13 replies to this topic

[Moonlight]

 

Contest banner by xanadude!

 

Hello all! It's been a while since we've hosted a contest in an official capacity, hasn't it? Well, as part of an ongoing effort to host these more regularly, we'd like to kick things off with a new contest concept altogether! For those of you who have never participated in a contest though, they usually follow the format of creating a quest within a specific timeframe (such as two weeks), and possibly with a specific theme (such as the recent Retro Quest Contest). 

 

With this contest, participants are limited to 64 screens total, not including layers or cutscenes. What you do with these 64 screens and how you distribute them is up to you!

 

Contest Timeline:

 

The contest will start with a pre-development phase today, March 10th. During this phase, you're encouraged to plan any story, overworld or dungeon ideas you have. You may also add any tiles, combos, strings, palettes, music or scripts you will need to your file, as well as set up subscreens / DMaps. This may seem like a lot to allow early, but in my mind, the more time the creator has to spend on creating the actual screens / gameplay, the better.

 

The quest development stage proper will begin on March 24th. It is only then that you are permitted to begin developing screens for the quest. 

 

The submission due date will be April 21st, with the entries being released to the public the following day. Everyone will then be given until April 28th to play them, after which we will put up a poll for people to decide which was their favorite, along with auxiliary polls if turnout permits!

 

Submission Instructions:

 

This subforum will serve as the hub for the contest, and will be where you submit your entry after the development phase. Once you finish your quest, you must create a post within this subforum, after which it will be hidden from public view until April 22nd. You’re allowed to format and present your submission topic in any way you’d like, but be sure that you provide the following in it:

• A download link for the quest itself
• A download link for music (if necessary)
• What version the quest was developed in
• Any images you want in the post (use a photo-sharing website for this!)

Additionally, please be sure that you preview and proofread your post before you click “Post” so you can be sure everything looks right. If you feel the need to edit your submission after the fact though, please let the staff know and we’ll be happy to assist in that!

 

Contest Guidelines:

 

The following will serve as guidelines/rules for everyone to follow throughout the contest process. If anyone needs clarifications on the guidelines or need to know if something is allowed, please reach out to the staff!

• The quests should be made with ZC versions 2.55 or 3.0. You may use older versions if you wish, but make sure they run properly in one of the listed versions.
• No screen design may be done before the quest development phase begins. You are expected to start the quest development phase without any screens in the file.
• Try not to think too big, you only have 64 screens to work with, after all!

 

Bonus Objectives:

 

The following will serve as optional bonus objectives you can choose to pursue if you so desire:

 

Spoiler

Make the quest in 64 screens, INCLUDING layers and cutscenes

Include divisibles of 64 in the quest in some way (32, 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1). An example for this could be having 16 collectibles, 8 items total or 4 dungeons.

 

Feel free to use this topic to ask any questions you may have regarding the contest, or to express your interest in participating!

 

We also have a channel on the Discord server for discussion here!

[coolgamer012345]

On EVERYONE'S quest files we WILL be participating in this quest contest 

[Twilight Knight]

Oh I like this concept of limiting it to a 8x8 map. That makes it feasible to make something
I'll have to think about some idea now...

[Naldrag]

I'm assuming the 64 screens INCLUDE dungeon layouts?  Or does it just apply to the overworld?

Edited by Naldrag, 10 March 2025 - 03:48 PM.

[Moonlight]

I'm assuming the 64 screens INCLUDE dungeon layouts?  Or does it just apply to the overworld?

It includes any and all gameplay screens, yes.

[Naldrag]

It includes any and all gameplay screens, yes.

Sounds good.  I'll probably enter (for real this time)

[Anthus]

I will definitely be attempting to enter this one. I have an idea, and some planning stuff done so far. Looking forward to the other entries as well!

[Shoshon the Elegant]

If anyone else tries to make Ocarina of Time Mini, I will find you and you will regret it immensely.

[Nino]

That's pleasant news! I would love to participate in contests like these. Though, personally I have no clue how the ZCEditor works for now, let alone the scripting and embedding of custom assets, hence I wouldn't be able to deliver something worth sharing at the moment.

Still looking forward what quests will surface from this contest. In this community I have seen many great titles by very talented people so far. It's very exciting. Maybe someday I'll find the time to figure out the ZCEditor and will be able to contribute something too.

Good luck, everyone!

[Twilight Knight]

I'm having a good idea for this I think, a quest where Frozenblood (from my quest Crystal Crusades) gets his own little story. Something I planned years ago, but never finished: https://twccgaming.nl/quests#nttdk

 

I think this is possible if I scale it down in just a 8x8 map, but I have some questions:
1. Cutscenes can be any random screen right? Or should it be at least a visual copy of one of the 64 gameplay screens?

2. Is it alright if screens are not copied, but based on an existing quest? In my case I want to recreate the overworld of that quest I linked above in a different tileset.

[Moonlight]

Cutscenes can be any screen, they don't have to be based on one of the 64 gameplay screens.

 

Basing screens on an existing quest is allowed, as long as it isn't a direct copy or anything.

[FTX6004]

Gonna plan on entering myself, i have been messing around with a few ideas i got in mind for the last few days.

 

But i do have a question: Do Caves / Item Cellars / Passageways count as one of the 64 screens by any chance? They dooo offer gameplay after all.

[Russ]

That was discussed in the Discord, and it was agreed that a standard cave/item cellar/passageway doesn't count towards the total, so long as they're your run of the mill screen 80/81.

[klop422]

Damn, this sounds really interesting, and if it were a month later, maybe I'd also join haha (if I could get myself to open ZQuest again )

 

Perhaps I'll look in at the submissions when they come out, though.