Calling all testers: Priority Suggestion Thread

Hmm.. How about the ability to have scrolling screens? (I know this is a bit far-fetched.. XD)

Id like to see a mostly bug free release before some new stuff, but.... ah hell, suggestions wont hurt.

Four Tile Warps per Screen (One in each divisible chunk in the screen. Like Upper-Left, Upper-Right, Lower-Left, Lower-Right)

New Enemy Appearance Patterns
(Falling From Sky: Enemies Fall From the Sky one by one and when they land begin following their normal pattern)

(Rise From Ground: Enemies burrow out of the ground one by one in the manner of a leever, and begin following their normal patterns)

Hmm, and if you want to be even MORE farfetched...

Enemy Editor!

I believe a more stable release should be a priority over new features, but here are some ideas I had:

1 .Not sure if it has been talked about recently, maybe it has and I just missed it, but what about a "guy" editor?

I imagine it being similar to how strings are added to rooms. Instead of choosing a string number that has a line of text associated with it, you choose a "guy" (possibly identified by a number or a short name) with the tile used to represent that guy from a certain cset.

2. An enemy editor, like bigjoe said. Nothing too fancy mind you. Something that would let you easily choose which tiles that enemy would use, and change it's health, vulnerabilities, weapon, etc.

3. Floor masters - basically wall masters that roam the floor (maybe like Ropes!). These first appeared in one of the Oracle Zelda games I believe. I think they should behave so that if you are grabbed by one, you won't be pulled through the ground and back to the dungeon entrance until a certain amount of time passes - maybe the same amount of time it takes for a Like-like to eat your shield once it catches you.

Bug fixes are the first thing I'd like to see.

However, another neat little thing (that really needs to be done at some point) is categorized flags.

A big mess. But looky! A pulldown menu!

And like magic! All of the block related flags are listed!

I suggested this before, but it was lost when a database restore happened (I think?).

Seriously though... 90 (and probably more in the future) flags is a bit too much to search through with no shortcuts. :shrug:

Like everyone else, I think we should get out a bug-free release before any new features are added. But...

1. String triggers (probably a flag)--this is something I've been begging for for a long time. This would work for signs or NPC's. The flag could be placed in front of signs, or on all four sides of an NPC. (Now that we have eyeball combos, an NPC could turn to face Link to talk to him.) The string would disappear when Link steps off the string trigger.

2. A player that has a simpler system of loading custom quests, thus eliminating the first question all newbies ask. Make it obvious.

I want to see the new Warp system fully implemented, including selectable screen transitions and all that stuff.

I figured a bug free release was obvious. Isn't as easy as it might seem, but rest assured that's on the top of our list.

jman, curious on these timed pit warps... is it going to be timed tics set for the tile warp, but the warp acts as a pit?

I have a few suggestions, but they aren't big or really needed. But, with them, you could create somewhat of a good RPG battle system.
Screen flags:
- Disable B button
- Enemies cause no damage

I thought I heard awhile back DN was putting in a flag to disable the A button on screens for cutscenes and such. Anyways... with these flags, it could be somewhat done like this:
First, Link attacks (and timed pits could be good here). The enemy runs around and can't hurt you. After Link's itme is up, the enemy attacks. Both buttons are disabled from Link, so you have to run from the enemy. With timed pits in combination of full-screen warps, this could be pretty effective for regular enemies.

My last suggestion is a new enemy (could there be room for it under Ganon?) that steals rupees and other items. Perhaps a Rupee Like from the FS games for taking rupees (5 every two seconds would be reasonable), or a thief like in LTTP that takes rupees and bombs.

I didn't download 2.11 (because I was told all the bugs were fixed, so I'm waiting for the next release), but I made a New Enemy Tiles guide at PZC, and perhaps you could implement all the unfinished enemies 😉 (in red):
http://www.purezc.com/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=6&t=12873&

I say to forget about the BS Aquamentus's, though. Maybe a few of these done (like the wallmasters as vegeta previously stated) would be good.

Indeed, bugs should be the top priority.

Personally, I think a combo-flag cycling would be nice. You know, the combo cycles and a flag pops up above it. Very nice for something like Custom Bosses. 😉

Another thing that would be nice would be to make and stairs work if Link is above them, period. You know, if the combo cycles and it puts Link over the pit, and he isn't moving, nothing happens. It would be nice if he actually would warp. Still, Custom Bosses come to mind.

The thing would be to make damage combos more sensitive. I was playing a quest with a custom boss, and you could avoid the damage combos by being halfway between 2 combos. It made the custom boss loads easier than it would have been.

The last would be to fix the thing about launching the hookshot on a half solid combo. If Link is on the non solid part, he simply shoots over the solid part, thus ruining some dungeons. :shrug:

But... like I said, bugs should be the first priority. :tongue:

The thing would be to make damage combos more sensitive. I was playing a quest with a custom boss, and you could avoid the damage combos by being halfway between 2 combos. It made the custom boss loads easier than it would have been.

