126 replies to this topic

[Moosh]

Click the last link, Mario is on the rise. Unless there is some very popular Mario dude that's catching people's interest, we'll assume Mario's popularity in my previous post is about Mario games.

Overall yes, but Mario has started to take a steep dive since 2011.

http://www.google.co...#q=mario&cmpt=q

Zeldaclassic can make survival horrors with heavy scripting
Zeldaclassic can make run and gun with heavy scripting
Zeldaclassic can make slash and dash with heavy scripting
Zeldaclassic can make side scrollers with heavy scripting

Yes, Zelda Classic can make just about anything, but the primary focus is Zelda. So who cares if it isn't as popular as it could be? It's probably for the best that it isn't. It's what keeps us safe from a C&D. I believe if Zelda Classic were to become too popular, Nintendo would be legally obligated to shut it down in order to keep their license although that might only be a US thing. I'm no copyright expert but it's always better safe than sorry.

[TheLegend_njf]

But that furthers my point in separating from the Zelda identity. Zeldaclassic is evolving to the point that it will no longer be the Zelda infringement it used to be. When the engine is changed that dramatically that its hardly distinguishable from Zelda, what can Nintendo say? "Oh! It started out as Zelda, we gotta shut you down"

[Moosh]

But that furthers my point in separating from the Zelda identity. Zeldaclassic is evolving to the point that it will no longer be the Zelda infringement it used to be. When the engine is changed that dramatically that its hardly distinguishable from Zelda, what can Nintendo say? "Oh! It started out as Zelda, we gotta shut you down"

The engine itself isn't changing at all. I don't understand what you're talking about. Even if all the Zelda graphics and music were stripped from ZC it would still be Nintendo's engine at its base.

I would say this would be an interesting (although unlikely) idea for 3.0, but I'm pretty sure 2.5 will be the last of the Mohicans.

Also even if the engine were protected, the quests themselves wouldn't be. How would you like to see Lost Isle taken down because of a rise in ZC's popularity? How would you like it if Nintendo C&D'd SoW 2 before you could finish it?

Edited by Moosh, 26 February 2013 - 11:40 AM.

[LinktheMaster]

Well, actually it's not. Sure, it may look, feel, and maybe even smell like Zelda, the engine itself is 100% custom. It's pretty much the only legal thing about ZC.

[Moosh]

Well, actually it's not. Sure, it may look, feel, and maybe even smell like Zelda, the engine itself is 100% custom. It's pretty much the only legal thing about ZC.

Really?

I knew there was original code introduced into the mix but I thought most of ZC's earliest code was a recreation of Zelda 1's...

[TheLegend_njf]

The 8 directional walking is new.

But for example of my point:

Nintendo can't copyright arrows
Nintendo can't copyright bombs
Nintendo can't copyright trees
Nintendo can't copyright lakes
Nintendo can't copyright any of Link's actions and movements, except for the spinning sword attack maybe.

There is just so much about Zelda Nintendo can't copyright. They have ownership over storyline, characters, and concepts, and pretty much everything that defines it as Zelda.

But they can't copyright most of the basics.

[Tree]

I really wish ZC was more well known. I don't really see much of a point in putting so much effort into a fan made game that probably won't be played by more than 50-to-100 people. This is why I'm on a huge ZC hiatus. I feel is if no one appreciates the effort I'm putting into my quest for the community to enjoy.

I'm probably just over thinking this, but this idea really gets to my head, and ruins any inspiration I have with making a Zelda fan game.

[Moosh]

There is just so much about Zelda Nintendo can't copyright. They have ownership over storyline, characters, and concepts, and pretty much everything that defines it as Zelda.

And that covers almost all of the quests in the database. Even if separating Zelda Classic from Zelda and making it just a generic game engine would get it more popularity, the fact remains that people don't want to create original games; we want to create Zelda fangames. Going public would put every single one of those fangames at risk.

[LinktheMaster]

I really wish ZC was more well known. I don't really see much of a point in putting so much effort into a fan made game that probably won't be played by more than 50-to-100 people. This is why I'm on a huge ZC hiatus. I feel is if no one appreciates the effort I'm putting into my quest for the community to enjoy.

I'm probably just over thinking this, but this idea really gets to my head, and ruins any inspiration I have with making a Zelda fan game.

Well, I think you're underselling the ZC community. The best I can suggest is don't think that the number of active, posting members on PureZC is really telling of the actual amount of people who play ZC quests. There are a decent amount of people who lurk the forums but review quests. Also while PZC doesn't have a download tracker in the current version of the site, ZC.com does. And there are quite a few quests that have over 1000 downloads. I've even seen some really old quests with nearly 10,000 downloads. Granted, while some of the newer ones haven't hit nearly that much, the newest quest on the database has nearly 300 downloads. And that's on top of the downloads on PureZC (however many that may be).

[TheLegend_njf]

And that covers almost all of the quests in the database. Even if separating Zelda Classic from Zelda and making it just a generic game engine would get it more popularity, the fact remains that people don't want to create original games; we want to create Zelda fangames. Going public would put every single one of those fangames at risk.

That's if we replace Zeldaclassic, but why couldn't both programs co-exist?

We could leave ZC 2.5 as the final product, and begin building a new program off its engine.

[coolgamer012345]

i thought more people knew about it....well i can try to get it more popular

[Theryan]

The 8 directional walking is new.

But for example of my point:

Nintendo can't copyright arrows
Nintendo can't copyright bombs
Nintendo can't copyright trees
Nintendo can't copyright lakes
Nintendo can't copyright any of Link's actions and movements, except for the spinning sword attack maybe.

There is just so much about Zelda Nintendo can't copyright. They have ownership over storyline, characters, and concepts, and pretty much everything that defines it as Zelda.

But they can't copyright most of the basics.

Even if they had tighter copyrights, Nintendo hasn't shown much interest in shutting ZC down in the past and as long as it stays free, I doubt they'd have any plans to do so.

Although if they decided to make some kind of Zelda editor(which would be pretty unlikely, but would undoubtedly be crazy popular), they would probably send some cease & desist.

[Jamian]

Even if they had tighter copyrights, Nintendo hasn't shown much interest in shutting ZC down in the past and as long as it stays free, I doubt they'd have any plans to do so.

Although if they decided to make some kind of Zelda editor(which would be pretty unlikely, but would undoubtedly be crazy popular), they would probably send some cease & desist.

I agree with that.

Now if they indeed created a Zelda editor then it would be a different story, but I don't see that happening either.

Edited by Jamian, 19 April 2013 - 08:07 AM.

[Hoff123]

If you're a Zelda nerd, and are interested in fan games you WILL find out about Zelda Classic . Now, I guess it's kind of a niche though haha.

But there is also something called "Open Zelda" that seems a lot less popular then Zelda Classic. And no I haven't tried it. http://openzelda.net/ and there seems to be another site too: http://openzelda.the...nguniverse.org/ but I think that is for the older "classic" version...not sure though...

[linkismyhero]

The engine itself isn't changing at all. I don't understand what you're talking about. Even if all the Zelda graphics and music were stripped from ZC it would still be Nintendo's engine at its base.

I would say this would be an interesting (although unlikely) idea for 3.0, but I'm pretty sure 2.5 will be the last of the Mohicans.

Also even if the engine were protected, the quests themselves wouldn't be. How would you like to see Lost Isle taken down because of a rise in ZC's popularity? How would you like it if Nintendo C&D'd SoW 2 before you could finish it?

what is sow2?