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Topics - 4Sword

Pages: 1 2 [3] 4 5 ... 12
41
Graphics / Graphics Rules
« on: May 26, 2010, 08:46:59 pm »
1. Requests should be made in the Graphics Requests board.
2. Credit should be given for:
  a. the use of the works that aren't your own.
  b. edits made to the works of others for your use.
  c. the efforts of those who obtained the graphics if asked for.
3. Don't "hotlink" to a graphic that is located on an external site.
4. If someone posts a graphic and says it isn't for use, don't use it.

42
Graphics / Useful Info
« on: May 26, 2010, 08:45:26 pm »
Graphics Hosting
- http://imageshack.us/
- http://www.photobucket.com/
- http://imgur.com

Palettes
- Simple LTTP: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/danthemanms/lttppallette_TommyBoy283.gif
- Complex LTTP: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/GSprites/Zelda/LttpPalette.png
- Minish Cap: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/GSprites/Zelda/McPallete.png

Collaborations
- ZFGC Style Development: http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=16144.0
Theforeshadower EDIT: Original link is more or less filled with dead images.  I have compiled what I was able to save years ago.  I no longer know exactly who created what, but everything in the topic at the time is in a zip folder.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49_4X0jDFp8eXo0R2ZqQlpKaUU/view?usp=sharing

- 2D Zelda Game Graphic Rip Project http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=34025.0

=================================================================================
Game Art Resources
- http://spriters-resource.com
Contains a vast majority of sprites from commercially available games since the 1980s.  For fan game needs, this is the go to spot for art.

- http://opengameart.org
Contains virtually any type of asset for any type of project.  Each resource has a free license of some kind(CC 3, CC-SA, CC0, etc) and has a HUGE selection of CC-0 art.

- https://itch.io/game-assets/free
Links directly to game art and sprites that are free to use.  Lots of great stuff here, so let your imagination run wild!

43
Updates / z3 2010: 3 Months Away!
« on: May 02, 2010, 06:01:35 am »
This is mainly to just let you all know that z3 is about 3 months away. Also, the board is now open for the event, which can be used in the meantime to talk about any upcoming entries, to discuss ideas over what should go on during the event, to think about how it should be ran, or whatever so long as it is relevant.

There was talk about opening up registration for the event at the beginning of this month, but the event still seems too far off for that to be handled appropriately. As the board topic mentions the registration will begin about a month from now; that leaves two months between registration and the actual event happening.

If there are teams who need a development board set up though to where they could work on their project together privately, arrangements can be made for this. Otherwise if you have any questions about the event or concerns of what I just said, redirect them to the z3 2010 board located here: http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?board=313.0

44
Updates / Nominations - April 2010
« on: April 27, 2010, 08:33:52 am »
I've been super busy with college; projects due and finals soon. As many of you may have noticed, the news article for the last Project of the Month was not released; it will along with the one for April around the same time. Sorry for the inconvenience.

But yeah, anyway, this topic is open for business. The rules are as they have been - to nominate a project you need 3-5 sentences (if you vote for the project you nominated, the nomination itself counts towards the vote requirement), and to vote you need 1-3 sentences. Users can't nominate their own projects, but they can vote for their own projects. If there are any other questions about that still, feel free to ask.

45
Updates / Nominations - March 2010
« on: March 27, 2010, 08:19:37 am »
If something gets nominated and I don't put it into the poll within a day, assuming that there are at least 2 projects at that point so that a poll can be put up at all, please make sure I know - I'll try and be more observant than last month too. Same as ever - if you nominate a project you have to at least 3 sentences saying why, if you vote for a project you then just need 1 sentence, and a user cannot nominate their own project but they can vote for it.

46
Updates / Project of the Month
« on: March 13, 2010, 06:14:33 pm »
Project of the Month - February 2010

The Legend of Zelda: Horn of Balance




Forum Topic | Site Page

Developers: Martijn dh, FrozenFire, NotAlphaMan
Language: Game Maker
First Posted: March 21st, 2009
Last Update: February 21st, 2010


  The Legend of Zelda: Horn of Balance is a very good project for all that it features, with many of those features being uncommon in other projects. When testing out the demo one often feels that they aren't really playing a fan game; which is a testament to how could the features all fit together and the attention to detail each one of them was subjected to. The project is also made by more than one user, has had frequent updates throughout the month of February, has shown high quality, and has garnered significant user interest and votes. It is for all of those reasons that it was chosen for Project of the Month for the month of February.

