22 replies to this topic

[Eragon615]

Okay, lots to go over, and I very well may forget to post some of it, so additional questions are likely to be added later. Let me start by saying, I'm posting on vaction from my Windows Mobile phone. So, screen shots and scripting questions will have to wait until I get home.
Alright, I'm a young designer with big dreams and goals. I often dream up more than my designing programs can produce. I hope to one day have a team of programmers so using such design programs won't matter, but until such a day comes, I will just do the best I can. I first became interested in ZClassic when ver.2.10 was still new. I feel I have a decent understanding of the program, however, 2.5 still holds many mysteries. After watching the demo video "Key to the Heavens," I realized ver.2.5 was just what I wanted. I now have my game written, and while I'm no artist, feel confident in my spriting ability. However, I couldn't script my way out of a paper bag, and search as I will I can't find info on a few features. So, about those questions:

1. How do life gauge pieces work? I would like 20 heart containers total, but can't figure them out...

2. What do all the misc. options do for the enemy editor?

3. Can I make step-on buttons play a secret sound when pressed?

4. How are most cut scenes done? Specifically intros. (Please don't say scripts)

Again, I will post more Monday when I get home, mainly issues with my scripts. I intend to post some vids and pics too, but first I want my game to be noticably different and worthy of your attention. Until then, I humbly request your help with these small issues.

[Joe123]

Questions about how ZQuest itself works go in the 'ZQuest Editor Help' forum, so I moved this one for you.

Welcome to PureZC, and I'm glad you liked my video =)

[Banjo7J]

1. I assume you mean Heart Container Pieces or HCPs. Every 4 HCPs you get gives you another heart and you can see how many HCPs you have on the subscreen. However, I think you can change how many you need to get another heart, but I'm not sure if you can.

2. What they do depends on the enemy type. Go here and click on the enemy type you want to find out what all the Misc. Options do.

3. Doesn't it make the secret sound automatically? Anyway, if you want it to make a sound effect other than the secret sound, you'll need a script. Fortunately, it's a script that's sort-of inbetween simple and complicated and I'm sure someone will write one up for you. I would but it would take a while and I don't want to spend a lot of time replying to your post.

4. Most cutscenes are done by making a screen with an invisible guy, a load of strings joined together and the characters on a layer set over the screen so there's no pink background around them. To prevent messing it up somehow, Link is put next to a warp to the next screen of the cutscene, surrounded by solid combos to prevent walking to a differnent screen and turned invisible in Screen Data.

[Eragon615]

Okay, on the life gauge question, I'm referring to the sub-screen editor. It has the four boxes that say something like "Last" "Not Last" "Cap" and "After Cap". Each ox has a tile and you select a 8x8 section for each. The article on the ZClassic Wiki says they've got an article, but it's been "To be begn" for some time now. Also, if I have say, 11 triforce peice counters on my subscreen, can I ignore the rule set and actually have 11 triforce peices in game? I've planned an enormously long game, so I need lots of end dungeon collectables. And say I have 4 peices of triforce complete one full golden triangle. Can I make events that require you have so many? Ex: After beating 4 dugeons you have a full triangle out of the 3 total, and a guy lets you pass him into a new area. And I don't understand freeform combos very well. I know they are essential for scripts, signs NPCs and the like, but after looking over the wiki, I know they've gotta be good for more. I think maybe the fairy in the "Key to the Heavens" video was done with freeform combos, and I bet they help with cutscenes too, but I still don't understand how to use them... Again, I'll post screen shots and vids of my problems and progress once I'm home. Also, thank Joe123 for moving my post, I almost never get them in the right area... Would it be possible for me to get some quest files with demonstrations in them? I learn best by taking apart things.

[Banjo7J]

No idea on the life guage thing then. Uh, not sure about 11 Triforce pieces thing and I don't think you can do the "If you have 4 Triforce pieces you can pass" thing but you can do "If you have triforce piece 4 you can pass".

[Joe123]

My demo for A Key to the Heavens that the video was made from is unpassworded, as is the Eramus Desert demo and The Fort Knights, which you can find at [ZCRealm.

[Geoffrey]

^Joe has the step on trigger->secret sound script packed with The Fort Knights, it's a pretty simple script.

And FFCs can be used for loads of things...like a spiked ball rolling back and fourth.

Honestly, I learned most of what I know about scripting and FFCs through messing around with The Fort Knights...so that's where I'd start.

[Eragon615]

Thanks alot guys. I'll get right on that. As soon as I have some progress that I'm proud of I'll post some more. I'm sure I'll ask how to build certain puzzles, and I'll probably hound the script section for custom scripts. If anyone can figure the life gauge deal I'd appreciate it. But I'll hold my other questions 'til after I learn from the demos. Thanks again all!

[Praethus]

Just an FYI, you can only have 8 Triforce Pieces on the Subscreen.

[Eragon615]

Home at last and I've pretty much destroyed the Fort Knight Quest. I've come to realize I pretty much need to befriend a scripter for my games to reach full realization, and intend to hop over to the script section and begin my begging immediately after posting this. I couldn't find the "Key to the Heavens" quest on that site, which disappointed me, because many of the systems in it intrigued me. I'm really after the fairy companion to use as a method of giving Link a "voice" of sorts. Fort Knight was a great learning experience for me however, and my game is seeing the effects already.

By the way (and I'm not sure I need to post this here, but hey, what the heck right?), my Zelda Classic has a most unusual glitch. When I first downloaded it, I was at a friend's house. I used it, it worked great, awesome, right? I get home, and now when playing my keys lock up and whatever key I was pressing at the time (if any) acts as though it's stuck, or constantly being held. The music sometimes gets stuck with it, sometimes it doesn't. If it does, it eventually gets unstuck and then plays really fast to catch up with where it should be. As for the game, it doesn't freeze, everything acts normal, minus the controls. Enemies still move, and hurt me, I still drown if Link happens to be facing water, the whole nine yards. Interestingly enough, these instances don't just freeze up ZClassic, my whole computer becomes unresponsive. Alt + F4, CTRL + ALT + DEL, ALT + TAB, nothing works. And it's only on my home computer. Anywhere else I take it it works fine. As you might imagine, this makes testing my games and playing others rather difficult. Any ideas on how I could fix it?

Edited by Eragon615, 30 November 2009 - 01:18 AM.

[Joe123]

http://zc.celestialr...s/site.php?id=5

[Eragon615]

How does one use the string commands? I know what they are, but how do I insert them? Do I just type \1\X\X directly into the string or what?

[Joe123]

Yes.

[Geoffrey]

But they only work in 2.5

[Eragon615]

Got to jacking with the item editor, and found out I can make my magic bomb bag give infinite super bombs as well as normal. This got me to considering a separate bomb bag just for super bombs. Trouble is, how do I remove the annoying equation of s. bombs = n. bomb total / 4? Also, is there a forum for requesting custom graphics?