32 replies to this topic

[Nyeshet]

I first discovered Zelda Classic around mid to late 2006 (not too long, I think, after 2.10 first came out), but a combination of several things (moving, new job, etc) drew me away from it for nearly a year. For a time when I returned I was merely a lurker, playing others' quests, following postings for updates and ideas, and so forth. Now I am fully back and wish to create a quest of my own. Indeed, my point in posting is partly to introduce myself and partly to state my intentions to create this quest.

My first quest is more along the lines of an experiment to help teach myself the usage of ZQ. I already have an idea for a much larger and more complex quest, but with my current (lack of) knowledge and skills it is well beyond me.

So for my first quest I will follow the standard story with a smaller and simpler overworld map:



Where I have marked 'town' (the black square) is where Link will start - although whether within the town or just outside it I have not yet determined. There will be islands amongst the ocean waves, so the dungeon marked in the sea will not be quite as hard to reach - nor the areas marked water as beyond exploration - as at first might seem the case. The current positions of the rivers will almost certainly change their courses, although by no more than a quarter screen length in any direction along their journey to the sea from the mountains or inland lake. Transition areas are just that: those between fields and swamps will have traits / tiles of each, as will those between graveyards and desert, etc. I placed each dungeon in a different type of environment so as to set a definite theme for each.

I will be using ZQ from the most recent / stable version of 2.10 currently out (2.10.2, as found in the link below). However, if by some miracle a stable 2.5 comes out before I am too far into building the quest, I will likely change over to it.
http://www.armageddo...mp;postcount=95

In regards to the tile-set I will use for this quest: Others have suggested classic and BS for simplicity's sake, as there is not a lot of variety to confuse those still new to quest design. Still others have suggested BS or DoR due to the visual appeal of the final result. Having looked over several replies from others in regards to this, I have chosen first DoR, then classic, then BS. I think for now that I will stick with BS. It is not as complex as the DoR tile-set while still being more appealing in appearance than the classic tile-set. As I have stated already, I intend to one day create a far vaster and more complex quest. For that quest I will likely use the DoR tileset, but until I am familiar with quest design, I wish to keep the complexities of the design process on the low side. I again thank everyone who has offered suggestions and reasons for considering various tile-sets.

I've not yet decided on a name for this quest, as I only began working on it recently, but I am hopeful that along the path of creation some idea of a name will occur to me. I am not planning much in the way of fancy combos, as the point of this first quest is mostly familiarizing myself with the tool for a more complex and larger later quest, but I may make use of simple and a few not so simple combos at some point in the creation of this first quest.

I thank you in advance for any advice, suggestions, etc.

Nyeshest

Edited by Nyeshet, 21 February 2008 - 10:41 PM.

[Colin]

I recommend the new DoR tileset, I don't have a link for it, but I'm sure another person can provide a link.
The new DoR looks like this, and this is without any imported combos...

However, since you really want to get used to the program, one of those tilesets will work too, I suggest PTUX moreover BS, though, but that's just me.
Anyway, the overworld plan looks quite nice. When I see some screenshots, that'll be even better.

[ElLibertador]

http://bluecrescent....0prerelease.zip

lol iRock...Anyway. I like the map idea very cool nicely put.

[Nyeshet]

I recommend the new DoR tileset, I don't have a link for it, but I'm sure another person can provide a link.

I presume you mean the "Dance of Rememberance" tile-set?

http://www.purezc.co...=tilesets&id=48

I will definitely consider it. I am not quite sure how I overlooked this one, although it is possible I mis-recalled it, as at first I thought it was the 'v2.5 only' tile-set, but that appears to be 'Origins III' tile-set. Thank you for the suggestion. I have added it to the initial post.

However, since you really want to get used to the program, one of those tilesets will work too, I suggest PTUX moreover BS, though, but that's just me.

Anyway, the overworld plan looks quite nice. When I see some screenshots, that'll be even better.

My first screenshots will likely not be masterpieces, but I hope within a few weeks/months time to have gained sufficient skill as to be capable of entering the various 'screen shot of the week' contests.

Edited by Nyeshet, 18 February 2008 - 02:07 AM.

[ElLibertador]

Nyesheet look at my post. That's the old one. My link links to the newest one. And it's epic

[Nyeshet]

Nyesheet look at my post. That's the old one. My link links to the newest one. And it's epic

I've tried following your link, but I keep getting a '404' not found error. It seems the link also contains those three dots (...) used to truncate long lines.

http://bluecrescent....0prerelease.zip

I can see that the start of the link is:

http://bluecrescent.rpgcafe.net/zelda/

but what comes after this part? I've tried using "danceofrememberance0prerelease.zip", but that also produces an error.

Edited by Nyeshet, 18 February 2008 - 02:12 AM.

[ElLibertador]

Huh...I'll try again. I thought it worked. Nope that should work..huh.

http://www.purezc.co...mp;#entry483768

It should be in his sig. Radien's that is.

Edited by LinkMystro, 18 February 2008 - 02:49 AM.

[Nyeshet]

Okay, I have it now. Thanks!

[CastChaos]

Welcome, Nyeshet, I'm always happy for another questmaker!

First of all, how many Zelda quests you played? When I made my first quest, I already played LoZ (Zelda1), AoL (Zelda2) and ALttP (SNES Zelda).

Since you chose the new DoR, you step over the Classic (Zelda1) style. This might prove to be hard, I prefer making a first quest with the default tileset. But now, pay attention to detail. If you have a lot of the same combos near each other, or there aren't enough colours on your screen, people will call it low detail and start to care your quest less. Also, since you make a DoR quest, your dungeons will need to be either multifloored or use the whole DMap space.

