update 21/11/22: there's a demo out. pls go download and play it here! you will need a 2.55 nightly build to play it though - anything from a111/112 (November 3) onwards. thanks.
what is three crests?
three crests started life as an overworld map being built in EZGBZ 2.5. at the time i hadn't developed anything in ZC for roughly 10 years. as the overworld evolved from a town and field into a fully detailed region, it received the working title of "swords" before i began to work on plot elements, and ultimately knew what i wanted to achieve with the quest.
the first zelda games i played as a kid were the oracle duo, so it made sense to focus on developing something closer to a "love letter" to those games. i use the term "love letter" because i'm not making a direct sequel as much as i'm taking elements of what i think make the oracle games so fun and fascinating, and adding extra elements on top of them. what am i talking about? you'll have to play the quest when it's finished to figure that out.
what is in three crests?
not counting other areas like caves, houses and so on, the finished quest will have:
- one (1) 16x8 overworld
- twelve (12) "mini" dungeons
- four (4) "main" dungeons
the "mini" dungeons (with quotation marks as they're not getting smaller with each one i make) gift you with an item each time you defeat its boss, while the main dungeons act more like traditional zelda dungeons.
good grief, that's a lot!
it is! in the past, a bad habit i fell into as a questmaker was that everything was designed very, very linear. this usually consisted of:
- find the sword
- go to the first area
- go to level 1
- go to next area
- find level 2
- and so on.
this was also while developing overworld areas that would be very big and bloated because i didn't particularly plan much out.
as such, three crests is a direct parallel to my old approach as a dev; i'm aiming to build a living, breathing world that values exploration above anything else. the single map overworld is a restriction by design; everything can be found on the one map. find a set of stairs in a cave? there's every chance they'll take you to an alternate entry point in a dungeon. traversing a dungeon and see objects that you're not familiar with? there's every chance it could be activated by an item from a dungeon you haven't cleared yet.
will there be another demo release?
from the beginning i decided there was only going to be two demos: a proof of concept, and a second one showcasing dungeon gameplay. the first was released in april, while the latter is still far, far away from being released.
a second demo has just been released, and i may release a few more over the next year or so depending on how the development progresses.
when will this be finished?
i don't know, sorry! at the moment i want to say the quest is around two thirds complete, if not slightly more.
credits:
development:
Taco Chopper
advisors:
Aslion, Ether, Mitchfork, Sheik
graphics:
Akkabus, Lightwulf, Ether, accela2me, Orithan, Taco Chopper, nickbush24, Sheik, sonikku, gennyvere217
scripting + scripting advice:
Aslion, Mitchfork, Moosh, Deedee, ywkls, Emily, gennyvere217
just scripting:
Alucard648, Avaro, floundermaj, Mani Kanina, MoscowModder, Saffith
testing:
Aslion, Colin, Deathrider365, Ether, gennyvere217, jwex001, hubydweyer, Mitchfork, Moosh, Rambly, Sheik, Shane, solynutt
