Might be a good idea to utilize public domain/free art assets and replace the story. Then this game becomes a Zelda clone without incurring the wrath of Nintendo.
They don't seem to understand or give a damn about 'educational purposes' and I'd love for this type of work to continue to be available in the future.
Hi Daedalus, thank you for this note!
We designed Triforce alongside Metagaming, a book about the games we play in, on, around, and through videogames published by the University of Minnesota Press in print and open access at at https://manifold.umn.edu/projects/metagaming. For archival and legal purposes a copy of the game will also be uploaded there.
(That said, we have also been working on a version/mode of Triforce rendered entirely with children's drawings instead of NES graphics!)
There's no need for this. Nintendo doesn't 'own' a public domain symbol/image. The 'Triforce' is the symbol of the ancient Hojo clan ( 北条氏 ) of Japan. Nintendo can't copyright or trademark it. They can try but they will get laughed out of court just like Universal Studios did when they tried to sue Nintendo over Donkey Kong being a ripoff of King Kong (which itself is also a public domain creation).
The Triskelia is also a good candidate as it originates several thousand years ago and has been imprinted on weaponry, armor, pottery, and other similar types of items.
Could you also put the Linux version of the game at https://manifold.umn.edu/projects/metagaming, just in case it becomes inaccessible here on itch.io due to legal action by Nintendo?
