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Hyrule in reality
An ambitious project

HYRULE IN REALITY

The words Zelda and with it Ocarina of Time ring a bell to almost every gamer. Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto's creation has become a legend by now. Ocarina of Time made an impact in the game industry and it surely earned it. Shigeru Miyamoto seems to want the players to feel like they're in the game itself, standing in a cold cave, smelling the fresh grass of Hyrule Field, feeling the heat of Volvagia's burning breath, everything. Yet the gamers always realize that when the on/off switch is turned to off mode, it was a game......
Imagine running on Hyrule Field while you try to keep up with the runner with his bunny mask.
Imagine sitting on the roofs of Kakariko while the cuccos are running around on the ground and you're watching the sun set behind Death Mountain.
Imagine trying to find your way through the Lost Woods with your friends.
Imagine the challenge of climbing Death Mountain to Goron City to see if you're strong enough to make the climb as fast as you can.
Imagine that it would be no imagination......

Hyrule in reality, is it possible or just a dream ? Somebody recently said "Everything is possible, right ?" . Well, it is. The only problem in this is the money. It is possible to recreate the whole land of Hyrule from Ocarina of Time into a life size reality.

There would be a huge organization involved to make this go as it should though. The first thing would be (that is when the money part so far would be settled) to have a spot for it and since Hyrule isn't a small piece of land it should be planned carefully. An island would probably be the most reasonable solution. Why ? There are a few reasons for it which we'll explain. First of all we all know that the surrounding environment can create a lot of negative side-effects. For instance, when you're visiting theme parks around the globe you often notice that there are factories or other distracting elements located around or near the theme park. This is negative for the viewing pleasure, since you don't come to see factory roofs, but you came to enjoy and to relax. Next to that there is the pollution. Factories blowing out their production damps, visitors throwing their candy papers and drinking cans not where they should be thrown. The result would be another negative factor, garbage. Then there are the air factors, next to the smoke of the factories that is. You would't like it if you'd hear plains or helicopters flying over your head all the time. The point is that when such a project is built the creators only think of the advantage that the park is accessible by land and forget that they are vulnerable against the surrounding area. An island would also have the benefit of having a much more controlable entrance and garbage could be organized more carefully. The island would only be accessible by a special boat (Zelda style, so you can get into the atmosphere of it before you actually enter the island itself). Another point is that some islands on the world are still very natural with almost none or some even no population at all. Hyrule knowers know that Hyrule is very natural too with it's large forests, beautiful mountains and lots more. So instead of having to remove living houses to build it we could build it on an island without harming the nature or population there in any way. As you can probably see an island would be the best option.

So it's an island, but wait a minute. Hyrule of the Ocarina of Time doesn't have something like a beach, so what's up with that ? That's something that Nintendo and especially the creators of Hyrule would have to think about, but our idea was to expand the Hyrule a bit here and there. For instance, we were thinking of letting the river that flows through Hyrule not stop at Laky Hylia. It could flow further behind the fishing pond and end at a beach with a harbour there. This could be a good addition to Hyrule. Another idea should be Ganon's Fortress, the dark fortress that replaces Hyrule Castle seven years later. The idea was to create another path from Death Mountain, which would reach till behind the Death Mountain and there you'd also find the Fortress of Ganon surrounded by lava (not real lava of course, wouldn't want to have a tourist fried now would we?). Other expansions are not yet thought of since the best thing to do is to leave that up to the Hyrule creators of Ocarina of Time.

So you got Hyrule itself, but what about the people that live there ? Of course Hyrule wouldn't be Hyrule if you wouldn't be able to meet the people of it. The knowers of Hyrule all know that Hyrule is pretty populated. Kakariko, the Market, Hyrule Castle, Kokiri, etcetera. The solution for this would be to hire people to act their part. But if it would be an island how could people travel from the island to their homes and then back again ? The actors would have a schedule to work. Let's say we have person 1 (the man from the market with the bag on his back and who does that funny walk), person 2 (one of the two joking people under the tree on the Market), person 3 (the other one of the joking persons). On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday person 1 would be in Hyrule (on the market on some other place maybe). He also sleeps in Hyrule these days. Person 2 is in Hyrule on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And person 3 is in Hyrule on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the week these people can go home or stay if they want to, but they would have to stay in their role then. This way the actors have a working schedule, but next to that Hyrule remains in motion, so everyday you can meet other new people. Other persons/actors who'd like to stay in Hyrule for as long as they want and stay in their role can do so, yet a percentage of their payment will be cut for the food, resting place and other resources they'll use constantly.

Hyrule and the people in it, wait a minute. What about the people like the Gorons or the Zora people ? Costumes could be made for the actors or realistic robots could form a solution for these people. Next to that, what about enemies and dangerous beasts ? And of course there are these things. Exploring Hyrule and meeting it's inhabitants would not be enough for some people. Fighting enemies is an item that a lot people would like to do. It is possible to create robotic enemies, with a skin over them to make them look like the ones you encounter in the game, but it's not cheap to let somebody smash such a robot's head as entertainment......So that part is yet to be worked out more. It would be possible though to set up scenes like Ganon attacking the Market with an army (actors) and some special effects in it. With different scenes it would also have another positive factor. It would mean that when you visit the first time you see a different scene then when you'll visit Hyrule for a second time. These scenes should carefully be planned to avoid that somebody get's hurt, but it also should be made as if it's a real battle/scene.

Allright, now we have an island, Hyrule, it's inhabitants and challenges. Back to the money part now. What's the plan for that ? The idea would be to first of all get enough money to start building. Nintendo itself would be the main sponsor, but next to that there are other sponsors who could help out. For instance a sponsor like Coca Cola or Marlboro (just examples) could sponsor Hyrule in return for commercial advertisement. On the boat that brings all the tourists to Hyrule there could be advertisement of these products in Hyrule style that is. Also in Hyrule itself advertisements could be made, for example on the market or in Kakariko village. People who enjoy themselves remember the things they see in that time, so these products would remind them of the good time in Hyrule and sooner make them buy them. Of course Hyrule can not only be paid off by sponsoring. The idea was to let 6 groups of around twenty persons each, travel around Hyrule for a week long with a guide. This shouldn't cost too much, since we would like to let as many people visit Hyrule. Yet the price can't be too cheap, since it takes several factors that are included in this payment. The boat trip, the food for that week and next to that the island also needs to be paid off and then there are also the actors of Hyrule. Then, last but certainly not least; we've been noticing an action from people with the purpose of collecting e-mails from people who'd love to see a movie of Ocarina of Time. If the island would be completed you'd already have an amazing set for the movie, but of course this would not save that much money yet, but if you think about the money that would be won with the movie, then you could pay Hyrule off for a great deal.

This is only a small part of the planning that has been worked out for a project as this. There could also be a web-site about it opened soon, but it could be usefull to have a webmaster for that one. So if you're interested mail me at ravius_s@hetnet.nl.

As you can see above the island would be all that Hyrule is in the game, only now for real. I guess you can also see the problem, the money. That is why this article has been made. Is Nintedo ready to take this project on ? That is a question we may not dare to ask them yet, since we all know this is not just a small project. The first thing we can do is to see what the reactions are to this article. So if you have an opinion about this article then please mail it to ravius_s@hetnet.nl or to the webmaster from Hyrule: The Land of Zelda. The other question is if you would visit this island for a price. What the price would be we can't tell yet, because we simply can't plan such a thing.

Thank you for your attention to this article,
Squall.