New thread: Timeless Haven: ZU's Official Fangame
The Legend of Zelda: Timeless Haven
Christmas Mini-game: Octorok Blast
A christmas gift from the dev team to you. We know you're holding on for the next demo but it's gonna be a while. Development's going steady and we're making progress. So to hold you over, we thought we'd make you a little mini-game 
Download Octorok Blast here
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Alpha Demo
Download the 2nd demo here
yes, ^^this^^ is a link
Zelda Universe's first official Zelda fan game has been tentatively titled
The Legend of Zelda: Timeless Haven. It is a completely original story based on an idea by user SteelSlasher (who is no longer involved with development) and is now being developed by several talented
ZU members.
Last May we managed to give the public our first working demo showing off just a taste of what we were working on. With some new gameplay elements as well as original sprites we considered the demo an overall success and got a lot of feedback. We are now proud to be releasing the second demo for the game! If you want to go back to play the original alpha demo,
here is a link to the first thread.
For those of you who have played our first demo, you will notice some small changes, as well as some rather large ones. This time around we wanted to put a little more emphasis on interaction since there was very little of it in the last demo. So we have now brought you a little bit of Link's home village, Haven North. You will learn a little bit about this town by talking to people in the demo, but there's also more information in our character profiles seen below.
More importantly, we've added some new moves for Link to use against the monsters roaming the fields just outside of the town. This is not the entire moveset you'll see in the final game, but it will give you something to look forward too. Some attacks you know from past games, like the Spin Attack, while others have been developed just for this game, such as the 3-slash combo (inspired by
FSA) you can trigger by pressing Attack three times in a row. While playing, press F1 for a complete rundown on Link's abilities.
Finally, there has been a whole lot of touch ups and polishing to try and give Zelda fans the best demo we can. Last time we got plenty of feedback which helped us a lot, not only in spotting bugs and glitches, but also giving us a better idea of what kind of game you want to play, so we hope to get even more this time around.
Developer Commentaries
We recently released some developer commentary videos that will give you a deeper look at the development of this fangame.
Getting involved
Want to help out and get involved? Well there are a couple ways to do that.
First - and easiest to do - is to play the most recent demo. Find whatever bugs, glitches or screw-ups you can and let us know about them. There are many we already know about but I'm sure there's a ton more that we haven't discovered yet. If you do find something, please give us as much detail as possible. The more the programmers know, the easier it is for them to figure out what is wrong and fix it. Screenshots and videos are great if you can provide them.
Speaking of videos, the best way to help us by playing through the game, is to record both your screen and your voice as you play the game for the first time. That way we can follow your way through the demo much better. If you want to do this, be sure to think out loud, talk about everything that comes to your mind.
Of course, give us general feedback as well. What things did you like and what would you like to see changed?
Another way to help is to spread the word. Tell your friends, your family, hijack a news station and tell the world! The more people play the game, the more feedback we can get and the more it motivates the team to put out an amazing final product. If you're good with graphics, you could make a banner and put it in your sig or on your blog or other forums.
Working on the game
If you think you're suited for the job, then here's your chance to apply to be part of our team. We don't take just anybody who has a "cool idea" though; we need people who are both talented and responsible. A general requirement is teamwork and being able to set (and meet) your own deadlines on a weekly basis. If you have a passion for game development and can either design, program, sprite, draw or compose music, this is an opportunity you definitely shouldn't miss out on.
How to apply:
If you are interested in joining the team, PM your application (detials below) to Hombre de Mundo. Give us about a week to get back to you.
At this point in development, most of the game is already designed and we're not starting to look for people to help us put everything we have on paper into the game itself in our journey towards beta. At this time, we're first and foremost looking for game maker programmers and graphic designers (spriters), but we also need concept artists, game designers and musicians.
Specific application instruction can be found in this spoiler:
Spoiler:
Graphic artists:
As you can see, the graphics are based on The Minsh Cap. Now, even though The Minish Cap provides us with a big library of sprites, we want original content, and that's where you come into the picture.
As a graphic designer, you'll need to be able to do one or both of these things:
- Make sprites based on a sketch. The character art displayed in one of the extendable spoilers above is a good place to start. You are of course allowed to make your own sketch of a character of your own and sprite that. If so, make sure to submit the original sketch as well. The sprites need to match the Minish Cap style (of course) but you are allowed and encouraged to take artistic freedom if it improves the end result.
