Zelda 2 in ZC, back from the dead.

[blue_knight]

Back in ancient times (2007) I posted about a Zelda 2 quest and even showed some screenshots. I may have actually released a demo, I'm not sure... Anyway a series of events happened that kept me from working on various projects, Zelda 2 included and I've been absent since then.

Anyway I've started up the project again and have started working on the overworld. The quest features smooth scrolling side view areas and the overworld is also smooth scrolling (in 4 directions) - with full collision detection. I've upgraded the quest to 2.5 build 910.

Here are some screenshots from my resurrected Zelda 2 in Zelda Classic project:

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/z2Scroll009.gif http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/z2Scroll007.gif http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/z2Scroll002.gif
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_start_s1.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_start_s2.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_start_s3.jpg

There is no subscreen visible when in the overworld.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_OverBL_1.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_OverBL_2.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_DarkCave.jpg

In the overworld Link is big right now but that will be fixed soon.

For more information see this topic on PureZC (including an old outdated prototype demo): http://www.purezc.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39651&st=0
Also note that the jumping animation bug seen in the second (older) movie has been fixed already.

Also some movies of it in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuystzkuobQ&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI4BqVwQVXc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThBYndcku60
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu81TwlW96Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFjVPsKdqw8

[firebug]

This is awesome! Any chance you'll give out the tileset?

[blue_knight]

The plan is to give out the tileset and scripts but also give a tutorial on how to do your own smooth sidescrolling or 4-way scrolling. But I'm going to finish the quest first to work out all the kinks.

[Matthew Bluefox]

Smooth scrolling would be wonderful! :)

[blue_knight]

Here's a video showing several improvements:

* Jumping animations in sideview are much better now.
* Overworld now uses small Link.
* Proper collision detection in the overworld.
* Working warps (palace and forest shown) in the overworld.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfNeLSLF7mc

[Matthew Bluefox]

Impressive stuff, Blueknight! :)

[Nicholas Steel]

Your not using the correct colours for the overworld. use this palette when ripping graphics from a emulator :) http://www.firebrandx.com/downloads/fbx2pal.zip

[blue_knight]

Thanks for the comments.

Franpa, you're correct that the palette is a little off. I was planning on revisiting the problem. I will look at you palette, thanks.

[blue_knight]

I've added the latest video I made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThBYndcku60

This shows me exploring West Hyrule, it's almost entirely laid out now.

Basically the script has been updated so you can lay out your screens normally, then in the script you pass in parameters telling it how many screens to scroll and it handles scrolling and collision. So it can now support scrolling 8x8 screen areas - and since the script calculates the proper region to render and only reads and renders those combos that it needs it renders at the same speed for 2x2 as 8x8 screen areas. Similar for collision, it only reads and processes the combos that Link (or an enemy or whatever) could be colliding with.

This will be my last "tech" video, next time I'll show real gameplay. :D

[Joe123]

Most impressive!

Now, I'm not too clued-up on Zelda 2, but isn't that Western Hyrule (being on the left), rather than Eastern though?

[blue_knight]

Most impressive!

Now, I'm not too clued-up on Zelda 2, but isn't that Western Hyrule (being on the left), rather than Eastern though?D'oh! Of course it is... :googly: I'll edit the text. You've been a very helpful lately, thanks.

[blue_knight]

I've been working on getting towns fully functional. So far I have stationary NPCs and signs working and doorways working. In addition I've setup the interiors. Here's a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zqpPomznVI

Next up is moving NPCs, NPCs that come out of houses and handling healing, magic recharge and Wise Man house entry properly. Once the towns are done, I'll move on to combat!

As a side-note I've decided that while I'll follow the original quest fairly closely, there will be some twists along the way. For example many of the requests that you're given before you can see the wise man in each town will be modified - there will be more to do outside of the palaces. So for the starting area, there will be a quest to complete before getting the Shield spell (its a freebie in the original). The quest will involve a new cave/mini-dungeon (featuring the first vertically scrolling area in the game). The jump spell quest will probably stay the same, though other wise men will require more work too. There will be other surprised too. :)

[Nicholas Steel]

Your not using the correct colours for the overworld. use this palette when ripping graphics from a emulator :) http://www.firebrandx.com/downloads/fbx2pal.zip
This palette is a NTSC A/V optimized palette, it is not one from a PAL system and it is not from RF out, it is from Composite out (standard A/V).

