899 replies to this topic

[newstarshipsmell]

Oh, BTW,  one of the minibosses - I forget where (the one that throws the four balls and sucks you towards him, that guards the first Life Recharger, I think?) - was supremely easy to kill. I just let him pull me to him, then aimed up and kept slashing him with the Aries Saber and he died in maybe 5-8 seconds, if I recall, and I only lost about a third of my life meter.

 

Also, the boss guarding the Pulse Hammer has way too much health. Fighting him is tedious since, due to how slowly your bullets fly prior to any speed upgrades, all you do is stand there jumping and firing to hit him in the head and kill the bees that emerge. It takes forever and if you don't tweak him to make beating him more of a challenge, you should at least drop his HP so it doesn't take as long to kill him.

 

I've noticed that most/all of the terminal messages I've read lately freeze the player in place after closing the window, so you have to press A again to resume moving, which also triggers your A item. If it matters, I always press B to skip the character-by-character text display, so I don't know if maybe that's causing it. It didn't happen earlier in the game. I'm not sure if it's only happened since I acquired the Advanced Comsat, or whether it always happens or only sometimes - I haven't been paying that close attention to it. Cosmetic, of course.

Edited by newstarshipsmell, 08 January 2015 - 06:34 PM.

[ShadowTiger]

In regards to the last point there with the strings, I believe a bunch of them are pointing to some blank string as their last string. That would emulate the behavior you described adequately. A tedious fix, but yeah...

A bunch of strings in the 300 range, for example, have their "finale" string ending in string 320.

[newstarshipsmell]

Libra 15: Not sure if bug or intentional. You don't seem to get warped while dashing, so you can just drop to the floor and dash across, taking two hits from the spikes below, and jump up on the other side, bypassing the enemies/maze.

 

The Stun Beam consumes energy, but the Ice Beam doesn't. Cool!

 

Gemini: Shooting the red moths or the missile robots with the Ice Beam freezes them, but also causes a frozen copy of them to appear in the upper-left corner.

 

Ice Beam: It would be nice if the beam's freezing shot were simply the stun shot fired in the direction you're facing when you shoot, or if the ring of stun shots left a space open in the direction you face, so that the stun shot does not strike enemies before the freezing shot does, as some of them react rather than stunning, and move out of the way of the freezing shot. But then, the particular enemy I'm thinking of for an example are the glowing balls in Gemini, which do not freeze when successfully shot with the freezing shot, but rather bounce away, leaving a frozen cube where they were struck. Since I guess this might not be intended, it may be a non-issue. Still trying to cross that fucking gap at the top of Gemini, and failing horribly. I think I can freeze one of the moths if it spawns below the platform and use that to jump across, but I dunno... I'm probably going to earn something helpful like a missile expansion, right? :/

 

Ice Beam: If you shoot it downwards, while standing on the ground, or while falling, you hit the freezing shot and it damages you.

 

Taurus 1F: The cave room looks like a power/energy/speed room, but there are no powerups/dialog.

Edited by newstarshipsmell, 08 January 2015 - 11:59 PM.

[C-Dawg]

You have one more critical item to get if you want to cross the top of Gemini.  I'm not saying it's impossible to do with the Ice Beam, but maybe you should finish your current mission in Taurus first...

 

...also, the prize up there is worth the trouble.  There are hints about its existence, but you don't start seeing them until after you finish what you're doing in Taurus.

 

EDIT: Aries mode is working!  But it's a little boring and predictable.  Bringing a sword to a gun fight is not a great strategy.  Have to add another attack in this cycle to ensure the player has to stick and move...

 

EDIT 2: Fantastic!  This mode now also mimics the rocket attack from the Aries Zodiac boss.  Works great!  Two modes down, seven to go.  Ugh.

Edited by C-Dawg, 09 January 2015 - 12:06 AM.

[newstarshipsmell]

Okay, thanks for the info. (Just got the Wall Cling Boots - I assume that is what I needed.)

 

Taurus 08: You can bypass the fight with Iron by dashing/double-jumping across without touching the floor.

 

Wall Cling Boots: You can latch onto the top sides of doors and you'll slowly glide into them.

