NeoFirst Development Diary

I like the idea of ambushes! Once you defeat the King of Theives, will the ambushes stop?

Hello. I'd like to apologise for the break in diary entries. I've been working on several aspects simultaneously (that is to say: adding plot-related signposts to Level 1, scripting some bottle interactions, customising enemies) but have brought none to a state where I can display them with vigor. Please remain steadfast until another week passes.

And, to answer your question: yes! Good idea.

Nice! And once you finish the touches on the first level, I really want to play it to see what and how it changed. Either way, this quest is sounding very good. 😊

When Link acquires the Red Candle, he gains the ability to produce fire. Such a power should not be wielded idly! Certainly, it is necessary to check many suspiciously coloured shrubs for secret passages. But do be careful when you're in that tall grass!

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Hey! Is that the Red Candle? Put it away!
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As you may remember from a certain multiplayer Zelda game, tall grass is surprisingly flammable, especially when whipped up by a spring breeze. If a flame weapon of either Link's or a monster's should land on those stalks, they'll be set ablaze before you can say "Joan of Arc".

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Oh no! Link! What have you done?
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And what's worse is that the fire will spread to any adjacent tall grass combos as well! O my!

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Now this is just not cool.
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(The "burnt grass" combos aren't quite finalised yet.)

The flames hurt both enemies and boys, as it is equivalent to Link's candlefire. ...! Maybe there's a puzzle somewhere in the world that requires a blaze spreading along a line of grass?

In closing: only you can prevent, um, this sort of thing.

L...I...need....that...script. 0_o *stares*

Artisticly, the only thing I'd change would be the grass around the trees. Far too blocky, in my opinion.

good gravy, L! You've outdone yourself!

....oh gosh, this reminds me of that one time in D&D when I cast a fireball in a forest... >_< My friend never let me forget it.

Wow, I've been checking out some of the new stuff on here and other places and I must say that the capabilities of this program has grown by leaps and bounds since it began. And you are showing off some really impressive stuff here _L_. I really like the inclusion of some of the Z2 enemies, nice to see more stuff being used from the black sheep of the Zelda series; could a version of the Daira, the axe weilding lizardman, be made that could slash with its axe? Using ZScript or otherwise? That could make for a really dangerous melee foe.

Keep up the good work, sir, I look forward to seeing more!

_L_ wrote:The flames hurt both enemies and boys

Holly crud that's amazing! How on earth do you manage to do all this stuff?

Why, Link? WHY?

This script looks intriguing. It would be interesting to just burn things with the Red Candle. I have a question, however. Will this be applied to "Bush" combos as well?

Now this quest is getting even more interesting... speaking of which, I almost didn't find that hidden level in "Mystic Forest" with the candle in the last demo. So that's where Roc's Feather is... in the level I still have nightmares about.

Joe123 wrote:How is this possible?
I thought you couldn't make an LWeapon or an EWeapon that damaged both Link and enemies?

Well, you could always generate both.

Joe123 wrote:How is this possible?
I thought you couldn't make an LWeapon or an EWeapon that damaged both Link and enemies?

[ ] Link Isn't Hurt By Own Fire Weapons
[X] Link's Bombs Hurt Link

Din wrote: I almost didn't find that hidden level in "Mystic Forest" with the candle in the last demo. So that's where Roc's Feather is... in the level I still have nightmares about.

Last demo? I only remember there being one.
Link, please! 😃

http://l.j-factor.com/zeldaclassic/NeoFirst_L.qst

This is the Miniboss quest he had. It's old, and hasn't been updated for a long time, but it's the most recent demo. As well, it's unpassworded, allowing you to change where you'll start.

_L_ wrote:[ ] Link Isn't Hurt By Own Fire Weapons
[X] Link's Bombs Hurt Link

Oh.
Pretty obvious then really.

As you might already know, the player has the ability to use their bottle to scoop up water and sand from the environment and use it as they please. There are some creatures and traps in this world that can be slain outright by one or both of these substances. Fireball shooters, for example.

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And let's wash away these slimy slimes, too. Tra la la...[/center]

There are some enemies, however, which react in much stranger ways to water and sand. Let's look at a few of these cases now.

