Plot Discussion: Tell us (and comment) about the games you're planning for ZC

[CJC]

Unlike the other thread, this is more a topic for discussing those grandiose quests we all tell ourselves we want to make, but never get around to starting/finishing. I suppose it could also be an excitement builder for the upcoming release of 2.5 edition. Talk about the ZC games you always dreamed about, or comment about the ones that are mentioned here (using a quote or @user to clearly identify which you are discussing). You can also use this thread to discuss mechanics you wish you could script.


I'll start:

Plot

Eclipsing Reason, a Hyrule Story
We come to the small village of Spectacle Rock, on the outskirts of the nation proper and with seemingly little to offer the world in terms of, well, anything. There's a blacksmith here, as well as a half-dozen farming families who tear out a living terracing the jagged rocks, and a general store. Not what you'd call a vacation destination.

But King Ganondorf of Hyrule has relocated his army here, and even built a fortress on the peaks above the town, for no clear reason. Wild rumors spread that he is searching for an ancient treasure hidden beneath the village, and that the keys to that treasure are hidden in the surrounding wilderness.

Meanwhile, a one-eyed witch named Zelda has taken up residence in the forest below. While the villagers are not brave enough to venture near her shack, strange smokes rise from the chimney as she brews malevolent things. Her purpose in the region is also unknown, but suspected to be the same as that of the king.

Between all of this is a meek young man named Link--a resident of Spectacle Rock and a very odd one at that. He makes his living digging up old relics from around the village and selling them to an archaeologist. The latest he's discovered, a rusty old sword that is split down the blade, he's decided to keep for protection. But there's something strangely noble about this broken tool of war. And it has put him on the radar of both the witch and the king.

So what is the story of the sword? And what, exactly, do the king and the witch seek from this so-removed locale?

Mechanics

It was my intention that this would be an entirely side-scrolling game in the vein of Metroid, with six dungeon-esque regions in the vicinity of a central local (Spectacle Rock). The player would have to visit each region repeatedly in order to obtain more tools necessary to explore the other regions.
In addition, I wanted to combine the mechanics of two exceptional side-scrolling games, Abuse and LittleBigPlanet. Abuse had a mouse-look feature that independently controlled the upper half of the protagonist's body, controlling the aim of all his equipment. LittleBigPlanet has its excellent "three lane" pseudo three-dimensional mechanic, where the protagonist needs to navigate forward and backward to evade obstacles and enemies. I was somewhat close to figuring out a script workaround for the latter, but my available time to research it waned and I was unable to produce anything worth repeating.


What are your plans for ZC?

[Shane]

My plan for Legacy of Light is to create a story that isn't "Villain wants the Triforce, and kidnaps Zelda". I'm actually creating a man who seeks the Triforce's destruction because he believes this why evil and men are greedy and start wars in act of selfishness. So he gets the Hero of Hyrule, Link to imprison him in the Sacred Realm by attacking and cursing Hyrule. Little does Link and that man know that if one destroys the Triforce two things will die: The Goddesses and their creation, the world of Hyrule.

This is all I'll say for this now moving onto my other project's story:

There was a invasion in the past, the invasion was sealed by four sages who sacrificed their own lives. Their souls have turned to crystal and were enshrined in their own temples. If Link obtains these souls he can gain their abilities. The Goron Soul, for instance allows him to withstand heat. Zelda will come into play one way or another.

That's all from me!

[CJC]

Shane
Legacy of Light sounds like a really engaging plot. I'm curious how it will play out.
As for your other project, perhaps you could incorporate it into the first? Maybe the sages used their sacrifice to seal the Triforce away for the same reasons your villain wants it destroyed, and Link must tap into their power to (hopefully) save the day.

[Shane]

Oh wow, that's actually a good idea! I might combine them.