- Make additional frames (animations) for existing sprites. A good idea would be making new frames for Minish Cap NPCs. For example, if a character is standing, perhaps you can make an animation of it running, fighting or digging.
Your applications will of course become stronger by making multiple poses for a character or multiple animations and submitting them. There's no minimum requirement, just make sure to show us what you can do. The more we see of your abilities, the better.
Programmers:
In order to put our ideas into the game, we'll need programmers. The game runs in Game Maker and uses Game Maker Language (GML).
Send us a (gmk) file of a sample demo engine you made. It doesn't really matter how big or small it is, the players doesn't even have to be able to finish it. We're going to be looking at the demo primarily by the functionality of the game and the code (graphics don't really matter). We can't forbid you from using any drag and drop, but a significant part of what you've done should be written in GML.
Dungeon and Village Designers:
The designers will basically be creating the skeleton of the game. This includes things like puzzles, enemies and side quests. The Designers are split into focus groups (designing dungeons or villages) to concentrate on specific tasks, though everyone is free to put forward ideas for any sort of area. Switching focus groups will be a possibility if you're qualified for it and depending on what needs to be done.
For a dungeon designer, we need two things:
- Create an enemy. How does it look, how does it move, how does it attack, etc?
- Create a block based puzzle. How do the blocks move, and how (exactly) does Link solve it? You are allowed to incorporate other common dungeon elements such as switches and the like. Thinking outside the box and being creative is of course always a good thing.
For a village designer, also two things:
- Create a minor plotline for a character in a village. What is his/her name and backstory, what purpouse does he/she serve to Link?
- Create a mini game you'd usually find in houses. Specify what it is and how to play/solve it.
Concept Artists:
As a concept artist it's your job to visualize the characters, enemies and locations of the game. As an application, I'll give you an enemy description below from one of our designs that you can draw, by hand (photo/scanning quality must be somehwat good of course) or on the computer.
Enemy description:
TaskMaster
A moblin-like shaman-type enemy which - by way of an enchanted whip - summons other monsters to do his bidding. Often comes as a mated pair with another Taskmaster, since they are weak when alone. Will use whip to attack Link if necessary but isn't trained for close combat encounters.
Musicians:
For your application, please submit original compositions of yours, prefferably something that matches the kind of music we're going for (there's music in our demo and mini-game). Being able to produce good 16-bit music is a big plus. Slots are limited.
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Regardless of what your application is, it always helps to include visual representation. For example, if you make a puzzle, draw that puzzle. If you make an enemy, draw that enemy. It doesn't have to be very detailed, a simple sketch is certainly good enough. Also, any experience or education in the field you're applying for will of course be a good thing to tell us about.
Please also remember this is a big commitment. This project has been in effective development for over two years now and we can't have people quit after a few weeks. You do get to set your own deadlines (because we all need to attend IRL activities such as school or work) on a weekly basis, but that also means you are solely responsible for meeting those deadlines. So while this is hard work at times, it's a lot of fun and very rewarding in its own right. Plus, it will give you team working experience that will help you throughout your career.
To apply for a position, or for any questions regarding applications, PM your one and only man of world,
Hombre de Mundo. Do not apply, or reply to the applications in this thread!
FAQ
These are some issues/questions we are aware of but so far have no been able to adress.
The terrain is full of ugly lines. What the hell is this?
This is a glitch that happens with certain graphics cards. The reason this happens is because we upscale everything. The only solution is re-size everything in the game which we should be solved in the Octorok Blast mini-game and not be a problem in the future.
Can i play this on my Mac?
Unfortunately no, and this is out of our control at the moment. We hope that a newer version of Game Maker will come along that allows us to make a mac-compatible version.
Wait, what are the controls again?
Press F1 for a complete rundown on the controls. You can re-assign all buttons in the pause menu's options page.
Can I use a gamepad with this?
There's no internal support for a gamepad, however you can download 3rd party software such as Xpadder. Google it.
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To conclude, I would like to say that I'm very proud of how hard the team has worked, especially trying to push this demo out. Please be sure to show your appreciation for the rest of the team:
bitterlime: Art and Sprites
Daniel3: Chief composer
DEGL-TOONS: Game Designer
Doran_Bladefist: Game Designer
Hombre de Mundo: Project manager and Lead Game Designer
Khao: Lead Programmer
Sundav "Sunday" Istalri: Game Designer