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General Boards => Maps Of The Month => Topic started by: JonLeung on March 31, 2008, 10:23:48 pm

Title: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on March 31, 2008, 10:23:48 pm
User posted image
The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours

For this month's "Maps of the Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to JonLeung's The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) maps.



The third game in The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle series for the Game Boy Color is finally mapped!  In this game, Link finds himself in the land of Falsia, where he meets Farore, who turns out to be the Oracle of Hours, responsible for the movement of the sun and moon.  An evil entity named Proodyl captures Farore, threatening to cause an eclipse to fully awaken its evil energies, and Link sets off on another adventure to save a doomed world!



Like the companion games, Oracle Of Ages and Oracle Of Seasons, this new world also has different states.  Whereas Labrynna has two time periods and Holodrum has four seasons, Falsia has both day and night.  During the day, flowers are open, the tide is low, and gargoyle statues block paths; during the night, flowers are closed, the tide is high, and gargoyles come alive, among other things.  Once Link obtains the Lamp Of Hours, he is able to use its captured sunlight to light (or extinguish) the Moon Lanterns to switch between day and night in order to traverse Falsia and make his way to Proodyl's Fortress to rescue Farore.  And just like the other games, the true ending comes if you've finished one of the other Oracle games and continued with a Linked Game.



Two years after Revned's mapping of Oracle Of Ages (January 2006) and TerraEsperZ's mapping of Oracle Of Seasons (February 2006), the three Zelda Oracle games are now complete!  As Link knows very well, it's always just a matter of time.



So to recognize the effort put into finishing off the "Triforce Trilogy", JonLeung's The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps of the Month for April 2008.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: RT 55J on March 31, 2008, 11:43:39 pm
I personally would rate this game somewhere between Ages and Seasons. The decision to consolidate the overworld into two maps with relatively minor changes helped make exploration easier (and more fun), and also made the game feel more cohesive, unlike the other two games. Even to this day I still think that Subrosia feels "tacked on" in a sense. On the other hand, I feel like the game has some really tedious dungeons. I for the life of me could not figure out how the Portal Cube was supposed to work.



It's really a pity that nobody bothered to map this game earlier. Despite being an excellent game, it just seems to me that it always seemed to me that nobody paid much attention to it. :( Maybe people thought that buying 2 of the games would be enough.

---

Dot? Dot. Dot!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Rew on April 01, 2008, 07:51:59 am
At long last. The first two Oracle games were a bit sloppy in presentation and clumsy in execution. This one, however, delivers--Farore's time to shine!



I'm really glad you mapped this one, Jon. Kudos!



---

"So this is what it's like..."

- Spark Mandrill
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: The Ultimate Koopa on April 01, 2008, 11:13:37 am
So you decided not to do an April Fool type fake Map of the Month this year? <______________< *cough*
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on April 01, 2008, 04:46:34 pm
BEST. GAME. EVER.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 01, 2008, 10:02:27 pm
Okay, all right, since the day is almost over...



YES, THIS IS AN APRIL FOOLS' DAY JOKE.  THIS GAME DOES NOT EXIST.



Thanks to those of you guys playing along.  :P



(I think this may have been a bit too subtle, despite all the work put into it.  Or maybe it tries to be too real when it should've been more fun?  Oh, well.)



This game is based on how Nintendo had originally planned Oracle Of Ages and Oracle Of Seasons to have been a trilogy, with each part concerned with each of the three goddesses/oracles of the Zelda universe.  The third part would've had Farore in the role that Din and Nayru had in Ages and Seasons, and it supposedly would've had to do with the times of day, hence the Day and Night versions of this world.



RT-55J came up with the idea in December 2006, and it was originally to be the joke for April Fools' Day 2007.  The brainstorming on this project started about then, (see the original topic here) but most of the work on this was done by myself beginning in December 2007.  More detail on that process later.



Now that you guys know it's a joke for sure (for those of you who didn't know), do you like it any more or less?
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Eggz on April 02, 2008, 12:36:37 am
I think it's absolutely wonderful. I was waiting to see what you'd come up with this year. I was also waiting to comment cause I couldn't think of anything witty enough to play along with. You've outdone yourself yet again with a completely believable map, and quite a believable story (at least to those who didn't follow the other two games as closely as others did, heh).

