The game was up for a review last night over at Indie Insights, hosted by HighSights:

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=47423.msg1179548#msg1179548

It got an overwhelmingly positive reception -- once you got past the fact that the engine the game runs crashed the whole show before actually letting him play.  Whoops!  Anyway, check out the review when he has it on Youtube and also check out his other reviews, it's a good show.

Thanks for the review, and a special thank you for sticking with it even when Zelda Classic got jealous and exploded, taking your whole Twitch show down with it!  The reviews seemed overwhelmingly positive, but I'll implement a few tweaks of things I noticed during the playthrough into the final version.

If you keep playing it in your spare time, you can always post questions in the TIG thread here or over at PureZC.  Either way, I'm happy to answer them.

Also, you've shown me that my little manual is just like the NES manuals in another way -- no one reads it before playing.

For those who want to watch other people play instead of playing it yourself, we now have a Lets Play in progress.  You can check the first video here:





And new versions will be uploaded every two days, I believe.

Polished beta testing is more or less complete.  There are some quirky things remaining, but nothing with a good effort / reward ratio at this point.  The only things left to do are:

1) Add additional content (alternative endings, boss rush, TGL mode)
and
2) Correct any major bugs someone finds that none of my testers located, of course.

And, I have a solution to the quest loading process.  Go here:

https://www.purezc.net/index.php?page=projects&section=downloads&id=557

If you get the drop-boxed documents, everything you need is right there and you just have to point and click.  Run the "!!!!RUN ME!!!!" file and start a quest and off you go.  There's no need to muck around with the qst loading screen at all.  Now, you probably still want to configure your sound and controls (I use 50% SFX to music ratio and I configure controls like an original SNES controller) but that's up to your tastes.

Couldn't be easier!

Updated the game with new physics and new music.  In the home stretch as far as stuff I know I have to do; the more people who play it now and provide feedback, the more I'll tinker until it's done!

I love the concept of a multiplayer Dig Dug!

Corridors now overhauled for improved stability, consistency, and graphics.  Moving on to some other bugfixes and smoothing out of rough areas.  Looking at a July completion date, pending more people testing and reporting bugs.

All enemies and bosses revamped.  Now I'm doing cleanup on some plot-related things in the game and some tangential improvements.  If people want to offer input into other more basic mechanics of the game, time's running out to to do so.  I encourage people to playset and report what they like and dont!

Bumping to note that I have updated the OP to include a link to a video showing gameplay and a link to the manual giving more information about how to play.  Hopefully, this will entice more non-ZC people to pick it up and give me comments as I continue to chug along on this thing.

The enemy update is now complete.  There are a few minibosses here and there to upgrade, and I'm re-vamping some of the later game major bosses to be more challenging and consistent.  If you haven't checked out the project yet, now is a great time to do so and give me feed back on the enemies!

I have recently been going back and revamping all of the enemies in the game.  I am banishing the default enemies supplied by the engine, for the most part, meaning that I get a greater degree of control over the enemies you encounter.  It's a pretty major upgrade on how the game plays.  I'm about 1/4 of the way done replacing every enemy in the game, and you should check it out!

Progress on making the rough draft into a polished finished product continues.  There is still much to do in the vein of updating bosses and work better.  I've put out a new update that allows the Zodiac Project weapons (a series of 11 weapons you acquire as the game goes on, with plot significance) each to charge up to release a special attack, like what you see in MegaMan X.  Just so you have a flavor of what you can do, here's a listing of the Zodiac Project weapons and what they do:

Aquarius Bubble - Regular shot is a small bubble that attacks in a circle in front of the player.  Short range.  Charged up shot is a shield that will persist around the player until the player next takes damage, and will absorb that hit.

Scorpio Sting - Regular shot is a bullet that flies out in a wave pattern.  Long range.  Charged up shot is a massive circular projectile that will travel in a circular pattern off of the screen, crushing enemies in its path.

Pisces Spread - Regular shot is a 3-way projectile like the spread gun from Contra.  Charged up version fires three fish that will seek and explode on the nearest three enemies.  (Still slightly buggy!)

Gemini Twin - Regular shot fires two lazers in front of the player and one from behind.  Charged up shot makes a duplicate of your player character that fires shots constantly from a stationary position for a few seconds.  It's like the Copy Image from Megaman and Zero.

Aries Saber - Regular shot is a short range blade slash.  Charged up shot creates a stationary vortex of spinning blades to deal damage over time to anything caught within it.

Cancer Splatter - Regular shot is an organic projectile that is pulled down by gravity and splatters when it hits something, causing damage over a small area.  Charged up version fires a massive, bloody tornado projectile that deals large damage.

Libra Crystal - Regular shot fires three diamond-like projectiles that ricochet off of walls until they hit an enemy.  Charged up version creates a 2x2 ice stepping stone in front of the player that lasts for a very short period of time.

Taurus Flame - Regular shot fires a spinning fireball that arcs upwards.  Charged up version fires a large, slow moving fireball projectile that deals large damage and can melt icicle blocks it hits.

Virgo Whip - Regular shot is a short range whip that can strike repeatedly when it hits something and will restore your health each time it deals damage.  Charged up version is a vine aura that persists as long as you hold the button down.  While engaged, any damage you take will restore your missiles.

Leo Laser - Regular shot is a powerful laser that deals damage over time.  Charged up version causes the player to launch herself in a fireball across the screen until she hits a wall.

