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Tygore
01-31-2005, 10:05 PM
Because I'm such a nice guy(*stifled laughter*), I thought that I'd reward our beloved Developers with a list of what I feel should be prioritized in the NEXT version of ZC! Please, feel free to add/comment/reorginize my personal opinions

And now, by popular demand, I give you: TYGORE'S LIST OF ZC PRIORITIES!

Section 1: Vital Necessities
-Bugfixes. Reason: obvious.
-Current feature/item implementation. Reason: the way I see it, if it's in ZQuest, it ought to work. Let's finish what we start before starting anything new, hmm?

Section 2: High Priorities
-Enemy tweaker/editor. Reason: with the new enemy tiles and all this expansion, letting people set their own tile locations and patterns would be good. Nothing too fancy, but just a list of properties (HP, speed, touch damage, item drop rates), vulnerabilities (Arrow for Pol's Voice, boomerang for Kesse), and maybe special properties (boss, breathes fire, eats shields). I mean, come on, who else wants a fire-breathing Octorock?*
-Arrow Inventory. Reason: because we've added a full Magic system yet still have to use rupies for arrows! Be honest DN: would it be hard? Because if you say it's near impossible, I'll understand. I mean, it doesn't SEEM hard to add a quest rule, refill items, and that blank spot under Super Bombs in the "Expendables Inventory" section.
-Cheat menu rework. Reason: well, we can refill magic now. But what if I want to edit my number of magic containers? Or if I want to learn Slash? Or 1/2 magic? OH NOES! I CAN'T! The Cheats should be re-worked to include levels of the Init. Data menu (not exactly like it, but you get my drift.)

Section 3: It'd be nice...
-Custom Subscreen. Reason: because not everybody uses all the items, and blank spaces look wierd. Because not everybody uses the Triforce as their collectable (many don't even use a Zelda theme for quests)., and putting it there inn big letters and forcing them to use the Z1 pattern is discrimination(not really, but you know what I mean.) Because adding a new revision every time we get new items is tedious and confusing. But if it's too hard, then hey, no pressure.
-NPCs. Reason: we could smell them... touch them... feel them... AND THEY WERE YANKED RIGHT FROM UNDER OUR NOSES! Since I realize that they'd be hard to implement, then no pressure on these guys. But hey, if it can be done, why not? (Although, if we get an enemy editor, we could just make a 0-damage enemy...)
-More stuff that can use magic. Reason: Why not? Why not make the potion a healing spell, the hookshot a grab spell, the hammer a pound(think Golden Sun) spell?
-Sound effects. Reason: we have the editor, now why not a list of "customs"? Although if it becomes rampant, you'll be forced to make sfx an integrated part of the quests(with non-implamented quests still using sfx.dat for compatability purposes).
-Better String usage. Reason: with linked strings, people finally can add long dialogue. Well, linking them is hazardous to your health. OK, it doesn't cause cancer, but it is annoying, and fairly tedious to test. How about making strings have infinite length, displaying once every three lines? Just a thought.


Section 4: Tygore's Random Ideas
-Ladder2: 4-way. Reason: It can be done. The current Ladder only works in a straight line. Well, with an upgrade, YOU CAN TURN! YAY!
-Specify Bomb upgrade intervals, leaving default at 4. Reason: again, why not?
-Triforce room number specifications. Reason: two part quests. What if I have to collect three crystals to open the gate to the netherworld, then collect five more to fight the final boss? It just makes things easier.

Anyway, that's my subjective list. Questions? Comments? Threats? Proposals?

*DN, if the first thing you post is a NAM screenshot with the enemy menu having "Octorock (Tygore's Fire-breathing varient)" as an enemy, I will have a hissy-fit. Trust me, it won't be pretty.

Ganonator
02-01-2005, 06:36 PM
http://www.thedpshack.com/nam.jpg

(nam)

In all reality (oh yea, this actually is a real screen shot of the AoE Editor), it would be faster and more important for a full code re-write than to edit the existing engine to handle these changes. For instance, this game w/ this editor has been in production since October, and it already has better features than ZC. Yes, I still love Zelda Classic, I love it's look, feel, and potential copyright violations, but it's just a pain in the ass.
I received the source code for it almost a month ago, and I still can't figure out wtf anything does. I was going to write a program that would decrypt a password protected file, but the code for that wasn't commented at all, and rather obfuscated. If we want these changes, we're going to require 4 or 5 programmers that can work on the code full time and understand it - DN, FCF, and I have other full-time things we have to do; work, family, school. When was the last big release of ZC? 2 years ago?

Again, I love it, I wish it wasn't this way. However, I have good news for you. "Don't give up hope." I need to finish this enemy editor now so I can make said Fire-Breathing varient of the Octorock.

Blonde799
02-02-2005, 11:17 AM
For instance, this game w/ this editor has been in production since October, and it already has better features than ZC.
Tell me what it has, I'll be the judge of that.:D

And by what I heard, maybe a rewrite now that an official release is out would be the best choice overall.