[Majora]

I'm STILL working on the only quest I've ever had under my belt. originally "epic quest" because I was 15 at the time. Then "heart of the master sword" for a bit. and finally just "Resurgence" (no TLoZ prefix) as I move away from TLoZ copyrighted material/intellectual property and lazily invent my own crap. Anyways! Plot. Also lazily done because first I'm working on the actual GAME part. Despite any pictures used in the summary below, all characters are human (with the exception of pointy elven ears or minor things like that )


We start in the cliché forest village. Some kids went too far into the woods (where dangerous things lurk) and haven't come back. Our SamusAran-esque protagonist grabs an old sword and shield and goes after them, only to find a group of evil/monster-y soldiers (which the kids were about to get murdered by) and kicking their asses. Our heroine learns of something far more sinister slowly gripping the land by talking to the great fairy in the nearby shrine, and off she goes on her quest to do something about it.

So in the first dungeon, after completing it and helping the Great Fairie's friend/sister (either works), she is given a worn-down old staff/book/crown/set of light armor (leaning towards staff maybe but all four of these mentioned items are plot-critical ish) and is told to hunt down the rest (and the gems that go with them) so that she may stand a chance at beating the Big Bad. And away she goes.

During her travels, she comes across a relatively large town. Maybe not big enough to be called a city (because this is ZC after all), but it's still huge compared to the village from which she hails. On top of selling useful things (bought with gold pieces she's picked up from murdering all manner of foe), it is ruled by a pair of sisters. Levana (latin for "The Rising Sun") and Nox ("of the Night") (http://images.wikia.com/mlp/images/b/b6/Luna_and_Celestia_discuss_Twilight_S3E01.png) who, unknown to them or the protagonist, are really two goddesses taking on (mostly) mortal forms, who's destinies are to assist the hero vanquish the Big Bad.

In the town reside six other persons of importance. Mostly as a sidequest-ish sort of thing where they help you unlock an extra portion of previously visited (and a select few others overall) dungeons. Their names, from left to right (duh), are Tacita, Serica, Liboria, Amalia, Volante, and Sidra (http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/329/f/b/the_mane_six_by_brightrai-d4ha5ye.png). Tacita is a potion lady (who sells you potions!), Serica is a seamstress with a slight affinity for magic (who can embroider/etc. your clothes for beneficial effects!), Liboria runs/owns the inn, Amalia runs the farm, Volante is a beggar, and Sidra is an orphan who was adopted by Levana, who has immense magical ability still locked away.

So anyways, more dungeon-crawling later, the Big Bad knows shit's gonna go down so it tries to intervene from almost the beginning of the game, but about 3/4ths of the way to the end of the game, some MAJOR PLOT RELATED HAPPENINGS occur, and the sisters re-ascend into godhood while you take care of the Big Bad. I swear there's a good reason for this. <_>

That's all for now I think. It is largely a WIP but I only say that due to the possibility that it could change, but I feel like this is pretty much it. Names are subject to change.


There will be a fake ending and a true ending. It will play like older video games in that it is fairly difficult and you are given almost no indications of what you should do or where you should go. Well only the first two levels will I explain everything (with videos and such) but after that you are entirely on your own.

[CJC]

Majora
Do you know the nature of your looming evil? Is it some form of god, or perhaps a false god that seeks to maintain its position by subverting Levana and Nox?
Any which way, you clearly have all the major plot points in position. It looks good.

[Majora]

Do you know the nature of your looming evil? Is it some form of god, or perhaps a false god that seeks to maintain its position by subverting Levana and Nox?
Any which way, you clearly have all the major plot points in position. It looks good.

So there's a goddess, a true one who is omnipotent and all that. She is called Janus ("the beginning"), and she creates lesser god-like beings to go around creating worlds. She creates three: Valda (Power), Ismene (Knowledge), and Evaine (Life), but for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction! As far as just poofing things out of thin air, so to speak. Thus, three evil beings are also unintentionally created. In "ancient times" on the world this game takes place on, the good beings and the evil ones duke it out. two of the baddies are chased off but one is severely weakened/wounded and hides, slowly regaining her power and (somehow) slowly amassing an army of sorts. I should mention that the six beings wouldn't be "gods" in the sense of being TRULY omnipotent or anything, but having the capability to create or destroy worlds certainly merits "god" title. They don't just poof them out of thin air like Janus can do, they simply speed the processes along (planetary formation and all that jazz, without getting to technical/pedantic/nerdy) and in the case of life, provide the spark needed or etc. ANYWAYS, YEAH. Majora (one of the bad ones!) slowly regains its power. The two good goddesses were also wounded (maybe. but for now this will be the cases) and instead opted to be reincarnated later. Like Zelda in Skyward Sword, they initially have no memory, but regain it later on. They also have immense power but it is also locked away (until later).