 

Also, re: bombs - if anyone complains that they fall through the floor, point out that all they have to do is face up and the bomb(s) will land next to them and detonate any bombable blocks below the player. Also, the Remote Explosives do have one useful feature: you can detonate them before they fall through the floor below you, haha. And presumably, you don't have to lodge them firmly into the ceiling to blow up a block above you.

 

Gemini 06: Is this a required boss/item? The Wall Cling Boots are proving to be very annoying and not fun to use, and trying to reach 09 (the furthest I made it without them) is now even harder than it was without them, due to them kicking in when I don't want them to. It took me over half an hour just to get back to that spot, and several attempts to cross it, since for some reason my double-jump won't trigger when I expect it to. After reaching the boss, and seeing he can drop me off the screen and force me to backtrack through twenty screens to try again, my interest in whatever he's guarding just dropped to zero. So if it's required, this is definitely a game-ender for me.

Edited by newstarshipsmell, 09 January 2015 - 01:23 AM.

[C-Dawg]

It's not required. Also, if you are facing upwards when the boss hits you, you won't be knocked off the platforms. Food for thought.

 

EDIT: I've uploaded a new version.  It fills in some empty rooms that you found, and addresses many of the issues you've been posting.  Many, not all.  Also, the final boss now has four modes done - Aquarius, Aries, Pisces, and Gemini.  I am LOVING how this is working out, too.

Edited by C-Dawg, 10 January 2015 - 02:16 AM.

[ShadowTiger]

Happy to hear. It really shows. This is going to be absolutely amazing, not that it isn't already. Mindblowing, really. I'm sorry that there is literally nothing whatsoever like this anywhere else.

Anyway, a few bugs or so right off the bat. The list is on-going, so definitely check back.

The Boss guardian the Pulse Hammer now spawns in the upper left corner, firing his bullets at the player with wonton impunity. What a jerk you have made him to be. I noclipped through the wall to the left and fired at the spot in the upper-left corner, and indeed, he died. May just be missing the graphics at the moment somehow.

To test the new fixes to the sidearm early on, I gave myself what feels like forty or fifty of each powerup. It's a pretty neat effect, but there are a few bullets that essentially have zero velocity, and just remain floating unmoving in the air behind you. Honestly, I'd consider this a "feature." It's a pretty cool effect.

Enemy spawn and death puffs are still Zelda 1's graphics.

The Aries Corridor in the upper-left region of the zone has most of its enemies appearing somewhat off the left and right sides of the screen, and dying the moment they spawn, dropping their powerups along the sides of the screen. It appears to be all enemies, actually. They just die immediately.

On the second Iron fight, located in 11:3D in cancer, there are two X shapes in the top-center of the screen. The sides of the doors are also cut off somehow.

After defeating the boss guarding the Disintegrator Beam, the "blood spurting from the ceiling-heart" screen takes way too long for us to warp to the screen where we get the beam.

Screen 5E could use the no-enemy-flags on the bottom portion of the screen. It doesn't make much sense for the enemies to be down there near the door if the item appears on the upper portion of the screen.

Scorpio 6E still has a blank spot in the upper left corner of the screen. This does not show in ZQuest.

How exactly does one get back up from Scorpio 71 to 61? It's a pretty interesting climb. O.o

It probably isn't too much of a problem, but I just went from getting the Aquarius bubble beam weapon to the screen to its left, and triggered the boss again. But, it immediately went back to the room without the boss fight and I was able to walk through it uninterrupted. So this is fine, kindasorta.

Taurus boss on screen 15 (Map 16, 6A) did nothing after its health bar was depleted. Had to manually warp myself to 5A to return, which worked.

There are volcanic creatures on Taurus 54 and 55 that appear to be broken. The upper left corner of their sprites fly away from the rest of it, and then it does. ... Kinda gruesome, if you think about it.

The Gleeok miniboss on 11:10 seems to be oddly impermeable to the Gemini Laser. I've been firing at it for ten minutes now, and it still has all of its heads.

Going from Taurus 1D up to 0D is ridiculously difficult via that bombable wall area in the top-right corner. It needs to have walkable combos in the very corners. Definitely.

The sidearm upgrade room on map 40:02 didn't seem to present any guy-like activity, effectively doing nothing. I wonder if it's a Dmap option thing. I hadn't been in that room before, no...

Leo 18 - I dealt the killing blow to the large windmaker, which gave its audible deatht-throes and such, but it did not die, and continued to blow hot air.

