OMGLOLMYFIRSTQUEST

[AaronJer]

I'm kidding. I've made 3 entirely functional and complete quests already that I don't want to release because I'm not the type of person that thinks that my first (or second and third) shot is likely to be a winner.

I've been toying around with the editor for years, and my most recent quest may be something I'd want people to see. It's very nearly finished, and will probably be done about 1 week after I find an editor that works.

I call it:

Wizzrobe's Big Day Out

The highest peak of Hyrule:

http://superjer.com/atojer/01.png

Red sky? Hyrule is in a pinch!

http://superjer.com/atojer/10.png

It uses a lot of the original art (although heavily modified in many cases) and a good deal of my own art, all kept looking 8-bit. Everything in it could be on an 8-bit cartridge as long as you assume that the game is capable of layering sprites for getting like 5-6 colors like in some later NES games.

Snowy place.

http://superjer.com/atojer/02.png

Guess whether or not that tree is a secret and win a secret.

http://superjer.com/atojer/03.png

Did I use a palette shift? Why yes, I did!

http://superjer.com/atojer/07.png

Obviously, you're playing as the titular character, a Wizzrobe. Ganon is building a fortress in the sky with which to wield and amplify his mighty magical powers and Link is nowhere to be found. The Player is an inexplicably uppity and pugnacious Wizzrobe who doesn't much care for Ganon. Most of the Wizzrobes of the world are still allied with Ganon. They look like normal Wizzrobes, you don't. Some of them look like Zelda 2 Wizzrobes. You know, the KKK guys. You do, however, have a couple quirky and mysterious Wizzrobe buddies on your side. And by quirky I mean annoying and by mysterious I mean Mexican.

I get the feeling there's something he's not telling me.

http://superjer.com/atojer/09.png

Wizzrobe's Big Day Out is fairly non-linear, although it's usually pretty obvious when you're in the wrong dungeon.

http://superjer.com/atojer/06.png

Occasionally some very ridiculous things happen. This picture is a huge spoiler if you like surprises.

http://superjer.com/atojer/05.png

OMG do those pillars have lighting effects?! Not really.

http://superjer.com/atojer/08.png

This quest is HARD. I've played Zelda games a LOT and have set it to be at a challenging difficulty for myself, which I have to keep increasing to keep it from being boring as I play test it. The most difficult parts (the ones I die on more often than not) are all optional.

Entrance to the very difficult and optional Temple of Trials type thing:

http://superjer.com/atojer/04.png

It's more like the original quest than newer games in that most secrets don't really have any hints about where to find them, and you can rarely be sure you've found everything even when you find a secret area. There is a Lens of Truth, but it's not wildly easy to locate itself.

Here's the general back story if you're in to spoilers:

After Ganon's previous defeat all of Hyrule hosted a huge party for Link. Link got terribly wasted and passed out in the evening and that latino Wizzrobe stole all of Link's belongings and left him on a boat to Tijuana. Ganon either didn't die or got revived somehow and decided that with Link in an unknown foreign country he'd go and build a flying castle. That's when you, a lowly Wizzrobe, steps up to the plate to take a swing at Ganon the second time around. Ganon's first act after his hovering palace of doom is finished is to blow up the ocean, so that Link can't get back to Hyrule and stop him.

Anyway. Like I said, I've already made everything from start to finish, I just need a stable platform to bug test it on.

[WindStrike]

If the Expo were still around for entries, I'm sure this would've made top honors. Never before have I seen the classic set (with obvious modifications) go so far with innovatibility before. What you've done to make all those tiles and yet retain a classic feel along with fitting perfectly in with the classic tileset is bloody brilliant. I especially like the cloud and sky effects. And being a Wizzrobe? It's probably been done somewhere before... but it hasn't been executed anywhere near close to this well. The only things I'll probably not be able to see until this is released are the gameplay (fun factor) and the music selection. Aside from that, everything I see so far is superb.
I look forward to playing this quest soon.

... as for a stable platform... do you mean which build to use it on? Firstly, I have no clue which build you're using, and secondly... well... the only stable builds I know of are pretty old ones relative to the latest stuff, and odds are, you're probably a little past b254 or whatever else I'm still stuck on.

[ms_zelda_lady]

The screenshots look really great. You should reconsider and let us all take a stab at playing your quests.

