[XP] The Project Zelda Engine (aka Zelda Starter Kit)! *With Downloads & Pics!*

Thank you! xD We could really like to hear what was your first impressions from UP4?

Well I tell ya if I wasn't working on a project for a contest, I'd be using it to make a zelda game for the fun of it lol.  That's how nice it is.  I would probably strip a few features because I probably wouldn't use them but other than that, it is great.  I especially like how the mask system actually functions as well as the ocarina.  It is sad to see that the ocarina isn't yet saving the songs to the menu but seeing as this is in alpha, I expect that mostly everything will be there.  Also this version runs much smoother than the previous release and that itself is an awesome display of progress, especially in the optimizing of the scripts.  The artist also did a great job with the recreation of the town from majora's mask.  One thing that did kind of bug me was the angle at which the begger was sitting in one of the side sections but otherwise, everything looked nice.

Hehe glad to hear.

Good Morning everyone! Today is 15 July 2012.

We made progress on the engine and we proudly accomplished many new achievements on the Engine.

I am totally impressed with the nice work done so far.

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 20+ Bugs fixed!
We corrected over 20+ bugs, both visual and technical bugs, and now anything, at least anything we playtested so far, works perfectly.
Bugs we addressed include the weapon ones, such as Bomb Explosion Pushback glitch, Bow Animation Loop glitch, and more.
and also the "Night of X Day" message is now set to be displayed ONLY when the Clock Mode is set to Majora's Mask Mode.

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 File Display Screen is now complete!
Also we are giving the finishing touches to the File Display Screen and the result is simple, yet beautiful:


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 Animation tones unaffected by Screen Color Tones
Also, thanks to a new script, the animations (any animations we want to) can now be placed onto a special Layer which keeps them unaffected by any Screen Color Tone changes on a map or cutscene! This is handy for the Ocarina songs which can look pretty ugly if played during the nighttime, etc.


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 Displaying Music Notes in Menu
We created a very simple way of displaying the Music Notes for your songs in the Quest Status Screen.
As you see, the notebar in Quest Status Screen will display the notes you put in the Description Field for that particular Song in Items Database:



For example the Goron's Lullaby consists of the following notes in the following sequence:  A, Right, Left. A, Right, Left, Right, A. And so, we put in the Song's description field: ARLARLRA and the notes will be displayed in the menu! Enjoy!

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Automated Season Indicator!
We also, finally, are done with the Season Change mechanism.
Now, Link is fully animated when he spins the rod of Seasons around him, and also the Seasoned Tree Stump works like charm so you shouldn't stuck at it when you climb it!
Also we added a much better Season Indicatorin UP4, which is alot better than it was in the previous version of PZE: its fully scripted, and uses a Picture Zoom feature as it emerges in your screen for a few seconds, before it goes away.

Now the Season Indicator will be displayed in the following cases:
-when the player starts game.
-when the player changes a season.

We could set it to be displayed as player transfers from one map to another, but we found it to be too annoying and tiring. Enjoy!

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The Bomb Flower!
Guess what we added to the PZE!
The famous Bomb Flowers which firstly have been introduced in the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and since then made their appearance in various Zelda titles, return today to the Project Zelda Engine!

As soon as you pick it up, you have a limited time to carry it with you and drop it before it explodes in your hands. Isn't awesome?

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Walk while holding a Shield!
Another new feature we implemented to the Project Zelda Engine is Link's ability to walk while holding shield to protect himself!
So far, he was unable to walk with a shield in his hand. But thanks to Night Runner's awesome work, now Link can walk around while he holds the shield to defend himself from enemy attacks!

I am pretty sure the Zelda gamers prefer Link to be able to walk arround with his shield than standing idle in his place when he is attacked!

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Stay tuned for more news soon!

We worked a little more on the Bomb Flowers and now they feature a Growth Stage!:


The Bomb Flowers will regrow back to their original stage a few seconds after their previous bomb has been exploded, so you can re-use the same flowers as many times as you want. You can blow off a whole map! Very simple.
You can place as many Bomb Flowers on a map if you want, without any negative impacts to the game's performance!

Really I like those strange flowers! Zelda games that had Bomb Flowers were pretty funny! Ninty and Shigeru Miyamoto are my most favorite game creators!

I genuinely couldn't possibly be more excited for this. This is turning out better than Pokemon Essentials.

