Rocks'n'Diamonds

Zelda

A bit of an odd one this. It first started out as a Bezerk clone
where you run around rooms shooting things, I added a few doors and
keys and it turned into Shamus (C64 game). I couldn't be bothered
putting in lots of graphics for just a mini game so I started ripping
stuff off lots of games.....I made the main character Link from Zelda
and thought "well its almost a Zelda game now anyway", so I put lots
of Zelda type content in it. It feels a lot like the first NES game
The Legend of Zelda especially the "collect an object and try to
remember where to use it" scenario which is in every Zelda game

Instead of just making a large RND cave, it uses a flick-screen
effect and a map! Every time you exit and enter a room it gets
destroyed and reconstructed......pretty fast to!

1 world in 1 level,
200+ rooms in 7 zones,
100 different enemy definitions (but only 2 animation frames each),
10 weapons,
8 "adventure" related objects,
18 major room shapes,
8 unique landmarks,
12 additional overlapping room shapes (including rivers),
A unique wall tile for every room,
Lots of ambient background sounds that don't irritate
Health system, bonus health, and coin based health bonuses,
Perfect combat, enemies die when you shoot them...ALWAYS!
About 2 hours game play.....I've done it in about 40 minutes though,
A cool ending!

If you clear a room full of enemies and then re-enter it later
they stay dead (you have to kill them all though), this goes
for collecting objects and other things to.

You have to give it a bit of time before interesting things start
happening though. The first area is a bit dull and the first few
weapons are purposely weak.....but it gets better.

Have fun!

Whoa... cool! Couldn't it be less addictive? I wanted to try it and I spent 15 minutes at once! Very well done!

This is incredible!!! :-O

The first try instantly kept me playing for over half an hour! (Just died and now wait for the tape reloading; good luck that I was able to remember that I can save tapes -- I nearly forgot that I play an R'n'D level!! :-o )

I can't believe how you created all these different things and rooms and features -- if I hadn't started it from R'n'D, I would have said it's a different game! *WOW*

I think I should make tape loading faster somehow...

Oh, the tape reloading just finished -- I have to continue playing...! :-)

Well well well... I am amazed
Actually, when I started playing it - I forgot I was playing RND and started pressing all my Nintendo Emulator buttons... I wanted to pick up and throw those bushes!

A few suggestions though (maybe it's possible to make this great game even better?)
- I think some enemies maybe should be killed in 2 shots instead of one? Even though it can be annoying, it could have a nice effect. For example, shooting with the worst weapon towards an enemy which looks kinda strong.. the enemy dies at first shot...
- How can I know where my current position is on the minimap? And a hard-to-implement-idea: Mark rooms which I have already visited! (Well... just an idea )
- Maybe the enemies could drop something? (A little coin or heart here and there wouldn't hurt...)

And btw... those enemies which gets created sometimes when destroying bushes, soooooo annoying! But I'll guess I'll just have to get used to them

Anyways, very nice game! I'll definetly have to take a look at this room creating technique!

Thanks everyone!

>I think I should make tape loading faster somehow...

Dang... I thought since it's a small cave it would load fast. Hang in there, you sound like you're close to the end!

Zomis, I agree on everything you said.....but there is not one single free CE left!

>I think some enemies maybe should be killed in 2 shots

Well, there are only two types of enemy and 2 types of bullet.....its just a lot of ce_value trickery to make it look more. To make it harder it tried something else......faster enemies and the unlucky 6th weapon (crossbow) combo.

>How can I know where my current position is on the minimap?

I did have a realtime mini map! Instead of the message system I had a map that filled in as you explored and you saw it everytime you moved to the next screen....but it was so hard to get right and never really worked properly (you couldn't see one map square above because the mini-map maker had to go somewhere). The little black dots on the current map are the landmarks.....plus you have the handy room number so you shouldn't get too stuck!

>Maybe the enemies could drop something?

Yes but that could be exploited! The room only clears when you kill everything......you could kill them all except one, exit , return and repeat.
Plus there's no ceiling cap on the health......you could get it to 99999!
BTW "the Shadow" (the fast screaming guy) leaves hearts sometimes.....but there's only one per room so that's ok.

>those enemies which gets created sometimes when destroying bushes, soooooo annoying

I honestly hate him to! He always seems to appear when you need hearts, so you end up losing instead of gaining!