---

This looks like a job for Science!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: The Ultimate Koopa on April 02, 2008, 04:31:37 am
So... it's now 11:33 in my timezone of UTC+1, so it must be something like .... 6:33 or whatever where you are... or maybe 5:33 or 7:33 or something like that.... and the maps still up?
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on April 02, 2008, 05:23:19 am
The maps will not be taken down.  There probably will be people who see the OoH maps on the site and ask us where we got the rom.  Just wait and see.



I have a hard time finding the other April Fools map sets because they are in their own April Fools sections.  Any chance that they will be moved to the  main sections like OoH?
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 02, 2008, 07:00:11 am
Joke maps are the Maps Of The Month for all of April.  After the work put into each one, I'm not going to let it be there for only one day and then put up some other Maps Of The Month that only get 29 days, what a gyp that would be (leap year Februaries aside)!



I put Oracle Of Hours in the Game Boy (Color) section for more "believability", plus it sits nicely between the real Oracle games.  But at some point I'll move it onto a separate page, as the other ones are.



All the joke maps are here:

2005: The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Advance

2006: Mega Man Solid X: Guns Of The Mavericks

2007: Super Kid Icarus

2008: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours



I'm guessing no one's yet figured out the significance of the names FALSIA and PROODYL?
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Rew on April 02, 2008, 07:56:47 am
No, but I'm certainly curious now!



---

"So this is what it's like..."

- Spark Mandrill
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Eggz on April 02, 2008, 10:32:18 am
Haha, Falsia and Proodyl spell "April Fools" when the letters are rearranged . Nice one Jon.

---

This looks like a job for Science!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on April 02, 2008, 12:52:48 pm
I put Oracle Of Hours in the Game Boy (Color) section for more "believability", plus it sits nicely between the real Oracle games. But at some point I'll move it onto a separate page, as the other ones are.


I like the OoH maps there.  It makes the GBC page seem complete.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: RT 55J on April 02, 2008, 01:55:38 pm
Now all we need is for somebody to create a level editor for the other two games so we can hack this into existence.

---

Dot? Dot. Dot!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on April 02, 2008, 02:32:12 pm
Funny enough, I was showing this to some of my friends yesterday, and they all said that they would like to see it made into a fangame/hack.  If we make the maps popular enough, it will probably be made into some type of real game.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Will on April 03, 2008, 02:37:18 am
I understand there is no existence of Oracle of the Hours but now that April Fools is more or less over, Jon, don't you think that the maps of this month ought to be from an existing game? Take "Art of Fighting" for instance. Nobody seems to really care about Neo-Geo games or maps, mostly Sega and Nintendo (I don't have anything against Sega or Nintendo I just prefer variety), still I don't anyone on the site who is a Neo-Geo fan, I know Neo-Geo games consist of Fighting games.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 03, 2008, 07:03:42 am
April Fools' jokes on VGMaps.com have always been for the full month.  As I said earlier, it wouldn't be fair considering how much more work goes into making them, and then it wouldn't be fair for whoever's "real" maps for the remaining days of the month, they'd miss out on a day.  Maybe if April had 31 days...but again, I'm not going to let my work disappear off the front page after only one day, especially this year when no one seemed to take notice, except for the people here, though more than half of whom knew about it and expected it.



I said it before...perhaps it's too subtle?  It's not like the addition of "Super" or "Advance" to a title (as two of the past ones were) or something outrageous like Mega Man Solid X: Guns Of The Mavericks.  I would've hoped that The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours would've been fun to work out the paths through the dungeons.  I didn't copy and paste any whole puzzles, but it meant a lot of work that might go wasted now.  There were so many things I felt I could've done if I only had more time, but I wonder now how much difference that would've made.  I don't want to get too cynical yet, though.  At least they're pretty.



