Ocarina of Time Randomizer Full Logo

OoTR - Revised!

November 09, 2023 • By: TreZ

Hello everybody :)

WOAH. Why is everything so fancy around here? There is no point denying it, we all are incredibly proud of the new website. This was made possible by the astounding design work of Mr James Triple, a member of our community, who took it upon himself to take my personal design ideas and take them not just to the next level, but give them the right amount of professional eye and skill that OoTR deserves. He even designed an awesome new logo and custom animations! We think that the result speaks for itself, and we are excited to share this with you. Please expect a few more updates in the next few weeks and months, especially in regards to ads (sadly still a necessary evil), community features, and more.

OoTR v8

Funny how what's next is not the main talking point, but it is what it is... OoTR v8 is OUT! Once again, a gigantic thanks goes out to our so extremely committed developers, contributors, reviewers, and support team members. All of them create fascinating ideas, bring them to life, gather community feedback - and that all over the year. It's a delight to have such an active development scene. A few key highlights:

  • Bombchu bags and drops,
  • Silver Rupee Shuffle,
  • Extended trade sequence options,
  • Shuffle individual Ocarina notes (my personal favorite),
  • and so much more... check the wiki for a detailed changelog.

The great thing is, there are so many amazing things yet to come that didn't get ready quite in time. The future is looking bright.

OoTR Standard Tournament Season 7

Funny how what's next is not the...oh, i guess I said that already, huh? It's true though! Season 7 will start THIS weekend and for the first time in forever, the format has drastically changed. The race mods have decided to make this year's tournament a drafting tournament.

That was quite the ride, lets be honest. Frankly, the idea was born in my head last year, around the start of S6. Why, you might ask? Well frankly, there are quite a few reasons, most of which i talked about in the podcast episode of the great Gossip Stone Podcast team, but the main reasons were the sadly very toxic (and increasingly so) settings discussions every year, and in addition, the ever ongoing conflict between community members to define which skill should be rewarded the most. The race mod team took it upon themselves to concept this, and I think they should be very proud with the result. In addition, we switched to a group stage format, attempting to shorten tournament time, and our very own Jimbo took it upon himself to write a full racetime.gg integration. Awesome! We can't wait for what S7 has in stock, and we are so very eager to hear your feedback.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Frankly? I am doing these community updates not nearly often enough. OoTR is gigantic. We cracked the 50000 users, tournaments are happening year round (big shoutout to the MW community being in season right now, TSG for all their work and coverage, and the Scrubs team for providing our casual and upstarting racers with a great environment), and the community thriving in general. So many models, custom music, voices, all that on top of all the amazing settings ideas enriching the randomizer. Of course, not everything is perfect. Just like before, OoTR is a melting pot. Spanning from people between 14 and 60, from likely over 90% of countries in the world. That in itself will bring a certain potential for conflict, especially in response to change. We have seen tensions and not just unfortunate, but unacceptable arguments containing personal attacks over the game, racing rules, settings decisions. This demonstrates a passion that is awesome and responsible for our community being as dynamic and ever growing as it is, BUT: It also means the requirement for stricter rules, difficult decisions, and sometimes even parting ways with members of the community that are not willing to capable to abide to said rules. Let me tell you: Every single time there is a conflict that escalates or a punishment that needs to be handed out, I struggle. A lot. Why? Cause I don't consider anyone in the community ill-intended. The mentioned passion, personal situation, maybe even stricly incompatible personalities clashing - all these are valid reasons and making decisions based on them is rough. But I see it as my main responsibility to keep the community together, push it forward, and serve its members as much as I can. I hope, you understand that and share my vision in this.

FINAL WORDS

That's all for now. I want to end with the same words we use every time time: If you have any feedback for Chimp or me, know that our doors (read: our dms) are always open. If you don't go forwards, you go backwards, and we are convinced that moving forwards, there is a lot of journey left for all of us.

Remember: You are all wonderful and awesome. Thank you for your time and your commitment to the community.

Much Love
TreZ