Discussing Points with the Game Creator, Volume 9: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Segment 3
In an interview for the ninth volume of Ask the Developer, the creators behind The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for the Nintendo Switch system discussed the expansion of the game's world, particularly the addition of the skies and caves for exploration.
The developers revealed that the limitations faced during the development of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Wii U played a significant role in the expansion of Tears of the Kingdom. The Wii U's hardware restrictions, such as limited processing power and memory, constrained the size and complexity of the world, making it difficult to add vertical layers like extensive aerial and underground exploration.
However, with Tears of the Kingdom being developed primarily for the more powerful Nintendo Switch hardware (and further enhanced by the Switch 2 edition), the developers were able to realize a far more ambitious game world. This includes vast explorable skies above Hyrule and expansive caves and subterranean areas below.
The improved hardware allows Tears of the Kingdom to handle more complex physics-based contraptions and maintain stable 60fps gameplay, something the original Breath of the Wild on Wii U and first-gen Switch struggled with. This upgrade removed previous bottlenecks caused by hardware limits and permitted a more vertically and horizontally expansive world without sacrificing performance or visual fidelity.
The developers also discussed the fun of thinking about how to get to the floating sky islands and the unique dungeons they created for each environment, providing a wide variety of regional characteristics. To test out different gameplay elements, numerous sky islands were added during development.
In terms of gameplay, Fujibayashi confirmed that the gameplay utilizes height with the addition of "verticality" and a new action called "dive" for Link, as well as a new outfit for the skies. Transition triggers are needed to indicate where the music should switch, especially in the skies where background music needs to change according to the situation.
The designers faced challenges in adjusting the appearance of the sky islands to avoid looking like loose specks of trash. Takizawa mentioned that the entrances to cliffside caves might be a good example of new features in the game.
Takizawa also mentioned that when a place - even one that's already familiar - is augmented with something of worth, players begin to see the world in a different light. Dohta explained that in the previous title, the cliffs could only be climbed up, and the cliffsides were bare. In Tears of the Kingdom, everything in the game, including houses, connects seamlessly without map transitions.
Aonuma mentioned that he had the desire to dig underground while playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. For Tears of the Kingdom, the developers compiled and implemented ideas they couldn't include in the previous title, and developing in the same setting as the previous game was significant in this sense.
[1] [Source for hardware limitations] [3] [Source for performance and visual fidelity]
- The developers acknowledged that the hardware limitations experienced during the development of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Wii U were a key factor in the more ambitious environment of Tears of the Kingdom, as the Nintendo Switch's hardware has far more power, allowing for the addition of vast explorable skies above Hyrule and expansive caves below without sacrificing performance or visual fidelity.
- Tears of the Kingdom developers shared their excitement about the new outfits and actions provided for Link, such as the "dive" action, and the new elements they added, like the floating sky islands and expansive cliffside caves, which aim to enrich the gaming experience on the Nintendo Switch, redefining the familiar world of The Legend of Zelda in a thrilling new dimension.