* Water Gels are not as afraid of pure water as their slimy cousins! They will merely drink it up and grow much larger.

* Bubble enemies are protected from your weapons by magical fire. Douse the magical fire, and they become vulnerable, hopping madly to escape their fate.

* As an act of generousity, something wonderful happens when Red Bubbles are doused - they transform into Blue Bubbles, which can cure Link of the Red Jinx. So remember this when you spy a roomful of Red Bubbles - they may become the means to curing your jinx as well as inflicting it.

* It is often believed that only Magic Powder is capable of transforming the Bubble enemies into Fairies. In truth, any kind of powder is sufficient. Of course, your bottle can only carry a single scoop of sand, so you'd better be careful when you throw it.

To summarise, here is an incomplete list of interactions:

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Hey! What of those final two equations? They are quite telling. If you have an empty bottle, you can indeed scoop up a Gel enemy to receive Gelly.

Blue Gelly is merely water. Green Gelly, on the other hand, is a stinky oily substance that restores magical power when ingested very quickly. Just... try not to think about where it's been! And there is quite possibly another variety of Gelly that you can obtain.

...

And, if you're wondering about the Forest Temple's progress, rest assured that it's all proceeding as planned. Here's an obtuse, ambiguous screenshot to prove it!

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Cool. Kind of like the Chuchus from TP, then?

In a way, yes.

Something I'd also like to point out: All of the non-harmless Gels in this quest are Tribbles. In previous quests the Gel Tribbles were designed to be indirect sources of magic power, due to their self-replenishing nature and surety of dropping Magic Decanters. In this quest, the item drop "middleman" is cut out - you simply scoop up a single Gel, and it restores all of your magic power.

Hello! I was playing a game recently. A game starring a character called Kirby. In Kirby's Adventure Kirby has two fire abilities - a 'Fire' ability, where Kirby breathes fire, and a 'Burning' ability, where Kirby becomes a fireball. In Kirby Super Star, the game that I was playing, there was just one 'Fire' ability that contained the Fire and Burning abilities in a single unit.

It was in this vein that I was visited with a thought. What if Link's powers were like this? The many Zelda games have featured several variations of the hookshot, among them the Clawshot, the Switch Hook, the Grappling Hook, and the classic Hookshot. What if Link was given a Hookshot that was all of these hookshots at the same time?

...Well, I haven't managed that magnificent feat. But do read on, please!

Some of Link's standard weapons have been given secret abilities. Much as the Bow in Link's Awakening had the secret ability to produce a Bomb Arrow, so too do some of Link's weapons in NeoFirst.

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(Of course, you can probably guess what the button is, given the limitations of ZScript.)

There is, currently, at least one more item with a secret ability. This number is bound to increase!

All of these abilities are available from the very moment Link lifts up the item. But there are two important aspects to consider. Firstly, they are entirely unnecessary to completing the adventure. There will never be a puzzle that must be solved with the Switch Hook. At the most, they will provide means of making existing puzzle solutions easier, or means of sequence-breaking.

And, secondly, the means of activating these abilities will never be revealed within the quest, much as the means of loosing a Bomb Arrow in Link's Awakening was never uttered by any character. The only official indication of their existence is by either reading NeoFirst's script code, or by reading this very forum post. That being said, I have spoken enough of this matter.

So it's essentially the Switch Hook from OoA? This ought to be... interesting, but is the Fishing Line going to be a seperate item, then? Whenever I tried to clear the forest temple, I had to use cheats since the hookshot would fish for boots at certain points which prevented you from clearing the chasms inside. Anyway, you're doing a good job with this quest _L_, keep it up!

Awesome! The hookshot and switch hook in one! Any hints as to the other items that do this?

_L_ you do know that in Links Awakening there is a "a piece of heart" puzzle that requires the bomb arrow? nothing else can solve the puzzle. another example of a similar secret would be in LttP, bombing over the ledge in Ganons Fortress is undocumented but REQUIRED if you want to reach that secret.