[C-Dawg]

Very impressive. Very impressive.

I bet there's still a ton of work to do, though. I wager your sideview engine doesn't let you use the standard ZC combo types or flags or anything like that. I also bet that you have more work to do on how enemies interact with scrolling.

Plus, the big link animation is pretty awful!

Still, I don't want to sound too negative. This is mostly just a win sandwich. It is made of win and awesome.

[blue_knight]

Very impressive. Very impressive.

I bet there's still a ton of work to do, though. I wager your sideview engine doesn't let you use the standard ZC combo types or flags or anything like that. I also bet that you have more work to do on how enemies interact with scrolling.

Plus, the big link animation is pretty awful!

Still, I don't want to sound too negative. This is mostly just a win sandwich. It is made of win and awesome.Basically I can set the combo types and flags and in the script read them back to do various things. For example, I use a certain range of flags to specify terrain type for the overworld map. This way I also know which type of terrain Link is standing on for random encounters.

As for Link's animation - its laid out the same as the original game - except without the bouncing (to be fixed). It looks bad because its actually playing too slow - which I also have to fix.

Anyway there will be a full game-play demo soon, featuring the first area of the game - part of the overworld, 2 towns, 1 palace and a bunch of caves. The towns almost completely work now - NPC text, wandering NPCs, NPCs where you talk to them and enter their house for healing, restoring magic or to go inside and visit the wise man (if you meet the requirements). Next up is being able to collect the various items in the caves (like Magic containers) including those needed to get in the wise man's houses. After that I focus on scripting the rest of the enemies needed for the demo and finishing up the combat (block/strike up/down plus spells).

[blue_knight]

I have a new video, showing an early version of the combat system. The collision issues and animation issues have been worked out in the side scrolling areas. This video shows Link with the proper walk animation, crouch, attack high, attack low and proper jump animation. It shows one of the enemies (Bit) that Link can kill. Upon killing the enemy gives experience points. In town it shows wandering NPCs (only a few have been setup, to test, the final version will have them all). It also shows the NPCs that let Link in their house to heal or restore magic. The NPCs that let Link in to see the Wise Men use the same script. So this pretty much finishes off the town scripts and the combat system is well under way. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI4BqVwQVXc

[blue_knight]

A small update (also posted at PureZC).

I have Link taking damage from Z2 enemies, including the knock-back and animation (including palette cycling and flickering) like in Zelda 2. In addition the enemy scripting is coming along fine, I didn't do much today but I can show some of what I have done. Below are two screenshots, one shows Bit (from the movie) and Bot - you can see Bot jumping. The other screenshot shows the Bits and Moblins (guys with spears). Bit and Bot use the same script with a type input, Bot does more damage and jumps sometimes, which is implemented. And the Moblins are spawned outside the visible screen and walk across in either direction. And already they all share some functionality (like hurting link).

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Enemies2.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Enemies1.jpg

This covers both the "easy" and "hard" plains encounters for the demo area. Next up is the forest encounters, followed by the desert of course.

[bobrocks95]

Looks like it's about time for another technical demo.

Also, how did you do the scrolling through areas? I just thought about it and it would be perfect for a LttP clone. Could it be expandable to scrolling through say a 4+ screen area(not just sideways)?

[blue_knight]

Looks like it's about time for another technical demo.

Also, how did you do the scrolling through areas? I just thought about it and it would be perfect for a LttP clone. Could it be expandable to scrolling through say a 4+ screen area(not just sideways)?I've shown videos before where the overworld was scrolling, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThBYndcku60. It can handle scrolling 8x8 screens just fine, probably more. See the first post for a list of videos you can watch made from this quest. :) Anyway there will be a game-play demo soon with the first area complete, this includes 2 towns, 1 palace, several caves and part of the overworld.