I don't remember hearing anything like that... is it possible the quest maker didn't have the linked combos rule checked?

As for timed pit warps, it's still not entirely clear how they'll work, but I'm sure whatever is implemented will be beneficial to all quest makers.

The thing would be to make damage combos more sensitive. I was playing a quest with a custom boss, and you could avoid the damage combos by being halfway between 2 combos. It made the custom boss loads easier than it would have been.

That might have been the builder's fault by not clicking the "Linked Combos" rule.

[center]Long Post, Bear With Me.
Lots of little ideas, iterations on what's already been said.
BTW, GREAT ideas everyone. I love seeing such creative sparks. :highfive:[/center]

Four Tile Warps per Screen (One in each divisible chunk in the screen. Like Upper-Left, Upper-Right, Lower-Left, Lower-Right)

1 .Not sure if it has been talked about recently, maybe it has and I just missed it, but what about a "guy" editor?

1. String triggers (probably a flag)--this is something I've been begging for for a long time. This would work for signs or NPC's. The flag could be placed in front of signs, or on all four sides of an NPC. (Now that we have eyeball combos, an NPC could turn to face Link to talk to him.) The string would disappear when Link steps off the string trigger.

2. A player that has a simpler system of loading custom quests, thus eliminating the first question all newbies ask. Make it obvious.

Nick, I'd generally agree with you on the whole flag organization thing, but IMHO, after you work with flags enough, you really start to memorize what is where. But that doesn't really help the newcomers, so perhaps you have a point. But I can still see a lot of people not even bothering to use the pulldown menu after a certain "ZC Experience Level" (heh) due to this familiarity.

Now, if we had HOTKEYS to bring us down to certain points, like bookmarks, Now THAT would really help. Those are such tremendous time savers.

You know what we Really, ABSOLUTELY need? Two Things.

1) Something to check if strings are referring to themselves. This shouldn't be THAT hard to do. Something that would be a bit harder to do, is to check if strings never finish; i.e. if they're referring to a previous iteration, causing an infinite loop of never-ending strings. We definitely have to check for that. Adding strings is DANGEROUS BUSINESS.

2) Link Start Positions default to the extreme upper left corner, resulting in these obvious "Why can't I see or move Link?" situations. Perhaps he should default to the center? Heck, you KNOW that it's something that needs to be dealt with. 😉

The thing would be to make damage combos more sensitive. I was playing a quest with a custom boss, and you could avoid the damage combos by being halfway between 2 combos. It made the custom boss loads easier than it would have been.

jman, as for Timed Pit Combos, how similar is it to the timed warp combo? I mean, obviously, I know little to nothing of the code, but from the perspective of the wee folk, they should be similar enough. :shrug: It's definitely more than likely an extraordinarily fallacious viewpoint, but I / we see no reason why it shouldn't be if timed side warps are implemented.

Timed warp combo? You referring to combo cycling to a pit/direct combo, cause I see nothing in ZQ about a timed warp combo

Not to mention using timed pit warps, you no longer have to have Link walk to trigger the next
'frame' of an event/boss. Furthermore, since it uses the side warp, it gives you the freedom to use the tile warp in another fashion if you so desire 😉

Britannianhero4 wrote:Initially, this concept sounds very good. It could eliminate a layer entirely. o_o But then we get into the whole "We should be able to PLACE this "Guy" on the screen, like a rupee or a flag or start position." But then it falls apart, because this "guy" would or would not be strikeable, and we'd have to decide on the minutia of that as well. But I suppose it can be done, if we know exactly what it is we're looking for. 😮dd: I like it.

The main idea for it (in my opinion anyways) would be so that you wouldn't be stuck with using the same "guys" over and over, and could create new ones for special situations. More over, you wouldn't have to mess around with the default tiles for them, since you could pick your own.

I don't think people should be able to place "guys". They are fine in the center of a room like they've always been.

vegeta1215 wrote:The main idea for it (in my opinion anyways) would be so that you wouldn't be stuck with using the same "guys" over and over, and could create new ones for special situations. More over, you wouldn't have to mess around with the default tiles for them, since you could pick your own.

I don't think people should be able to place "guys". They are fine in the center of a room like they've always been.

But the use of layers has made "Guys" moot. We don't even need them anymore.

However, because many of the more "advanced" users are using ZC's abilities to make other games, not just other "first quests" and such, we should be keeping both methods intact.

Thus, shouldn't it only be right that everyone gets what they want, but done through a simple way? We could have the option "No Guy" (Or just eliminate the Fire tile as we've been doing. :shrug: ) and we can add many more Guys, or make them configurable. It should work for everyone.

