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Ocarina of Time 2D creator faked his death

squidnews.com — Richard 'Dampe' Denton is not dead: there's just no evidence for it. His state's traffic accident database carries no matching fatalities for the day he 'died'.

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Flashman 1 year 194 days ago, made popular 1 year 194 days ago

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XdigitalXdeathX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+158Saw that coming a mile away...
- Tripacer, on 10/12/2007, -8/+253He used the infinite health cheat.
- Br0wn, on 10/12/2007, -32/+5If only Dampe could have said that about the car that hit him.
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34My site's running a little slow now, so here are two mirrors if it goes down:
  http://www.duggmirror.com/gaming_news/Ocarina_of_Time_2D_creator_faked_his_death/
  http://squidnews.com.nyud.net:8090/2007/04/01/dampes-not-dead-ocarina-of-time-2d-creator-fakes-his-death/
- TomP, on 10/12/2007, -25/+2I attempted to fake my own death online once... it didnt work out too well either saying that 2004 was a foobar'd up year for me...
- Waterispoison, on 10/12/2007, -8/+119...April fools?
- pikpikcarrotmon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+75Bottled fairy or just a cruel charade?
- PaddyTheChump, on 10/12/2007, -2/+143If he follows in the footsteps of Tupac he will still release the game. No need to worry folks.
- xsuite, on 10/12/2007, -13/+4Perhaps the screenshots were photoshopped. Perhaps Its all a scam. He faked his death because he couldnt release the game. Smart kid. I was really looking forward to this game.
  
  Now that I think about it, this is incredibly probable.
- babylonian, on 10/12/2007, -14/+10Just imagine for a second that he's not. You'll feel like quite an ***** for not only writing this whole thing, but saying in it His was being done in Gamemaker and it was the least impressive".
- championchap, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18Seems a little extreme to me that he would fake his own death to get out of finishing a hard project.
  If it were me.. i'd just open source it and leave it to the community to help finish it off.. no doubt it would be improved ten fold.
- pikpikcarrotmon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+118Wait, if Dampe's not dead how the hell am I supposed to get the Hookshot?
- APHughes, on 10/12/2007, -48/+4***** that guy
- APHughes, on 10/12/2007, -52/+2I hope he chokes on his own vomit
- EmileVictor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+59^^ Somebody needs a hug! ^^
- Tunguska, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20We didn't hear about it here in Aus, and you honestly do hear about virtually every suspicious or abrupt death here through the news (especially that of kids') down under.
  
  I say he just wanted to give up. Fair enough. It was a huge project.
- jackyyll, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4Gee. If i start a project and fake my own death will i make it to the front page too!?
- IMustBeEmo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27I knew it from the start. All credibility was lost when they claimed he had a girlfriend.
  
  Not to mention Australia has a terrible drought.
- DeathBorn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26Right before the car crash, he was saved when he yelled "God Mode Turn On!" Paramedics found him lying unhurt in the pile of rubble, and proceeded to say "you're banned."
- daridave, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Yeah, me too. Currently faking my death to have a day off work. Pwahah, not.
  
  Ahhh, these kids. 15 years old? I think it's about time a kid grows some balls and has the guts to say "I don't feel like doing it anymore."
  
  But I'm thinking about all this and I'm wondering who's more stupid; him for making it up or his 'pal' who posted the lie on the forums ???
- gldfshnpcklejar, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22http://digg.com/gaming_news/ocarina_of_time_2d_creator_DEAD#c5833650
  
  Ya, ***** told yall..
- dampe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+43Attention Mr. Dampe
  I have hijacked your following accounts:
  Gmail - dampeoot2d@gmail.com
  Youtube - dampe
  Myspace - dampeoot2d@gmail.com
  Aim - avaluablething
  
  If you would like them back, admit you are not dead.
  Thanks, and have a good day.
- WanderLink, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@pikpikcarrotmon
  ...so wrong, but I laughed my ass off at that.
  
