Apogee Entertainment has revealed a brand new dungeon-maker action RPG for Switch during the Guerrilla Collective today. And from the visuals alone, we're getting some serious The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap vibes.
Developed by Skydevilpalm, Quest Master is a gorgeous-looking game where you create your own dungeons. Quest Master is coming to Steam Early Access in Q3 2023, while the Switch release will come when the game launches in 1.0. So we might have a while to wait!
The whole game looks like a lovely pixel art 'Zelda Maker'. Now we can create our dream 2D Zelda dungeons. You'll be able to share maps online with other players, and it's up to you whether you go for something creative and fun or crushingly difficult.
Here are all of the details on the game so far from publisher Apogee:
Craft a legendary journey from scratch with an intuitive level creator to make simple dungeons and overworld-connected quests in this faithful pixel art love letter to top-down action JRPG classics of yesteryear. Drag-and-drop dozens of themed design tiles onto a blank canvas to create lava-filled caverns, mountainous overworlds, grassy forests, desert dunes, and more. Provide instructions for the quest ahead or design an epic narrative full of placeable NPCs and customizable signs with a plethora of dialogue options.
When the masterpiece is complete, fearlessly charge into the world, ready to face belligerent bats, surly snakes, and nefarious skeletons. Keep enemies at a safe distance with a bow or bring them in for combat close with a precisely aimed hookshot. Master weapons and powerful magic, navigate user-created labyrinths, unlock doors and solve puzzles while defending against the dangers that lurk within. Guide progression with bodies of water and boulders that can only be traversed with a hammer or flippers.
The journey is as easy or as difficult as the creator wishes. Invent patience-testing experiences or entire quests with multiple biomes, bosses, and side missions. Place enemy spawn points in strategic locations to create challenging dungeons (that can lock upon entry!) before concocting the perfect puzzle with the ideal amount of flaming traps, levers, timed switches, and invisible chests.
Venture through bespoke labyrinths solo, or dungeon-crawl cooperatively with up to 3-player multiplayer sessions. Share created quests with others and try out worlds made by fellow designers online. Recreate classic levels from famous top-down action games of old, and craft adventures reminiscent of the 16-bit classics.
If you're impressed with what you've seen from Quest Master so far, keep an eye on the game's Steam page, and we'll let you know as soon as we know when it's coming to Switch.
What do you think of Quest Master? Will you be throwing pots for this dungeon maker game? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 32
@AlanaHagues Is there a Kickstarter campaign for this game?
Inb4 ninty sues get this removed from steam
@LilyGoMEOW I haven't seen one yet and we didn't get one with the press release. I'll keep an eye out though The Steam page is up now at least https://store.steampowered.com/app/2094070/Quest_Master/
And you can follow the devs at: https://twitter.com/skydevilpalm
This does look right up my alley.
I wonder if Nintendo's gonna cancel 'em...
I think Nintendo would gladly invite them over to the switch, like others before it.
Those makers are always a slippery ground because most people can't be bothered to create anything worth playing, as we saw with Super Mario Maker, and nobody wants to play someone's 5 minutes attempt at using every block possible
It really depends on whether patient, skilled creators take a liking to a game like this
I wonder how this will compare with Super Dungeon Maker?
I like that you can share maps online with others, I've played "RPG Maker" hopefully this isn't as complicated figuring out. It's not that players couldn't be bothered some of these games like "RPG Maker" aren't exactly easy figuring out the menus or how you link events together.
My friends and thought we would write a story and turn it into a game on RPG Maker it's not that easy.
Looks cool, a dungeon maker of this quality had Zelda fans like myself excited.
This looks amazing. That's pixel art done properly.
Dopefish lives!
@DwaynesGames ....At least you're not a chicken in this one. lol
An interesting use of this could be a completely procedurally generated "Zelda". As in you generate it before the game begins, not as you go.
It looks a lot like A Link to the past, but I think it's unique enough for Nintendo not to go after them.
@GreenXIII @McBurn
Considering we have Blossom Tales 1 & 2, hopefully this has no issues. I wouldn't put it past Nintendo to try though.
Seeing the lillypads makes me instantly think of Minish Cap. One of my gavorite Zelda's and I'd love a sequel.
@ComfyAko I think community and searchability/discoverability is the key. You used Mario Maker as a negative example, but Mario Maker 2 has had a huge creator community with literally 100s of thousands of good levels and 10s of thousands of impressively creative ones. Sure there are even more bad levels, but that will always be the case and it's easy to find good ones.
Game Builder Garage is a good example of a failure of a builder game. Lots of potential, but Nintendo stopped supporting the game basically instantly before a community had built up and they have effectively zero in-game discoverability.
Hopefully this new Zelda (like)-maker game will have a good cross-platform creator community.
@Scapetti Is this the same Apogee?
Edit: Just looked it up and, it's complicated, but kind of, yeah.
In my opinion, Super Dungeon Maker looks a lot better than this. I like the visuals a lot more, and it just looks a lot more put-together.
Meh. The Link's Awakening remake came with a dungeon maker built in, and no one ever used it. Making levels in Mario is fun because it's a giant sandbox with tons of vertical movement options and mechanics. Classic Zelda games are fun because of the design, not because of the engine.
Now we just need to be able to create that overworld...
I don’t ever feel the need to make my own levels, that’s why I buy a console and games so it’s done for me.
The minute I read: "We're getting some serious The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap vibes" while playing the trailer I thought: "Vibes? The assets are stripped right out of the Mimish Cap!"
Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen the Apogee logo. I'm really excited for this one, looks very crisp and multiplayer sounds like a lot of fun!
I'm a sucker for the aesthetic as I love Minish Cap, co-op multiplayer is a great feature and the mechanics look promising, looking forward to seeing more of this game and fingers crossed it eventually comes to Switch, too!
What's that sound I hear? Oh it's trolls and kaizo players squealing in unison.
I've been dreaming of a dungeon maker, and this looks to be the closest we'll get to it.
>overworld-connected quests
>design an epic narrative full of placeable NPCs and customizable signs with a plethora of dialogue options
>entire quests with multiple biomes, bosses, and side missions
This. Right here. This is the stuff. If I'm reading right, then is worlds away from Super Dungeon Maker, which allows you to only create one dungeon at a time. This will allow you to make an entire proper experience with an overworld, towns, and multiple dungeons.
@LilyGoMEOW @MindWanderer There are no plans for any crowdfunding at the moment.
@MindWanderer That's a valid point. Our intent is to make building dungeons just as much fun as it would be to play them. We're eager for players to get their hands on the demo & see how quick & fun it can be to build, test & play dungeons.
@skydevilpalm Oh, didn't realize you were here! Then if I may make a suggestion: in Zelda, nearly every monster and interactive object challenges the player to ask themselves, "how can I beat this?" In Mario, they challenge the player to ask, "how can I use this?" Lean into that if you want to engage the community.
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