The PZE Team is in much need of Scripters, Eventers, and Mappers, not so much on Artists.

If you have any experience with XASABS that is a plus as well.

We really do need talented scripters, and these postions are almost a guaranteed position on the team, but the level of scripting has to be a great understanding as it is pretty complex, so please understand that we can not accept basic and newly begining scripters, unless they really have a firm grasp on the ruby system.

With Max away from the scenes with no reason given and Night Runner retiring soon, and Thunder away for studies, UP4 may be the last release ever.

Silent Resident is starting to fell the pressure and is also considering retiring, so expanding the team would really uplift her spirits.

We have done a significant progress on the Update Patch 4 for the Project Zelda Engine. Today we are sharing with you some info about those new features, capabilities and mechanisms that have been added to the starter kit, with the primary goal of enriching it, and turning into a capable Zelda Starter Kit for creating your nostalgic games with.


New or existing items:
Of course lets start with some of the improvements on existing items, or the addition of new items to the engine:
The Lens of Truth now have been turned into a full script, which updates in real time! As real time, we mean as soon as an enemy or object falls within the range of the Lens, it's truth will be revealed to you!


The Powder Keg (from Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask) and the Super Bomb (A Link to the Past) have been added to PZE, and are unique that they feature a much bigger explosion radius and have a stronger explosive force which can really hurt Link alot if standing near it.


New enhancements:
The Transformation Masks now will no longer, instantly, transform Link from one form to another. Instead, they will now have a beautiful, Majora's Mask-styled transition, which allow for a gradual transformation that can be of many frames per second as you wish, and brings more realism to your game!

Also our dear Deku Link, now is using the Pipes of Awakening to play the songs!


New Mask Forms:
The long-waited Fierce Deity's Mask which many Zelda fans love and call with the nickname "Oni Link", finally makes its return to the Project Zelda Engine! Now, Link can transform into an adult Fierce Deity Link, and in this new form, he is equipped with the finest sword: the Double Helix Blade.


New interiors and maps to playtest!
Although they seem not necessary in a Starter Kit, we decided that some more maps will bring you some extra Zelda-related mechanisms and unique features which you can use in your games if you want so. Those includes a "black market" styled Curiosity Shop from Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask!:


New companion!
We kept the best news for the end! Try guess who has been returned to the Project Zelda Engine Update Patch 4!
Epona the Horse! The famous animal friend of Link, who accompanies him in his adventures, now is available for you to ride and explore the vast world of Hyrule with her!
Epona can be called through 2 ways so far, (but you can add more ways of calling her, if you wish): By playing the Epona's Song, or the Horseshoe Flute (aka Horse Call)! Of course, when you call Epona, you can see her as she is coming at you, and when you dismount her, you will see her leaving!


Epona is a ride-able female companion of Link, which allows him to travel across maps at a higher speed, jump over obstacles, and engage in mounted combats with other enemies.  But Epona may not be called in, or enter, the indoor maps such as houses and dungeons. Also in the Starter Kit you can define which weapons/items may not be used while riding her. We don't want a crazy Link to throw bombs on her head while riding, or to transform himself into a heavy Goron that could kill Epona with his weight. Could we?


As we mentioned above, we granted Link the ability to engage in mounted combat and fight enemies while is riding. Link, so far, is able to use the Bow and the Sword, which can bring a new immersion to your games! The movement controls of Epona, of course are easy, simple and pretty much the same as the ones of Link. The Shield in the Z Button (Shield key) is automatically being replaced by the Bow which saves you from having to assign the bow manually to the C-Buttons to use while riding Epona!



That's all for today! We hope you are excited to try the Project Zelda Engine Update Patch 4 when it comes out!

Have a nice day!

Guess it is the time some news about our work on the Project Zelda Engine Patch 4 (well, lets from now call it PZE Version 4 Build 0!).

Really, this period we are mostly spending our time debugging the scripts and tools of Project Zelda Engine, so the engine has the minimal amount of bugs possible before the engine's release to the public. We also are adjusting some details about the weapons so they function properly. For example the Bomb Arrows now consumes BOTH 1 Arrow Ammo and 1 Bomb Ammo.

We made progress on the configuration of the PZE's swimming system and sword spin attack.   Here are some samples of the work doing this second half of August.

