next »

[videogamerx2]

Hi.  I've been working on a Zelda game for a few weeks, and have completed through the first dungeon.  While its not a finished product, I'd welcome any feedback.

download:
http://sites.google.com/site/zeldagame123/zelda.zip

Several changes made:

I added a new font, fixed some bugs, made the collision better, replaced the sprites with GBC Link sprites.  I also edited the HUD and removed the transparency.

I'll make Link invincible for a little while after he is hurt plus stop when attacking in the next update.


New Screenshot:


Puzzle ideas and improvements are also welcome.

[Theon]

I'm certainly trying this:D

...Though I have to say that you really ought to make your own sprites and tiles; the old snes-graphics are fantastic, but slightly *cough* over-used, and I bet some original artwork would make this so much more amazing (Just stick to the resulotion and all)

[Sir Raptor]

On the topic of sprites, that GBA Link sprite looks terrible when mixed with the GBC sprites for everything else. It's like oil and water; it simply does not mix.

[deathtotheweird]

I have little enthusiasm for playing and giving feedback on games when someone new comes here and instantly asks for some.

As you can see, the ratio between people giving feedback and people asking for feedback is completely fucked.

Some feedback since this is the feedback forum:

Choose a better filehost, dropbox and google sites are great places to upload files temporarily (or permanently if you wish). Took me 4 tries to finally get the game.

Fan games are never fun. They are almost always derivative and unoriginal, and yours looks no different. Instead, take elements from your favorite games and make your own game. Space Captain McCallery would be a great example of such a game. Takes big clues from Zelda yet it plays and looks like it's own game.

Semi-transparent hud is pretty ugly, I would just drop it.
The sprites look like you took a screenshot of the original game and just cut and pasted them into your own.

The dialog font is awful, barely readable. Which is OK because the dialog is not interesting at all anyways. Why did the guards disappear when I talked to them? I also found it pretty creepy their heads rotated around like in the Exorcist.

Sometimes when I killed enemies, dropped hearts and rupees would spawn away from the dead body. Destructibles (enemies and grass) should also leave some effect behind instead of just vanishing.

Collisions in general seemed pretty nasty or non-existent. Either me running over things that I shouldn't or getting stuck while walking alongside a wall.

Music wasn't very good either. In the end I had two choices, get up and turn down my speakers and continue playing this mess of a game, or turn the game off and do something more entertaining, like not play a stupid fan game. I chose the latter.

[videogamerx2]

I will try to change it to GBC Link.

Sprites are all ripped - it's a fan game.  My goal is to make it on par with the gbc games.  That's an incremental process and so feedback should bear that in mind.

I'll look into better hosting.

Font is from the GBC...

"Collisions in general seemed pretty nasty or non-existent. Either me running over things that I shouldn't or getting stuck while walking alongside a wall."

This makes no sense to me, I never noticed this.  Could you explain what you shouldn't run over or where you got stuck?

Music is also from the Zelda games...


You really shouldn't spam the topic up with "fan games are never fun" and adjectives like "stupid."

Plus the plants DO leave a animation when destroyed, although I probably should do that for enemies as well. 

[deathtotheweird]

Font is from the GBC...

Doesn't make it any less shit, it still is a terrible font.

As for the collisions, I get stuck on every thing (excluding enemies) I bump into unless I change direction, seems pretty obvious to me? And I was able to run over half of the tree trunk in your OP's picture from the top and the sides.

The plant's death animation is so short lived I didn't even notice it. And I forget what happens when plants are destroyed in the other games.

Perhaps you should look up what spam means, giving feedback when asked for it is not spam. Perhaps calling your game stupid is bad feedback, I just find it hard to describe your game in any other way but stupid.

[BMcC]

Wow, allen, take it easy!  You're being pretty nasty here and I can't figure out why.  So he made a fan game -- does that harm you in some way? 

I don't want people dropping in just to advertise their games either, but he seems genuine enough.  And anyway, it's free.  I'd much rather see free fan game creators on here than folks like codergames, that's for sure! 

[deathtotheweird]

I wasn't trying to be vicious by calling it stupid, not trying to attack him or anything. I already mentioned that perhaps calling it stupid was not the best feedback. But he did mention in the first post he would take any feedback.

He can make the game all he wants, no it doesn't bother me. Was trying to get the point across that original games are much more interesting than fan games. Don't want to scare him off or anything, perhaps being brutally honest wasn't the wisest of decisions. 

[Dustin Smith]

I played the game and what you said is pretty spot-on Allen, but you did word it pretty curtly. You should follow his advice Mr. X2, as there is a (rightly-placed) stigma on fan-games.

[Melly]

Allen, I understand the criticism you're trying to provide and I think that's great, but you have to work on your delivery. You should provide honest criticism, yes, but you should try and do so in an encouraging way. Saying things like this:

...continue playing this mess of a game, or turn the game off and do something more entertaining, like not play a stupid fan game. I chose the latter.

Is just plain insulting, regardless of the quality of the game you're criticizing.

