Update: I've mostly decided to scrap this project. (that is, whatever current assets and story I have) I was recently thinking of some new ideas, and I'm really interested in doing something closer to the GB Zelda series. I'm trying to pitch some of these ideas to Spencer, as he doesn't have a general plot outline for his Zelda code yet. Hopefully, we can collaborate on some of these ideas.

The story centers around the land of Labrus, where an apprentice sorcerer uncovers an artifact known as Lyceum's Mirror, which has the power to reproduce anything it reflects. Anything reproduced in this manner will be opposite in nature. (i.e., good people become evil, or vice-versa) Using the mirror, the sorcerer creates a dark version of Labrus, and throws the elements out of balance, causing most of Labrus to become submerged in water.

Link is summoned to the land of Labrus where he must venture through four elemental sanctuaries and restore balance to the land. Each time he clears a sanctuary, another region of Labrus surfaces, allowing him to explore more territory. Eventually, he can make his way to the sorcerer's tower.

Some ideas for puzzle elements, so far, would center around three things: The massive regions of water, the switch-hook and the fairy harp. Aside from normal water, there are also directional currents and whirlpools. The directional currents will push Link away, or sweep him toward an undesired direction. To overcome this, he needs the fairy harp, the "Eulogy of Winds" song and a wind crest to play the song at. (there are various crests scattered all over the world) This will reverse the flow of the currents, allowing him to be carried to new areas. Whirlpools are just impossible to navigate, and will always obstruct Link's path.

The other harp songs are the Hero's Etude and the Dreamer's Ballad. When Link stands on a dream crest and plays the harp, the Dreamer's Ballad will cause all on-screen enemies to fall asleep. This is useful in puzzles involving armos who normally move in the way of Link's path to obstruct his exit to a different screen. The other song, the Hero's Etude, is the default song played when using the harp. No crest is required. If in a dungeon, it transports Link back to the beginning; if outside, to a central hub (in a forest) that acts as a detour to any previously visited area.

The switch-hook is one of Link's various tools. It works sort of like the hookshot, but instead of pulling Link toward an object, he switches places with it. Rather than having access to a Roc's Feather, or any sort of jumping ability at all, Link has to navigate pitfalls with his switch-hook alone. This can get rather complicated, as he may only have a single object to repetitively use to carry him across a series of pitfalls. There will also be times when he needs to switch places with an object in order to weigh down a switch. Smaller objects, such as keys and rupees, will simply be pulled toward Link.

The switch hook is like in Oracle of Ages, right?

Right.

I like this idea, especially the switch hook idea. Too bad the other project is scrapped, though . It would be nice to see someone use the former idea and/or graphics in  another project too

if I were to work on a Zelda game.

/me changes "if I were" to "since I am gonna"

Are you going to release the current project's assets? I really love the graphic style. It reminds me of a down-scaled version of A Link to the Past (from the little i saw). This would probably be the direction I'd take graphically if I were to work on a Zelda game.

I didn't finish downcoding many assets. I really just used the tileset from the BS Zelda remake for SNES.

BS Zelda was mostly a remake of Zelda 1, with some radical revisions to the map layouts. The game was downloaded in a series of sections, and each section only allowed you to do so much at a time. You can find hacks that compile all the sections and roll them into a single game, though. IMO, it's really not that fun. Kind of a wasted potential on Nintendo's part. The sprite and tile detail is pretty cool, though.

Also - I wanted to show something...



These are the various harp crests I was thinking about. At some point, you would procure a Fairy Harp, and various songs to play on it. Rather than picking which song to play, this is chosen automatically when you stand on one of the respective crests and use the harp. The first crest is the Dream Crest. If you know the Dreamer's Ballad, then this is what is automatically played there. The ballad puts all enemies to sleep. The second is the Wind Crest. If you know the Eulogy of Winds, then that tune is automatically played. The eulogy reverses the direction of water currents. The last crest is the Light Crest. Rather than playing a song here, this just indicates the location Link appears at if he uses the harp while *not* standing on a crest. (Hero's Etude) He's transported to the Light Crest.

very nice looking

I've been working on some new ideas. Revisiting the whole grayscale thing again. The image has 4-level objects and 3-level sprites. (although, the icons in the status HUD are 4-level)

Found a very detailed Link sprite made by someone called "KOH." It seems to be based off of the GB Link design somewhat, but with enough detail to actually see his tunic.

I may scrape the key display from the HUD, extend the rupee max to 255 and add two more heart containers.