The Sword Spin Attack is a work in progress and we are aiming to give you a realistic spin attack in the style of most 3D Zelda games, although it is kinda difficult to replicate it in a 2D platform such as Project Zelda Engine.


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We made decent progress at configuring and setting a nice swimming system for you all the Zelda gamers to enjoy in their games! We are providing you the best Swimming System that can be used with ease, and efficiency.
You can set the swimming systems parameters very easily - for example be allowed to swim without flippers like in Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, or flippers are required to avoid drowning like in Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past.




To set which water tiles are swimmable, in UP4, is very simple: just go to Tileset editor and set the Terrain Tag for the Tiles from #0 to #4, which is the terrain tag associated with Water tiles (swimmable).  
The rest is absolutely automated: if you have no flippers and try enter the water, you will get drown, lose some health, and then respawn to the nearest safe tile you was before you get drown.

The swimming system in UP4 is purely automated and fully scripted, with awesome performance and very impressive animations, and swimming has a slower movement speed than walking, and there is no extra configuration needed to be done by you the gamers.

In older versions of PZE, such as UP3, on the other hand, the swimming system didn't exist at all - you had to set it manually, using events, and it was a pain to set it. It needed thousands of events to make it work, and this often caused map lags.


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Next has to do about the Magic Beans (an inventory item seen in 2 Zelda games so far - Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask)
The Magic beans can be purchased and be planted into patches of soft soil. but to grow, they definitely will need from you to wait.... 7 years. Of course some people may not have that much patience and wait 7 years, so we gave you some extra options such as using a bottle with water, or the Song of Storms to summon a thunderstorm, will cause the Bean plants to grow and mature, allowing you to climb on them and transport you to secret areas of a map.



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Who doesn't love the adorable Deku Link and his ability to fly with the help of the Deku Flowers? Here is some progress done on allowing the Deku Link to use Deku Flowers in Project Zelda Engine and be able to fly around on the game's map, for a short period of time, and reach difficult or impossible areas.



Also we made a nice progress to finish the maps that come with Project Zelda Engine, and we are pleased with the results of our work! Here are some samples - the Knife Room in Stock Pot Inn!


The Treasure Chest Mini Game Shop! Play and win prizes! (if you are a fair gamer, do not use the Lens of Truth to see what the treasure chests may hide from you!)

Can't decide which chest has the key to bigger prizes? Cheat you way with the Lens of Truth (Just make sure you don't tell that to the Game shop's operator, she won't be very happy!!



Stay tuned!

Hey there guys, I am back to work, now doing the final touches to many of PZE's sprites.

What do you think of Epona's new sprites? Credits will be given to the author of the original, pixelated model.

I improved abit the sprites of the Bomb Flowers in PZE after I saw how awkward and dull they looked, compared to the Bomb Flowers on some other Zelda games/remakes I found today on the internet:


Of course, the PZE users will find both versions of Bomb Flowers in PZE, and pick up the one that suites them better for their games:



It may be improved further, if possible.

Hello! Today was a nice day, the team is back to work and we finished some work in the Project Zelda Engine.

1) The Swimming System is now complete!
The visual equipment glitch while swimming, has been fixed. Now we now only have to set up the Swimming settings for each of Link's mask forms (Goron, Deku, etc)!

2) The Bomb Flower's mechanism and graphic have been improved further!
The Bomb Flowers will now react to any harmful sword hits or bomb explosions, which will cause the Bomb Flowers to explode too!
This means that the gamers will need to be careful when fighting enemies near a bomb flower, as triggering an accidental explosion may kill him especially if he is low in health.

This opens up a thousand of new possibilities for puzzles in your Zelda games!

Its been a while since I've looked at this, Damn you've done great work!

This is truly amazing! Making a fan game out of one of the best series ever, with these kind of resources.. wow that would be insane

Too bad I dont have RMXP, since I guess Its built around that engine?

This is truly amazing! Making a fan game out of one of the best series ever, with these kind of resources.. wow that would be insane

Too bad I dont have RMXP, since I guess Its built around that engine?

hehe PZE has 500 resources of all types - sprites, icons, charsets, audio, windowskins, and more!
Yeah it is build on RMXP.

Wonderful stuff SilentResident!

MetalZelda's effort to add portraits of items to the messages, inspired the team and so we accepted the idea!