I will organize this better later on but I hope my description wasn't too convoluted.

[CJC]

Sounds pretty cool, Majora. I was already anticipating your quest because of the game-play, but now I'm intrigued on a literary level as well.



...I suppose I should say more about my plot, too... since it probably will never coalesce into an actual quest. Either that, or maybe I can get people intrigued enough to make it the AGN quest project. MWAHAHAHAHA!


More Plot

When the sun is eclipsed by the moon and only its corona can shine down on the land, the world takes on a new visage. Its residents are transformed into shapes that reflect their innermost intentions, and buildings and wilderness alike are warped into dangerous pits of despair. This nightmare phenomenon is called the Twilight Glow of the Golden Land, as it was once believed to be a blessing in ages past.

Most eclipses last only a few minutes and then depart, making the glimpse of the Golden Land a brief mass hysteria. But there is a mirror--the Mirror of Twilight--that reflects only the eclipsed corona of the sun, and thus creates shards of the Golden Land whenever the light strikes it. For fear of its power it was smashed by a magic sword (which itself was not unharmed in the process), and its pieces enshrined in hidden temples so that they could be forgotten.

But the Golden Land hides something else in its folds of nightmares. An ancient artifact with the power to reshape the very fabric of the land. The power of the gods. The shroud of eclipses protects this artifact from discovery, but if the Mirror of Twilight were to be raised toward the sun...

More Mechanics

I had the idea that each of the three major ruined temples would contain a light refraction puzzle, but not an ordinary one like we saw in the various other Zelda games. The puzzle would span the entirety of the dungeon and anything in the light's path would be altered by the glow of the Golden Land. Enemies. Link. Architecture. While in the shadow of the glow Link would be unable to use any of his tools other than the Master Sword (Which, when used to smash the mirror became split into Real and Golden Land halves). He would also be much heavier (for reasons that I won't get into... yet), severely impacting his jump height. There are also actions that he can ONLY take while in the golden glow, meaning the player must arrange the mirrors to make the most out of both Link's tools and his otherworldly abilities.

[Phoenix]

100 Years, ago, in The Land of The Gods lived a boy named Zamrock, and a Goddess named Flora.
As a child, Zamrock longed for knowledge, asking questions about everything, and some day wanting to know all there is to know about the land. Now, while what he wanted was not particularly evil, it was what he was willing to do, to get all knowledge, that made him "Evil".

In the land of Floria, layed a tower, called the Tower of Secrets, which held all knowledge, but nobody knew how to enter it. Zamrock, hearing about this tower asked Flora about it, and she did indeed know what it was, and what was needed to enter, but knowing of Zamrock's intentions told him that he was not yet old enough to harness the secrets that lay within the tower.

Furious, Zamrock made his way out of the Land of The Gods, and all presumed he was dead, but this wasn't the case. In reality, Zamrock was only trying to find ways to recieve the knowledge stored within the Tower of Secrets, and one day he decided what he would do; He decided to wage war on the Land of The Gods.

Part Two: War of the Land of The Gods.

When word got out that Zamrock was indeed alive, and people learned of what he was planning, they put all the securities they could around the land, but all of this was futile, for when Zamrock arrived, he easily took out every single guard that stood in his way. Demanding to know of the secrets, Zamrock had The Goddess, Flora outnumbered, however she would not speak so much as a word of the secrets to him.

Knowing that the conversation was going nowhere, Zamrock sealed Flora into the Land of Secrets, through his black magic, with which the only way to return was through a portal, or through the Tower of Secrets.

