With just days to go before the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has published a brand-new instalment of their “Ask the Developer” interview series. This time around the interview was all about Tears of the Kingdom and had the likes of Eiji Aonuma answering the many questions that were out before him and other members of the development team.
During the interview, Dohta, Takizawa, Wakai and Aonuma, discuss fusing multiple objects together and the creative freedom it provides in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom:
Zelda Devs on the Creative Freedom of Fusing Objects together:
Takuhiro Dohta: “The object-to-object combinations are something our designers and programmers put a lot of effort into adjusting because of the sheer number of variations. I want players to experiment with lots of combinations and find their favourite.”
Satoru Takizawa: “Not only can you attach objects with the Ultrahand ability, but you can also build weapons with the Fuse ability, so the variety of combinations is truly massive. Our staff worked hard to make special adjustments to each item to ensure players wouldn’t be disappointed and think, “This isn’t what I expected…”. Thanks to their efforts, we developed lots of attractive weapons that could be created with the Fuse ability. You can create a spear that looks like the Grim Reaper’s scythe, for example.”
Hajime Wakai: That expression of glue-like substances was also perfect from a sound design perspective because it was easy to translate into sound in real life. So for that, I’m very thankful. Rather than unrealistic, abstract sounds, ‘unrefined sounds”l’ that give players a more realistic sense of texture and accomplishment often feel right for The Legend of Zelda games. As this game involves repeatedly attaching and detaching objects, we needed to develop a sound effect that informs players that an object is now ready to be attached. So regardless of what objects you’re sticking together, you’ll always hear the same ‘attaching sound’. Since it’s a sound that you will hear over and over again, we thought the key was to create something that would give players a feeling of accomplishment so that they could genuinely enjoy the process.”
Takuhiro Dohta: “We originally wanted to implement this gameplay so people could enjoy simply attaching things rather than building something substantial. It’s like, “I attached tyres to a log, and it moved forward! I know it looks a bit lame, but that’s fine!” – that kind of feeling. In that sense, I think the glue symbolises the fun of sticking things together. Even if you randomly stick things together, you’ll still end up with something with a nice handmade feel.”
Eiji Aonuma: “Yes, so don’t worry if you’re not good at making things. If you attach two long things together, you can create something even longer. It’s as simple as that. Though it may look odd, that makes total sense, because they’re stuck together with glue. I think this is very The Legend of Zelda-like, and I’m liking it.”
For the full interview, why not click here to check out Ask the Developer Vol. 9, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Chapter 4.
Ask the Developer | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Participating Developers)
- Eiji Aonuma | Senior Officer, Entertainment Planning & Development Division (Producer)
- Hidemaro Fujibayashi | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Production Group No.3 (Director)
- Takuhiro Dohta | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Programming Management Group (Technical Director)
- Satoru Takizawa | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Design Management Group (Art Director)
- Hajime Wakai | Entertainment Planning & Development Department, Sound Management Group (Sound Director)