  How does a 15 year old boy fake his own death? Even if he could, why couldn't he just give up on the project if he wanted out. It's easy, I give up all the time. Disappointing people is kinda my thing.
- VipeNess, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2this is what people are reporting from his MSN he talked to a friend below
  
  Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  I was sick of randoms adding me asking about Oot2D
  
  Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  I give up
  
  Christof | Aaaaaaamy o: says:
  ...Man. :/
  
  Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  I faked it to kill my reputation
  
  Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  bbl
  
  Christof | Aaaaaaamy o: says:
  ...good god, man.
- airwalkery2k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2It may have been a publicity stunt. Perhaps I was living under a rock, but I never heard of Ocarina of Time 2D until this came about.
- Konrad9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7What a douche.
- Tawni, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9If diggers can solve this then they should work on 2Pac next
- Matt174e, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24"April Fools! He IS dead!"
Taffaz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+78Very well written and researched piece. If what you've written is true then it's a pretty low thing to do.
- theworldisround, on 10/12/2007, -5/+93Pretty low? Don't we all fake our deaths to get out of working at least once in our lives?
- Toon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+270I tried calling in dead to work before. The second time I tried it, they caught on.
- Halifax1, on 10/12/2007, -24/+2@Toon
  
  Hahahahahaha, you sir just made my day!
- Cerium, on 10/12/2007, -10/+8Of course its a low thing to do. If he got bored with it or for some other reason no longer could work on the project the best thing to do is announce that you will no longer be working on the project, all source files will be made available publicly unless someone else steps up.
  
  Playing dead is not cool.
- HAKdragon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+33I think Eddie Izzard said it best, "I was dead at the time"
- dustinmacdonald, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Yeah, no. Look at the day the article is dated. :(
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 11/06/2007, -4/+16I've used up all my sick days, I think I'll call in dead.
jockser, on 10/12/2007, -70/+2please stop this nonsense ! bury this
- mikeazorin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22jockser = dampe, or so the rumors say.
- proghead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6dude, we all know it's you, why don't you just pass the project on to someone else? there's plenty of people who don't care WHO makes it as long as it gets made.
PickledJesus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+42It was damn obvious that he did on day 1, you just had sift through the cries of RIP to see a lot of people saw through the charade.
captaineuphoria, on 10/12/2007, -3/+41Of course he faked his own death. In the 5 years that OOT2D was being made, less than 1% of the game was ever finished
- PJ88, on 10/12/2007, -1/+33It was in production for 5 years? That would mean he would have started it when he was 10... from what I saw the artwork/technical skill was slightly above elementary school level.
- captaineuphoria, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9correct me if i'm wrong, but i think this other guy called Daniel Barras started the project in 2002 or 2003, then Dampe joined a few years later and eventually took over.
- iofthestorm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10No, his project was separate from Barras' afaik. It just happened to use the same name.
- Spaceboy492, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3That's completely possible, though rarely seen. I made mock ups like that when I was 9 for Zelda Classic, and made some graphics for a Zelda 2 clone at another gaming forum (The Gaming Universe).
  
  Although I never faked my death to get out of it. Just went AFK until people forgot on me, while returning every year. It worked just as well as dying!
buckeye45, on 10/12/2007, -3/+22i hear Richard Denton has been using the alias 'jockser'
- secleinteer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11What do you know? He has a Digg account: http://www.digg.com/users/jockser/news/dugg
- adeadwaffle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22If that really is his account the ironic thing is in his history the story named "5 Minutes to Kill(Yourself)" is there!
PotatoFro, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2wow.. i really hope this is true... if it's not, my heart goes out to his family - who will have to endure a digg post which will ensure many a blog story.
blade85, on 10/12/2007, -44/+2what would be the point of him faking his own death?
- XdigitalXdeathX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18Another account of somebody commenting before reading the article...
- Tsmith10803, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Exactly, just about to say, the article has a list of 10 goddamn reasons for him to fake it, hell, it makes up about half the article- What's the point of commenting on a story that you didn't even read?
- tendonut, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12To get out of making a game that is promising, but going nowhere?
  
  The Duke Nukem team should do that. Say they were eaten by manbearpig. At least they can go out in style.
BrainDance, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I was waiting for someone to do this.

Well done, you get a golf clap.
ImTheDarkcyde, on 10/12/2007, -51/+4i should care... why?
- 34tnu5x199, on 10/12/2007, -7/+32oh look, a self-imporant ass.
  
  and now he's blocked
- 1iProd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Makes you wonder why you even had to type that out, you know?
- ImTheDarkcyde, on 10/12/2007, -20/+2ok, so some nobody 2d zelda clone maker pretends to have died, big ***** whoop, i still can't tell why you're making a big deal about it
  
  if that's being "self important" then i'm guilty, but i suggest you get a dictionary
- IMustBeEmo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Hold on I thought this guy was called IAmTheDarkcyde
  
  troll?
- TheProtested, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3@iamdarkcylde
  
  i hate everything you do.
Holosoth, on 10/12/2007, -11/+3I have a hunch his parents found out about all this and prevented him from going on the internet on the platform "everyone on the internet are pedos." As a way to get out of this with respect and not make his parents look like fools, he probably faked the info.

