I'm willing to write some documentation...

[Game_boy]

I'm writing a tutorial for ZQuest. My progress so far can be found below.

Tutorial as PDF (http://reupload.com/uploads/Tutorial2.pdf)

This is parts 1-3 of 15. I've done six so far, and that is 32 pages.

[DarkDragon]

That would be awesome. Talk to koopa, as I know he was working on getting some more accurate documentation finished.

[The_Amaster]

I actually was going to start on a series of articles on how to use ZC for AGN's new "Articles" section. I don't know if this would step on the toes of your documentation, as mine would be more of a "how to" and I'm assuming yours would be more of a "comprehensive feature list" but if you want help/to help, or anything else, let me know.

[shadowfall1976]

I had started work on revising the Help text.

[AmazingAmpharos]

Ideally, in addition to great help files built into Zquest, we'd have a "how to" tutorial with pictures that explains how to use all of the new features that the builds have, basically a modern version of Alphadawg's tutorial. Then again, such a thing would not be easy to make, and with the existence of many complicated features such as scripting, it would likely have to have "expert" sections as a side note to the main tutorial. I'd be willing to help in making such a thing however I could, but it seems at this point that we should just get ourselves organized as per who is working on what documentation. I have a funny feeling that a lot of people are doing such work without telling others about it, and likely it's a lot of redundant work. Heh, I have an itch to start making something now myself, but I'd be a fool to do work that others have already done after saying all this. Actually, I get a sense that a lot of people would want to work on such a thing so maybe we could divide the load and get it done in record time.

Of course, the more detailed tutorials with the pictures and such would need to be hosted somewhere. In an ideal world, it would be hosted on the main site, but given the state of said site at the moment and as long as I've known about ZC really, perhaps it would be best to just make it as a part of the forum as a sticky with [img] tags and direct links to posts farther down in the topic and such. Anyone could pretty easily do work that way, and given that the developers are also forum moderators, I'm sure we'd have no trouble piecing things together.

So, yeah, I'm pumped and ready to get something done. Who else is interested, and if anyone has done any work on their own in this regard, what do you have? I could fairly easily put together/start work on a section detailing the basics of quest design (first time ever opening Zquest to having a Zelda 1 styled quest) tomorrow if we're lacking, and we could build from there with going into newer features like custom enemies and items and subscreens and such linked together as a part of one coherent guide. I can't say that I fully understand every feature of Zquest, but I figure that I know enough to be able to make something substantive and useful.

[Game_boy]

I'll do some of an "Alphadawg" tutorial, but just the basic sections because I'm very new to ZC. I'll try and emphasize the new features added since 2.10, however.

I'll even put a deadline on it. 1 week to a first draft - 18 June 2007 I'll have one with pictures and explanations.

[erm2003]

If you want a place to host the new tutorial, I can upload it to my site if you want. I am already hosting the tutorial made by Alphadawg so I can just add in any new parts to keep it all in once place, giving credit to whoever does the work for it.

[AmazingAmpharos]

The hosting sounds awesome, but should we. At the very least, if we use what Alphadawg wrote, we're going to need to update all the screens to look just like the modern ZC. After all, the idea is to work with the builds.

Actually, yeah, the main issue is looking at what parts of Alphadawg's tutorial need revision and adding in more modern screens. The latter is a bit of a problem actually; ZQuest' "Take Snapshot" feature does not seem to work at all when you're in a menu. The option of using Windowed mode and cropping Print Screens is not appealing. Do we have another recourse? It's very limiting to not be able to take screenshots when menus are open.

As per the text, here are the revisions I see needed:

1. In section six, the text "There are six color schemes total, two of which are currently all black. So don't panic if the tiles seem to "disappear." should be replaced with "There are twelve different color schemes."

2. Step 6: Drawing the Cave should be omitted entirely.

3. The whole "setting the Dmap" thing needs reworked as that interface has changed quite a bit.

4. Step 9 needs to be reworked to take into account 4 tile warps per screen. Something like:

"To do this, press Page Down. You should see five icons at the bottom of the screen." -> "To do this, press Page Up. You should see four icons at the bottom of the screen."

"Click the blue icon in the middle and drag it to the location indicated by the blue square. It will probably take a couple tries to get it exactly right" -> "Click the "A" icon to the left and drag it to the location indicated by the blue square. It will probably take a couple tries to get it exactly right."

5. Because of changes to the tile warp section, the next section needs some changed text.

"To do this, click the green icon next to the blue icon you used previously and drag it to the location indicated by the green square. Again, it will probably take a couple tries to get it exactly right."

becomes

"To do this, press Page Down twice and select the green icon. Drag it to the location indicated by the green square."

6. Everything reference to Quest Rules should probably be removed from the early parts of the guide and given its own section later. Now that there are 7 pages of rules, more time needs to be given to them.

