The Forbidden City
a quest by Jamian
I've been working on this quest for five or six months now, this is the longest time I've ever spent on a single ZC project... which means either I've gotten slower, or I've developed OCD, or maybe I've developed an addiction to scripting (which helps you create cool stuff, but also takes more time). Or maybe (this is the option I like best) I just want this to be really good so I'm taking my time.
Either way, after working on this in the shadows for months, I now feel like sharing some of it with the forum. The quest definitely has similarities with my previous quest, Promised Lands, though it won't be Promised Lands 2 because I like to try new things. I'm going to have 7 levels, all of them large ones (multiple floors, miniboss and boss, etc.), and this time I'm also sometimes having quite big "sub-level" areas of sorts between the main levels, so the total playing time should be similar, actually maybe a little bit longer.
The quest has more story than in my previous works. I still would not call it story-driven because you'll spend most of your time in dungeons (dungeon-rompers are what I enjoy making the most), but this time I've gotten rid of the McGuffins entirely. Completing a dungeon either nets you a new item that allows you to further explore the overworld, or triggers an event that similarly broadens your horizons. You must complete the dungeons in a linear fashion, but there are no Triforce pieces or no such items to collect, making your progression feel more natural (I hope).
The shovel unsurprisingly returns here, but I'll have some new scripted items as well. The most important one being an actual ocarina item, which lets you play musical notes and triggers things if you play a specific song. For example, at some point you can learn a song that works like the flute from ALTTP, taking you to an overworld map that lets you choose where to teleport, as long as you've visited that location before.
I also have a ring system like in the Oracle games. You can collect many rings throughout the quest, which for the most part give you specific bonuses or abilities. Like in said games, the trick is you can't wear them all at once, so you have to choose what to wear (one ring at a time at first, then two if you find the level 2 ring box). No more bestiary this time, but you'll still get a percentage completion at the end of the quest, and the rings will be a part of that.
While I'm on the subject of the Oracles games, there is also a Gasha Seed system. Rings and other things can often be found inside.
There are other cool things I'm itching to show you, but I want to keep some element of surprise, so this is all I'd like to reveal for now. Things you can expect include:
- Complex dungeons
- A few minigames
- Fully scripted boss fights
- A few things not seen before in a ZC quest, at least so far
- Custom overworld caves
- Sideview areas when you're using stairs in dungeons
- Villainous villains
- Jimmies
As I'm writing this, I'm currently halfway through making level 5 (out of 7) so I'm far from being done with even the beta version, but I felt like sharing some of this stuff in the meantime. Stay tuned, and I hope you'll be looking forward to this.