[AaronJer]

Glad you like it. :D

I wasn't really expecting phrases like "top honors" and "hasn't been executed anywhere near close to this well" and "aside from that"... uh... I mean, "superb." So far the music is stuff that's probably been done before, original and Z2 stuff. I've been toying with the idea of using my brother to make music. He writes things like chiptunes so it'd be fitting in that respect, it's just hard to get him to stop beating everything to death with the "Make it sound like the '80's stick."

By a stable platform I mean anything that runs on my computer without crashing on start-up or while idling. I used 2.10 for the entirety of this quest, but it arbitrarily stopped working a few months ago. I was distraught and went into a long, brooding silence. When I emerged I saw that there was 2.50, I was ecstatic. Then I learned it crashes like Princess Diana every 5 minutes. I decided this time that I'd wait for a while before sealing myself away.

ms_zelda_lady,

The only other one that I like enough for people to play is about 95% finished, but I forgot the password several years ago. Also I don't remember what I was doing with it so it would take FOREVER to go through each screen and figure out what's in the game. That was before I started making notes about what I'd done...

I FORGOT! I drew this a while ago. It's just an idea for the title screen I'm gonna have with the Wizzrobe looking pretty much like that, and Link looking really confused in the background wearing a sombrero.

http://superjer.com/atojer/wizzrobe.png

[Pineconn]

Looks really nice. This could possibly be the most innovative Classic quest I've seen... Be sure to submit it to the www.zeldaclassic.com database!!!

[Joe123]

Those screenshots look great, and your quest certainly seems interesting, but they are far too big.
Howcomes you've taken such big ones?

[AaronJer]

They're about 1024x768. My resolution is 1280x1024, so they look fine to me. I was lazy and just snapshotted and resized by 4x in photoshop. It's far better than making them too small!

[Joe123]

Well, no it's not actually >_<
So long as you don't loose any quality (obviously scaling them down 50% so you lose half the detail looks awful) it's fine.
Most screenshots people post aren't scaled up 4 times =P

They don't fit on my screen, it's really not much fun to look at having to scroll around and stuff >_<

[AaronJer]

Here's some smaller screenshots so that people with low resolutions don't have to scroll around or use a browser that automatically resizes things.

http://superjer.com/atojer/01.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/02.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/03.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/04.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/05.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/06.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/07.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/08.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/09.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/10.png

Yeah, that's right. This is for you, Joe, you big baby.

[Sam Atoms]

Nice, you know, there have been times when I was getting my ass kicked by wizzrobes in a quest and I would wonder, "What if I could actually be one of those things?"

I didn't expect that those of us who thought that way would soon be about to get our wish... :cool:

[AaronJer]

Well, your "sword" always fires a projectile in my quest to simulate being a Wizzrobe. Quick Sword is also on, but don't worry, it doesn't make you overpowered.

I'm actually worried that I'll have to make an easier version of the quest because it's probably too hard for any casual player to beat. Blue Darknuts in the first dungeon surrounded by damaging floors in a dark room and you only get 1 heart. I might have gone overboard, but that's what it takes to make it hard for me. :D

I've also confirmed that my brother will in fact be making me some original music for this quest. If he writes as well as he sings it might not suck!

[Sam Atoms]

Well then, I can't imagine what levels in the neighborhood of 5 and 6 are like. :scared:

If you really need to crank up the difficulty that high before it is no longer too easy.... well, that's what beta testers are for. They'll be able to tell you how hard is right for the common folk of planet earth.

[AaronJer]

Oh, and by the way. I really appreciate the positive responses I'm getting from people here. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to finish the quest after my whole recent "editor not working" problems began, but I'll definitely get it done now. I hadn't really even shown screenshots to anyone before this thread so I didn't have any idea if the quest looked fun or not.

You've no idea how much I want to be working on it RIGHT NOW! ARGH!

EDIT: OMG! I finally get it now! I didn't know how these forums worked and didn't realize that you had to turn on images to see them in a post instead of in a link. Weird default settings. NOW I see why Joe was complaining, that IS really annoying if you're not linking to the picture and seeing it in the post. I fixed it. Very sorry. I was also wondering why nobody had avatars.

Joe is not a baby. I was a fool. Can I ever be forgiven for this transgression?

[Joe123]

heh ^_^

Ah well, thanks for making them a bit smaller =P

[Zaphod Q. IX]

Oh, and by the way. I really appreciate the positive responses I'm getting from people here.
Sometimes in life, people actually give praise when it's due ;)

If you're that close to completion, you should employ beta testers and figure out your "crashing issues". I want to see a completed quest. :o

I actually do play around with zc. More than most of you realize. I'm working on creating a quest again.

