How Nintendo Solved Zelda's Open World Problem
How Nintendo Solved Zelda's Open World Problem
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To mark the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, let’s look back at the making of Breath of the Wild’s open world.
Sources
How the “Open Air” world was created… | Gamer.Ne
https://www.gamer.ne.jp/news/20170901…
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has become a game… | IGN Japan
https://jp.ign.com/cedec-2017/16928/n…
The Perfect Game World Born under Nintendo’s New Development Approach… | GNN Gamer
https://gnn.gamer.com.tw/detail.php?s…
The perfect game world of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild… | 4Gamer
https://www.4gamer.net/games/341/G034…
Did the map for “Zelda” start in Kyoto!? | Game.Watch.Impress
https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs…
The Making of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Video – Open-Air Concept | Nintendo
• The Making of The Legend of Zelda: Br…
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s map is based on Kyoto | Polygon
https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/6/148…
=== Credits ===
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=== Subtitles ===
Contribute translated subtitles - https://amara.org/videos/eB3GnQWpxx4M/
Content
0 -> How do you make an open world where
the player is completely free to
3.96 -> explore - but is also led towards key
locations that will advance the story?
7.8 -> This was the biggest challenge
that Nintendo faced when making
11.34 -> their very first open-world game, The
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
15.24 -> They wanted to give players a
sense of freedom and exploration,
18.9 -> not seen in the franchise since
the very first Zelda game on NES.
22.74 -> But they also wanted to make
sure players were always making
25.5 -> progress towards the overarching
goal of saving Princess Zelda.
29.76 -> This was no easy task to overcome
- Nintendo had to go through false
34.44 -> starts and bad playtests before finally
arriving at the game we all know today.
38.64 -> The one that made us rethink how
exploration can work in an open world game.
43.32 -> And Nintendo actually shared their experience
of this difficult development process at the
48.9 -> 'Computer Entertainment Developers
Conference' in Japan, back in 2017.
52.74 -> It was a really interesting lecture
- and a rare act of Nintendo openly
57.06 -> discussing the nitty gritty details
of their game design and development.
61.02 -> But that information is sadly
very hard to access today.
64.86 -> The lecture was never uploaded.
67.02 -> All of the reports are in Japanese (and
the only English translation is a tweet
71.34 -> thread summary that's been mangled by Twitter).
73.56 -> And Nintendo actually got journalists to pull
down their photos of the original slides.
79.02 -> So - I thought it was time to right that wrong.
82.08 -> To mark the imminent release of the
next Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom,
86.1 -> I decided to resurrect that old talk.
88.8 -> I gathered different write-ups of the
talk, and had them translated into English.
93.18 -> I used internet archives to
rediscover the lost slides,
97.02 -> and used motion graphics to make them come alive.
99.06 -> And I used AI upscaling to
bring back old screenshots.
102.36 -> So, without further ado, I'm
Mark Brown, this is a GMTK Mini,
107.22 -> and here's how Nintendo solved the biggest
problem in Breath of the Wild's design.
112.86 -> Okay, so Nintendo had built a humongous world
map for Hyrule, and let players explore in any
118.74 -> direction - but they needed to find some
way to lure players towards key locations.
123.72 -> The initial idea was to use a
system of "points and lines".
127.62 -> The points are the the Sheikah Towers: those
giant, neon-lit spires that soar above the ground.
133.8 -> They're clearly visible from a great distance,
and they confer a great benefit to the player:
138.54 -> they reveal a massive chunk of
your map when you get to the top.
141.78 -> So these 15-or-so towers would be obvious
144.78 -> waypoints for the player - which should
effectively lead them around the map.
148.98 -> The lines are the routes and
roads between the towers.
152.22 -> And so Nintendo could place
various events along those lines.
155.58 -> As players walked towards the towers,
157.74 -> they would discover characters, enemy
camps and other goodies as they went.
161.7 -> But this idea... completely flopped.
164.4 -> The guidance worked - but
it actually worked too well.
167.46 -> Playtesters felt they were stuck on a linear
path, and forced to follow the towers.
172.02 -> Many complained about being trapped on
an invisible, but obvious guide rope.
176.16 -> And those who deviated from the line would just
get lost, or find little of interest to explore.
181.56 -> And the data bore this out: Nintendo
tracked the playtesters' movements and
185.82 -> created a heat map to see
where people had explored.
188.52 -> And they discovered that players were
split into two completely different groups:
192.12 -> about 80 percent dutifully followed
the main route from tower to tower,
196.62 -> and the other 20 percent just
sorta randomly wandered around.
200.22 -> Neither play style was close
to what Nintendo was after.
204.42 -> So they decided to go for a different approach.
207 -> Instead of nudging players to always
travel towards Sheikah towers,
210.96 -> they could get players to move around the map by
213.54 -> luring them towards a larger variety
of landmarks and points of interest.
217.32 -> Things like shrines, stables,
and enemy encampments.
221.46 -> They just needed to find ways to make
players gravitate towards these places,
225.24 -> like moths flapping towards a flame.
227.52 -> So, they first made sure each area
would confer obvious benefits.
231.6 -> Completing shrines lets you
increase your health or stamina.
234.66 -> Enemy bases are filled with weapons to pick up.
237.42 -> And while stables were initially just for
registering horses, Nintendo made them much more
242.64 -> attractive by adding beds for healing, a shop, and
NPCs who would hand out rumours and sidequests.
248.52 -> Other areas would be worth visiting
for the resources contained within.
252.42 -> Nintendo purposefully got rid of
simple healing items like hearts,
256.26 -> so players would have to go into forests
to get mushrooms or find animals to hunt.
260.64 -> And they made rupees extremely rare,
so players would need to go towards
264.9 -> mountains and quarries to mine valuable
ore, which can be sold to shopkeepers.