That's what needs changing in the first chapter. A lot more needs changing throughout the guide. Much of it is very detail heavy, taking into account what's default on ZQuest now etc. IMO we should expand the whole tutorial to include a second dungeon that utilizes many new features; I'll start work on such a section to sandwich in before the Level 9 thing (replace the dungeon under the pond as Level 2 and then put level 9 somewhere else with a few nifty overworld concepts thrown in). Throwing in stuff like the Hookshot you get out of a treasure chest leads to so much more tutorial content after all. Then there's sideview...

I'll post some work in this regard either tonight or tomorrow.

[Nicholas Steel]

If you want a place to host the new tutorial, I can upload it to my site if you want. I am already hosting the tutorial made by Alphadawg so I can just add in any new parts to keep it all in once place, giving credit to whoever does the work for it.

haha, i was contemplating doing that aswell :)

[Nicholas Steel]

If you want a place to host the new tutorial, I can upload it to my site if you want. I am already hosting the tutorial made by Alphadawg so I can just add in any new parts to keep it all in once place, giving credit to whoever does the work for it.

i hope erm2003 doesn't mind this...

http://www.ermock.com/zctutorial alphadawgs tutorial in all its glory.



edit: i guess i should have reviewed this thread better oO

[AmazingAmpharos]

Okay, I've written the start of a section for dungeon 2. So far, I've covered tiered secrets, multiple tile warps, copying the item room and passageways to a new map, enemy editor basics (no misc property nonsense), continuous traps, a few extra dmap properties, and a bit of combo editing. Most of this wasn't in Alphadawg's tutorial at all, and some of it was but, due to changes in ZQuest since he wrote that, wouldn't make sense in the context he introduced it. I don't have most of the pictures ready yet (not being able to take snapshots of menus is going to be a major problem), but it takes very little imagination to think of what would be in those images. I'm worried that I made it too complicated so I could use a bit of help "dumbing it down" as to not intimidate new players. That being said, I think it's important for someone learning how to use ZQuest to be taught this stuff. As I build the dungeon, I intend to integrate sideview rooms, custom items, very simple tile editing, very simple subscreen editing (just enough to be able to use Roc's Feather), treasure chests, boss room music, and whatever other cool things come to mind.

READ THIS AS A DRAFT AND NOT A FINAL PRODUCT AT ALL

1. Setting up the Dmap.

This time, we're going to make the Dmap a little more complicated. First, go to Quest -> Dmaps and select Dmap #2.

PICTURE 1

Set the level number to 2, the dungeon type to "NES Dungeon", and the continue point to 75. Draw the map as shown on the picture below.

PICTURE 2

Next, click the tab for appearance. Set the colors to "02 - Blue/Red". This time, we're also going to give the level a name. Under Dmap Title, type in "Tutorial Cavern". Now, when you are playing, this name will appear above the map. We also want an introduction when we enter the dungeon. Type "where we learn slightly more complicated techniques" into the intro box. When you are done, it should look like this:

PICTURE 3

On the music tab, set the music to "Dungeon" just like last time.

Skip the map tab for now and head over to the Disable tab. We want to make this level harder than it has to be so find "Potion (Blue)" and "Potion (Red)" in the item list and use the arrow between the two boxes to disable them. As long as the player is in this dungeon, he will be unable to use potions.

PICTURE 4

To finish setting up the Dmap, head on over to flags. We don't want our this to act like an overworld so uncheck everything. We do want the introduction to show up every time the player enters this dungeon. Therefore, check "Always display intro string"

PICTURE 5

There, now we're done. Save your progress now.

2. Setting up the Entrance/Exit warps.

(Just pretty much C+P what Alphadawg had for the level 9 stuff except replace the 9 with a 2. Include the part where the useless first screen of the dungeon is drawn).

3. Tiered secrets and multiple tile warps.

Okay, here's where we're going to get fancy. To start, draw the screen below.

http://i17.tinypic.com/6cd36f6.jpg

Next, we need something to fight. We want to put an item in here so let's use a mini-boss sort of enemy. Choose "Stalfos 3" from the list. Stalfos 3 is a powerful enemy that is unique to Zelda Classic. It is much faster and stronger than a standard Stalfos, and it fires its sword beams in four directions!

Picture 7

Now let's give the player a reward. Set Data -> Item to the Red Candle, and set Data -> Screen Data to Enemies -> Item. Drag the rupee icon to the upper right corner of the room.

Picture 8 - Picture 9

Now let's put some flags on this screen. Set flag 4 Burn 1 (Any) to the red bush, and set flag 16 Secret Tile 0 to the blue bush. You'll see why in a minute.

http://i19.tinypic.com/6cdprpf.jpg

Next, let's set up our secrets. Set the burn flag under Data -> Secret Combos to the staircase as you have done in the past. Do not worry that you are now using the Red Candle; only set the stairs next to the Blue Candle text.

