27 replies to this topic

[CastChaos]

I'm asking about what is the hardest for you when making a quest, whether you often do it or rarely. I mean the base parts of questbuilding itself, not betatesting or such. For example, you can make wonderful overworlds, but ZC rather freezes in ain when you make dungeons? Or your dungeons are genial, but your overworld is pure bland? Or might be you simply can't make a good dungeon boss? I'm not asking only about what can't you do, you can mention those things that you do very well if you uneasy at them.

For example me... I'm having a hard time starting dungeons and overworlds. They go very slowly, but at dungeons, when I start the second floor, it really fastens up (maybe a whole floor in a day), and at overworlds, it fastens up after 40% is done. For example, if you played my first demo of Ballad of Bloodline, recall the east part of the overworld (except the very northeast). Well, it was longer than expected to make it. It's also hard for me to animate big objects or to put big/biganimated (more than 4x4) objects to be combos. Recoloring from MMDWRDC to DoR is also hard, even with pressing R (but rewarding).

So, what about you?
Again, please rafrain from saying things such as:
-betatesting
-looking at an already made screen
-uploading/linking to demo
-waiting for response
-making breakfast between two screens

(Planning is borderline.)

I'm very interested in all responses, especially in those whiches made by those whos already submitted something big that isn't a demo. So, I would be very happy for everybody.

Hard to draw orbs? Can't use mountains well? Sucking at palettes? Being great at transparent water but feeling uneasy towards it? Post away!

[Evile]

I love overworlds and I'm good at making them. I used to be real scared of making dugeons cause they always sucked but now I'm getting better at them too. Now I just need to learn how to make sweet custom bosses.

[Colin]

Making caves/really dark places. Plus, making things simple. My mind likes to make everything a lot more complex than I planned it to be, that may be good or bad, I don't know. I'm making Incendia right now, and I need to make the interior of The Rock, but I just can't do it, I have the plan and everything, it's just that I don't really enjoy making dark places. Dungeons are fine, I plan to make an awesome dungeon in a while after the rock is done. But I just hit a bump right now... I should get working on it.
*opens up Zquest*

[Dawnlight]

Probably making mountains. I have to make sure their at the right geometry and making rivers kills me.

I also hate scrolling thorugh stuff to get the tiles/dmaps/maps I need.

Finally I hate forgetting to check/uncheck stuff. Screw that hastling 2.5 DMap rule!!!

[Majora]

Pretty much (for me) is working with colors/palettes, DRAWING, and coming up with a new idea (be it for a dungeon, overworld, or anything else.)

[Feenicks]

Before this I would have said layers, but after getting some stuff from the CoD tileset (namely the butterflies, the leaves and the big trees) I have found something even harder:

Getting tiles from tilesets while in Large Mode.
Try it yourself. You'll see why.


Another hard thing for me is 'filling out' my overworlds and big dungeons. Staring at a screen, wondering what to put in it, is generally a sign that you are at that stage. I think it often occurs the most when you're working on the main overworld.

[Linkus]

Starting again on a quest that you lost a lot of tiles in. I haven't touched NZTS for a long while ever since my old flash drive went bad, but I should start on it again someday...

[Evile]

Yes you should Linkus! That set looked amazing. Please finish it!

[Titanium Justice]

Well i dont find any design hard thats the least of my problems for me it might be making puzzles my mind itself gets puzzeld when i try to think of a good puzzle..i have made good ones im trying to make puzzles that are hard like freedom's or teiylers puzzles or something.

[Plissken]

Names. >_>

I hate so much trying to think up names for dungeons and areas and for the game itself. That's usually the only thing where my mind goes blank.

[Schwa]

I'm pretty good at the program, but I have several weaknesses too, the biggest one being graphics. I CAN'T draw. I have a few custom drawn bosses in my current project, but they'd get a 2 or 3 stars if I submitted them as Loose Tiles.

Let's see, what else? Oh. I have trouble getting effectively started on brand new sections of the game. If I get several screens of a dungeon or overworld done, I should be good, but prior to that is the Danger Zone in which progress is slow and disorganized and sometimes ends up deleted.

That's one thing I'm trying to teach myself. Never delete your work-- you never know when you'll want it handy.

[Dawnlight]

I'm pretty good at the program, but I have several weaknesses too, the biggest one being graphics. I CAN'T draw. I have a few custom drawn bosses in my current project, but they'd get a 2 or 3 stars if I submitted them as Loose Tiles.

Welcome to my world. I suck at drawing things as well. I tried to make a bottle and it looked like a certain body part. I also suck at recoloring as well.

[Feenicks]

I have trouble getting effectively started on brand new sections of the game. If I get several screens of a dungeon or overworld done, I should be good, but prior to that is the Danger Zone in which progress is slow and disorganized and sometimes ends up deleted.

That's odd. I have problems not staying on the same area until it gets done. I hop around and make random screens of new areas. For some reason, editing tiles for the exterior of one of my levels is easier and more rewarding than building several screens of the 'starting out' area. That's why I'm still not done with the first dungeon in my quest.

[Zenith]

I can usually never finish a section of the overworld or a dungeon without starting to lose interest in that area. I either end up halting the project for anywhere from days-months or I lose interest in the quest and start a new one. I've done that so much they're gonna start calling it "ZM Syndrome"...

[NoeL]

I can usually never finish a section of the overworld or a dungeon without starting to lose interest in that area. I either end up halting the project for anywhere from days-months or I lose interest in the quest and start a new one. I've done that so much they're gonna start calling it "ZM Syndrome"...

Geez, everyone has that syndrome! It should be called NoeL Syndrome

For me the hardest part is starting a new area and actually BUILDING the screens. When I start a new area I have to sit and draw a lot of tiles before I build, and unless I'm in "the zone" they all look crap and I get frustrated. I also find just building the game screens in general to be boring and tedious.

Also making the quest too complex is a big downfall. I'll start off with a really simple idea in mind, but just keep adding and adding until it's full of tricky stuff... so I never get anywhere fast