comment, the Level 3 boss... no. Just, no. It was tanky and horrible to dodge. So all in all, while the quest certainly has some issues, it was still fun to play.
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#14 Shane

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Posted 22 January 2017 - 08:11 PM

Thanks Eddy and Russ! I'm really glad people are enjoying it and I'm most certainly glad people are mentioning Hitodama and Yuurei because they were huge sources of inspiration. These two (along with another which was another source of inspiration kinda, that being Slipstream) kindled my love for the genre as I haven't really actually played any Metroidvanias. But I realized the heavy focus on certain aspects I enjoy really made me want to make a quest within that genre.

 

As for the feedback, we're committed to resolving the minor inconveniences for the database version. For obvious reasons, don't expect this update until the contest is over. There may be some other changes too, we'll see. But no bonus content unless we change our minds. Right now though we're committed to improve as much as we can based on feedback we got.

 

As for story, I want to apologize for that. We had bigger plans for it but it's probably the only thing that ended up being sacrificed and rushed (while I was tired too no less). For the sake of entering the contest I decided that's how it'll end up being. I'm mostly okay with it, but improvements could definitely be made and probably will be made when the database version arrives but until then, this will do for now. I'm still pretty damn proud and I'm glad feedback both critical and supportive are being expressed as it's helping a lot for a future update.

 

As for the other entries, I haven't had time to finish them but from what I played they're both great in their own ways. I especially really like what Moosh has done because the effort really feels like it went beyond something that was made in roughly two weeks and in ZC. It feels somewhat like an indie game. The non-Zelda atmosphere, graphics and engine really helps that a lot so well done! I already seen the ending (probably one of the most memorable ZC endings due to shock value) but I want to finish this personally. It's pretty tough though. :P I also like RedTribeLink's entry, it has that modest ZC quest feel which you can't go wrong with. I did play this entry a bit less but I have high hopes for it given Slipstream is one of my favorite quests and even served as some inspiration for Rite of the Storm as I mentioned. May go into more depth once I finish both but in short, both are fantastic entries!

 

(Wow this post took forever to write. Guess I need sleep...)

 

Oh, and Caelum also translates to Sky, Atmosphere and Weather right? But I knew it also translates to Heaven too. I won't lie, I used Google Translator but I also tried double checking elsewhere just to make sure of things. But ah well.


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#15 Joaish (RedTribeLink)

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Posted 22 January 2017 - 08:44 PM

Thanks to everybody for the feedback so far!

 

First off, I do want address some of the notes that Russ mentioned in his review.  With the swimming, it was merely a way to progress through the area and to allow you to warp.  I guess my in-game explanation for it is that the scale lets you survive the currents of the falls but they don't really help with swimming anywhere else since it was built for the falls.  As for the candles, I didn't really think about it that way when building the quest, so I guess I'll have to see what I can do with that.  For level 3, it was probably the most rushed area out of the entire game given I practically built that area within the extra days we were given.  While the Cane puzzles are cool, I do agree that they didn't fully live up to their full potential.  I'm thinking of reworking that dungeon a bit for the database release.  As for the boss...I'll see what I can do to maybe make it more balanced.  I guess I'm still trying to find my way with bosses.  And the upgrades you get after Level 3 will probably be a lot more useful once I build a final dungeon for this, but for now they were there just for completion's sake (Which is why I added the results screen at the end).  Otherwise, I'm glad that you still found some enjoyment out of it.  Thank you for the feedback again!

 

Concerning the other entries, I haven't finished Hollow Forest, but I think it does goes without saying that the Z3 scrolling and the atmosphere of the game are truly incredible!  I did finish Rite of the Storm today, and I enjoyed it a lot!  There were some great, innovative ideas in here, and it's awesome to hear that Slipstream was a source of inspiration for this!


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