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Would anyone here still play a quest on the original Tileset?

55 replies · 10,669 views · Started 02 August 2007

The reason I'm asking is because... well, I see that most of the quests published more recently are using newer, flashier, better-looking tilesets and sprites. However, trying to get them into a game and then also create custom tiles to match it is driving me up a wall, so I plan to create a quest with the original LoZ tileset, slightly modified.

The Quest's name will be Legend of Zelda: Eternal Winter, inspired by one of my FanFiction stories, and it will, if everything goes according to plan, have 1 full overworld and another half of an overworld, and at least 10 dungeons. If you were to assume the gameplay was good, would any of you still play a quest like that? I don't want to waste my time creating a quest nobody would play.

I really need your opinions,
~LostInHyru1e

If it lets you know, it means that I'd play it.

Hopefully, most people that make a quest with a certain tileset would play one that uses that tileset.

It's not so much the classic tileset that people dislike, but the flashiness. You don't get a cool intro screen pre-built tiles or anything with the classic set. But i'm sure if you made your own sprites, inventory, etc. then people wouldn't mind the actual tiles (doors, walls, etc.)

I would absolutely play a quest that has the original tileset. Graphics don't make the quest/game, in my opinion. One could easily make an excellent quest with the LoZ tileset and a crappy quest with Pure.

I agree, nothing wrong at all with oldschool tilesets. Just as long as the whole game isn't just a slightly modified version of the original or anything TOO close to it, it's fine.

No, definately not the same as the original LoZ. This one has a COMPLETELY different overworld, a different plot, and... it's set in eternal winter. 😊

As for creating my own sprites, I don't really know what you mean. I have trouble creating anything besides regular tiles, and only regular tiles that I would use to make it seem like snow is falling or that I would need for a custom boss, which I'm trying to put a few of in my quest.

Anyway, it's good to know that there are a lot of people who won't dismiss a quest simply for its graphics, as mine are bound to be less than metiocre.

Yes, I actually like those original tiles as well. It's very easy for you to make extra tiles to go in with it(such as "Snow" that appears to be falling) because with the small palletes, your tiles will never look inferior to the rest of the landscape.

Well, Eternal Winter starts is production today! Well... it's kind of been started for a few weeks, but it's being announced today. 😊

To be honest, I took the tiles that are of superior quality to original LOZ tiles(such as the hookshot graphic) and downgraded them to be on par instead. Mixing 8-bit and 12-bit graphics didn't sit well with me.

...I haven't downloaded any graphics. 😊 I'm just using the originals, and creating a few tiles here and there. I'm connecting a LOT of strings, so I think this should have a decent plot, because everyone talks so much...

Speaking as someone who only really lurks around ZC, I see no reason not to play a classic tileset quest.

If you're worried, one thing you can do that might help make it stick out a little bit would be to take advantage of all the unused color palllete slots that the classic tileset has; just add some extra colors to things and jazz up the NES sprites slightly. Like Phantom Menace's old "Demo Quest". Stick in yellow, green, black, white, etc. It's pretty easy to do and you don't have to override any of the original sprites/colors you don't want to mess with.

LostInHyru1e wrote:...I haven't downloaded any graphics. 😊 I'm just using the originals, and creating a few tiles here and there. I'm connecting a LOT of strings, so I think this should have a decent plot, because everyone talks so much...

Try not to have TOO much talking, and put the strings in rooms that the player is likely to only ever visit once. Plots are nice, but people wanna play the game too.

Anarchy_Balsac wrote:Try not to have TOO much talking, and put the strings in rooms that the player is likely to only ever visit once. Plots are nice, but people wanna play the game too.

The beginning is clogged with quite a lot of talking, but it should become less and less as the game goes on.

And Jennifer, I don't really know how I could edit the sprites... I'll fiddle with them, but I don't want to screw anything up beyond repair. :scared:

Go to palletes-main and you'll see a butt-load of unused colors on the right of the normal ones. If you wan't to mess with colors I suggest going to palletes-levels and seriously messing up cset2 and view the results in a dungeon. don't worry, this is completely reversibla. 😊

LostInHyru1e wrote:The beginning is clogged with quite a lot of talking, but it should become less and less as the game goes on.

It's fine to do that at the beggining when you're introducing the player to your game, or at certain other important points. Just cautioning against doing it all throughout.

What I like to do is take existing palettes, and take the colors but change them. (Like if it has 2 shades of green, one brighter n one darkner, I'll make whatever is green, black. Or something. And they'd shade in the same order.)

Easiest way to make palettes that don't look like crap

I'm still confused about the palletes. Editing them sounds more confusing. 😊

And I just found out about the "next" feature a couple of days ago, so now when I want to, I can layer moving "snow" over my screens, to give it a more wintery-feel. It's stuff like that that I can't believe they didn't take advantage of in the original Legend of Zelda.

