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View Full Version : The Future of YOUR Zelda Classic



splattergnome
11-15-2004, 09:47 PM
Zelda Classic will concievably make the jump past the mystical "version 2.0" number one day - which, if the beta reports are to believe, shall have removed most of the little and major bugs which have been flying around in the source.

What I would like to know from other Zelda Classic fans (particularly quest builders) is: besides bug fixes, what direction would you like to see Zelda Classic go in the future? I am not talking about specific item suggestions, but basic broad strokes.

As it is, Zelda Classic is a strange hybrid of Zelda 1 and the action elements of the GameBoy Zelda games... and I think it will continue going down that path. However, should ZC concentrate on adding enemies, bosses, items and the like from the later games, or should it add "new improved versions" of the current ones, or possibly go in totally new directions? The game engine will never be rewritten to conform to Zelda III standards, but there is lots of customization is possible - where do you want ZC to go?

I for one would like to user-friendliness improve - not just a comprehensive help file, but descriptions and mouseovers for each of the flags and options would prevent newcomers from being scared off. ZC is not a difficult program by any means, but everything could appear esotaric to a new user. And a handy ingame reference would make game creation easier. The new GUIs shown in the beta threads are already a good step forward in my eyes.

I dislike the trend of the past few versions of simply adding new enemies and items which are just "more of the same, just stronger and/or faster". While they do have their use, ZC could deserve some more variation. Enemies with differant attack and/or movement types could add more spice, of all difficulty levels. And new items can add more puzzles and twists.

If anything, I wish for more flexibility in non-action elements, to allow more story-based and adventure type of quests. Scripting shouldn't be neccessary, to keep things simple for new players, but the addition of certain global triggers and the like could allow quest makers to make games which act differantly than others.

That is what I would like to see things to go in the future in broad strokes - keeping the essence of Zelda and expanding in new directions.

I have had my say now - I would love to see what you want to see in the future, as quest maker and player. I would also love to see what DN plans for the far-off future, himself, but I don't think he'll neccessarily comment on this thread. ;)

splatty

*b*
11-15-2004, 10:16 PM
I would like it to become, at least, an all around Zelda clone, capable of copying each 2D Zelda exactly. however, I would like it to be more, capable of making (almost) any style game you can think of, like Final Fantasy or Mario

Jigglysaint
11-15-2004, 10:21 PM
Add Kinstones.

splattergnome
11-16-2004, 07:31 PM
I would like it to become, at least, an all around Zelda clone, capable of copying each 2D Zelda exactly. however, I would like it to be more, capable of making (almost) any style game you can think of, like Final Fantasy or Mario

The only way ZC could accurately copy all of the 2D Zeldas would be if the engine was totally rewritten - it wasn't designed for that in the first place, and I wouldn't be surprised if lots of the current features have been more or less hacked on uglily into the source. However, we never know how the far future will look like.

There are other editors available for Final Fantasy and Mario game, and I doubt that Dark Nation would be working on Zelda Classic if he really wanted to make editors for other games - I would prefer ZC to concentrate on action-adventures (Zelda and beyond) myself.



Add Kinstones.

I haven't played the Minish Cap yet, so could please detail exactly what Kinstones could serve to improve and add to the game? And how could they be added to the current framework?

splatty

ShadowTiger
11-16-2004, 08:04 PM
... ... Stop making the developers nervous please. It sure as heck is making me nervous.

I doubt ZC will ever become something truly fantastic, like what you're foreseeing. It's pretty darn cool the way it is now.

Petoe
11-18-2004, 08:50 AM
... ... Stop making the developers nervous please. It sure as heck is making me nervous.

I doubt ZC will ever become something truly fantastic, like what you're foreseeing. It's pretty darn cool the way it is now.

That's right! I think ZC is already really fantastic and when all the bugs are fixed I wouldn't want to see too many new things added anymore. Of course it still needs new enemies, combo types, items and stuff, but I think ZC shouldn't become a "you can do any kind of game with this" game maker.

ShadowTiger
11-18-2004, 12:14 PM
Particularly because you're living proof that it can do that already. ;) ( :clap: )

MottZilla
11-18-2004, 03:57 PM
I was gonna just say, who the hell are you splatty, but then you proved you're not an idiot. The only way ZC could accurately copy all of the 2D Zeldas would be if the engine was totally rewritten - it wasn't designed for that in the first place, and I wouldn't be surprised if lots of the current features have been more or less hacked on uglily into the source. However, we never know how the far future will look like. ;)

So anyway, Zelda Classic is already far beyond what was originally the target I believe. The reason it's kept going is because people just want more and more. And certain things are possible to add, other things not. I think ZC will just be done with whenever it gets to a good solid point. Afterall, at that point, why not just leave it to set in stone?