Picture 11

Next, click on the far right tab and select the box in the upper-left under the header "Flags 16-31" Flags 16-31 are special, and they automatically trigger whenever any other secret is triggered. That is, whenever a block is pushed or a different flag set off, all of these flags will reveal their secrets. In this case, we want Flag 16 to change the blue bush red when the red bush is burned so select the red bush.

Picture 12

Now hold Control and click on the red bush. You can now set a flag here so this bush will also burn. However, we want to reveal something different when this bush is burned than we did when the last bush was burned so select flag 73 Burn 2 (Red Candle +).

Picture 13

Okay, we want to make this a staircase that will lead somewhere different than the first staircase will. This will require making a new staircase. Exit the secrets menu (for now) and go to Quest -> Graphics -> Combos.

Picture 14

Here, select the star shaped combo that was previously at the bottom right of the main editor. This is a useless combo so we're going to make it something different. Once it is selected, you will want to click on the image of it to enter the tile page, and then you should hit page down to find the familiar staircase.

Picture 15 - Picture 16

Once that is set, click on the dropdown next to "type" and select "Stairs [B]". When you are done, the page should look like this.

Picture 17

Okay, now go back to Data -> Secret Combo. Next to "Red Candle", select the combo that we just made.

Picture 18

We're almost finished with this complex screen. All that remains is to set the tile warp. We want the more hidden second staircase to lead onward so open up Data -> Tile Warp and set the warp type to Entrance/Exit, the Dmap set to 00, and the screen set to 3C. This is going to lead us out of the dungeon!

Picture 19

Next, click on the tab at the top that says "B". On this page, set the warp type to Passageway, the Dmap to 02, and the screen to 55. Set "Use Warp Return" to B.

Picture 20

Now exit out of the tile warping page and set the blue square labeled A as we have done in the past. This time, also place the blue square labeled B.

Picture 21

Whew! That was quite the room, eh? Save your progress now.

4. Making the passageways work

Don't worry; this is much simpler than the last section. Simply use the comma key "," to head back to map 1 and copy the contents of screen 81. Map 2 did not come with a passageway on it so we are going to paste this onto screen 81 on map 2. For good measure, also copy and paste the contents of screen 80 from one map to another. However, in the case of screen 80, use Tools -> Paste All. That way the item location will be retained.

Picture 22 - Picture 23

5. Making a custom enemy.

That Stalfos 3 was pretty cool, but it was still a Stalfos. It would be cool if we could have a Darknut with similar properties. Actually, we can. The "Death Knight" enemy is a super fast and strong Darknut that shoots swords in four directions. However, this is only level 2, and the Death Knight is far too strong for the player to be able to fight here as the Death Knight is the strongest enemy in Zelda Classic. So let's edit it.

Open the enemy editor by selecting Quest -> Enemies.

Picture 24

Here, scroll down the list until you find Darknut (Death Knight). Select him.

Picture 25

You should see a fairly confusing page with a lot of properties. We'll try to keep this a simple as possible. Make the following changes:

Set the HP to 10 (dies in 5 Wooden Sword strikes)
Set the damage to 4 (does 1 heart of damage to Link upon contact)
Set the wdamage to 2 (projectile does 1/2 heart of damage to Link)
Set the random rate to 4 (more likely to change direction)
Set the halt rate to 4 (pauses slightly to fire weapon)
Set the homing factor to 160 (pursues Link more vigorously than a Blue Darknut)
Set the step speed to 70 (moves slightly faster than a Blue Darknut)
Set the hunger to 1 (very slightly attracted to Bait)

When you are done, the page should look like this.

Picture 26

We only have the small shield at this time, and it would be nice if we could block his projectiles. The easy solution is to change the projectile. Set the dropdown next to weapon to "Arrow" to make it shoot Moblin-like arrows in four directions instead of swords.

Picture 27

We can also change what he drops. He is currently set to drop lots of health restoration items. Change the dropdown next to "item set" to Bombs to allow him to drop rupees or bombs randomly just like Blue Octoroks.

Picture 28

There is more we could do, but this will be fine for now. Hit okay and exit the enemy editor. Save your progress.

6. Continuous traps

Now would be a good time to make a destination for that warp. Go to screen 55 on map 3 and draw the following screen.

http://i18.tinypic.com/6ewnqyf.jpg

Now we need Link to spawn correctly here. Since we used Tile Warp B to get here, use the "B" blue box. Set it in the lower-left hand corner of the room.

Picture 30

Now let's add some enemies. Our customized Death Knights would work very well. Go to Data -> Enemies and place 4 or 5 Darknut (Death Knight) enemies as you have placed enemies in the past.

Now, it would be really cool if that narrow passage had a continuously moving trap in it. Well, that's possible in Zelda Classic. Go to Tools -> Flags and select flag 35 Trap (Horizontal, Constant). Place it at the left edge of that narrow line.

