[Game Maker 8 Pro]Comprehensive Gameboy Zelda Engine

[Phaze]

Too many, my friend, too many.
Pretty much all handheld Zeldas safe for Minish Cap, I think? Which is why I ask, since this is somehow based on the gameboy titles.

I... I'm honestly not sure. I know Four Swords didn't have any...

A sign I need to play [Minish Cap] again, perhaps

[Vanya]

Very cool. I have some ideas for some Zelda fan games of my own I'd like to make. This engine would be a great base for those projects from what I've read.

Also, I'd like to mention that there are a couple of music extensions that can handle sound fading for MP3s and GM Studio's new sound functions do it natively for all sound formats now.

[puggsoy]

The Minish Cap is the only handheld version of Zelda with bottles, iirc. Not counting OoT 3D, of course. But even Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks don't have them, you can buy bottles of potion but no empty bottle is left behind for other uses.
Most handheld versions have replacements for fairies in bottles though (which is what I assume most people use bottles for). The Oracle of Ages had Magic Potion (Seasons too probably), and PH and ST have Purple Potion. Link's Awakening might be the only one without, although I haven't played it for a while so I could be forgetting something.

Anyway, this looks great. I don't use GameMaker but if I ever feel the need to make a Zelda game with no special mechanics this will probably be better than making an entire engine myself.

Are you thinking of adding a trading game feature after you've got most of the stuff covered?

[Deathbringer]

Link's Awakening had the medicine you bought from Crazy Tracy.

[Koh]

The Minish Cap is the only handheld version of Zelda with bottles, iirc. Not counting OoT 3D, of course. But even Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks don't have them, you can buy bottles of potion but no empty bottle is left behind for other uses.
Most handheld versions have replacements for fairies in bottles though (which is what I assume most people use bottles for). The Oracle of Ages had Magic Potion (Seasons too probably), and PH and ST have Purple Potion. Link's Awakening might be the only one without, although I haven't played it for a while so I could be forgetting something.

Anyway, this looks great. I don't use GameMaker but if I ever feel the need to make a Zelda game with no special mechanics this will probably be better than making an entire engine myself.

Are you thinking of adding a trading game feature after you've got most of the stuff covered?

A Link to the Past was the first Zelda game to have bottles . Link's Awakening's Crazy Tracey's Secret Medicine was pretty much like a fairy in a bottle. As for the trading sequence, probably, but I'd likely follow the Oracle games' trading or whatever. But it'll be doable, yes.

Just a heads up that this is still being worked on. However, the next update is going to be a large one (though the major version number may still be 0 XD.)

Here's what's done so far:

-Updated the Golden Shovel to dig all 8 tiles (if possible) around Link as well as giving him double spoils.
-Implemented a pausing system.
-Implemented the equipment menu.
-Implemented the chest system.
-Implemented the item holding system.
-Implemented the Level 1-4 Swords (Fighter's, Master, Tempered and Golden).
-Implemented the Sword Beam system.
-Implemented the bush system.
-Implemented the leaf particle system.
-Implemented the random item drop script.
-Implemented the Heart Piece and Heart Container systems.
-Removed all testing keys.

And a few teaser shots:

[OverlordNext]

This is awesome! will you also make your own game when the engine is done?

[Koh]

This is awesome! will you also make your own game when the engine is done?

Probably not. It's mostly for the Internet Community, and for the lulz.

How about a little teaser/trailer to show SOME of the things you can expect in the next version? It's high time I went video mode anyway.

[SmashBroPlusB]

For the community, eh... ?

Does this mean the engine is going to be somewhat accessible to lower-level Game Maker users? Or is there a bit of scripting knowledge needed?

I like how the game uses neat little visual effects for commonplace Zelda tasks like cutting a bush or obtaining Rupees from a chest. It looks pretty cool in my opinion. A lot of fan game engines try to emulate the source perfectly, which is fine, but I like how this engine takes its own direction while still remaining faithful to the source.





Oh, and you can change item names right?

[puggsoy]

Wow, it's looking fantastic so far! Just a couple of things I thought to point out:

• When you get an item from a chest it doesn't say anything. It should let the developer choose a little message for each type of item (e.g. "You got 20 rupees! That's nice." or "You got the Roc's Feather! Use it to jump over gaps.").
  
• When you push blocks they kind of jump ahead. They should move smoother and a tad slower, imo.
  
