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LinkMaster500
07-22-2005, 03:11 PM
Do you like to make your dungeons such that the rooms are arranged into a unique shape (e.g. AlphaDawg's Unofficial Third Quest has dungeons shaped like certain letters of the alphabet)

ShadowTiger
07-22-2005, 04:24 PM
Is this a question related to problems with ZQuest, or questions on how to do something? If not, I suggest that you look toward the ZC Discussion forum for discussions on what you like to do while designing quests, and the Custom Quest discussion forum to discuss an actual quest someone has made, or that you're planning on making. Thanks. Just a thought. ;)


Hm. I'll tell you something interesting. It's up to the quest-designer to create a unique and interesting questing experience for other people. The effort that you put into it is a clear mark of how well your quest is likely to stand out in front of other peoples' quests.

If you want to make an interesting design for your overall dungeon shape, it'll show up on the map and look interesting for a few seconds. Then the player will actually go about walking through the rooms that you've built, which is an entirely different experience. :p

So, what I would recommend that you do, (Since everyone else seems to be doing this, and heck, it works for them. :p ) is design the rooms themselves to look interesting. If you're just starting out, that's perfectly fine if they don't look amazing, but at least don't make square rooms. Do your best not to use the "Screen Template." I've never used it. Make your rooms look interesting. Learn how to use all of the different features of ZQuest by observing other peoples' quests, asking questions, trying to answer them yourself, (As if other people point you straight, you'll have learned something new as well, besides gained useful forum experience. ;) )

Good luck. :highfive:

LinkMaster500
07-23-2005, 11:44 AM
My apologies, the question was intended to be more of a poll to other ZQuest users rather as a request for help. I probably should have posted this question in the forum related to just ZC in general, not in this forum because I was not asking for help.

Thanks anyway.

Cloral
07-23-2005, 01:12 PM
No worries, I'll just move it over for ya.

As for the dungeon shape, you shouldn't let an overall pattern get in the way of the level design. On the other hand, having a general form in mind helps to keep your dungeon from rambling about aimlessly. Also keep in mind what type of level you're making - a cave would have a irregular shape, but a castle or temple would probably look more laid-out. That doesn't mean it has to be square, though.

ZeldaLord
07-23-2005, 01:20 PM
Personally, I find it's a good idea to make the shape of your dungeon hold some sort of hint about secrets. That was an aspect of Zelda 1 that I really liked, and actually, I'm surprised it hasn't been used in games since.

PolygonX8
07-24-2005, 12:48 AM
No, not really. In my current quest, SDR, L1's F1 is an 'I', while B1 is a 'J' (my initials). I only kept it that way to keep the quest similar to LTTD1's L1 for the heck of it.

I plan all my dungeons out on paper. I draw a random shape, and start constructing screens. :shrug:

Petoe
07-24-2005, 03:41 AM
Well, in my very first quest (Zelda Ages) almost all of the levels were shaped like an item or some kind of a thing.

Lv1 was shaped like a key, Lv2 was shaped like an arrow, Lv3 was shaped like a crown, Lv6 was shaped like a volcano, Lv7 was shaped like a dragon's head and Lv8 was shaped like a gravestone. I thought that it was funny to notice the shape of the dungeon after you got the map, but it doesn't matter any more. Nowadays my quests won't have any certain kind of shapes...

DarkFlameWolf
07-24-2005, 12:51 PM
mine still do. ^_^ Well, Isle of the Winds and Ganon's Claim had shapes.

Kingboo30
07-29-2005, 12:07 AM
My quest is supposed to have shapes too.

looney linklord
08-01-2005, 01:28 AM
or another cool thing would be to have the dungeon shapes letters that spell something.

rocksfan13
08-01-2005, 07:19 AM
I did that. The dungeon shapes in my quest spell my daughter's name.