Thinkman
10-15-2007, 09:04 AM
I've loosely designed a few quests on paper that I intended to make (but as yet haven't) and while looking over my notes recently, I noticed that I was doing something that I haven't seen much of; out-of-the-box item usage. That is to say, I take the mechanics of an item and use them in unintended ways.
For example, one could use the Stepladder to make a "Climbing Claw" item. What you do is make the Stepladder graphic completely invisible, then change the graphic of the icon to a claw of some sort (I just planned on ripping the Cat's Claws from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest). Now, to create a climbable surface, create two tiles with the same graphic, which looks like a normal wall, but with notches/roughness to indicate climbability. One of these tiles should simply be walkable, and the other should be unwalkable, requiring the stepladder to pass. Now just place a line of rough wall where you want the player to be able to climb, and put the "can only pass w/stepladder" version of the tile at the very top and bottom. This way, the player can't walk across the rough wall until they have the "Climbing Claws." And since the 'stepladder' graphic is invisible, it won't appear under Link when he passes by, thus completing the illusion. The only problem here is that since there's no way to force Link to constantly face upward, the player will be able to walk in all four directions while "climbing," which breaks the illusion a bit.
Another idea I had, and this one is really convoluted, was to make underwater levels where Link has a breath meter to measure how long he can stay submerged. What you do is, make it so that the Boots use magic and the graphics for the Boots are invisible. Now, make your underwater room covered in tiles that act as spikes, but don't actually look like spikes, and instead look however you want the underwater room to look. Now, change the color of Link's Magic Meter to blue, start him off with a full Magic Meter, and presto. While Link is in the underwater room, his "Breath Meter" (recolored Magic Meter) will drain because the Boots are active since the entire floor consists of spikes. When his Breath Meter is empty, he'll start taking damage due to a lack of oxygen (in reality, because he's walking on invisible spikes). The knockback due to the spikes could be explained away as Link thrashing uncontrollably as he suffocates. You could also make poison gas rooms or whatnot using this method, but of course, no other item will be able to use the Magic Meter. And you've also got to find a way to auto-refill Link's Breath when he leaves the water/poison.
Another idea I had was to change the Raft into a Deku Leaf or some such -- change the graphic apropriately and have the pathes of the "raft" move you across holes, instead of water.
If you don't want your quest to involve the collection of Triforce pieces, but you still want to use the Recorder (which relies on Triforce pieces to function), you could re-graphic the Triforce pieces into, say, magical lanterns which, when lit, allow you to return at any time using the Recorder, which itself could be re-graphicked into any number of things.
Speaking of which, since you can make panels that trigger some event when the Recorder is played on them, you can turn the Recorder into many different things. You can make puddles of water freeze into ice blocks which can then either be pushed around or walked on by regraphicking the Recorder into an Ice Rod, and having the Recorder panel in front of the puddle. Of course, the player will be able to face any direction while standing on the panels, which, like the Climbing Claws, sort of kills the illusion a bit, but será será. One quest idea I had involved a game world of islands floating on clouds, and you have to link magical bridges between them to span the gaps. The Recorder would be regraphicked into some mystical artefact which creates the magic bridges. And of course, you could always make something like Ren's broken sword from Pirates of Dark Water, make wall-mounted keyhole graphics and put the Recorder panel in front of it.
Most of this stuff is pretty random, silly or meaningless in the long run, but it does at least serve to set one quest apart from all the others which make conventional use of the Stepladder and Raft and Triforce Pieces and so on. So does anybody else ever think up ideas like this, or is it just me? And feel free to use any of the ideas I just threw out in your own quest, just credit me somewhere.
For example, one could use the Stepladder to make a "Climbing Claw" item. What you do is make the Stepladder graphic completely invisible, then change the graphic of the icon to a claw of some sort (I just planned on ripping the Cat's Claws from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest). Now, to create a climbable surface, create two tiles with the same graphic, which looks like a normal wall, but with notches/roughness to indicate climbability. One of these tiles should simply be walkable, and the other should be unwalkable, requiring the stepladder to pass. Now just place a line of rough wall where you want the player to be able to climb, and put the "can only pass w/stepladder" version of the tile at the very top and bottom. This way, the player can't walk across the rough wall until they have the "Climbing Claws." And since the 'stepladder' graphic is invisible, it won't appear under Link when he passes by, thus completing the illusion. The only problem here is that since there's no way to force Link to constantly face upward, the player will be able to walk in all four directions while "climbing," which breaks the illusion a bit.
Another idea I had, and this one is really convoluted, was to make underwater levels where Link has a breath meter to measure how long he can stay submerged. What you do is, make it so that the Boots use magic and the graphics for the Boots are invisible. Now, make your underwater room covered in tiles that act as spikes, but don't actually look like spikes, and instead look however you want the underwater room to look. Now, change the color of Link's Magic Meter to blue, start him off with a full Magic Meter, and presto. While Link is in the underwater room, his "Breath Meter" (recolored Magic Meter) will drain because the Boots are active since the entire floor consists of spikes. When his Breath Meter is empty, he'll start taking damage due to a lack of oxygen (in reality, because he's walking on invisible spikes). The knockback due to the spikes could be explained away as Link thrashing uncontrollably as he suffocates. You could also make poison gas rooms or whatnot using this method, but of course, no other item will be able to use the Magic Meter. And you've also got to find a way to auto-refill Link's Breath when he leaves the water/poison.
Another idea I had was to change the Raft into a Deku Leaf or some such -- change the graphic apropriately and have the pathes of the "raft" move you across holes, instead of water.
If you don't want your quest to involve the collection of Triforce pieces, but you still want to use the Recorder (which relies on Triforce pieces to function), you could re-graphic the Triforce pieces into, say, magical lanterns which, when lit, allow you to return at any time using the Recorder, which itself could be re-graphicked into any number of things.
Speaking of which, since you can make panels that trigger some event when the Recorder is played on them, you can turn the Recorder into many different things. You can make puddles of water freeze into ice blocks which can then either be pushed around or walked on by regraphicking the Recorder into an Ice Rod, and having the Recorder panel in front of the puddle. Of course, the player will be able to face any direction while standing on the panels, which, like the Climbing Claws, sort of kills the illusion a bit, but será será. One quest idea I had involved a game world of islands floating on clouds, and you have to link magical bridges between them to span the gaps. The Recorder would be regraphicked into some mystical artefact which creates the magic bridges. And of course, you could always make something like Ren's broken sword from Pirates of Dark Water, make wall-mounted keyhole graphics and put the Recorder panel in front of it.
Most of this stuff is pretty random, silly or meaningless in the long run, but it does at least serve to set one quest apart from all the others which make conventional use of the Stepladder and Raft and Triforce Pieces and so on. So does anybody else ever think up ideas like this, or is it just me? And feel free to use any of the ideas I just threw out in your own quest, just credit me somewhere.