I can just hear a certain someone saying, "if you had time to make this, you should be mapping real games!"  Ah, how true...
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Will on April 03, 2008, 10:49:08 am
On the contrary these April Fools maps show that people do have a good imagination and creativity besides being a fan of the games. I think it would be a good idea if all three Legend of Zelda Gameboy Colour games were put together and were adopted the trilogy title "The Legend of Zelda, Oracles of the Era - A GBC Legacy" which make all three games together seem very fancy.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Revned on April 04, 2008, 10:18:24 pm
Sorry I haven't commented yet, I really haven't taken the time to devote the attention these maps deserve. One of these days I'll mentally play through some (or all) of the dungeons. At first glance, though, they look great. I'm amazed you finished it.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Mahrla on April 05, 2008, 12:40:55 am
The maps look really good. I first thought that there will be only one overworld map or so. But there's even a night version of the overworld map. And also lots of dungeon maps.

It's hard to believe, that this is no real game^^

Nice work, Jonathan!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Will on April 09, 2008, 07:46:06 am
I have just started doing my own April Fools maps hopefully for next year. Throughout the year I will share it with Jon alone until 1st April 2009, but every month I shall give some clues as to what the game title might be. To start with, I shall be slightly vague. The game is a platformer. I do so want my gamemaps to be a success next year as much as the Legend of Zelda was.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 09, 2008, 11:08:42 am
Seems this is a busy month as well, I hope to eventually share some points about this project's creation process, but it's probably not going to be as in-depth as originally planned.  Hopefully I can get it done before people lose interest (ie. next month).



It'll probably just be one big post on both overworlds and one big post about whatever neat things there are for all of the dungeons (rather than one each).  There's probably not a lot the regular mappers wouldn't already know, or that anyone wouldn't be able to see for themselves, but you might like to see the dozen or so intermediate images between the concept to the final overworld map, that I had saved along the way specifically to show anyone who's interested.  I think I'll make them into a reduced-sized animated .GIF.



As for next year, perhaps I'll make another brainstorming topic and try to remember how I granted people access to it, then adjust who would have access, and we can figure it out.  After doing yet another whole one by myself, I really feel these should be team projects, but everyone's going to want to do their part for it to be any fun.  If it doesn't bring in the hits (obviously my motivation) it should at least be an enjoyable experience that results in something worth looking at.  (Not that MMSX:GotM was badly planned or anything like that, but I feel it could've been better.)
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 09, 2008, 07:36:11 pm
Here's a .GIF showing twelve snapshots of progress:

User posted image
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on April 09, 2008, 08:55:50 pm
Concerning next year...  I may have an idea.  When the official thread is opened, I will unleash it on you guys.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 12, 2008, 03:04:16 pm
In that case, I'll continue by talking about the overworld.



Knowing that there would be day and night, I didn't expect the two worlds to be considerably different.  So my focus was on the day version, knowing that the night version would only take one evening's worth of work to do (which it did).  You know, palette swap, adjusting certain things, etc.  Almost all of the actual landscape would be taken care of once the world of the day was done.



You may have noticed in that animated .GIF that I started with a hand-drawn plan, here it is again:

User posted image



I chose to do a 16 x 16 screen grid for the map, or 2560 x 2048 pixels, which is the same size as Koholint, or Holodrum (without the westernmost lonely screen).  Then I just freely drew what came to mind once I had decided the size of the "canvas".



I figured I would have to go with the usual mountains-in-the-north and ocean-to-the-south that all three Game Boy games' main worlds used.  Though many of the dungeon entrances would shift at later phases of the world's development, the rough idea of where they were influenced what I would put in the various regions of Falsia.  At this point, however, the sixth dungeon (Magma Mines) and the seventh dungeon (Vampire's Crypt) were still up in the air, and so the grey area in the northeast was originally going to be the graveyard, for what was then going to be the area around the sixth dungeon, the Vampire's Crypt.  You can also see other oddities, most obvious being that the river is way too wide.



When it came time to make the grid, I had a grid of black lines showing the right columns and the bottom rows of pixels for every tile.  The blue lines indicate the screens.  (I'd never gotten around to using an image editor with a grid.)  The above image is the initial hand-drawn plan with the grid in place.



But then I realized that it was not enough to know where the screen edges were.  Though already marked, the corners would be particularly important.  Had this been a real playable game, like the other Zelda games, you would know that the corners must be "blocked off".  It can't be a standable/walkable space for Link, as I suppose the game would have to load up more data and quicker if Link co go diagonally across screens, not to mention being more disorienting, since the Game Boy game screens don't scroll.  You can see this even in the Super NES game (A Link To The Past) with areas that only scroll to a certain point; the Great Swamp has the same area size as other "zones" but is actually four segments, with a rock formation in the middle to prevent that diagonal-walking.  



User posted image

So I made another grid, this time with trees in the corners.  The image above shows four screens of that grid.  As in filled in the screens with tiles, many of these trees would be replaced with larger clumps of trees, or walls, or rocks, etc.  And they would serve as screen-edge markers when tiles filled in over the blue lines.  Always being aware of the screen edges was important, as I didn't want to place something at the edge of a screen that would block off Link walking in from the adjacent screen.



Details about managing the screen edges and corners was important.  Even if no one would notice if I made a "mistake" in a couple places, knowing the screen boundaries allowed me to make things with a certain scale in mind.



But the actual tile-filling would take place more than a couple months later, as I went to work on the right main dungeons.  More about them later, of course.  When I came upon the overworld again, it was the end of February, so I only had about a month to do it all!  Sure, the planning phase was done, but here comes the hard part.



User posted image

Most evident in A Link To The Past, but also noticeable in Link's Awakening, is that Zelda worlds are made up of square "zones".  Somewhat distinct geographical locations fit nicely into squares of equal size.  Knowing this, I decided to use that same idea, which not only kept the plan simple, but to break down this large task.  The initial plan was to do a region/zone a day...which proved difficult to keep up with, especially with other things I have to do outside of VGMaps.com.  And yes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl coming out on March 9 did little to help...  >_<
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Jade on April 17, 2008, 07:52:02 am
Hello Jon.



Long time no see, and this April Fools map is ah-mazing. Keep up the great work and cant see what will looks like in 2009!



My life is now busy and have no time for map-ripping. I might seek to do some bit of map-ripping but can't really guarantee it since the newer Pokemon games are like impossible for me to rip. Lol.  



Take care.



Jade.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 19, 2008, 05:54:06 pm
The Spinner puzzle in the west took a couple days, which is what derailed (no pun intended...maybe) the one zone a day thing.

User posted image



Another thing that took way too long was the Hourglass "Pyramid".  Originally envisioned as, well, somewhat more pyramid-like, or at least an hourglass made up of big pyramid-like bricks, coming down to the dungeon designs in the last week meant I didn't have much time to do much in the way of original designs, but here I had no choice.  Here was my attempt to mathematically work out how it would've looked.

User posted image



When I knew I had to give up and simply trace an hourglass to create a dungeon entrance carved into the cliff wall, Google ImageSearch was handy to find an image I could use:

User posted image

User posted image -> User posted image

Too bad it's not evident how it would've "flipped" between day and night...ah well.



Here's that grid check I made to confirm that my screen edges and corners were "acceptable":



User posted image
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Will on April 20, 2008, 12:32:49 am
Excellent, what creativity Jon. I never could understand April Fools maps before. I wonder if I'll ever finish and reveal my own maps. By the way, besides maps of Oracle of the Hours what would the storyline be if you could compose one?
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Will on April 20, 2008, 11:04:44 pm
Say Jon, you remember I mentioned that all three GBC Legend of Zelda Oracle games put together as a trilogy would be very good and would one thrill of an adventure for any GBC player. I have just created the title page "The Legend of Zelda: Oracles of the Era - A GBC Legacy" I think you will like it. Here it is.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on April 30, 2008, 09:58:26 pm
I never did get around to talking about the dungeons, did I?  >_<  Wonder if I can make time to, if anyone still cares.



I wonder if anyone's "played" through them yet.  If you have, it'd be interesting to hear what you think!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Fugitivo on June 03, 2008, 08:47:31 am
WOW! JonLeung, I've just known about "Oracle of Hours" and I am REALLY shocked about it. Yu've worked so much! I feel that your work shouldn't be wasted. Has anybody had the idea of creating a fangame with this wonderful maps?



My favourite dungeon is the Hourglass Pyramid! The idea in incredibly awesome. And the new items... The maps are not only well-designed, but, even more difficult, they're well though! It's not easy!!



Congratulations, JonLeung!!!



PD: I've read the two topics about this game, but I'd like to know more about how you designed the game! Could you tell us more things about it!?



