Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
High time we saw these new betas in genuine action.
We need more threads like this one, we really do.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
One other note about the way the character jumps. If you start your jump about two pixels inside of a block, you'll "grab" the side of the block as you go and be able to slide or jump up the side. It's unintentional, but it's predictable enough to leave in as a feature. Experiment a little and you'll see what I mean.
Here's a brief walkthrough for those who don't want to cheat to explore. There's no plot elements added yet to direct you.
(1) Complete the opening flying level.
(2) Fill up at the recharge station (ammunition is limited) and head East, then down.
(3) You'll decend into an underwater area. Defeat the little jellyfish boss by jumping over him and shooting it in the head.
(4) Work your way up from this area to the Aquarius temple area.
(5) On the same screen with the room that gives you a hint to destroy the floor, fire at the floor.
(6) Defeat the bee queen. Let her spawn little bees, then hit her exposed birthing hole when they've cleared out.
(7) Take the Concussion Beam; now you can break the blocks throughout Aquarius.
(8) Head back to the start, go West, hitting switches to open doors.
(9) Optional: Head down to the deepest part of Aquarius. Break open a block in the celing where the hint tells you, and ascend to fight a really nasty boss. Defeat it to get the Level 2 armor.
(10) Go as far West as you can and descend to enter Scorpio.
(11) In Scorpio, work your way down, opening doors with switches (the main switch is hidden behind a wall in the same screen as the room with the fairy who doesn't talk yet.)
(12) Defeat the souped-up Ghoma to collect the Bombs.
(13) Back to Aquarius, use the bombs to get to Aries.
(14) In Aries, find a secret wall to access the lower-West portion of the map. Defeat a boss here for the High-Jump boots.
(15) Back to Aquarius. Use high-jump to get to the switches above the starting location. You can get to Scorpio this way.
(16) Head West through a newly opened door to get to Cancer.
(17) Navigate Cancer and defeat several bosses to get the Disentigration Beam.
(18) Return to Scorpio, digging through the sand with the Distentigration Beam. Find some new switches.
(19) Go through a newly opened door in upper Scorpio, beat the Cactus Blossom (most advanced scripted boss yet!) and earn the Dash Engine.
(20) Back to Aquarius. Head to the far upper East screen to access Pieces (currently called Ocean Zone).
(21) Use Dash to avoid the spitting squids, head East. Defeat a grub-spawning boss to get the Energy Beam.
(22) Return to Aquarius. Head to the middle of lower Aquarius to find Gemini.
(23) Use the Energy Beam in Gemini to hatch the fish eggs and explore.
Thats all there is for now.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Awsome!
...
Can I use some of the tiles?
Edit: I try to open the file but it says it's 'invalid'.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
You can use whatever you want. I noticed there was no viable side-scrolling tileset in Zelda Classic yet, so I've been making everything from scratch. Not a rip in sight, just pure unadulterated C-Dawg. (Although you can tell that some tiles, like the Gemini Zone, were certainly inspired by tiles in commercial titles.)
You should be able to open it without problems. Unzip the file and use Beta 254 or above. It was created in 254.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
Yeah, this stuff is wicked sick. There are quests that make you wonder, "How did he do that?" and then there are things like this where you just know there's no point in asking. :cool:
I have an issue to bring up though. About 10 or 15 minutes after I arrived in the first true side-scrolling area (when you're on foot), the fire button stopped working for some reason, and shortly after, the jump button stopped working as well. Do you know anything about these things tending to happen in 254 quests?
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
I can half answer your question.
The "fire" button stopped working because you ran out of ammunition. The normal gun is actually the bow and arrows, and true arrows are used to track ammo. Ammo refills at the energy stations with your hit points. I'm not sure whether to keep ammo limited for the player (as it's really irritating to run out) or not. I will probably eventually set it up where, as you run down to 10 or below, the ammo will slowly recover using your energy. Sort of like Earthworm Jim's main weapon, if you remember.
For now, just hit level 4 cheats and refill the player's arrow stock. (Starting arrows, I think it's called.)
As for the jump button - no idea why that would stop working unless you found a room with an error. The jumping is scripted for each side scrolling room, it should never turn off.
Also, here's some shots of the next area Im working with. Those flame jets move in and out, ala Fire Man's level from MM1. The sparky things hug the walls. (Although there's nothing special about it, they're just following an FFC changer path.)
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/zelda0058.bmp
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/zelda0059.bmp
http://users.sephiroth.ws/C-Dawg/zelda0510.bmp
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
You sir are the man... the awesomness, the awesomeness.......
later i'll be bugging you about this enemy spawner thingy, but right now I gotta go play some Zodiac so I can't be bothered.
Re: Zodiac, the Side-Quest
So, the initial sh'mup level was nice, albeit a bit, umm, repetitive. Perhaps some damage combo FFCs for asteroids or debris to punctuate the enemy waves. I'm also thinking: maybe you could make the landing-area background more detailed (and less obviously tiled) by using appropriately synchronised FFCs (of larger than one tile in expanse)?
I'm not sure how I feel about using the Cave Story music - the leitmotif of the game itself - for the first zone. I have a habit of cringing whenever music that has a great significance to and within its original context (like the Song of Healing from MM, or nearly any track from Chrono Trigger) is used in a ZC quest for considerably less grand purposes. On the other hand, the track itself does give a certain subdued but optimistic atmosphere that the alternative track lacked. (But, I'm still of the opinion that you should used this [ ]http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/n64/SamusStage2.mid[ ] similar-but-different track instead...)