Picture 31 - Picture 32

That's it for that room. Save your progress. Now would be a fine time to test out what you have in level 2. You can get a feel for fighting the Stalfos 3 (he's a strong one!), and you can see your customized Death Knights in action. You can also verify that your warps work correctly. It's very easy to make mistakes setting up warps as you use more complex structures; always be sure to test them to ensure that they work correctly. Of course, there's not any way back from screen 55 yet, but we're still working on this dungeon.

[Game_boy]

For screenshots that have menus on and don't need cropping, use:

Alt + Print Screen

[AmazingAmpharos]

I have tried that. Check out this awesome screen!

http://i16.tinypic.com/5x4twnc.jpg

Print Screen doesn't work when ZC is in full screen mode. Windowed mode sucks, and it would require a lot of cropping and resizing to make it work as a fake for full screen. I know why ZC's innate screenshot ability doesn't work in menus; it's interpreting the "Z" key as an attempt to quickly use a menu command or to go to the "Z" section of the list. I'm not really sure that it's a bug, and it's possible that there's another way to make ZC take a snapshot that will let me make those images (clearly Alphadawg was able). I'm just not sure about the whole affair.

[Game_boy]

EDIT: Changed text and made link work. Was completely different before revision - below post is not a bump.

Well, what do you think my my draft? I've only written 6 paets o far, here's the first three.

Tutorial.pdf (http://reupload.com/uploads/Tutorial2.pdf)

[ColorPrinter]

Doesn't open.

[AmazingAmpharos]

WHEW! I just finished writing up the rest of dungeon 2, and it's really long. The good news is that I covered everything that I wanted to cover. It's not really "finished" since I still need to make all those pictures, and it really does need a good deal of revision. Everything after I finish my last discussion on the enemy editor was thrown together pretty quickly; I hope you enjoy my effort driven discussion of the Triforce room. I also need to figure out what enemy number the Goriya 3 is.

I should say that what I wrote assumes that sometime soon guides will be written for the enemy, item, and subscreen editors, and that they will be quite in depth.

Also, once various quality and technical problems with the text and the pictures are resolved (I guess cropping windowed mode is my only option... sigh), how should I format this, and what should my next immediate task be in order to fit this in with what current tutorial we have? I really do hope that even if what I wrote isn't good enough yet that it will be able to be polished to be a very useful add on to Alphadawg's tutorial that will enable new quest authors to do so much more.

I want to keep on going in terms of sandwiching more content in before Level 9, and I think I would expand Alphadawg's Level 9 to be a more full dungeon to introduce more concepts. Off the top of my head, I still need to talk about initial data, dive warps, cave Dmaps, the Lens of Truth in general, and all that magic reflection stuff. There's doubtlessly more stuff to introduce. I just remembered Lock Boxes and Tall Grass which at least need mention.

This took me a very long time so commentary and suggestions for improvement would be very, very appreciated.

7. Money or Life room

This one is simple, and it's very similar to a Feed the Goriya room. First of all, draw the following room on screen 45.

Picture 33

Next, set the Guy and the string as you have done in so many other rooms in the past. I prefer Abei saying "Your money or your life", but it's really up to you.

Finally, you have to set the price of the room. To do this, go to Data -> Price and enter whatever price you want. Since you will want to test this in the player later, you might as well make it cheap. 20 rupees sounds nice to me.

Picture 34 - Picture 35

8. Treasure chests

In order to make a treasure chest, you first have to do some basic tile editing. Go to Quest -> Graphics -> Tiles to open the basic tile editor. This is not a particularly user friendly part of Zelda Classic, but understanding it is important if you want to use all of the features.

Picture 36

We'll need to find some blank tiles to work with. Start by pressing "C" over any random tile that is clearly occupied. Now use Page Down to scroll through the tile pages. When you find a place that seems empty, press "V" to paste the other tile here. If this tile is truly blank, the image will paste without issue. If it is a totally black tile that is in use, you will get a warning message. Hit Cancel and try to find another spot.

Picture 37

Once you have found a blank spot, use the delete key to get rid of the tile you pasted in. Now we're going to draw a treasure chest. Double click on the blank spot, and you should see a fairly basic pixel drawing application. First, familiarize yourself with the more useful tools.

Picture 38

The sword icon is used to change the color of individual squares. This is the primary drawing tool.

Picture 39

The bottle icon is used to "fill" an area with a specific color. Using it on a square will change that square and every adjacent square of the same color to the color you currently have selected. This "chains" together so you can change the color of large parts of a tile at once with this.

Picture 40

The wand icon changes all squares of one color to the selected color.

Picture 41

Using the lens icon on a square selects the color of that square.

Picture 42

The other tools also have their uses, but they are a bit more complicated in their properties, and you don't really need to use them at the moment. When you need to change colors, click on the color you desire at the bottom of the application. Both the left click and the right click can have a different color stored on them!

Picture 43

You can also use + and - to scroll through the various CSets. This has no final impact on the tile, but if you intend to place it in your quest using a specific CSet, it might help you to draw it using that CSet.

