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Not long ago, I posted the DBP code in the code snippets board to my unfinished legend of zelda clone because I remade it with AppGameKit instead. I've now decided to write a tutorial (more of a very detailed walk-through) about the creation of the game in AppGameKit as seen here.

It'll cover every aspect of the code, which is currently 12 separate files. From displaying the text with the original font, whistle interaction for zone warping, map scrolling, store npc, to fighting monsters and collecting rupies. Hidden caves included as well as how to handle the movement tracking to unlock secrets like the graveyard. I will also go over game-specific details such as Link's movement and how he auto-aligns with the natural grid of the game.

This will not be a beginner's tutorial, but for intermediate levels. I'll explain what's going on in the FOR loops, but not what a FOR loop is. But if you're capable of making a pacman game, you should be able to handle this. The concepts are fairly simple, but it is a huge project with a lot of little details.

I would like to know if anyone would find interest in this. I've attached are the first 4 pages of my tutorial, which hasn't covered very much coding as of yet. It'll be a large tutorial, perhaps 20 pages or more. For those that remember my RTS tutorial from almost 10 years ago (wow I'm getting old), this will be my next big tutorial for the next decade. I want to go as in-depth as I can with my process of making this game. As for the game itself, it's half finished now. Once I get the tutorial up to speed on my current progress, I can keep a log as I finish the game to help me write the remainder of the tutorial.

Updated attachment on Oct 17.

Nice - I'd certainly read that. People are still into top down 2D RPG's, I'd say an AppGameKit tutorial for Zelda would help a lot of people.

It might just be me, but if you write this, I think you should make 2 versions. 1 like it is now, formal, technical document style - but also a softer version. I mean, a 20-25 page document like that could scare them off! - if it had some sprites, some colourful diagrams where possible, I think people might take to it a little easier. Maybe it would be cool to have a formal version in PDF format, and a more colourful version online. Just a thought, I'd be interested in reading it regardless.

That's a possibility. Make the web version less of a walk through and more of a "hey follow this diagram". Anything in particular you think I should focus on?

Ohh, there are a couple of tricky points in 2D Zeldaesques...

Tile transitions - like how to make a river with rounded corners etc, instead of just a square block. I know the old Zelda didn't have a huge problem with this - but it's the sort of thing that can leave people scratching their head or at the least, wasting some time. It's a big one too - because it's not just coding, but actually drawing tiles that work that way is tricky too. It might be good to introduce some binary logic... like, a tile has 4 sides, if you assign them so N=1, E=2, S=4 and W=8 it's possible to organize the tile transitions into 16 different tiles, check which sides have the same tile material, add them together to get the 1-16 tile number. Like tile 9 is N and W, or a bottom right corner, with river extending up and left. Even though it's not entirely relevant to Zelda, I think people would appreciate some insight on that... even if it just stops them from making a tileset that they can't use, or makes them consider the implications and plan their tileset nicely. Also, being able to calculate which tile to use where automatically is huge - that saves countless hours of map editing, because you just paint tiles and let the system work out transitions for you. It's one instance where taking a little extra time to plan things can save a helluva lot of time in the long run.

One thing to bare in mind, people will look up your tutorial when wondering about making a Zeldesque, not strictly a Zelda remake, but a game like Zelda with their own ideas. I think it would be really cool if someone was to skin the graphics, anyone really, but having Zelda, then completely different graphics Zelda would make it clear that your not trying to teach people how to make Zelda, but rather Zelda style games. People might adopt your game and mess with the level design and graphics, not touching code at all. But it's all good, it's what the reader is inspired to do by your tutorial that's important.

I still want you to finish your RTS tutorial.

But a Zelda-esque tutorial would be great for the new guys. 2D top-downs do have their tricky points as Van B pointed out.

Good points. Maybe I will try to make the tutorial a bit more generic


I've been working on a level design system with something like that in mind. Kind of like how you set up different terrain types in Tiled. Just worry about painting the map with grass or water, and it'll configure the proper tiles automatically. But I'm still working my head around it.

I've only managed to write another page since starting. I've been busy with work, we're migrating away from lotus notes (yay!) and a lot of people can't seem to figure out how outlook works.

I've just updated the tutorial. If anyone wants to read over the new sections and let me know if it feels too rushed or not.