• The little bar showing your equipped items, rupees, and health is pretty cool how it moves up and down, but it might block out important bits of the screen in some cases. Maybe it's better to just keep it up top permanently and everything else beneath it. I do like how it comes up and turns into an item screen though
  

You're probably planning to do some of these already, but I thought to mention them just in case. Also remember I haven't played A Link to the Past (I really should) so these things might be completely normal, in which case you can just ignore them.

I like how you've already got those rock things sitting around, so I expect we'll be seeing a Power Bracelet soon.

[Sevenstitch]

Really cool, this is really neat.

I'd agree with Puggsoy and say that the block movement is a tad fast, but I'm sure that's probably a personal
choice (the blocks always have moved kind of slow imo)

As for that HUD, I understand why it does it, but could you make an option that allows for it to be fixed, and
have a key-bind that allows the player to switch it's position at will manually, so it isn't constantly bopping back
and forth like that?

[Phaze]

Some small advice, again on sound;

You should probably either space out the thunder or randomize the duration between each rumble (or both!); I could easily tell when it was going to thunder and it started to become difficult to watch.

[Koh]

For the community, eh... ?

Does this mean the engine is going to be somewhat accessible to lower-level Game Maker users? Or is there a bit of scripting knowledge needed?

I like how the game uses neat little visual effects for commonplace Zelda tasks like cutting a bush or obtaining Rupees from a chest. It looks pretty cool in my opinion. A lot of fan game engines try to emulate the source perfectly, which is fine, but I like how this engine takes its own direction while still remaining faithful to the source.





Oh, and you can change item names right?

Thanks~
You can do whatever you want with this XD.

Wow, it's looking fantastic so far! Just a couple of things I thought to point out:

• When you get an item from a chest it doesn't say anything. It should let the developer choose a little message for each type of item (e.g. "You got 20 rupees! That's nice." or "You got the Roc's Feather! Use it to jump over gaps.").
  
• When you push blocks they kind of jump ahead. They should move smoother and a tad slower, imo.
  
• The little bar showing your equipped items, rupees, and health is pretty cool how it moves up and down, but it might block out important bits of the screen in some cases. Maybe it's better to just keep it up top permanently and everything else beneath it. I do like how it comes up and turns into an item screen though
  

You're probably planning to do some of these already, but I thought to mention them just in case. Also remember I haven't played A Link to the Past (I really should) so these things might be completely normal, in which case you can just ignore them.

I like how you've already got those rock things sitting around, so I expect we'll be seeing a Power Bracelet soon.

Yup, the textboxes are a must on the list. I slowed the blocks down. The HUD was made a bit more transparent, but a lot of people don't seem to like the shifting. However, if they have a problem with it, they can always change that if they decide they want to mess with the engine at all. Yes the Power Bracelet/Titan's Mitt will be in soon.

Really cool, this is really neat.

I'd agree with Puggsoy and say that the block movement is a tad fast, but I'm sure that's probably a personal
choice (the blocks always have moved kind of slow imo)

As for that HUD, I understand why it does it, but could you make an option that allows for it to be fixed, and
have a key-bind that allows the player to switch it's position at will manually, so it isn't constantly bopping back
and forth like that?

Noted above x3.

Some small advice, again on sound;

You should probably either space out the thunder or randomize the duration between each rumble (or both!); I could easily tell when it was going to thunder and it started to become difficult to watch.

It actually IS random. I just forgot to make the timer random in the reset script as well; I put a static number xD.

[Ran Master 27]

Ooh man, I just started using GM a while back, and whew.

It's gonna take me a good while to comprehend all the coding in this project.
But I KNOW for sure this is gonna be a huge help later on, as my coding is still very very sloppy atm compared to yours. =/

But thanks a lot for putting this up. It helps new game developers like me to understand what standards are put into HQ projects like this.

Thanks man.

[Yamcha the Desert Bandit]

Cool man. Dont stop now!

[Koh]

This is being picked back up, as I decided I wanted to use this as leverage for more practice in both graphics and code, while I simultaneously work on World of Chaos II. So, that said, I'll show what I've been doing.

Basically, I'm updating the graphics I currently have in now, as more practice with color making and design. The base colors are from the original A Link to the Past graphics, while the lightest (also highlights), darkest, inline, and outline colors I have made myself. For comparison, old on the left, new on the right: