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Over 2 years in the making, the first full group collaboration quest has finally been completed. Lost Isle takes you on a journey to a deserted island where the formal inhabitants have suffered a catastrophic event and all that remains is the dead and the decaying. A sinister story unfolds the further you explore the island and evil secrets are revealed as you get closer and closer to the true evil that is conspiring against you. You will travel through ghost towns, graveyards, swamps, forests, volcanos, wastelands and canyons in your search for answers and a way off this haunted island. With one gigantic world to explore, five huge dungeons, an entire island-wide cave system, many misc. dungeons and catacombs to explore, optional Triforce pieces, 36 pieces of heart, myriad of shields and potions, hidden secrets and lurking ghosts; this adventure will test your very limits as an explorer. Only the true intrepid players will see the quest through and claim the much -deserved ending. This is Lost Isle, you have been warned adventurer!

Story: You (as Link) have crash-landed on a seemingly deserted island out in the middle of the ocean. With no real reference point to indicate where exactly you are in the world, you have no choice but
to explore the island and find some way of getting off of it and back to the mainland. But it appears that there was once a civilization here that was thriving, but all that has turned to dust and dead bodies. Undead and foul creatures fill the villages and take shelter in the woods and creep through the dark corners of the island. What could have caused this great catastrophe and is this great evil still
alive and well as you explore the very land that it destroyed? Welcome to Lost Isle...

You can find the ZC Build needed here to play it:
www.zeldaclassic.com
Furthermore, if you need help running the engine, feel free to ask the friendly folks at www.purezc.com. They will be more than happy to help you out!

Latest Blog

Version 1.1 Update!

After a long time in coming, there is a version 1.1 update! With various bug fixes across multiple levels and overworld maps. Nothing too major. In fact, unless you were personally aware of specific bugs fixed, the entire update will be pretty transparent to you. It plays pretty much the same. However, on the new RC 2.50 release of Zelda Classic engine, this quest has been updated to run better on that engine with minimal bugs encountered. So re-download again and enjoy!
  • Completed
  • Darkflamewolf
  • Peteo (Dungeon Designer and QA.)
  • Zelda Classic
  • Adventure
  • 08/18/2010 03:52 AM
  • 03/01/2023 07:32 AM
  • 08/19/2010
  • 164581
  • 27
  • 4187

Posts

Enough. You're both the creators - with darkflamewolf being the lead -, both of you admit that. Hence she may post the game here if she likes without being labelled as a thief, as long as proper accreditation is given.

Nothing more needs saying.
Even though I do appreciate the support here, I'm not disappointed by the fact that she didn't give credit to me. What disappoints me and sickens me is the fact that she made changes to the quest that didn't get my approval. She changed areas that I made, and when I told her it is not okay, she ran here and released her own version of the quest, which is very wrong.

Anyways, I am sure she realizes that she's done wrong here, now we'll just have to see how she reacts. I do not want to waste any energy fighting with her. If she un-does the changes she made to the quest, all will be forgiven and forgotten (we all do mistakes). Or at the very least, some kind of an apology would be something...
Pateo, you is too emotional... The only change in this version is bug fixes. DFW not mention that she make any other changes in the game. I read your post in PureZC, and I think you is too emotional. This is something that can be solved with toleration.

MnakingGann/DemonicBanana/Ventus, I don't see that she claim this quest to herself only. This quest is still mentioned as collaboration quest in the summary.
I have been talking with Wolfie privately and even though she won't undo the changes she did without my consent, at least she promised (for what it's worth) not to touch the quest anymore. Since I'm too tired to fight about this matter anymore, I accept this deal we have made and will now concentrate all my efforts on the sequel of this game, Lost Isle 2.

Even though I strongly dislike the changes she made to this latest quest file here, it does fix a couple of critical bugs. So if you're playing Lost Isle with ZC version 2.5, you should definitely download the file on this site. However, if you're only starting the quest, I suggest (sorry Wolfie) you download the Lost Isle player and the game file here http://koti.welho.com/pranta18/index.htm

Whichever version you end up playing, enjoy!
author=Peteo
I have been talking with Wolfie privately and even though she won't undo the changes she did without my consent, at least she promised (for what it's worth) not to touch the quest anymore. Since I'm too tired to fight about this matter anymore, I accept this deal we have made and will now concentrate all my efforts on the sequel of this game, Lost Isle 2.

Even though I strongly dislike the changes she made to this latest quest file, it does fix a couple of critical bugs. So if you're playing Lost Isle with ZC 2.5, you should download this file here. However, if you're only starting the quest, I suggest you download the Lost Isle player and the game file here http://koti.welho.com/pranta18/index.htm

Whichever version you end up playing, enjoy!

