As you might have known, the Tootsville.org web site had a placeholder page with some info about what we’ve been working on for about a year, now. Here’s the text from that site, as it’s now been taken down:
Tootsville.com is gone… But that’s not the end!
Tootsville is returning in a new community-led effort. Scroll down to learn more.
Res Interactive, the company behind Tootsville.com, is out of business.
When Res Interactive, LLC, was dissolved, the Tootsville game was shut down, apparently forever. The web site is gone, Toots Square is lost in a million pieces, and the whole Island of Tootanga is unreachable.
Tootsville provided a valuable, family-friendly, non-violent place where kids could explore, learn, and make friends in a safe environment. With the dedicated efforts of dozens of people — programmers, lifeguards, artists, musicians — Tootsville was an impressive achievement.
The pre-2014 Tootsville is lost.
While we have tried to recover some of the data, much of it was destroyed when Res Interactive went out of business.
But the idea is alive
The former Chief Engineer who built Tootsville in its heydey is still out there and ready to Make Some Noise
in entirely new ways.
It’s Gonna Be Awesome
Keep watching this spot, because beyond the elephant graveyard is something new and exciting.
The Whole Family This Time
It’s not just
for kids any more. The ever-growing adventure will have something for everyone to enjoy.
The resurrection is happening.
There’s a whole new world and so many new adventures, just around the corner. Keep your eyes peeled for news about the next generation of fun, non-violent, whole-family gaming.
We’re a bit sorry that Res Interactive, LLC, had to be shut down. But that’s all in the world of business,
and sometimes business isn’t so fun.
Let’s focus on the fun, the learning, and the friendship, instead. All of the great technology and amazing family values that Tootsville was made of can still exist, even if the former officers of Res Interactive can’t release the characters to us.
Since 2014, the former Chief Engineer of Res Interactive — the man whose Builder Toots
put together the technology that made Tootsville tick
— has been working to put together a new adventure.
Keep watching this space, or send an e-mail, if you want to be the first to know about the new adventures that are in the making.
Tootsville will rise again.
It’s always dark, in the beginning
Do you remember The Neverending Story? Bastien saved Phantasia, but nearly everything was destroyed. With Bastien’s new stories, though, Phantasia was recreated and better than before.
Help Us Rebuild
Join us and create adventures that will last a lifetime.
Gather your tools
This new game will run on
- desktop (PC) Linux® Mac Microsoft Windows
- laptop Android Chromebook Linux® Mac Microsoft Windows
- mobile Android iPhone Linux®
- some microconsole/TV devices
- tablet Android iPad Linux®
through your HTML5-enabled web browser, like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
Adults will want to have a Google account to sign in with. Kids can be signed in with their parent’s permission (and some supervision).
You’ll be able to enjoy playing on most devices, but having a full keyboard and mouse or touchscreen will make a more enjoyable experience. You might also want to have a game pad that works with your device’s web apps.
Quick: Name me one other non-violent, family-friendly, free-to-play game where parents and kids can have fun, interact with others, build their own homes, and dress up their characters, and explore a giant game world? No? That’s why I want Tootsville back online.
Past
A Brief History of Tootsville
We’ve been some pretty amazing places!
A Brief History of Tootsville
In 2008, Res Interactive, LLC, was founded based on the vision of Mark Mc Corkle, its first Chief Engineer, and Louis Pecci, the creative director. Their idea was to create an on-line theme park
where kids could learn and play.
In 2008 and 2009, Tootsville was put together and quickly went through three major revisions. The fourth version of Tootsville, code-named Project Osiris and Project Persephone, was built on an open-source game server and a proprietary Adobe Flash game client, along with some web-based tools for membership and billing.
Unfortunately, by 2012, Res was in trouble, and in 2014, the corporation was administratively dissolved
, left owing back taxes, and never properly wound up its business.
In its best times, back in 2010-2011, Tootsville had tens of thousands of players, and an exciting world with many locations, special enchanted items, and amazing adventures for kids ages 9-12. Some older (and younger) players also joined in the fun.
A New Beginning
With the encouragement of some of the former officers and key staff from Res Interactive, the Chief Engineer from 2010 (Bruce-Robert Fenn Pocock) has been working diligently (in his spare time) to recover the full range of features that once made Tootsville great.
2011 Best Virtual World for Kids
Bigger and Better than Ever!
Coming back to you in time for 2017!
The thing that really did it for me, were the e-mails after it shut down. So many kids were heartbroken. Here, we had a safe outlet for them to be as creative as they wanted. Nobody could tell if they were rich or poor, red, yellow, black, or white, a boy or a girl; in Tootsville, they were a purple elephant with orange flowers who liked to dress in blue jumpsuits and mined asteroids around the moon. And that was awesome.
Future
Tootsville is returning in a new community-led effort. Scroll down to learn more.
Do You Remember Tootsville?
Three years of redevelopment work, over seven years of server software development, and the support and efforts of dozens of people have led up to this.
Tootanga will be rediscovered.
We have big plans.
- Customize and dress your elephant characters
- Visit not only Tootsville, but other familiar locations, like Tootoona Beach, and some new places you’ve never seen before
- Build your house and decorate your garden. Plant things and watch them grow.
- Go fishing, surfing, play soccer, mine asteroids, ride in a submarine, fly in a helicopter, sail the Bay of Elphelas and discover what lies on the other side of Hays Creek
- Stop mean characters from polluting and littering
- Learn about geometry, programming, and practice reading and writing skills while you’re having adventures
- Explore mysterious mazes and defend your picnics from pests
- Buddy up with your family and share the adventures
- Create delightful places for others to discover
- Join us for fun holiday gatherings in town and in the country
- A larger world to explore than ever before!
Want to Help?
Are you a programmer (Common Lisp, or otherwise), a 2D or 3D artist, a musician, or have some other special talents you’d like to contribute toward rebuilding Tootsville? Click the Mail
link in the header and let us know. We can use all the help we can get.
Maybe those aren’t your kinds of talents? There are other ways to help, too. We’ll be launching a special blog space for parents who want to contribute tutorials — how to play, how to find the prettiest butterflies, what are some great opportunities for your kids to learn real-life values in the game.
A little publicity wouldn’t hurt, either — if you’re having fun, tell your friends!
And, of course, if you see a problem, let us know, so we can make things better for everyone.
The idea of a real, virtual world that’s always there, just out of reach — it’s epic. Your house, your garden, your friends, they exist in this place limited only by your imagination. Sure, honey, you can have a pet dinosaur. We’ll take the train up to the Disenchanted Forest and get a boat, and head up Avian Crick to Dino Land. But only after you finish your homework.