[baconman]

I'll agree, there's a reason for the fangame stigma. It's because that's how a lot of rookie devs learn. I don't know about anybody else here, but that's how I started, too. Totally broken, choppy remake of SF2 and the like. It was fun as hell, but admittedly very broken.

That said, there are plenty of decent fangames, remakes and demakes all around as well; and even many original games were totally broken. Yes, the text on Link's Awakening really did suck like that; but nobody cared because there wasn't much of a "portable gaming standard" to live up to; unlike nowadays. I'm assuming vgx2 here is trying to LEARN with this, and is counting on more experienced pros to point out precisely what is screwy, and perhaps what to do about it; not just a disorganized bitch slap for making a Zelda fangame.

And yes, while taking influences you appreciate and making "your own thing" is a greater experience to do; it's a LOT of work for somebody just getting started; and making what you KNOW will turn out to be "a rookie product" with your main vision planned nowadays has a tremendously greater consequence than it would've 20 years ago, when that was pretty much the ONLY way to go about it. If your "amateur project" is a flop, because it's a major learning experience for you, then tying that quality to your title/brand is the most foot-in-the-mouth move a gamedev can make. The sequel to "Suck" is always expected to be "Suck Harder," even before you've played it.

That said, I'll take a spin on it, and see if I can't help you out a bit. You might also look up "Zelda Classic," a Windows-based LoZ engine you can easily edit/revise to your liking/design, and worry less about the physics/sequencing. Some items from later games have been adapted to it as well. What did you dev this in?

[videogamerx2]

I'm coding this in Game Maker.  I am not just starting out I've actually been making games for about eight years.  I think this - unlike many other examples - has potential to actually be a good fangame, but it will take some work.  I'll change it to the snes dialogue font which is clearer, and then get a better host and put it on there.

[baconman]

...is not a valid Win32 application.

...is as far as I got.

I'll wait 'til you get the server thing resolved...

[laserdracula]

To echo the others, doing a fangame is only worthwhile if you do it well.  Otherwise it's just gonna be something that you waste your time on and noone will appreciate.  It's far more satifsfying to come up with your own ip.  Even if you suck at drawing, if your style is consistent, it doesn't matter that much.  Who knows?  You could come up with something quirky and iconic.

There were some basic things with the demo that were completely askew.

• Link should come to a stop when attacking or the animation should reflect that he's running and swinging
• The player should be invincible for a short "flashing" period after being hit.  You don't have to do it that way but, well, Zelda does it and it gives the player a chance to get away from another hit.
  
• Fix the sprite origins so that the different animations match up.  I noticed Link would
  jump when facing certain directions and and attacking
  
• The sword charge was awkward and just didn't feel right and the animation for the spin slash goes too fast
• If you're gonna use ripped graphics, make sure they're consistent.  And it also clashes when you use partial opacity alongside graphics that were originally intended for a system that couldn't do that.

These are basic things but they make a world of difference.

[videogamerx2]

...is not a valid Win32 application.

...is as far as I got.

I'll wait 'til you get the server thing resolved...

Hm I wonder if this is a pre-XP OS?  Or possibly the old download was corrupt.  Try the new one in the first post it might work now.

[SaturnineGames]

Tried it out, here's some things I noticed.

When I started out, I walked right twice with no problem. On that 3rd screen, the guard standing there wouldn't talk to me. It took a lot of tries before he would, and I was unable to progress any further until he did.

There were several screens, including the one I just mentioned, where it looks like you can walk over to the next screen but the game doesn't allow it. When you eventually get to the next screen, you find a tree or other obstacle at the edge which was the reason you couldn't cross over before. In cases like that, the obstacles should really be visible from both screens.

There's also a bug in your screen scrolling. If I walk toward the left edge of the map, the screen will scroll as approach the edge. However, the screen doesn't scroll right until I walk past the edge of the map. There's a little gap that seems to be about exactly the width of the player where I can walk up and down while completely off screen.

I stopped playing when I got to the Deku Swamp area. I kept dying if I got near the fairies(?), and if I got in the general area of the owl statue, the game would pop up a save window I had to respond to with the mouse. I'd usually die before I got my hand back on the keyboard. You should probably require the player to hit a button before prompting them to save.

One last comment - the map in the lower right is really hard to read. I think you're trying to cram too much detail into a small space. I think you should either increase the resolution of the map and only display the area around the player, or do a Zelda 1 style map.

[videogamerx2]

Thanks for pointing that out.  The screen scrolling is ok in the dungeon, but I'll have to adjust it for the overworld.  Also the guard is meant to be there until you destroy the octorocks in the first area.  I'll add some text to his first message hinting that you have to destroy them.  As for not being able to walk to the next screen, I still have to redesign the overworld map to work with scrolling.  Originally it was not designed for that and I just added scrolling.  I will replace the corner map with a full screen picture (brought up with a button press) once this redesign has been complete.  I'll also add some more borders to stop the fairies from getting near the save point.

edit - changes made (except for redesigning the map)