                T H E   L E G E N D   O F
        ______  ______   ___      _____          __
       / ___ /  | ___ \  | /      | ___\        /  \
       \/  //   ||   \/  ||       ||   \\      /  /\\
          //    |\___    ||       ||    ||    /  /  \\
         //     | ___|   ||       ||    ||   /  /____\\
        //      |/       ||       ||    ||  /  ________\
       //       ||       ||       ||    || /  /        \\
       \\___/\  ||___/\  ||___/\  ||___// /  /          \\
        \____/  \_____/  \_____/  \____/  \_/            \\

               D A R K   L I N K   Q U E S T


                Programmed by Kvin Ouellet.
        The Legend of Zelda and the Zelda logos are 
     registered trademarks of Nintendo. Dark Link Quest
is a property of Omnimaga and Dysfunction Programming, 2004.


1) Introduction
2) Requirements
3) Installing the game
4) Story
5) How to play
6) Items
7) Monsters
8) Bugs and compatibility problems 
9) Cool stuff I did in Zelda
10) Stuff excluded from the game
11) My opinion
12) Special thanks
13) Disclaimers
14) Contact


1) Introduction

The Legend of Zelda: Dark Link Quest is my first *successful* attempt at Action-RPG 
programming. In 2002, I started making one, but my BASIC skills were not high enough to make 
such a game. Now, after more than 3 years of experience in TI-BASIC programming, I finally did 
it: a TRUE Zelda is finally available on your TI-83+!!!!!! It's in BASIC, so it's slow but it keeps 
most Zelda features, from the Hookshot item to the classic smooth scrolling when Link reaches 
the edge of the screen!!! It also features 180 rooms to explore, 3 swords from "Ocarina of Time", 
lot of side quests (heart containers and empty bottles), many GFX never seen before on the home 
screen and more!


2) Requirements

Minimum requirements (very slow, ideal for novice player)
-TI-83+ calculator
-OS 1.12 or higher 
-24 KB of RAM
-160 KB of archive

Ideal requirements (ultimate game performance, recommended for intermediate and expert players)
-TI-83+ Silver Edition
-OS 1.13 or higher 
-24 KB of RAM
-160 KB of archive 


3) Installing the game

The installation requires many steps, so make sure you follow them correctly. After installing the game correctly, you should have an overwiew of how could have been Zelda on the Atari 2600 J.
1)	On your computer, right Click on zelda.zip file, and then choose Extract folder toC:\. If there is an Include Subfolders option, please make sure the check box is checked!!!
2)	Reset your calculator RAM and delete archived files until you have more than 24000 bytes of RAM free. If you have a TI-83+ (black model), you must reset the entire memory (RAM and archive).
3)	Connect your calc to your computer.
4)	After that, open TI-Graph Link (NOT TI-CONNECT BECAUSE THE GROUPED FILES WILL SCREW UP!!!!!!!!!!).
5)	In TI-Graph-Link, click on Link/Send to/RAM and locate Zelda/Archive/Part 1 directory. Click on Add all then click on OK then wait for the transferring. Devpic files will load into the RAM.
6)	Go to your calc and run prgmINSTALL1. Once its done, reset your RAM.
7)	In TI-Graph-Link, click on Link/Send to/RAM and locate Zelda/Archive/Part 2 directory. Click on Add all then click on OK then wait for the transferring. Others Devpic files will load into the RAM.
8)	Go to your calc and run prgmINSTALL2. Once its done, reset your RAM.
9)	 In TI-Graph-Link, click on Link/Send to/Archive and locate Zelda/Archive/Part 3 directory. Click on Add all then click on OK then wait for the transferring. This will take A LONG time, so be patient. (If you have Windows 2000 or XP, TI-Graph-Link may crash from time to time so make sure you remember the last file you sent to the calc).
10)	After its finished, click on Link/Send to/RAM and locate Zelda/RAM directory. Click on Add all then click on OK then wait for the transferring. (Again, if you have Windows 2000 or XP, TI-Graph-Link may crash from time to time. If this happens you need to send the file again and skip all programs already installed on the calc.)
11)	Now you are ready to play the game. Just run prgmDLQ.


4) Story

Ganon has infiltrated Hyrule Castle. Link, the hero of time had to defeat him with the Master 
Sword, the only blade that can take him out. However, as link was approaching the Master sword, 
Ganon appeared and cursed him with a dark spell. Now Link is known as Dark Link because his 
soul has been invaded by darkness. To hold the holy Master Sword again, the hero of time will 
have to find the three triforce shards hidden in three dungeons.