Picture 44

Okay, if you're still with me, then it's time to draw the treasure chest. Hit the "-" key 6 times to scroll to the CSet you are going to use for the treasure chest. You could make it however you want, but I suggest drawing exactly this:

Picture 45

It looks exactly like a lttp treasure chest!

You also need to draw the open treasure chest. Find another blank tile and repeat this process. I suggest making it look like this.

Picture 46

Whew! That was a lot of effort. You might want to save now, but we have more to do to make a working treasure chest. Next, open up Quest -> Graphics -> Combos just like you did when you were making the B Staircase.

Picture 47

Now use Page Down until you find some blank looking red squares. These are unusued combos. You'll need to find two in a row that are blank to make a working treasure chest.

Picture 48

Double click on this to open the combo editor, and select the closed treasure chest you drew as the tile for this combo.

Picture 49

Next, click on the square to the right of the tile selection. You should see a bit of pinkish red appear. Whatever parts of this square are pink will be unwalkable when the tile is placed on the screen. Treasure chests are supposed to be solid so let's click on all four corners to make the entire combo unwalkable.

Picture 50

Next, under type, select Treasure Chest (normal). You could make it locked so that it would require the use of a key to open, or you could make it "boss" so it would require the player to have the dungeon's Boss Key to open. However, we're going to stick to a regular treasure chest.

Picture 51

Next, we're going to place an inherent flag on this combo. This simply means that we're going to modify the combo so that it always has a certain flag on it. The flag is a part of the combo now. For instance, you could use an inherent flag to make a bush that is always burnable. In the case of the treasure chest, a flag is needed to make it work. On the dropdown next to flags, select flag 10 Armos -> item. I know this is not an Armos. Just trust me when I tell you that, from the game's perspective, this make sense, and it will work.

Picture 52

Now, select the blank combo immediately to the right of the current one. Upon being opened, the treasure chest will automatically become this combo. Setting it up is a breeze. For the tile, select the open treasure chest tile you drew earlier. For the walkability, make it completely unwalkable just like the closed treasure chest. The last time I checked, open chests weren't easier to walk on than closed ones. You do not need to set a type for this combo. The open treasure chest uses the (None) type, and it needs no flags.

Picture 53

Save again; you have a treasure chest combo ready!

9. Obtaining the Hookshot

Okay, after all that work to make a treasure chest, you certainly want to use it. Go to screen 35 and draw the following screen.

Picture 54 - http://i16.tinypic.com/6bar4p2.jpg

You will have to use the scroller on your mouse or the up and down arrows at the bottom of the page to find some of those combos, and you'll notice that a few of them are new to you. The spikes are "damage combos". These are combos that hurt Link when he touches them. You certainly don't want that! The cactus looking thing is a "Hookshot Grab". As the name would indicate, this is a combo to which the Hookshot can stick.

Next we need to put the Hookshot into the chest. This is very easy if you set everything else up correctly. Go do Data -> Room Type and select "Special Item". Next go to Data -> Special Item and set the item to the Hookshot.

Picture 56 - Picture 57

There, that's all there is to it! Upon walking into the bottom part of the chest, the player will automatically receive the Hookshot. The Hookshot can be used to grapple across the dangerous spikes so the player can reach the door. Save your progress now.

10. Using a different subscreen

A few of you likely considered a very serious problem in using the Hookshot. The Hookshot is a fully functioning item in Zelda Classic, but it does not appear in the default original subscreen. If it's not in the subscreen, the player cannot select it. Luckily, Zelda Classic comes with many different subscreens. First, go to Quest -> Misc Data -> Master Subscreen Type.

Picture 58

On this screen, select "Revision 2".

Picture 59

Revision 2 is the most comprehensive and useful of the different subscreens, but there are many choices. Every subscreen has the Boomerang, Bombs, Bow and Arrow, Candle, Whistle, Letter/Potion, Bait, and Wand just like the original game. They also all have the "passive" items such as the Stepladder that were present in the first quest. Passive items do not need to appear on the subscreen to function, but it's nice to be able to look to see when you have them. The different subscreens add different items and use different layouts for visual appeal. Note that if you do not do any subscreen editing, all the different subscreens except Original, New Subscreen, and Revision 2 will appear bugged. If you do not wish to edit subscreens in greater detail (a problem for later), only use these three subscreen types.

11. Navigational fun with the Hookshot

The Hookshot has always been one of Link's most awesome items. Zelda Classic gives you many opportunities to utilize the Hookshot to its full potential. First, we need to make a new combo. Open up Quest -> Graphics -> Combos and select any blank combo. Set the tile for it to any blank tile. Make it completely unwalkable. Now you can set the type to either "Hookshot Only" or "Hookshot or Ladder". Hookshot Only combos, when unwalkable, are impassable except by use of the Hookshot. Hookshot or Ladder combos are very similar, but if the Ladder is enabled on the screen, the player will be able to cross those combos with it as well.