It's also very important to not leave any bugs in, so you will need to play your quest to the end at least once.

Some things that fresh questmakers usually don't know:

1. If you put a PUSH flag on a Layer 0 combo, it will appear above Layer 2 while playing the game (not in ZQuest).
2. Only the "lock block" combos and the "eyeball" combo works on layers.
3. Triforce pieces must be placed on DMaps 1-8, because the DMap number tells which Triforce piece you got.
4. The Triforce piece automatically warps the player. Specify the location with "side warp", without checking any sides. Big Triforce doesn't warp the player.
5. Shooter Statue combos work only if they were there at the moment when Link entered the screen. If a secret makes them appear, then don't fire anything.
6. If you put strings on a non-black screen, you need to layer a transparent black panel over there, so the text is readable.
7. Secrets are permanent on Overworld and Cave DMaps, but not on Dungeon DMaps.

Additionally, play Link to the Darkness which is in the AGN database. While I was making my first quest, I continiously looked up that unpassworded quest to see how things work.

Play big quests and then ask on the forums how a certain thing can be made. I learned a lot this way.

[Nyeshet]

[quote name='CastChaos' date='Feb 18 2008, 03:30 AM' post='484368']
Welcome, Nyeshet, I'm always happy for another questmaker!

First of all, how many Zelda quests you played? When I made my first quest, I already played LoZ (Zelda1), AoL (Zelda2) and ALttP (SNES Zelda).[/quest]


I've played all these and Link's Awakening as well. I never really got into the more three dimensional Zelda games, however.

[quote name='CastChaos' date='Feb 18 2008, 03:30 AM' post='484368']Since you chose the new DoR, you step over the Classic (Zelda1) style. This might prove to be hard, I prefer making a first quest with the default tileset. But now, pay attention to detail. If you have a lot of the same combos near each other, or there aren't enough colours on your screen, people will call it low detail and start to care your quest less. Also, since you make a DoR quest, your dungeons will need to be either multifloored or use the whole DMap space.[/quote]


I considered using the classic tileset, but (1) the quest I intend to build in the future would not be using it, and I wish to get some experience with the type of tile-set I will eventually be using, and (2) there is not much in the way of quests using the classic tileset in the database, so I would not have as much to compare with when figuring things out. Also, considering the lack of quests using the classic tileset, I would wonder as to whether I would get as much feedback once my first quest was released.

Would it be better, in your opinion, for me to create my first quest with the classic tileset, and then after having gained some experience with quest design, create a new quest (or even re-create my first quest) with a more advanced tileset?

[quote name='CastChaos' date='Feb 18 2008, 03:30 AM' post='484368']It's also very important to not leave any bugs in, so you will need to play your quest to the end at least once.

Some things that fresh questmakers usually don't know:

1. If you put a PUSH flag on a Layer 0 combo, it will appear above Layer 2 while playing the game (not in ZQuest).
2. Only the "lock block" combos and the "eyeball" combo works on layers.
3. Triforce pieces must be placed on DMaps 1-8, because the DMap number tells which Triforce piece you got.
4. The Triforce piece automatically warps the player. Specify the location with "side warp", without checking any sides. Big Triforce doesn't warp the player.
5. Shooter Statue combos work only if they were there at the moment when Link entered the screen. If a secret makes them appear, then don't fire anything.
6. If you put strings on a non-black screen, you need to layer a transparent black panel over there, so the text is readable.
7. Secrets are permanent on Overworld and Cave DMaps, but not on Dungeon DMaps.

Additionally, play Link to the Darkness which is in the AGN database. While I was making my first quest, I continuously looked up that unpassworded quest to see how things work.

Play big quests and then ask on the forums how a certain thing can be made. I learned a lot this way.[/quote]

Thank you for the suggestions. However, I tried looking up 'Link to the Darkness' quest at AGN's database without any luck. Perhaps it has since been removed?


Incidentally, I have (somewhat) updated the map in the first post.

Edited by Nyeshet, 18 February 2008 - 10:33 AM.

[CastChaos]

Yes, I'm sure you should start on Classic. Unless you already can't wait to make freeform dungeons and detailed screens. When I was making my first quest, rectangular Z1 dungeons were perfect for me. But at that time I didn't know 3D Zeldas or Minish Cap and I didn't play too many custom quests, so it's understandable that Classic was far enough for little me.

Also, seems like Link to the Darkness (Or was it Link to the Dark World?) is indeed removed. It was made by Exate (PolygonX8) and that was the first quest that I played. OK then, try my first quest, Shadow Wars. Its also unpassworded and you can look up almost as many things there as you could have in Exate's quest.

[Russ]

Actually, I would suggest that if you think you can use DoR, do not use classic first. One of the hardest things to do is transition from the classic tileset to the DoR tileset.

Anyways, welcome to Pure ZC. The map you provided looks very good. The quest seems like it should be a good one.

[Nyeshet]

Okay, I have settled upon first utilizing and mastering the classic tile-set. Once I have mastered the basics of quest design and usage of the simpler tile-set, I will - for my second quest - work on mastering the more advanced tile-set. My thanks to those that suggested various tile-sets and reasons for / against them.

[Russ]

Try using this version of the classic set then: http://www.freewebs....ad/basicset.qst. It is the new default set for 2.5. It is basically the classic set, but very well organized, with some more tiles. It was set up for 2.5, but I saved it as a 2.10 file, so it should work.

[Nyeshet]

Thanks for the suggestion. The tiles are arranged much more nicely than in the original arrangement.