You are suggesting some features that are not REQUIRED for anything and instead just used for sequence breaking and making stuff easier.

franpa wrote:another example of a similar secret would be in LttP, bombing over the ledge in Ganons Fortress is undocumented but REQUIRED if you want to reach that secret.

russadwan wrote:Awesome! The hookshot and switch hook in one! Any hints as to the other items that do this?

I'd quite like to add an extra purpose to the Power Glove - something that, amazingly enough, does not involve lifting - but whether or not it would be a secret ability is another matter.

Previously, I revealed the existence of secret abilities that various weapons have concealed within themselves - abilities so secret that the player may never encounter them in the game at all.

This next technique is not one of those secret abilities. It is, in fact, something that the player will be expected to discover, by accident or by word-of-mouth, if they want to uncover certain lost treasures or pathways.

But, this technique is also inspired by the ingenious Bomb Arrow technique from Link's Awakening, in that it involves the combination of two seemingly unrelated items in a marvellous fashion.

And so, let me reveal the not-so-secret to setting your own arrows on fire:

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It may not make much sense in the real world, but in the abstract videogame land of Zelda Classic, where boomerangs can grab objects, and flames and arrows are about the same size, the player can easily accept it.

Also, the land of Zelda Classic contains obvious distinctions between active objects (enemies and weapons, which move around and vanish when you change screens) and passive objects (that is, combos). Thus, I believe the player will accept that their arrows can interact with 'active fire' (Link's fire weapon) but not with 'passive fire' (torch combos).

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Hey! D-don't tell me it works for bombs, too!
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I wonder what you'd be capable of if you used Remote Bombs...

OMG I love you. That gives me so many puzzle ideas... I really hope Neofirst still is unpassworded when it comes out, as I could use some of these scripts with my ideas too. ;_; That is genius!

Ever played Bowmaster Prelude? Whoo-hoo, a bomb arrow! Urgh, I need a demo... to go on... *collapses*

Seriously though, this is a whole new dimension as far as Zelda Classic goes! I am going to be enticed by the scripts in this quest...

Not quite true. The Pegasus Boots knockback (which is much more evident to the player) works just as well.

I can assure you all that you will be able to play through the first Triforce dungeon again soon. Very little remains awaiting refurbishment.

And among those few tasks is the finalisation of some newly assembled enemies to populate this bizarre building. Permit me to reveal several such creations to you:

[center]Flying Book
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Flying books! The spells inside these tarnished tomes must be motivating the books to take to the air. These ensorceled volumes are bound in even-harderback, so your sword and boomerang won't injure them very effectively. But remain unconcerned: a mortal fear of dampness dissuades these abberations from ever appearing outdoors.

...What did you say? Cheat codes? I don't know what you mean! You must be thinking of another game!

[center]Stum & Stumclops
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These ugly wooden perils are the undead corpses of once-grand trees, now uprooted and wandering in anguish. Their offensive abilities are minimal, but their thick bodies are tremendously unyielding to attacks. You'd have to slice one at least 32 times before it'd cease its sorrowful strolls.

Fortunately, as you may have noticed, the variety known as Stumclops has a single feeble eye atop it. This might be a secret place where the landing of a single strike will fell the fiend!

But, as you can see, it is incapable of being struck by Link's horizontal attacks. Is there a vertical attack that Link can use against it?

(This may sound crazy, but I'm more interested in seeing if Stum's eyeless face could possibly serve as a makeshift platform, if Link could only leap upon it...)

[center]Green Stalfos
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A Stalfos wearing the tunic and hood it wore in life. Why is that restless spirit inhabiting these bones still? ...You can't help but wonder if this is what lies in Link's future, should he fall victim to the dungeon's dangers.

...Such an uncommon bestiary. An auspicious dungeon should contain thematic obstacles and threats, no?

Woot Banjo-Kazooie Cheat code book? 😛

Huh, so it's kind of a "haunted nature" feel. That seems pretty interesting, but where do the books come from? That last enemy seems ever eerie however, I wonder where they'll come in. Maybe just a trap in the forest to "spook" Link? Plus at this point the poor boy is a bit chicken-hearted, I'm guessing, so Link is not conquering his fears the easy way. There are some interesting enemies, and I'm looking forward to being able to play through the first level!