#zeldalike

Don't let your high school being haunted get in the way of making heart-throbbing memories~

I’ve set myself a handful of goals for 2025.

I want to have a vertical slice worked out and in production for a small game idea I’ve been brewing for a couple of years.

The working title is Dark Crescent, and I’ll say now that what comes of this should be considered a concept rather than a full game. I don’t want to mislead anyone. If this has legs, then we’ll let it run on and see where it goes. If not, it’ll have been a fun exercise in creativity.

The general vibe of the concept is best described through some screenshots of early test areas. The environments will be themed on the Irish landscape; mystical forests, ruins, caves (I couldn’t have asked for a better real life analogue to a classic Zelda game).

In terms of gameplay, I’m aiming for a Zeldalike feel. Exploration and restoration are two key words leading the design. I want players to move through the world, discover a shrine that needs restored, and do whatever needs doing to restore it. This will involve clearing out baddies, replanting sacred trees, solving puzzles to move through areas and reactivate ancient power sources, and other fun ideas based on the idea of not just moving through areas but restoring them as you go.

One of the challenges I’m angling at overcoming is importing a large drawing and converting it into a playable area.

It’s going to be tough, but I’ll make it work. This will likely be a central hub area where the player will move out from in different directions depending on where they need to go. We’ll see what happens with the idea. The concept may well have the protagonist’s house as its central area of time isn’t on my side.

Some more taster screenshots of assets I’ve been working on for this project:

I gave myself the whole month to pixel up a Link's Awakening inspired mockup of game set during the OT

And I might as well also post the video of the prototype I made.