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Schilcote
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Post by Schilcote »

Do you have anything GOOD to say about the game? Or should I just start over?
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asiekierka
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Post by asiekierka »

See ZZT Crime, then apply it's tips to your game.

That will improve it a lot!
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Post by Schilcote »

I did! If you see a major problem, tell me what the problem is and what board it's on. I want to make a good game, but I need just a little help. In the meantime, I'll get rid of the multicolor borders.
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zamros
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Post by zamros »

you seem to want to make an action game.

okay. action games are the best games of zzt. also puzzle games are good, but action games are also good.

the problem with your game isn't as easy as "On board 3, the enemies shoot 5 bullets at a time before idling four cycles and I think they should only shoot 3 bullets at a time before idling two cycles." it seems to me that the main issue with this game lies in its depth. you see, ZZT is going to be 20 years old in a few years. have you ever seen that episode of Star Trek: Voyager when they go to the Q Continuum, and since they're all immortal all they do is stand around in a big house bored to tears in the middle of nowhere in silence because they're all omnipotent and immortal so they've done and experienced and talked about literally everything that could ever be done in the universe? the zzt community is like that. it takes a lot to get us to feel that something is good, because man, there's only so much you can do with ZZT and it's been honestly stretched to its limits.

What can you do to stand out, you might say, what can I do to make a good game??? There are several avenues to explore.

A great plot can really make any game shine, no matter what the content. there are some games that are just plot, with no gameplay, and people still play 'em. it's really the one part of a zzt game that you can truly make original no matter how limited the palette of zzt may be.

a good atmosphere can make a game good, too. it doesn't even have to be an original atmosphere, but it can be a good one. the limited plot of your game says that you fell in to a pit, but it's a crazy rainbow pit with a bunch of empty rooms! i can't believe that is a pit. is it a lava pit? is it a muddy pit? make the rooms smaller as you go along, or at least differently shaped. you're in a pit, for god's sake! get a good fadey toolkit and find a color scheme that you'd like to focus on; blues and grays, or browns and reds, or purples and greens and browns, and stick to it, for the most part. it'll let you make things stand out that you want to stand out and make the game a more cohesive experience without really making any plot additions which you seem to be against.

probably the most difficult and uncommon thing that can make a zzt game great is innovation. something that really stretches zzt with programming or something else ala zztris or burger joint or even mel-gibson-is-drunk-and-puking engine. make something move in a way that it's never moved before....

what can you do to get yourself a hold on how zzt evolved is try and use the aforementioned list of Good ZZT Games and try and play them in chronological order. you could also find someone who's made a whole lot of goddamn zzt games and play their games in order. some of them have first games that aren't much unlike yours, and you can check out what they did to get to the way their games ended up. zzt syndromes and zzt crime and all that shit can only go so far. you gotta read a lot to be able to write, you gotta play zzt games a lot to make a good zzt game.

but what do i know, i made jesus 2035 and thats it.
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Post by Schilcote »

Okay, more story, more atmosphere. I think I've got the gist.

EDIT:
And here's the next release:

http://www.mediafire.com/?tljymdedzy2
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Dr. Dos
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Post by Dr. Dos »

zamros wrote:stuff
Who are you and what have you done with the real Zamros?
Visit the Museum of ZZT
Follow Worlds of ZZT on Twitter

Apologies for the old post you may have just read.
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Post by Zenith Nadir »

i hate zzt crime

half of it is just ripping off stuff already outlined in zzt syndrome and the rest is wong chung bang saying "dont do this in you're zt game bcuz i doant like it :("

also scorch made the most recent versions, which speaks for itself
he looked upon the world and saw it was still depraved :fvkk:

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Post by Schroedingers Cat »

zamros wrote:stuff
Zamros gives good advice! Heed it!
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Post by wil »

Dr. Dos wrote:
zamros wrote:stuff
Who are you and what have you done with the real Zamros?
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Quantum P.
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Post by Quantum P. »

Don't be afraid of criticism. Nobody's first game is perfect (this also applies to second games, third games, etc). Use this as a chance to improve!

Also, in addition to ZZT Syndromes, you might want to check out ZZT Pro. Both of these are good game-making guides.
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Post by Schilcote »

New release:

http://www.mediafire.com/?hzwwtji3joz

I added another boss room, and the very simple Puzzle Room.
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Post by Commodore »

zam I have said before that jesus 2035 is awesome and I stand by it.

but what do I know?
*POW* *CLANK* *PING*
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zamros
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Post by zamros »

Played the new version. Showing some improvement but it still seems that the game comes out a little flat. I liked that some of the rooms were differently shaped other than just a square border around the whole board, and I'd like to see some more of that. Also, it seems that a lot of the issues with seemingly big empty space could be solved by combining a few of your boards in to a little maze with a bunch of rooms. Also, the last boss (maybe - i never got past it) just says RAWR and ends the game before you can even do anything.

A few other good things: I usually hate hate hate stars but I like the star-shootin check-sign boss you have to bomb to kill, but the stars are always pushin the bombs! I'd like more stuff like that, actual challenge that makes you think at least a little bit. I like that there's a pallette now, too.

As terrible as this may seem I think you'd benefit from just a completely fresh start as far as this game goes. Go to the ZZT Archive and download some dungeon crawl games - Dungeon Master's Gallery by Tony Testa, Really Short Dungeon Game and ADMD by CoolZX, and, if you just ignore the plot, Respite by Madtom just to name a few. Also, get the Don't Get Cornholed demo, because I made it. I feel that your game wants to end up like one of those games, an action-oriented dungeon romp full of creative enemies and not that much background story to get in the way (except Respite, god, fuck you Madtom). Play those, see what has been done in the genre already, and try and build on it. Or don't build on it. More of a good thing is always welcome.
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Quantum P.
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Post by Quantum P. »

You're showing some progress. The later boards are better than the earlier ones.

Also, programming tip: when an object runs its program, it keeps running commands one after another unless you tell it to do something else:

Code: Select all

@boss2
#throwstar opp seek
#go seek

:TOUCH
#endgame

:BOMBED
Raaaawr!
#zap BOMBED

'and so on...
The object keeps running commands until it reaches the :TOUCH label -- and acts as if the player has just touched it. You probably want something more like the following:

Code: Select all

@boss2
:attack
#throwstar opp seek
#go seek
'be creative here! move around in a funny
'way, #change stars to something else, etc.
#attack

:TOUCH
#endgame
#end

:BOMBED
Raaaawr!
#zap BOMBED
#attack

'and so on...
#attack is just shorthand for #send attack, which sends the object back to the label :attack.
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Post by superbowl shuffle »

This thread is awesome. :tie: :tie: :tie:
[size=75:lh51rn9h][b:lh51rn9h]When the 5 o'clock whistle blows, so do I.[/b:lh51rn9h]
[/size:lh51rn9h]
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