ForumSite Information ► Roaming in Hyrule
The old twocans used to have a thing on the bottom of the page saying "# are roaming Hyrule". What did that mean exactly? I know Hyrule is a Legend of Zelda reference but how would someone be put under the category of "roaming Hyrule"?
  
going to twocansandstring.com/squirrel would put you in a multiplayer zelda sort of thing where you could see other users wondering around. it was made to test a chat sort of thing I think.
  
The webmaster had a mock Hyrule where we could run around in. We could see each other, but not talk to each other.

Edit: It is no longer there..?
  
Oh, is it still up on the archived site?
  
Maybe, but dough it.
  
I found it but it won't load. I guess making the site read only killed it.
  
squirrel

It just said "please wait..."
  
Yeah it used to be a little game.

I found it by going to /things
  
So did Blake code the game? Or did he just find it online? (I'm guessing he coded it)
  
I just noticed this thread.

Here's the whole story behind the past, present, and future of /squirrel/, hyrule, whatever end-to-end as a bulleted list:

  • I enjoy programming games.
  • I am not very creative.
  • I create replicas of games because the programming challenge is fun and I don't need to create or hunt down a spec as the original game serves as its own spec.
  • Classic Zeldas are some of my favorite games, particularly the 3rd one for SNES.
  • I started to create a replica of it. I stopped midway.
  • The point at which I stopped was when I was creating a proper map editor.
  • Without a proper map editor I had to manually define the physics for each tile type.
  • I defined the physics types for the most common tiles.
  • For the sake of my sanity and productivity, I held off on the rest of the tiles.
  • I marked all the unclassified tiles as "unpassable" and overlayed red squares around those tiles to indicate that they were left to categorize.
  • I shelved the project for another day.
  • Fast forward to a few weeks later...
  • One day, I decided to investigate the possibility of creating a multiplayer virtual world.
  • This would serve as a different kind of chat room on TwoCans that would exist alongside the existing IRC one.
  • I created a simple prototype in Silverlight.
  • This prototype showed yourself as a blue circle and all other users as red circles with usernames written next to the circle.
  • The arrow keys would move the circle around.
  • Because I wrote this and the Zelda clone so close together, the architecture I used for the games was remarkably similar.
  • Just for shits and giggles, I ported the Zelda engine to the blue-circle-red-circle app.
  • I did not expect it to work.
  • It worked.
  • It was still just a technical investigation prototype.
  • Even worse than a prototype: a technical investigation overlayed with an incomplete project.
  • A multiplayer Zelda clone is a horrible thing to sit on, so against my better judgement I released it.
  • Now when I'm all alone and the room is quiet, I can faintly hear the echoes of people asking me what the red boxes are.
  • Since the prototype was more or less a success, I will move on (in March) to creating a public product.
  • The only reason I made a Zelda-themed prototype was because the clone I made in an entirely separate project fit into my code architecture so well.
  • The final version will not be Zelda themed for multiple reasons.
  • The largest one is called a lawsuit.
  • As I see it, there are 3 options for setting: (past-themed, present-themed, futuristic)
  • Everyone is sick of medieval themed MMO's so this is not an option in my eyes.
  • If it was themed as a modern day experience, it would be no different than Habbo Hotel.
  • This leaves futuristic.
  • Think of the TRON world.
  • Turn up the lights so it's not so dark.
  • Now add some plants.
  • This is what the setting for the virtual world will roughly look like when its done.
  • There may be a few multiplayer games embedded into this world so that it isn't just walking around aimlessly.
  • There will be chatting capabilities.
  • March is most likely when I will start this.
  
Very interesting.
  
Can't wait.
  
I'm glad we can use bullets now. There's no way a paragraph could have conveyed that message. 😉
  
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