1st: LoZ: Horn of Balance by Martijn dh, FrozenFire, NotAlphaMan (12 votes)
2nd: Surface by Mamoruanime (5 votes)
3rd: LoZ: Ocarina of Time 2D by Xfixium, Cypras, Ethelon, TomPel, Mamoruanime, DJvenom, noseblunt3, SinkinDevil (? votes)


Voter Comments

Nomination
Anyway, I nominate The Legend of Zelda: Horn of Balance by Martijn dh, FrozenFire, and NotAlphaman. It has had good and frequent updates over the month of February, it has had a team effort, and through such the quality of the project has improved. Horn of Balance was something nominated last time that had a lot of merit and in my opinion deserves and has earned the award.

Votes
Horn of Balance. It always has new updates. Has solid game play and the overall quality is exceptional.

Err, I vote for Horn of Balance because I wanna see a another zelda Potm, and besides that, Mammy already had this month, so I think it's fair to pass it to martin.

Hmm.  I do believe I am going to have to place my vote on horn of balance.  It has high quality features and looks very nice.  I want to see more of it.  I also want to see more of surface.  Both are good games, but HOB deserves the potm this time.  sorry Mamoruanime  XD keep up the good work!

I vote Horn of Balance, because it is a great a game that tries to recreate the LttP feel instead of the more recent and more favorable MC, FSA or any 3D style. Additionally, Surface was Project of the Moth last time and I think it is time to pass on the torch.

I vote for Horn of Balance, because it already looks more like a (fantastic) game than an engine, because it gets updated very often, and because it's a team project.

Horn of Balance
Great progress
I can't haiku D:

Needs moar cowbell

surface won last month, i have to go with horn of balance. both great lookin games though =)

Horn of Balance, since Surface won last month in all its gorgeous glory. That's not to say that Horn of Balance doesn't look great though, and I'm very interested to see its continued progress.

I choose Horn of Balance, because it's got decent progress, is a Zelda fan game (which is the point of this forum), and because Mirby voted for Surface.

Cool story brosef
Voting Horn of Balance too
Like Surface more though

I vote for Horn of Balance, I really like the way they are recreating LTTP. It is also one of the WIP topics that has good progress.


Recent Media



<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1QwfxvDwk" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1QwfxvDwk</a>


Developer Q & A

Q. What is the horn of balance?

A. It's a magical instrument that you have to find early on in the second part of the game, which will aid you in restoring balance to the worlds. All in all it will be a major story element and gameplay mechanic. Consider it the counterpart to the Ocarina in that it is a multi purpose instrument (with one major story/gameplay difference which I will not spoil just yet).

Q. What can you tell us about the story in general?

A. I'd say it's great, but I'm biased. We've got backstories and motives for the mayor characters and villians, plottwists, tragedy, regret and betrayal. The purpose of the game is still beating dungeons, but story will play big part between dungeons. And also in them during key events like encountering/beating a boss for instance.

Q. Why are you doing this project with LTTP graphics?

A. I suck at spriting, grew up with alttp, have never played MC and these sprites are available aplenty. I do not believe the graphics matter all that much in the end, as long as the gameplay is done right.

Q. What are the benefits of having external resources with your project?

A. Before, I had sprites for Link walking upwards with a green tunic and red tunic and a yellow tunic (for instance). That's a waste of memory since you only need one tunic at any given time. Also you have to code using switch commands if you want to change Link's sprite. If tunic = blue the use sprite_Link_Walks_Down_Blue etc. The advantage off having such resources externally is that I can upload only those sprites that belong to the current tunic. So in the coding I can just reference sprite_Link_Walks_Down and the tunic's color in that sprite has already been set. To me that feels very polished.

That being said. NotAlphaMan suggested returning the resources internally and working with custom made colorpallets (like we are now building for the enemy sprites). I had not done it that way because it requires editing my engine heavily. I'm always looking for improvements though so I might try it out regardless.

Q. Your demo features a lot of dungeon when other's demos focus on the overworld, why?

A. I'm just being pragmatic. Building the overworld with a night and day systems, weather systems, NPC's, transition effects between rooms, having it compatable with a dark world etc is pretty hard to do right in one go (= understatement). Not to mention that it should be build so some places are only reachable after certain events or with certain items. Building the entire overworld first will (in my eyes) needlesly force you to do revision upon revision.

Building a dungeon first will insure you start small and are working on a closed off piece of the game. It's a nice way to get started since all of Link's actions are present anyway. And once it's done, it's done. More so then with the overworld anyway. There will still be plenty of revisions needed during development, but you'd only have to do those for your one dungeon.