BTW, He probably does not have a girlfriend.
cragga, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1lolarious, thats quite an extreme to go to, faking your death to an internet community... but i suppose we've all seen the crazies that congregate on the internet.
jonatj, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Faked his death? He kinda over reacted.
TheNik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+79Can we expect the developers of Duke Nukem Forever to do the same?
- BrynoMite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+51I seriously doubt that they'll need to fake their death.
  
  *old age*
- zweben, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Are you kidding? They should be done planning their deaths any day now.
- blobzorz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+37They're already dead to me.
neonenergy, on 10/12/2007, -32/+0Well... the evidence against his death is not very convincing since they are all assumptions.
On another note, why are they so intent on tracking down this supposed 15 year old? Who cares. WAIT. this is digg.
I secede. carry on.
- SultanTravi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17By secede, did you mean you're seceding from Digg? Perhaps to create your own website?
- ShBm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+21Consulting police departments and car accident statistics are assumptions?
muffins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14Called BS on the original article and this guy brought up a lot of good points I didn't.
Sneakernets, on 10/12/2007, -2/+40What a creative way of saying "I don't wanna do this anymore".
- VaporBro, on 10/26/2007, -12/+5that's what she said
- Jerim, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3What a childish way of saying "I don't want to do this any more."
alex.will, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25I didn't know George Costanza was a game developer.
alienex, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1I knew it.
CornStarch, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1The poster better be from Japan because it's not April first here yet.
animus, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1i read the article and all i can say is:
who gives a *****?
bobotheking, on 10/12/2007, -30/+4Christ, everyone thinks they're a hotshot investigator on the internet. It takes more than googling someone's name to find out if they're dead. So what if the dates don't match? Do you think the last poster had the best sources of information and that they were even thinking straight?

I remember a couple years back that a popular contributor to GameFAQs nicknamed Kao Megura died. Someone on the FFVII forums a month or two later posted something like, "Hey, he might not be dead, you know." He was immediately met with replies like, "Please kill yourself and never return to this forum."

I'm not suggesting that he's dead for sure. All I'm saying is that if they hold a funeral service for him, we know he's dead. If he shows up on a forum or in the newspaper or something, he's alive. I will not, however, jump to conclusions because some random person figured it's all a joke, googled his name, and declared that he's not dead.

You'll probably digg me down.
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18I don't think I'm a hotshot investigator. I wrote the article based on the available facts. Richard doesn't get any special treatment just because he's allegedly dead - and dead to a very low standard of proof, at that.
  
  I'll be the first to turn around and issue a correction when I find out that I'm wrong. But until then, I'm sticking to my analysis.
  
  PS what part of "Official road statistics don't back this up" don't you understand?
- Sun.Surfin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Did you read the article? I think not... reread and you'll see they didn't just "google his name".
  
  EDIT: Ah, Flashman already said that :P The disadvantage of having tabs in Firefox.
- Myonosken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Visit any of the sites in the gamemaker community, or even RMXP community, and you'll see that it's well known this is pure *****.
  
  Unless someone's hacked into his MSN, Youtube and forum accounts.
- dcm386, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I always wondered what happened to Kao Megura.
  
  RIP Kao Megura
DroogInPhoenix, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2 I can understand a 15 year old doing this and being hounded by a bunch of gamer geeks who never leave the house.
thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2lol that kid is so owned. didn't someone else working on oot2d do something like this before?
edeliz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21It was a Controlled Demolition!

oh wait..
- Skafia, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21Yes. So dampe was responsible for 9/11. It makes so much sense. The physics behind it are indisputable.
- IMustBeEmo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5He faked his death because he knew that his truth would be revealed in the next edition of College kids look at grainy video footage!
Retrocide, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13So instead of Manning up and admitting he bit off more than he could chew he fakes his death. Kids these days
SuperiorKarsch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6What an *****, I was pumped for this...
rrayted, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3I KNEW ITTT, I knew it I knew it I knew it!

People are unbelievable.
Slasher27, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It would have been less trouble for him to just finish making the game...
- NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2No, it would've been less trouble for him to say, "Look, I've gotten bored with the project and I am not accomplishing anything. If you want it, you can take over the project, or go start your own. I'm done with it."
  
  Then promptly shut down his site, change his e-mail address, and be done with it.
SnowflakePillow, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Thank you for writing up a good piece and getting it to the top of Digg, I was getting really upset about this guy getting away with it.
- babylonian, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Haha, exactly. If he did, who cares? Why give a guy who wasn't getting attention before a ton of attention now?
  
