Post updated 3/31/2010.
Background: In April of 2009 (when this was originally posted), fellow PureZC member Plissken PM'ed me about a collaboration project for ZebraStallion's One Map Quest Contest that was being held at that time. I was more than happy to oblige; we've both been fans of each others' work for a while and I even helped with Plissken's then-main project, Despair. In addition, I was looking for something to "refresh" me so I could get in gear on my project, Blackness of Eternity.
ZebraStallion's contest was dropped due to inactivity (a sad fate for most of our member-started contests) but by that point Plissken and I had concluded that this project was too good to rush to a quick conclusion. As it stands, we've both dropped our individual projects but continued collaborating on this one; both of us simply lost the drive to continue on with our respective megaquests. This one is different though; whereas in our other projects, we exhausted ourselves and planned what was ultimately too ambitious, we've made a conscious effort to focus our abilities in this quest. Plissken is pushing for a Spring 2011 release date; I think we can do it.
Without further ado, we humbly present...
~The Treasure of Absalom~
By Plissken and Zaire
General Information
The thought behind this project was simple: we make a quest in a desert, and we make it look good. Things didn't stay that way for very long; between a veritable ZScript master and myself, the project became something completely different than anything PureZC has seen before.
Although made in Zelda Classic, this is not a Zelda game; this is an original world of completely new characters. You are the adventurous treasure hunter Adrem, who sets out from his native port to search out gold, glory, and the legendary Treasure of Absalom. Along the way, of course, he'll also have his mettle tested against vicious monsters, ancient curses, and treacherous traps that threaten to end his journey prematurely.
But nothing ventured, nothing gained.
And who, of course, knows this better than a true capitalist? For the only way to further yourself in this world is to buy low and sell high. Unlike what I can honestly describe as all other quests, money is the ultimate limiting factor to your questing capabilities. Enemies will not drop rupees; you'll find no chests full of easily convertible cash. Adrem will instead often find himself knee-deep through the ruins beneath the surface without a penny to show for it. Instead, he will find tangible treasures; relics of the past that have been left protected even after their owners' deaths. If something is protected, it must have value; this value is how Adrem will make his money. He buys low. He sells high.
Of course, what this means practically is that your dad was right; there's no money tree out there. If the only way to get money is to sell a finite number of items, the total amount of money in the game is equally finite. Plissken and I have given each treasure a sell value that you can redeem at a shop in town; however, we've also created some items to fit together as a set. You can sell them as individual pieces, but they will be much more valuable if you sell them as one. This isn't always the best choice though, since it means that you won't have as much money immediately available to you. Sometimes, it is the best choice; if you sell all the items immediately at their lowest value, you won't be able to buy everything that this game has to offer.
Just money in and of itself is a terrible goal; luckily, there are plenty of opportunities for Adrem to forgo his greed and give up the money he's amassed to expand and upgrade his arsenal. Finding a grappling hook in the depths of a dark dungeon seems unlikely; luckily, the shop in your port town just got one in stock. Of course, you'll have to save long and hard to afford such an item; perhaps buying the lantern will allow you to reach more treasure that will help in the process, but it will set your saving efforts back a large step. Once again, there is no correct path here; this is your journey, and the choice is up to you. However, although no choice is wrong, Adrem may find that some choices make the path forward considerably more difficult.
If that was too much theoretical talk for you, you can always read the tl;dr version:
- You won't find rupees on enemies or in chests
- You'll instead find treasure deep in the depths of the ruins
- Treasure can be sold using Plissken's NPC shop script, but you never know how much treasure is worth until you turn around and go back
- Some treasure is worth more if it's in a set with other items
- Most items, even equipment items, have to be bought
- Six50 Studios - Plissken's site is the official hosting place of tToA since neither of us owns a QPF here and as the quest is being made in beta versions of ZQuest it can't be submitted here anyway.
- Official Absalom YouTube Channel - Although you can find all of our fine videos on Six50 studios, in the event that the site has some downtime all of our videos can be viewed here. Feel free to subscribe and you'll be automatically notified whenever we post a new development video!
- The City - Designed by Plissken. This is actually the entire thing- we didn't feel the need for a sprawling metropolis, especially considering that it will play backseat to the main adventuring area. Nevertheless, Plissken showed off some incredible design here, as you can see, along with some sweet tile art by Linkus.
- The Desert - Designed by Ebola Zaire. The desert will only be the size of one BS overworld; this quest was originally to be for the one map quest contest and we've stuck to the original plan of roughly 64 overworld screens and 64 dungeon screens. This is actually what I'd call a "bad teaser" since it doesn't show a typical collection of screens; as Adrem ventures further inland, the blue here will disappear completely.
- The "Dungeon" - Designed by Plissken. The dungeon area will be just as big as the overworld and feature dozens of entrances. These screens also demonstrate the way that Adrem will collect his loot.
- The Subscreen - Designed by Plissken.
- Tech Demo w/ Commentary - Plissken filmed himself going through some of the areas in this quest and showing off some of the awesome scripts that he's written, along with some ideas we haven't revealed anywhere else.
- Screen Design w/ Commentary - Ebola Zaire goes through the process of designing a screen at 4x speed with some author commentary to go along with it.
- Screen Design w/ Commentary 2 - Plissken designs a dungeon screen and explains some of the process.
Plissken and I are always eager to hear your opinions and suggestions; posting in this topic is the number one thing you can do to support this quest, so comment freely. If you'd like to show your support of this quest to the rest of the world, then please add Plissken's support banner to your signature:
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Thanks for reading and supporting!
