Anyone interested in doing a group quest with me?

I would be glad to help with scripting needs. All the better that it'd be a last resort and not a full custom write because I do still have other things to attend too. 😊

A certain [MENTION=39128]ShadowTiger[/MENTION] is no doubt down for this.

... Damn it. I'm that bored. Thanks MSU. 😛

It's interesting to have commitment issues and boredom issues. But for ZC, sure. I'm in a gaming slump until Terraria 1.2 comes out in less than two months.

I'm good to go for a quest set there. Been wanting to do something like that, and I'm a decent-enough spriter, and I can certainly do general-purpose scripts. (I made some fun basic stuff for DoY.)

I'm on Facebook. You know where to find me.

EDIT: Oh, and we're doing this. And obviously this.

So here's a rough draft. I'm also kind of hoping to use large hitboxes if they're not a pile of nightmarish garbage to work with. You will also take control of different ponies during specific bits or parts of the game which should be easy with LTMs and all that jazz. This may or may not end up being MULTIPLE quests depending on how ZC decides to behave... just throwing it out there, I otherwise plant/intend/hope on keeping it one single quest file.

Mini quests in canterlot (1-2 with some more optional ones for later)
Twilight is carted off to ponyville.
mini quests in ponyville (One for each of the mane six, the longest in my head being no more than a 15 minute deal. either from that pony's POV or twilight's)
The events of the first two episodes transpire:
- Celestia is missing, and thus begins "Level 1" (of many): The Everfree Forest. A completely outdoors dungeon. Not sure of the format yet. Will likely involve, obviously, using their Elements (not the Relics, but their actual "personalities" (aka natural abilities)) to navigate portions of the dungeon to reach the goal. Complete with Manticore mini/boss. Not sure how the other events will be interpreted yet.
-Nightmare Moon is confronted at the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. Except instead of monologuing because 22 minutes is almost up, she will actually just banish the ponies from the castle and hide the elements of harmony themselves (hooray, six more dungeons! of smallish/moderate size). Thus begins Act 1: Eternal Night.

The six dungeons will be spread out across equestria. Except Twilight's (the last one) which will be back in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters after Nightmare Moon does some extensive remodeling. The dungeons will all take different formats. o. Or maybe gradually go from pure combat-based to pure-puzzle-based. Or some combination thereof. Like RD's and PP's and Twilight's will be combat + puzzles. Rarity and Fluttershy's will be just puzzles. AJ's will be all combat.

So once the 5 dungeons are done, showdown with Nightmare Moon. the Mane 5 can partially tap into their elements and unleash a small but significant portion of their power. Probably to shatter barriers or something like that. Or twist the meanings of their personality traits into something vaguely useful for a dungeon. Like the light from fluttershy's element of kindness will make overkill enemies completely docile in order to progress. stuff like that. Nightmare Moon will kidnap twilight at some point. Like the last 1/4 of the dungeon or the second half of it. After getting all the twilight-specific challenges out of the way, wherein the other 5 will use their combined might to navigate the last portion. Then of course, the conclusion of Act 1: Celestia Restored.

The term "mini quest" is used loosely. Most WILL actually be mini. Others will be more properly labeled sidequests. Case in point: Dragonshy will be its own "major" side-quest. So will the Iron Will bit, and Gilda. Trixie too. Basically, any non-friendly will be a boss or at least cause something major enough to warrant a dungeon/level of some kind. ... now that I think about it, the ponies' non-apocalyptic adventures will collectively be Act II: Life in Equestria.

Afterwards, strange things will start happening all over Equestria. Odd weather, hiccups in reality, and of course unusual and hostile creatures will begin popping up everywhere. Twilight will receive a letter from celestia requesting the Mane Six go to Canterlot immediately. Thus begins Act III: The Return of Chaos. The Elements of Harmony have been stolen by Discord and Twilight, misinterpreting his riddle, takes her friends through the Canterlot Palace Labyrinth. It will require the navigation of an actual hedge maze for a little bit before delving underground into an actual dungeon. Discord is here, but it's all one big trap. one by one, the mane six (except twilight) are corrupted into being the opposite if their true selves. Discord then whisks them away (hooray six more dungeons! excluding act 2 that brings us to like at least 15 so far) along with the corrupted elements of discord. Twilight loses hope (another mini-quest, plot-critical/relevant/mandatory) like in the show, but finds it again once she rereads some of her letters. And she embarks on a quest to get her friends back. Dunno about the order yet (for now, assume the one in the show) but as she saves (through a boss battle of some kind that might involve actual combat but also involve other things) more of her friends they'll help her in subsequent dungeons. Then of course, they head back to Canterlot Castle (which Discord has remodeled. Darn villains and their egos!) as the final dungeon of Act III. After freeing Celestia, she will join you in helping to confront Discord. Since he also stole Twilight's Element and still has it (the other 5, again, were hidden away in the dungeons that the corrupted Mane Six are in). At some point during the boss fight, they get the Element from Discord and they Orbital (not really) Friendship Cannon his arse back to the stone age. Thus concludes Act III, with the Return of Harmony.

