Fangame Project: Who wants to be a guinea pig?

Hey there ZU!

So, as many of you know, and many more do NOT know, there's a fangame project slowly in the making! We're still at the stage of building a team, if you're interested you can read about it here.

Why is there a new thread you ask? Because while we've been building a team, we've also started on the very very basics of the game, the code that allows Link to walk and swing a sword and not walk through walls.

So, this thread is for two reasons. Firstly it's to show that this game can happen and we have people capable of programming it. Secondly it's so that you guys, the members of ZU, can tell us everything that's wrong so far!

The file: LoZ TLC Basic test world.exe

(If you're interested in helping program in GML, please send me a PM.)

So, for those who are still paying attention, it would be super duper helpful for you to report any bugs and glitches you might find. Just say what went wrong, where you were, and what button you were hitting. Or even if you don't find anything wrong, post anyways.

Thanks ZU! ^_^

Also, Mattocks is awesome.

Things we don't want in this thread:
- Discussions of plot.
- Discussions about the plot writing team.
- "DD you suck."
- Anything off topic.

If you're turned right, left, or facing up, and execute a full sword swing and hold down the spacebar, link starts facing down.

If you are running in a direction and start holding down another direction, link keeps running in the first direction and won't stop until all buttons are no longer pressed.

Link can't walk through the grass :\.

Link can't walk through the grass :\.

They're (supposed to be) bushes. Link can never walk through them, can he?

Oh. Thought they were grass. Yea, bushes he shouldn't be able to walk through.

Originally Posted by Dog Dog 123

They're (supposed to be) bushes. Link can never walk through them, can he?

No, he has to slice, throw or pegasus boot thru them in all 2D Zelda.

---------- Post added at 12:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 AM ----------

When I press the D key I lose quarter of a heart and I can die if I keep pressing it, if I'm moving in one direction and while holding that key press another direction key I go in the second direction and even after letting go of the second key I continue instead of reverting to the original direction.

When I press the D key I lose quarter of a heart and I can die if I keep pressing it,

Oops, that's a cheat I forgot to take out. ^^; D for damage, H for heal, there's a few others. They're listed under "HELP" somewhere. Testing purposes only, of course, and I forgot to pull them out before recompiling to a .exe.

Originally Posted by Dog Dog 123

Oops, that's a cheat I forgot to take out. ^^; D for damage, H for heal, there's a few others. They're listed under "HELP" somewhere. Testing purposes only, of course, and I forgot to pull them out before recompiling to a .exe.

When it happened I first thought maybe it was for testing purposes but hadn't checked the help menu yet, does the shift key do anything? cuz I teleport to either the original start point or a random point in the enemy room. I would check but my anti virus doesn't like the program and closes it unless I turn it off

When it happened I first thought maybe it was for testing purposes but hadn't checked the help menu yet, does the shift key do anything? cuz I teleport to either the original start point or a random point in the enemy room. I would check but my anti virus doesn't like the program and closes it unless I turn it off

From the game help file...

Cheats
(For testing only, may or may not be on.)
Shift - Jump to "start" position
H - Heal
D - Damage
P - Pause
R- Reset

Alright that explains it then, so just some movement and collison (stuck on corners) problems but those are generally expected when starting out otherwise it looks good for a test and very promising.

Tested it, are you going to expand on it before LC comes out?

Tested it, are you going to expand on it before LC comes out?

There's still a heap of coding completely unrelated to anything else in the game that needs to be put into place. So yes, more will change. The world itself will stay fairly small for testing purposes, with just a couple of rooms. Right now I'm working on a (real) pause menu, which is a bit tricky. After that it'll be making Link talk to people instead of hitting them in the head. Just all these little things you never think about. So that's what's in the works right now.

As others have noted, the sword-slice-facing-down thing and the keep-running-in-the-wrong-direction problems are things I've come across.

I've also noticed that if you stand still and use the sword, the slashing animation is like twice as fast (which is normal speed) as the speed when you're moving while you use the sword.