Anyway........I wonder who'll finish it 1st? (Holger sounds close)

What I wanted to do with the health is a bit beyond me (mega maths!) Instead of 100 HP I wanted 5 hearts. The numbers 0-9 are a heart getting empty just like the real Zelda......so you start with 99999 HP (5 full hearts), after 10 hits you have 99990 (4 hearts and an empty one)......but the next hit will have to start taking off 10's instead of 1's. The last heart will have to decrease by 10000......can anybody work this one out?

> >I think I should make tape loading faster somehow...
>
> Dang... I thought since it's a small cave it would load fast. Hang in there,
> you sound like you're close to the end!

Well, at the time of my first post, I only had one of the four pieces of the sword. After playing until 04:00 in the morning, I now have three pieces and the tape is already two hours long!!! :-o ;-)

(Had to reload the tape quite some times, because my health is rarely much more than 100-200, so I died a bit more often than expected... ;-) Reloading that beast of a tape always took around 10 minutes. :-o )

> Well, there are only two types of enemy and 2 types of bullet.....its just
> a lot of ce_value trickery to make it look more. To make it harder it
> tried something else......faster enemies and the unlucky 6th weapon
> (crossbow) combo.

So the cross bow is only a "fake" weapon that you should better not take? I took it once, didn't like it (too slow reloading time) and continued with the previous weapon. Any special trick on the cross bow? What do you mean by "combo"? I just used the fire (drop) button as always to fire it... :-)

> plus you have the handy room number so you shouldn't get too stuck!

Well, to be honest, I did not look at the room number too often so far...

> BTW "the Shadow" (the fast screaming guy) leaves hearts
> sometimes.....but there's only one per room so that's ok.

Haven't seen that yet...

> Anyway........I wonder who'll finish it 1st? (Holger sounds close)

Well, maybe. We'll see... :-)

As said, the last piece is still missing, and I think I will make a little break and invent something to make tape loading faster before continuing... :-)

So the cross bow is only a "fake" weapon that you should better not take? I took it once, didn't like it (too slow reloading time) and continued with the previous weapon. Any special trick on the cross bow? What do you mean by "combo"? I just used the fire (drop) button as always to fire it...

No I mean they're all fake really! I meant combo as is: as soon as you get the crossbow you are fighting fast enemies, so the gameplay is a weird curve:- moderate, easy, very easy, rock hard, moderate, easy

There are no set places for weapons, they are sequential! So if you say skipped the 2nd weapon (rocks) and went for the knife instead......the knife would be the rocks......... I did this to save 9 CEs.

The first 5 weapons are slow, but have increasing fire rate...... the weapons 6-10 are fast, but I had to step down the fire rate otherwise weapon 6 would be too powerfull and 10 would be useless. If you find them in the right order then you don't have to use the crossbow much. I suggest running away and only killing things that block you.....a good tip is to stay at one side of the room until the last second, them move across and past them........never fight in the middle of the screen!

>Zomis, I agree on everything you said.....but there is not one single free
>CE left!

Well, I was afraid of that

>I did have a realtime mini map! Instead of the message system I had a
>map that filled in as you explored and you saw it everytime you moved
>to the next screen....but it was so hard to get right and never really
>worked properly (you couldn't see one map square above because the
>mini-map maker had to go somewhere). The little black dots on the
>current map are the landmarks.....plus you have the handy room
>number so you shouldn't get too stuck!

Aaah, the landmarks! I see! That minimap problem sounds interesting... but difficult...

>Yes but that could be exploited! The room only clears when you kill
>everything......you could kill them all except one, exit , return and
>repeat.
>Plus there's no ceiling cap on the health......you could get it to 99999!
>BTW "the Shadow" (the fast screaming guy) leaves hearts
>sometimes.....but there's only one per room so that's ok.

Ah, that's right... didn't think of that And I guess that's why the bushes always disappear after you've destroyed only one or two or so... so that you shouldn't go back and get them all again...
How is that "cleaned room" trigger stored by the way? Is it a CE value or so? Maybe if it was a CE value it could count how many you have cleaned, so that only those you haven't clean gets created again. But that's too difficult I guess and maybe requires more CEs...

>I honestly hate him to! He always seems to appear when you need
>hearts, so you end up losing instead of gaining!

Yes indeed! And my health is rarely over 70 so I often need hearts!

>What I wanted to do with the health is a bit beyond me (mega maths!)
>Instead of 100 HP I wanted 5 hearts. The numbers 0-9 are a heart
>getting empty just like the real Zelda......so you start with 99999 HP (5
>full hearts), after 10 hits you have 99990 (4 hearts and an empty
>one)......but the next hit will have to start taking off 10's instead of 1's.
>The last heart will have to decrease by 10000......can anybody work this
>one out?