And finally there is the matter of quitting development. I'm not planning on doing so, but it could happen. If I quit then I'd rather leave behind one or two finished dungeons then a (half)finished overworld and no dungeons. Building this way is not as flashy as working on an overworld I guess, but it's generally the flashy games that have a short lifetime anyway.

Q. Speaking of dungeons, how difficult was it designing their layout?

A. Designing dungeon layouts is a lot of fun. You can get as creative as you want. Just take your time. I've already got a lot of notes on various other dungeons with pretty outrages gameplay ideas, which I just collect so I can pick the best for the end result.

I first wrote down the path the player has to make. It does not involve any gamemaker. Just a piece of paper and a straight line from entrance to the boss. Then I thought up the dungeon gimmick (which is finding and lighting 4 torches to get to the master key), so I started adding branching loops, also deciding on the number of rooms needed to get through a loop. Then I drew those lines on paper in the form of rooms (=rectangles) and I started working on the finer details like doors and placement.

I really wanted to give the player the idea of one complex whole so I created rooms that are connected with more then just doors. Like the moat that surrounds the center of the dungeon and the cannonballs that have paths crossing several rooms. I also wanted to tease the player a little with the master chest in plain sight and area's out of reach the first time you see them. To motivate them to explore and make sense of it all. Finally I adding in a shorter route to get to the boss after getting the master key. Since the boss will be hard (!) I feel reaching him should not be.

After all that I finally touched gamemaker again and worked on it making up the rooms as I go along. As a general rule no two rooms may be the same.

Q. In terms of programming, what was the most difficult aspect of the project so far?

A. That's a good one. It's been one challenge after another. Out of the things I have to say that animations and timing issues are the hardest for me. The pick up + throw animation and jumping off ledges for example are pretty dreadfull to get just right.

Q. What was your favorite programming aspect?

A. Optimizing. Definitely. I spend a lot of development time on improving existing systems. I started doing this when I had no understanding of gamemaker and without the pro version so I had to get creative a lot. Now that I've learned more I find that those old solutions will hold me back if I don't update them. And luckily I don't might fixing it. Helps keep the engine managable. You wouldn't believe how many objects, scripts and sprites are in this thing already. Any change at cutting or merging resources and/or objects is welcome. XD

Q. Your topic mentions that you are still looking to recruit. What part of the project could use help?

A. Design for the most part. As I mentioned earlier, I am already planning more locations. If someone is willing to help design rooms, locations or towns then I welcome it. Just as long as they are teamplayers and don't mind working on my idea's next to there own. I understand that some people just want to have full artistic freedom and do whatever they want, but truthfully ... that's a really bad reason to join a team to begin with.

Q. Beyond that, how can users here assist you and the team with the project?

A. Well, the user feedback here is getting better and better. I've also posted on other sites and ... well..  There were some great and usefull comments there also but most doesn't go beyond "great" or "make it 3d" XD. What really helps me is comments on the difficulty, the glitches and errors or the way that one sprite is two pixels to far to the left even. So if people keep making constructive observations then that would help me most I think. And if people want to help even more, then they can always send me a PB.

Beyond that just check out my request topics when there are any. Right now I'm looking for a soundeffect that I can use when Link is walking on a metal surface. Haven't had any replies to that one yet.

47
Updates / Nominations - February 2010
« on: February 24, 2010, 11:45:35 pm »
It is pretty much just like last month; if you nominate a project you have to at least 3 sentences saying why, and if you vote for a project you then just need 1 sentence.

48
Updates / z3 2010
« on: February 20, 2010, 10:29:43 pm »
Rather than hinting at it, how about we have it this summer? Having it then would give everyone time to work on their projects which could allow for a good turnout. It'd also give us something that could help our turnout for the later NCFC event. In the meantime we could also figure out all of what we would want to do then, like sub-events and stuff. Unless everyone is opposed to this, we're going to have it then.

If you have any questions or concerns, post them here. More importantly though if you have ideas for how to do this one or what you'd like to see happen at it, post them too.

49
Updates / New Moderator
« on: February 18, 2010, 09:53:14 pm »
Darklight has decided to step down from his global moderator position due to life and stuff, and in his place FrozenFire has been selected - FrozenFire was Darklight's suggestion as to whom should replace him. I know there are conspiracy buffs out there that will suggest that Darklight was fired but I can assure you that is not the case, although from me that probably means nothing. Please give FrozenFire the benefit of realizing that he is a little new at this so there is the possibility that mistakes will be made.