[bobrocks95]

Guess I'll have to wait for the demo to see how the 4-way scrolling script works. Is it easy to use?

[Shazza Dani]

I didn't read through the whole thread, but did anyone address the fact that the OW palette is fugged-up?

[blue_knight]

I didn't read through the whole thread, but did anyone address the fact that the OW palette is fugged-up?Yes, franpa mentioned it before. I know that the palette isn't right, its something I'll address before the game-play demo.

[blue_knight]

Guess I'll have to wait for the demo to see how the 4-way scrolling script works. Is it easy to use?Well... that depends on what you're doing. If all you want is 4-way scrolling with collisions then its really simple. If you want warps, its a little more complicated but not bad. It gets tricky when you want to add enemies or do things with other combo types - because that requires more scripting. Also I'm still tweaking things to make them easier, faster, etc.. It's certainly good enough to make a Zelda 2 quest properly but I haven't done any work to make a Z3 style quest a reality. At some point, though, I'll release all the scripts with tutorials on how to make your own scrolling areas.

[bobrocks95]

Ouch, sounds painful since we're trying to put enemies, warps, etc.. We may just stick with traditional Zelda scrolling if it's too difficult.

[blue_knight]

Don't get me wrong, actually placing enemies or setting up combos is still done through the normal tools. I just mean that you have to write scripts for enemies or to do specific things based on combo data. So its not constantly difficult, but you do have to do a lot of scripting initially.

[bobrocks95]

Oh, you're talking about scripting the enemies? I was talking about using this in a Z3 quest, hence any scripting is already necessary if there isn't an enemy that duplicates the one we need. Or do you mean that additional scripting is required for the enemies to act correctly with the scrolling areas? Because unless Russ has become a scripting master in 4 months, this is going to be hard to use.

[blue_knight]

Yes the scripts would need to be modified to work with the scrolling. Since my enemies have been made this way from day 1 it's not a big deal for me, but reworking all your enemies might be a problem. In reality retrofitting a quest to use the scrolling probably isn't a good idea anyway, now that I think about it. Again mine has been built with this in mind. However I think if you build your quest with this in mind from day 1, then its doable.

Well as I said before, when this is done I'll release everything with tutorials - including how to make custom enemies that work with scrolling - so if its not useful for your current quest you can still use it for your next quest. :D

[C-Dawg]

I continue to wholeheartedly support this amazing endeavor.

[blue_knight]

I continue to wholeheartedly support this amazing endeavor.Thanks! Remember to try out the game-play demo when it's done. :)

[blue_knight]

Another update.

All the random encounter environments are setup. Now I have to implement red Octoroks and Lowders and all the non-palace enemies will be done for the demo! Rat Heads are already done, so that just leaves a couple of enemy types - and the first boss - for the palace. As you can tell, the enemies and combat are coming along nicely.

[blue_knight]

I've been busy working on enemy AI, as well as ripping sprites of course. Anyway here are a couple of screenshots I took. The first two show a forest encounter with spiders and Moblins and the third shows the desert environment before I added enemies / flying rocks. The road scenerio works too but I didn't include it since its just an empty screen (desert like ground with some desert weeds or something).

Forest, all the enemies work.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Zelda2_Forest1.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Zelda2_Forest2.jpg

Desert.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Zelda2_Desert.jpg

Next set of screen shots should be from within the palace, with palace enemies. :)

[bobrocks95]

Looks great!
Are you using/have you made scripts for the leveling system?

[blue_knight]

Looks great!
Are you using/have you made scripts for the leveling system?Enemies give you experience now but the full leveling system isn't implemented yet. However I don't foresee any problems with it and the enemy scripts are setup to honor the appropriate levels.

[blue_knight]

I've been working on the Palace. I had to redo part of the layout and have been working on getting keys, elevators, doors, etc. working correctly. So the plan is to get the entire palace working, then go back in and get all the enemies going again (and implement the missing enemies).

