Overworld tips

[TheBestGamer]

I'm starting to plan my first quest. Could someone give me some general tips on how to make a good overworld? Any advice will help. Thanks in advance!

[Nickholas78]

Rule 1. Never use just use bland green for grass. Add a few sprouts and flowers here and there.

[Majora]

Rule? #2: Depending on the quest, a square "room" does not look very overworld-ee.

[splattergnome]

Rule #3 - Make sure that there is something interesting to do or see on each screen, whether it is a hidden cave entrance, a secret, or just a pretty site or decoration to appreciate.

[The_Amaster]

Depending on the size of your OW, I sometimes wouldn't use Splattergnome's tip. For example, my OW is around 20x24 screens, and having a feature on every screen makes it seem crowded, so I do one every 3-4. If your just using an 8x16, than you may want to as it's so much smaller.

Also, try to use different Palletes for different areas. Make the woods look different from the Mountain, for example. Tell me what TS your using, and I can name more.

[TheBestGamer]

A feature on every 3-4 screens? Good idea, since I plan on making a very large overworld. I'm using the Pure tileset, by the way.

[DarkFlameWolf]

heh, my overworlds usually have some type of feature on every screen, no one has really complained yet and Lost Isle is probably the most detailed overworld I have ever seen or made thus far. So it depends on your level of skill if you can pull it off. Since ZC is a screen-by-screen engine, its doable. If it was a scrolling engine, it'd be more noticeable that its crowded.

[TheBestGamer]

In that case, I guess I'll add as many features as I can handle. I'll just do a good job hiding most of them to keep it from looking too crowded.

Anyway, do you have any tips for designing the overworld's overall layout? This may be one of my biggest issues. I don't want to make any part of it monotonous, but I don't want to make it so diverse that it seems random. How do you pull this off?

[DarkFlameWolf]

Alas, I really don't have any tips on designing the entire overworld's layout. With Lost Isle, I basically had a general idea of where each area was going to be and a slim idea of how to connect them together. Once I started building, the ways I could connect these 'areas' together became more concrete and easier to visualize.

[Joe123]

I don't think having a 'feature' on every screen is a bad idea - if you look at splattergome's post he said even if its just decorative - so not necesarily something you have to interact with, maybe even just a statue or something.

[Nickholas78]

Also, If its a sinister area, add thunder. Thats what I did on my Gannon Shrine in my dark link quest.

[WindStrike]

Well, most everyone has their own way of building/designing their overworlds (and everything else, for that matter). A lot of the beginners tend to have similar designs - typically bland and all squarish and blocky like or all linear or something like that (I didn't say all beginners though).

I personally try to go for a little bit of a more realistic look - problem is, that tends to be very hard when you don't want everything to look the same way stylistically (that is, for larger type overworlds - smaller ones like areas that are something like 3x4 or 4x5 or similar to that aren't too hard). If you want an example, well, I've got a set of town shots in around page 3 or 4 in the screenshot thread using DoR (not fully up to date of course, but decently close).

Hmmm... in some of the other quests that I consider to be decent/good/great tend to use a lot of the same concept of overworld - one large overworld using the same palette all throughout and some dungeons scattered everyone; Uhh, I think DFW did a remake of one of her's that is practically a perfect example of this concept... but I don't remember what it was called. But pretty much, it manages to separate areas purely through different tiles and set-ups.

Then there's the really good stuff/excellent/fantabulous (at least, to my considerations) like Hero of Dreams, where not only does it have a 16x8 overworld (I find this overworld kind of repetitive though... - it could have easily been cut in size), but it has links to all the other areas and their little miniature overworlds and whatever else there was. DFW's Isle of the Winds does it similarly (this came out first, just so you know), though things seem a little more separated (but still extremely well done in capturing completely different scenes and "worlds" and all that).

(I'm probably crazy for trying to do an epic sized quest as a first quest... so you could saying I'm "pulling a Shoelace"... that is, with an extra year.)

Hmmm... I believe there was also some other guide that helps out a little, but it uses a different type of screen than those other type quests - this really is more for the beginner type folks though:
http://zcu.sephiroth.ws/forums/index.php?autocom=ineo&showarticle=3
And this here, is my little "how to make swimable transparent water" guide (Transparent water is easy - this is making it swimable though (it's only a slight difficulty increase... sorta)). You do have to have a firm understanding of how to use layers though. Fyi, that end result screen has been HEAVILY updated since I have made that tutorial (And so have the screens following that):
http://zcu.sephiroth.ws/forums/index.php?autocom=ineo&showarticle=23

Tis what I've got to offer for now.

[CastChaos]

Use layers, and not onl for trees. Add bridges with screen=>sidewarp tricks (so, one screen is for walking under the bridge, one is for walking on the bridge). Make some areas accessible only by a certain way, but have plenty wideopen areas. Of course, realize your style and do accordingly.

Playing LttP and MC does good for your overworld layout skill.

[The_Amaster]

Playing LttP and MC does good for your overworld layout skill.
Agreed. Those have some of the best OW's made. Heck, my overworld is heavily influenced by Minish Cap.

[Zelda_Warrior]

One of the things I would say is to think of each screen as a dungeon, and go from there. Don't build it on a whole basis. The point of this is to keep the sides unwalkable. A huge uninteresting plain is not very fun to go through, but if you add maybe a lake on the left sides of a a few screens, mountains on the east side, maybe some trees, and stuff like that, it'll help. Don't get too dungeon minded, though. Don't make it so you have perfectly even sides to screens unless that's what you're trying to do.

[Scotian Gold]

For me, once I had played a few quests and gone through all the tutorials I could find at the time, I found that creating a spreadsheet of the tasks was a fairly helpful thing to do, and anytime I had a neat idea I marked it down. In my opinion, two of the things that make or break quests are a) the plot (including grammar!) and b) the map design (graphically and geo-graphically). One of the things that I am ensuring in my quest is that along Overworld edges, there will be walls or forest or mountains so that Link won't run into that invisible barrier so common in even the best quests.

There are lots of other things as well, most of them personal opinions. Some people prefer to create traditional looking quests while other like to play 'avant-guarde' quests. Some prefer mindbenders, others hack-and-slashers. Just remember your audience and keep this in mind:

If you try to please everyone, you won't please anyone! :)

[WindStrike]

If you try to please everyone, you won't please anyone!
See if you can please both DFW and Revfan9 - There's your first challenge... because that's extremely hard to pull off.

Now of course, you still want to try and appease a broad enough audience to get you a good rating on your quest (right now, at PureZC... and later at the main site when it gets back up) so more people will play it, seeing as many probably don't really play the "lower type" quests. No offense to those with those type quests - then again, they're all practically first quests, so ya can't be blamed really.

Hint of advice on overworlds: Regarding the enemies... the deeper you get into the overworld/other overworlds with harder levels, the harder those enemies around should be. And try to not put enemies down on EVERY screen... but most. Some screens... we just want to either get through whatever puzzle/secret is on it or stop by to adore the beauty of the screen. Towns - unless the place is haunted or being invaded, don't put enemies here please. Maybe on the outskirts... but if there's a person seen on the screen, well, that person'd better not be out in the open where enemies are, because then that'd just be WEIRD. REALLY WEIRD.

[The_Amaster]

Actually, I have a question about scale. My overworld is huge. I mean frickin' huge. Goron mountain alone is like 8x6 screens. But I need it this way because I'm including pretty much ever item ever(up to 254) in my quest, scattered around the world, and I don't like having an item more than every 9 screens(which sounds huge, until you picture it as a 3x3 block)(And I should add, Goron Mt. is one of the bigger areas. Most average around 6x6)