Volume 2, Issue 3 - August 31, 2008
irc.windfyre.net #zfgc
This week’s banner courtesy of Yubel and icon courtesy of MetaKirby
Hello members, and welcome to another issue of ZFGC Weekly! Here’s what’s in this week’s issue:
1. Community Announcements (Ctrl+F CA0203)
2. Best of the Forum (Ctrl+F BF0203)
3. Weekly Awards (Ctrl+F WA0203)
4. The Big Question (Ctrl+F BQ0203)
5. Featured Project
Link's Awakening: Coop and an interview with its creators,
Infini and
Zidane (Ctrl+F FP0203)
Community Announcements (CA0203)
-- BOY, IT SURE IS FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER COMPETITION AROUND HERE...I JUST WONDER WHAT OUR PROSPECTIVE COMPEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTITORS ARE UP TO. FIND OUT HERE
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30775.0-- The ZFGC Community Project has completed the map for Hyrule City's rich side! Come pop champagne, or drink Miller High Life, or something else fittingly high-class in name or nature in this thread to celebrate:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=28931.0--Forum darling Scrappersa has returned, and brought another forum darling back with him: Lord of the Rings 2D. Open your eye of Sauron and check out the awesome screenshots at
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30745.0He also needs help with the project, and the community is encouraged to oblige. See the details here
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30791.0Got an important announcement? PM Hoffy or Dantz!
The Best of the Forum (BF0203)Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus Baby...I Want You to Walk With Me~http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30768.0Praise the lord!
The Discovery Channel Goes to Canadahttp://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30764.0I would have screamed out "OH MY GOD IM MASTURBATING TO THIS!!!!"
Take Me to Your Leaderhttp://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30756.0Where's the 'make friends' option? O:
McCain is Just "Palin' Around"http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30770.0Needless to say, this election seems to be full of surprises.
4Sword 4uhttp://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30760.0I had some ideas of some things that I would like to see and some things that I would like to happen and I was wondering if anyone agreed with these ideas. I will list them with a short description in order to avoid wordiness -
UPDATED! Windy Has a Nice Refreshing Sprite for Youhttp://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29850.30New One, demonstrating the grouping feature and another feature to which I call origin tracking. The origin tracking feature allows the sprite of link to use the shadow to determine the sprites proper location and to apply the appropriate offsets while the grouping feature allows for two separate sprites to be ripped as one which is quite useful in the situation where they don't even touch each other.
In this particular situation I'm just jumping off a cliff.
Edit:
Oh, and just to better show off the origin tracking feature, here's a keaton. The keaton is actually a bit harder to rip, mainly because of that god damn knife so it requires more from the end user (using a feature I've yet to mention). I forgot to group the shadow for this one, which is why you can't see it.
Got a topic you think should be featured? PM Hoffy or Dantz!
Weekly Awards (WA0203)The "Holy Crap, Something New!" Of the WeekZidane's Final Fantasy IX PSP Theme:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30698.0
Soundscape of the WeekQ.K.'s Halloween Loop:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30789.0Screenshot of the WeekGandalf Leading the Hobbits from Lord of the Rings 2D
The Big Question (BQ0203)In this section, we'll ask a relevant or interesting question to the community each week, which everyone can discuss, comment on, and generally go gaga over.
This week's question:
If a futuristic Zelda game were made, what do you think it would be like? What kind of items and dungeons? How would Ganondorf come into play?Join the discussion at
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30810.0Got an idea for a Big Question? PM Dantz or Hoffy!
Featured Project (FP0203)This week Dantz went sailing with Infini and Zidane to talk about their project, Link's Awakening: Coop. Unfortunately they ended up washed up on a remote island with no memory of the journey, but thankfully Dantz wrote most of it down. The following was recovered at the crash site:
So...why Link's Awakening?Infini: Why not. Its moderately simple graphical and programmatically so its not going to stretch us or become unworkable. Not to mention is also my favourite zelda game.
Zidane: Well, as said in the topic, we basically settled on Link's Awakening because we both agreed that GB Style would be easiest to work with. Thus, Link's Awakening.
How do you think LA compares to the other games? Do you think co-op might have been a better fit for other games in the series?Infini: The mechanics of all zelda games are essentially the same, if co-op gameplay works in one it should work in all. The simplicity and relatively low level of story-intrusion in the gameplay also makes LA a game more suited to co-op.
Zidane: Link's Awakening is one of my favorite Zelda games, not near the top, but it's there. It is definitely better than some others. Co-op probably would have fit better in Link to the Past or Minish Cap (fusing Kinstones with each other ftw), but like I said in the previous question, we settled on Link's Awakening due to the style. I also think it fits fine in Link's Awakening. It may get crowed a bit, but it works.
