 Cadence of Hyrule is something of a unique offering on the Nintendo Switch. For the first time, a classic Nintendo brand has crossed over with an up-and-coming indie series. While Nintendo is normally very protective of their intellectual property, the company allowed Ryan Clark's Brace Yourself Games to create their very own Legend of Zelda game in the style of their indie hit, Crypt of the Necrodancer. You might be forgiven for thinking that this was all Ryan Clark's idea, that he pitched this unusual crossover to Nintendo, and for some reason, the company decided to allow him to make the game. In reality, the opposite is true. Originally, Ryan requested the chance to use some Nintendo characters in a sequel to Crypt of the Necrodancer, and instead, the gaming giant requested that he produce a new title in the iconic Zelda series. This is the story of how Ryan Clark developed a lifelong career as an indie games developer, and how Nintendo asked him to redefine the Legend of Zelda. Ryan Clark has been making games more or less since he was born. At age six, Ryan got his first taste of game making when his father taught him to code in basic on the family's Apple IIe computer. Ryan spent days programming his own very simple games, all illustrated in ASCII. As he got older, Ryan learned all he could about coding games in a variety of different languages. While he ultimately got a degree in microbiology, his true passion was game making, to the point that he set up his own game programming wiki to help share his knowledge. Many people contacted Ryan during this period asking for help, and, eager to be of service, he did everything he could to help them fix various programming challenges they ran into on their own games. This taught Ryan a phenomenal amount about coding, as he had to research how to solve a variety of different problems. In 2004, alongside a friend, Matt Perry, Ryan founded Rubby Games. Their early games projects such as Professor Fizzwizzle and Incredibots were nominated for a variety of awards, and their company was eventually bought out by Big Fish Games. For years, Ryan worked on many different indie games projects, all in relative obscurity. It wasn't until nearly a decade later that Ryan started work on Crypt of the Necro Dancer, the game that would really put him on Nintendo's radar. Crypt of the Necro Dancer, the first game from Ryan's new one man studio Brace Yourself Games, was actually invented by accident. Ryan wanted to design a roguelike game with turn-based gameplay and procedurally generated dungeons. The only problem was, he knew very well but these kinds of games could often be incredibly unfair. Often, the wrong piece of random level design could leave players feeling like they'd been unfairly cheated out of a victory, as if the world was deliberately out to get them. So, Ryan decided to try removing turn-based gameplay from his prototype. This way, he figured, the player wouldn't feel quite so much like the game was out to get them, pushing them into an unwinnable scenario. This didn't entirely work. Suddenly, the game wasn't all that fun. There needed to be an element of turn-based strategy to his project, otherwise the entire experience fell apart. So what if this game worked like high-level competitive chess, with a strict time limit for every round of play? Ryan implemented this into his game and suddenly felt the benefit. The player had very little time to plot ahead, removing the tedium from a lot of turn-based gameplay. They simply had to act suddenly and hope that they'd made the right move. But at the same time, it no longer felt like the computer was ganging up on them because things move so quickly. Plus, Ryan realized his game now had a bizarre flow to it. Every move happened so quickly that the pattern of play felt wonderfully rhythmic, almost as if this wasn't just a strategy game, but also the performance of a dance. And so, Ryan tested out his theory, by playing his game in time to a popular piece of music that's known for inspiring a funky dance, none other than Michael Jackson's thriller. This fit perfectly. The game worked incredibly well as both the roguelike and the rhythm game, and thus, Crypt of the Necromancer was born. The new game went on to critical and commercial success, and brace yourself games grew to include various other artists and musicians who'd all worked on Ryan's project. The time came to consider a follow-up to Crypt of the Necromancer in some form. Ryan wondered about either making a brand new sequel, or creating new downloadable content for the original game. He decided to be cheeky, and to ask Nintendo for their special permission to feature, for example, Zelda characters within this downloadable content. Considering Nintendo's tight grip on its game characters, this seemed like a long shot. But hey, what did Ryan have to lose in asking? Being asked for permission to use Nintendo characters was nothing new for the company. These kinds of requests come in all the time, with Optimistic Studios both big and small, hoping to make a big splash by featuring Mario, Link, or Waluigi in their work. Requests come in from all over the world, and, most of the time, Nintendo of Japan rejects them outright. When Ryan's request for Crypt of the Necromancer DLC came in, though, the heads of the company sat up and paid attention. Yes, they could see this collaboration working. Crypt of the Necromancer did indeed seem like an excellent fit for Zelda, but Nintendo wasn't satisfied with simply allowing character cameos. Instead, they asked Ryan and his team if they would be interested in making a whole new, stand-alone Legend of Zelda title in the style of their previous work. Everyone at Brace Yourself Games was floored by this offer. It was more than they could ever have dreamed of. Unsurprisingly, they responded very positively to Nintendo's request. Thus, the world received Cadence of Hyrule, a classic gaming series as interpreted through the lens of a small indie studio. The moral of the story is that you never know where your passions will take you, or when you'll find the big break you've always been hoping for. Ryan Clark worked for well over a decade as a successful indie developer before any of his work received the mainstream widespread acclaim that was heaped upon Crypt of the Necromancer. Even he couldn't have dared to hope that Nintendo would one day hand him the keys to their most famous fantasy franchise. Dream big. Pour your heart and soul into achieving your goals whatever they may be. That said, be patient. Sometimes it can take time to get to where you want to be. Don't get discouraged if you don't see the success you're hoping for after a month, or a year, or a decade. You have no idea what the future has in store for you. Go out and make something wonderful happen in your life.