This topic is locked
Because it's the very first, this progress topic will focus on the overall features and status of the quest. In future topics I'll pretty much only comment on the progress I've made that week. This is also a chance for you to ask anything you want about the project, and I'll do my best to answer you.
Sertraline is a shortish, storyish quest that evolved out of Tone of Voice, a project that Robin (Migokalle) and I worked on briefly. Tone of Voice could never quite make it out of the gate, but I kept working on the file until I had something new and uniquely mine. This is that project!
Sertraline is intended to be a light-hearted, easy-paced quest. I'm aiming for something with about the difficulty of an average Zelda game. I hope that each player will be challenged and feel rewarded, but I also want each player to be able to complete the game without being frustrated, whatever their skill level (reasonably speaking).
The tileset being used is EZGBZ v1 - I prefer the organization over v2. There are several additions to the set; I've replaced most of the default Game Boy trees and the palettes have been reworked to be brighter, poppier, and generally more aesthetically pleasing. The sprite palettes have also been edited to work with the new level palettes.
Probably the most significant gameplay factor that separates Sertraline from other quests is the enemy scripting. I picked up some coding skills during my absence from ZC and I've found that there have been a lot of resources (mainly ghost.zh) that make a lot of things very simple to execute. I've coded mostly Z4 behavior to replace common enemies like Moblins, Octorocks, Zols, Keese, etc. Walkers are no longer bound to the grid. I wanted to really overcome the feeling that you're playing a modified Z1, and a lot of that is in the enemy behavior. There are also a few brand-new enemies scripted that take advantage of the Z-axis to force Roc's Feather usage in fights, which adds more item-driven gameplay.
Ghost.zh has also been used to add non-combat NPC's to the game. Animals such as dogs, flies, and birds have been added to make the game more ~whimsical~!
All of the music tracks in the quest so far have been SNES SPC files. I think that using enhanced music is almost always going to sound better than MIDI and sourcing all of them from the same console lends a nice, consistent feel to the soundtrack. There are currently no plans to add MIDI support as backup, unfortunately. SPC files take up minimal space so I don't think it will be an issue for people (as long as you know to just keep them in the same folder as the .qst). I may add MIDI support later if the need for it is significant.
Here are some screenshots to build ~Sertraline Hype~!
And here's the song of the week, for your listening pleasure.
Boards of Canada - Music is Math - Geogaddi [2002]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7bKe_Zgk4o
