The Legend of Zelda: Timeless Haven - New Demo Coming Soon!

So remember way back a few months ago, when there was all that talk about a fan game being made by a team of our very own forumite, and then after a bunch of hype it just kind of disapeared?

Well guess what. Behing the curtain, it's been happening! Our team have been working hard this whole time developing story, graphics, gameplay, and putting it all together. While we aren't anywhere near a full game yet, I do come with good news! We have ready the first official playable demo of the game.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Alpha demo of The Legend of Zelda: Timeless Haven (tentative title).

Please give it a play, and leave us some feedback. If you can, record your playthroughs to help us fix any bugs or glitches you find. Our team has and is continuing to work very hard to perfect this. Any help you can give in finding imperfections will be greatly appreciated. If you have a program which lets you record your play throughs we encourage you to use it so that in the case of a problem or glitch, you can show exactly what happened and help make it easier for our programmers to fix.

This demo is focused on gameplay and features a small overworld area and a cave. There are two items to find and you'll need both to complete the demo. There are also a few secrets spread across the demo that will help you on your way, if you can find them, that is.

The start screen will show you the default controls, but you can change them anytime by pressing P.

Please note that some graphics cards create a very ugly mess of random lines in the terrain. This is an unfixable issue with the current settings the game runs on, but rest assured you'll see none of it by the time the next demo rolls around.

We can't give away much about the story yet, but here are some Charcter profiles. You may recognize a few of these faces, while others are totally new!














Feel free to post all your thoughts about the game here and feel free to ask us anything about it (though we may not chose to reveal what you ask for)

And finally, for those of you who are interested in this project, or game making in general, we have an exciting opportunity. We are looking to fill some positions in our staff right now. Open the spoiler for more information.

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.

If you're wondering, becoming a graphic artist for our game isn't very hard. You'll need to be able to do one or both of these things:

- Make sprites based on a sketch
- Make animations for sprites

This can be done with pretty basic editing programs like Photoshop or even MS paint if you want to draw a sprite.

Doesn't sound too hard, right? Well, if you're interested send us an application by PM'ing yours truly.

In your application, I want you to submit one or more images. If you want to make sprites based of a sketch, choose one (or both) of the following sketches I just made, and turn them into sprites based on the minish cap sprites' visuals and size. It's also very good if you can make a few different poses for the character like standing, walking or fighting.

The first sketch is an evil magician.


This one is a house-wife/witch... I dunno



The second thing you can do is to take a Minish Cap sprite (or another sprite you made yourself) and animate it. Walking, fighting, talking, sleeping or any other single move will do.

Of course, the better you make your sprite, the better animated and the better it matches out visual style, the bigger the chance of you getting on the team. Also, I do encourage you to try both making an original sprite and animate because the more you can do, the bigger freedom you will have (and also the more responsibility ).




Programmers:
In order to put our ideas into the game, we'll need programmers. The game runs in Game Maker.

Send us a (gmk) file of a sample 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 the game. We're gonna judge you by the functionality of the game (graphics don't really matter) and the code. We can't forbid you from using 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 be broken 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 later on.

Application (Dungeon Focus): Create an enemy. How does it look, how does it move, how does it attack?

Create a block based puzzle. How do the blocks move, and how (exactly) does Link solve it? You are allowed to incorporate other common sungeon elements such as switches and the like.

Application (Village Design): Create a minor plotline for a character in a village. What is his/her name and backstory, what purpouse does he/she serve?

Create a mini game you'd usually find in houses. Detail what it is and how to play/solve it.

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.



Please also remember this is a big commitment. It will be a long running project and we need dedication. You do get to set your own deadlines on a weekly basis, but that also means you have to meet these deadlines. DO NOT APPLY IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO FOLLOW THROUGH AND WORK HARD ON THIS

To apply for a position, or for any questions regarding applications, PM your one and only man of world, Hombre de Loco Motive Mundo. Don't apply, or reply to the applications in this thread!

