Volume 1, Issue 3 - August 3, 2008
irc.windfyre.net #zfgc
This week’s banner courtesy of Hoffy
Hello members, and welcome to another issue of ZFGC Weekly! Here’s what’s in this week’s issue:
1. Community Announcements (Ctrl+F CA0103)
2. Best of the Forum (Ctrl+F BF0103)
3. Weekly Awards (Ctrl+F WA0103)
4. The Big Question (Ctrl+F BQ0103)
5. Featured Project:
Twinsen and an interview with its creator, .TakaM (Ctrl+F FP0103)
Community Announcements (CA0103)-- Long-time ZFGC Administrator Vash has resigned from his position, leaving Infini, CrystalAngel04 and Dantz in full control of the forum. See off our good friend Andrew in this announcement topic:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29832.0-- Theforeshadower has uploaded several project submissions for the Game Development contest. Don't hesitate to play, rate and provide feedback for these small projects, including Infini's "The Lost Vikings" and 4Swords "Pokémon Blue"! You can view all contest submissions here:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?board=254.0-- Moldorma has finally announced the anticipated "Kirby's Rebound"! The game is still in development, but you can check out the playable demo, screenshots and provide feedback here:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29973.0 Expect an interview, Moldy!
The Best of the Forum (BF0103)Here are some of the best quotes of the past week or the most relevant topics of the moment:
Join in for the ZFGC Happy Hour!http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30089.0I thought long and hard about it, and I can be sure of this: I respect you all greatly. I really can't give any reasons due to all of you being such a diverse group, but you're definitely one of the most bizarre and fun-loving the community I've ever had the honor of becoming a part of, and anyone who is willing to put up with my !@#$% deserves to be worshiped.
Source loves you all.
FISSURE Returns!http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29879.0Hello everyone, i'm back. It hasn't really been much of an interesting month.
So, what have i missed?
The Hyrule Population Is Being Sprited!http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29078.0
The Games You Love, Hate And Love To Hatehttp://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29919.0I'm gonna assume you meant Donkey Kong 64. :ÂP I like that game, but at the same time I don't. It has a lot of nostalgic value for me, but it's really not all that great.
Hyrule_boy Is Not So Serioushttp://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29865.0What a horrible place the world has become, where moderators can modify avatars from innocent members? Today I lost all faith in humanity....
Got a topic you think should be featured next week? PM Dantz!
Weekly Awards (WA0103)It's time for yet another new section in the ZFGC Weekly agenda! From now on we'll be handing out the awards to screenshots, graphics, projects, and other various things depending on what's happening around the forum. If you win a contest, expect to see your name here!
Screenshot of the WeekMewgull's Super Mario Rosette:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30088.0
Spritesheet of the WeekDesgardes' Tribal Spritesheet:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=29800.0
Map of the WeekSprite Collector's Kingdom:
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30047.0
The Big Question (BQ0103)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 you could nominate anyone for the ZFGC moderation team, besides yourself, who would it be?Join the discussion at
http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=30135.0Got an idea for a Big Question? PM Dantz!Authors of this week's issue: Hoffy and DantzFeatured Project (FP0102)This week Hoffy went platforming with .TakaM's unique and unbelievably stylistic game, Twinsen. When he wasn't slicing enemies with his blade, throwing his magic ball or navigating tricky platforms, Hoffy was interviewing .TakaM about the history and future of Twinsen, and what players can look forward to. Here's the scoop!
So tell us a little bit about Twinsen. What kind of game is it? How long have you worked on it? Who works on it?Twinsen is both the main character and name of the game Cocopuffs and I are working on, it's a fairly traditional 2D platformer which is almost a dead genre these days, and the game has existed in some form for almost 2 years now.
What initially motivated you to start this project?I'll go back way to the start for this question, back to when this game wasn't even Twinsen.
This whole project was originally going to be a Zelda platformer, a few friends and I were going to work on it together, and I was just going to handle tiles.
yes, Twinsen may have just made a cameo appearance - Pikachu too for some reason...Almost immediately I kept coming up with ideas I wanted to be in the game, the guys I would have worked with weren't too fond of my ideas or changes, and to make a short story even shorter, we all just moved away from the game.
But obviously I kept the tiles, and talked to Dascu about making the game, except I knew by this point all my ideas would fit in with Twinsen and his world.
Eventually Dascu couldn't translate some of my ideas into code, the game just wasn't shaping up as I would have liked, and one day Dascu got a virus and could no longer run GameMaker.
So then in an act of desperation I went to the GameMaker forums and made a recruitment topic.
I got a PM from one "Cocopuffs" who said he was quite good with GM, I checked out a few of his other projects which were indeed quite good, we added each other on MSN, and he surpassed Dascus' build in about an hour
.
