Topic: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (April Fools' 2008 Project) - Brainstorming Topic

[marioman]

If you give a look at the OCRemix page, you might get some more ideas.  It gives information on the founding of OCRemix, its purpose, projects, submission standards, community, etc.  Sure some of the sections may be a little small, but I would say that most of those headings could hold substantial information.

[JonLeung]

I'm debating whether or not I want to stop regular submission updates for all of March to get this done.  I shouldn't have to be starting this on the weekend at 4:30 PM on Sunday.  >_<



Okay, I did a lot yesterday, before I got around to doing the weekly update, so it shouldn't've taken this long.  But it still takes at least a day to put up like a hundred maps...a day that I could spend doing my thing.

[RT 55J]

If you convinced somebody to revamp the site to use a fancy database system, I'm sure nobody would care about the lack of updates.

---

Dot? Dot. Dot!

[marioman]

Huh?  Why wouldn't you care about updates?



Jon, if you just stop updating, people may think that something is up.  Scaled-back updates may be the way to go.

[JonLeung]

I finished making the town.  It was fun!

[Revned]

marioman Said:

Huh?  Why wouldn't you care about updates?



Jon, if you just stop updating, people may think that something is up.  Scaled-back updates may be the way to go.

It's only 4 weeks, it's happened before and nobody freaked out.

[JonLeung]

Skipping a week has been rare lately though.  Not updating for a month is something that probably happened in like 2004 or something.  Though probably the one person most likely to freak out would be Will Mallia.  



I submitted a Wikipedia VGMaps.com article yesterday (while at work...oops...but it's not like I could work on this project then!) which was rejected for sounding too much like an advertisement.  I moved some portions around, rephrased some things, and for now omitted the "Projects" and some of the more self-congratulatory "History" parts.  We'll see if this is neutral enough to make the cut...  



(EDIT: Rejected again!  Almost feel like I should just copy VGMuseum's article...  >_<)



(EDIT: Twice in one day!  Someone else should do it, maybe that's the problem... >_<)



I think I will have to do scaled-back updates.  Submissions of linear games with sequential stage numbers are easy.  Mega Man maps are easy.  Maps for games that already have some maps are easy.  But making entirely new sections or trying to edit out the title on a difficult screen for a new game - those are time-consuming enough that maybe I'll sit on those ones...



I'm sure I'll have something presentable by April 1...but I wish it wasn't so tight.  Cutting back updates may be necessary for the polish that I would like on this.

[JonLeung]

25 days left!  Still on schedule!  Doing good!  (Even if I do spend all of Sunday afternoon and evening playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Subspace Emissary!  )



This is going to be awesome, making the overworld is making the game more alive than when it was just dungeons.



After working on this for months, it's hard to believe that in three and a half weeks, it's going to be over one way or another!

[JonLeung]

On Saturday, I actually had the whole day to myself for the first time in who knows how long, so I worked extra hard on it, especially considering that I knew I couldn't resist playing some Super Smash Bros. Brawl at some point on Sunday.  I'm happy about how things are shaping up.



Unfortunately some things seem to be lining up to take some time away from me on the evenings during the week (and they're not Brawl...boy am I glad the game came out yesterday instead of today like I was told...that would be doubly frustrating) but I see no reason why I shouldn't still be able to make it on time.



But don't be surprised if I have to skip another weekend update.  There's only three weekends left...

[marioman]

10 days.  Good luck.

[JonLeung]

Thanks for the good luck wishes!



I suppose you want an update.



Overworld (Day version) is only a few screens from being done.  That will probably be done in no more than a couple hours.  Then here's what's left:



1. "Animal Companion regions" - seven screens times three, maybe I'll get that done today

2. dungeon entrances

3. adding that thing where you're allowed to change night/day in several areas

4. various touch-ups and checks

5. conversion to Night version (shouldn't be too hard)

6. adding bosses and Essences to dungeons

7. adding titles, my name, possible watermarking, etc.

8. final check

9. publish!



If I can do a task a day on average (most of those look like they wouldn't take a whole day, which is good since bosses might be the one to take more than one), then I'm going to make it.  

[JonLeung]

I apologize in advance for my horrific skills at spriting, that the dungeon entrances may have to end up being modified/palette-adjusted versions of existing dungeon entrances, and that I may have to cut out bosses altogether, as there may not be enough time to do them decently.  >_<



How come these April Fool's projects ALWAYS come right down to the wire?

[JonLeung]

This is all that remains:



1. conversion to Night version (just need to figure out palette swap)

2. adding bosses and Essences to dungeons

3. adding titles, my name, possible watermarking, etc.

4. final check

5. publish!



Actually, I may be able to get the bosses done after all, but I think the majority of them are going to have to be modified sprites from other games, rather than originals.  Thanks goodness I have a lot of maps to choose from, hopefully enough with potentially editable-into-Zeldaesque-form bosses.



The overworlds are probably pretty close to being done.  The Night world is a modified Day world, but I'm experimenting with brightness and RGB settings for it.  I've tried decreasing the brightness and increasing the blue.  I think I probably need to increase the blue a lot more while also decreasing the red and green.  I may have to do blue things (ie. the water) separately as it actually gets brighter when I increase the blue value.  >_>

[JonLeung]

Probably the last update before it's done...



Well, it practically is done.  I just need to do some minor things that have been bugging me that no one else would probably notice, and then a final check and there we go.  Today is a weekday, so I can't do any of that until I get home from work, which means that, just like every single year, it comes right down to the wire!  0_0



I think there are some interesting things about the maps that I might comment on in detail, a few days later, if anyone else might also find them neat.



I plan to mention this on GoNintendo and maybe some other similar sites tomorrow morning and watch the hits go right up.  Or at least more than with past years' jokes.  I see this as bigger than the past April Fool's jokes; it's going to be tough to top this one, but it's likely not going to be dethroned without a team effort, as this has been months of work.  I can already hear some people questioning whether it was worth the effort.  (Of course, people doubting that someone would put in the effort into this will help sell the joke.)  I guess we'll see very shortly if all these months of daily copying/pasting/editing/palette swapping/etc. is worth it!



Then we'll decide if this a tradition worth keeping.  DUN DUN DUN!

[marioman]

Nice.  It took two years, but it is now going to be a reality.  Congratulations.