Anyway I put together a video showing blocking projectiles with the shield, in the desert random encounter. It also shows part of the palace including the elevators, keys and doors. For some reason the video isn't completely smooth - but it was rather large so its probably due to Youtube compression. It still runs smooth normally. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuystzkuobQ&feature=channel

[Din]

I'm liking the palace, it looks exactly like the original. Nice work, blue_knight.

[blue_knight]

The Palace is now fully working, except for some enemies and the boss. All the elevators, keys and doors work correctly and you can get through the entire palace. So next up is the remaining enemies and finally the boss. Then I get started on the spell system and finally finish the level system and then release the demo. :) The level system is mostly in place, I just have to add the UI (the screen that comes up and allows you to pick the current level upgrade or wait for the next one).

[C-Dawg]

When and if this project is completed (or nigh-completed), I'd be happy to help you package it as a general purpose Zelda 2 creation system. After the scripts are in place, it would seem a simple matter to set up a point and click creation system just using standard Zelda Classic tools.

[blue_knight]

When and if this project is completed (or nigh-completed), I'd be happy to help you package it as a general purpose Zelda 2 creation system. After the scripts are in place, it would seem a simple matter to set up a point and click creation system just using standard Zelda Classic tools.Interesting idea. I'm curious, how would you go about doing that? Do you mean setting up the scripts to use ZQuest data as much as possible (which I'm doing already) so you can use existing tools or something else?

[blue_knight]

I just finished implementing the active subscreen. When you hit start, instead of scrolling down like Zelda 1, it just pops up over the screen screen (like Z2). It displays the correct number of keys and also shows items. Obviously it shows that you can pick up and use items such as the candle (which is passive, i.e. used automatically).

Here are some screenshots of subscreens as I wander the dungeon. You can see it showing the current number of keys and showing the candle once I pick it up. (I realize that these might be boring screenshots but they are meant to show functionality).

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_SubScr_1.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_SubScr_2.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_SubScr_3.jpg http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_SubScr_4.jpg

I also want to mention some enhancements that will be made to this game to help make it more fun and accessible.

* The title screen will be very similar to the original, with the title modified appropriately. However instead of having the simple story summary scroll by, once you start for the first time it'll show you the more fleshed out story from the manual. The manual text and pictures will be used, to give you the better version of the story that many people may have missed.

* Difficulty levels. Zelda 2 was too hard for many people, but to make this version more accessible there will be multiple difficulty levels. Normal will behave very much like the original game. There will be an Easy mode for people who want to play the game but find the original to be too difficult or frustrating. There may be a hard mode too, I'm not sure yet.

* Changes to the continue/save functionality. In Zelda 2 the player starts out with a couple of lives and once they run out they must start from the Palace in the beginning of the game. They keep their levels, items, spells, etc. but they lose all experience that they have acquired - even though the secret experience bags are gone permanently. So there will be a couple of changes:
- When you run out of lives, you will not lose all the experience you have gathered. This means that its always worthwhile to get secret experience bags since you won't "lose" them.
- Towns and the Palace entrances will now be save points. This means that if you lose all your lives you will start at the Palace entry if inside a Palace, but the enemies still reset. If you are outside, you'll start from the last town you visited. This also means when you save and come back later, you'll start in these save points - no more going across the world to go back to the dungeon you're in. Since the enemies reset its still almost as difficult - just not nearly as tedious or frustrating.

Any comments are welcome. What do you guys think about all this?

[bobrocks95]

Every enhancement sounds great.

[C-Dawg]

The only change I ever wanted to make to Zelda 2 was to make the throwing sword not suck donkey balls. I mean, seriously, that weapon was God almighty in The Legend of Zelda, and it's only a little better than peeing on enemies in Adventure of Link. It even sounds sort of like peeing.

[blue_knight]

Demo Testing
In an unrelated note, before I release the first game play demo I'd like to have someone else test it out first. The demo will probably be complete in a week or so, can I get a volunteer to pre-test it before I release to the general public?