You don't see as many side-scrolling 2D platformers these days. Do you plan to bring some innovation to the genre with Twinsen?You certainly don't see many 2D platformers these days, like I said earlier it's basically a dead genre.
My main concern with Twinsen isn't really to deliver on innovation, it's a very hard thing to promise.
All we're aiming for is to end up with a game the player can mess around in like I love to do with Super Metroid, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 64, and a few others.
The art style and animation are fantastic, the game looks gorgeous. What inspires you to create worlds like this? How do you sprite?When we first started on the graphics- when it was originally a Zelda game, we decided to keep the graphics simple so they'd be easy to work with and continue to work on.
The graphics have been almost completely redone since then, still in a similar style and with mostly the same pastel colours, but with just a bit more detail and polish.
I still sprite in MSpaint, and when I need to animate I use Imageready, it's not a process I'd recommend and I think it's inevitable that one day I'll move onto promotion or something else better geared for pixel art.
Can you give us any hints as to how the story begins?Yeah sure, it'll be in the demo anyways.
Something has happened to disrupt the energy at the core of the planet- breathing life into everything and sorta going into defense mode.
Twinsen will talk to Baldino to find out what's happened and how he can fix it.
We've kept the story simple because planning a huge epic would just slow us down and frankly it doesn't need a deep story.
Does the story relate to Little Big Adventure in any way? What similarities will Twinsen share with Little Big Adventure?I've already taken a lot of liberties such as Twinsens' wife Zoe having a full head of hair, whereas in the original LBA games all the Quetches (basically the humans) have just a ponytail, however I don't think it was ever made clear whether this was because of their culture or in their genetics.
The story will relate to the LBA games in some ways, lot's of references that LBA fans will recognize and appreciate, but the new comer will still not be lost.
There are some really unique characters and enemies in the game, including some doctor with an elephant head. What other creatures can players expect to see?Ah yes, Baldino.
He'll play a fairly major role in the game, in the official series he's an inventor and that trait will continue through our game also.
There will be more Grobo characters (elephant like people) in the game and most of them will offer side quests.
I was also working on the Rabbibunny sprites the other night, so expect to see more of these guys:
Are you going to have any boss battles?Yes, there will be at least one boss per world, we already have some good ideas we're looking forward to making a reality.
Twinsen can use a sword, jump and throw a magic ball. He can also combine these in such a way to perform combos. Will Twinsen gain any other abilities as the game progresses?I Think Twinsen will have all his abilities from the start, some may end up enhanced depending on the player, and some won't come into play outside of specific scenarios.
I played the demo, and I found it to be difficult right off the bat. I really liked how the player had to perform Twinsen's button combos perfectly to reach high ledges and so forth. I think it gives the game a Metroid-type feel, in that you have to exploit your abilities to the highest extent. Do you think the finished product will end up a really tricky platform game?We're aiming to allocate a variety of play styles, much like in Super Metroid- you didn't have to use the boost button to finish the game, you didn't have to wall jump to finish the game, but they were there for players who wanted some extra depth to the gameplay.
The gameplay is definitely not as complex as super Metroid, but moreso than the average platformer.
So far the only area we've seen is a peaceful green forest sitting beside a pristine lake. What kind of landscape variation can players expect to see in the future?Much of what was in the LBA games, sewers, desert, mountains, mines, and a few others I won't spoil.
How many levels are you expecting to end up with? How long will the game be?I think you can expect around 100 levels, I love the level making process and I think even when Twinsen is finished I'll still be making levels for myself.
As for how long... I'd hope the fastest possible speed run would be no less than 30 minutes, but it's tough to gauge.
I heard you contacted the designer of the original Little Big Adventure, and that he was quite happy to have you develop this game. Do you plan on publishing it in some way?Frederick Raynal is an admirable man, I couldn't ask for more than him to not cease and desist this game.
As of now the game only exists as a free GM game, but as for the future.. who knows.
Has the ZFGC community been particularly supportive over the course of Twinsen's development, in your opinion? Can they do anything to help?Interesting question, I think I'm just as motivated as when we first started.
Basically, I think even if no one cared about Twinsen I'd still be just as motivated as I am, I really love the game already and I doubt anything could change that.
Right now there isn't really anything we need help with, but in the future we might be asking for NPC/enemy/boss/level design ideas.
Finally, why should ZFGC's members, as well as Little Big fans, look forward to the final release of Twinsen?Because this game will be finished, like I said, I'm just as motivated as when we first started and I'm still in love with this game.
Hopefully my own love for this game will be apparent when others are playing, when I play my favourite games I can see the love that's gone into every detail and how proud everyone behind the game must be.
Know a project you think should be featured? PM Dantz![/quote]