Joe is not a baby. I was a fool. Can I ever be forgiven for this transgression?
No. All you can do is pray that no anvils fall from the sky.

[AaronJer]

I have a list of like 15-20 fixes I need to do before I bother having anyone beta test it. Things like tile warps stuffing you into a wall that I just haven't gotten around to fixing yet. I think I may have a solution to the crashing problem as well, and that is to finish the quest on a different computer. Normally I wouldn't do this because I need loads of time where I'm not bothered but it's so close to done I should be able to finish it over a weekend at a friend's house.

The time limit will also keep me from deciding to add another dungeon or partial overworld or something...

Oh yeah! I got a whole selection of music now. The main overworld still has the standard song and the first dungeon has the dungeon song, and the level 9 song is used somewhere... but other than that every dungeon and partial overworld has a unique music track. All the music is arranged, rearranged or written (just 2 or 3) by my brother (he works quick! :o). You'll probably recognize a song or two, although some of them are pretty damn obscure.

[AaronJer]

Here's a couple examples of what the music will be like in my quest.

Ruined Hyrule Overworld (http://superjer.com/atojer/hollow.mid)
Ice Palace (http://superjer.com/atojer/ict-ice.mid)

The first one is something I don't remember and the second one is written by my bro. There's a version with and without percussion. When you're in the snowy overworld it plays the no percussion version and when you enter the dungeon there the percussion starts. It's almost pretty cool.

If either of them play funny or make horrible loud noises at awkward moments, it's not a problem with the file, midis are just retarded and play wrong a lot.

[Nicholas Steel]

tho's are some sweet tunes from your bro! he really does know what he is doing when it comes to midi =)

Just a quick question, are they optimized for 'General Midi'? (I assume yes because they sound awesome :P)

[Zaphod Q. IX]

...what the music will be like in my quest.

Ruined Hyrule Overworld (http://superjer.com/atojer/hollow.mid)
Ice Palace (http://superjer.com/atojer/ict-ice.mid)

I would use as many midis like that in your quest as you can. Those rock.

[AaronJer]

I'm pretty sure they're optimized, like I said, if he didn't write it he DID arrange/rearrange it. I can't imagine why he'd be rearranging it if it wasn't to optimize it, but I don't really know about that sort of thing.

[Russ]

I got to say, this looks amazing. I'm a big fan of classic set quests, and this has got to be the best looking classic quest (graphically) I've ever seen. And I love that ice midi. It just screams out "Classic Ice Mountain" to me.

[Pineconn]

I got to say, this looks amazing. I'm a big fan of classic set quests, and this has got to be the best looking classic quest (graphically) I've ever seen.

Good then, maybe you'll stop loving End of Time like your own son. :D

[Nicholas Steel]

There are different midi systems, there is General MIDI and Wavetable synthesis :)

[AaronJer]

I've been rearranging some midis myself now that my bro has shown me the ropes. I'm aiming for all general midi. I hope that isn't a bad idea. The only program I have to use for midis is an ANCIENT version of musictime. It's like, windows 3.1 old. It's the only one I can find that shows things exactly as sheet music. Too bad I can't affect instrument cues with it... makes things complicated!

Also, I can't access this site from home anymore. I have no idea why. I thought it was down or something, but now I see people were posting when I couldn't get here.

I hope to finish this quest during this weekend, but it's looking unlikely because I won't be able to work on it on Sunday due to some very unfortunately timed gardening.

[WindStrike]

Sweet MIDIs you got there, especially the one your brother created. Anyhow, there's one called Anvil Studio that's completely free (actually, there is a retail version, but the free version will give you more than enough to created a piece... except that you can't have tempo changes within a piece). There may be better ones out there for free, but this one is very simplistic and should conform to what you're more used to. Ok, so it doesn't show the entire sheet music, but it does show you the lines that you can quicklink to, so it should work fine.

Anvil Studio Site (http://www.anvilstudio.com/)
Unless you already tried that one...

[Russ]

Just so you know, Anvil Studio is the best midi editor out there.

[AaronJer]

Sorry I haven't released the quest yet. I've been IP banned from this site and I basically can't do anything until that stops happening. Proxy servers are slow! It took like 5 minutes just to get to this page!

I HAVE however tried out that Anvil thing. And it rocks. TYVM for the suggestion.

[AaronJer]

Well, I can't submit the quest because I'm still banned, but I CAN show you this thing I drew that I may or may not use in the quest. Spolier alert.