1) I re-playing Lost Isle with ZC 2.5, and I'm stuck at the first dungeon because of bug (Link stuck in the wall after using raft - at the screen with small key i think). So i think, this update is important...

2) What changes she make in this version? I want to know...

3) I always is fan of both of you. This fight should be solved with toleration. Anyway, good luck with your new project...
Two simple ones actually: A new Gleeok enemy somewhere and another Deathbo during a critical fight. That is really about the extent of it. Two minor changes, which somehow ruins the whole quest. Despite this, it was what I wanted in the quest to begin with prior to original release and was shot down. But that's beside the point and in the past. What matters now is that the changes aside from the bug fixes are actually pretty transparent to anyone playing the game. No one will really notice too much of a difference honestly. Especially during the parts where I added these extra enemies in for challenge that you'll already be expecting things like this.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Oh my... This is worth a page read.

Anyway, after playing this for a bit, I can't say that I like it. You gave absolutely no direction during the beginning of the game and my first play-through was spent by me trying to find a sword. Before I knew where it was I had to run from those damn crabs and do my best to evade every possible attack from the mushroom and skeleton enemies, before dying constantly.

Beyond that, while I kind of understand you are trying to make the game exploration-based, you barely give a motive for it. Am I supposed to find my lost crew, or free the island of the curse? Why does Link talk in this game anyway? The point of his character is to connect to the player. It's also obnoxious in this case, because Link will stop to comment on a landmark while the enemies are approaching him, allowing an unfair disadvantage.

It's one of the few Zelda fangames I've played and it definitely looks pretty, but the game is hard for the wrong reasons and I got bored of it quickly. Sorry, and I hope you make better quests in the future.
Ratty, Lost Isle is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. It has a very dark mood and is very Metroid-like.

However, I'm always disappointed to read comments such as yours. Are you one of those players who want to have their hand held trough the whole game? Also, there is story in the game, you just have to, like, play for a while. I understand you'd like the game to start off with some clear objective and some nice cutscenes, but that would ruin the mystery of Lost Isle...

The sequel will be quite different so you could always check it out when it comes out one of these years (I'm slow). :D
I picked the game up - the start is rather frustrating. Any other game that doesn't start you with a sword (from a Zelda perspective) either has it be extremely easy to find or guides you directly to it - the one that doesn't guide you directly to it, and in fact is similar to what you're doing here, is Link's Awakening, and even it's easy to find (and it's very easy to survive until you get to where it is).

With Lost Isle, I don't even appear to have a way to defend myself however - it's not overly clear that the sword's in the cave or that you can, in fact, even get to it. On my first attempt, I didn't believe I could get past the pits on the ground. On my second attempt, when I found the sword, on the link you yourself posted, the game wouldn't let me go any further than "You found Link's Sword!" At this point, I'm getting frustrated, as I have to start over, yet again, and sit through the opening, once more. Only to have the game get stuck on "You got Link' Sword!" again.

So I tried the version on the site here with DFW's changes/fixes. There's a few jumps in the opening cutscene that aren't as apparent in the other build. And, once again, it gets stuck on the "You got Link's Sword!" popup. It seemed to be the game was unplayable, having pressed every single key on the keyboard - and then I tried moving and hitting the sword button at the same time, and it suddenly kicked me out of the popup and let me continue playing (the same type of combinations I tried in the version Peteo posted).

There's probably a few bugfixes that need to be put into place... but I'm willing to play this game and give it a chance. It looks somewhat impressive, so we'll see where this goes.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=Travio
I picked the game up - the start is rather frustrating. Any other game that doesn't start you with a sword (from a Zelda perspective) either has it be extremely easy to find or guides you directly to it - the one that doesn't guide you directly to it, and in fact is similar to what you're doing here, is Link's Awakening, and even it's easy to find (and it's very easy to survive until you get to where it is).

With link's awakening you had a shield which bounced enemies away from you, but in this particular engine your shield ONLY blocks projectiles, not the enemies themselves. This coupled with the fact that this game introduced teleporting crabs that are hard to avoid makes the early stages of this game painful.

And Peteo, it's actually always disappointing to me to see comments like that, because it's clear you are misunderstanding what I'm saying about this game.
Note my words, here. I said your game is "hard for the wrong reasons." I don't mind hard games, but there is a difference between making a game challenging versus frustrating. In a challenging game, the objective is hard to achieve but the player definitely has a chance of succeeding if he/she puts all he knows about the mechanics of the game to practice. In a frustrating game, the player is handicapped of something where the AI of the game is obviously "better" than the player in that situation, sometimes the only way to overcome this situation is through luck. What's the difference? In a challenging game the player isn't spiteful of the game itself and is more likely to say "Hey, maybe I can get around those crabs if I try something different!", whereas in a frustrating game, the player feels powerless, and go "wow, those crabs will teleport towards me at random spots and I can't do squat to avoid it, f**k this game!" Obviously, the challenging game is what we want to aim for, because that is actually fun.

