5 replies to this topic

[xanadude]

I hope this doesn't come as a disappointment to many people. I know some were looking forward to this quest, and I think you all deserve a thorough explanation as to what my mindset was that made me come to this conclusion.

There were many factors that led me to this conclusion. The first, and biggest, is the fact I lost most of my progress due to a system failure. I have backups, but they are so old that it's hard for me to reason redoing most of the progress I did since last backing up the files. I had a huge burst of creativity since those saves, and it escaped me to backup those files to the cloud. Such a crushing blow to my morale made this decision I was grappling with a lot easier to come to terms with.

Another big reason is the quest idea itself: a faithful yet modernized take on a familiar game. Zelda 1 remakes are a tale as old as time, and at the time of me making the first versions of the quest back in 2013 (when it was still called Re-envisioning, a terrible name for a quest) my idea already felt a little stale. Quests like Origin were fantastic, only held back by the fact it was made in an older engine. Even then, they still hold up and are absolutely great games. Now, in the current climate of ZQuest, you see this concept FAR more often than ever... and all of them are executed far better than my quest would ever be. All have their own unique spins that make mine look like a stick in the mud! To name of few, Mani's Memories of Yesteryear is a dope arcade-y version done in a similar GB style, Russ' Depths of Malice has slowly become one of my favorite quests as it spins the Z1 overworld on it's head to make a brand new experience, and the upcoming Hyrule Fantasy is a lot similar to my idea of staying faithful as it converts Zelda 1 into a heavily scripted LttP type quest. As you can see, with the wealth of unique and truly original takes on this formula, I had less of a reason to stick to this project when it was inevitable it would be a redundant restatement of previous ideas.

The main reason I was working on this quest was to create the version of Zelda 1 that I wanted to play. A version that feels similar while being it's own, unique, fun experience. I didn't have any game plan for how I was going to achieve that, and I didn't stop to consider whether or not it was a good idea in the first place. But I didn't want to stop, because I wanted to see through to the end the game I wanted to play. But then the demo for the quest Crucible Crest came out. I was floored. It was exactly what I wanted out of a Zelda 1 remake; something so unique and fresh that it becomes hard to tell what it was based off of. It was what I dreamed of this quest being one day. And that's when I knew that it was no longer my self-prescribed "duty" to finish this anymore. I had to let go and realize this project was dead.

I started this quest at a time in my life where I wasn't preoccupied with creative projects that I now pour more energy into. I had the time to be a hobbyist game dev and place combos for fun. But more of my time is spent on pursuing my film major and making music and shit with my friends, and I've come to discover what I'm more passionate about. I'm not leaving this community in any way; I won't let that happen. While I'm not so frequent on the Discord or the forums as much anymore, this community is something that is still very important to me and something that has been a part of my life for so long. I've made mistakes on here and can track my growth as a person just by looking at my post history. I remember the old Skype group and shenanigans that would ensue. The old struggle of trying to be a let's player and streamer and oversharing while playing some old quests. And this quest was a part of all of that and grew too. But I have to let this piece of me go, because it doesn't make the sense to hold onto it anymore.

After waxing poetical for a bit, do I see myself returning to proper game dev on here? Probably sooner rather than later, knowing me. I don't have any projects in the works right now since I lost all progress on all my mini ideas I was working on as well, but I can see myself doing a short 3 dungeon quest just so I can have something to my name on here. I don't really know if anyone was super invested in this quest at all or if many were even looking forward to it, but if you were I'm sorry if I might've let you down by cancelling this. But hopefully I can return for some small quest making in the future, and I know ideas from this will pop up later. But as it stands, this project is dead.

[Matthew]

How sad -- I've actually looking forward to this project, and always thought your screens were pretty. However, I can't blame you for feeling demotivated after having your quest progress wiped like that; I've been in a similar boat before myself.

 

That being said, don't let the work of others make you feel insecure about your own. That's certainly easier said than done, but I do believe that many quests do have something new to bring to the table, even if it is a Z1 rework. At the current pace, will Crucible Quest be the 'best' Z1 remake? It seems like it might; but the experience of making and finishing your own quest is still worthwhile in of itself, and there are certainly people who would enjoy playing it regardless. I believe this sentiment to be true regardless of whether you're working on a Z1 remake, an original quest, or any other kind of project at all; even something in your musical/film aspirations.

 

Anyways, I wish you luck on your future projects, whatever they may be.

[Mitchfork]

I wasn't familiar with this project, but looking through the updates, it certainly had some good looking screenshots.  Progress being wiped is the absolute worst (fwiw, out of fear of this exact same thing happening, I backup my .qst and script files to Google Drive almost every night after I work on the project).  

 

That all being said, I totally get that sometimes things just aren't working out how you want to and it is okay to step away.  I've certainly canceled / silently abandoned my share of projects over the years (Blackness of Eternity canceled '09!), but I also feel like I got something meaningful out of the process even if I wasn't able to see it to completion - and I find that every time I return after that, I'm that little bit better for the things that I learned back then.  And I think as you explore other creative endeavors, you'll find that those lessons can also help if you want to return to a game project - and even if you don't, it works the other way too.

[Mani Kanina]

That's a shame, I was looking forwards too it. I can relate to the feeling of not wanting to finish a project after losing a crap ton of progress on it due to stupid crap though, has happened to me a fair few times.

[xanadude]

Thanks everyone for the kind words of support and advice! I truly appreciate it, and I want to make sure that everyone understands that the work others have put into their projects has had no negative impact on me or my own personal projects. In no way was that what I intended mentioning the other projects, moreso meant as a way to respect others and to prove my point that the project's fundamental flaw was not being too unique or different to really add anything substantial on it's own. In retrospect I could've worded that better instead of making it seem self-centered and self conscious. You all are outstanding, and what I learned from this experience I am going to carry into the future!

[Jared]

I'm so sorry to hear this. I had a similar experience with that BS quest I was working on. I moved computers, and forgot to backup my ZC stuff, so I had to start from scratch. Luckily I had a backup of the BS quest on my mediafire, but I lost a lot of progress and lost my motivation. So then I started a new quest in FB.

 

 

Good luck on your future projects, your future is bright!