18 replies to this topic

[Mani Kanina]

Announcing now, a short form contest that will be running from the First of August to Sunday the 25th of August. (A little over three weeks).

Admittedly I'm not sure how much interest there is for a contest right now, but the primary purpose of this contest is for me to collect feedback on the tileset. I can only really do that if we get into the nitty gritty of people actually using it. So! This contest will be open for any and all users, and you're encouraged to enter regardless of how skilled or unskilled you feel like you are at ZC and quest making. Likewise, I'd rather do the contest now so any potential entrants can also submit their quests to the Fall Expo, should they wish to.

The goal with the contest is to make a MiniQuest.

A MiniQuest can be almost anything, but they are characterized by being on the shorter side of things. Most quests made for previous contests on this site tend to fall under this umbrella; so it shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.


Here are the nitty-gritty rules:

• Quest has to be made using the VD 2 beta version supplied.
• Max two main contributors per project. (Occasional loose tiles or scripts, etc, by someone else is OK).
• All development of the quest has to be done during the contest run time (August 1th - August 25th). Only exclusion to this is planning such as taking notes or drawing diagrams.
• Entry in its entirety has to be submitted either in this thread or in a DM to me (On Pure or Discord) by 23:59 UTC +/- 0 on the 25th of August 2024.
• Quest should be made for Zelda Classic 2.55.
• Quest has to abide by PureZC's content rules.

Now, I'm sure there are some some additional questions that will prop up in regards to the rules, so I'll include a handy Q&A further down here that will hopefully answer most of them (and if not, feel free to ask!) Furthermore, there will some criteria by which your quest will be judged by; not to mention a theme. So, let's get on with things!

Judging criteria per judge:
Gameplay: 0-20 points
Aesthetics: 0-10 points
Construction: 0-10 points
Creativity: 0-5 points
Enjoyable: 0-5 points

Bonus points:
Theme: 0-1 points
Bunny: 0-1 points
Solo: 0-1 points
No$ript: 0-1 points
Complete: 0-1 points

Criteria breakdown:

Spoiler

The judge criterias will be individual per judge, and then averaged (with rounding).
Gameplay: How well constructed the gameplay is. This is everything from level design to screen flow, to enemy placement on the screens, to economy balance. It's a pretty wide criteria, so you can assume that anything not covered by the other criteria are covered under this one.
Aesthetics: How good the quest looks and sounds. Everything matters here from screen compositions, to palettes, to good use of graphics, to fitting music choices, to sound effect quality.
Construction: How well put together the quest is in a technical sense. If there are bugs, those will cause point deductions here, for example. Anything that a player can notice that harms the construction of the quest will cause point deductions here. But conversely, if you make a giant IF statement chain in your scripts-- and it doesn't cause slowdown --then that's a-ok because there is no way to tell as a player.
Creativity: How creative is the entry. Can be anything from doing something completely new to taking advantage of engine features in cool ways. You'll not be judged by novelty, but if you're doing something that is non-standard for ZC then that's gonna get you more points. Remember though: Even if making a regular zelda dungeon isn't breaking new ground, you can still make one in new ways.
Enjoyable: Simply put how good of a time the given judge had with the entry. Note that this isn't labeled 'fun factor' for a reason. If you're setting out to cause a different emotion in the player then that's also okay. So if you want to try and make a horror game, go ahead.

Bonus Points are independent of judges and will be given once per entry if applicable.
Theme: Does the quest make a good attempt at using the contest theme. This will be given as long as a clear attempt was made or if the author can justify the theme.
Bunny: Is there a bunny.
Solo: If the quest was a solo development. Collaborations have a tendency of vastly extending the potential scope for an entry in contests; this single bonus point exists in order to even the playing field slightly. And remember: More cooks in the kitchen isn't always better either.
No$ript: If the quest does not import any additional scripts then they get this bonus point. (Scripts included with VD 2 do not count). ZC 2.55 let's you do a lot without scripts; so why not take advantage of that?
Complete: The entry is a fully complete quest. The entry will be judged based on if it feels like a complete experience, not just based on what the author says. Size or length of quest does not matter, just if it feels like a complete experience is provided.

Judges: Mani Kanina, Deedee

Now then, without further ado, the theme of the contest is: A New Age

You may interpret the contest theme in whatever way you wish; hell, you may ignore it freely if you'd rather just make whatever; you do you! And that, is all, as they say. You may feel free to start planning and speculating if you want already. If you've never made a quest before then I recommend getting the editor open and messing around a bit just to get a hang of the basics.

Vintage Dreams 2 beta build: Vintage Dreams 2 - Beta 3

For those that want to join on the discussion regarding the contest or simply post updates on their entry, there exists a thread on the Discord server: Join Here!


Below you'll find the Q&A for what I hope would be the most common questions. If there's something that is still unclear then feel free to either ask here in this thread or poke me on Discord:

Spoiler

Q: Can I import new graphics/tile/scripts for my quest?
Yes, absolutely! You're encouraged to do so if you feel like something is missing. In fact, if you feel like there are some critical graphics missing from the tileset that you have to import when making a quest, feel free to note that when you post the entry, that kind of feedback is valuable!

Q: Does this mean I can just overhaul the entire tileset by importing Classic tiles?
Yep! Nothing is stopping you. It'll be a bit against the spirit of the contest, obviously, but it makes no sense to disallow people to import things.