The Corridor in the upper-right corner of Leo has the same problem as the Aries corridor from earlier. Most enemies die almost instantly. This tends to happen when I've used the fully powered-up Sidearm; the one with the static bullets.

It's oddly impossible to go from Capricorn 61 to 62. It's a tiny entrance, and the wall-cling boots keep getting in the way, all the while being blown west. Probably could raise the floor a bit to compensate.

Same thing on Capricorn 42, along the right side of the screen behind the bombable blocks.

That spinblade mixer in 6C is really messing up movement. Those things need to take a chill pill. Even on L1 dash, I can't seem to climb out of a little depression in the floor on the right half of the screen.

Capricorn 6C needs a jump script.

Capricorn 0F has a layer glitch.

The Magnetman battle from Capricorn 01 got stuck in the wall in the upper right corner when he was jumping.

Virgo 44 - The boss music is the "inside" room theme, rather than a boss room.

Additionally, for that boss, when I killed it, nothing happened except for its sprite and health bar being removed. Something invisible is still wandering around launching fireballs at me.

31:75 - Look at the left and bottom edges of that green tank thing. Those combos actually combo cycle into parts of the Taurus Zodiac boss.

31:68 - Exiting from the door doesn't lead you back to the door, but to the question mark block.

The switch from 37 points to 3B, but there doesn't seem to be a door on that screen, or any secrets either.

Corridor boss of Virgo 31:79 vanished once defeated but the fight is still going.

16:7E doesn't have any tile or side warps.

Virgo Zodiac boss is messed up quite a bit. No life bar, and the boss explosions are a bunch of miscellaneous combos.

I have gotten all of the Zodiac weapons, but Dr. Mo doesn't change her "Have you visited all the terminals yet?" The Terminal is the weapon collection screen, yes? Or is it the warp pad. Do I have to get the Voltiac key before or after this?

[newstarshipsmell]

Is it possible to resume my current game with the new demo, or must I start over again? Can I just replace the old .qst file with the new one (i.e. deleting the old one and renaming the new one to match it) or would I have to edit something in the ZC files to update the quest?

 

Thanks for the new demo version.

[ShadowTiger]

I believe it's possible to do. As long as the filename stays the same, there should be some compatibility. But it's rarely recommended to do. Only the questmaker would ever know for sure. Global variable names could change at any time. You never know.

[C-Dawg]

I did not change global variables, so you are probably fine. There is a pickup script that runs on the rapid fire sidearm that you prob ably missed out on, though.

 

EDIT: Ack-  I did break Pheagaon though.  I'll upload a quick fix in a few hours.

Edited by C-Dawg, 10 January 2015 - 09:55 AM.

[newstarshipsmell]

I didn't save after earning the rapid fire sidearm, and chose to get it later on after upgrading my energy several more times. So if I swap .qst files and resume, I should be able to go get it right away and it'll work with the new script, yes?

 

Gemini 06 boss: I really despise bosses that drop you off-screen and force you to backtrack/start over on them. The 3rd dungeon boss in LttP drove me nuts. But I can live with them, when you only have to backtrack a little bit to resume - it's the long break in practicing strategy and excessive time wasted retracing a long path that you've already "mastered" that irritated me. Sorry if I came across like I was rage-quitting the quest - I just don't think I'll have the patience to win through on that particular item if the boss knocks me off-screen again too many times.

 

Would you consider changing that boss so there's a floor (or at least, some blocks) in the screen(s) below him, so that if he knocks you down, you can follow a shorter path right and up back to a spot somewhere between 08-0A, so you don't have to take such a long route back? If you have your heart set on keeping it as-is, well... I've never used "cheats" and don't know how to. Can I just give myself the item if I give up on beating the boss? How would I do that? I don't want to, but in the interests of play-testing the quest, I'd like to obtain it before finishing the game (well, as far as you can go on the demo) so I can uncover/report any bugs I find using it.

 

I only managed to reach him one time before I posted about it. And while your suggestion is good, I have to disclose: he didn't even knock me off the screen. I only had a few seconds of play against him (and all my shots missed) when I jumped over to the right and tried to latch onto the right-most block. My wall cling boots didn't work as expected, and I simply fell off of it, and missed landing on the block below closest to it. The couple times he damaged me I managed to land on one of the bottom blocks. So I dunno - mastering the fight against him without getting knocked off might not be all that difficult - it was just the prospect of all that repetitive backtracking that put me off so badly.