268.92 -> For this plan to work, they would
need to make other adjustments, too.
272.16 -> You see, the Sheikah towers are enormous and
easy to see - the smaller landmarks less so.
277.74 -> So Nintendo had to make them stick out from
a distance, or from a high-up vantage point.
282.12 -> Shrines were given a distinctive, lit-up
look; campfires give off a tall tower of
287.28 -> smoke; enemy bases are often built
around massive skull-shaped rocks;
291.42 -> and the stable is a gigantic
wooden statue of a horse.
294.657 -> Wherever you look, you should
find something interesting to do.
294.72 -> Also, while there's usually only one or
two Sheikah towers on screen at once,
299.58 -> there could be dozens of other,
smaller landmarks nearby - and
303.66 -> that many options can be completely
overwhelming in an open world game.
307.44 -> And that was partly the reason behind
Nintendo creating the "triangle rule".
312.42 -> You see, Nintendo designed
the terrain and landscape
315.18 -> of Hyrule to be mostly made up
of triangles - it's all hills,
319.5 -> mountains, and rock formations that
are shaped like pyramids and cones.
323.52 -> And this has various benefits
for the world design.
326.7 -> Like, whenever you face a giant mountain,
players have to decide whether to scale it,
331.44 -> or go around it - creating
decision making during exploration.
334.68 -> Also, the player's eye is naturally
guided to the tip of the triangle - so
339.3 -> you can place points of interest at
the peek to draw the player closer.
342.54 -> But most importantly: these triangles
simply block whatever's behind - meaning
346.74 -> that the player is rarely overwhelmed
by a massive field of things to do.
350.34 -> There's usually only a couple
attractive places on screen,
353.28 -> and the rest is hidden behind hills and mountains.
356.22 -> But as you go towards these mountains,
whatever's behind is gradually revealed.
361.56 -> Whether you climb the hill
or try to move along side it,
365.22 -> more terrain will start to be shown.
And this has an interesting outcome:
369.3 -> it creates a constant source of surprise and
curiosity as new locations make themselves known.
375.12 -> So you might be going towards one landmark,
377.7 -> but as you travel there - two or
three new places are revealed.
381.54 -> Perhaps a shrine on the horizon,
or an enemy camp around a corner,
385.38 -> or a distinctive-looking rock, or a
curious sight on the peak of a mountain.
388.98 -> Wherever you go and whatever you do,
391.8 -> you'll be given a few new things
to catch your eye and attract you.
395.94 -> Perhaps that new landmark will distract you,
398.4 -> and you'll ditch your old plan
and go somewhere new instead.
401.34 -> When you're finished, you'll remember
where you were supposed to be going
403.68 -> and head back there - only to be distracted again.
407.04 -> Whatever the case, this creates a chain reaction.
410.16 -> An infinite loop of discoveries.
412.5 -> A breadcrumb trail of landmarks.
415.26 -> All of which makes you slowly move across
the map - in an addictive quest of "ooh,
420.573 -> what's that?", "ooh, what's
what?", "ooh, what's that?".
423.66 -> And before you know it...
you're at a Sheikah tower!
428.34 -> Which is exactly where Nintendo
wanted you to go in the first place.
432.24 -> So now, with this system of attractive landmarks,
435.24 -> players still went from point to point - but,
this time, instead of following a specific line,
439.98 -> they were simply following a breadcrumb trail
of interesting landmarks - one that would,
445.02 -> eventually, lead players to Breath
of the Wild's most important locales.
448.62 -> And where following the towers made players
feel like they were being forced to travel in
452.82 -> a specific way, the littered landmark approach
was much more organic, and player-driven.
458.1 -> Players would naturally pick places to go,
460.98 -> based on their own curiosity - and
depending on their current goal or mood.
465.06 -> Locations might be more or less attractive based
on what you need: if you're looking to increase
469.92 -> power, then shrines and enemy camps suddenly
become more attractive than stables and towers.
475.26 -> Then when night falls, other locations
become more visible and appealing.
479.82 -> So players no longer felt forced
to follow a certain landmark or
483.6 -> goal - but they still ended
up where they needed to go.
486.18 -> And Nintendo could clearly see
this improvement on the heatmap.
489.54 -> There was no longer that awkward 80/20 split
492.24 -> in the experiences - instead, all players
fell into Nintendo's vision for the game:
497.22 -> they could see that players freely explored
various places, following their curiosity
501.6 -> from landmark to landmark - but almost all
players eventually got to the key locations.
506.58 -> And I totally found this when
playing Breath of the Wild myself.
509.52 -> I never felt particularly guided or led around
the world - I was just following my own curiosity
515.04 -> and exploring on my own terms.
But I still ended up stumbling into
518.34 -> important locations - and was always
making progress through the story.
522.84 -> So this was Nintendo's first, proper open-world game.
525.66 -> And the team clearly had a lot to learn.
527.82 -> In the second half of the talk, Nintendo explained
that to get a sense of scale and density,
532.32 -> it initially used data from Google Maps to have
Link run around Nintendo's hometown of Kyoto,
537.6 -> and clamber up Japan's famous Himeji Castle.
540.06 -> And they shared how they had to make all new tools
542.34 -> to allow for a large team to
collaborate on a single map.
545.16 -> But through clever design, driven by a
desire to create a specific experience
550.08 -> for the player - it solved the biggest
problem in Breath of the Wild's design.
554.1 -> Nintendo created an open world game that
beautifully balances guidance and exploration.
558.9 -> A feeling of freeform adventure that I've
only really seen since in Elden Ring - and,
564 -> almost certainly, will see
in Tears of the Kingdom.
566.82 -> I look forward to jumping in later this week.
569.58 -> Thanks for watching,
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZzcVs8tNfE