The guy system still stands as the 'easy way out' for newbs, as do many of the other supposedly depreciated features of ZC. I agree improvements to the system could be made, but since it is a simple and old technique, it shouldn't be given priority. If anything, the system would be replaced with a competent NPC system before the current one gets redone.

A couple more suggestions

Backgrounds: Setting in DMAP(you select any screen on any map that is to be the top left of the entire background). Where there is (X) ( or no) color on the screen, a background will show through it. Normally, it doesnt scroll when you switch screens, giving you the effect that it is distant. When [] Parallaxing (Left Right) is checked, it will scroll by a factor of <variable> pixels as you travel Left and Right. When Parallaxing (Up Down) is checked, it will scroll by a factor of <variable> pixels as you travel up and down.

Custom Font: Customize the font via a sprite setting. If left alone, it will use default font.

BH4: The question comes to mind though; Would the player be able to walk under these strings? If not, perhaps we could change it from string to layer? You could layer the text right on the screen, causing the layer to turn on and off. Heck, we could change its entire goal from making text appear to making whole layers appear and disappear! You could have a SWITCH on the layers screen that says "On" and "Off." (Off implying that the layer is not in effect, and isn't evident.)

Yeah, .. Thanks and all. 😊 I was referring to having this situation take place near the upper part of the screen, where the string would appear. If it was, the player would probably get stuck or something unless something drastic was done. Obviously, we have no idea how hard it'd be to code in the removal of walk access under that string area.

jman2050 wrote:I don't remember hearing anything like that... is it possible the quest maker didn't have the linked combos rule checked?

Wait... you might have misunderstood what I was refering to. I'm not talking about multiple damage combos in a row. That's fine. I'm talking about 1 single combo. If you have 1 single damage combo, you can walk in between of a regular combo and the damage combo to avoid damage.

Whoah, that is REALLY Odd. I You mean, ... Okay.. ASCII-Based Diagram time.

[center][font=courier]OOO
OXO
OOO[/font][/center]

Okay, the X is a damage combo, the O's are regular floor combos, and you're walking BETWEEN the two blue ones FROM the south, going North, across the left half of the Damage tile. I assume that's it, right? .. So that doesn't damage you?

However, if you walk from the red O onto the Damage tile, you get hurt even before your character seems to enter one pixel's worth. Kinda odd.

Heres another suggestion: Button Warps. Press a button, and be warped. If not an entire new warp type, it could be something in Screen Data, like [Button] triggers [Warp Type]

ex: A triggers Side Warp


I had suggested this along with the "Invisible Link" and "No Subscreen" stuff, but for some reason, only those got added.

Oh and maybe a "Deny Game Input" screen flag to go along with them, that way , you wont see any sword beams zipping across your title screen. 😉

This goes along with bugfixes, but I would like to see the map import/export feature working again. Then maybe I could finally finish my group quest since the work got spread across 2 files.

And I can't believe nobody mentioned arrows! I'd also like that flamethrower that was in one of the betas a while back. It was a fun item and would make a good addition to the list of items that use magic.
And on the subject of retro ideas, it would be nice to have the LttP-style dark rooms where you have a region of light around Link and you can light torches to brighten the rooms. Since we have transparency effects which didn't exist when that was first attempted it might work better now.

Cloral wrote:And I can't believe nobody mentioned arrows! I'd also like that flamethrower that was in one of the betas a while back. It was a fun item and would make a good addition to the list of items that use magic.

Oh, I've got another suggestion. Would it be possible to make ZC have more than one sword beam on the screen at a time, jman?

Britannianhero4 wrote:Whoah, that is REALLY Odd. I You mean, ... Okay.. ASCII-Based Diagram time.

Okay, the X is a damage combo, the O's are regular floor combos, and you're walking BETWEEN the two blue ones FROM the south, going North, across the left half of the Damage tile. I assume that's it, right? .. So that doesn't damage you?

However, if you walk from the red O onto the Damage tile, you get hurt even before your character seems to enter one pixel's worth. Kinda odd.

Yep, your explanation is right on. The current damage combos are really funky. They are ultrasensitive head on, but like in this, they aren't at all. :shrug: I do have to agree with you though, damage combos are practically too sensitive when going onto them head on. :disgust: Which, the ultrasensitivity wouldn't be bad if Link wouldn't get propelled in a direction when he turns. 😞

PolygonX8 wrote:I think BH4 here mentioned something of that today... and a long time ago, IDK said something of adding a Wand 2 that shot electricity if you held B (or something to that effect). Was this flamethrower you're referring to that item?

Wow... interesting item-twists. O_o Perhaps this flamethrower could be a "candle 3"? Now, the remote bombs sounds excellent, and those were even in TMC. Perhaps a new room type or something called "bomb switch" to switch between regular and remote. And for the remote, there'd be tiles for it stationary, then ones for it exploding.

You should add these after the next stable release, jman. :P

I ask for one thing right now: A Combo that stops arrows.