Topic: Oracle of Hours (Requesting JonLeung)

I only put this topic here because I didn't know where I could post, or where this topic should go. Sorry for any inconvenience.



Anyhoo, I have a team working on development for Oracle of Secrets, using Jon's maps. I already have his permission, and, looking through the topics, I see a few other people who need credit as well. One drawback, however, is figuring out the puzzles in the maps. How does the Mirror Shield work? The Portal Cube? What was that house in the graveyard for?



A lot of the puzzles and items in these maps require answering. Of course, we could implement our own ideas and use our imagination, but we'd like something to base it off of.



Thanks!



~Jeod

[JonLeung]

As I said, my intention was that these were meant to draw more attention to VGMaps.com.  Though I worked through the puzzles on both the dungeon and had a possible path across the overworld, I never meant for these to become a project other than what it is.



While I did give you permission to use ideas for your own Oracle fangame, I had hoped you wouldn't use it all verbatim, as I had stated.



There are numerous caves and houses (including the one in the graveyard) that I didn't bother to include the insides of.  I expect any "real" version of this would have various NPCs within them for sidequests, or Pieces of Heart, etc.  The Mirror Shield would have reflected the laser beams from the lasers to the intended target swtiches.  The Portal Cube would have allowed Link to teleport from one teleport tile to another, but only of the same colour and within the same screen.



I'm suddenly not very comfortable with someone else working on a game based on my work.  Give me a while to think this over.

While I understand your concern Jon, remember that none of this would have been possible without you or VGMaps.com. A lot of people have been waiting for a fangame based off the Oracle series, and you made it possible. I'll give you plenty of time. You're the creator, after all.

[Revned]

Aww, Jon, don't be a party pooper. I think it would be great to be able to actually play it. Good luck with this, Jeod.

[JonLeung]

While I contemplate, I'm curious as to how you are going to go about making this.  Not that it will affect my decision any, but will it be compiled into a GBC ROM, or would it just be a PC game?

I don't know how to make roms. It will be a PC game, made by Multimedia Fusion 2.

[JonLeung]

I just thought editing the ROM(s) would be easier; you wouldn't have to reprogram/remake quite a lot of stuff.  (Also, then it could more easily be put on a flash cart and played on a real Game Boy device.)  Personally, it sounds like way too big of a task without doing so, but good luck with that then in any case.



I guess then you can do as you like.  Just be sure to make it clear in the opening credits that it is based on a VGMaps.com April Fool's joke.



As I crossed off above:



"There are numerous caves and houses (including the one in the graveyard) that I didn't bother to include the insides of. I expect any "real" version of this would have various NPCs within them for sidequests, or Pieces of Heart, etc. The Mirror Shield would have reflected the laser beams from the lasers to the intended target swtiches. The Portal Cube would have allowed Link to teleport from one teleport tile to another, but only of the same colour and within the same screen."



Also, the intended starting point in Falsia would have been west and a little south of the town.  You'd see that pits prevent Link from wandering anywhere else that early in the game.

[Maxim]

Believe me, ROM hacking is the hardest way to do it. Making a game in Game Maker X is a thousand times easier.

[JonLeung]

I don't know much about ROM hacking, but there sounds like way too much room for error in recreating the behaviours and physics of all the sprites.  >_<  While you may be able to recreate how Link recoils from an enemy blow or how he reappears after falling in deep water (that he can't swim in yet) or lava or a pit, enemy behaviour is yet another story...



Then again since I know little of hacking, or recreating behavious on sight alone, how can I really say?  I just figure that once the structure of the ROM is figured out, there would be 100% accurate physics, behaviours, effects, palette limitations, etc. and all one would have to do is arrange the landscape/dungeon tiles accordingly.  Even more so considering that I made little that was actually custom.



Though I suppose that what is custom might be hard to add in.  In any case, good luck with the Spinner and the Spinner tracks.  You'll have to get the physics just right for the puzzles to work out as I intended...



And now you can see why I'm hesitant about this whole thing, even after giving permission.  I always feel like every deviation/addition would not be how I imagined it, that I would rather that the maps not be used exactly as they are.  Though as long as it's clear that the fan game is BASED on my maps, and that everyone knows the maps came first, I'm as OK with it as I'll ever be.

[Javlon]

If you ever finish it, please e-mail a downloadable version of it to me at seizuresalad@roadrunner.com!



And another thing, in order for it to become night while you don't have the Hours lantern, perhaps it could become night after you walk, like, thru a certain amount of screens?

[JonLeung]

The map was designed with the intention that the Lamp Of Hours would be obtained at a certain point in the storyline (I'd have to check my notes to see when, since that sub-dungeon was never created/"mapped"), and the Moon Lanterns similarly placed with that control in mind.  Also it forces most dungeons to be specifically entered during day or night.  I thought my set-up was fairly robust.



You can imagine it however you like, of course, since the game doesn't exist (yet), but it would certainly change some challenges if all you had to do was walk around or wait to change the night/day.