But yeah, I made that sound all gloom and doomy. Welcome though to the moderation FrozenFire.

50
Updates / Project of the Month
« on: February 11, 2010, 11:35:16 pm »
Project of the Month - January 2010

Surface




Forum Topic | Site Page

Developer: Mamoruanime
Language: BlitzMax
First Posted: November 25th, 2009
Last Update: February 9th, 2010


    Surface is another non-Zelda project which has emerged and prospered on ZFGC. Actually saying that makes it seem run-of-the-mill which it is not by all means. The project combines the styling of Cave Story with the gameplay of Megaman and Metroid. It is also coded in Blitzmax which while not totally uncommon here, it still is a rarity for a project made with that to have made it as far as Surface has.

    Previous Project of the Month winners were chosen by the staff, but from this one on all Project of the Month winners are decided by the community as a whole. And overall doing this has been a success. There were three projects which were nominated for the month and those are (with accepted vote totals):

1st: Surface by Mamoruanime (10 votes)
2nd: LoZ: Sword of Divination by MG-Zero (5 votes)
3rd: LoZ: Horn of Balance by Martijn dh (1 vote)


Voter Comments

Nomination
I nominate Surface. Besides it being somewhat the only game that has had any work done this month, it is also an incredibly cool looking game. The graphics are still tentative, but it show already some sweet animations, particle effects and physics. But best reason is that, although most work on the project was done in the programming and thus hard to show, Mammy has kept everyone promptly up to date on the progress.

One thing: Thumbs up for Surface  :P

Votes
I vote Surface for winner.
It will be a really fun game.
computer games are really cool.

Haiku~ also 3 sentences :p

I vote for surface,
since it is a cool guy, and
afraids of nothing.

I vote Surface for the kick-ass graphics and gameplay videos!

Voted for Surface
Cause I like the composer
Oops, I said too much

Surface, because progress has been ongoing and consistent since the minute the topic opened.

Also it's pretty.

I voted for Surface due it's consistent updates and all the features it's going to have. It looks like a lot of fun. =)

On ZFGC
cause Mamoruanime
made me vote surface

Honestly, I would've voted for the game I'm helping with (Horn of Balance), but progress has been a little too slow. I voted for Surface because it has been making some really awesome progress and it's looking to be a game with tons of potential.

Nonetheless, I'm very sure that HoB will get PotM some day in the future; it's a solid beta so far. Maybe next month. I'm sure Martijn understands; I'm just trying to vote fairly.

I voted for Surface. It's the most original and it seems like Mammy's really poured his heart into this one. :)


Recent Media

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZgsP8hM0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iZgsP8hM0</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do1AALuh0t4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do1AALuh0t4</a>


Developer Q & A

Q. How did you come up with the idea of Surface? Does the name have any meaning yet?

A. Surface was based on a few story concepts I was working on. I wanted to change up the standard exploration mechanic of "Start on the surface and make your way to the center" by reversing it a bit. I like the idea of "crawling out from the depths" instead of digging into them.

Q. Is there anything in the game not made by you?

A. So far it's pretty much all me with the exception of the guiding eyes of Windy and DJvenom both critiquing and giving advice. It's been a considerable help in getting the project to where it needs to be. The music (which has yet to be added) is going to be the work of Surasshu.

Q. What games influence the style of the game in terms of art and gameplay?

A. For style inspiration, I'd have to say just about every retro styled indie game in the past 8 years. Normally I would say "Cave Story" inspired the game artistically, but that isn't entirely true. The determining factor for me making a game with scaled back graphics was the Trucker's Delight video by Flairs. The artistic presentation in that is pretty much my new driving force for anything Look at me, I'm invisible!

Gameplay is homage to classic games of the late 80s early 90s.

Q. When can we expect a demo?

A. Not sure. If I do get around to releasing any demos, it will be to show an entire beginning area to the game. I don't plan on releasing any demos before I've perfected my vision.

Q. How many thought processes did it take until you finally decided on Surface?

A. Well, I consider the game to be a melting pot of just about every 'mergable' idea I've had over the past few years. It was a matter of sacrificing individual projects for the sake of having one project I can remain interested in. There have been countless ideas prior to Surface, so I guess the easiest answer to this question is "countless" Look at me, I'm invisible!

