I'm liking it.
It plays pretty well, the challenge is balanced enough for a first level that it allows a sense of mystery and exploration without being either too boring or too action-packed, and I always did enjoy old adventure games like Shadowgate, so the captioning of various objects and items throughout the level was a really nice touch that I hope you keep up throughout the rest of the quest. The design works, and while a little on the simple side, it conveys the feeling of a proper place moreso than a lot of the more complex layouts I've seen.
Some specifics:
* Walls reaching past screen edges - I know ZC rooms can get obnoxiously cramped sometimes, but I typically try to keep them so that 2-tile-high walls are fully on each screen. Reason being, even if it may look OK on a screen-per-screen basis, map view reveals cutoffs like these:
* Alt candle colors - are these greenish candles only to grab the player's attention for the caption, or is there something more to them? If not, I'd probably just leave them orange, since alt colors are usually meant for secrets or special functions.
Also, the pillar bases below the main candle animations in the combo list are meant to be placed on Layer 1, so that the pillars rest on top of the floor instead of being cut off by it. They shouldn't impede walkability by default.
* Diagonal walkability - since ZC doesn't natively support diagonal structures, this one's always a bit of a mixed bag. You can be conservative with your walkability and have the player not be able to step on parts of the floor, or be more liberal and have them be able to step on parts of the wall. Having done diagonals for a few years now, I find being liberal is better, because even if the occasional foot on the wall may look strange, not being able to walk on the perfectly flat floor in front of it can look equally strange, and more to the point, the increased mobility of the player ultimately allows more freedom of movement and prevents getting "stuck" in corners like this that anybody can clearly tell the character should be able to fit through:
* Flag 67 - best to put this No Push Block flag anywhere you don't want blocks to be pushed, particularly puzzle area barriers (I think this is what Shane was talking about):
* Doorways are sacred - plz:
* Expand overhead combos - when you do freeform doors, you'll need a collection of overhead combos with different walkability to manage situations like these:
In the first shot, more overhead is needed on the sides of the passage so that the player's usage of melee weapons isn't revealed from within the passageway (there's only so much you can do about projectile weapons, so don't worry about those).
In the second shot, I'm holding my sword upward from within the left side of the door to show that this is as far forward as I can walk. You'll need to add extra overhead combos with different walkability patterns to ensure the player doesn't get stuck on corners in a passage that's larger than the doors on either side of it.
(Or you could use barrier combos on layer 0 and place the current overhead combos on an actual overhead layer. Either way works, but extra overhead combos are more efficient and you lose less screen space if you're planning a large quest.)
As for boss difficulty, this is how I did second try:
Closest fight I've had in a long time.
I should also note, the boss music didn't initialize the second time I attempted the fight (I died right at the end of my first try).
Lastly, the compass points to the boss room, but doesn't stop blinking after the boss's defeat. If you want it to stop blinking after it dies, put this script on an FFC in the room (credit Saffith):
ffc script StopCompassAfterEnemies
{
void run()
{
while(Screen->NumNPCs()==0)
Waitframe();
while(Screen->NumNPCs()>NumNPCsOf(NPC_ITEMFAIRY))
Waitframe();
Game->LItems[Game->GetCurLevel()]|=LI_TRIFORCE;
}
}
What that technically does is give the player the Triforce after killing the boss, so obviously it's meant for a non-Triforce dungeon with a level number of 10 or greater. If you're planning on eventually having a Triforce item in this dungeon, then I guess ignore this.
Anyway, interesting demo, hope to see this develop further.