Making a good Quest

[Dechipher]

Does anyone have tips on making good quests?

[ShadowTiger]

Here are a few BASIC tips for you.

1) Play A LOT of other people's quests. You'll quickly see what's what, and how people design effectively.

2) Fiddle around in Zquest. Press keys, draw tiles, arrange combos, swap them, design dungeons, etc.

Both of those may sound extremely trivial, but I have just condensed about two years worth of Questing into a simple post.


Why, what were you going for? I'm sure everyone would be willing to help. :)

[Nick]

Actually finishing the quest in the first place is a way to make a good quest (I've only done that once :sweat: ).

Besides that, I'd just try to stay away from disconnected like screens and stuff (in other words... good screen transitions).

I know what I said isn't everything... but you get a basic understanding of what else you should do by thinking about screen transitions.

[Cloral]

Originally posted by Nick
Actually finishing the quest in the first place is a way to make a good quest

You took my responce. :p

My thing is I always get overly critical of myself so I keep going and redoing stuff or just tossing away the whole quest and starting over. You have to remember that most quests won't be perfect, but people will still play and like it anyway. Besides, once you've got the basic quest structure done, its far easier to go back and change the enemies around a bit, or add a few tricks to a level that seems kinda bland.

[ShadowTiger]

Oh, you also need a lot of time to make a quest. :) Most people have a lot of time, but.. there really isn't always a lot of time with which to construct a good quest. So you really have to plan QUITE a bit of it off of the PC.

[JayeM]

So you really have to plan QUITE a bit of it off of the PC.
Exactly, BH4. While playing around with the ZQ editor to find out how things are done is also necessary, before you start working on an actual quest it's a good idea to plan out the overworld(s) and dungeons on paper (graph paper is best) so you'll know pretty much what you want to do before you actually fire up the editor.

[Dechipher]

I myself often try to writ emusic for places, so I can make locations that inspire the same mood as the song.

[zed_cool]

Have good imagiantion! I belive that is the key to make a good quest! If you have that, nothing can stop you! :D

[trudatman]

For me it is crucial that you don't get stuck and forced to quit. I also don't like when tiles or screens don't match up or blend together. I think that a few good testers are the key.

[Yoshiman]

Make sure you read tutorials too. It's good to know tricks like making treasure chests and cutscenes.

Also, when you make an overworld, try not to make it linear. Give the player a good challenge. But not something like 9 FireRobes on a single screen. You might make the player lose intrest and give up.

An original story is nice too. Sometimes Link saving Zelda just doesn't cut it. Try to think of something new. Make up your own character.

And yeah, playing other people's quests is a very good learning experience. When you play, think to yourself: "How is the overworld set up?" or "What if this were tweaked?" Things like that usually get you thinking and give you ideas for your own quest.

Well, happy questing!http://burns.thefinaldimension.org/games/zelda/link/front.gif

[DarkTailsX]

Good puzzles! Every Zelda game needs puzzles of some kind, even if its as simple as pushing a block from one location to another

[Raichu86]

1. Make plans. Plans can save you from linear, boring dungeons.
2. Make sure every screen is full. Don't get lazy and just leave it empty when you can't think of what to put.
3. Already stated, but make screens transition well. Changes should be gradual. One screen should not be snow when the next is a tropical seashore.
4. Be careful with your music. You don't want it to be too repetitive. But I doubt you'll have trouble with that, Dechipher. ;)
5. Most important of all, make sure it's fun. Don't make it too easy, and definitely don't make it too hard.