Upon sealing Flora, Zamrock learned that in order for him to enter The Tower of Secrets, that he would need to be pure of heart, and have all of the Essences of Life in order to make his way in...and that's where our game begins.

Part Three: The Hero arrives in Floria.

Receiving word over seas of odd happenings in Floria, from The King of Floria, our hero, Link travels to the land to find out what has happened. The King of Floria informs Link, that these odd occurrences were coming from the Tower of Secrets, and that he would need to enter it in order to stop Floria from being engulfed in monsters. The King tells Link, that in order to enter The Tower of Secrets, that he would need the Essences of Life, so Link goes around Floria gathering them, in order to gain entrance to the tower.

Part Four: Opening of the Tower of Secrets.

After acquiring all of The Essences of Life, Link travels to the Tower of Secrets, to find out what has been causing all of the strange happenings in Floria. After opening it, however, that is when Zamrock appears.
Informing Link, that he was controlling the King all along, and that he was tricked, Link prepares for battle, but is easily beaten by Zamrock. After the battle, Link awakens in the Land of Secrets...

[CJC]

Phoenix
It sounds like you're planning a two-part quest here. Will you break it into two quest files, like people used to do with 1.92? Is there going to be a 'password maze' to play the second part?

[Phoenix]

I don't know if it will be a two part quest, I guess it'll have to decide that by how long it ends up being.

But if it is a 2 part quest, then you'd certainly have to put in a password. :P

[Shane]

As I said, I like it. Keep up the good work!

EDIT: Might post more of my plot later.

[Orithan]

Summary of part of the story of my next (and possibly last) planned quest: Hal's Hyilian Journey (formerly The Legend of Eldin, got severely cut back on due to time constraints).

The first part of the storyline:

-=SPOILER=-

[CJC]

Seastorm

It sounds like geography is really important in your quest. Is there more to this species of foxes? Do they have a species name?

[Orithan]

CJC

Yes, Geography of the three main Providences in Hyrule (Faron, Lanarayu and Eldin) from Skyward Sword are pretty important, being kind of a sequel to that game.

The foxes do have a species name: Haddaken. Native to Koholint.They are about as common on Koholint as Mogmas on Hyrule. If the Keaton haven't evolved yet, I am making it so that they are descended as a subspecies the Hakkaden.

Edit: It appears that ZC 2.5 has brought 25 script counters to the table. This should make the treasure hunting part much easier to do because then I can use almost all 'treasures' present in SS and Hal can sell then for some money. Maybe I should make Rupees harder to come by in this quest...

[Zim]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z0VMeiqwOE
Here is a video of a game I am planning to eventually do some graphical design for instead of have Link in SMB level 1-1. It will be overhead view and sideview scrolling. The scrolling scripting is already done, it just needs some graphics and enemy/item scripting for the scrolling aspect, which will not take long once I get the level graphics complete.
There is also missile launching and skateboarding involved, as previous demos have shown. My "grandiose" aspect of this plan as of right now is that someone will actually help me map out levels.
The levels can be drawn on the map much like an overhead map, and I'd just have to write in the collision points manually, unless the person who helps writes down how far away from the start of the level every part is for me.
Either way that doesn't take very long.

[isolated999]

Here's a concept I've been thinking about without the ample time to develop it any further up until now, despite how massive it is as the current. Also note I do not have names yet for the Independent Eastern Hyrule or Link's son