Picture 60

Next, draw the following screen on screen 34.

http://i8.tinypic.com/5y96g7t.jpg

Wow, that's one ugly screen, but it's instructive. You'll notice that there are several new combo types here. The slick looking combo is a "slow walk" combo. These combos live up to their name by causing Link to move through them very slowly as he walks. That's very annoying so, of course, using the Hookshot to bypass it is good. The right arrow combo is a conveyor (right). Link is automatically pushed to the right on this combo. He can "push" against it and make it past, but the going will be slow and awkward. The black combo is the Hookshot Only combo we created earlier, and don't worry about the red stuff. That's basic dungeon water, though in the quagmire of all this new stuff you might not have recognized it. Even with all these advanced tools, the ordinary stuff from Zelda 1 is still very useful!

You might also be wondering about that ominous looking door to the north. That's a boss door. It only opens when you have the boss key, and you can place this door by selecting "Boss" under Tools -> Doors. We haven't given the player the Boss Key yet, but we will!

To finish up this room, you might want to put some enemies. I suggest you try out the Bat enemies. Go to Data -> Enemies and select Bat from the list, and put 3-4 of them in the room. Throw in a few of your custom Death Knights for good measure.

Picture 62

Bats are like super Keese. They do more damage, move faster, and never pause to rest. They also take multiple hits from the Boomerang or the Hookshot to die! Also, note that you can stun those Darknuts with the Hookshot as well. When placing the Hookshot in a quest, remember that it can stun some things that the Boomerang could not.

12. Take any item room

Next head on over to screen 33. Draw the following really basic screen.

http://i9.tinypic.com/4m2mckp.jpg

Use the standard walkable black tile for the floor.

Next, go to Data -> Room Type and select Take One Item.

Picture 64

Take One Item rooms offer the player the choice of one of up to three items. In order to decide which items are offered, you need to set it up like a shop. Go to Quest -> Misc Data -> Shop Types and select shop 2 (your next unused shop). Set the first item to the Map and the second item to the Compass; in this dungeon, the player may only have one or the other. You can set price to whatever you want; Take One Item rooms always give the item for free.

Picture 65

Next set up the guy and the string in this room. You should be very familiar with how to do this by now so I'll leave the choice of who says what up to you.

Lastly, we need to set up the tile warp out of this screen. Open up Data -> Tile Warp and set it to go to Dmap 02 screen 70, and set the warp type to "Insta Warp". Do not forget to set the blue "A" box on screen 33.

Picture 66

13. Sideview gravity

Now it's time to make some screens on which Link automatically falls to the bottom of the screen. Go to screen 70 and draw the following screen. Use the basic, walkable ground to make the blackness, and set the "A" blue square slightly above the ground to the right of the stairs up.

http://i18.tinypic.com/6809oj4.jpg - Picture 68

Next, we need to place some screen flags. Go to Data -> Screen Data and click the tab at the top to go to the second page. Here, check the flags for "Sideview gravity" and "No Link Marker in Minimap". Sideview gravity causes Link to fall. No Link Marker in Minimap is useful because this is meant to act like a "tunnel". This area is not on the map so we don't want that little green dot on there.

Now we need a way to get up that ledge. Ideally, there would be an item that lets us jump. Link's Awakening fans doubtlessly know where this is going. We're going to give the player Roc's Feather!

Set the item for the room to Roc's Feather, and you see your first problem. Roc's Feather, by default, uses that ugly tile 0 as do many of the relatively new item additions to Zelda Classic.

Picture 69

Let's ignore this problem for now and finish the room. Drag the rupee icon over the center of the room, and be careful to ensure that when it falls straight down that it will land somewhere Link can reach.

Let's set this room to be guarded by an enemy, and let's make Roc's Feather the prize. Set the only enemy for this room to a Blue Goriya with Data -> Enemies. Use Data -> Screen Data to set Enemy -> Item.

However, what if the Goriya spawns in an area Link can't reach? We need to ensure that he always spawns in the same place. Open up Tools -> Flags and place flag 37 Enemy 0 at the farthest right point to which Link can walk.

Picture 70

This ensures that the Goriya will always appear in that exact location.

14. Item editor basics

We need to assign the Roc's Feather graphics, and we also will want to adjust its properties. To do this, open up the item editor by going Quest -> Items, and then select Roc's Feather.

Picture 71 - Picture 72

On the first page, we see level, power, and misc attributes. None of the misc attributes on Roc's Feather do anything so we can ignore those. Level is defautly set to 1, and this is good. This means that the Roc's Feather is the least of its type of items. For instance, the Red Candle would be a level 2 item whle the Blue Candle is just a level 1 item. This only effects one item replacing another so we don't need to worry about it any more. Power, for the Roc's Feather, changes jumping height. 2 height lets Link go upward about 2 tiles when he leaps. This does not seem like much, but consider that this allows him to be suspended in the air in top down rooms for quite a while. We're going to leave this unchanged since we need it to clear even this very small gap in sideview, but remember this problem for later.