Seriously, it's a spoiler, it might be the THE END screen (http://superjer.com/atojer/wizzqstend.png)

[AaronJerNoBan]

I updated the spoiler picture, it's probably the final version now. It was supposed to look like a cloud, and now it does.

How awesome would everyone think it would be if I made a lot more stuff like the picture linked to in the post above for my quest? I'll have a lot of time since it doesn't look like this IP ban thing is going to be resolved any time soon. Any suggestions, thoughts, complaints, escape plans?

[AaronJerNoBan]

My quest didn't die or anything, I just haven't been back here since the whole banning thing. I guess I'm not banned right now, but that'll probably start again soon. Anyway, I'm posting on PureZC these days if anyone cares, because I don't get IP banned there. Here's some pics of a dungeon and part of the custom boss in it.

http://superjer.com/atojer/g1.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/g2.png

[realmsoldier]

wow i cant wait for it to come out.........it looks pretty amazing:cool::eek::cool:

i love the idea of playing as a wizzrobe

[FerentzRocks]

How close is it to upload-ready? I haven't been this excited for the release of a quest in some time.

[Elmensajero]

I agree, this quest looks GREAT, hopefully you will be able to get around the banning issues so that people can play it.

[AaronJerNoBan]

I'm not going to upload it here, because I can't, because I'm STILL ****ING BANNED even after all this time. I have no idea when it will be done because I have no access to a computer that ZC works on. When it's done it'll most likely be released at PureZC.

[Russ]

Well, I hope you get the banning problem fixed.

[AaronJerNoBan]

I give up. I can't find a computer that ZC will work on anymore. Unless I randomly happen to find one some time in the future that I can use for an extended period of time this'll probably never be released. I had no idea ZC was so incompatible... I've tried over a dozen computers.

[chao-hellsing]

Sound pretty cool, I'll check it out.

[Legend789]

I give up. I can't find a computer that ZC will work on anymore. Unless I randomly happen to find one some time in the future that I can use for an extended period of time this'll probably never be released. I had no idea ZC was so incompatible... I've tried over a dozen computers.Try an eMachines T2892 with an 2800+ AMD Athlon XP Processor, Windows XP, and 512MB RAM. Update the hard drive to 500GB and don't install any service packs. That's what my computer is, and everyone of the versions on the main site (minus 2.10 for dos and the support archives) works on my computer =)

Vista is not the best idea, but Vista should be able to run ZC. Hope this helps!

[AaronJerNoBan]

That's an awfully specific suggestion... and, I'm posting here more than once in a month without proxies? Does this mean I'm no longer banned? OMG. I won't get my hopes up though, as they would be cruelly dashed.

[Gleeok]

The IP problem seems to be fixed.

And how do you not have a comp that will run ZC? All you need is a directX compatable video card I think. That's pretty much it. :odd:

[Dmth[Link]]

This one looks sweet. Can't wait until you solve your problems so I can get at this quest and do perverted things to it.

[AaronJerNoBan]

The IP problem seems to be fixed.

And how do you not have a comp that will run ZC? All you need is a directX compatable video card I think. That's pretty much it. :odd:

I'm actually somewhat offended by someone saying that. I've tried ZC on MANY different computers, probably over 20, and it didn't work on any of them. They all do the same thing. Double-click exe, a window pops up for a split second and then closes, and you get one of those pointless windows 'we had a problem' reports. It will start if you run it in windowed mode, but a fat lot of good that does me... the program runs absurdly slowly while in a window, and is impossible to use. This is exactly the same on ALL of the computers I've tried it on. Which are ALL directx compatible. I wouldn't even know where to find a video card that wasn't directx compatible.

A friend only recently offered to let me borrow one of his computers, a computer that ZC actually runs on... I hope he follows through on that.

[AaronJerNoBan]

ZC arbitrarily started working on my computer again, so I've been working on stuff. I'm adding in difficulties (Like Normal/Hard/WTF) settings, you choose at the beginning of the game. It'll be tedious, but awesome. I've also added in lots of non-standard (and therefore non-shitty) dialogue sequences. Like these:

http://www.superjer.com/atojer/convo2.png

http://www.superjer.com/atojer/convo1.png

http://www.superjer.com/atojer/convo3.png

Those are just chunks taken out of different conversations, they don't go in that order. Anyway... I may actually finish this some day!

[Anthus]

This looks awesome. I hope you finish it. The Classic quest scene is gradually shrinking away.