Act IV: Life in Equestria Redux. More of their minor adventures. I may have to borrow antagonists from Season 1 if I can't find enough or w/e from Season 2. It will also end with the events of the Season 2 Finale, A Canterlot Wedding, before transitioning into...

Act V: The False Princess. After a mini-quest in Act IV, Twilight exposes the fake Cadence who reveals herself, defeats Celestia (love is a powerful thing!), and conquers canterlot. This one may not involve as many dungeons as Acts I or III, but I'll just make the few that will exist nice and huge! ... actually, better idea: Travelling to different locations around Equestria to do something about the changelings invading different towns and such, along with taking out some of their "base camps". Maybe I can pad it out with some bullshit about collecting fragments of some relic to summon princess luna during the day who will also help you battle the final boss. Regardless, the final dungeon will be The Ancient Canterlot Caverns, underneath the castle. They will be accessed from the bottom of the mountain that Canterlot is on, and you work your way up into the castle itself (now blocked off through some currently indeterminate means, from the outside. So that the caverns are the only way in.). After rescuing Cadence and all her friends from the caverns, (initial stealth portion followed by more combat and puzzles) and fighting off hoards of changelings, chrysalis defeats the mane six. Which pisses of Cadence and makes her go SUPER SAIYAN (well not really but something to this effect). Who breaks the curse on Shining armor, and together they defeat/banish all the changelings from canterlot and thus concludes Act V, with Love, the Seventh Element.

After this, there may or may not be another Life In Equestria act. But that remains to be seen. Otherwise, the game skips ahead a small period of time (a few weeks/month/s. Act VI: The Crystal Empire. Actually! No wait, it will be Act VI: Life in the Crystal Empire. Game still skips ahead, but now you'll do a few miscellaneous mini/side quests in the crystal empire before getting into the heavy stuff (Life in the Crystal Empire will finish with starting the Crystal Faire) . Either the Crystal Heart will be spread into shards (any amount between 2-6, likely 2 or 4) either in King Sombra's castle (maybe a time-travel gimmick!) or in dungeons across the crystal empire (since no map of it exists some ad-libbing will be necessary) and possibly the northern reaches of equestria. Nothing will really happen to Twilight's friends since, like in the show, they will merely be busy keeping the Crystal Faire going and tending to Princess Cadence who is utterly exhausted from going for days without eating or sleeping to use her magic to spread Love and Light across the empire to keep King Sombra out. It might take a slightly different route though and end with Sombra actually coming back, freeing some crystal ponies (stealth-based maybe?) and Cadence so that the heart may be powered and used to banish sombra. thus concludes Act VII: The Dark King's Return with "The Return of the Crystal Princess".

That might do it for the game. If a final act is done it will end with Twilight's Coronation, having her go through the Six Trials of Friendship (again, six dungeons). Kind of like how the GBA version of A Link to the Past had the Palace of the Four Sword.

So, to summarize:

Act I: Eternal Night ---------------------------- 7 Dungeons (Everfree Forest, Elements of Harmony Dungeons 1-5, Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters)
Act II: Life in Equestria ----------------------- ? Dungeons. At least ... 4?)
Act III: The Return of Chaos ---------------- 7 Dungeons. (Palace Labyrinth, Elements of Discord Dungeons 1-5, Canterlot Castle)
Act IV: Life in Equestria Redux -------------- ? Dungeons. At least 3-4 I suppose.
Act V: The False Princess --------------------- 7 Dungeons. Liberation of Equestria (3). Summoning The Lunar Harbinger (3), Ancient Canterlot Gem Caverns (now Changeling Lair) + Canterlot Castle
Act VI: Life in the Crystal Empire ------------ ? Dungeons. At least 2-3.
Act VII: The Dark King's Return ------------- 7 Dungeons. Mending the Shattered Heart (6) + Dark Crystal Castle.
Possible Act VIII: Twilight's Ascension. ---- 6 Dungeons. The Trials of Friendship (6).