[Din]

I'll test it, if you want.

[Moo2wo]

I'll do it.

[blue_knight]

OK, the testers will be Din and Moo2wo. I'll PM you guys when the demo is ready to test - it'll be about a week as I said before. After a limited testing phase I'll release the demo for everyone to try. Thanks for helping. :)

[bobrocks95]

Damn, that's what I get for not checking my e-mail often enough.

[blue_knight]

Damn, that's what I get for not checking my e-mail often enough.Sorry, I really only wanted one or two people at first. I don't want a long testing period, it is just a demo, but enough to catch any critical issues and to verify it works properly for others. Once that is complete then everyone will get to try it out. :)

Also there will be a proper beta later before the project is complete - I'd like the final game to be as bug-free as possible.

[Moo2wo]

Also there will be a proper beta later before the project is complete - I'd like the final game to be as bug-free as possible.
I completely understand. bobrocks95, this is your chance! I won't be able to, because the furthest I've ever got without cheats is Level 2. By the way, any idea on what our time frame will be? One or two days should be fine for me. And exactly how easy will the easy mode be? Similar to Zelda 1 would be nice.

[bobrocks95]

I'm pretty good at Zelda 2, I'm up for the beta that'll probably be far down the road.

[blue_knight]

... By the way, any idea on what our time frame will be? One or two days should be fine for me. And exactly how easy will the easy mode be? Similar to Zelda 1 would be nice.The time frame will depend on what issues people find if any. Assuming everything goes well I'm only envisioning a few days for testing. As for easy mode - I haven't fine tuned the difficulty yet; Link will be tougher, have more lives and the enemies will be a easier to kill (especially Ironknuckles). In addition some things will change a little - such as certain enemies that could previously only be affected by fire now being killable with the sword. Things like bubbles or flying enemies that could knock you into pits during jumping sections will be reduced as well - making the jumping bits easier. If this isn't enough, we'll see through testing, then a "very easy" mode can be added too. :)

[Moo2wo]

As for easy mode - I haven't fine tuned the difficulty yet; Link will be tougher, have more lives and the enemies will be a easier to kill (especially Ironknuckles). That would do it for me. ;)

[C-Dawg]

We'll see. The mechanics of Adventure of Link will be hard to replicate exactly. For example, Iron Knuckles become easy as pie in the original game, once you get the hop-slash technique down pat. (When Link is jumping, he crouches, which means the Iron Knuckle's shield drops, so if you're hopping just one tile off the floor, you'll hit his unprotected head.) Unless these mechanics are in your game, it just won't feel like the original...

[bobrocks95]

Subtle nuances such as that would be hard to get in there.

[blue_knight]

In this quest you also crouch when you jump. It tracks where your shield is through the jump and similarly it'll track when you're crouched. So the Iron Knuckles will still behave like they do in Zelda 2 - they'll just be easier to defeat in easy mode. :)

[blue_knight]

A small update - the level system is now working. You can go up in levels and the subscreen is updated accordingly. Much of this was already in place, but now all the interface is done. So now items work, the subscreen works, keys and doors work, experience and levels work. So next up is spells and that pretty much completes the gameplay elements needed for the demo. :)

Here's a screenshot of the subscreen that comes up when you gain a level. You can either choose to raise something you have the experience for or cancel, in order to save up and raise something else sooner.

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_ExpSub.jpg

[CaRmAgE]

Something seems off with your screenshot. In the original game, when you had life selected, didn't it say "Life will go up" or something like that? (Same thing for the other two when selected.)

[blue_knight]

Something seems off with your screenshot. In the original game, when you had life selected, didn't it say "Life will go up" or something like that? (Same thing for the other two when selected.)Actually yes it did, oops. :tongue: I forgot to add the text to the selected skill... I'll get that in there next time I work on it, thanks for pointing it out.