Q. What were you working on prior to Surface?

A. Not too much. I don't own my own computer anymore, so I'm working with limited access. My side of development on NaviBlast temporarily ceased the moment my laptop died, so I was pretty much projectless until I could get a new PC. Thankfully, I was able to find a project to fill in the gaps that I can work on from any PC.

Q. What does it mean to you to have the Project of the Month spot?

A. More inspiration.

Q. Cool How will having the Project of the Month spot affect your project?

A. Honestly, it won't affect it in any general way outside of making me want to work on it more.

Q. Do you plan any mod-ability?

A. Well, I'm designing it with modders in mind. I've left things fairly easy to edit, however I'm not going to officially support game modification by making the tools for them. I am going to leave certain "in-game developer" systems in with locked access that I encourage modders to heck access to.

Q. Do you have plans for multiplayer?

A. I've coded the actor system to support it, however I'm not sure if I'm going to add it or not. If I do, I'll work in some form of Co-op. BlitzMax's multiplayer support isn't really the greatest though <_<...

Q. How experienced in BlitzMax are you?

A. Learnin' something new every day :p

Q. What other languages did you consider for this project?

A. Pretty much just Blitz. Blitzmax is one of the only IDE's that I could use anywhere, without installation.

Q. What made BlitzMax the right choice?

A. Portability, expandability, and speed.

Q. If this game reaches high popularity, will you port it over to a more used language such as the C family?

A. Probably not. Blitz offers me the option of building to Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. I don't think I would port it over to any other languages unless it needed to go onto a console.

51
Updates / Developer & Site Staff Ranks
« on: January 26, 2010, 11:22:54 pm »
Developer -

    This is going to be something new, although it has existed in some less and weaker form on ZFGC previously. The Developer rank will be given to users who are working project that is officially approved for and in the Sponsored board, those who have made significant contributions to and are working on the Community Project, and possibly certain users active in the Resource boards who give helpful assistance to other users or who would be interested in making the Resource boards more navigable by maintaining resource list topics.

    Developers amongst themselves have a commonality that the Site Staff did not which should make collaborative efforts easier. Additionally, the Site Staff work which related to development would be better managed by those who are more likely to actually be in the development process. For example, Developers with projects in the Sponsored board would have access to the site's news themselves and would be able to assist with future development events directly instead of having the Site Staff as a go-between.

Site Staff -

    The Site Staff was started to get more site content, to hold regular events, and to provide occasional miscellaneous help. As was made clear previously and what would likely still happen later is that the Site Staff did not and perhaps could not exist as a cohesive team. This resulted in a complete inability to get the simplest of tasks completed; and if a task were done it was only because an individual stepped up and did most of it.

    Because of this, the Site Staff rank is formally over. Its purpose will be redistributed to some combination of the staff and community. Users who make news items or help out with contests and events with a regular frequency would still be able to have the Site Staff rank. Beyond that, users who do the same with with non-regular frequency will be accommodated for when they need to be. More than likely that will consist of having the Site Staff rank privately for the purposes of being able to post news articles on the site and having a meeting place for contest/event management (a reworked Site Staff board).


As always if there are any questions feel free to post them as replies to this here or to send me a PM about it.

52
Updates / PotM Nominations!
« on: January 21, 2010, 11:33:46 am »
Anyway, due to issues with the previous system of nomination, it has instead now been decided to open up voting for the Project of the Month to all users!

The Information/Details Topic
The Nominations/Voting Topic

You might have noticed that the nominating and voting process is rather fluid, or rather that instead of doing a set period of time for nominations and then another set period of time for voting, it all takes place between when the nominations topic is first posted and the end of the month. Everyone will be able to change their votes during this time if an update to a project different from the one they voted for comes along which makes them change their mind. Previously, a project would be nominated by staff during the third week of the month which sometimes made later updates to projects more difficult to consider.

And although this takes away some of the mystique in how a winner was chosen privately for the award and then announced as the winner at the end of the month, this process still ensures a good chunk of that. In my opinion however, it is ultimately better to give those who work on and enjoy the projects they see on the forum/site the ability to chose what they want. It is also better in that the would-be winner would more fully get to appreciate all of those who supported his or her efforts.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to send me a PM or to just ask in this topic.

53
Updates / Nominations - January 2010
« on: January 21, 2010, 11:00:23 am »
Read the user nominations idea here if you haven't already. Otherwise this topic will be for nominating, voting on, and then deciding the Project of the Month for the month of January. Once a nomination is validly posted it'll be added as quickly as possible to a poll which exist in this topic as well too; although please be kind in that the staff are human.

