13 replies to this topic

[Twilight Knight]

Hi everyone. I think that in these chaotic times, positive reinforcement is really what we need. Here in this thread I want to gather all and discuss things which we think are promising about the current state and future of ZC.

 

Let me start off by stating some things I'm really excited about:

 

 

Scripting is becoming easier & better

ZScript has gotten a lot of love the last few years and I'm really happy with some of the new general functions/improvements, but especially the new datatypes and pointer we got. I'm loving the new combodata and dmapdata script types for example.

 

I'm also very excited to see what people will do with NPC scripts and whether they can completely make ghost.zh obsolete. I think this could in the end make creating bosses much easier than with ghost.zh. I might get to play with it myself soon.

 

 

Engine features are awesome

2.55 has a lot of nifty new features all over the place. String improvements; generic combos; more enemy customisation options; custom sprite sizes; new quest rules; new settings such as the "variables" tab in init data: it's too much to memorise and frankly I'm struggling to find a list of new features. My personal favourite new features definitely are the new string options, such as the portrait and making the background transparent.

 

Combined with all the features the program already had you can make a really nice and smooth quest without needing to script at all. I'm especially wondering what people will cook up nowadays with the native enemy editor.

 

 

Promising upcoming quests

I see some really cool quests coming up I'm truly excited about. Some by creators who have been around here for a long time and some by creators that are pretty new to the scene.

 

A quick summary of upcoming quests I'm excited about: The Rosemaster, Crucible Crest, Terror of Necromancy, Little Hero, Peril of Rectangle Country, Wanderlust, Them Bones and Legend of Zirconians and Skylanders. I'm sure I missed a few, but these quests look really refreshing to me. New and diverse content is still being created with ZC, and who knows what more will come when 2.55 is more stable?

 

And besides that there are still hundreds of quests already released that I haven't played yet!

 

 

What are you enthusiastic about ZC-wise?

Edited by Twilight Knight, 24 August 2021 - 10:58 AM.

[Bagu]

I can challange myself each an every time.
And right when I think, I reached my personal limits, ...I learn something new, again.

Edited by Bagu, 24 August 2021 - 03:13 AM.

[Twilight Knight]

I agree. Even after 16 years of using the program I'm learning and making new stuff all the time!

[Rambly]

It sounds weird, but the fact that we have people trying to foster a positive atmosphere by making a thread to point out the potential and positives the program has is actually really heartening and makes me really happy. I really appreciate this thread.

[Bagu]

Zc Potential - Hours after Hours of Fun

 

Done for fun (last thirty Minutes) : Tought about becoming my own final boss.
...in style of Deathtoll (SoulBlazer) ...with a little extra spice. (using Ghost.zh or NPC scripts).

   

The face is a ripped photo, of the mask I made for my Ex-Metalband. I was wearing it on stage ,so it's me somehow.
(took twenty minutes to create this and ten minutes to stare at it and laugh - gonna continue working it out, cause I like it, by now)

So ripping even photos, converting colors and mashing it with pixel art.
...and use endless possibilities to awake your work...

This and much more is ZC's potential.

Edited by Bagu, 24 August 2021 - 04:47 AM.

[Twilight Knight]

I'm also very excited to see what people will do with NPC scripts ... I might get to play with it myself soon.

How about today?
 

npc script BossHealthNPC
{
	void run()
	{
		int maxHP = this->HP;
		while (this->HP > 0) {
			BossHealthMeter(maxHP, this->HP);
			Waitframe();
		}
	}
}

Though simple, I made my first NPC script :-)

 

  

Looks great Bagu!

[bigjoe]

How hard would it be to write a function that sets an enemy's ScriptTile to a combo's current tile? That would be one of the main steps of deprecating ghost.zh

[Mitchfork]

How hard would it be to write a function that sets an enemy's ScriptTile to a combo's current tile? That would be one of the main steps of deprecating ghost.zh

 

Pretty simple - here's an example that will set an NPC's tile to whatever animation frame combo 50 is on.

int combo = 50;
int tile = Game->LoadComboData(combo)->Tile;
npc->ScriptTile = tile;

You could put something like this inside a custom NPC waitframe function and then you could just change the combo to control animation very similarly to ghost with an NPC script.

Edited by Mitchfork, 24 August 2021 - 04:51 PM.

[Emily]

 

 

Pretty simple - here's an example that will set an NPC's tile to whatever animation frame combo 50 is on.

int combo = 50;
int tile = Game->LoadComboData(combo)->Tile;
npc->ScriptTile = tile;

You could put something like this inside a custom NPC waitframe function and then you could just change the combo to control animation very similarly to ghost with an NPC script.

 

could even 1-line it,

n->ScriptTile = Game->LoadComboData(50)->Tile;

[Twilight Knight]

There we go, the first step!

 

I think this is interesting stuff to play around with and I might get to do that soon. It's already really nice that the NPC pointer has plenty of things that ghost.zh had to implement manually, such as behaviours, death animations and eweapon firing.

If I look at it like this, I don't even think there's that much more missing that you'd need from ghost.zh, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Then all that would be really nice is to assemble some type of helper kit for peeps to easily create bosses. F.e. all transformation things, setting cset/tile/width/height, in 1 function.

 

I'll probably try this for the next scripted enemy I make. Thanks for thinking along!

[Bagu]

Still in progress, just put it in this test screen to check sizes.
(and yes, it's totaly inspired by SouBlazer)

I see, Twily is  trying around with NPC scripts.
I have writen some NPC scripts, during the last months.
...some work fine, some still have little issues, I have to fix.

But for this Boss, I'm gonna need a masterpiece of scripting.

BTW, I'm looking for a name, for this boss.
...Maybe something that sounds a little aramaic or like sanskrit.
(...thought of something like "Azadhu'ul"...)

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS????

Edited by Bagu, 25 August 2021 - 10:47 AM.

[Jenny]

I believe ZC is at a state where you can make something that rivals the early 2D Zelda's without much trouble. Very exciting to see what some of the more ambitious quest makers will do.

[Russ]

If I look at it like this, I don't even think there's that much more missing that you'd need from ghost.zh, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Then all that would be really nice is to assemble some type of helper kit for peeps to easily create bosses. F.e. all transformation things, setting cset/tile/width/height, in 1 function.

While NPC scripts are powerful, they are missing a lot of the ease of use stuff from ghost. Dimi was working on a ghost.zh update/remake that used NPC scripts and at one point fairly easily ported a pretty complex Yuurand boss to an NPC script as a proof of concept, but with recent events, I'm not sure what's become of the project.

[Bagu]

Left: SNES Terranigma                                     Right: ZC






this and much more is ZCs potential

Edited by Bagu, 06 October 2021 - 08:57 PM.