Your game is ALMOST towards the frustrating end. I think you already know about the "find your sword" part of the game. Aside from that, the text you give in this game (which I can tell provides some clues to the game) is so badly designed from a visual standpoint (the red color blends in with the background and makes it hard to read) that it doesn't feel worth it at all to read it, and you apparently missed the part where it interrupts gameplay. Seriously Link does not need to stop to comment on every new area of the island he enters, especially because the enemies are moving at the same time Link is talking. These enemies will approach the player's vicinity during the time that player can't even react to it, creating the frustrating game.

On a side note, why do you use arrows as currency in this game? It's not creative in my view, it's just bad design. Since this is a fan game, you are already working with a property that establishes some things with it's game play. Rupees are the currency of the LoZ world, while arrows are used for bow ammunition, period. In this game you changed that rule completely, but even if you wanted to, you should have went some some object that actually looks like it could be used for currency. Mario uses golden coins, Spyro uses jewels, Sonic uses golden rings. What seperates those from arrows? It's the fact that the audience tends to relate to things that are "coin like" or "golden" as something of commercial value, something that arrows have nothing to do with. Honestly, making arrows a commerce item is one of the least pressing issues with your game, but it's still completely awkward and not really a good choice.

I'll try to play more of your game when I get the time, but please try to understand where I'm coming from with my comments so far and use them to possibly better yourself as a developer.
The game is insanely difficult, but pretty awesome as it goes on. It's also extremely slow getting started, taking me an hour and a half to find everything I needed for the first dungeon, and then spending another half an hour figuring out how to get into the first dungeon - there's no feedback to insinuate that shooting those pillars gets rid of the pig rocks, I had to check a walkthrough to see how to get by them. I didn't find this bug in the first dungeon, and managed to play through the whole thing. It is frustrating in a bad way at points - there's one floor related puzzle in the first dungeon that caused problems as the tiles that you shouldn't walk on don't show up well on my laptop.

Ratty, one thing I soon found out early - if you don't move from the very edge of the map, the space you're put in when you first move onto that section, you can't be hit by the enemy, and you can't hit any button. It's a limitation of the engine, but it gives you some safe space to see what's going on on the map.
Ratty, I always welcome constructive criticism with open arms and I'm sure Wolfie does too. However, your comments aren't constructive. It seems to me you're just slamming the quest for the sake of doing so and making things up (like the color issue). For example, what does the game's currency have anything to do with the quality of the game? (There's no money in the game for the simple fact that everyone on the Isle is dead. Also, it is Lost Isle, not Hyrule). I appreciate you trying to play the quest and trying to find things to improve, but so far you haven't really come up with anything that can be taken seriously.

Lost Isle is more like the old Zelda games instead of the new games that hold your hand and are ridiculously easy. We wanted to make a game that is for people who can appreciate a good challenge, so yes, the game is challenging, and it is not for people who want to have their hands held the entire time. We wanted Lost isle to have a mysterious feel to it, not just throw everything at the player's face at once.

A bit more about the game's difficulty - I have no idea why certain people are having a lot of trouble with this game. In Lost Isle you just have to pay attention and try out stuff. It may seem cryptic to some that are not used to the older Zelda games, but the stuff in the game really isn't hard to figure out. See an odd statue? Well that should ring your alarm bells to try some items on it. "Hmm, wonder if my sword works on this... no... how about bombs? No, weird... hey I have arrows too, oh yes that worked!" And if the combat is too challenging, learn how the enemies/traps behave. And sometimes it's not a bad idea to go looking for heart container pieces to make your heart count raise.

Also, I cannot believe how people miss the obvious clue in the beginning of the game when the crab takes your sword away and goes to the right. Still some people wander off to the left and complain they can't find the sword. I just don't know what to say about that... >__<



Travio, I'm glad you're enjoying the game as you proceed and I am interested to hear the things that frustrated you the most in the game but also the things that were done well in your opinion. (Also, who is that guy in your avatar, seems so familiar to me, hmm....?)
@Peteo - I'm going to be playing it through a second time then posting a review on here. I'll go into more detail on there after a second look at things and seeing if I just missed something that should have been obvious from the design.