54
Updates / Project of the Month
« on: January 08, 2010, 08:17:23 am »
Project of the Month - December 2009

Super Smash Bros.




Forum Topic | Site Page

Developer: Aero88
Language: Game Maker
First Posted: December 14th, 2009
Last Update: December 18th, 2009


    This award was given out a bit late and even so after last month not having a Project of the Month winner officially selected due to everyone's busyness. But even more remarkably this is one of the first non-Zelda projects here to be recognized for the award. If anything, ZFGC is more than just Zelda and to not notice this would be to deny a portion of the talent and hard work on the forum.

    But anyway, Aero88's project was chosen to be Project of the Month for the month of December 2009. It garnered significant user interest since it was posted and its demo has high quality features. It is somewhat of a good reminder that projects like that can be made using Game Maker and that accomplishing what to others seems complicated is actually quite simple in practice. And while it is not the only thing, Aero88's Super Smash Bros. project stands out for something which often goes overlooked and under-appreciated to the end user - the guts to take on technical programming challenges. If none of that convinced you then you'll missing out anyway if you don't at least give it a looksie.


Game Story/Plot

    Nintendo's all-stars and stragglers assemble to duke it out amongst themselves. Fighting takes place on stages from the characters' respective series. The goal is to win by bashing, pummeling, brawling, punching, kicking, slashing, and what not in regards to violence in order to make your opponents die embarrassing shameful destructive deaths by flying off-screen. Why are you reading this, of course you've played Smash Bros. before and know exactly what it is. So yeah, play it for the bloodsport.


Recent Screenshots

On top of Hyrule Castle.
Chuckin' a home-run bat at a yellow-bellies back.


Developer Q & A

Q. What was it that made you want to make a Super Smash Bros fangame?

A. I have always been a fan of the series, and I really enjoy making games. Because of this I have always kept an eye out for SSB fan games on the forum and even though there have been quite a few they never really felt like Smash Bros to me. I figured that the only way to fix this was to make one myself.

Q. Why is it that you started your game with Link rather than Mario?

A. I have also always been a fan of the Zelda series and have grown familiar with Link's physics in Smash Bros. For this reason, I felt that Link was a good place for me to start.  Although I do like Mario I never used him much in Smash Bros. He will be added though at some point.

Q. Why are you considering adding in non-Nintendo characters though?

A. Even though some of the characters in my list are not "name-brand" Nintendo characters, they have all shown up on a Nintendo console in the past. More than any of the other irregular characters, I want to put in Battletoads who showed up on the NES for the first time in 1991 (see Wikipedia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battletoads). Personally I think these guys should have been in the original because they were made for fighting.

Q. How long did it take to figure out the physics and collision systems?

A. That is a good question. If there was one thing that bothered me more than anything else in other SSB fan games it would be the choppy collisions and poor physics. Because of this I made sure that I was satisfied with the collisions in the game before moving on to other parts. It has taken until now to have really smooth collisions. Even so, I'll find a glitch now and then that I'll have to fix, so I guess it has been a work-in-progress. I have it pretty much nailed down now.  

As far as the physics are concerned, for the most part it was simple - some gravity and a little friction go a long way. The hardest part was making the slopes and finding their angles at the point of collision to calculate the exiting trajectory.

Q. How much of a challenge was the camera and view system?

A. Actually the view system was the first thing I made in the game. I knew that I wanted the view to focus on one of a possible 4 players so that is where I started. It actually turned out to be pretty simple. A script simply finds the coordinates of the characters furthest from each other, calculates the point between them for centering the view, and then adjusts the width and height of the view to keep them in the screen. There is a little more to it than that, but simply stated that's all there is to it.

Q. What else are you looking forward to implementing?

A. Most of the main elements of game-play have already been implemented. The next big thing to do is programming truly challenging AI, and then extending the list of levels, characters, and items. After that is done I plan on making some other cool things like a co-op adventure mode or target smashing. I had considered making some mini-games to go along with the main game that would use the characters, but this would all be in the future. It takes a long time to make everything right.

Q. You've gotten some flak for the control layout, what is up with that?

A. Apparently I have grown accustomed to an unusual control layout. Being a Nintendo fanboy most of my life, I got used to the controller's button layout. It was not until later that I ever played games on the computer, so I always set my keyboard up to match the Nintendo controller or at least close to it. Every time I play someone else's game on the forum, I have a hard time getting used to the controls but I guess that's life.