*Downloads*

Will be playing this shortly. Want to congratulate you guys for your effort and dedication to this. You've accomplished a lot by just having a demo ready. Best of luck on the rest of the fan game, and I'll be posting my first impressions on this later.

EDIT: ****, pressed escape when getting a second heart container. The game plays like a charm, though. Visuals are tight, and nothing looked out of place from what I've played so far. Same goes for sound effects and music which plays and transitions just fine.
Demo shows great craftsmanship from you guys, so good job once again. Will play all there is to play later.

Some critiques:

- Enemies' invincibility frames are too long
- Octorok attacks go too far
- Octoroks shoot rocks after they die sometimes
- Chu-Chus and Octoroks can hurt me during their invincibility frames
- There's some spots where it looks like Link gets knocked back as if he's rolling into something, but nothing is there
- Controls for Link feel a bit stiff. I should be able to move directions while spamming my sword.
- The diagonal rolls should be a bit more diagonal
- If you roll one direction, and quickly try to roll the opposite direction, Link will make the rolling sound effect, but there's no rolling action
- If you spam the rolling command, the sound effect for rolling sometimes overlaps with each other.


Will add more later.

Congratulations. Glad to see it this far.

EDIT: Is there an action button?

Link's really slow on the over world. Graphics-wise, things kind of look like they're on a grid or something, which I don't think was the intention.

Otherwise, cool demo.

Originally Posted by LegendofHyrule31

Congratulations. Glad to see it this far.

EDIT: Is there an action button?

All keys are displayed on start screen and can be changed on the pause menu (P)

Originally Posted by Holden

Link's really slow on the over world. Graphics-wise, things kind of look like they're on a grid or something, which I don't think was the intention.

Might be this:

Originally Posted by OP

Please note that some graphics cards create a very ugly mess of random lines in the terrain. This is an unfixable issue with the current settings the game runs on, but rest assured you'll see none of it by the time the next demo rolls around.

Guys, please let us know things you like as well! I'm not saying this to boost our egos, but we all have different opinions on things in the game, and so if we're thinking about getting rid of something but everyone really likes it, then we need to know that so we can keep it in there.

Hmm..

Well the controls could be a bit tighter, but I can't describe exactly how or why.
It's just that sort of awkward imperfection that often plagues fan games and is hard to completely get rid of. Other than that there wasn't too much programming-wise unless I really want to nitpick.

I know this is hardly going to matter, but I just have to say that I don't care for the visual style at all. I would have much preferred original sprites, because the Minish Cap sprites don't seem to gel well with what you're going for, and the visual effects (like the Wind Waker-esque smoke) are far too clean and smooth and look out-of-place with the GBA sprites (a similar inconsistency as in Four Swords Adventures, with the mixed SNES, GBA, and GameCube visuals... ugh). Not to mention original sprites would have made it a bit more, well, your own.

The music and sound effects also aren't really well-knit-together. Although sound is one of the last areas that is touched upon in game development usually so it's probably not there yet, but the low-quality MIDI music doesn't go with the higher-quality sound effects, and with the art and the sprites, I didn't expect Link to sound that young.

Again, I know those could just be thrown in for the demo.

But yeah.


EDIT: Also a minor thought, but it doesn't really seem much like a "community" game when most of the work is done behind closed doors with very few positions offered to people.
I remember during signups that there was no chance for someone to make music for the game, for example (the reason was "we have our own guy").


EDIT 2:
I was trying hard to break the game on purpose, and the biggest thing was that I also noticed what Xeno was talking about, where you can't change your direction while spamming the sword. You're locked in that one direction until you stop swinging. As well as the sound issues he mentioned (spamming the roll).

^ Thanks for your extensive feedback, I'll give you an equally extensive answer to your points:

Well the controls could be a bit tighter, but I can't describe exactly how or why.

