Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma aren’t done playing in the sandbox they helped create.
The first was the director and the second, the producer of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) from Nintendo. The 2017 release broke with the familiar conventions of the beloved video game series and presented players with a massive adventure in the inviting open world of Hyrule.
It was arguably the most ambitious game Nintendo has produced, but even with two additional expansions, the development team felt it left a lot of ideas on the table.
With the release this week of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (tears of the kingdom), a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild which will have been in development for six years, players can finally see many of these ideas take shape.
“Looking at the Hyrule we’ve created convinced me that there are still a lot of different possibilities to play in this world,” Eiji Aonuma told The Canadian Press from New York via ‘a translator. And this idea made us enthusiastic. »
With a solid foundation in place, the development team got to work expanding Hyrule. Tears of the Kingdom includes celestial and subterranean realms that are in direct relation to the existing surface world.
explore and build
Hidemaro Fujibayashi believes that the greatest novelty in Tears of the Kingdom is the idea of being able to explore the world in a fluid way. “There’s a whole range of vertical axes, and being able to explore that seamlessly was something I really wanted to achieve,” the director pointed out through a translator.
“You can call it an improved and more powerful version of what we were able to experience in Breath of the Wild “, he added.
Another notable addition is the ability of Link, the game’s hero, to manipulate objects in the world and use them to strengthen weapons or build devices. For Mr. Fujibayashi, it highlights how the development team was able to use the foundation laid by Breath of the Wild to create something new.
” In Tears of the Kingdom, there are objects which are like cogwheels which turn perpetually. So we thought, “How about we put a plank on top of four of them?” And so we were able to create an improvised car,” he gave as an example.
“In a similar vein, some employees put together four planks of wood and created a makeshift cannon into which you can drop a bomb that detonates from a distance. With these two elements, we were able to create this type of “DIY” tank using only the mechanics and assets of Breath of the Wild. »
Adapt and surprise
Although the development team was able to quickly jump into creating Tears of the Kingdom, further challenges arose during the six-year development cycle. The COVID-19 pandemic started right in the middle of the creative process, and the development team faced the same workplace disruptions felt around the world, Eiji Aonuma points out.
“But I can say that our desire to create an interesting and captivating experience for players has not changed, it is a goal that we continue to pursue and we have adapted,” he underlines.
Hidemaro Fujibayashi explains that part of creating this experience is finding ways to surprise players.
For him and his team, those on the field making the play, the goal is to bring something new. “We all have the same desire and the same dream. What new treat can we bring to the player next? »
The development team knew they were on the right track if they could impress Eiji Aonuma, says Fujibayashi.
“It turns out that the closest tester we have to follow our work is Mr. Aonuma,” he explains. When we hand it to him and the producer says ‘oh wow’, we’re like ‘OK, we’re in business’. »