5) How to play

When the title screen appears, press 2nd. You will be prompted to select a save file (with 2nd). If 
you want to start a new game you have to choose a name for your character. Press 2nd to input a 
letter and DEL to erase it. When finished select the End option and press 2nd. 

Unfortunately, I could not get a decent speed with character walking in 4 directions, so there are 
4 action keys (attack pad) based on the attack/action direction:

MODE: Attack up        
APPS: Attack down
ALPHA: Attack left
STAT:  Attack right

During walking
-Attack pad (MODE, APPS, ALPHA and STAT): Attack, open door, hit switch, talk to people 
and collect treasures
-Directional pad (UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT arrows): Move around
-2nd: Open the menu
-CLEAR: Open the save menu then exit the game.

During talking
-2nd, DEL and Attack pad (MODE, APPS, ALPHA and STAT): Show the next part of the 
conversation

Menu
-Directional pad (UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT arrows): Select.
-2nd: Close the menu (unequip all items). 
-DEL: Close the menu (equip the selected item).
-CLEAR: Open the save menu then exit the menu.
-MODE: Shut down the calc.

Others controls are explained in the game.


6) Items

Usable items

Hookshot: Use this item to grab pillars and reach new areas. Note that you cannot use the sword 
when the hookshot is equipped. BE EXTRA CAREFUL: WHEN YOU GRAB A MONSTER 
YOU LOSE LIFE POINTS.

Fairy Hookshot: An upgrade to the hookshot. 5 times longer.

Bombos: A fire-based magic item that cause 1 life damage to many monsters. Cost 1 magic 
points (see your magic meter in the menu)

Thor: A thunder-based magic that create a thunder cross killing all monsters in its path. Cost 2 
magic points (see your magic meter in the menu)

Gaia: An earth-based magic that shake all monsters and can cause lot of damage. Cost 3 magic 
points (see your magic meter in the menu)

Empty bottle: There are four in total in the game. Use them to stock one of the following items:

Life Potion (50 rupees)      Magic Potion (100 rupees)
Restore your life points     Restore your magic points
         
Elixir (150 rupees)          Fairy (found in the fairy fountain)
Restore life and magic       Restore life (can resurrect when you die)

Piece of heart: find 4 of them and your max life will increase by one. (16 in total)

Rupee: Collect them to buy things. The is pack of 1, 5 and 20 rupees.

Small hearts: Restore your life by one.

Magic: Restore your magic by two points.

Deku Sword: You start with this weapon

Giant Sword: The treasure of Zora Cavern. Can destroy small rocks, which allow you to 
reach even more places.

Master Sword: The legendary blade you need to defeat Ganon. Causes twice the normal 
amount of damage and destroy small rocks too.


Triforce shards

Courage:  Found in the palace South-West of Kakariko Village.

Wisdom:  Found in Zora Cavern to the West of Kakariko Village. 

Power:  Found in the Tower of Chaos at the top of the Death Mountain


7) Monsters

There are a total of 9 enemies in the game. Here is the description of each one.

Skeleton: A monster that move anywhere. Just be careful when approaching him.

Evil Bird: A very tough flying monster. Can be killed in one hit by anything but he can defeat 
you in 10 seconds.

Octorok: A water-based monster. When he appear at the surface of water, stay clear             
because he shot rocks at you. The only real way to defeat him is to deflect its rocks with    
your sword.

Warlock: Another tough monster. This one is very annoying and often guards heart container 
pieces. He tries to charge at you and smash you away. In most case you get thrown outside of the 
area, making the area almost impossible to cross.

Warlord: A super version of the Warlock. He has 4 times more life points.

Vampire: A monster that drain your life. They are slow but make sure you defeat them quickly 
because they drain life very fast.

Zombie: A super version of the Vampire. They are resistant so they are more dangerous because 
they move even when you strike with the sword. You will need to develop strategy to defeat 
them.

Beamos: A resistant monster that can shot you a super high-powered laser. Be careful to not stay 
in its range. Its laser causes 3 points of damage.

Snake: A super version of the Skeleton. He's even more powerful because he cause twice more 
damage and he can smash you away. Also he's twice faster and has a lot of life points.

   
8) Bugs and compatibility problems

Zelda DLQ is the first Action-RPG I ever created so it may contain errors (most are display 
bugs). Also the game uses many ASM utilities that may cause compatibility problems. If you read 
this section carefully, you should avoid most of these bugs.