Talking or message strings aren't bad as long as "Allow Fast Messaging" is enabled. I've played games that have this feature disabled and I feel like getting up to use the restroom or something. Fast Dungeon Scrolling is also a must. Just out of curiosity, does anyone like scrolling messages ? I would prefer it display immediately at the touch of a button.

I like the vintage sprites. The newer ones are more cartoon-like. Here's an idea, what if ZeldaClassic surpassed the graphics resolution of "Link to the Past", in the future...yet stays as a birds-eye-view game. In other words no 3D versions.

3-D versions would be WAY too hard to make. You can't use "tiles" anymore, you would need to design every room from scratch. With one or two people working on a quest... you'd need a couple of years to make a 3-dungeon quest, and by that time, the 3-D graphics you're using are probably going to be outdated!

And yes, I have "Allow Fast Messaging" enabled. I don't know what Fast Dungeon Scrolling is, however.

It was just an idea. If I remember correctly, Fast Dungeon Scrolling prevents the delay between screen transitions. I would be interested to see someone try and improve on the classic tileset.

X-Theta wrote:It was just an idea. If I remember correctly, Fast Dungeon Scrolling prevents the delay between screen transitions. I would be interested to see someone try and improve on the classic tileset.

Well. I've been working on one, but it's nowhere near done. I have been wondering what people would like to see in a new set in the style of the classic. Would anyone care two donate 2 cents to the "save the classic foundation"? 😉

LostInHyru1e wrote:I'm still confused about the palletes. Editing them sounds more confusing. 😊

And I just found out about the "next" feature a couple of days ago, so now when I want to, I can layer moving "snow" over my screens, to give it a more wintery-feel. It's stuff like that that I can't believe they didn't take advantage of in the original Legend of Zelda.

by the 'next' feature, are you referring to combo cycling? because combos don't cycle on layers.

And back to the original question, I usually tend to play game with more advanced graphics, but I was playing return to the darkworld by erm2003 recently, which uses the classic tileset. I think I find it more important that the designer hasn't cut any corners in making it look professional; if you need to layer one tile over another in the tile editor to make it look right, even if you only use that graphic once, I think it's worth the extra effort every time.

I don't know what you mean when you say combos don't cycle on layers, because they do... or, at least they do in ZQ2.10, which is what I'm using. I put the snow on layer 5 and it cycles perfectly in the tests I run for it on Zelda Classic. It looks like the snow is falling.

I see that Return to the Dark World uses the original Tileset, and yet I still think it looks like a solid quest, which I think a lot of people played.

Combos do not cycle on layers, but they animate. Combo animation is when one combo uses multiple tiles, like falling snow. Combo cycling is when one comb changes into another combo.

And for the original question, I absoluty love the classic tileset. I wouldn't decide not to play a quest just because it uses the classic tileset. In fact, my favorite quest uses classic graphics (Never mind the fact that I'm copying it screen by screen into a newer tileset). But anyways, most people won't care what tileset you use.

Oops, I guess I got Combo Animation and Combo Cycling confused. 😊 I guess I'm doing the animation.

And I'm really glad that nobody would dismiss a quest for being on a lousy tile-set.

I have a question... I see a lot of threads in the Quest Announcement/Discussion titled "Blah-blah-blah Demo." What would a Demo usually include? Would it just be an incomplete version of the quest, or would it be its own Qst file, with a compressed overworld or one dungeon? I don't understand.

to Gleeok, what is the need? The new classic is quite the upgrade from the old classic, and IMO tweaking it is a better idea than replacing it.

I'd definitely play a classic quest, though I don't think looking at it as a "classic quest" is a good idea if all you are using are the graphics. Make the quest focused on your unique gameplay ideas, not the tileset!

AmazingAmpharos wrote:to Gleeok, what is the need? The new classic is quite the upgrade from the old classic, and IMO tweaking it is a better idea than replacing it.

I'd definitely play a classic quest, though I don't think looking at it as a "classic quest" is a good idea if all you are using are the graphics. Make the quest focused on your unique gameplay ideas, not the tileset!

Yes, the new default has a bunch of new stuff which is much needed, but who said anything about replacing it? Every other tileset gets upgraded, and variants come out from those, yet for the most part the classic remains the same. Suppose your someone like me for a second, and want to make a quest with classic tiles but not a typical romp through Hyrule, 9 dungeons...Ganon, save the princess, yada yada. What invariably happens to me, i've realized, is that I run out of tiles really fast. You can only use the brick looking combo so many times before everything looks the same. Thus I give up on it because imagination becomes greater than the means to implement it. Try making future worlds, sewer levels, or sky fortresses with the current classic sets. It's pretty hard. Especially with three colors.