Some things we are very aware of, such as what Xeno mentioned about being able to turn as you slashslashslash, but other things such as walking speed, diagonal movement etc is a lot trickier since it involves a lot of personal prefference. So it's really hard to get rid of any awkwardness one person experiences if you can't really explain it

Keep in mind that this is an alpha demo, and I hope to improve on controls as much as possible. The more you can point out and specify, the better

Other than that there wasn't too much programming-wise unless I really want to nitpick.

You may nitpick if you want

I know this is hardly going to matter, but I just have to say that I don't care for the visual style at all. I would have much preferred original sprites, because the Minish Cap sprites don't seem to gel well with what you're going for, and the visual effects (like the Wind Waker-esque smoke) are far too clean and smooth and look out-of-place with the GBA sprites (a similar inconsistency as in Four Swords Adventures, with the mixed SNES, GBA, and GameCube visuals... ugh). Not to mention original sprites would have made it a bit more, well, your own.

Weeell, this is hard to adress because you're obviously - as an artist - more concerned with these kinds of things. Personally I really like the mix between GBA sprites and smoother effects. The effects are used for things such as magic attacks etc which I believe if a good way of showing that they're indeed magic and special. When you're talking about sprites, I need a little bit of clarification. Are you talking about the overall style of TMC sprites/visuals or does this have to do with content?

As you probably suspected, yes we pretty much threw in a few enemies for this demo simply because we didn't have the time or resources to make sprites for our original enemies. This game will feature some enemies like Octorocs and other familiar Zelda enemies but we'll have plenty of original content. Just not for this demo

The music and sound effects also aren't really well-knit-together

Oh, no kidding. As stated before, this is focused on gameplay and the sound effects and music was pretty much just thrown in, as you said.

Although sound is one of the last areas that is touched upon in game development usually so it's probably not there yet

As a big fan of games such as Zelda and Donkey Kong Country I'm very aware of the impact music and sound has on a game and this is something I really want to do well.

and with the art and the sprites, I didn't expect Link to sound that young.

Neither Link's sound effects or visual appearance is in its final form

EDIT: Also a minor thought, but it doesn't really seem much like a "community" game when most of the work is done behind closed doors with very few positions offered to people.

Actually there's no set cap on how many people we can take in, and pretty much all positions of development are available. So I don't know where you're getting this from.

I remember during signups that there was no chance for someone to make music for the game, for example (the reason was "we have our own guy").

A lot has changed regarding management and positions since we first started. Also, all we have now is a gameplay demo so there's little need for a musician right now. As we start to build the actual areas of the game, musicians will be needed.

Originally Posted by Hombre de Mundo

Actually there's no set cap on how many people we can take in, and pretty much all positions of development are available. So I don't know where you're getting this from.

To add onto that, this is why we have this thread. We want feedback and ideas from the community. But we can't just have an open spam fest of random yelling while we're trying to make progress. We need to have the closed door so we can sort through everything and come to a decision.

^ Plus, if we were trasnperant you would already know the story and how every challenge is presented and solved. And that just wouldn't be very fun, would it?

lolololololol

High-five for using King Harkinian.

Originally Posted by Hombre de Mundo

Some things we are very aware of, such as what Xeno mentioned about being able to turn as you slashslashslash, but other things such as walking speed, diagonal movement etc is a lot trickier since it involves a lot of personal prefference. So it's really hard to get rid of any awkwardness one person experiences if you can't really explain it

Well I know it would be easier if I knew how to explain it and knew specifically what was off, but it's hard to tell. But you can't really say controls are tight for different people for different reasons (especially in a 2-d game like this), because the best control is when nobody notices it. Which, again, is tough to do especially after a Nintendo game, because Nintendo is well-known for the high levels of polish they put into things like that.

The effects are used for things such as magic attacks etc which I believe if a good way of showing that they're indeed magic and special.

Personally I don't think that's an excuse for inconsistent visuals. It's jarring and makes the whole game seem much less unified. And it's not only attacks, it's things like the smoke when you roll or defeat an enemy.

When you're talking about sprites, I need a little bit of clarification. Are you talking about the overall style of TMC sprites/visuals or does this have to do with content?