 

Wall Cling Boots: I was out all day yesterday so aside from that path in Gemini, I really didn't have much chance to experiment with the Wall Cling Boots. But they seem kind of buggy - in that sometimes you end up gripping a wall when you want to slide down past it, and other times can't grip a wall when you try to. It seems like holding the jump button while contacting a wall will (oftentimes) prevent you from gripping it, or releasing L while holding against it will trigger the cling. So the mechanic doesn't seem as simple as "press towards wall" to cling - can you explain what the intended behavior is in a bit more detail so I know if it's working correctly or not?

 

Caves: I've found a few of the extended screens in the caves so far... which pleased me. But I've noted that you never use caves to connect separate areas of the levels - do you do that later on in the quest? I was kind of holding out hope for another awesome cave maze like the mess in Zelda 2 that drove me nuts trying to find my way through.

 

Manual: Since you seem quite the artist, I'd suggest making a PDF (or something) manual of the game, in the same dimensions/format/style as the old NES manuals, to include in the quest download archive (or link to elsewhere in the description if it's too big to include.) This would allow you to cover the backstory/character introduction/etc., just like the old classics did, and could include a list of all the items and drops with detailed explanations. While the Life Tank is pretty visually self-explanatory, the Overcharge Adaptor could use an explanation/warning, so the unwary player is not forced to learn it is a one-use item through trial and error. It would be fancier looking that a simply .txt FAQ. You could work any known bugs you can't resolve, as well as other common tips/tricks, into a Notes section at the back - filled in as if by another player, so, either handwritten or using a handwriting font for that section's text.

 

Okay, time to go swap quests, get my rapid fire, and see if I can kill that boss; if not, I'll follow the plot and head over to Leo. If I can get the infinite jump boots or the anti-gravity device without it, I guess it would be easier to come back and get it later.

[C-Dawg]

On the topic of the manual: yes, I was planning something exactly like that.  I don't think it's worthwhile to spend time on the peripherals until the game itself is done, but then I was going to have a manual and walkthrough, with full maps, all in the same zip file.  I'd rather make the game accessible to different levels of players that way than dumb it down excessively.

 

The Wall Cling should work just fine; I've never had issues.  If you are in the air next to a solid block and holding towards it, the player should grab it.  Jumping terminates the Wall Cling, since otherwise, how could you climb the wall?  Also, clinging to a wall does not reset your double-jump, which might be what you're experiencing.  If you jumped onto the wall, you can't double-jump off of it.  You only get one jump.

 

You are not too far away from the Anti-Gravity Device, plot-wise, but it's going to be a rocky road to get it.  You'll see what I mean. 

Edited by C-Dawg, 10 January 2015 - 10:53 AM.

[newstarshipsmell]

Wall Cling Boots: I only did this once so far, and it's hard to replicate. I grabbed onto the bottom corner of a block, with a block next to it, and clung - but I slid along the bottom row, partially inside the blocks, and fell off the far corner of the second block. Similar to the bug where you can cling to the top side of a door and slide into it, I assume. ETA: I've replicated it a few more times intentionally, but it's not easy to do and seems to require pixel-precision lining it up. Sometimes you fall off after sliding through the bottom of the first block, and sometimes you continue sliding along the bottom until you reach the end of the blocks above you. (ETA: But I've only done this on two-block sections, so I haven't actually proven you can slide farther than two - just assuming you can.)
 
Cancer 42: Maybe intentional, but you can dash jump off the ? block to reach the block on the screen above and bypass the path across 30-31-32 to reach the mouth.
 
Libra: Maybe intentional as well, but the screen doesn't scroll when you slide to the edge - you just stop.
 
Libra: The ice cube enemy screens make it trivial to replenish all your health/energy/missiles and max out your credits. If this is by design, fine, but if not, you might want to make the cubes apply damage to you faster than you can replenish it by killing them and picking up hearts.
 
Libra 76: When I begin shooting the corridor boss, his health meter doesn't reflect any damage being dealt. Not sure if that's because he isn't vulnerable right away, or because he has extra HP not reflected in the meters. ETA: I fucking died trying to use my Life Tank, LOL. So upon attempt #2, I let him wander around a bit before shooting him, and the meter didn't start dropping immediately, so I think it's due to extra HP not reflected in the meters.
 
