Most of the games in The Legend of Zelda series stay fairly rooted in the action-RPG genre and whilst that hasn't been detrimental to its overall quality and reputation, it does leave room for those wanting a deviation from the somewhat limited offline play for some wishful thinking.
It seems a group of Zelda fans have taken that wishing and started to mould something out of it in the form of a Zelda MMO (massively multiplayer online) game. The name of Zelda World suggests just that: a place where familiar locations like Hyrule Field and Kokiri Forest are explorable, with more places and people undoubtedly to come. As the game is currently in the alpha phase, there's naturally not a lot with which to interact. Unless you like glitches.
Of the few things that have been coded so far are the starting weapons, which consist of a sword, shield, and bow. Several arrow pick-up points have been created, but there's not a lot to use the arrows on at the moment except air. You can try the alpha version by visiting this web address but at the time of writing this article, the servers seem to be down due to maintenance.
Nintendo has a bit of a reputation of being protective over the felt-loving elf, even going as far as issuing a take-down notice to the makers of The Legend of Zelda: Hero of Time, a fan-made film, ordering them to remove it from the Internet.
It's likely this MMO fan project will attract the attention of Nintendo's legal department, especially since Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has already expressed the possibility of online play in future instalments of Zelda games. On the other hand, if Nintendo chooses to let these fans go about their business, they could easily use their model and ideas as a launching board of their own, as well as a way of determining what works and what doesn't. However, since this fan project is likely to take years to complete, we can almost bet on another take-down notice getting drafted.
[source zeldainformer.com]
Comments 49
If Nintendo made a Zelda MMO I don't think I'd ever have a life again.
Trying to compete with a company by using their intellectual property is suicidal. They're really just leeching off the reputation Nintendo has built for the Zelda name, couldn't they just make their own game? Just stick different levels, art and names on it and you're clear.
Lawsuit in 3... 2... 1...
Yup. Nintendo will shoot this down. Pity.
These guys got guts i give them credit for that. I think nintendo should really come up with fresh ideas for the Zelda franchise and this might be a way to go. How about a new game that's like Majoras Mask?
Cease and Desist in 1..2...3....
Stupid copyright. Doing a tribute means they CARE about the originals! They have probably all played most games over and over again, and more importantly to Nintendo, they've most likely bought them!
GUYS, I have been keeping my eye over the development of this game for quite a while, this is not a actual MMO, the game is free, they just made this so you can play Zelda with your friends, thats all that there is to it.
Nintendo are SO gonna close this down...
Archy: "GUYS, I have been keeping my eye over the development of this game for quite a while, this is not a actual MMO, the game is free, they just made this so you can play Zelda with your friends, thats all that there is to it."
So was the fan film - in terms if it being free.
I don't see this lasting for long. I've seen free games/mods based on big-name IPs get C&D'd before... it happens. :/
Ambitious idea, but like the supposed fan-made remake of Chrono Trigger, this is gonna get canceled by Nintendo FAST.
Quick, play it before it's too late! Why don't they just change it slightly so it's not so obviously Zelda?
Has anyone got it to work yet?
I've tried downloading it four times now, and every time I try to run it, it tells me I'm missing a .dll file.
@LuWiiGi Because it'll be just another F2PMMO if it wasn't Zelda! We need the characters, weapons, items, and worlds.
This jogged my memory that a long time ago (8-10 years?) somebody made a top-down Zelda MMO with the LTTP tileset... it was pretty interesting. Haven't thought about that in years, though.
@edhe Yes. I did.
Its not great, but it looks promising, if Nintendo were to do anything with it.
It needs serious work though.
Why do people waste their time even planning out these kinds of games? They know they're going to be shot down
@FantasiaWHT: Oh man I remember that game. Graal Online right? I played that thing for ages back in the day.
Sounds good, but risky with the law and Nintendo.
This is great, since I never have played OoT.
By the way, who knows how to swing the sword and shield?
Do this fans ever learn ? Companys always shut these down...
Going to be shut down, but cool idea
This'll get quickly C&D'd. Which is a shame, I don't like that about Nintendo. Other companies like Sega actively support community projects - take a visit to the official Sega Sonic blog, half their posts seem to be "A FAN MADE THIS GAME/VIDEO USING OUR IP AND BY GOD IT'S COOL. HERE'S ALL THE LINKS YOU'LL NEED." But then the fans tend to respond with insane amounts of Sega-bashing. It doesn't make any sense.
I wouldnt want a Zelda MMO, but this is going to be stopped anyways.
I don't really like MMO's anyways. But this may be different, since it's my favorite series...
How idiotic can fans be? They know that such projects are going to be shut down if they have any intend of releasing them to the public.
So instead of just creating a very similar game in therms of gameplay setting etc. with an own twist, they keep wasting their time and talent on such projects.
