Link to the Past 3D
| Game Information | |
About 
The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past 3D: | |
| Date Released: | TBA |
| Genre: | Adventure |
| Developer: | Extremeexe |
| Publisher: | {{{publisher}}} |
| ESRB Rating: | Everyone |
| Platform(s): | PC |
At the end of last August, a new user by the name of xtremeexe posted a project that took many here by surprise. While ZFGC was born on the promise of converting Ocarina of Time from its 3D foundation to a 2D installment
much like its predecessors, not many had tried going the other way, from 2D to 3D. And yet, xtremeexe was doing just that: taking the much-loved A Link to the Past and creating a full-scale 3D remake. It takes graphical cues
from The Wind Waker by having cel-shaded graphics, which keeps the graphics pretty faithful to the original artwork while remaining unique on its own, and it's shaping up quite nicely. If it wasn't, it most likely wouldn't
be ZFGC's latest Featured Project! We had a nice conversation with xtremeexe, asking several things about his project and other things; read on to learn more.
Contents
ZFGC Staff Commentary
MG-Zero
Well designed and built nicely! It takes the standard features of 3D Zelda and mixes them into the world of Link to the Past. With a rather impressive graphical style, this project promises to impress the fan gaming world.
Although it only features a walking demo, even at this stage it showcases all the hard work that has been put into it. Handles everything very well, including collision detection and the camera! These are two things most fan games
in this class fail to implement well! Overall, it is an impressive project with a lot of potential in the fan game community and we hope to see more of it!
Words from the developer
Q&A
1. So first of all, the most attractive point of this project is the artwork. Who in the monkey-chasing radio-controlled-bat-flying hell is making these concept art pieces and models?! I am the one doing the artwork, modelling and animation, I got behind a rock for many years and stopped visiting gaming forums, so, all the work I've been doing lately is being all by myself
2. 3D is a daring task, especially for a project of this magnitude. What made you go for 3D, and even further, what made you choose lttp?
Alttp is one of my all time favorite games, is the first Zelda game I played when I was a kid, and ever since I always imagined the world as a fantasy land, back then the alttp world was an enormous land full of adventures and that is what I found amazing.. now it doesn't look that big.. but it is still an awesome world.
With this project I would want to pass this feeling to everyone else, like they are playing in a fantasy world that is ready for you to get into the adventure like I did when I was a kid.
3. I see you have 2 Link models, one has a more childish appearance and one is older. What are your plans for the two? Are you planning an expansion on the game of some sort?
Originally, some years ago when I was working for a similar project with other guys, I made a version of the older Link, but never was really happy with it, then the project was abandoned and tried it by myself, going for a more childish look, it was entirely made in GM, then when I discovered U3D I tried to update my game, and created another version of the adult Link, but never got anywhere.... some time ago I modified this model to the childish one that eventually evolved to what you now see, and recently I found interesting to give a try and get in the game an updated version of the older Link to see how it fits... I'm not that convinced on how the older one looks in game... it just doesn't feel like I want, you know the smaller one looks much more expressive and it has a better feeling.. the older one seems too bland to me, I am testing both, but I still prefer the smaller one.
4. What development problems have you run into, if any? How does coding in a 3D environment differ for you than a 2D one?
The most challenging thing is that every visual aspect has to be done almost from scratch as there is too few stuff around that is useful for a 3D project, so, if you want something you have to do it by yourself.
Coding in 3D is not that different from 2D when using Game Maker.. it only adds the challenge of adding a third dimension that you must consider in your actions, but if you are used to 2D in Game Maker, 3D should not be that hard to learn, of course there are things like managing the camera and getting its AI working and collision detection, but if you have the DLL it is as easy as knowing what commands to use and where, just like a 2D game.
5. Where do you see this project in a year? Do you have a roadmap planned out? I don't have a roadmap, I have been working on this project for several years, I abandon it for some weeks, or months, then take it again, it has been an on/off project, which I work on when I feel like, and think of some cool stuff I think that should be added, like modifying an animation I am not happy with, or an action I think that may fit in. Hopefully I will be happy with a main engine eventually soon, so I could start adding stuff like maps and more enemies.
6. Do you have any concerns over this project getting big and Nintendo shutting it down? Not really, this will always be a non profit project, and don't think it would get so mainstream so it would be a problem for nintendo, and if it does, well, I should find a way to get this to the world.. I can imagine "The legend of Melda"
7. Are there any other projects you have in mind? Would you make another 2D classic into a full-on 3D adventure?
Some time ago I created a little engine of a side scrolling platforming game.. very minimalistic, but that I really enjoyed playing and working on it, a monochromatic Ninja adventure with a bunch of items thrown together.. that I would love to update and port to mobile devices
8. Any folks within the community you'd love to collaborate with? Sadly, I am not as active in the community as I was before, and there are lots of new members I don't know, but if I have to choose someone I think I would pick Scrappersa from the good old days who was like a mentor to me in game making, and TheRabidWombat who was an inspiration for me
9. Do you have a dream project that, given the resources and time, you'd love to work on? I think ALTTP3D has been my dream project since I heard about fan gaming software, and hopefully may be able to continue working on it until it gets finished someday.
Eye Candy
Screenshots