PD2: Now, I'm "playing" the game ^_^ hehe
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on June 05, 2008, 07:59:52 am
Yay!  Someone's still interested in my work!  Thanks, Fugitivo!



The Hourglass Pyramid is also probably still one of my favourites, despite it being much simpler than the original concept.  I had first imagined it to be a giant (and functional) hourglass in the desert, constructed with pyramidesque blocks.  I would've gone for TerraEsperZ's idea of two pyramids with one stacked on top of the other upside-down giving an overall hourglass-like shape but that didn't work out either, as I had trouble with the perspective on the top half.  I had to settle for a "carved-in-the-cliff-wall" thing when time was (literally) running out.



That choice hopefully didn't take away too much of what the concept for the inside is.  I imagined it to be an hourglass that actually flipped upside down, also with puzzles dependent on the sand level.  If it was in 3D, imagine Ocarina Of Time's Water Temple (with sand instead of water) combined with the last main dungeon in Majora's Mask (the name of it escapes me now, you know, the one that flips upside-down).  But in 2D, you often wouldn't see the ceilings above you (the floor when flipped).  I was overly ambitious with five floors from top to bottom (but when flipped, gave up to ten), which was simplified to three - though now you never see the top "floor", and not much happens in the center room, so it's really more like two main ones.  As you probably guessed, the darker-coloured floors are what you see at night, and the brighter-coloured ones are what you see during the day.  As with all dungeons I filled in the rooms as I went, but I always kept in mind that you would have to come to this dungeon in both day and night to complete it (kind of like the Spirit Temple in Ocarina Of Time being visited twice).  As it is, it's the only dungeon in this game that uses the day/night idea - all the other dungeons can only be visited either during the day or at night but not both.



The sandy areas you see in the center of each floor would've flowed outward as if it were a pile of sand being poured onto at the center (just like inside an hourglass, of course).



At least I still managed to fully pull off something I always wanted to see...Zelda dungeon floors being as round as possible.  I did that by using the circle tool, and then covering the circle I created with the appropriate tiles.  I think they look pretty cool on that alone.



Oh yeah, to answer your other question...I've also gotten two requests to use some concepts from this for fan games.  To anyone else wondering, I'd be fine with that, though if you directly use any of the (few) original tiles, or any particular concepts, it would be nice to mention VGMaps.com, even if it's just a "Special Thanks" in the credits.  That's just common sense courtesy.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Fugitivo on June 05, 2008, 12:37:49 pm
Waaa~~!! Thanks JonLeung!



I see how you imagined the Hourglass Pyramid first... That idea was wonderful, but I think that what we can see now is still original. The only problem I see is that, except for the sun and moon symbols, there's no way of noticing that it has flipped. Perhaps, colouring the top and the bottom of the hourglass would have helped to recognising it. However, when you enter the dungeon, it's pretty noticeable that you're into a hourglass and that it flips! As you said, the colour of the floor helps ;)



Ah!! I also like the idea of a rounded floor! When I saw it, I though it was a good idea! And it works well ;)



Thanks for your answer ^^! I will be "exploring" these maps! Thanks!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on June 05, 2008, 03:41:32 pm
Has anybody had the idea of creating a fangame with this wonderful maps?


I have.  Many times.  I just don;t have the skills to make it a reality.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on June 06, 2008, 04:16:07 pm
One problem I had with these maps was that I kept trying to come up with puzzles in every room - I kept forgetting that Zelda dungeons can simply have rooms with a few enemies and therefore require no special floor layout.  The Clock Tower was the first dungeon made, and I think it has too many puzzles in it.



On the other hand, I didn't want the rooms to be too plain - I expect that Proodyl's Fortress would have a lot of tough enemies in it, but it does seem rather plain when enemy sprites are meant to be excluded from the map.  I should've put some pots before the final boss room - Zelda games are usually nice to offer some chance of restoring a few hearts and bombs/arrows/other "ammo" just before a boss.  I almost didn't expect to do Proodyl's Fortress at all, but I managed to do the whole thing in only a few hours.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: osrevad on June 07, 2008, 01:57:04 pm
The more I look at these maps the more amazed I am. I can't fathom how much time it took to design and make all of this, including the all of those dungeons.