Picture 73

When we click the tab labeled GFX, we see several options of little concern, but we also see the place to assign a tile for Roc's Feather. Clicking on that brings us to the tile screen. This would be a good time to select a tile for Roc's Feather that you had drawn earlier in the tile editor. However, making custom tiles takes time, you already know how, and we're altogether too lazy right now. Hit page down twice and select the leaf icon. Make it whatever color looks best to you by using + and -. Of course, taking this kind of shortcut is only really a good idea during a tutorial, but luckily, this is a tutorial.

Picture 74

Lastly, we need to go to the action tab. Roc's Feather is seriously a ridiculously good item so let's make it cost the player a bit to use it. This will help balance out the brokenness in top down rooms. Next to magic, put a 2, and then click the checkbox for "Use rupees instead of magic".

Picture 75

There, now it costs 2 rupees every time you jump. Plan carefully!

This concludes making the Roc's Feather a working and customized item. Item editing is very complex, and it is beyond the scope of the basic tutorial to explain everything you can do with it. If you want to know more, CLICK HERE.

Also, now would be a good time to save.

15. Subscreen editor basics

Okay, that was not the only problem with Roc's Feather. We also need to be able to select it in the subscreen. It is not in the Revision 2 subscreen we are using right now. In fact, it is not in any of Zelda Classic's default subscreens. What do we do? Well, we make a custom subscreen. The subscreen editor is seen as scary by a lot of people, but we're just going to cover the basics. We're going to put new items into the subscreen, and we're going to fix the BS subscreens to not have glitchy graphics.

First of all, change the subscreen type to BS Complete with Quest -> Misc Data -> Master Subscreen type. Next, go into the proper subscreen editor with Quest -> Misc Data -> Subscreens.

Picture 76

Our first goal is to fix the glitchiness. This is actually very easy. Click on the Active Subscreen (Triforce), and you see the problem.

Picture 77 - Picture 78

The Triforce frame is set up incorrectly by default. To fix it, right click on the Triforce glitchy bundle and select properties. Under the attributes tab, uncheck "Large Pieces". This same fix will repair any of the BS subscreens so feel free to use them in your quests!

Picture 79 - Picture 80

Now we need to assign Roc's Feather. This could be very hard, but we're going to do this in the easiest way possible. We're going to replace an item that's already there. The item of choice is going to be Farore's Wind. That's the green crystal item. While it was very useful in OoT, it is very useless in Zelda Classic. The player is not losing much by losing this item.

Right click on the green crystal and select "Properties". You will see a list of many things, and among them is a dropdown entitled "Item Class". We just need to change this from "Farore's Wind" to "Roc Items". Do so, and then you're finished with that part. Select OK twice to return to the list of the different subscreens used during the game.

Picture 81 - Picture 82

Next double click on "Active Subscreen (Dungeon Map) to edit it. Remember that the subscreen changes in dungeons, and we want to let the player use Roc's Feather in both the overworld and dungeons. Simply repeat the process of changing Farore's Wind into the Roc's Feather here as you did in the Triforce subscreen. Since there is no Triforce frame in dungeons, you do not need to fix that.

Now Roc's Feather is finally 100% set up and ready to use! As you probably could see, there is far more to subscreen editing than was covered here. If you want more, including some advice on how to fix up the very messy and incomplete Zelda 3 subscreen, CLICK HERE.

16. The boss key room

Okay, now that our items and subscreens are taken care of, we can finish our underground sideview area. Go to screen 71 and draw the following screen.

http://i12.tinypic.com/53gfkh1.jpg

Next, use Data -> Screen Data to set "Sideview Gravity" and "No Link Marker in Minimap" as you did last time.

Now set the item for the room to the Boss Key, and drag the rupee icon in the gap between the floating blocks.

Picture 84

Next, we need some enemies to fight in here. Since the boss key is there from the start, ideally these enemies are going to be annoyance enemies instead of real fighters. In that spirit, let's use another one of Zelda Classic's unique enemies, the Wizzrobe (Bat), commonly referred to as the summoner. Summoners teleport around like Red Wizzrobes, but instead of attacking, they summon Bat enemies. This is perfect as Bats are strong enough that the player will be forced to pause and fight while passing through this room. Since Bats fly, they will be doubly awesome in their ability to harass the player in this room whereas regular walking enemies would not be able to navigate the obstacles. Put two Wizzrobe (Bat) enemies here, and then save as you've finished the sideview portion of this dungeon.

17. A custom boss

Okay, this is not going to be the old style of custom boss that is feared by many ZC veterans for how difficult it is to make. We're going to use the enemy editor for this project. Since the player has the Whistle, let's make this boss a customized version of Digdogger. Open the enemy editor with Quest -> Enemies and select Digdogger (3 kids).

Picture 85

Digdogger before it splits is not worth messing with so simply click the "Data 2" tab at the top to see a very unfriendly page.