Capricorn Wave - Regular shot is a very powerful reality ripple projectile.  Charged up version deals damage to all enemies on the screen.

Psst, I secretly fixed the sidearm speed issue you've been complaining about for a million years.

So, I have an update for you folks.  You had informed me that the way doors worked was odd, and that enemies were spawning mid-screen in the flying levels.

Well, no more!  I uploaded a new version that fixes these bugs.  I try to move rapidly to fix all reported issues, which is why I'm so keen to get lots of people with different perspectives playing the demos and reporting as many bugs as they can find.  If these issues turned you off, I invite you to give it another try.

http://www.purezc.net/index.php?page=projects&section=downloads&id=429

Oh!  Some people responded!  

First things first, I'm working on a manual for the game that explains some of the less obvious elements.  You can read it in its entirety here:

http://www.purezc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=66216

That should answer some of your questions.  As to some other comments:

(1) The things that are striking you as odd are understandable, and "it's the engine durrr" isn't really an excuse.  There are some limitations on what I can do -- scrolling and some of the way weapons work later on being some -- but most of these issues are not engine-dependent.  I plan to go back and revamp the cutscene system as soon as I'm done revamping the bosses.  (P.S. There are many, MANY bosses.)  

(2) The first room gives you all the Sidearm upgrades because my beta testers are checking the new way the Sidearm works.  It's not gonna be there forever.  I update the file about every other day as I continue to work on it.

(3) Your comments as non-Zelda Classic player are VERY VALUABLE.  These give me additional things to tweak that people who are used to the engine wouldnt' necessarily notice or comment on.

(4) I should use another game dev tool, sure, but I started this on ZClassic and I feel obliged to finish it before I move on to something else.  So, ZClassic it is!

Thanks for your interest, and I really hope you guys keep playing and reporting issues or annoyances so I can continue to improve the game!

For what it's worth, I didn't think his reply was all that rude.  He did focus on what he did NOT like about it, rather than what he DID like, but it sounds like a perfectly reasonable series of things to complain about.  As someone who has had my own problems with jumping physics, I can certainly see where he might be coming from.

VIDEO SHOWING GAMEPLAY:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9726IzhjW-s
(There is no sound in the video because my computer blows and doesn't have a sound card to pump sound in to Taksi. There is sound in the game itself!)

Did you enjoy the old-school NES platform/adventure games? Blaster Master? Legacy of the Wizard? The Guardian Legend? If so, then you'll enjoy this project as well.




============ WHAT IS THIS? ===================

I am coming here to let you guys know about a project I am working on: "Zodiac: The Guardian Story." It is a game drawn in NES-style sprites, where the action usually takes place in a huge side-scrolling labyrinth divided into coordinates, like Metroid without scrolling, but occasionally puts the player into shoot-em-up levels, or "Corridors" to complete the game. The action is brutal, old-school platformer and NES shoot-em-up quality. Be quick or be dead.

The game is complete and has been polished in beta testing a few times.  I am not surprised if there are still bugs lurking around as I have a very small crew, but it is very close to done.  There are some quirky things remaining, but nothing with a good effort / reward ratio at this point.  The only things left to do are:

1) Add additional content (alternative endings, boss rush, TGL mode)
and
2) Correct any major bugs someone finds that none of my testers located, of course.



============ WHY DO I CARE? ===================

I'm reaching out beyond the ZClassic community to see if people are interested in giving it a whirl and reporting the bugs. Within the ZClassic, the capabilities I'm adding to the engine are impressive enough that the game may get a "pass" on some quirks that would annoy most end users. Or, players might accept those quirks as necessary parts of that engine and move on. I'd like to see how someone who is not familiar with ZClassic feels about it. If anyone here is interested in giving it a shot, that could generate some feedback from someone coming at the game with nothing other than fond memories of the NES games that inspire it. Feedback like that will be very valuable as I move into the bug-stomping, balancing, and polishing of the game.

This is not an attempt to profit or sell anything. The game is free, and it's being done strictly for my own amusement. However, I still want to make a product that will appeal broadly.



============ WHATS UP WITH THE MUSIC? ===================

Placeholders. VGMusic mixes of various older games are being used at the moment to set the mood. I'm working at getting some original MIDIs mixed up for this game, but since that's beyond my expertise, I'm left asking for help from friends or looking at artists from the website-formerly-known-as-8-bit-collective. If anyone here is a MIDI artist, I'd love to know you better.

============ WHERE DO I GET THIS GAME? ===================

You go here and download the drop boxed link documents:

https://www.purezc.net/index.php?page=projects&section=downloads&id=557

If you get the drop-boxed documents, everything you need is right there and you just have to point and click.  Run the "!!!!RUN ME!!!!" file and start a quest and off you go.  There's no need to muck around with the qst loading screen at all.  Now, you probably still want to configure your sound and controls (I use 50% SFX to music ratio and I configure controls like an original SNES controller) but that's up to your tastes.

Couldn't be easier!

============ WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO KNOW? ===================

Just about everything else you need to know is recorded in the current draft of the game manual. You can read it here:

http://www.purezc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=66216

The one thing that it does not cover, and may not be obvious to people playing Zelda Classic for the first time, is how you save. The save option appears after you die. If you don't want to die, you can press F6 to end the game and bring up the save screen. If you simply quit the application without doing this, you will not save and that sucks