126 replies to this topic

[)-( Marchland Malady )-(]

I did talk about Zelda Classic in the Minetest community (a number of times,) but most of the people there don't like it. That is a sad shame.

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I was thinking that the engine of Minetest (because it is free and open source) would be perfect for a 3D version of Zelda Classic. Teleporters could make good warps, nodes could make good combos, and mobs could make good monsters (though teleporters and mobs are done by mods/plugins.) The Minetest engine runs on C++ and mods/plugins for it run on Lua.

[MaximusFred]

Yeah, that would be a great solution. For instance, calliing it "Zelda Retro" to make it more appealing to potential fans. Why not?

 

Joke aside, as I was a child, the first time I played Zelda (NES) it felt colossal. Discovering the overworld, dungeons, it felt fantastic. I've nearly possessed all Nintendo consoles and Zelda games till today (except Skyward Sword).

 

And 10 years ago (I lived in Austria) I was thinking, how great Zelda 1 (NES) was. It must be great, to have a level editor. And so I searched the internet, and had one of my happiest days in life - I discovered Zelda Classic! My childhood dreams were coming true!

 

I think Zelda Classic because of this reason, Zelda Classic tends to appeal more to Zelda veterans, and former Zelda nerds, don´t you think? 

 

So it would be not very easy to gain a lot of new Zelda fans. Childs nowadays have grown up with N64, Playstation 2, or even Android, Xbox360... they don´t have the feeling, I think for that special "retro games".

 

A first step would be to release a Zelda Classic version on Android for mainstream, but then you would have to reduce the complexity, if you want to appeal to the mainstream, which would be not very nice for us veterans.

 

Sorry if you haven´t understand all what I want to express, have to improve my English still (I´m from Europe, Switzerland).

 

But I quote Nathaniel - it only matters that Zelda Classic is popular to us - we have a very nice, faithful fanbase, which is great. Keep the good work on, I love Zelda Classic!

 

Greetings from University ETH Zurich, Switzerland (you have great fans out there, over the world !) ;-)

[)-( Marchland Malady )-(]

One of the reasons the people of the Minetest community don't like Zelda Classic is because they can't figure out how to get a custom quest to work. Where is the best topic for getting information about how to install and play a custom quest? I know how to do this, but none of them do.

[Eddard McHorn Van-Schnuder]

One of the reasons the people of the Minetest community don't like Zelda Classic is because they can't figure out how to get a custom quest to work. Where is the best topic for getting information about how to install and play a custom quest? I know how to do this, but none of them do.

If you already know, why would you need to link them to a topic? Just tell them. It's not exactly rocket science.

[TheLegend_njf]

A lot of the difficulty to get Zeldaclassic to really soar is simply misconceptions about us.

People think we are dossy and too lazy to provide people am interface that is less ancient than the game we represent. But the thing is, it's a misconception, and misconceptions can be broken. It is in my strong humble opinion best to get the message out that our interface is fairly decent in modern times, but also grow to accept we are kinda lacking in interface quality that is very difficult to see past out own comfort with using it.

I believe it has been mentioned here that our interface is the best it can possibly get at this time, so the best choice of action is to get that message out that our interface is not that bad, but of course approach it as confidently and appropriately as possible.

I used to be a member of Zeldapower, but I ain't the most popular there. My attempt of course than became futile as the members their started making personal jabs, in which I discontinued my attempt, I did stoop to their misguided approach to how to appropriately behave in such a place, but of course I regret that I felt the need to troll to survive in such an unmanaged place. I walked away satisfied, but knew Zeldaclassic would not appeal to their interests.

I believe to confidently get the word out is also having an intuition of who you are approaching. Zeldapower clearly was not the site for me, but could be for somebody else, that is if they can adapt to how that forum is operated.

I haven't personally made much the effort in Zelda Dungeon, because I was more focused on posting and becoming a recognized member, but I got side tracked with my top priority and that is my working quest, but I do occasionally update the handbook I am making, though its reception seems to be poorer than I anticipated, the reception and popularity does not matter, but it is the principle, especially when building an honest effort.