Q. What other items have you thought wouldn't be too difficult to add in?

A. I plan on adding many of the traditional items, but I would also like to add more status-affecting items; maybe some that temporarily affect your gravity, speed, make you more powerful or weaker, etc. I would also be happy to hear everyone's suggestions for items. If any of you have any, you can post them on the my SSB topic here at ZFGC.

Q. How do you find time to work on this project? You must be busy with school, no?

A. Wow, this is true. During the semester time is very short - I am going into engineering and it takes most all of my time. Unfortunately for the development of this game, preparing for life comes first. Even so though I do manage to find an evening here and there where I can put some time into the game. Development may slow down from time to time, but that doesn't mean it's stopping.

Q. Is there anything that users on the forum can help you with?

A. Actually yeah, there are a few things. For one, trying the demo and giving feedback (especially about glitches) helps. It also turns out that I am no good at spriting, so character/stage/other spriting would be beneficial for the project as well. There has been some discussion about this already in my SSB topic.

I would also just like to say thanks to everyone on the forum for your encouragement and support. Have a great year!

55
Coding / Link Platforms & Bouncing
« on: January 05, 2010, 01:35:17 pm »
First things first, I removed the rolling and Niek's bow and arrow for the time being because him and I are working out a possible change to how movement works and how those things would be considered. Otherwise though, after that downer, there are some updates to this project.

The ledge jumping has been improved so that Link's jumping is more of a parabola instead of sloped triangles. Additionally with that ledge jumping, the next free space is calculated before the jump so that it doesn't have to be checked each step as Link moves along his set path. This is to prevent wasteful place checking over longer distances. I also fixed up an error in the diagonal movement set the step_x and step_y equal to each other if Link was just moving that way; it should strictly be if both speeds are at their maximums.

I did add some new stuff though! I have it so that when Link falls into a pit, the view will go back onto him just how it happens in the actual game. I also added horizontal and vertical platforms, an object you can bouncing against, etc. It might not seem like a lot, but I checked it and the system I came up with allows you to jump off of ledges onto moving platforms, standing on platforms which run into things that can push you off, and a lot of other combinations like that. Not only that, but I went into the code and FULLY COMMENTED it with descriptions which should say what's going on as the code is processed.

Anyway, images:

from left to right, improved ledge-jumping, platform riding, bouncing

A download of the engine is available on its project page (the format for the time being is GM7, the engine is compatible with GM8 though more than likely):
http://www.zfgc.com/index.php#?action=games&sa=view&id=128

56
Updates / Happy Thanksgiving!
« on: November 26, 2009, 09:27:44 am »
For all of you in the United States and belatedly to some elsewhere, have a Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy some food feasting and that American football. While you're here though, why not look into some of the projects in both the Zelda and Other WIP sections; even just posting support in a project's topic for the creator's efforts encourages progress. Or better yet if you could have a project of your own here why not inform others of its status?

Additionally though, as a reminder in case you missed the flash banner on the forum index and the previous news item about it: the registration for the ZFGC Character Competition 2010 begins December 1st. Around that time the board for it will also open up. You currently have quite a bit of time to formulate a character if you're thinking about it too, so if you are interested in it, think about signing up!

57
Other Projects / MOVED: Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Mysteries
« on: November 09, 2009, 12:53:52 am »

58
Updates / Project of the Month
« on: November 02, 2009, 04:55:59 am »
Project of the Month - October 2009

The Legend of Zelda: Flying Rooster


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF_127st6Mo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF_127st6Mo</a>

Forum Topic | Site Page

Developer: drandula
Language: Game Maker
First Posted: July 2nd, 2009
Last Update: October 18th, 2009


    Most fangames at ZFGC are 2D by convention. This is mainly done for the ease of implementation in that 2D sprite rips exist which can help your project look somewhat official. 3D games have a stigma of being daunting to undertake, and very challenging to continue on and progress with. But sometimes a project that tries this ends up benefiting much for it.

  October's Project of the Month is thus given to drandula's The Legend of Zelda: Flying Rooster. Graphically it is outstanding and it looks close to an official game. Additionally, there are implemented features in the game that a lot of 2D projects run into issues with and often give up on; e.g. pot throwing, transformation, rolling, etc. Flying Rooster also had a progress report update made during the month of October and has garnered significant user interest. It was nearly unanimously selected to be the Project of the Month, and represents the second 3D project to win this award.


Game Story/Plot

   There is no current plot as the game is still early in development.


Recent Screenshots



Various screens depicting various things from Flying Rooster.