As for a fangame, I think Zelda Classic would make it a possibility. I know it allows for multiple overworlds, so it would be possible to make it so you can teleport in between a day and night world. I'm sure they already have a link's awakening tileset, ant they most if not all of the items.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on June 07, 2008, 02:32:26 pm
Woah, that Zelda Classic program is really neat.  I will have to check you that Mega Man quest that they have for it.  Thanks.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: osrevad on June 07, 2008, 03:29:31 pm
I've been doing some research on it this afternoon. They have a GameBoy tileset for the editor on the website. The only problem I can see far is that the GameBoy has 10x8 tile screens. Because Zelda Classic is based on the NES engine, it has 16x10 tile screens.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: marioman on June 07, 2008, 04:04:45 pm
Play the Mega Man ZC game!  If the Battle Network games were like this, I would probably be the biggest BN fan around.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: ELaimo on June 13, 2008, 02:20:22 pm
I loved the Oracle games, and Link's Awakening, and after I played through them all again, I desperately wanted something new. Then I found this and was amazed. It's great!
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Javlon on August 17, 2008, 09:33:52 pm
Aw man, I was so sad when I found out this game wasn't real! It seemed like such a cool game, especially the Flipping hourglass shrine!

Okay, If anyone makes a downloadable fangame of OoH, email it to me at seizuresalad@roadrunner.com.

I made this account just so I could post this!

Oh, and Mr. Jon Leung...

If no~one makes a game, can I take your hourglass building idea and incorperate it into my manga?



Example of my art: javlon.deviantart.com



Oh, and my manga isn't a LoZ fanmanga, I just thought the hourglass idea was cool.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: bigfefan on August 18, 2008, 06:51:48 pm
This can become a game if I knew what kind of software to use. Also, I may be able to make my own map if I knew what Jon used to make this one. Somebody pleeeeeeeeease tell me how to make these maps!!!!!

Someone is trying to do a similar thing. She's making a Game Boy version of Majora's Mask, and it employs a day/night type of thing.

 bigfefan@gmail.com
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on August 19, 2008, 07:02:37 am
I used nothing fancy.  I used a crappy old version of Paint Shop Pro (it doesn't even have a gridline guide, I meticulously aligned every tile by hand!), and used tiles from the other Oracle games as mapped by Revned and TerraEsperZ.  I recall using more from Seasons than Ages on the overworld.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: vorpal86 on August 20, 2008, 05:24:40 pm
Ahh yes, this looks splendid. I never checked this one before. It could almost pass for a real GBA game even though it isn't. It actually looks more like Zelda Links Awakening DX. That's what it resembles anyway. I haven't played hourglass for DS yet though, but would like to.



At any rate, if you are still working on this I'd like to see the final map. I was about 2 hours or less away from finishing Minish Cap, but lost my save file. Dang it! Now it'll take a while to get back, but the Zelda games have always had good play fun so I may play it again sometime.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on August 20, 2008, 09:00:11 pm
...



What "final" map?  (Isn't it complete as it is?)



This was an April Fool's Day joke, it's August now.  I was more than done with it by then, having spent every day since last December on it.  :P



And it's meant to be like the other two Zelda Oracle games on the Game Boy Color, not Advance.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: vorpal86 on August 21, 2008, 12:46:03 pm
OK. I guess it's done then. I didn't know if it was complete or not, or what. Now I haven't finished playing Oracle of Seasons myself. That was fun.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: SkyJedi on October 28, 2008, 08:10:34 am
these maps are very good...
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on October 30, 2008, 04:16:15 pm
As I replied in your email, I might as well post my answer here:



"I've already given premission for someone else to make a fangame based on the ideas on my maps.  As I mentioned to them, I really think it would be better for you to come up with your own ideas.  But as I don't intend to do anything more with this, as its purpose has been fulfilled, I guess there's no harm if you want to use some of the ideas from my maps, so long as you clearly credit VGMaps.com in there."



And, now, I don't want to be mean, but I'm not really a fan of fangames (seems ironic, I know), and from the half-dozen requests I've gotten from people to make a fangame out of this (of which I said to them it would be better if they came up with their OWN ideas), I would be willing to bet that most of them won't get anywhere near completion.  If you can, kudos to you, but I just find that most of the time when fans set out to make a game it rarely actually materializes into anything.