Ah... Quite interesting problem! Maybe it could be solved by using the CE score of some element, so that the CE score multiplies by 10 when the level score (aka. health) reaches 99990. How to manage that practically is probably a bit more difficult though...

>(Had to reload the tape quite some times, because my health is rarely
>much more than 100-200, so I died a bit more often than expected...
>Reloading that beast of a tape always took around 10 minutes. )

Hey! Mine has only been 100 once and that's when I started! I never got above 100... but I've only played for half-an-hour or so...

>Well, to be honest, I did not look at the room number too often so far...

I look at that all the time, but I don't have much structure on it... it's just like "Oh well, 146 now...".

>> BTW "the Shadow" (the fast screaming guy) leaves hearts
>> sometimes.....but there's only one per room so that's ok.
>Haven't seen that yet...

I wonder if I have seen him or not... I've seen some annoying extremly fast thing in one room, but I always run away from him...

>As said, the last piece is still missing, and I think I will make a little
>break and invent something to make tape loading faster before
>continuing...
If you're going to make something like that, pleeeease share it with us! No cheating for yourself, ok?

> I wonder if I have seen him or not... I've seen some annoying extremly
> fast thing in one room, but I always run away from him...

I have seen the "enemy" (guy with pumpkin), but not that he lost a heart...

> If you're going to make something like that, pleeeease share it with us!
> No cheating for yourself, ok?

Of course! What do you think of me?! ;-)

As soon as I have something that really works and make it faster, I'll throw it out as a 3.2.2 "Special Zelda Edition". ;-) :-)

I got all the pieces of the sword, but was killed by the boss and now I'm waiting for the tape load.

Btw, awesome level, Alan!

How is that "cleaned room" trigger stored by the way? Is it a CE value or so? Maybe if it was a CE value it could count how many you have cleaned, so that only those you haven't clean gets created again. But that's too difficult I guess and maybe requires more CEs...

Like EVERYTHING I do, it's really simple but with a layer of gloss over it to make it look better than it is.

If you have looked at the CE map on the right of the cave, you'll see the balloon switch, this is the current location. When you move out of the room NESW this piece moves with you to the next room. Any exit shape, map content or room shape that touches this CE triggers a draw request for the game screen.....dead easy.

Now, when an enemy is made a CE (enemy quota) adds 1 on creation of..., if this gets to zero then the current location simply makes an empty room above itself. And thats all there is to it! It also does this if you collect any object.

If you find all the pieces of the sword, every single empty room turns into...... something evil So it's best not to clear rooms of bushes and rocks around the hub area.

>I got all the pieces of the sword, but was killed by the boss and now I'm waiting for the tape load.

Hummmm, there are no bosses in the game! Do you mean The Shadow?
(I was going to have a few large bosses though, in a separate area in the cave, but again I ran out of CEs)

*edit*

>Yes indeed! And my health is rarely over 70 so I often need hearts!

Oops, missed this. You can avoid destroying bushes and still make it through the game! There are a few coin rooms around the world with about 40 coins in each......if you collect 100 coins you get 50 HP everytime (and a nice envelope)

Actually, I've meant the "something evil" (which is, in essence, a boss), but I tried to tell it in a way that doesn't spoil the surprise for those who didn't yet get the sword.

Also, I've made a mistake of getting the sword part from room 174 last... and it's a long way from there to the exit. Next time, I'll get that sword part from room 38 last.
(Of course, I hope that the evil thing is triggered when you get whole sword, not the 4th part.)

If you have looked at the CE map on the right of the cave, you'll see the balloon switch, this is the current location. When you move out of the room NESW this piece moves with you to the next room. Any exit shape, map content or room shape that touches this CE triggers a draw request for the game screen.....dead easy.

How simple... awesome technique! I've experimented with multiple rooms before, using something similar to levels inside Game Inside, but it allowed only 32 rooms (only 32 changepages), and they were much smaller, but allowed more variety.

Well done, Alan! This is really incredible...

Finally! I did it!!! Really nice level btw, very probably the best one I know for RnD. I really liked it.

I wonder if I'm the first? Anyone won it before me?

I wonder if I'm the first? Anyone won it before me?

Well done Tomi!

Yes you're the first......I think Holger was near but gave up to do something with the tape system.