Online games are a bit of a rarity here at ZFGC. How hard was it to write netcode? Is it your own creation or based off of an API?Infini: Not too hard really, connecting and sending/recieving data is very easy, the most complex aspect is getting everything syncronized with as little data transfered as possible (the more you send, the more you choke up your connection!), which can be a horrible task, overall though I think LA-COOP works quite well on that end, it only sends very small binary packets of a handfull of bytes every few seconds, so it should work on most connections, possibly even 56k.
As for if its based of any API, no, as most people here probably know I dislike using API's or other peoples work, I prefer to write the code myself and learn from it.
Is the core game (meaning other than the bonus dungeons) being changed at all to accommodate cooperative play?Infini: There will be minor changes here and there to fit in with the co-op style of game play, however I think the majority of the game mechanics will end up intact. Enemy count and health will also probably be increased to make it less easy
.
Zidane: We've talked about it. I'm not to sure where that's going right now, but we will have two more "temples" at least that focus heavily on cooperating with each other.
Give us some cool examples of where co-op would be really great in the game.Infini: Personally I think the most intresting example of co-op is in the inventory usage. All items in the inventory are shared between all other players, it means you really have to work together to get past areas that require specific items.
Zidane: Perhaps tackling two dungeons at a time? That would be pretty neat.
How would you guys feel about, say, competitive co-op? Sorta like The Four Swords.Infini: Its a nice idea, but its not on the cards at the moment. We may add little mini-games and such where players can compete against each other
Zidane: That'd be cool, but since you share pretty much all resources, not sure how it would thin out.
Even maybe true competitive multiplayer, rather than competitive co-op? For example, players rush through the game separately in real-time, occasionally finding powerups that can sabotage other players.Infini: Not really, the fun of co-op just dissappears if all your doing is playing essentially a single-player time-trial against other players.
Zidane: Again, you share resources so I'm really not sure if that could be possible, though, you never know. It would be a neat idea.
Would you ever consider any other Zelda game for co-op? If so, which ones and why?Infini: Hum, LTTP probably, would fit in quite well. If enough modellers helped it might even be possible to do some small 3D co-op mini-games.
Zidane: Nope. I personally in my head have thought about Ocarina of Time co-op, but heck, that'll never happen. That or Majora's Mask co-op. (Imagine racing against time, each of you in a different temple :3)
Any chance this netcode could be released for use in other fangames?Infini: Probably not no, its heavily ingrained in the game engine. However as with most of my projects I'll probably release the editor and assets when the game is complete to allow people to make their own mods.
Anyone who has ever quested alone in WoW will tell you that sometimes, exploring a huge virtual world by yourself can be an almost soothing experience. Do you think co-op kind of ruins this feeling sometimes, especially on the internet where humor and memes seem to prevail in many conversations?Infini: I think your thinking to much in the terms of MMO's, this isn't really aimed at that sort of market.
Zidane: I don't think so. I mean, you can roam freely wherever you like, you don't have to be on the same screen like in Four Swords. The only thing that could perhaps stop you is if you need to move a rock and someone else is using the Braclet.
How would you feel about a game based entirely on exploration? Do you think that discovery alone is motivation enough for a player?Infini: I have to say, discovery on its own would probably bore me to tears, but I guess there are other people who may like that form of game.
Zidane: It all depends on the person really. Some people (like Infini) could get bored of it, but I wouldn't, especially if there are new things to find.
As a level designer/mapper, how do you think you would have to adapt design philosophy to work in a game based entirely on that principle?Zidane: Usually just sticking as close as possible as I can to the original. Most of the time I'll listen to music from that certain game. It helps motivate me.
What about as a programmer?Infini: I'll just tell you what my design philosophy always is, regardless of context; KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).
Well, that was a fun little sidetrack. Anyway: tell us about these new dungeons.Zidane: You and your long difficult words and your... your short annoying ones.
Well new dungeons... not much to say right now as I actually haven't started designing them, but hopefully it'll let me expand on the world map and add more to it, so not just new dungeons, but new areas as well. I can say like I've said before "They will heavily rely on working together".
Will there be alternate routes in certain dungeons, maybe, depending on how many people are in your party? That could be a cool idea.Zidane: Again not sure. Too early to say really as I've only got the first dungeon finished so far and in that nothing new, though I will look at trying to make it a bit different at least.
Any new weapons for players to discover?Infini: Possibly, its not really a priority at the moment to design addition aspects, the normal aspects are work enough.
Zidane: I do like the idea, and especially with new dungeons with wouldn't be a bad idea. Though it's too early to say right now.
New enemies? Maybe with multiple weak points for extra co-op goodness?Infini: As I said with the previous one, its quite possible we will add things, its just not a priority at the moment. Though chances are we will definitely be increasing the health and number of enemies for more difficulty.
Zidane: Basically what he said.
Anything the community can do to help?Infini: lol, I can't think of much off hand. Everything is going quite smootly on the programming side of things.
Zidane: Graphics wise? Hmm... Nothing I can think of at the moment, I've got pretty much what I need. I do recall Infini saying something about Sound Effects though
Authors of This Week's Issue: Dantz