Corridors: Does the Heart Beep Sound for low health work in the corridors? I never hear it when I'm low on health, though maybe it's just being drowned out by the louder corridor music? It sucks, since I am constantly dying due to focusing on dodging the bullet hell and not glancing at my health to make sure I'm not about to die. Maybe you could script the Life Tanks to automatically activate when equipped to a button and your life meter reaches a certain level above 0. Or add a Body item that does that for you? LOL.
 
Corridors: When I enter them with my sword equipped on A, it deselects it - but doesn't automatically select the primary weapon for A. Would be nice if it did that so I don't have to use the menu to manually select it at the beginning of each corridor.
 
Sidearm Rapid Fire: Also, just curious - does the new rapid fire still apply damage as individual bullets? Or does it just apply continuous damage to the entire row/column? ETA: Regardless, the new version is way better and doesn't unbalance it like before, so thanks. LOL @ the slow-moving and stationary bullets. I suppose that ought to answer my question above.
 
Libra 25: The yellow spiky shelled enemies inside the cave - they have health meters, but upon dropping the meters to zero, they do not die, and the meter does not disappear (and remains empty.) Continuing to damage them past this will eventually "kill" them, but... they don't go away! So you can still get the Health Upgrade in the far room, but due to the bug, it seems like you can't kill them, so you wouldn't know you can, and can get the upgrade, unless you keep shooting them after the meter is empty.

Libra 60: Do I need the Dash Jets 2 to pass this part of the maze?

Libra 18: I defeated the boss here previously, but when I enter the room, the partially opened door on the right is all purple. Once the doors finish opening, they turn orange, but the frame remains purple.

Cancer 1F: You can climb spike-lined wall with the Wall Cling Boots if you're willing to take the damage. Not sure if that was supposed to prevent you from ascending to 0F. Probably applies to Leo 10/00 as well. ETA: Er, I see it doesn't matter so much for this room... but maybe for Leo 10?

Scorpio 0C: This room has no gravity, and the large block along the left side has a tile error. The sand blocks also apparently stay permanently destroyed, rather than regenerating when you leave/return to the room.

Gemini: The moths, that did nothing before, shoot rings of fire. Both the moths and the flames fall under gravity. Not sure if that was intentional.

Gemini 13: Door warp still goes to empty room.

Gemini 4B: Doors are orange and frame is purple. Door in adjacent room all purple.

Rapid Fire Sidearm: Won't start firing if you depress/hold the button during room transitions. Occasional nuisance but otherwise cosmetic.

Taurus 44: The cave shop takes my 210 credits, but doesn't drop the missile expansion.

Edited by newstarshipsmell, 10 January 2015 - 05:07 PM.

[newstarshipsmell]

To test the new fixes to the sidearm early on, I gave myself what feels like forty or fifty of each powerup. It's a pretty neat effect, but there are a few bullets that essentially have zero velocity, and just remain floating unmoving in the air behind you. Honestly, I'd consider this a "feature." It's a pretty cool effect.

It does this even when you simply obtain the powerup, without manually jacking up the powerup levels. It also fires some bullets with very slow speeds.
 

Screen 5E could use the no-enemy-flags on the bottom portion of the screen. It doesn't make much sense for the enemies to be down there near the door if the item appears on the upper portion of the screen.

This is in Scorpio, yes?
 

How exactly does one get back up from Scorpio 71 to 61? It's a pretty interesting climb. O.o

IIRC, the two middle columns of grey blocks are walkable - I don't recall exactly, but I seem to remember making my way over to the right-most sandpit, and was actually able to jump out of it. So I think maybe he set up one or all of those pits to behave differently, allowing you to jump upwards, than the rest in the level? Not sure.
 

Going from Taurus 1D up to 0D is ridiculously difficult via that bombable wall area in the top-right corner. It needs to have walkable combos in the very corners. Definitely.

Huh? I had no trouble at all going up there.

[ShadowTiger]

Yes, it's the one in Scorpio.


I updated my previous post, which happens to be on this page, with the rest of the bugs I've found so far. I have collected all of the Zodiac weapons, and went back to Dr. Mo for further instructions. I need to get the ceiling to the Voltiac Key opened to proceed.