Here's what the overworld looks like so far

[_L_]

Neo Hyrule, version 0.9. (Not complete yet. I'm thinking of leaving the L2 and L3 surrounding areas to the discretion of the person designing those dungeons.)

And here's a labelled one with important areas and items marked.

Notes:
* The King of Thieves' cave is actually behind the marked building.
* Amicus Palace can be entered at any time, but you'll need to purchase your own door keys when you're inside.
* Fort Aquatius requires a Boomerang and the Raft to enter.
* Copse Labyrinth requires the Power Bracelet to enter.
* The Power Bracelet requires the Bow and Arrow.
* The Bow and Arrow are being sold in a shop in Hyle Town.
* The Endless Desert is a maze room, but will use a script to procedurally generate different terrain combinations each time you enter it.
* The Witch's Grotto and the Sand Labyrinth can only be accessed by the Whistle's whirlwind.
* I'm not completely satisfied with how the castle went. Methinks it lacks a certain amount of Epicness.
* Life's End doesn't have any secrets.
* The names aren't necessarily fixed. (I know that the mountain town's name is probably not going to be Darunia.)

Comments!

[ShadowTiger]

Well, holy crap. That's amazing, _L_. I couldnt've done better if I'd wanted to.

And I did want to. :p

A few things though. Do answer all of them, please. Priorities first, of course:

1) L2 is in the lower east corner, about two or three screens distance from the actual lower right corner. Did you allot space for it?
2) L3 is in the EXTREME upper right hand corner, one screen to the left of the upper right corner.
3) Continuing from 2), You have to walk back with Zelda from Level 3 in the Dark World equivalent, and apparently, we're meeting up with the end villain in the equivalent of Link's house, which is destroyed. (Or something.) Have you taken that path into consideration?
4) The King of thieves' hideout was supposed to be in the lower right corner. (The EXTREME Lower right corner.) There was a lot of lava in that area, which would've accounted for part of L2's mere existence. It seems to be completely gone.
5) On that note, there were *three* Thieves you could find. The first one would point you out to the second, and the second would point you out to the third. The first was just to the northeast of your town. The second was (Anywhere you'd like.) the third is in the extreme Southeast of the map, as I mentioned above.
6) The whistle in the moat is usually just to the right of the drawbridge. Right? What was your reasoning for putting it to the left?
7) Elaborate on the following please?

• Witch's Grotto
• Link's treehouse
• The concepts of: Ocean Labyrinth, Sand Labyrinth, Copse Labyrinth, Tropical Labyrinth.

8) I made a house just to the right of the label for the King of Thieves. What did you think of it?
9) The lower left corner's house can indeed be the 1/2 magic area.
10) Please explain the concept of these "Elements?"
11) I think we're going to have to work with the Palette for Hyrule Castle. It'll need some new "REALLY F*CKING OLD" Castle tiles to supplement their graphics. Radien put some of these in, following the OoT castle format. I can whip up a few broken brick tiles in a jiffy. Nothing too hard. I also think the whole area could use its own Dmap, along with the "mood" of the area. Let's make the whole area kinda "blocked off," only accessable from one or two areas to increase the drama factor, leaving a large blank spot on your map for people to have to work for. I'm really keen to that idea m'self.
12) Does the Ocean Labyrinth contain anything related to the Elements? What does it do? REMEMBER, there's a stair entrance hidden behind one of the columns JUST to its right.
13) Tail Cave?

[Shoelace]

The overworld looks very nice. _L_ that is impressive. Great job.

[_L_]

Well, holy crap. That's amazing, _L_. I couldnt've done better if I'd wanted to.

And I did want to. :p

A few things though. Do answer all of them, please. Priorities first, of course:
1) L2 is in the lower east corner, about two or three screens distance from the actual lower right corner. Did you allot space for it?

As evidenced by the size of the blacked-out portion, yes.

2) L3 is in the EXTREME upper right hand corner, one screen to the left of the upper right corner.

That's fine, too.

3) Continuing from 2), You have to walk back with Zelda from Level 3 in the Dark World equivalent, and apparently, we're meeting up with the end villain in the equivalent of Link's house, which is destroyed. (Or something.) Have you taken that path into consideration?

I thought you fought Zelda at the Link's house parallel?

4) The King of thieves' hideout was supposed to be in the lower right corner. (The EXTREME Lower right corner.) There was a lot of lava in that area, which would've accounted for part of L2's mere existence. It seems to be completely gone.

Actually it's still there, but I blacked it out on the PNG file. Sorry!