[AaronJerNoBan]

It's gotten wildly and uncontrollably awesomer since the last time I posted here about it. Can anyone else say they have hot, half-naked Zelda bondage scenes in THEIR quests? Yeah. That's what I thought.

http://superjer.com/atojer/convo4.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/convo5.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/avy3.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/avy4.png
http://superjer.com/atojer/ava.png

Now kiss my ring.

[Din]

Hahaha! Wow, I sure hope Link doesn't walk by and see this scene, or Zelda's really going to hate this scene! Anyway, looks interesting so far.

[AaronJerNoBan]

No worries about Link. He's far away in Tijuana while any of this is occurring, and not even Link is a skilled enough adventurer to easily get to Hyrule from Mexico.

[Sam Atoms]

http://www.superjer.com/atojer/convo3.png

Wizzrobes need lovin' too. :redface:

[AaronJerNoBan]

Zelda tried to fight.

http://superjer.com/atojer/slashanimationxx2.gif

But the end guy beat the tar outta her.

http://superjer.com/atojer/gameover.gif

Is this the end of Wizzrobe's Big Day Out?! Stay tuned for more cliffhangers!

[ShadowTiger]

Seriously awesome Artwork.


http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:_LqJUYtmNpDJHM:http://www.mtv.com/games/video_games/images/promoimages/d/dime/rome_depot/serious_sam_2.jpg
Seriously.

[Gleeok]

Very nice. Somehow I remember the princess having bigger boobs though. Just something to think about. :)

[AaronJerNoBan]

Wizzrobe trio victory dance walk FTW! In the finished version there will be a scrolling background and Zelda will be to the right doing the same walk looking really pissed off and possibly crying.

http://superjer.com/atojer/3wizzwalklargetb.gif

It's gonna take soooo long to set that up as tiles... but it'll be worth it!

[Questwizard88]

Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't have wanted to release these. The screenshots look great, and I've always wondered what it would be like to run around like a wizzrobe through an entire quest.

[AaronJerNoBan]

I have every intention of releasing Wizzrobe's Big Day Out. I'm back to not having a computer that runs the editor again... so... uh... I'll just keep making art for it until I can actually implement it I guess. I bought a 9800 GT and now the editor crashes when entering the tile selector thingy. T_T. Like Seriously, T_T.

Oh... and bee tee doubleyoo, this song (http://superjer.com/atojer/HELLERO.mid) is playing when the Wizzrobes are marching like that.

[AaronJer]

Sure wish this had all ever worked out... after years of not being able to work on it due to the editor crashing non-stop I'd completely forgotten I'd ever made this. Only due to somebody trying to log in to my account on here was I even reminded of it!

Really the worst part is wasting all the effort my bro put into the music.

[Zim]

Sure wish this had all ever worked out... after years of not being able to work on it due to the editor crashing non-stop I'd completely forgotten I'd ever made this. Only due to somebody trying to log in to my account on here was I even reminded of it!

Really the worst part is wasting all the effort my bro put into the music.

This all looked very funny. 2.5 seems to be stable enough as it is now.. I haven't had any crashes or major bugs since I've been using it for almost a year now.

[AaronJer]

Well heck, the ding dang editor works on my dang ol' computer now. I don't have anything better to do... are there any external tools that make mass importing tiles easier? Like for making full screen cutscene type things? Because I'm not going to do it if I have to do it by hand. I'd just have to leave out all that cool stuff, I no longer have the drive I had before.

[Zim]

Well heck, the ding dang editor works on my dang ol' computer now. I don't have anything better to do... are there any external tools that make mass importing tiles easier? Like for making full screen cutscene type things? Because I'm not going to do it if I have to do it by hand. I'd just have to leave out all that cool stuff, I no longer have the drive I had before.

I've actually been explaining that .jpg and .bmp, .png, etc. importing would make ZC super optimized, used like a drawtile but import/drawbmp, with x,y, rotation, scaling, etc.

The fastest way I know of to do that is to grab the tiles into the tile page, or import the whole tilesheet, I'm not really sure what the case is with you, and then you could use a DrawTile(blahblahblah, tilewidth=the whole page,tileheight=the whole page) OR a DrawScreen, or DrawLayer, or DrawBitmap, all of which do basically the same thing but use different methods of grabbing the screen, and slightly different functionality.

OH YEAH! And there is ZBrush.. But that's something I've never used at all ever so I don't know anything about it other than it exists, just like ZaSM and String Codes.