I have an idea for a Zelda story/game that I've been toying around with for a while now, and I'm not sure what I want to do with it.

I could just write it as a piece of fan-fiction, but I wrote a couple of scenes and quickly noticed that what I was writing was really a screenplay for a game. I'm not entirely against writing a story that reads like a description of a game, but it's a little weird and extremely niche. I don't know how many people would enjoy reading it.

So, I sort of feel like I should make a game of it. I don't have the knowledge, time, or resources to make it as a full graphical action/adventure game that would resemble a real Zelda game, but I don't think I'd want to anyway. As a fan, I'd feel too weird about doing something THAT close to a real Zelda game. I think I could make an interesting text-adventure out of it though, and I've been trying to picture what it would be like. I'm interested in trying that.

The real question, however, comes down to whether to make it a straight "Zelda fan game" (which would rely entirely on the kindness of Nintendo not to sue me), or to do something that's actually, well, legal. To be honest, I don't think Nintendo would ever actually bother to sue me over a text-adventure Zelda game. I've seen more than a couple of free flash-games that are openly fan-made Zelda games with VERY similar (if not stolen) graphics and play style. I know the Japanese treat copyrights a little different than the United States, but I'm not sure to what extent. I suspect Nintendo just likes to maintain a friendly relationship with their fans. So they figure as long as it's not a legitimate threat to their profits than it's not worth worrying about. That's mostly conjecture though.

The idea that I have is specifically designed to address (and resolve) the concept of the infamous split time-line theory that was instigated by western fans and ultimately accepted by Nintendo (they published a specific time-line diagram in a Zelda art-book for fans, although it has not been released outside japan as far as I know). In a way, that's already a step towards satire. So, I'm strongly considering going further in that direction and actually making the whole game BE a satire of the franchise. If I did it properly, I could rely on the "right to parody" and not worry about legal repercussions. I'd be covered. My only misgiving with that idea is that I am a big fan of Zelda and Nintendo and I would have to examine things very carefully to decide what faults to use as fuel for satire, which I might not enjoy doing. Such is the life of the fan-boy, I suppose.

I've also given some consideration to changing the names of everything. That put together with the fact that a text-adventure is nothing like a console adventure game, seems like it would be a pretty safe way to go. Except that I really don't WANT to. It's safer, but it's also more dishonest. It would make the game a true "rip-off," the kind that obviously IS something it's claiming NOT to be. I don't really like that idea, but it is an option.

And then, of course, there's the idea of just not doing it at all. I have plenty of other original stories I could be working on writing or making games of, but this idea had grown on me a lot, and I REALLY want to do SOMETHING with it.

So, opinions? Suggestions? Questions?

If it was me, I'd go for satire.

The rip-off option, I can't really articulate why but as a zelda fan it seems like it would be very annoying and unsatisfying.

Fan-fic is ok if you're prepared to go for a really niche market, but for me at least the storylines of zelda have never been the main reason I love them and if your first efforts were reading like a "screenplay for a game" then I would abandon that line.

Satire on the other hand has a range of possibilities. You can keep the integrity of the puzzles and items while adding your own commentaries on the franchise as a whole in descriptions and responses. It might still end up being a little in-jokey for non-zelda players but I for one would check it out. I'm sure that even as a fanboy you could create a loving pastiche of the common elements throughout the franchise.

I'd certainly try to do a mix of satire and some original ideas, kinda like what I did for the Videogame Master Series.

As a pretty huge Zelda fan myself, I would totally be into a lovingly-done satire that played like a Zelda game while poking fun at its conventions. I don't even think you'd really have to focus on the faults if you didn't want to so much as the clichés that carry over from game to game and silliness that, in Zelda games, fits perfectly but would seem absurd out of context. Sort of like how the show Community (which I've just been watching so it's on my mind) makes fun of a lot of the common tropes of sitcoms, but in a sort of reverential way.

Also that book totally was published here in the US...and I have a copy, heh. It's called Hyrule Historia.