Though I suppose I should be flattered that people think it could be made into a good fangame...
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: Midna on November 01, 2008, 01:35:08 pm
I'm probably the only one who sees the "VGMAPS.COM" text that's all over the dungeon maps, aren't I.
Title: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on January 25, 2009, 09:06:44 am
Well, this is a little frustrating.



I looked on all my computers, and I can't find the work files for the eight main dungeons.  I think they're lost.



I was probably moving files back and forth between all three computers while backing up, and at some point I renamed a bunch of folders in my temporary work files folder, and I think I assumed everything was backed up on one when it really wasn't, and probably deleted a whole folder that ended up actually being the complete one.  Okay maybe that doesn't make sense but it does to me, and I can't see why I would've specifically deleted the eight dungeons and not the last one.



>_<



I mean, I still have backups of all the final versions, but it still would have been nice to have some of my old work files...
Title: Re: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on March 03, 2015, 07:46:51 am
Years later, it still comes up...can't believe it was seven years ago already...

Anyone know what they're saying here at the 3:00 mark?


Title: Re: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on September 09, 2019, 11:14:49 am

In DidYouKnowGaming?'s A Complete History of Zelda Rumors - Did You Know Gaming? Feat. Remix (Part 2) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-kw80fZ8pU&t=5m40s), published just two days ago, VGMaps.com is mentioned twice, at 5:40 (for The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Advance (https://vgmaps.com/NewsArchives/April2005/index.htm#LegendOfZeldaLinksAwakeningAdvance) for April Fools' Day 2005) and at 7:00 (for The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (https://vgmaps.com/NewsArchives/April2008/index.htm#LegendOfZeldaOracleOfHours) for April Fools' Day 2008).  Almost can't believe those projects were that long ago (and that they still get brought up)...
Title: Re: RE: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: AnthonyLombardo on November 01, 2020, 09:34:36 am
I think it's absolutely wonderful. I was waiting to see what you'd come up with this year. [SPAM REMOVED] You've outdone yourself yet again with a completely how to get rid of gyno (https://www.outlookindia.com/outlook-spotlight/how-to-get-rid-of-gyno-aka-moobs-best-otc-supplements-for-gynecomastia-news-238274) believable map, and quite a believable story (at least to those who didn't follow the other two games as closely as others did, heh).

---

This looks like a job for Science!
This is a list of ROM hacks for Oracle of Ages (and Seasons, if it ever happens). Contents. 1 Oracle of Nature; 2 Oracle of Hours; 3 Archipelago; 4 Kaizo of Ages; 5 MISICS; 6 Crossworld ... Made by Luigi, and based on the maps from an April Fools joke by Jon Leung. ... Read the readme before playing.
Title: Re: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on August 01, 2021, 11:08:14 pm
This is extremely random, but I was looking at one file from this map set that happened to be in my Windows Explorer history, I probably downloaded it to share it somewhere like some Facebook Group, and did a double take on the filename...

"...Falsia(Day)"

Now, Felicia Day is certainly one of my favourite people in the world, so now seeing "Falsia(Day)" on its own apart from the other files, I noticed it looks like a misspelling of "Felicia Day".

I don't think I knew who she was back in 2008, the earliest I heard of her might have been when I was an avid reader of Penny Arcade and - I don't know why I remember this... Tycho said he wanted to groom her (https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/07/28).  That was back in July 2008, a few months after completing this 2008 April Fool's joke.  So I never would have made the connection while working on it.

Also... why do I remember Tycho's comment?  Sometimes I wonder if I have some version of eidetic memory, but I remember a lot of really useless stuff.  I also think I'm pretty observant, but I didn't notice this until a few minutes ago.

Anyway... Falsia(Day).  Felicia Day.  Huh.
Title: Re: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JosephKneeland on November 24, 2022, 02:56:27 pm
This game is fun to play over and over because I lose over and over again, lol.
Title: Re: 2008/04: The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours (GBC) - JonLeung
Post by: JonLeung on July 26, 2023, 08:31:55 pm
Since both Oracle games have been rereleased on the Game Boy app on the Nintendo Switch (if you are subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online), I was reminded about the work I put into "The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Hours".

Hard to believe that was over 15 years ago.