What do you mean by "content"? If you're talking about the drawings, then no, those look quite nice. So yeah, I'm mostly referring to the in-game visuals in general, and also to the TMC sprites. I don't think it mixes well.

As you probably suspected, yes we pretty much threw in a few enemies for this demo simply because we didn't have the time or resources to make sprites for our original enemies. This game will feature some enemies like Octorocs and other familiar Zelda enemies but we'll have plenty of original content. Just not for this demo

When I said "original sprites", I meant basically all original visuals, Link included. I know that's no small feat, but I think it would have been one worth trying, because it certainly would set it apart from other fan games.

Oh, no kidding. As stated before, this is focused on gameplay and the sound effects and music was pretty much just thrown in, as you said.

As a big fan of games such as Zelda and Donkey Kong Country I'm very aware of the impact music and sound has on a game and this is something I really want to do well.


Neither Link's sound effects or visual appearance is in its final form

I figured as much, I just mentioned it to be sure.

Actually there's no set cap on how many people we can take in, and pretty much all positions of development are available. So I don't know where you're getting this from.

It was in one of the older threads I can't find where people were signing up. I asked why positions were so limited (and cited the music thing as an example), and the answer I got was basically "because we already have someone that can do that". So it wasn't really as "open" to the community as it could have been.


EDIT: You guys seem to be mistaking "open to the community" for "showing every bit of the work as it goes along", and that's not what I meant.
I just meant that it seemed that most of the structure was basically predetermined before others signed up to help, so it wasn't very community-oriented.

edit: lawl nvm

Tonch, keep in mind that when the sign ups started we had begun putting thought into this because it was originally supposed to be only a couple people. But when we realised that was not working at all we decided to open up and expand to a community based project, which is when we started looking for people to help out.

We aren't going to just say "Okay, anyone who wants to help, here's the file, do something". Even in community projects organization is required, which is why we picked a team. Like Hombre said, there's no set number of people for each spot, but we aren't going to bring on more people than we need because it's not an efficient way to run something like this.

Rest assured, it is still a community project. The initial idea came from the community, as did the team, and now we need ideas and feedback from the community.

Also, on the topic of the sprites, we actually do have original sprites. However they are not completely finished yet se we decided to recolour the minish cap sprite rather than have missmatching sprites for different actions.

Originally Posted by Extroble

I find it sort of odd that a group of people who sees that as a likely scenario would start a community project. I'm not saying it's unlikely, or that I disagree with you, but really now.

trust me, I've done a lot of projects like this, and as much as I wish it wouldn't happen, it always does.

Originally Posted by Mattocks

Tonch, keep in mind that when the sign ups started we had begun putting thought into this because it was originally supposed to be only a couple people. But when we realised that was not working at all we decided to open up and expand to a community based project, which is when we started looking for people to help out.

We aren't going to just say "Okay, anyone who wants to help, here's the file, do something". Even in community projects organization is required, which is why we picked a team. Like Hombre said, there's no set number of people for each spot, but we aren't going to bring on more people than we need because it's not an efficient way to run something like this.

Rest assured, it is still a community project. The initial idea came from the community, as did the team, and now we need ideas and feedback from the community.

You're still assuming I'm talking about anarchy here, which I'm not.
All I'm saying is that when I asked about it before the answer I got amounted to "we have someone in mind already so nobody else needs to get a chance for it". This was determined before it was opened to everyone else.

Yes, that goes back to our original team. We had someone because we knew eventually we'd need music. But like Hombre said, when we went to the community we realised we wouldn't need much in the way of music yet.

*shrugs*
I don't have anything else to say about it.

Given the structure you have right now, the thing that stood out the most for me was the fact that the visuals weren't very unified.

And of course, everything is just put in there for the demo, the focus of which I imagine is the programming.

I'm disappointed that there is only support for Windows and not other OS's.

I don't suppose there are any chances of doing ports somehow?

Get a PC dammit. And use Internet Explorer on it. Then it will work perfectly.