Purpose - romelanthonysb/ocarinatemporis GitHub Wiki

Of all the praises heaped on the Nintendo 64 game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, to a musician one stands out in particular--that the "ocarina" mechanic in the game seems to be a workable control structure for a real instrument that would be enjoyable to play in its own right. Its basic controls are easy to pick up, but a little experimentation reveals its capability to play real music. This project is the expression of the desire to be able to take the instrument from the game and turn it into a real-life instrument. As such, the ultimate goal of this project is to make a standalone N64 controller that is capable of functioning as an ocarina from the game with the same mechanics, which would be as portable as a real ocarina. The software written so far, then, is only a step in that direction.

The timing of the project is an attempt to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of Nintendo's most successful video game franchises, though the idea for the project has been incubating for some time. Coming late in the year, it is our hope that this project be a fitting personal homage from us to the Legend of Zelda series.