There are also a few other differences from the original game - all minor in my opinion.
1) There are 2 vertical tiles missing on the screen - I'm adjusting the screens to make sure the play area is almost the same. This is a Zelda Classic limitation - I could get around it by drawing into the passive subscreen area with scripts but I'm not going to do that in this quest. This also means that the passive subscreen is 2 tiles too large vertically.
2) In Zelda 2 the subscreens are blue in areas where blue sky is visible, in this quest they are always black (like they are in Zelda 2 whenever the sky is black or you're inside a cave, building, palace, etc.). This may be fixed eventually but not for the demo.
3) The enemies and Link don't disappear when a subscreen is up like in Zelda 2. There it was a limitation - they didn't want the sprites to show up on top of the subscreen. Zelda Classic has no such limitation because of layers, so I'll probably keep it this way in the final quest.

[bobrocks95]

I hope those two missing tiles don't mess you up....

[blue_knight]

I hope those two missing tiles don't mess you up....Not really, most of the time the ground is atleast two tiles high, so I really only have 1 to worry about. Its not too hard to work around.

[Moo2wo]

Do you have a day picked out you might send Din and I the demo?

[blue_knight]

Do you have a day picked out you might send Din and I the demo?Not exactly, I'm just going through my list of items to complete before hand. It looks like it may take some more time but it shouldn't be too long now. :) Today I should get spells done then I have to do some work in one of the towns (no new scripting, just setup) and finish a few enemies. I'll probably send you guys the demo once all the gameplay is complete and then do the title screen and intro while you guys test everything else.

[blue_knight]

There's been more progress. All the level stuff is done, including changing spell costs, damage Link takes and deals, etc.. Also the spells are now working, "Jump" and "Shield" for the demo. You can also get them from the old wisemen, with the proper text and all that.

Anyway I took some screenshots of some of this:

Level up screen, after I've gained several levels:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_LevelUp.jpg

Link using the Jump spell to get on top of some blocks that he normally can't reach:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_JumpSpell.jpg

Spells in the subscreen, you can select the spell you want to use. The spell is attached to the L and R button (you can hit either) since there isn't a "select" button.
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Spells.jpg

And finally Link with the "Shield" spell on, damage reduction has been implemented:
http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_ShieldSpell.jpg

The quest is getting there, not too much to do before the demo. :)

[bobrocks95]

What's left before the demo? Enemies?

[blue_knight]

What's left before the demo? Enemies?I have to do a little bit of setup in the town where you get the Jump spell (the name escapes me at the moment) - just some warps and NPCs, no new scripts. I have to finish the multiple lives code and fix some save & continue bugs. And finally I have a couple of enemies that still need scripting, although most are already finished. Out of that, I suspect the enemies will take the most time because they include the boss fight and Yellow Ironknuckle. The simple enemies such as Moblins, Bits, Bots, Bats, etc. are all done. And I think that's it. :)

I'll also do the title screen and opening story but that will wait until you guys are testing - that won't take very long.

[Moo2wo]

I can't wait! By the way, just out of curiosity, did you ever beat the original? I've been able to get to the last palace with a Game Genie.

[blue_knight]

I can't wait! By the way, just out of curiosity, did you ever beat the original? I've been able to get to the last palace with a Game Genie.Way back in the NES days I beat the original without any guides or cheats. Of course I was able to beat lots of crazy hard games back then that way. :)

[blue_knight]

A small update: I'm working on the enemies now. I've been unifying the enemy code to make adding new enemy types as simple as possible. Previously each enemy would get its own script (for the most part - enemies with very similar behavior could share a script such as Bit and Bot) and some functionality would be shared.

There are a couple of problems with this approach:
* Even with shared functions there is still a lot of code doing very similar things that can't be easily factored out without passing lots of variables between functions.
* Adding new enemy types was a fair amount of work - even for basic functionality.
* Enemies cannot change into other enemies - which is needed for the "Spell" spell.

