76 replies to this topic

[Cukeman]

The dungeon IS bland. Not sure what kind of tiles would help my dungeon...open to suggestion.
Maybe some tiles that show some structural decay?

EDIT: About puzzles that don't make sense. What if I included optional hints in the dungeon,
kind of like the owl statues in Link's Awakening? Maybe I could even charge money for these tips?

Edited by Cukeman, 25 July 2011 - 04:01 PM.

[Moosh]

The empty room was the one with two blocks and three stalfos. I'd recommend putting some more solid objects (maybe skeletons) on the floor. I think walk through blocks are fine as long as the player knows the room has them. A good way to do this is to have Link surrounded by solid blocks but have one walk through one. That way when he tries to push them, he'll "accidentally" discover the walkable block. I also think if you want to have completely nonsensical puzzles like the slashable block (maybe if you remove the dodongo and clarify by adding "in this room" it will be more obvious), you need to give the player the lens of truth. Slashing the random block made no sense and there's like a 1/25 (90% of statistics are made up on the spot) chance of actually discovering it by accident. I think you need to make the armos statues look slightly different from the normal ones.

[/longchunkoframblingtext]

[Cukeman]

So I'm thinking of placing the orange Dodongo elsewhere, and having the text message
about the useless sword appear every time you enter the room, so that the player will
know something is 'up'. I'm a little worried that this might make the puzzle too easy...

EDIT: Maybe if the message keeps playing after you have killed the Dodongo (who won't return)?
Or every so often if you stay in the room?

Edited by Cukeman, 25 July 2011 - 04:31 PM.

[Sheik]

I would not worry about making it too easy. It's Level 1, after all, right?

[DigiPro31279]

impressive...now if I can remember how to video record a quest and post it for some see mine as well. Great job on it so far.

[Cukeman]

Started over from scratch today using 2.50 RC2. My first quest was a mess anyways I'm much better at layering now,
and I needed to replace tile warps to text message screens with actual NPCs, and I am looking forward to using enemy
defenses in RC2. I've decided to limit myself to the NES palette, but there will be no limit to number of colors per sprite
or per screen. The music may be a bit eclectic as it starts out with NES tunes, but will feature more recent and complex
MIDIs in later areas. It will also have slightly improved graphics from what you've seen before.

Edited by Cukeman, 28 July 2011 - 04:30 PM.

[DigiPro31279]

should be good no matter what. hope it works out for ya.

[nicklegends]

Music:
Zelda 1 NSF (Level 9, Dungeon)
nicklegends (A Lonely Atlantis)

You just made my day.

[Cukeman]

Awesome. I thought it was a really nice piece. I hope you don't mind that I'm not using it for "water music"
I agree with your title, the underwater sound in 'A Lonely Atlantis' does have a feeling of loneliness to it, so
that's the kind of somber mood I'm hoping to evoke with your tune.

Edited by Cukeman, 20 August 2011 - 02:01 AM.

[Cukeman]

I beat level 1, and I have to say that while the visuals were stunning, the [dungeon] design felt a bit bland. For example, the second room felt really empty... ...Your overworlds are GORGEOUS!

I guess the key learning here is that I should consider my dungeons as if they were overworlds.
As long as I am going with zombies, graves and skulls I could play with coffin, catacomb, and
bone motifs. Although I want to be very careful not to surpass the level of detail in the overworld.
I want to keep a simple NES look and feel to it. I think the stonework is an important element in
this dungeon, but there could be structural decay, and wooden elements as well, or not.

I also think I need to consider the LttP dungeons. They have lots of over/under pathways and
more interesting ways to walk though the dungeon than simply using center doors.

Thinking of a dungeon as an overworld really turned a light on inside my head. Previously I was
thinking "NES Dungeons are a series of rooms with puzzles in them, how can I make these puzzles
more complex?". I wasn't thinking "How can I make walking around in them more interesting?".
So thanks for saying my dungeon design was bland. I can feel my creative powers churning.

Edited by Cukeman, 24 August 2011 - 02:08 AM.

[Cukeman]

Update time!

This project has been on hold for maybe a month or more due to technical problems. In the meantime
I worked on my Minish Cap Tileset. I have become more skilled with ZQuest, and I got some great help
on these forums. Now I am putting the MC project on hold to work more on my beloved quest. The last
few weeks have been silent, but productive.

Some of you already know that I am currently revamping the first area.
Here is a sneak peek at my progress (Left = Old, Right = New):





I have also been updating the first post of this thread with new information.

[Neppy]

I'm really liking how this is looking Cukeman! I like the improvements greatly, as I said in chat earlier. Looking forward to seeing more of it. As I said before, I really do enjoy Classic Quests that are done well.

[Cukeman]

Thanks a bunch Angeal! It is October now, so it has been one year since the release of my first level.
Here's another updated screen, for those who have not seen it yet:

[Mero]

Major improvement Cukeman! Loving the way this is turning out.

[Cukeman]

Thanks , your scripts are a big help in making it turn out well.

banner:

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[url=http://www.purezc.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=50651&view=findpost&p=718831][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v13/GYROMITE/ZeeThreeRoll.png[/IMG][/url]

Edited by Cukeman, 13 October 2011 - 07:35 PM.