Q: I've never made a quest before, what do I do?
Your best bet in this cause is joining the PureZC Discord Server. There are plenty of experienced people there who can answer your questions. Sadly I work full time and operated in the EU timezones, so I'm seldom available myself; though I will do my best to answer questions if prompted. There are lots of weird aspects when it comes to ZC and ZQ, so it can feel a bit overwhelming at first. I'd link a specific tutorial but I don't think there are any that will fully guide you by the hand. Regardless, there are some here on Pure if you want to check them out: https://www.purezc.n...p?showforum=152

Q: How much content can be made by an extra contributor?
Generally I'm going to play this one fast and loose. But you should consider it in the same vein as you downloading a loose tile submission on the database or a scripted feature. If you're having them program you a complicated multi phase boss then they have clearly stepped beyond the line. I will only D/Q an entry over this if it's especially egregious, which I don't think will happen, so just be sensible about it; okay?

Q: Does a beta tester count as a contributor or extra contributor?
No, as long as they don't submit any content itself or edit the quest, they do not.

Q: So I can't start drawing graphics or start scripting immediately?
No, you may not. Feel free to plan dungeon flowcharts or writing a design document if you wish. But any of the main work made specifically for the entry can't be started till the first of August.

Q: Why is X thing in the tileset broken?
A decent chunk of the scripts were made for an earlier version of ZC, as such they are not quite fit for purpose anymore. The seed shooter, for example, wasn't made with more buttons than A and B in mind when it was created. There's little to be done about such until either the original script author updates the script or I have the time to deep dive into their work to see if I can adjust.

Likewise, some 2.55 features aren't quite fully implemented just yet. That being said: I might not be aware that something is broken. So feel free to mention it anyway if it comes up. Better to be informed too many times than not being informed at all.

Q: Can I sign on to be a judge?
Sure, as long as there aren't too many yet. You'll be expected to play every entry to completion and judge each entry fairly by the same metrics. If this sounds interesting and you don't personally want to enter with a quest then send me a DM or poke me on Discord. Deedee is planning on entering too, but she obviously won't be allowed to judge her own entry. The scoring technically accounts for varying amounts of judges.

Q: Can I use ZC 3.0 for this contest?
No, this is not allowed.

Q: I wish to supply my entry anonymously, can I do that?
Certainly. Just mention the fact when you DM me your entry and I won't list a name with it when it's posted until the results are revealed.

Q: I wish to have my entry be blind judged, is that possible?
Yes, but you'll have to arrange with a third party who can submit your entry for you, and whom I can contact in regards to your identity before the results are posted; assuming a pseudonym isn't provided.

Q: Do I have to give feedback for the tileset if I enter?
No, but it is encouraged. Anything that comes up either when making your quest or when reflecting upon things could be useful for future changes. The tileset has a thread on Discord where you can share any thoughts if it's too big of a pain to make a post in this thread.

Edited by Mani Kanina, 04 August 2024 - 04:00 AM.

[Jambu]

Looking forward to giving this tileset a spin

[Moonlight]

Is the new beta only going to be provided once the contest starts? 

[Mani Kanina]

Is the new beta only going to be provided once the contest starts? 

I'll try to have it posted a few days earlier at the latest.

I'm still trying tweak and improve a couple of things before I post the new beta of the tileset.

[Mani Kanina]

The new beta build is now out, you can find it here: Beta Release.

Edited by Mani Kanina, 31 July 2024 - 03:14 PM.

[Pjthehuman]

Btw i think something sprite related is going wrong, cause when i loaded the chaser, cause i'm pretty for sure this isn't supost to happen.

 

(Trying to send a screenshot i took of the problem).

Okay sense my ability to figure out how to send a screenshot isn't working, basically a second spirte or tileis overlaping the sprite used for some of the enemies, (And enemies made with newbie boss). Idk why this is happening.

Edited by Pjthehuman, 29 July 2024 - 11:39 PM.

[Mani Kanina]

Btw i think something sprite related is going wrong, cause when i loaded the chaser, cause i'm pretty for sure this isn't supost to happen.
 
(Trying to send a screenshot i took of the problem).

Okay sense my ability to figure out how to send a screenshot isn't working, basically a second spirte or tileis overlaping the sprite used for some of the enemies, (And enemies made with newbie boss). Idk why this is happening.

That tends to be how Ghost works. Normally it's supposed to be invisible.

The tiles look like they are drawing from tile page 250 / 251. That's the "of" from the "oracle of -" something. I'll see if I can figure out what causes this and hotfix it.

[Pjthehuman]

Thank you.

[Pjthehuman]

Btw the of is to ages.

(Figured that one out due to a boss having the same problem).

Nvm. It's secrets. Figured it out because of the vines.

[Pjthehuman]

Btw how do i get the seed satchel to work? (I only have ember work for some reason).

[Mani Kanina]

Okay, I've updated today with a new Beta release of the tileset. That will be the final one before the contest starts. Unless something exceedingly critical pops up, this should probably be the version you use.

Speaking of which, we are approaching midnight in UTC +/- 0, so feel to start working on your projects as soon as you see this post.
 

Btw how do i get the seed satchel to work? (I only have ember work for some reason).

You'll need to add them to the subscreen; they are individual items. In the future I plan on adding a scripted submenu to select between seeds, but I still haven't immersed myself into subscreen scripts.

[Pjthehuman]

It feels weird that there isn't a script (As far as i am aware) That makes a sound when you have the compass. (Like the oracle games).

[Mani Kanina]

It feels weird that there isn't a script (As far as i am aware) That makes a sound when you have the compass. (Like the oracle games).

I was actually working on one for the older version of the tileset way back when. I ran into some issues though.

Still, it would likely be much easier to make that script now. It's something I'll get on later, most of the work so far has been towards making the tileset be up to par with 2.55.

[Pjthehuman]

K.

[Mani Kanina]

For those that want to join on the discussion regarding the contest or simply post updates on their entry, A thread was made on PureZC's Discord server. There's been plenty of talk and hype so far, with some creators sharing screenshots of their progress. You can join on that by clicking here!