The idea is based on the display of items in message boxes, much like in the official Zelda games such as Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess:



Now, in Project Zelda Engine the messages have been re-worked to display the Item within the message box!:



Of course the image can be modified to display whatever else you like, such as 3D models of those items found in the official Zelda games, provided that you have the resources (They won't come with PZE):


Thanks to Metal Zelda for the inspiration and to Chakanevil for the persuasion

Hello! We have been working those days to improve and finish the ''Got Item!'' messages that are displayed when Link obtains a new item or weapon.

Our team is happy to announce that the Project Zelda Engine can play animations on the message text boxes!

You set a message to play an animation for that weapon you just found in a treasure chest.
The weapon and/or the light in the background can be animated, in the style of the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker game and newer Zelda titles!




The animations in message boxes are optional and can be set at will. You can have them to display only important items or all the items, including trading items, rupees, dungeon keys, and more.

However this feature have a limitation: only 3 frames can be played for every item's animation. This limit cannot be increased and this means that you may not have high expectations for playing long animations in textboxes.

The files for the animations are stored in the Pictures Folder of Project Zelda Engine and e that can have the animations for up to 4 weapons/iteps per file. Each weapon/item has its own row of animation, which is independent from other weapons in that file. The Engine reads the animations from top to bottom, in an animation loop.







Enjoy! Soon we will post up the news about the new, improved Map Slide feature of Project Zelda Engine.

Credits for the idea go to MetalZelda, a member of the community, and the credits for the support of a such feature go to Hermes Advanced Message System by Derula.

Excellent news.

The Project Zelda Engine Developing team is reborn from its ashes and now it has 3 scripters!
2 new scripters joined today our team and we all together may greatly accelerate the development of our great engine!

The new PZE Developing Team members are:
-Gameface
-Mr. Wiggles

Have a nice day and I hope the happy news will re-ignite the flare of creativity and adventures, in the souls of the Zelda gamers, who wait patiently for the upcoming Project Zelda Engine: The Advanced Zelda Starter Kit!

Zelda and Nintendo, forever!

The World Map is now finished! All the demo areas and locations from official Zelda titles that are reimplemented into the Project Zelda Engine (such as Clock Town, Kakariko Village, Earth Temple, Sacred Grove, Forest of Time, Hylia Pond, and more,) are now connected to each other via a new area, the Faron Fields, made by the PZE team, and which is an open-grass field with few trees. The fields now acts as the main transport location that leads to all other locations on the map, connecting the Clock Town with all the other settlements in the world!

The world now is set and ready, for the gamers and the users of the Starter Kit, to explore when the Update Patch 4 comes out!




Enjoy!

Amazing as always. Keep up the wonderful work!

Hehe, thank you!

I don't actually work on any more RM games or mess with this stuff or really ever have a reason to really check out topics about RM games, but I always always always look at this topic when you post something, SilentResident. The updates you post in here about this Engine is incredible. It always pulls me towards wanting to do something again. You and your team keep up the great work!

I don't actually work on any more RM games or mess with this stuff or really ever have a reason to really check out topics about RM games, but I always always always look at this topic when you post something, SilentResident. The updates you post in here about this Engine is incredible. It always pulls me towards wanting to do something again. You and your team keep up the great work!

Thank you alot! Your kind words inspire us to keep up on our good work! Soon we have great news to post, about the improved (action battle system's) Sword techniques, which grant the player more ways of killing enemies on the map and give him a unique experience, - all what you have to do is just to press key combinations or hold a specific key down for a certain time! Pretty simple!
Also we are gonna post news of our brand new Diving System (press Spacebar while swimming in water tiles and your character will dive, allowing you to avoid obstacles or enemy attacks!)

We have so many things to announce soon, and with more details. I feel there is never enough time to announce them all in a single day! hehe

Stay tuned!

Now that everyone in the PZE Team is gone for a break from PZE and enjoys relaxation those days of the Christmas and the New Year, I got the free time and the opportunity to give some attention to the poor or low quality icons and graphics of the engine, and I gave them new looks.

But I am not sure if the people will like them. Here they are!

Dungeon Compass


Dungeon Small Key


Stone Slab and Stone Slab Fragment


Dungeon Map


Don't worry if the icons are of different sizes - some of them are for display in the game's Text Message dialog Boxes.

Hope they are good. Enjoy!

And by the way, Happy New Year!