Well, sounds like I'll have to start with Souls of Wisdom itself then. What player do I need?
Well, sounds like I'll have to start with Souls of Wisdom itself then. What player do I need?
<SUCCESSOR> Its Shadowblazer's dark essence invading the forums
RC2 or RC3 are confirmed compatible.
New Character who's going to be featured in SOW2.
He's big, he's macho, he's full of himself, he's powerful, he's a bull? he wears speedos????
He will play as the very humorous leader of Ganon's army and will prove to be as strong as he is very very bizarre. He will send Hylian Guards flying off the screen with his dance moves as he gives his speech for war. He will flex his muscles as we are watching and thinking "WTF?!?!" But he leads the most powerful army in SOW2, so don't let the humor of his behavior fool you, he is sincerely a menacing threat that must be dealt with.
I just haven't thought of a name for him yet.
Also his theme song will be one of the most catchy theme songs that will certainly get stuck in your mind.
Computer screen gave out. Needs a new one before I can continue.
Bummer, Oh well stuff happens. I'm sure you'll get another one soon. till then I wish you luck on getting another one :)
Got a new monitor, let the progress resume.
I am taking a break on overworld construction and have returned to progress construction. I don't know how many quest designers do this, but I find to keep myself interest, I often gotta switch my routine up, so I have different construction routines.
Progress Construction: I build on the actual game flow, while I am constructing my quest with progress as my goal, I build based on where Link has to go, and what happens in the story, and strictly too, as I wont touch anything else in the quest until I find it too difficult to continue being strict in this method.
Overworld Construction: Sometimes I just forget the game itself, and just get in touch with the world that Link will be adventuring in. While in this phase, I mostly have my first and 2nd drafts of many new unexplored areas.
Creative Construction: This is where I mostly design brand new palette designs, or pick what midis (music) I want to use. Sometimes I can be hours just going through midis alone. Creative construction also falls outside of Zeldaclassic, as I actually explore many different kind of video games, and get new ideas from games that I am playing. During creative design I look at other people's quests, and look for some things I can improve on. Creative Construction is also where I design a story in my head. In fact, most of my time goes into creative construction more than anything else. I have once sit down, and create an attack that a boss will use in level 6, and I haven't even completed making Level 3. Creative construction is where I spend my time making places like Twilight Winter and a haunted treasury.
Anyways, a change of subject. Here are the levels you should expect to see in Souls of Wisdom 2. (These could change).
Level 1: Eldin Cave
Level 2: Temple of Time
Level 3: Pirate Domain
Level 4: Swamp Ruins
Level 5: King's Tomb
Level 6: Ganon's Empire
Level 7: Ocean Palace
Level 8: Volvagia's Inferno
Final Level: The Great Palace
Optional level: The Temple of Cole
The only sub level I have so far in mind right now is return to Hyrule Castle Dungeon.
Papara Forest, Caves, and Beach is now completed, and by the end of the day, Level 3 will be accessible.
The Papara Region. To the east of Rauru is a forest they say holds secrets that no man from the Faron region has ever seen, legends of a secret beach and a Temple. First discovered when the richer Hylians from Lanayru increased their technology and were able to sail the seas, but nobody dared to venture inside, at least until more about the temple was studied.
Today Lanayru beach is surrounded by pirate folk, and therefore this temple can now only be accessed through secret path lying deep within Papara forest, the path that was originally designed before technology surfaced. But the path is dangerous, and only the brave may enter. Can Link get through Papara forest and find out the secrets that lie within the temple without much interference from the pirates? The conclusion of Chapter 3 of SoW2 is upon us.
----
History and Concept Design:
When designing the Papara region which is located North-East of Faron, I wanted to give it a small story. Anybody familiar with Zelda 2, it is the small shade of forest just east of the first town, which leads to a small cave, and a hidden beach which contains the 1st level and a heart container. In my version, this format is very familiarly done, except of course a little more challenging. The area of Papara is where you'll meet significantly stronger enemies, and more challenging side-scrolling challenges. Because SoW2 does not limit players to lives, and force players back to the beginning, it has the freedom to create side-scrolling stages that are actually more difficult, but not overly stressful, as it only increases death count, not send you back a mile. Now, still, for people experienced in side-scrollers, the ones you'll find in Papara will not be overly challenging.
Papara, ironically provided me my first quest designers block, I had actually taken a few months away from this quest because of the problems I faced here. The problems were that I didn't want to abandon creativity, and I didn't want things looking "slack". My first issue with Papara was actually the beach. Upon entering Faron, you already enter a beach which provides some intuitive features. Unfortunately, it turned out that Papara Beach was only just duplicating what I already done. So even if it was just a few screens, it caused me to skip ahead and design the level, which also presented some problems, it caused me to have a quest designer's block, and eventually taking a few months off.
After returning to the quest, I decided to skip this area, and complete some other things. But now, I got the fuel I needed to finally complete this area. Because Papara beach is right beside a forest, I decided to make half the beach grassy. This grassy look in part of the beach provides the feel to the player that he/she has found a secret spot, and therefore provides just enough uniqueness to keep it interesting. Now, after I complete a small cutscene, I begin to finish what I started with level 3, which I promise will be an experience on which you have never seen.
The Souls of Wisdom 2 over-world is being designed with randomness in mind. As in, the earth I believe is a very random looking thing, there ain't no real exact pattern. This is what I want to keep in mind when making the small details. An overworld with rocks placed randomly all over is actually surprisingly a pattern, it's a repetitive click click click design of over-world that I refuse to get caught in.
sometimes rocks fall together in bunches
sometimes bushes grow together in bunches
sometimes there are just things on earth that look odd, out of place
not every bit of water on earth has a river leading in and a river leading out, water can get trapped
sometimes men build things in the most stupid locations
This list can go on and on, but whatever the case, I believe to make the most perfect over-world, you need to design it with without perfect in mind. Sometimes you need to make a screen that just looks totally out of place to realize the world is not a constructed system.
To do this, I plan on using more and more of what the graphics pack has to offer as I adventure deeper into this quest. Almost like it's predecessor, you'll find the quest getting more impressive the farther you get.
Glad to see that everything is being figured out, and seriously thought of as a 'world', instead of a 'game' like some tend to do. With the 'game' ideal, placing things in any position that makes it look okay, but not great just so you can get it done quicker, is the ideal I tend to see. The 'world' concept makes you think more, but with that comes better appreciation for the locations; instead of saying 'Oh that's where Level 3 is gonna be' it's more like 'Oh, that's the awesome secret beach I found! Papara Beach!'
Keep up the good work, and take as long as you need to; I'd rather have a quest that took 3 years in making that looks amazing and everything meshes in great story-wise instead of a quest that took 3 months and is barely passable visually and/or story-wise compared to the Atari age.
A Paladin's Sword represents the Bane of Evil.
A Paladin's Shield represents the Protection of the People.
A Paladin's Shield is also the ideal meal for a Like-Like.
...with that said, Paladins obviously don't like Like-Likes! :sweatdrop:
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