Journey of Legends Back story:
The events described here take place after Zelda 2
At the end of Zelda 2, Link had awoken Zelda after going through the 6 palaces and had defeated Dark Link, supposedly. Not long after Zelda's Awakening, the new King of Hyrule, having no knowledge of his predecessors, held Eastern Hyrule responsible mistaking the Carock for the Magician that put the sleeping spell on Zelda, and believing that Eastern Hyrule had taken the Triforce of courage in order to usurp the throne of Hyrule. This started out just with tariffs on trade and higher taxes, but tensions between the two regions were always on the rise as the regions began to resent each other severely, with Eastern Hyrule believing themselves to be blameless. This process continued until a trader from Western Hyrule was found dead within Eastern lands. This event sparked off a war between the two, with Eastern Hyrule officially breaking off from the Kingdom of Hyrule and forming its own government. This is the story of the splitting of Hyrule into two separate governments, each hell bent on destroying the other, now we look to see what Link's role in this conflict is
Link, having now rescued Princess Zelda, returned to Eastern Hyrule to settle in Kasuto, and even had a child there. As the tensions between the two halves of Hyrule rose, Link adamantly stayed in support of Eastern Hyrule, and eventually became the largest reason that war never broke out between the two. Kasuto, due to it's location, had also been spared the majority of the abuses from Western Hyrule as it remained fairly self-sustaining within Eastern Hyrule. This all changed when Link had decided to go back to the Valley of Death and the Great Palace within it. Once he had gone back to the room where he initially received the Triforce of courage, something happened in that room that turned him mad. This is only inferred from how he behaved, thought, and acted after coming back from the Valley of Death. Upon returning to Kasuto, he took the life of his wife and abandoned his son, then fled to Western Hyrule, where he eventually became the second in command under only the new king himself. Because of his new power, Link led the armies of Hyrule to great Victories in the former Eastern Hyrule, eventually taking all but Kasuto itself for Hyrule. The only effect this had on Link was that he became more brutal with each Victory, eventually leading to the Slaughter of Darunia, where the entirety of Darunia's population was wiped out in a single night. Needless to say, it did not take very long for Link to be on Kasuto's doorstep, ready to burn the entire forest and Kasuto with it. This was the story of how Eastern Hyrule was almost entirely destroyed, now we turn to the Story of a man named Golig, who brought back Eastern Hyrule from the brink.
Golig was Link's neighbor in Kasuto, a man who came from a family of great strength, he himself no exception. Golig was abandoned by his father at a young age, and thus once Link had his son, Golig took it upon himself to make sure that Link's son always had a father, even acting as a babysitter when Link went out on trips, including the Valley of Death trip. Golig, though having not seen the murder of Link's wife, saw something odd in Link's son. While he didn't know it at the time, what Golig saw was the first sign that Link's son had inherited his own version of Dark Link. Regardless of Golig's knowledge of the source, this sparked a deep hatred for Link's son, and consequently Link himself after he turned to Western Hyrule's Side. Golig ultimately became the last defender of Kasuto, and by using his strength, found a way to make the pass into Kasuto a one-way pass, allowing the people of Kasuto to remain safe. As time went on, battle after battle was often decided by whether or not Link, Golig, both, or neither was present, given Western Hyrule's massive manpower vs. Eastern's strategical abilities. Ultimately, the war boiled down to Eastern Hyrule being separated into 3 zones, the northern depopulated zone, the Central valley under Western control, and the southern parts of the Island, which is all that is now autonomous from the Kingdom of Hyrule. Golig is currently the ruler of Eastern Hyrule and is now trying to remove any sympathies towards the Kingdom of Hyrule from his domain. This is the story of how we got to our current situation, now, we go into the last few details before we get to the present.
Link's son, now a young man, has constantly had eyes watching over him waiting for any sign that he agrees with his father in Western Hyrule. Golig in particular, as mentioned earlier, despises Link's son, and is starting to use insane stretches of the law to convict Link's son, with no success up until now. Golig has taken Link's son's distaste for Golig's Zealotry against Link as a means to have him executed for treason. This is the currently present situation. *at this point the player takes over*

Let me know if you have any suggestions, comments, or critiques about the backstory, once I get the game in development I can start to flesh out th game's actual story and not just the backstory

[crazyal02]

Here's a concept I've been thinking about without the ample time to develop it any further up until now, despite how massive it is as the current. Also note I do not have names yet for the Independent Eastern Hyrule or Link's son

