This news is mostly intended as a courtesy to Patrons of Hyrule Conquest.
After over a decade of work I have decided to bring Hyrule Conquest to a close. Within the next several months you guys will be seeing the last additions to this game, of which I will go into detail later in this post.
Starting as "Hyrule Total War" in January of 2011 and eventually going through an engine and name change in 2016, I have spent over 12 years working on this game. If we go beyond just this particular game, I have been working non-stop on a Zelda video game project in some form since 2005. That is nearly two decades of my life I have spent immersed in and devoted to creating this stuff. To put it bluntly, I am all burned out on Zelda. A combination of falling out of love with new Zelda games, and just plain old massive burnout from working on Zelda for long I think has finally caught up with me.
So then, what's left to do for Hyrule Conquest before it's brought to a wrap?
I am currently smack dab in the middle of working on the Wild Zora and getting the game to work with the 0.26 version of 0AD, as the last several posts here have pointed out. They will be finished and released as soon as possible. If there are any crazy bugs after this that need to be fixed, I'll release patches afterwards. As a token to the fans that have supported me for all these years, I will consider giving access to Hyrule Conquest's github for those that wish to balance the game for the multiplayer community or make their own submods. The Hyrule Conquest public discord will remain open and I will remain in it for the community and anyone who wishes to still communicate with me there, but I will probably become less active there once this is done.
For the Patrons that are still here supporting this game, you guys have my immense gratitude. If it were not for you Hyrule Conquest would have probably died half a decade ago. You guys have genuinely been a huge help in keeping this fan game alive, as well as all the people who have supported me in other ways. This announcement is mostly a courtesy to you, as I do not wish for you to waste money on a project that might be going on a very long or indefinite hiatus after the next version is released.
Is it possible I'll return to working on Hyrule Conquest? Anything is possible, I suppose. If so, I need one hell of a break. I refuse to make any promises and give people expectations though, so I will firmly say that this will be a wrap. In contrast to this weariness and disillusionment, the past 8 months of working on Star Fox: Event Horizon has been very positive. I'm having fun again, and this contrast has made me sharply aware of just how little I've been enjoying Zelda and interacting with its general fandom. This realization was the final nail in the coffin for the continuation of my work on Hyrule Conquest. I'm sorry to disappoint those of you who are fans of the game; I would have stopped my work long ago were it not for you. But there comes a point where one has to prioritize one's own happiness and health. I will post news here of when the Wild Zora are finished and released, as well as the final release. Once that's done, I will be diverting my attention and energy to Star Fox: Event Horizon, as well as some original projects I've wanted to work on for a very long time. If you're a Star Fox fan, or you've enjoyed my work so far, I hope you will all check it out and continue enjoying video games with me.
I'm glad Nintendo hasn't come after this or your Star Fox mod, since they have an unnecessarilly hostile attitude towards fan-made games and other projects based off their IPs.
Sorry to hear that.. Wrapping up Hyrule Conquest sounds like the healthy thing to do. Speaking for myself, this will be missed as one of the more unique mods on ModDB. Following the progress was a joy, best of luck!
Out of curiousity: I imagine you liked Zelda a lot more before. What is it about the newer games that you did not like?
To answer your question, there's just something about the Zelda games over the last decade that do not click with me. I don't really enjoy the fast and loose approach to fleshing out the lore and expanding on the history of Hyrule to the point where almost every game seems to just be a retcon now. In retrospect I think I just wanted to see the continuing adventures of Link from Ocarina of Time which never happened. He just kind of tragically died offscreen and had a cameo as a skeleton in Twilight Princess, which is a fit metaphor for how I felt over the last decade I suppose.
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.
As sad as I am, I know that is selfish of me. I’m happy you are moving on to do what you love. Good for you man! I hope this project not only brings you satisfaction and joy, but that it stays under Nintendos radar while also getting the attention it deserves from fans.
I have one last request (I know it’s a lot) could we perhaps get a list of ‘spoilers’ so to speak. A wrap up of your lore. Who was Meg the Poe?. Why are the Stalfos back. Does Majora win in the end? Does Mido become a better person? Does Ganondorf have a comeback? That type stuff I suppose. Just a list of your lore points you came up with perhaps. The full Nephycanon. Or icecreammancanon now!
Thank you for your time.
From a fan who makes sure to check this page twice a week, farewell, and thank you for the memories.
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.
While I cannot make any promises about Nephalim eventually returning to the project, sporadic progress and further updates on the mod will continue in the future.
While Neph takes a break, there is still plenty of scripting and coding to be done for the mod. Also, the team and I are in close contact with him, so even though the project might be on the backburner, it is by no means dead.
The port to A26 is pretty close to finished by this point, so that might hit in the upcoming weeks.
Ah its a real shame to hear this but you have to do what you love!
No point getting bogged down in something you no longer enjoy.
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.
Thank you for giving us both this wonderful mod and its Total War predecessor. While I'm sad to see it come to an end, I'm glad your passion has been redirected towards something that brings you more joy to work on. Keep up the great work on all your future endeavors!
It's a shame to see this is nearing its final version but all things come to an end, maybe it will rise like a phoenix but I understand wanting to move on to things you enjoy. I wish you luck in your future pursuits and only hope to see some future continuation in the future if say other people who are dedicated fans want to continue the work. But again I wish you luck
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.