If someone wants a game builder thing like ZC that doesn't do things ZC was never meant to do, a new project could be started. :O

punkonjunk1024
11-18-2004, 04:57 PM
So anyway, Zelda Classic is already far beyond what was originally the target I believe. The reason it's kept going is because people just want more and more. And certain things are possible to add, other things not. I think ZC will just be done with whenever it gets to a good solid point. Afterall, at that point, why not just leave it to set in stone?

Well... There's always more to be added. When DN retires from programming, I'm betting a good chunk of eager members hands will shoot up to take over... When I started with ZC, I got V1.84 from Cnet.com downloads, and used that for maybe 2 years... until I found AGN. This was all say, 3 years ago. probobly longer...
And that was a "good solid point" right until I found version 1.90.

Personally, I'd like to see ZC take its capabilities into an entirely new direction... enemies not mutated from older ones, but entirely new creations.

Sephiroth
11-21-2004, 04:36 PM
Well... There's always more to be added. When DN retires from programming, I'm betting a good chunk of eager members hands will shoot up to take over... When I started with ZC, I got V1.84 from Cnet.com downloads, and used that for maybe 2 years... until I found AGN. This was all say, 3 years ago. probobly longer...
And that was a "good solid point" right until I found version 1.90.

Personally, I'd like to see ZC take its capabilities into an entirely new direction... enemies not mutated from older ones, but entirely new creations.
True, I would like to see some enemies that have swords just like link's sword. :p

I would also like a few items like roc's feather and so on to add more flexability with the game. Also, I would also like a few new combo types to add more types of puzzles like a step-on-all-floor-tiles-only-once-to-open-the-shutter-door style puzzles. :p Although, those may give us a few more bugs, I sure they will be worked out in the future. :p I do know this: Zelda Classic has evolved ovr time and I'm pretty much happy with it thw way it is. :p

splattergnome
11-21-2004, 06:13 PM
As a response to a few people above - I am a great fan of Zelda Classic as it currently is, and I have no interest in having in turning into any sort of generic game creation software - which makes me surprised that it appears that some people have taken my comments in that direction. That was not my intention, so I apologize if I made myself misunderstood.

I think the gameplay of Zelda Classic itself is great, and while it could still be expanded in a few directions (new enemy types might be of interest), I am quite happy with what is there. However, making "deeper" quests with more flexibility and ways to manipulate the game world is something I would wish for.

What I am talking about are things which could make "subplots" and "missions" more viable to program - thus my constant harping on concepts such as very basic scripting, global toggles/flags, conversation systems, and global variables - tools which are neccessary to allow just that. These are the type of elements which makes any of the later Zeldas stand out from the original Zelda (as great as it is) - not just "enemies" or "items". It was about about fulfilling quests for NPCs and changing the world (dark world/light world) and the like - everything which would be easier to make (or indeed, only possible to make) with toggles and global variables.

Last year, I started working on a small space adventure-type game engine for fun and giggles which used its own logical scripting engine to make your own quests. I eventually stopped working on it for personal reasons (I left the country for a few months, actually), but the basic setup for scripting engine was fully functional, with if/else clauses and freely-definable variables. Of course, I don't know how the internals of ZC look like, but I see no reason why global toggles or simple scripting shouldn't be possible to implement in ZC, either - as long as it is fully optional.

However, as I mentioned in my first post, I believe the most important improvement for ZC possible (besides the extremely-important bugsmashing) would be user-friendliness. I am afraid that the current system might scare off potential budding questmaking maestros who might provide us all with hours of entertainment.

Then again, I tend to babble a lot, so I may indeed be the idiot you were afraid that I was, Mottzilla, for slightly differant reasons, however. :)

splatty

Wallnut1588
11-22-2004, 09:38 PM
don't forget it's only a beta, not the finished product

Blonde799
11-22-2004, 10:39 PM
There are very simple things that could be done to make more believable story elements, such as taking out certain sounds at certain times in the game. A lot of people won't notice the impact because they probably haven't tried too hard to make a cutscene before, but take it from an unique quest maker, this would make a huge difference.

I believe that with my creativity and abundance of reason, ZC could be very flexible, while still being as simple as it is now. But, I feel that kind of input isn't mine to force on anyone.

I also have RPG Maker 2 and that can make hundreds of different games, so I'm pretty happy.:p Also, about user friendliness...Well, nothing can prevent newbies frequently asking questions. There's always gonna be a flood of clueless people. So if I did have any significant impact in anything related to ZC's development, I would keep the interface the same. With added features comes more complexity. As long as there's a help source, there's no need to shove help down people's faces. There are help sources out now for ZC, and I'm sure there are more being developed. Although, it might be a good idea to give out URLs in the program to help sources, so people will have no excuse for being braindead.