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A huge, in-depth interview with Breath of the Wild’s Director, Technical Director, and Art Director, by Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream.
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October 26th, 2024
Breath of the Wild Game Director
Breath of the Wild Technical Director
Breath of the Wild Art Director
Q: At The Game Developer Conference, Mr. Fujibayashi mentioned that he wanted to bring back to the modern age the game that the original The Legend of Zelda realized, where you can freely explore a large field and discover and encounter new things as you scroll through it. Where did you start when thinking about how to achieve this?
Hidemaro Fujibayashi: At first, I thought about the actions of "climbing" and "descending" as a set to create an "open-air" and spacious world.
Q: Takizawa-san and Dohta-san, how did you feel when you were first told that you were going to create an open-air space?
Takuhiro Dohta: I thought it would be a new challenge in terms of technology, but I also saw it as a chance to express the excitement I felt with the original Zelda on today's hardware. Everyone, not just me, was very pleased with the challenges involved.
Satoru Takizawa: It was like going back to the roots. When the slogan "create the first generation with today's 3D," was announced, everyone was in high spirits. Of course, I am sure everyone thought it would be a lot of work.
Everyone: [laughs]
Q: So where did this vast map come from?
Takizawa: Very early on, Mr. Fujibayashi asked me for the Twilight Princess terrain data. I remember making a prototype of a huge 3D world that incorporated the Twilight Princess world and telling him "I'd like to do something like this”.
Dohta: That's right. How do you want to make it? While talking it through, I asked [pointing to the package] “What kind of tools and systems should I create in order to express such an art style in the game?” I was thinking about that from a technical side.
Q: So, the announcement at E3 in 2016 that "this game is about 12x as large as the map of Twilight Princess” came from using the Twilight Princess map?
Fujibayashi: Yes, the map was placed there as a size reference. When we were prototyping the field, Takizawa gave us a map of Twilight Princess on the top left corner, which was about 1/12th of the whole size. The rest of the map had the terrain of Kyoto pasted on it.
Q: Kyoto!?
Fujibayashi: Yes. Once I determined the approximate size of the area and the speed Link would move, I pasted in a map of Kyoto. I thought the topography of Kyoto was the easiest way to grasp a sense of scale [ed: Nintendo headquarters is in Kyoto].
Q: It is true that the topography of Kyoto is a grid, so it seems easy to measure.
Fujibayashi: By pasting in a map of Kyoto, it was a good guideline for sharing distance with staff.
Q: You pasted a map of Kyoto on the whole map.
Fujibayashi: Yes. We considered making the whole area about the size of Kyoto city. I don't know if this is strictly accurate, but it was true early on. So, we had conversations like, “Can you walk that distance?”, “No, I think it’s impossible.” Then "Maybe a horse could do it," "How fast can a horse run?" The conversation came to a point where we were like, "Well, could a horse go that distance?”
Himeji Castle in Kyoto, Japan, from https://www.japanrailpassnow.com/
Q: It makes a very good story that Kyoto is the foundation.
Fujibayashi: That’s right [laughs]. So, at first, we placed models of Kinkakuji Temple and Kiyomizu Temple on a map of Kyoto created with 3D tools, and had a prototype Link running around. That's how we got a good feel for it.
Takizawa: It was really just Kyoto at the time.
Dohta: Yeah, it was surreal.
Fujibayashi: Moreover, given that they placed various sample models, Himeji Castle was in the middle of Kyoto.
Everyone: [laughs]
Fujibayashi: It was interesting to see Link standing like a ninja at the top of Himeji Castle and looking down from a high place.
Image taken from ‣
Q: Is the origin of the Sheikah Towers Kyoto Tower by any chance?
Fujibayashi: No, the Sheikah Towers came much later. Of course, Kyoto Tower was also placed on the Kyoto map, but that was simply because it was a tall building, so we placed it there.
Dohta: As for the Sheikah Tower, it all started when we talked about creating a destination that could be seen from a distance. When we climbed it the view was so good that we wanted to travel to other places, so it became a tower.
Q: I see. But from the beginning, you envisioned something as ambitious as "creating Kyoto”.
Fujibayashi: It wasn't an extensive vision. We just decided that this was the right size when we were experimenting and playing around. It was our first time doing this, so we had no choice but to explore.
Q: Rather than calculations.
Fujibayashi: Yes. I’ve been told that "the calculated size is amazing," but I did not come up with this by logic, it is really the result of walking steadily on my own. I walked from one end of Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess to the other many times to hone my sense of distance.
Q: After the size of the area was determined by experimenting with Kyoto, how did you make the field?
Fujibayashi: In the end, we decided to base the layout of the terrain on the previous Zelda games, to some extent. There were some basic and easy-to-understand terrain features, such as Death Mountain. Above all, I wonder if it pleases the fans? I think so.
Q: I see.
Fujibayashi: Then I put the ideas that I wanted in this game into that map, such as "there should be a desert", and used 3D tools to create simple terrain like uneven blocks to create a general shape.
Q: Specifically, how did you express your ideas on the terrain?
Fujibayashi: After the terrain was roughly decided, I made a blueprint by pasting situations that I wanted to do, like a scene from a movie, for example, onto a piece of paper.
Q: On paper?
Fujibayashi: That's right. “And the road is here!”, drawn with a magic marker.
Q: Magic marker!
Fujibayashi: Yes [laughs]. I communicated that to the person in charge of the terrain, such as "the point is that you can see this when you climb up here" and "here's why the road is here," and then the design team created the terrain freely, taking the main points into consideration.
Q: I see.
Fujibayashi: After that, I looked at the finished terrain and said "I want to put a large stone statue here", and placed even more things. However, this time our approach was to eliminate things that had no meaning, until there was nothing on the field that could not be explained.
Dohta: It also involved the road. When you have a proper path, people tend to want to go down an alternate path. You could say there is a feeling of “doing something" when you go to a different place and discover something.
Q: In other words, even if you get out of the path there are meaningful things placed all over the field. ...And now I know why I can´t find a stable.
Dohta: Since I go straight to my destination, I also can't find a stable [laughs].
Fujibayashi: Dohta throws curveballs [as a player], so it was helpful to see how he would go about it. So, I would put Stone Talus and the like in his path [laughs].
Q: Yes. I often see Stone Talus and Hinox.
Dohta: I see them often!
Fujibayashi: That’s because they are helpful.
Everyone: [laughs]
Q: So that is how the terrain was created.
Fujibayashi: And speaking of terrain, he only said “sparse and dense” anyway.