There's also the manner of the hit detection-- part of the reason it's so easy to get stuck on corners is that Link's head collides with objects above him when it shouldn't. It's a classic amateur (no offense intended) programming problem that is more irritating than it looks. That means if his head touches a wall above him, he stops. It should be his FEET that collide with it-- his head should be able to overlap it to give a sense of depth.

EDIT: One more thing about the hit detection is that if you run straight into a vertical wall, and then try moving up or down, you can't. He faces and animates in that direction, but doesn't move anywhere.

EDIT 2: Also if possible it'd be nice to be able to move diagonally.
Link hasn't been locked down to four directions since the NES.

There's also the manner of the hit detection-- part of the reason it's so easy to get stuck on corners is that Link's head collides with objects above him when it shouldn't. It's a classic amateur (no offense intended) programming problem that is more irritating than it looks. That means if his head touches a wall above him, he stops. It should be his FEET that collide with it-- his head should be able to overlap it to give a sense of depth.

EDIT: One more thing about the hit detection is that if you run straight into a vertical wall, and then try moving up or down, you can't. He faces and animates in that direction, but doesn't move anywhere.

These are all the same glitch, actually, and I think I know how to fix it. ^_^ Waiting on new Link sprites before doing too much with it though, since the sizing will change.

I've also noticed that if you stand still and use the sword, the slashing animation is like twice as fast (which is normal speed) as the speed when you're moving while you use the sword.

Hmm, shall look into this one.


Also, facing down after a sword slash has been corrected. (Not in the version in this thread, but in the actual file.)

Diagonally: Hmm... interesting idea. Trickier to implement, and will involve twice as many sprites and coding. Will go on the list of things to investigate.

Originally Posted by Dog Dog 123

These are all the same glitch, actually, and I think I know how to fix it. ^_^ Waiting on new Link sprites before doing too much with it though, since the sizing will change.

Well, the feet will still generally be in the same spot, so I'd say it's probably safe to try it now.

Diagonally: Hmm... interesting idea. Trickier to implement, and will involve twice as many sprites and coding. Will go on the list of things to investigate.

Why twice as many sprites? No Zelda game has diagonal sprites of Link, but he moves in eight directions anyway. You can still use the basic four directions of sprites.

Coding, yes. That will take work. Especially to make Link face the right direction. (If he's walking up and then you go diagonal, he usually stays on the up sprite. You don't want him to be going up and, say, then switch to the left sprite while still going diagonally upward. I'd suggest playing the 2-d games and look at how his direction is handled when going diagonally, it's easier to explain that way.)

Somone correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't need any more sprites for diagonals. ALttP just used whichever direction he was facing, but made him move doagonally. So if you were facing East, and wanted to run SE, his East facing sprite would simply move diagonally.

Generally the diagonal movement animation is dependant on the first direction, ie if I'm going right and then press up as well I stay in the Right sprite but move in the up-right direction but if I'm going up and press right I stay in the Up sprite while going in the up-right direction, and no there is no diagonal sprites necessary.

Yeah, so basically like I said, the tricky part comes in the programming.

I haven't used Game Maker in, like, seven years, so I dunno how it handles programming. It might be a challenge to get Link to remain in the proper direction and not switch when you start moving diagonally.

Judging by how poorly multiple direction input is handled in the test demo, I dunno.

Listening to people talk about the problems they're seeing really does help, so does saying what should happen instead. I'll definitely try to get diagonals working like that. ^_^ (Will it be perfect? Probably not for a few more trials of the game.)

I haven't used Game Maker in, like, seven years, so I dunno how it handles programming. It might be a challenge to get Link to remain in the proper direction and not switch when you start moving diagonally.

It's fairly simple and quick to use, hence me insisting on switching to it. It's definitely possible to do.

Also, on the topic of multiple directions, left and right at the same time, what should happen then? On Nintendo systems it was never possible to hit opposite directions at the same time.

Perhaps Link stops? or he starts in the second direction as I could see people going left and then deciding to go right but pressing the right key for a moment before letting the left key go.

Having played on emulators, it would always pick the first one imput (even by a fraction of a second) and go with that.