Journey of Legends Back story:
The events described here take place after Zelda 2
At the end of Zelda 2, Link had awoken Zelda after going through the 6 palaces and had defeated Dark Link, supposedly. Not long after Zelda's Awakening, the new King of Hyrule, having no knowledge of his predecessors, held Eastern Hyrule responsible mistaking the Carock for the Magician that put the sleeping spell on Zelda, and believing that Eastern Hyrule had taken the Triforce of courage in order to usurp the throne of Hyrule. This started out just with tariffs on trade and higher taxes, but tensions between the two regions were always on the rise as the regions began to resent each other severely, with Eastern Hyrule believing themselves to be blameless. This process continued until a trader from Western Hyrule was found dead within Eastern lands. This event sparked off a war between the two, with Eastern Hyrule officially breaking off from the Kingdom of Hyrule and forming its own government. This is the story of the splitting of Hyrule into two separate governments, each hell bent on destroying the other, now we look to see what Link's role in this conflict is
Link, having now rescued Princess Zelda, returned to Eastern Hyrule to settle in Kasuto, and even had a child there. As the tensions between the two halves of Hyrule rose, Link adamantly stayed in support of Eastern Hyrule, and eventually became the largest reason that war never broke out between the two. Kasuto, due to it's location, had also been spared the majority of the abuses from Western Hyrule as it remained fairly self-sustaining within Eastern Hyrule. This all changed when Link had decided to go back to the Valley of Death and the Great Palace within it. Once he had gone back to the room where he initially received the Triforce of courage, something happened in that room that turned him mad. This is only inferred from how he behaved, thought, and acted after coming back from the Valley of Death. Upon returning to Kasuto, he took the life of his wife and abandoned his son, then fled to Western Hyrule, where he eventually became the second in command under only the new king himself. Because of his new power, Link led the armies of Hyrule to great Victories in the former Eastern Hyrule, eventually taking all but Kasuto itself for Hyrule. The only effect this had on Link was that he became more brutal with each Victory, eventually leading to the Slaughter of Darunia, where the entirety of Darunia's population was wiped out in a single night. Needless to say, it did not take very long for Link to be on Kasuto's doorstep, ready to burn the entire forest and Kasuto with it. This was the story of how Eastern Hyrule was almost entirely destroyed, now we turn to the Story of a man named Golig, who brought back Eastern Hyrule from the brink.
Golig was Link's neighbor in Kasuto, a man who came from a family of great strength, he himself no exception. Golig was abandoned by his father at a young age, and thus once Link had his son, Golig took it upon himself to make sure that Link's son always had a father, even acting as a babysitter when Link went out on trips, including the Valley of Death trip. Golig, though having not seen the murder of Link's wife, saw something odd in Link's son. While he didn't know it at the time, what Golig saw was the first sign that Link's son had inherited his own version of Dark Link. Regardless of Golig's knowledge of the source, this sparked a deep hatred for Link's son, and consequently Link himself after he turned to Western Hyrule's Side. Golig ultimately became the last defender of Kasuto, and by using his strength, found a way to make the pass into Kasuto a one-way pass, allowing the people of Kasuto to remain safe. As time went on, battle after battle was often decided by whether or not Link, Golig, both, or neither was present, given Western Hyrule's massive manpower vs. Eastern's strategical abilities. Ultimately, the war boiled down to Eastern Hyrule being separated into 3 zones, the northern depopulated zone, the Central valley under Western control, and the southern parts of the Island, which is all that is now autonomous from the Kingdom of Hyrule. Golig is currently the ruler of Eastern Hyrule and is now trying to remove any sympathies towards the Kingdom of Hyrule from his domain. This is the story of how we got to our current situation, now, we go into the last few details before we get to the present.
Link's son, now a young man, has constantly had eyes watching over him waiting for any sign that he agrees with his father in Western Hyrule. Golig in particular, as mentioned earlier, despises Link's son, and is starting to use insane stretches of the law to convict Link's son, with no success up until now. Golig has taken Link's son's distaste for Golig's Zealotry against Link as a means to have him executed for treason. This is the currently present situation. *at this point the player takes over*

Let me know if you have any suggestions, comments, or critiques about the backstory, once I get the game in development I can start to flesh out th game's actual story and not just the backstory

One question: What is Link's son's name?