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Classic Gaming with Zelda Homebrew

Posted by Zonk on from the i-am-a-prisoner-in-the-dungeon-of-the-castle dept.

Belgarath writes "Zelda Classic is a free homebrew clone of the original Legend of Zelda for the NES. Additionally, it allows people to create their own zelda quests and games using the handy editor (called z-quest) included in the software. Until now only windows versions have been available but there are beta test groups for the Linux and Apple platforms."

8 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. another game for mac! by bach37 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes! Make that now 5 total games for mac!

    /Okay maybe not so funny. (Yes, I am an iBook user- just trying to make a joke before you all mod me to hell.) :)

  2. This is what I've been waiting for! by Emrikol · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've always wanted to re-play Zelda with new (more SNES-ish) graphics! The "Basic 1st" is what you're looking for.

    Oh...and apple? Why's this under apple?

    --
    You're all bastards!
  3. Why do we celebrate clones? by Temporal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Honestly. Why re-make Zelda when you could be creating something completely original? I mean, if people want to remake Zelda, copyright violations aside (and yes, they are violating copyrights), it's up to them how to spend their time. But, honestly, the tendency for open source game developers to spend massive amounts of time simply copying something we already have disappoints me. I would be far more interested if someone had created an entirely original gameplay engine and an entirely original game to go with it. And really, it isn't that hard. In my experience, inventing your own gameplay mechanics is far easier and more fun than implementing them.

    1. Re:Why do we celebrate clones? by skadus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'd imagine if you knock ZClassic, you probably don't play any Doom or Quake mods, do you?

      It's not just a 'remake' of Zelda, it's a remake with an editor.

      Yeah, it's not quite the same as making a whole new game, but think of it less as a game and more of a toolset with a demo game, like Neverwinter Nights or some of the id game engines (I've heard people before say games like Quake 3 were less of a full game and more of a starting point for mods). What better way to show off a Zelda toolset than with a tile-by-tile remake of the game the engine is based on?

      People have made tons of quests for ZClassic, from plain old Zelda quests to MegaMan X quests, and everything in-between.

      And the point behind using an editor to make a game rather than building from scratch? You can just jump in and *create* rather than coding every last bit of it first.

    2. Re:Why do we celebrate clones? by Temporal · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Irrelevant. Copying the graphics, tile layout, user interface, etc. by hand is still copying, and counts as copyright infringement. There is no clause in copyright law that says only machine-based copying is illegal. Try retyping a book letter-for-letter then selling your retype; you won't get very far.

  4. Did this too...got a letter from a lawyer. by Tronster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I took on the Nehe Open Source Zelda project two years ago. We made much progress (portals from overworld to underworld, most all weapons implemented, etc...) and then we got a letter from Nintendo's lawyers about the graphics. We had lifted them from an emulator (screen shots and Photoshop-action) and so we needed to scrap them.

    The project could have continued but that took a significant amount of air out of my sails. I gave the code to a friend at the BaltoLUG who added SDL to it and made it work on Linux. This new project is still up but not being actively developed: Openlynks. Sadely, the level editor was made in Visual Basic 6 and so unlike the C++/OpenGL game engine, it hasn't been ported over.

    The remains of the project pages are here.

  5. Already one out there by TupperTrenine · · Score: 4, Informative

    There is already a Zelda-clone MMORPG called Graal Online. It has a level editor and its own scripting language for in-game NPCs.

    Although I'm sure this is quite different... I am at school and cannot check it out :)

  6. Differences between Classic and Original. by Pentomino · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I tried this back in college, when it was just for DOS. Fun stuff, though you can tell that some parts of the game are based on idealized memories.

    For example, we all knew that blue Tektites were more likely to drop 5-Rupee pieces than most characters, and blue Moblins were more likely to drop bombs. But in Zelda Classic, it seems they drop these respective treasures three or four times per screen. Makes it a little too easy, I think, but nobody to my knowledge has reverse-engineered the game to the point where we understand what the probabilities really are.

    But the one feature I love the most about Zelda Classic: you can switch B-button weapons without taking five seconds to scroll up to the selection screen. I love that. I wish the N64 ports had that.