5) On that note, there were *three* Thieves you could find. The first one would point you out to the second, and the second would point you out to the third. The first was just to the northeast of your town. The second was (Anywhere you'd like.) the third is in the extreme Southeast of the map, as I mentioned above.

Uh-huh. But the "King of Thieves"-marked screen is also the screen you instructed me to place a thieves' hideout in this post.

6) The whistle in the moat is usually just to the right of the drawbridge. Right? What was your reasoning for putting it to the left?

By "usually" you mean just OoT? Or have I inadvertantly used the Zelda Classic quest design cliché "Whistle in Moat"?

7) Elaborate on the following please?
* Witch's Grotto

The only place where you can purchase the following items:
* Red Potion
* Bottled Fairy (needed at the 1/2 Magic place)
Also, you may or may not meet a witch beforehand, providing a clue as to the Bottled Fairy's location.

* Link's treehouse

Link lives in a treehouse on the marked screen. He has a sort of affinity with the forest spirits, which is why he's chosen by Zelda in the first place.

* The concepts of: Ocean Labyrinth, Sand Labyrinth, Copse Labyrinth, Tropical Labyrinth.

Tropical Labyrinth holds the Summer Element, and I suppose it will mostly contain wood obstacles, shallow water, some more of those vine-style Leevers, Fire Zols and Spear Shooters.
Copse Labyrinth will contain mostly stones, bones, and some opportunities to show off that "rooms turn dark when fire goes out" Quest Rule.
Sand Labyrinth was added to make the desert a bit more interesting, and also for a place to put some shifting sand tiles.

They're called "labyrinths" because that's how The Legend of Zelda's manual names its dungeons.

Most of them exist to provide some "backwards compatability" with Neo Hyrule's past. (Remember that 40 years ago Dim and Sarai went on a quest for the Four Elements?)

8) I made a house just to the right of the label for the King of Thieves. What did you think of it?

It was intended to be the Learn Slash room, right? Well, ah, I'm not sure either. Just a place in which to hear some backstory about the Mystic Woods?

10) Please explain the concept of these "Elements?"

For the Four Sword. I mentioned it in another topic.

11) I think we're going to have to work with the Palette for Hyrule Castle. It'll need some new "REALLY F*CKING OLD"

Technically it's only 20 years old - the final battle against King Dim and Miro took place there. But hey, a lot can happen in that time, especially considering the new occupants...

Castle tiles to supplement their graphics. Radien put some of these in, following the OoT castle format. I can whip up a few broken brick tiles in a jiffy. Nothing too hard. I also think the whole area could use its own Dmap, along with the "mood" of the area. Let's make the whole area kinda "blocked off," only accessable from one or two areas to increase the drama factor, leaving a large blank spot on your map for people to have to work for. I'm really keen to that idea m'self.
12) Does the Ocean Labyrinth contain anything related to the Elements? What does it do? REMEMBER, there's a stair entrance hidden behind one of the columns JUST to its right.

I dunno. I recall you put it there in the first place. Maybe the boomerang (normal or magical) could be hid there?

13) Tail Cave?

And yet Eagle Labyrinth and East Palace go unquestioned?

[ShadowTiger]

As evidenced by the size of the blacked-out portion, yes.

Yes, but think in terms of the Geography. It's not a SMALL REGION, this volcano. o.o' It's a rather large mountainous area. There's grass practically all around it. Once again, there aren't even any volcanic areas left to the south of it that I made. They're gone. (I'll read up on your reply to that in a bit.) (EDIT: Okay, nevermind about those two screens I made. :p Thanks. They're still there; good.)

I thought you fought Zelda at the Link's house parallel?

That's actually on the way to Link's house. I guess there should be some sort of large clearing somewhere just east of the Town where Link's house is.

Uh-huh. But the "King of Thieves"-marked screen is also the screen you instructed me to place a thieves' hideout in this post.

.. Whoah. Did you take "First Thief" to mean King of thieves? o.o? I meant "The first thief that you find." Not like, .. the Japanese "Ichiban" equivalent, meaning "Number One." "The Biggest." "The Best" etc. First means the chronologically first thief that you encounter. The king of Thieves is the last thief that you encounter. So yeah, that place marked King of Thieves on the map, would probably be the first thief. Make him EASY to find. :p The second thief will be harder to find. Somewhere not three screens distance from that first thief though.

By "usually" you mean just OoT? Or have I inadvertantly used the Zelda Classic quest design cliché "Whistle in Moat"?