Picture 86

Okay, don't panic. Properties 1-4 tell Digdogger which enemies to spawn when the Whistle is blown. Properties 5-8 tell it how many of each enemy to spawn. For instance, property 1 tells Digdogger one of the enemies it will split into, and property 5 tells it how many of that enemy to make. Property 9 does nothing on Digdogger. Property 10 tells Digdogger whether it is a big Digdogger or a little one. Little Digdoggers are what are made after the Whistle is blown; we don't want that. We're going to leave Misc 10 alone.

We're going to have Digdogger spawn some Goriya 3 enemies. Goriya 3 is a ZC exclusive enemy that is more powerful than a Blue Goriya and uses homing boomerangs! First, since we're only going to spawn one type of enemy, set Misc 6 and Misc 7 to 0. This way, the only type of enemy spawned will be the one that is set to Misc 1. We want 4 Goriya 3 enemies so set Misc 5 to 4.

Okay, the only problem is telling ZC to spawn Goriya 3 enemies instead of a Digdogger Kid. You have to know the enemy number for Goriya 3. The number you need is __ in this case. Set Misc 1 to __. Of course, as you can tell, the enemy editor is much deeper than can be fully covered in a tutorial like this. To learn more about how to use the enemy editor, CLICK HERE.

18. The boss chamber.

This is going to be easy. First, draw this room on screen 24.

Picture 87

Now use Data -> Enemies to put Digdogger (3 kids) in the room, and use Data -> Item to put a Heart Container in the room. However, we're going to mix it up a bit. Go to Data -> Screen Data, use the screen flags 2 tab, and set the flag "Item falls from ceiling". This will cause the heart container to fall from the ceiling.

Picture 88

Don't forget to set Enemy -> Item in the Screen Data; you don't want this to happen until Digdogger is defeated. As a matter of good measure, be sure to drag the rupee icon to the middle of the screen as well.

19. Finishing up

Whew, this was a very complex dungeon. All that's left is the Triforce room. If I were less sick of writing right now, I'd put a basic iteration of what was said earlier. I like cookies. Anyway, this whole paragraph will be replaced later when I'm feeling like it since it's no new content I'm not in a rush and I can do cool things I can use run on sentences. I also know that there needs to be a staircase leading out of the dungeon somewhere since once you get the triforce you are stuck if you come here again it should probably be in the Money or Life room mused Count Bleck with another run on sentence man you know run on sentences are cool cookies are good 88 pictures is a lot and will take a long time. Oh, I also forgot to tell the player to set the tile warp back from the sideview rooms. That too will be fixed.

[The_Amaster]

AA, have you conidered using a more recent tileset? I mean, I know that the classic is the bundled/default one, but it might look better if you used somthing like Pure or DoR.

[AmazingAmpharos]

Okay, this is my third try at posting this. The lagging forums refused to let me post it at all.

The fact of the matter is that I really do have to use classic. One cannot import a different tileset in the middle of making a quest without great difficulty, and the tutorial is to be structured as making a quest. That means that, in order to do it with another tileset, the very first lesson in the tutorial would have to be how to import a different tileset. This lesson would come before any lesson about creating gameplay elements. This suggests a very wrong set of priorities where graphics are the first priority, and that could mislead many new quest designers. I hope you can understand that I am totally unwilling to take that risk; one otherwise promising quest designer spending eons making beautiful tiles only to us them on uninspired gameplay is too much.

I know classic is an unpopular tileset in general, but really, it's not a bad looking tileset at all. The only real problem I see with it is that it's a fairly lacking tileset insofar as it does not have tiles to use all the newer combo types and items. Now, as I look at it, there are two ways to deal with this. I could continue as I am in the tutorial and simply use it as an instructional opportunity. After all, the lack of proper tiles and combos forces me to teach how to use the tile and combo editors, and those are important lessons for someone learning how to use ZQuest to learn. I'm going to assume that this is what's ultimately going to happen so only take the next option as speculation as per possibilities that will likely not come to pass.

The other option is to try to get a real update to classic as a part of ZQuest. This could be difficult as any plan like that must have the blessings of the developers (for something that big, the blessings of many developers), and making a popularly accepted upgrade to something that ingrained in Zelda Classic is going to be difficult anyway. I actually did make a partially updated version of classic for my personal use a while back (it lacks some of the newer _L_ item tiles; it was complete as of one of the earlier builds I think). It was just a combo table re-organization and an addition of extra tiles/combos for new features like treasure chests and tiles for the new items. If people want to look into this secondary option for dealing with the inadequacies of classic, I'd be happy to post it for someone wanting to finish and hone it.

[Game_boy]

Yours is still too hard for a newbie to follow.

THIS Link works.

Tutorial.pdf (http://reupload.com/uploads/Tutorial2.pdf)

I've done six parts, but have only submitted three. The full six runs to 32 pages.

[The_Amaster]

I'm not saying I dislike classic. I'm saying if we want to "sell" ZC to new people, we should be as impressive as possible.