I just don't get why they insist on creating games based on IPs they don't own and which are still in use by the actual owners.
@Burny: it's a fan-project, meaning it's a labor of love... that's why they do it. and who knows, it might wind up like Bid for Power did back in the day -- they'll just change the characters and settings a bit to make it different enough from LoZ to squeak past whatever C&D Nintendo slaps them with, and then the actual character packs will be released by people unaffiliated with the project so that everyone can still get their game on in LoZ style. like i said before, this kind of thing happens.
this is now officially over. They should have avoided the use of the zelda name and just copy it with subtle changes. Yeah for taking one law class!!!!!
@theblackdragon: As far as I can see, BfP is a Quake 3 Mod based on the Dragon Ball animes. Basically, it's an independent game with gameplay of it's own, inspired by a completely different kind of media.
That's very different from copying a video game's gameplay and levels and releasing them, even if you do it out of (overambitious) love for the game.
I expect greatly-exaggerated claims of progress by these guys for a while--then a magic 'sorry they told us to desist--screw the man!" kind of letter on the site and poof--project falls apart.
At least Chrono Resurrection was a cool idea...this just seems turbo-lame.
if its anything like the LOZ map for Halo CE, then it will be awesome! It's huge, and plays pretty well in first person. Except I doubt that ZeldaWorld will be first person
I want this to be in it's final form, NOW! Unless it gets a Cease and Desist.....
Still waiting on that Pokemon MMO...
"Zelda World to offer what Nintendo hasn't?"
I smell a missed "Nintendon't" tagline opportunity. Tch tch, Trevor
Nintendo Special Lawyer Team ASSEMBLE!
Though this would be cool.
@Mickeymac: Me too. (hi-fives)
Nintendo stupid the squander opportunities like that. They know full well their fans want it and then get mad when the fans make it them selves. They could've did it this gen but they gimped they're online. they should just make a Pokemon mmo for wii or next gen instead of sitting out they butt look to take down other peoples tributes to them.
to be fair, lilboyblue, they've got to protect their IPs. Otherwise, if someone were to come along with something that was a real problem, like some kind of derivative work that upstaged their latest incarnation in the series, the judge presiding over the lawsuit would look at the precedent set by fangames like this one and may rule that they didn't care before, so why care now. they've got an obligation to themselves to protect their intellectual property, or they will lose control over it.
@Burny: Fair enough, but when the official source doesn't provide, fans will step in and do so themselves. you may see it as a waste of talent, but others see it as practice, or just something fun to mess around with in terms of programming and stuff. :3
man if they really make it i would play it all the time.
wait the people making it say it's not a mmo
The moment this was published here a countdown has started for nintendo to take actions agaisnt this development =/
Still, I may love Zelda, but I would like a MMO based on it...
I feel you theblackdragon. but they should have dont this already instead of sitting on butts counting they're cash
Yes because everyone at Nintendo is lazy and never does any work.
this is NOT an mmo, this is in the latest news on the indiedb project "Two things I'd like to mention, Zelda World is not an MMO, there has been articles and people talking about Zelda World being an MMO and I'd just like to reinforce that it is in fact not an MMO. Zelda World is also not a mod, its a stand alone game, not a mod of another game. "
So...Its a zelda game online? But do you play versus others? I'm confused!
@blackdragon
"but others see it as practice, or just something fun to mess around with in terms of programming and stuff. :3"
If they do this because they want to practice, enjoy messing around or programming, then they could just do so without releasing it and everything would be fine. If they had the sense.
If they still wanted the world to see how well they're doing, they could then release as many videos on youtube as they like. And maybe (if they're not dealing with the big players) they even might get a chance to release something if the IP owners like what they see. This CryEngine Level springs to mind which was previously not supposed to be released:
http://www.loneclone.de/projects/monkey.htm
But a large scale fan project based on an existing and actively used IP can take years of their lives. Years that they could use to create something of their own which they can keep, even if it's just a gameplay "clone". Instead, they plunge into the project without ever asking permission from the IP owners and when, after several years, they run into a wall in the form of Nintendo's legal department, the big whining starts.
Simply put, this can be avoided. If that's their "way of the fan", than that's more like the "way of the moron". I don't see the fun in being forced to throw away the work you've put several years into, because "the official source didn't provide". Because when that happens, you won't be able to provide either.
@Burny: just because you don't see the fun in it doesn't mean it's not fun for them, lol. can't tell someone else how to spend their free time, y'know. :3
@blackdragon
True. If they know what's inevitably going to happen at some point and have no problem with it, everything is fine. So long as they spare everyone the whining when it actually happens.
absolutely impeccable to see the discourse has not changed one bit in 12 years of comments
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