So now all the non-boss enemies share the same script with just a few parameters: type and index. I figured out to simulate "member variables" using small arrays (nothing difficult of course). So all the enemies have a common set of data: HP, Damage, Size for collision, XP given on death, etc. All this data is setup based on the enemy type. Then the basic enemy loop looks the same for all enemies, things like collision, damage, damage animation, death animation, etc. are all shared. Then enemy specific behaviors are then called out from the main loop in a standardized fashion - so all code except some very specific enemy AI and movement is now shared. So adding a new enemy is now very easy, I can even use an existing enemy's behavior to get the enemy in very quickly and then modify it from there. This also makes it very easy to modify enemy stats in one place based on difficulty level.

This is nearly done, after which I'll get the Stalfos and Ironknuckles working before finally dealing with the boss fight. I should also mention that the town stuff is talked about before is done as well. You actually need to get the trophy before you can get the Jump spell. :)

[Moo2wo]

I can't wait! I've got a 2nd demo myself to be working on, so I better get back to work.

[blue_knight]

I have a question for you guys about the demo.

Due to a few bugs in build 910 save and continue cannot work properly. It looks like the latest build fixes these issues and will make working with lives better (cleaner) due to new features. So here's my question:

Should I upgrade and risk having to fix problems - potentially delaying the demo - and have correct save/continue functionality? Or do I release the demo, with the save/continue caveat so it comes out sooner? I'm leaning toward the first option, but I wanted to get your opinions too.

[Moo2wo]

Hmm...I kind of like the first choice, but could you tell us how long the wait could be?

[jman2050]

Backup your quest and then upgrade. The latest betas are approaching stability (for the time being) so I don't forsee any major problems. Certainly not like what happened in the build 935 fiasco.

[blue_knight]

Hmm...I kind of like the first choice, but could you tell us how long the wait could be?I don't know yet, there may only be a small delay if there aren't any new bugs that would affect my quest. There will be atleast a small delay because I'll have to test everything - but that won't take too long.

What I should probably do is what jman2050 suggested, backup the quest and try it in the new build. If something goes wrong then hold off until after the demo, otherwise go for it and get the save/continue functionality working.

[blue_knight]

Well I downloaded the latest build and started testing it with my quest...

I had some issues with ZC Launcher (on Vista) and had to go back to the version of ZCL that I used with build 910 (which still works with the latest build, by the way)...

On the other hand I must say I'm quite impressed with the Zelda Classic and ZQuest 979 build. As far as I can tell the build works perfectly with my quest - it doesn't play any different then it used to - except now I can fix the save and continue issues and if I continue enemies still work (a bug in 910 prevented them from working correctly after a continue). I played through the entire quest so far, I used ZQuest for a while as well. The scripts compile fine, the global array issue is fixed!!!!, all my settings - including screen settings, FFC settings, etc. were preserved. So, unless some major issue comes up which doesn't seem likely, the demo will use build 979.

Anyway I must say that the developers are doing a great job, if the builds keep killing bugs and improving like this then the full version of 2.5 really is around the corner. :D

[blue_knight]

I thought it'd be nice to show screenshots of more progress, so here are shots of various enemies in action. It also shows the number of lives screen that shows up when you start and whenever you die (before you start again).

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Enemies1-1.gif http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Enemies2-1.gif

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Enemies3.gif http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_LifeScr.gif

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Stalfos1.gif http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p175/blue_knight66/Z2_Stalfos2.gif

The boss will be coming soon. :) Its taken longer then expected, but I'm almost there (to completing the demo and first part of the quest).

[blue_knight]

I also want to mention that the quest now uses build 982 (due to a fix relating to Misc[] variables). I mentioned having problems with ZCL with build 979 - well I got it to work fine with build 982. I figured I'd clear that up in case others have been put off from the latest builds due to my previous statement. Anyway build 982 seems to be very stable so far, I didn't have to make any changes to the quest. I'll probably stick with this build for the demo unless I have a problem or there is a major fix that will impact my quest.

Long term I'll probably upgrade regularly, with appropriate safety measures taken, so that my scripts will be useful once this is complete. Of course I'll abort an upgrade if there is a buggy build (like 961 I think) so I don't waste too much time.

[bobrocks95]

Sounds good man, keep up the nice work.