Tips to making a good quest:

[Nightmare]

(deleted at my request)

[JayeM]

5. Plan it out on paper before even opening ZQuest.

6. Try to make it unique, different enough from the usual quest so as to sustain player interest.

7. Humor is a good ingredient too, but don't make it over-powering. The quest comes first.

[Blonde799]

I personally suggest beta testing the quest yourself, with maybe 1 or 2 people. You don't have to rely on others too much to help find bugs, and you can evaluate the decisions you're making on your quest(a whole group of people can't always be right).

Try and go with a pre-designed tileset. This is more of a habit former, as if you start a quest with your own tileset from scratch, chances are you may not finish it(look at PZC, you'll notice a certain few people are still finishing their respective quests, despite multiple revamps).

Start out simple, and if possible, keep it simple. You know how long it takes for long custom boss'd quests to be released? Finishing your quest might take so long, you may be taking more breaks than actually finishing that 6th level. Don't make things more complicated than they have to be. A good quest can also be a solid one.

And as Jaye said, it wouldn't kill to try something new, like a different way of playing, a new dungeon design, or a different handicap, other than giving the player 3 hearts, having the sword around the corner, and sending the player out in the wilderness.

That's my $0.02.:p

[DarkFlameWolf]

okay, how about 1 heart, only the blue candle and the sword in level 2? j/k

[Nightmare]

okay, how about 1 heart, only the blue candle and the sword in level 2? j/k

I remember in James Quest 1 I made it that you had to start out with just the Blue Candle (I'm sure the Veterans knew about it) Yeah, everyone likes to start with the sword, but sometimes it's too much of a given.

Another tactic: Try not to give the Boomerang too early. I think it's the most broken weapon in the game. One of James's Quest 1's early designs was to keep it away from the player. Both Boomerangs are in there, one in Lv. 6, the other in Lv. 8, but they're tough to find and cost a ton of money.

EDIT: Hey DarkFlameWolf, how about stickying this? So your new quest makers have some tips permanently and the long-timers can contribute over time. Just a thought.

-James

[Blonde799]

Yeah, they render a lot of enemies pushovers. I guess that's what C-Dawg thought in Dreams of Yesterday too(he made you go through part of a level with just that).:p

[ShadowTiger]

I don't know if this should go here or not, but I suppose that half of every good quest, is making sure it's bug-free. So in order to do so, I've constructed a handy little guide with which to help you test people's quests. :) You can then make them a less buggy environment, and more playable. Quest.. made... better. Boom. (Or, if this doesn't apply, you can slice this thread. Because otherwise, I would have probably put this in the wrong forum anyway.

For those of you who are testing other people's quests, there should be a certain method to follow to make both your lives, and the quest maker's life a little easier. First of all, how many of you think that this should be pinned? I would be more than happy to do it. I just want a census first.


Setup:
1. Create a separate folder inside your ZC folder on the hard drive. This makes organization much easier.

2. This is merely a sub-note of #1. Copy and paste the ZC files, (zelda.exe, etc.) .. Well, actually, copy the ZIP files they came from, the .exe files that unzip the files to the designated folder. Copy THOSE, along with that the ZC Support Archive. Unzip all those, and make your own zelda station directly for that quest alone. This also means that any screenshots of bugs that you make, (F12) will end up in that folder.

Snapping Photos:
3. When you play the quest, if you see a bug that you have to report, or something which seems out of the ordinary, press F12 to take a screenshot of the scene. If you had followed steps 1 and 2, the file SHOULD have popped up in that same folder, and is easily recognizable.

File Organization:
4. Organizing your bug reports can be a big hassle, but you'll see the results when they're all done. First of all, get a program like IRFanview. If you have an average computer, (I have a PII 300 MHZ PC, and it works quite well.) the image should load quickly, and it'll save you quite a bit of hassle.

5. (This point isn't so much as a step, as an explanation of step #6.) When organizing your files, you should probably classify them in terms of what kind of error they are. This has two major advantages. It separates them into the kind of bugs which need to be fixed, and which don't need to be fixed. There are a few kinds of bugs that there are to report. I'll explain each below.

• MAJOR - Impedes the player's progress severely. These are the most important bugs.
• Minor - Similar to the above, but the player can finish the game even with those in.
• Graphic - When there's something which doesn't look right, such as a grass edge on a stairs, in a desert.
• Layer - If you can walk under something that you're not supposed to be able to. Also applies to graphic errors on layers.
• Scrolling - If you scroll to the next screen, and you get stuck in a wall.
• Text / String - There's something wrong with the text, or a spelling or grammer error.
• Undercombo - Fairly self explanatory. Any undercombo that isn't what it's expected to be.
• Warp - A tile or side warp that doesnt' lead to where it's supposed to be, or doesn't do anything at all.
• Walkability - This area is unwalkable for some reason. This probably has to do with layers, but they're 2 separate things.
• Combo - The wrong kind of combo is used, or there's a strange type of combo there for no real reason.

6. When you're done with the testing for the moment, go to your folder you set up. Go to zelda001.bmp, and open it up. See what it is. Depending on the kind of error that it was, close the file, and click once to highlight the file, then click again on that same file to rename it. (DO NOT double click. It opens it. Do a click, ... click.) So rename it to the type of error which it was, then place a number of the occurrance of the error next to it, such as Undercombo 1, and the next file is called Undercombo 2, and the next file is called Layer 1, etc.

7. If you wanted to be really nice to the quest author, you would crop out the image to remove the stat bar (life, magic, keys, etc.) on top of every screen. This isn't at all necessary though.

8. Zip up the file, and put it up somewhere to store, like http://www.filespace.org or www.freewebz.com to keep. Then, either PM the file to the quest author, or put the file where the quest author tells you to. Hope this helps. Good luck with your quests.

[Nightmare]

Excellent points Brittanhero. I remember some quests where I just could not find the damn bug no matter how hard I looked for it.

I think we should keep it coming.

-James

[ShadowTiger]

Thanks, James. (Call me Josh, or BH4. o_o .. Thank you.) Perhaps we can expand on this Quest-Tip thread, and turn it into a forum? It's -very- effective over at PureZC. You can check it out Here. :) I think that my idea really rolled to a good place. I hope AGN can do something similar! ^_^

[Lecayle]

To be honest, to have a good quest, don't worry much on what you think that other people want, but make it a quest that YOU yourself would enjoy playing day in and day out. I design video games for a living, and in my line of work, more often than not, if you design a game for yourself, people like it more. when it comes to bugs, my tactic is that if I'm going to try something I haven't done before, I make a little dummy quest file and design the room/dungeon/OW spot I'm trying out as the beginning of the "game" so i can easily find whatever bugs there are. this really helps for trying new things out in like say the last dungeons, without having to quest through everything just for one little thing.

Also, write down all the areas in your quest you're not sure will work correctly and check them before a release of any sort!