Aonuma on Zelda: Breath of the Wild – physics engine, Monolith Soft’s role, more

Once again, another Zelda: Breath of the Wild-focused interview with series producer Eiji Aonuma is online. Gamekult was able to ask the developer about various topics, ranging from the physics engine to Monolith Soft’s role.

We have a summary after the break. However, we’ll also be looking to eventually provide a native translation of the interview, since some parts of the discussion just aren’t clear without knowledge of French.

– You can get lost in the original Zelda, and Breath of the Wild is somewhat like that
– Aonuma says you can get lost by not knowing where to go or visiting places out of curiosity
– That curiosity is what sparked the idea of exploring and climbing in Breath of the Wild
– Aonuma doesn’t want to make things too complex, but believes that the different systems in the game (like equipment) will be easier to understand when playing
– Physics engine took so much time since changing just one aspect can affect everything else, since the engine handles different aspects of the game world
– Companies outside of Nintendo helped out with playtesting
– Nintendo staffers working on different projects also tried out the game
– A PC tool was created for playtesting which tracks the paths players take
– Aonuma likes the idea of a multiplayer mode / feature where players communicate with each other when visiting a certain place
– Monolith Soft helped Skyward Sword with design graphics / artistic elements
– Nintendo and Monolith have different approaches to games
– On Breath of the Wild, the team was helped by level designers on topographic amenities
– Twilight Princess was more difficult to manage than Breath of the Wild for two platforms since he had less experience at the time
– For this game, he was able to better prepare to ensure that the experience would be the same on Switch and Wii U
– When Aonuma starts thinking about new ideas, he thinks they could work with Zelda, and always comes back to the series
– This prevents him from working on titles other than Zelda
– Implementing cooking was a logical choice since you pick up ingredients in the world, and the team thought it’d be interesting to mix them for effects
– Exploring by climbing everywhere, living in harmony with the world around us and protecting something or someone to accomplish a mission make up the essence of Breath of the Wild