186 replies to this topic

[Mero]

The following link contains a zip file with all 13 dungeons. Warning to dial up users it's 12,907 KB.
Dungeon Pack

[kurt91]

Any ZC version recommendations to these? I've only got RC2, 2.5, and 3. I can't seem to get anything lower than that to work on my computer, so if any of these are 1.90 or something, I can't play them.

I would love to give these a try, though. I'm playing through some quests and really taking notes on dungeon design. Mine so far always end up far too large and linear to be much fun.

[Lightwulf]

I believe they were all made for RC2; you'll be fine using that version for them all.

[Mero]

They're made in RC2, but should work in RC 2.5 and perhaps RC 3 as well.

[kurt91]

Well, I'm probably really late in posting this, but I figured I'd put up my thoughts on each dungeon.
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--- Dungeon 1 ---
Like everybody else who mentioned the Recorder trap, I really didn't like it. I'm not a fan of things that suddenly make a game unwinnable. The idea to the trap was a pretty good idea, but the execution could have been handled better. If it was me, I would have put a hint room somewhere beforehand to warn the player or hint that rushing up to the item would be a bad idea, then instead of forcing a restart, I would have blocked off the exit and forced the player to go through a short gauntlet with strong (for the dungeon) enemies. Still a bit of a punishment for foolishly running in, but not bad enough to force a restart.

I actually could not figure out how to advance once I got the Recorder, so I didn't finish the dungeon. I would like to know, why were there hurt tiles hidden behind all the pillars in the starting room?

--- Dungeon 2 ---
Again, it's been mentioned before, but the "Leave Money or Life" room was rather harsh. I didn't mind it in this particular dungeon given the large amount of life you start with, but if it was a dungeon in an actual quest where I had fought hard for each of those Heart Containers, I'd be rather pissed. If these dungeons are meant to be practice for ideas to implement in an actual quest, don't do this one.

At the point in the dungeon with the pit leading to the scroll, there were two locked doors. I finished the dungeon without ever going through the door to the right. It's not a major deal, but you might want to make sure you don't do something like this again. It seemed accidental, and I was left wondering what was behind that door. Now, if you were to do something similar in a full-length quest where getting the Magic Key at the end of the game would allow access to hidden areas in each dungeon and grant the player extra Heart Pieces or similar rewards, that would be rather amazing. The way it was done here, however, seems like a design flaw.

--- Dungeon 3 ---
I didn't even get to see this dungeon. The first room was a push block puzzle with no markers to show where the blocks needed to go. I did all the typical arrangements I could think of, but nothing worked. Pure trial-and-error like this is a major no-no.

--- Dungeon 4 ---
Haven't finished it yet. I got stuck after getting the first key. There's a room where the door is blocked off with graves, and I read on this topic that they're supposed to work like push blocks, but they won't budge for me. I do like the idea of using the cave graphics for the dungeon, and the door graphics seem to work surprisingly well in the cavern rooms.
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Some people don't like the Classic tileset. I don't mind as long as it's used well. I personally hate it when you have completely arbitrary puzzles like using a random item on an unmarked block or piece of wall that doesn't look any different than other parts, or using an item on a type of object that doesn't make sense to use it on. (Candle on bush = fine. Candle on rock/grave = no) The other issue I have with it is that just having a bunch of perfectly square rooms with a handful of enemies in each one (like the original LoZ) is very boring. I much prefer freeform dungeons, and I feel that the Classic tileset is woefully underused in such a case.

Also, I don't know if this has been addressed before, but there needs to be some sort of mark to show if a wall is walk-through or bombable. I haven't seen issues with walk-through walls yet, but there were a couple spots where it was dumb luck whether I used my bombs in the right spot or not.

[Lightwulf]

Also, I don't know if this has been addressed before, but there needs to be some sort of mark to show if a wall is walk-through or bombable. I haven't seen issues with walk-through walls yet, but there were a couple spots where it was dumb luck whether I used my bombs in the right spot or not.

You can't do that with the door combos because it uses the regular "Wall" door combo before it's bombed. BB89's made cracked walls in his later dungeons and they were done by scripting (if I understand it correctly).

Yeah, it would be nice if we could mark the walls to be bombed, but it's not as simple as putting a combo down. (The door combos get layered over whatever combos you manually put on the wall.) In my quest, I use hints like making a bomb item appears when you beat the enemies or putting something near the wall to make it stand out (but not too obvious, most of the time).
Besides, there is only a maximum of 4 possible wall spaces (most of the time 3 or less) per room that you can bomb anyway. It's not like you have to use 20 bombs per room to bomb every square inch of each wall. Just remember, bomb the center of the wall; if nothing happens, try to walk through it; if still nothing happens, try another wall or another room.

[kurt91]

Yeah, I get that there's only 4 spots per room, but after a while you have a lot of rooms to have to check, if you're missing something. Even if you can't mark the wall itself, something like rubble placed on the floor in front of the bomb spot would be absolutely great.

*sigh* Oh well, guess it's just a price of using Classic. Looks nice when it's done well, though.

[Mero]

Hey kurt these are unpassworded. If you get stuck open them in zquest to figure out how to move on.

[kurt91]

Yeah, I know. It just feels too much like cheating, though.

[Lightwulf]

Don't feel too bad. I've had to "cheat" a couple of times myself. I do my best to avoid having to do that, of course, but sometimes you just get plain stuck.
Having them unpassworded makes it so you don't have to post a question here and wait for a response; you can just go into the quest and find your answer.

[Fire Wizzrobe]

One aspect I'd really like to see is the use of your Z3 scrolling script in your dungeons. That would be some groundbreaking stuff.

[Moosh]

One aspect I'd really like to see is the use of your Z3 scrolling script in your dungeons. That would be some groundbreaking stuff.

Are you mistaking blackbishop89 for blue_knight or has he finally outawesomed me?

[Fire Wizzrobe]

Yeah I think I did actually. But it's been too long underground, Z3 scrolling needs to happen NOW.

[Mero]

The 14th practice dungeon is underway expect it sometime before the end of the month. It will feature two custom items, moving platforms, freeform dungeon doors on an interior map and much more.

[judasrising]

The 14th practice dungeon is underway expect it sometime before the end of the month. It will feature two custom items, moving platforms, freeform dungeon doors on an interior map and much more.

Oh this is great news , you are working with practice dungeons again.

Edited by judasrising, 18 March 2012 - 06:33 AM.