38 replies to this topic

[Xiion]

Ah, you bring up a good point and are absolutely right jerome. I thought about that argument myself, and probably should have addressed it originally, but whatever.

Specifically, I was referring to the high-end items, ones that you wouldn't have access to until the last 2-3 dungeons or so. For these, there probably isn't enough game left for the difficulty to ramp up to the point where you need to consider an upgrade.
For the intermediate upgrades, I completely agree with you. No one wants to trudge through a later level with just a wooden sword. At some point, you probably have to assume that the player either realizes that "ok, I think I might want to go look for that sword upgrade now" or they've already stumbled upon it (either by design or luck). That's ok. It would be rather difficult to make challenging late-game dungeons on the assumption that the player never got the white sword (actually, it'd be very easy, but thats no fun for the player) . On the same note, placement of these upgrades, and their relative secrecy/difficulty, should reflect about when the player should start needing it, if not slightly before hand. If the player gets the illusion of getting something that makes them think they're better off than they should be, but really are just right on track, I consider that good design there.

[jerome]

No one wants to trudge through a later level with just a wooden sword.

You just gave me an evil idea. Imagine playing through an ENTIRE quest with only the wooden sword as the main weapon.

Yeah... something tells me it WOODEN't go over very well with players. (yes- I misspelled it on purpose)
But imagine the challenge of it if the difficulty was somewhere around the 1st quest. As you might be able to tell, I prefer quests that are fighting difficulty oriented.

[Schwa]

A Quest like that could be a specialty Quest. Like, I dunno... A Battle Arena Quest may be too cliche'd and no fun, but suppose at the beginning of the game you could "select your character", by choosing either the White Sword or the Blue Ring, and using Full Link Tile Modifiers to make Link change into a completely different character if he had one of the items, and stay himself if he didn't. If he had the Blue Ring, his sword would be Wooden for the whole game and he'd get no sword upgrades, and if he had the White Sword he'd get no Rings during the whole game.

I was gonna do something like that as like a side project from Molka Elite, but the thought of making a Quest with no Swords or Rings in ANY of the Overworld or dungeons was a scary one. I guess it's plausible though... I recommend the BS Tileset for a quest like that.

Jerome, your sig doesn't say you have any Quest Projects. Consider starting one with the idea I just gave you? If you don't, I will... Someday at least. (Instincts say to not take on any side projects atm.)

[jerome]

Thanks Schwa.
The Blue Ring/wooden sword or White Sword/no rings idea is pretty cool. I would've just been a jerk and made them go the whole way without any choice. Although, the sword upgrades and no rings has been done. But I guess if given a choice, it might make it interesting.

Currently the only project idea I have going is The Wizard of Oz. I have the characters down. You change from Dorothy, to Lion, to TinMan. But I need to try some planning and hard to do that when I am only doing it at work (when I should be working). Of course, Hero Without a Name was built at work! So in a way, I actually got paid to make a video game. Woohoo! Goal in Life #126 achieved!

Back to Earth: Yah, I better get to working on it. But currently playing Link to the Heavens. When that's beaten, I'll get on it. Playing others quests definitely helps with ideas. Not meaning "Hey I like that, I'll steal it." but like "This is how I'd like to see that done."


OH! AN IDEA FOR A NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE QUEST!!
A true way to only Zero Game something. You guys might have to figure if this one is possible. You are playing along a medium difficulty quest and you die. But when you die, it warps you to a screen that even if you F6 and CONT you are still dead. You would have to restart. It might not go over too well with others, but give them the HEADS UP in description AND a cutscene warning at the beginning, and it might work. I believe you'd have to set all screens to one continue screen that's a trap room. Also F6 CONTINUE would get you the same result, so there'd be NO cheating possible.

What do you think?

[Purplemandown]

I'm going to ditto you all (ditto) for

hitting them on the head with a steel hammer

(Don't remember where I heard that...")
Anywho, I don't think many people realize that the bow can be used for puzzles too...
( Funeral of the bow approaching )

[Russ]

Anywho, I don't think many people realize that the bow can be used for puzzles too...
( Funeral of the bow approaching )

Ya, but it's pretty hard to think of a puzzle that uses it. Can you give an example.

[)-( Marchland Malady )-(]

Link: "I am a god and nothing can kill me!" Quest: "REALLY !!!"

As Schwa and a few others put it, the player must never die many times in the beginning and bull-charge like an invincible madman in the end in any given quest. I often find that levels 1-4 are decent, but levels 5-9 are crap in many quests. Of course, some might argue that such a trend mirrors how a typical person's life is ...

Edited by Nolornbon, 20 March 2012 - 09:23 PM.

[SpacemanDan]

EDIT: My apologies, Nolornbon. It appears I may have jumped the gun a little on this one. I'm reopening the thread as it's really a discussion that can't be considered 'outdated' as it's something that can always be added to. Different people with different insight can always have an interesting thing to say on the matter and expand the discussion, sparking interesting and creative ideas.

Again, my apologies everyone.

[)-( Marchland Malady )-(]

Thank you for unlocking this topic, SpacemanDan. There is much that can be learned from it, and getting new members to read it and add to it is part of that learning process.