C'mon gaiz its gon be totally epiiiiiiic. Keep in mind this is a VERY rough draft and subject to likely minor changes unless some paradoxes or plot holes develop. I will refine it later. This took me like a half hour to write... stream-of-consciousness sort of thing. I am so grateful to whoever implemented or decided to include that post auto-save feature. @_@

I suppose I'll throw up a Google Doc or two with more info and a spreadsheet somewhere people may edit (PM me for approval though) with things like enemy names and descriptions, or item/spell/etc. names/descriptions and all that fun stuff. Now someone post after me so I won't get yelled at for triple posting!

A region sounds much more appealing to me than a large map at this time. I'm somewhat interested.

Much more interested in the gameplay at the moment. ... and the tileset. If the tileset is different, it'll probably have to be something entirely custom. Small-scale, I can do. Grand-scale, ... we'll see.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q9P41VqUb0LOKK0GXkOm-uE_SMaVxpECrUeWAtr74kY/edit?usp=sharing Comments are enabled! I think/hope. So have at it.

This is entirely WIP and will be continued to be filled in over the coming days and weeks (well not this coming weekend as I will be travelling).

I will get into the nitty-gritty of the game mechanics after expounding on the order of events/plot... which will contain hints of gameplay mechanics, but like I said I'll go into detail on it afterwards.

This document is effectively one big stream-of-consciousness with incredibly vague planning. Depending on feedback it may change drastically, it may not.

As for who can contribute what, sky's the limit. Be it a single tile, or an entire map. Or a song, a script, anything whatsoever is fair game. If someone simply wants to contribute a single tile, or a single screen, that would be more than fine in my book and still warrant a spot in the credits.

As for tileset, I can't imagine it being a very difficult or overwhelming task since we could just edit/incorporate already existing tiles. As far as overworld at least. Dungeon/interior might be a big more cumbersome. But we'll see. I would like to suggest commitment until at least the first dungeon's completion.

I might've mentioned this before but I think most built-in items (and conceivably anything the item editor can spawn) would probably cover most of any theoretical scripting. At minimum. Adding a bit more pizzazz would be a different matter. Case in point: Twilight Sparkle creating a forcefield around herself to "block" which would just be a shield item with a pre-existing script for gameboy-style shields. The graphic would be a sphere around her sprite which would be animated as the engine's limits allow with/out scripting.

Uh, that's it I guess. To summarize:

After getting the plot out of the way I will elaborate on game mechanics. Spritework would be half-assed at every opportunity to reduce tediousness/workload. Same with scripting.

I found two midis of the intro song. The second is credited to Princess Viscra Maelstrom from the ZDoom forums.

I have a few shield scripts that match that description, one of them makes the eweapons disappear when they touch it and the other one pushes the weapon away from the character only depending on which direction they are moving.

So thankfully/unfortunately, a pony MMO was Hasbro'd a month after being released. I say thankfully because they started releasing their assets. I don't know if they released EVERYTHING but well so far just character spritesheets. Unfortunately, they are way too big to use in ZC (they are 64x64 on average) but I will try to see about resizing them. It will probably suck. :|

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10691609/MLP/New%20folder/twilightsparkle.png

On another note I've written more to that google document but I'm nowhere near done. Suggestions/feedback still welcome and always is at any point. I'm pretty sure comments are enabled.

Um, that's it I guess. As for the MIDIs, I think I'll just go with MP3's or somesuch. However! If anyone comes across any other MIDIs, link them anyways.

And https://skydrive.live.com/embed?cid=0894C6448C0633B6&resid=894C6448C0633B6%21169&authkey=ADTiTNZku_GhtHk
sounds very pony-ish.

So as of right now I have ditched ZC altogether and am using RPG Maker VX Ace. So far all I've managed to do is create a new player character. But maybe in a week or so I might be able to churn out a few minutes of gameplay involving stuff. A demo in the strictest sense of the word.

That google doc is "constantly" (but irregularly) being updated for anyone curious. Including some ramblings on game mechanics. Feel free, again, to comment/ask questions on it. That's half the reason it's there/public(ish).

If anyone would like to take a crack at making a FEW tiles they'd be useful but not immediately needed while I continue to figure out this fuckin' program.

and um... I guess that's it for now.

You could likely petition some DeviantArt people for the use of their sprites. I'd wager even the setting has tiles for it somewhere.