Heh. _L_, you're far too awesome. :p I just meant that since you have a "Hyrule Castle," and you also have a "Moat," and you also have a "Whistle in the moat," (Forgive my overuse of quotation marks.) it may as well stay true to the similarities and continue parallel to the story, just for awe's sake. If they see an old abandoned castle similar to Hyrule Castle, they may as well assume that other things about it are OoT'esque as well.

Link lives in a treehouse on the marked screen. He has a sort of affinity with the forest spirits, which is why he's chosen by Zelda in the first place.

... ... Ah. o_o' I had thought that he would live in the town itself, in that house I built with the orange walls (Or was it orange roof? I don't recall.) I actually don't really mind, but just be aware that it's "longer" that Link has to walk to get back to his house in the dark world, and also keep in mind that if his house is in the equivalent of the town in the dark world, it's that much more dramatic. You can make it "The odd man out" (But in house terms. :p ) for that town, being the only house in the dark world that seems to be .. well, .. in existence. Makes people wonder why It's the ONLY HOUSE that's there in the equivalent of the town. Now if his house was in the forest, we don't get to think that. We also have to pass through the town and do something with it that doesn't involve Link, I guess. Kinda boring.

It was intended to be the Learn Slash room, right? Well, ah, I'm not sure either. Just a place in which to hear some backstory about the Mystic Woods?

Eh, I guess. Unless we don't start with the slash, feel free to do whatever you'd like with it. :p

Technically it's only 20 years old - the final battle against King Dim and Miro took place there. But hey, a lot can happen in that time, especially considering the new occupants...

... Hrm. > >. I keep imagining a very, very old castle. A rather large piece of me wants to make it completely ancient and mysterious, and cut off from the world by time's overbrush. That's just me though. :p You know NeoFirst better than I do, apparently.

I dunno. I recall you put it there in the first place. Maybe the boomerang (normal or magical) could be hid there?

Oh, in that little place? ... Yeah, sure. Absolutely; why not. Easy enough. The guy inside will claim that he has a "hidden treasure," so you go looking through his cave/house for anything hidden. It reveals nothing; just a looping dungeon. (Small.) So you have to go searching for it. The entrance is outside just to the right of his house. A similar dungeon is inside, but actually contains the boomerang in a hidden area within the dungeon.

And yet Eagle Labyrinth and East Palace go unquestioned?

Well is there still time to question them? What do all three Dungeons/Labyrinths/Palaces do?

[_L_]

Well is there still time to question them? What do all three Dungeons/Labyrinths/Palaces do?

Eagle Labyrinth: this idea was mentioned by someone else in a really old topic. Well, at first it seems to be just a wrecked, abandoned version of First Quest's first dungeon. Holes in the ceiling, rubble on the floor, not a soul to be seen, maybe even no music. But when you get to a certain room, you have to fight a custom boss. (I guess it's an in-joke, but hey, if you're playing ZC in the first place then the odds are good that you'll get it.)

(Yes, there are a lot of ruined and deceased things in Neo Hyrule. It's a plot point that the kingdom isn't in very swell shape.)

East Palace: while this technically isn't a dungeon, its interior will have some... architectural similarities to another dungeon of the same name. This may seem like another in-joke, but it's also indicative of my desire to subvert the traditional meanings and connotations of "dungeons" in the Zelda sense - what was a mere level in A Link to the Past is now a base of operations for one of NeoFirst's protagonists.

Tail Cave: mostly a place to show off scripted versions of those peculiar Game Boy Zelda puzzle elements. Like the coloured tiles rooms, or the Three-of-a-Kind enemies, or those coloured blocks that move in groups when you push one of them. Also some sideview areas downstairs, with gravity.

[Sephiroth]

Quick question for _L_.

... Exactly HOW did you generate that map without a mapmaker program? O_o;

[Hot Water Music]

Oh my god, that is HOT

[ShadowTiger]

Hot damn, _L_, those are some outstanding ideas. I'll be glad to build those if you'd like. They'd provide some EXCELLENT side-interest for the quest. :]

[_L_]

Yes, but think in terms of the Geography. It's not a SMALL REGION, this volcano. o.o' It's a rather large mountainous area. There's grass practically all around it.

I've been pondering this, and I've come up with an idea that will allow us to have a rather large mountain with a relatively small base of support. However, it will require placing some of it on another Map. (No, it's not what you think. See attachment.)

Also, I kind of like the visual image of a massive pillar of stone, snow and fire piercing the sky.

EDIT: I also have a reasonably excellent MIDI to use for the mountain ascent. It requires, however, that there be a significant level of snowfall on most of the mountain's screens. It's called Winter Wind, and it's an all-piano piece - but it's by Chopin so it doesn't matter.