Developer Q & A

Q. Does the title "Flying Rooster" mean anything in particular?

A. No, it really doesn't mean anything important. In the start of making this project, I thought making a flying boat as a vehicle, which name would be Flying Rooster. My little brother made a model for me which can be found in the second room of the second demo. And I did need some kind of a project name, so I chose this but it will be changed later.

Q. How is it that you made your 3D models?

A. It isn't really that hard if you understand it. Link does have only 7 basic shapes: hat, head, body, hands, and legs. All, with the exception of the head, are cones.

Q. Was doing a 3D project difficult in Game Maker?

A.  I don't use "real" models, just Game Maker's basic shapes. When making models, you just see code of it until you test the game. Game Maker isn't really meant to be a 3D game maker due to its limitations. So it's sometimes pretty difficult, but I am doing the best I can.

Q. Were you influenced by Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks?

A. I have played Phantom Hourglass and yes, PH influenced me. In the beginning I thought about adding mouse-movement, but it was a bad idea so I discarded it. But all of this really just started as me showing off to my little brother that you can make easily Link in 3D and animate it.

Q. Based on the mask transformation concept, is your game "descended" from Majora's Mask?

A. It's like a sequel to Majora's Mask, but I haven't thought of the story yet. I was thinking of crossing it between Hyrule and Termina.

Q. Are you planning a Zora form for Link?

A.  I had initially thought of adding it, but I noticed it would be extremely difficult to do so. Modeling would be piece of cake, but animating it would be very difficult. Also, I don't know where I'd use it. If I need it later, I will make it when I am better at doing this.

Q. Will your project have mini-games or just a main quest?

A. I've given thought to adding some mini-games, like Goron-race and something like that. What kind of Zelda game would it be without sidequests?

Q. How is it that you're able to do most of this project on your own?

A. Sometimes it has been a pretty hard time for me, but I am making it little by little and I am not thinking of it as a whole, otherwise I would stress too much.

Q. But what about when real life gets really busy?

A. Then I would have to freeze the project as long as have to until I got more time for it.

Q. What other advice would you recommend to others working on projects?

A. Good luck with your own projects and hopefully my project inspires many people here.

59
Updates / Project Category Changes
« on: October 02, 2009, 04:23:01 am »
As you may have seen, the rule topics for the Zelda WIP and Other WIP boards have been updated. The changes are in order to ensure that the topics made in the boards and the users working on the games/projects will have either a reasonable milestone of some progress (trailer/demo) or the promise of progress (periodically required screenshots). If you have any questions about this feel free to ask me or a global moderator. Heck, ask me in this topic, rawr.

Furthermore as mentioned in those rule topics, there is going to be a Team/Sponsored board coming out soon which will be opened shortly. The staff and I are working on getting an information topic for that created, as well as a sweeteners and incentives topic for utilizing the board (relates to an upcoming event and a team project I am thinking about starting, >.<.

So yeah, to reiterate if you have any questions or concerns about this, feel free to voice and/or ask them!

60
Other Projects / Other Projects Rules
« on: October 02, 2009, 03:54:24 am »
Game Requirements:
1. Upon first appearance, a topic should have at minimum 4 screenshots.
2. After first appearance, a topic should primarily consist of one or more of the following:
  a. Demo - something a user downloads, more than a walking demo.
  b. Trailer - shows actual gameplay, not just still images in a video.
  c. Screenshots - 2 new screenshots each month, consisting of different parts of the game.
3. Each topic's title should be tagged either [Demo], [Trailer], or [Screens] based on Req #2.

If a topic posted doesn't meet those requirements, it'll be moved to Discussion. If the game's emphasis is Req #2c and 2 screenshots aren't given monthly, the topic will be moved to Discussion unless it is given leeway. This is given by Req #1 for the first two months, if a project already has 10 screenshots, or if a moderator's judgment suggests that a move shouldn't happen. If a project is completed or has met the criteria for team/sponsored projects after application, its topic in Other Projects will either be moved, locked, or if asked deleted.

Program Requirements:
1. The topic's title should be tagged [Program].
2. Upon first appearance, a topic should have at minimum 2 screenshots.
3. A download must be made available within a month of the topic's creation. This deadline can be extended if a moderator feels that the developer can deliver it after no more than two months. If there is no download after this time, the program will be moved to Discussion.

User Behavior:
1. Don't post in a very inactive topic unless it is yours and you are updating.
2. Make sure your replies have some content, and that any criticism is constructive.

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