I hope that maybe other members continue to express interest in similar ventures. Because where some of us not quite hit the nail correctly, one of us probably could, and chances of making this work would even be more likely if we do make this a cooperative group effort. (At least I think??? Lol)

Edited by NewJourneysFire, 31 May 2013 - 02:41 PM.

[Valientlink]

No surprise that 2005-2007 seemed to be the largest increase. A gaming magazine led me to Zelda Classic somewhere between April-May 2005.

[Darkmatt]

Retro's a buzzword.

 

And I betcha they say the same thing about Dwarf Fortress.

 

Anyway, serious talk:

 

One of the reasons the people of the Minetest community don't like Zelda Classic is because they can't figure out how to get a custom quest to work. Where is the best topic for getting information about how to install and play a custom quest? I know how to do this, but none of them do.

 

This might stem from the fact that the Zelda Classic 2.5 download doesn't even come with a readme for the player.

 

Bit of a blunder. And, I can't believe none of us pointed this out before.

[Valientlink]

I honestly can't understand how anyone has trouble with loading custom quests. It seems as simple as saving your download to a specific folder...

[Russ]

Create a new file, then pressing whatever button you assigned to be A to choose a quest isn't exactly intuitive...

[Jared]

DarkMatt does have a point. Although it's pretty simple to figure out, it would still be nice to know the basic controls in some sort of readme file.

 

It's kind of like putting a bookshelf together. It's very simple to figure out and easy to do, but directions would still benefit the builder.

[TheLegend_njf]

It's easy for us to say "press A", but as I said before, though it may seem like child's play, a lot of people simply don't have the patience to continue once pressing A on the keyboard fails.

 

And I'm certain that's where the problem lies, they download it, the program says "press A", it doesn't work, and they think to themselves "I don't care all that much to try and figure this out, this should be easier".

 

Unless it's double click > play, most people will shrug it off, it's not that it was too hard, but it was hard enough to appeal to this well known public attitude. 

 

And if people still don't understand what I'm trying to say, people want it to be as simple as games normally is, you take the disk or cartridge, and you put it in to the machine, and oh my god everything else does the work.

 

Which leads me to wonder, is it possible for us to build a program that allows quest designers to package their quest? So that that's all it would take? I've been thinking about that lately, but if I could package my quest into a program that loads my quest in ZC just by double clicking the icon, if that could be possible, I would like to be one of the first quest designers to take advantage of such an idea. 

[Darkmatt]

And I'm certain that's where the problem lies, they download it, the program says "press A", it doesn't work, and they think to themselves "I don't care all that much to try and figure this out, this should be easier".

 

Except the program doesn't say Press A at all.

 

I don't put the blame on newcomers being lazy or casual or anything like that. Zelda Classic is a program that assumes quite a bit out of you. Yano, like some emulators. I'm not saying it should stoop down to these kids' level, but it has to throw newcomers some sort of bone on getting it to work and using it to its fullest.

[bobby_light]

Which leads me to wonder, is it possible for us to build a program that allows quest designers to package their quest? So that that's all it would take? I've been thinking about that lately, but if I could package my quest into a program that loads my quest in ZC just by double clicking the icon, if that could be possible, I would like to be one of the first quest designers to take advantage of such an idea. 

 

This is key.  I brought this up in one of those "what should be in the next version" threads when 2.5 was finished.  While it certainly won't make ZC cool and popular, it would definitely make the games made with it more accessible.

[TheLegend_njf]

Could it be as simple as building an iso image? Don't they work in a way where you can code in commands so that all it would take is popping in a cd and just play?

That would be ideal for me. Sure, it might be annoying for those who have to burn game unto disc, but it's so a smooth way in handling it, and my quest would actually feel like a real game to people, something you can hold in your hand.

[NoeL]

With ZC moving open source this will be possible. In fact it's possible to do now - just save your quest as "1st.qst" and distribute the entirety of ZC (sans zquest). Rename the ZC exe to the name of your quest if you want. Doing this is almost certainly outside the EULA though, so not recommended.