Zelda II Remake/Revamp Pre-Alpha 008

[Theforeshadower]

Just leaving this here for anyone to test out.
001
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
002
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
003
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
004
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
005
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
006a
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
007
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
008
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing

Not going to go too extensive into the details at the moment.  The project has been ongoing for a few years and has seen 4 revisions (Minish Cap, Link's Awakening, Sword of Mana, and now Link to the Past styles).  This is by far the most solid the engine has been. 

I already mapped out Hyrule in Link to the Past(couple years ago).  All that is left is caves, Death Mountain(inside), and the dungeons.  After the engine is complete, it'll just be plug n play.  I also have a 28 page design document I wrote that keeps the project focused.

Controls for now:
Arrow Keys to Move
D is the action button - grab, talk, dash if you have boots, open chests, etc.
S swings your sword, moves dialogue forward, and selects and item if you are in your inventory.
A uses the equipped item.
Enter pauses the game and enters the inventory screen.

Anyway, no screenshots, but here is what to expect:
-half-assed day/night cycle (morning comes suddenly)
-transitions (stairwells)
-3 sages complete with dialogue sequences(some skipped so you can get items)
-how a dungeon ends(mostly except for a final animation and going back to the overworld)
-7 big chests complete with items
-bomb and heart pick ups
-a text engine
-heart containers and pieces
-attacking
-dashing
-all active items function and most are finished

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy.  PS Don't break the healthbar right now.  There is a way to get more than the max life, but in the final game you won't be able to.

[Kelvin]

Screenshots?

[Mat(Nerah)]

Screenshots?

Thought I would help:




OP hit the nail on the head, it is a really smooth engine. (Lacks enemy examples.)

I have two complaints:
-It's Legend of Zelda; you have the heart pickups yet use a healthbar? << I assume it was just easier to draw the hp bar in GMS?
- I feel the diagolue needs more spacing between words; in some cases it is not bad, but most cases it can take a second glance to reread it.

That is all, could be promising.

[Silversea]

I think one text box issue is the opacity, on that first example the treasure chests show through it a bit too much and it obscures the text.

If you need help with heart interface coding on GMS I can probably help, I've done it before. The key is having each heart equal 4 of the health variable, and manually drawing each "quarter", but it is easy to do. You have a max variable too so you can draw the empty heart outlines when you have lost health.

[Theforeshadower]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
Build 005

-fixed some inventory bugs
-added a flag to find the Mirror(the green box in the chest room)
-stairwell transitions completely finished
-added a new room for testing switches and torches
-added torches and lighting system

Now, the lighting system is not 100%.  The only thing to finish is drawing Link, his sword (if it's out), and his shield (if it's out) if you do not have the Eternal Lantern.  Right now, it is "realistic" in that everything is drawn over with black.  Now, iirc, LTTP still drew Link even if you didnt have the Lantern, but not too sure.  The aim is going to be like AoL and draw Link, sword, and shield into a blue color.

My system works with a surface, so still figuring it out.  Wanted to post and update anyway since I missed a few days.  Ended up publishing Curse Engine to the YoyoGames Marketplace and that took about6 hours to remove all IPs and comment the code.  
Good news is, it is already selling, so I hope you excuse me from not posting an update yesterday.  

I have two complaints:

-It's Legend of Zelda; you have the heart pickups yet use a healthbar? << I assume it was just easier to draw the hp bar in GMS?

I already coded several heart engines for various styles:LoZ, LTTP, and LA.  
Zelda II had bars, not hearts.  Once I get other stuff done and out of the way, I was intending to do back to drawing blocks of health as the original Zelda II did.
For now, the health bar was just a working concept that did not need further attention since there are no enemies yet.  I have already done a bar style in a older attempt at a Zelda II remake from a few years ago, so it's plug n play that I just haven't gotten to yet.


There is an issue where you can open a big chest somehow nearby when trying to open a closed one.  While this is a "bug", there will never be two big chests near each other.  May fix it; might leave it.

[Theforeshadower]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
006

-little tweaks
-warping via Flute on a Flute Warp Pad has been added (took a lot longer to code than I would have liked due to my lack of surface experience)


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
Build 006a

-fixed some memory leaks I missed
-added a warp via playing the Flute while on a Flute Warp Pad

In coming builds, I will be working on the Level Up/Experience system and switches.

[Theforeshadower]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
Build 007

Based on recommendations of some friends, I have replaced the health meter with traditional hearts. This was quite a bit of work as well as changing the magic meter to be symmetric to the hearts.

-all levels set to 1
-added enemy parent object
-added a simple Gel type monster: it cannot hurt you, but it can be hurt and destroyed, thus giving the player some EXP
-no game over added, but you can test the Heart engine by pressing the - key on the numeric pad. It will subtract your health by 1
In the first alpha release, you will not be able to go below 0 health, thus preventing any issues and triggering a game over.

Next release:
-Full Level up Engine
More work than you would think will be going into this as I have a really awesome idea to encourage the player to level up. The leveling system will also be much more streamlined than the original Zelda II. Whenever a player levels up in the next release, they can immediately choose Attack, Magic, or Defense. Depending on the choice, the next required amount of EXP for a level-up will be modified with attack increasing the new needed EXP by the most and Magic increasing by the least.

I chose this approach to make the entire level-up process more direct than Zelda II where you could skip a level up to grab a different attribute. The change is that instead of static EXP amounts to gain an increase the in specified state, you will have to balance how you level up as EXP requirements can drastically increase if you choose to stack Attack levels before any other level.

The other reason for this was a new approach to balance the entire game. Zelda II was balanced not only by the rpg system, but also by player knowledge and skill in platforming and combat. As I transition Zelda II into a more traditional over-head control scheme, much of the skill required by the player will be reduced since insta-deaths will no longer be in the game and platforming will no longer be in the game. I decided to revamp the RPG system as a means of balancing the difficulty.

I think players will enjoy it in the end.

[Theforeshadower]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0...sp=sharing
Build 008

-added a full working concept of the level up engine
-changed exp points gained from gels from 2 to 10 for faster level up testing
-monster can now be hurt by bombs(bombs deal 2 damage)
-tweaks to misc code here and there

[iyenal]

Can you change the pixelated graphics by HD graphics ?

[redrum88]

@Theforeshadower It looks very nice, congrats!

What are you using to do it? Which language and library(ies)?

Keep going the nice work!