Also, the guy in the avatar is Dero, from the German band Oomph!, from their "Gott ist ein Popstar" music video.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
author=Peteo
Ratty, I always welcome constructive criticism with open arms and I'm sure Wolfie does too. However, your comments aren't constructive. It seems to me you're just slamming the quest for the sake of doing so and making things up (like the color issue).

I don't make stuff up. I'm relaying straight from my experience of this game so far. It could be just a bug on my end, since Darkflamewolf's and your version of the game are apparently different (to which I don't understand why its this way), but in some cutscenes there is a black background behind the text and sometimes there isn't. When there isn't, the color of the text blends in with the color of your tileset, making it harder to read. Not impossible, but hard.
author=Peteo
For example, what does the game's currency have anything to do with the quality of the game? (There's no money in the game for the simple fact that everyone on the Isle is dead.

You're right, it's not a major factor in this game, but it's still misleading. I'll state this again: you are making a Zelda game. In every other Zelda game in existence, arrows are used for ammo, not currency, yet you have NPCs in this game that will buy your arrows for items. Sure it doesn't hugely impact your game, but it's still not good design.
author=Peteo
Lost Isle is more like the old Zelda games instead of the new games that hold your hand and are ridiculously easy. We wanted to make a game that is for people who can appreciate a good challenge, so yes, the game is challenging, and it is not for people who want to have their hands held the entire time. We wanted Lost isle to have a mysterious feel to it, not just throw everything at the player's face at once.

I don't recall playing any Zelda game that held your hand and are easy (then again, the only Zelda games I've played are the first game, Link's Awakening, Minish Cap, Link to the Past, and Ocarina of Time... And I've only beaten Awakening and Link to the Past). Almost every Zelda game has elements of exploration and less-than-obvious secrets, which you seem to have gotten down with this game.
And quite the contrary... You did kind of throw everything at my face at once. You introduced enemies that are difficult to avoid right off the bat (the crabs), and you sent me through a whirlwind of confusion with the story of the undead town and the search of the sword. I don't know about that, dude, because most Zelda games I've played have a very well-paced difficulty curve.
author=Peteo
Also, I cannot believe how people miss the obvious clue in the beginning of the game when the crab takes your sword away and goes to the right. Still some people wander off to the left and complain they can't find the sword. I just don't know what to say about that... >__<

I did take that clue, and then it lead me towards two paths: the grasslands and the cave. The grassy area looked more open and safe compared to the cave, and even when you first take a look in that cave, it doesn't look obvious enough that there is more than one room at your first look. I don't see the point in denying the player basic defense mechanisms at the start anyway, especially when the enemies in this game can beat you to a pulp very easily.

...But again, I'll talk more about this once I play through more of the game.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
Just wanted to take back something. I just noticed that the game's graphics look completely different when I play this game in windowed mode, instead of fullscreen, and there are less graphical glitches that occur, too. Is that an issue with the engine?
Possibly with the version of the engine you are using. The 2.50 version of ZC seems to play this pretty flawlessly at this point. As far as Peteo goes, let Ratty have his own opinion for Pete's sake! It is his opinion and I value it as much as any other. He is trying to be constructive in his own way and I appreciate him still remaining that way despite some slams against his critiques. So by all means Ratty, continue what you were doing.
As for the whole stupid arrow thing, there were several reasons:
When you use an arrow, it actually decreases your rupee count. Can't really stop this since its hard coded in the ZC engine and was actually how it was in the original Zelda. 1 arrow = 1 rupee.
So to account for this strange loss of rupees, we made the 'currency' arrows instead and you find arrows and use them as proper ammunition. They are also the currency of the undead islanders since rupees would mean little to them but there could be a variety of uses for arrows.
That's my explanation and I'm sticking to it!
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
I'm using 2.50, and graphical glitches seem to occur when I play full screen as oppose to windowed, but that's beyond your control.

I guess the arrow issue is understandable if that was the case. The latest engine seems to separate the two, though. :P
Are there any walkthroughs of this game? I'm getting pretty lost... on Lost Isle. :)
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL16C3A960A3E25AED

That should help you immensely. The description of each video even covers what items, etc. will be acquired in that particular walkthrough video.
Oh don't get me wrong Wolfie (and Ratty), I am not telling Ratty to stop posting here. I just felt like he should concentrate on real issues in the game if he wants to help us as game creators, but seems that some issues were caused by ZC and that's not Ratty's nor our fault.

Anyways, hopefully Ratty will find his way through the game. Would be very happy to see if his opinion on the game changes as he gets further. :)


Also, Wolfie, you really should do something about the look of this page. The colors are god-awful if you haven't noticed... Is your intention to drive possible Lost isle players away by hurting their eyes with these awful colors? O__o