  No digg.
africansk8er, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I knew this was coming. Exactly one week before April 1st? Too easy...
But I have to admit, it had me sad for a bit.
Ovitz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I don't believe he's dead for a second, but I had a friend commit suicide and his Yahoo! Messenger and MySpace were logged onto up until a month after his death by his roommate and family. It's not uncommon.
- colincornaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I knew someone who died, and his AIM was brought back on a few times by his sister. Freaked me out both times it happened.
  
  Still, I don't think this kid is dead. There should be some official record of it.
imthirsty72, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0It's his ghost, duh..
BrainDance, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Now we just need a cell phone number or something.

Usually I'm not all for people leaking info like that on digg, but he convinced a lot of people he was dead, thats an ***** thing to do.

Seriously, hes a dick.
mechanisma22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Why doesn't he/the family just release the sorce code it would make things better, If he's dead or not or even has anything done on the project. I didn't even know about this project, I was kind of excited to see a game like the 2d zelda games released on the pc. Even better was that any of this ended up on digg in the first place. I still think Nintendo set up the car accident to cancel the project just to keep with the conspiracy.
- BrainDance, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@mechanisma22
  
  Its in a password protected rar file remember?
  
  So, of course no one can ever see it and we should forget it ever happened and never ask any questions again.
  
  /sarcasm
dudeman88, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13I think the kid is full of himself.

Really, how much demand is there for a freeware PC game? Christ, just say "I quit" to anyone that has been following the project and let it pass. Don't fake your own death. On the other hand, perhaps this was a ploy to grab the attention of those who were not aware of a 2D Ocarina of Time being made. I, for one, didn't know of this game's existence before this kid's so-called "death."
- Halifax1, on 10/12/2007, -19/+1And you're a ***** dumbass.
knodi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17That son of a bitch.
DeusNova, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Meh, it was probably a mediocre game anyways since it's made from Game maker.
mwharrell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Honetly, he's 15, what did you expect.
richterbelmont, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Nice work. It was fascinating/amusing/scary to see all of the people who accepted this story at face value simply because they read it on the Internet, including some of the big video game news blogs.
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Thanks. My grandfather used to say "Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see." I try to put that into my writing as often as possible.
DroogInPhoenix, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3Considering how brutal you people can be sitting anonymously behind a computer, no wonder he did this. (If he did)
SharinganBob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10http://www.gamingw.net/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=446d6b7bf3d0d113ad8239eca6cf1980&topic=58796.40

A couple of forum members on there confirm seeing him on MSN and when they messaged him he signed off. However one time he didnt sign off and confessed to faking it.
- h3xZ, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  I was sick of randoms adding me asking about Oot2D
  
  Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  I give up
  
  Christof | Aaaaaaamy o: says:
  ...Man. :/
  
  Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  I faked it to kill my reputation
  
  Duggy - Me farm or family dies - Love becky says:
  bbl
  
  Christof | Aaaaaaamy o: says:
  ...good god, man.
krakkinem, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8At first I was thinking this didn't make sense. Why on earth would someone fake their own death just to get out of a tough project?

Then it hit me - he's 15.

Dampé, if you're reading this, you're an ass.
erkokite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7If he really is alive, as is probably the case:

That little ***** *****. If you are sick of pressure from a coding project, then fess up to it. Take it like a man. I speak from first hand experience. I was the lead programmer for a community created FPS game, but after a while, lost interest, felt too much pressure, and decided that others could do the project better than I could. You know what I did? I told the team. Nobody is going to blame you for feeling pressured. To fake your death and upset many people is an extremely selfish and dickheaded thing to do.
Raian, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Everyone is ignoring the most obvious reason to fake his own death: impending lawsuit.
Kookami, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9"4. There were several Ocarina of Time 2D projects. His was being done in Gamemaker and it was the least impressive."

Anyone know of these others? Link? (Pun intended?)
- Myonosken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Search the RMXP communities, RM2K3 communities and RM2K communities. There are like hundreds of fangames, but a handful of very good ones do exist.
mywhitenoise, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Does this investigation remind anyone of this week's South Park?
anachronoks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3He should have gone with a phony kidnapping. At least that way he could always show up again if he decides to finish the game.
BobCat, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2I have something to admit to you guys, and I guess to the whole world. It's about time I got this off my chest.

I've been faking my life on the Internet. I've been doing it for years now.

I am truly sorry for all the pain I've caused.
proghead, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!!!!!
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Ocarina of Time 2D creator faked his death

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