-When you enter a place with no monsters or a place with the water monster shooting things at 
you (Octorok), if you use the hookshot item, there may be times where the hookshot seems to 
grab something even if there is nothing. Just use the hookshot again. It's fixable, but it would 
slow down the game and I think it's slow enough like that.
-NEVER QUIT THE GAME BY PRESSING THE ON BUTTON! I integrated a sub-routine 
that fix errors due to archiving and unarchiving with incorrect shutdown but in the case you exit 
the game during the execution of an ASM program (mostly occurs in movies), your calculator 
may crash. Once ago, I got my Flash ROM corrupted by doing that.
-If you play on OS 1.13, NEVER SCROOL THE PRGM MENU. This will reset your 
calculator and corrupt the Flash ROM.
-Not really a bug, but after the map scrolls you may experience times where the calc seems to 
load for a longer time. This happens often in place where monsters are restricted to appear at a 
few areas only (mostly in the Death Mountain and Zora Cavern). And even if there are no 
monsters it loads for 3 seconds because I use Flash Gordon to run archived programs. At least it's 
better than 20 seconds of archiving.
-Sometimes, the smoothscrolling effect runs at 6 MHz on the SE.
-Not a bug but something that will happen if you play on TI-83+ Flash Debugger emulator. If you 
experience times (usually when you enter building/cavern or during the intro/ending) where the 
screen seems to freeze for a long time, this is because the contrast is fading in/out or the screen is 
shaking (also known as Z-addressing to ASM programmers). What I found is that contrast/Z-
address doesn't work on any TI-83+ emulator. To see all the GFXs, you will need to play on a 
real calculator. :P


9) Cool stuff I did in Zelda

-Added shutdown detector, which fix the game when you exit with ON. It's not the perfection but 
at least it helps.
-Totally eliminated the use of Lbl/Goto command so there is no ERR:MEMORY!!!!
-Added fast scrolling effect like in the old Zelda games.
-Some monsters have artificial intelligence
-With the help of Zapi, copied the homescreen directly on the graph screen, which allow me to do 
unbelievable things with ASCII based graphics.
-With the help of Devpic and Zpic, made a really cool flickerless animation like in Flash movies 
with over 30 pictures!!!!


10) Stuff excluded from the game

The following stuff and features were excluded from this game. Sorry for not adding them, but I 
ran out of RAM ? and it's slow enough like that on the black TI-83+ model. Anyway, I think it's 
complete enough for a TI-83+(SE). I beat it in 8 hours even if I know all the secrets.
-Bombs
-More monsters
-More items
-More dungeons
-Hammer item
-Grabbing rocks and plants and throws them to the monsters
-Rupees in rocks and plants
-Time passing (day and night effect)
-Gold Skulltulas (remember this sub-quest in Ocarina of Time)


11) My opinion

Well, if you want my opinion about "The Legend of Zelda: Dark Link Quest", here we go. I 
cannot say it's the best calculator game ever. Surely, this is Zelda, it has LOTS of features (for a 
calc) and it's the most complete Zelda ever released on the 83+/SE (yet), but this is the first 
Action-RPG I ever programmed and it's not perfect (I'm specialized in turn-based RPG like Final 
Fantasy). Programming a BASIC or ASM Action-RPG by yourself is even more challenging than 
building one with the ARPG Construction Set and you'll often get a better result by coding one 
by yourself. What I wanted to do by programming this game is to show what can be done in 
BASIC (again) and finally releases a complete version of a hand-coded Zelda game (what I 
mean by hand-coded here is without the use of ARPGCS), which has never happened before. All 
I found at ticalc.org was unfinished ARPGs, demo of project that will never be finished and a 
turn-based Zelda in TI-82 BASIC. I tried my game on a normal 83+ and it's slow (although it's 
almost playable), but on the SE it really rocks. If you have this calc, Zelda: DLQ may act as an 
alternative to most dead projects around here. However, don't ask me for another Zelda game, 
because I want to jump back to The Reign of Legends serie. I like Final Fantasy more than Zelda 
?.


12) Special Thanks

-Justin Whales for CODEX program
-KammutierSpule for Zapi
-Kevtiva Interactive for Zpic, Flash Gordon and Devpic
-BAPG because they contributed in the making of Devpic
-Michael Vincent for BASIC tools
-Nintendo for making these awesome games
-Teoryn for having suggested me to speed up the intro, write a complete strategy guide, make the game easier at the beginning and change the installation procedure.


13) Disclaimers

-Your calc blew, imploded, disintegrated or anything lik' that? Sorry, I won't hold responsible.
-Well, if your calc still exist, don't steal my code!!!
-No animals were harmed during the making of this game ?.


14) Contact

All comments, suggestions and bugs report at k.ouellet4@caramail.com. Don't forget to visit the 
following websites:
-dysfunction.earthforge.com
-unitedti.org
-omnimaga.tk
