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Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure | Game Maker's Toolkit (Patreon)

Published:
2017-03-20 13:56:41
Imported:
2020-07

Content

Had to do it! Lots to talk about in Breath of the Wild (from climbing to adaptive soundtracks to immersive sim design to wayfinding to whatever, it's full of stuff I have praised on GMTK), but decided to focus on the open world design, and how it avoids the usual tropes seen in lots of other games.

Video will go live to the world in a few hours.

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Since my last paid-for post, I did the following Patreon blogs:

Design deep dive - weapon durability in Breath of the Wild 

What I've been up to 

Game Maker's Playlist - February 2017 

GMTK Newsletter (Feb 2017) 

GameClub - Psychonauts Wrap-up 

Reading List (Feburary 2017) 

Files

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure | Game Maker's Toolkit

So, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an open world game. In this video, I look at how Nintendo used and ignored different bits of open world design to make a game that's all about exploration and adventure.

Comments

Anonymous

Still early in the game, should I watch this?

Anonymous
>>4342121

There are no major spoilers, however you may see items, enemies, & areas you'd prefer to discover yourself. I'm about 40 hours in, so I'm jumping right in to the video :D

Anonymous

Thanks, hate it but will wait.

Anonymous

Really great work mark, you really hit upon the points that make Zelda's open world great. One thing I really love about this game is how you can actually talk to all the npc's in the world which make it feel much more alive than other games where they have a ton of npc's but most are non-intractable

Anonymous

Great video Mark! Something I really like is that you included the names and years of the video games that you mentioned within the video. While your video descriptions have had these video games and source material referenced and listed, it's still extremely helpful for other viewers to see those game names appear on screen. Also the intro into the GMTK title card was quite smooth. I'm definitely looking forward to your future content! :)

GameMakersToolkit
>>4342255

Thanks - I've been putting that off because I thought it would be distracting or ugly but turns out that's it's neither, really (and obviously beneficial to lots of people!)

Anonymous

Hi Mark! I just got myself a Wii U and started the game (my first HD console, my first open world game, big gaming landmark for me, I haven't been this excited for a console game experience in years). I haven't even got the glider yet, should I wait to watch your video?

Anonymous

Excellent as always. As soon as I can I'll localize it into brazillian-portuguese.

Anonymous

I enjoyed that video, Mark. Zelda is my all time favourite series, and BoTW might...might... be fast becoming my favourite game of the lot for pretty much all the reasons you've said here. Exploring is fun in itself, the world feels alive with meaningful discoveries, and no hand-holding (which, considering this is Nintendo, is amazing in itself). Question for you. This game does so much for the series, revolutionises it, so how do you think it will impact future Zelda games? Where does TLOZ go from here? And a side-note, I'd be interested to hear what people think of this: It is so easy to fall in love with the characters in this game, it made me wonder what a game would be like, or a DLC, if you played as a Zora, or a Goron, etc., and played out their own story in the world, maybe tied in a small way to Link's story (such as in Plague Knight's campaign where you see Shovel Knight here and there during the playthrough). And it could tie in to a multiplayer similar to 4 swords adventures, where you have to solve puzzles together, but each character has a certain trait (Only Zora can cross water, Gorons can stand the heat, only Rito can reach high places, etc.)

Anonymous

Great video Mark, can't wait to play BotW. I'm about 2/3 through Horizon and trekking from one part of the map to the other just for the main quests is really bogging me down. Horizon is fun and the world is super interesting, but I just don't think the open world design is always enhancing the experience. Looking forward to going on an adventure with Zelda.

Anonymous

BOTW is so good that I purposefully bought other games on Switch​ so that I don't go though the game too fast :D Because of that I finally got to play Shovel Knight after I saw your video, bought it on Steam but never have a chance to play it. (I don't really like to play platformers on PC and I'm too lazy to connect a controller lol)

GameMakersToolkit
>>4342453

I think Zelda has always been good at doing different things in each game - so I wouldn't expect every game from now on to be open world. There will be more story-focused games, more dungeon-focused games, more combat-focused games. But I hope they learn some things from this one - that a hands-off approach can work, that non-linear design is cool, etc. Either that or BOTW 2: Termina, which would be just fine :P

GameMakersToolkit
>>4342458

Yeah, I really wish Horizon was made in a post-Zelda world. I really want to like the game but it feels so dated now

Anonymous

Top stuff. I had to skim through bits as I'm still currently playing it, but you'd talked about all the stuff I hoped you would! <3

Anonymous

I'm bummed out I have to wait to hear your thoughts on the dungeons. I went to the Gerudo one first and was so fucking HYPED and now I realize that the camel is the best dungeon by far, The dungeons are probably the most disappointing part of the game but I do think the content that's there. People are saying the shrines help as a replacement, and the shrines do feel like singular rooms from dungeons, but without the labyrinthine navigation challenge it's not nearly a replacement. Though I did think Hyrule Castle showed what a good dungeon with these mechanics could look like, and even if the 3d maps were hard to read, I loved seeing the "secret passage" wind through the center of hyrule castle. Can I trouble you for a small taste of your thoughts on the dungeons? Secondly holy shit would it be impossible for you to tell me where some of these locations are or do you think you'd remember? There are a few here I don't recognize at all, especially that twilight mirror looking sidequest What The Fuck? Sharing cool stuff with other people playing the game is one of the things I think Zelda I really relied on so it's cool that it exists in this game too and you can trade secrets with pals.

GameMakersToolkit
>>4343453

That sidequest is somewhere in the south east. I really like the dungeons - though yes, they are small. But I think what I find interesting about dungeons is when you have to consider them as a whole, and BOTW definitely does this. I'll need to replay them and whatnot to get a proper takes. The shrines are nice and fit the open world thing well - quick stab of puzzling and then back out into the overworld

Anonymous

Great vid as usual. Super enjoying the game myself! Not sure if it was mentioned anywhere (didn't see it in the comments above), but are you playing Wii U or Switch? Follow up question, slightly off topic of BOTW itself, but any initial thoughts on the Switch if you have been playing it on that?

Josh Foreman

I've been savoring and playing very slowly. Z 1&2 are my favorites, and it feels like they finally (after, what, 15 games?) made a sequel I LOVE. I liked WW, but still felt too contrived to me. This one nails it so far.

Anonymous

Keep doing what you do, Mark! I hadn't thought about how BotW differs from other open world games by letting you run over to Ganon from the very beginning, if you have a death wish. That's an excellent point, and one that fuels the overarching feeling of agency I had playing the game. Meaningful choices everywhere. I do especially love that the game doesn't do the Bethesda thing where the whole world scales in difficulty based on the player's ability. It feels so much more real when I wander into areas that are truly off limits until I'm better experienced. In the end, the game felt like a single-player game with the scope of an MMO, if that makes any sense. An awesome achievement any way you slice it.

Mathew Dyason

I can't watch yet because I want to be pure before playing! But I gotta say, that thumbnail is BEAUTIFUL. The colours, font, and how it mimics the thumbnail for your Zelda 1 video in the same way BotW mimics Zelda 1? Ugh, I'm actually in love with it. Heading to a Vegas chapel with a print-out of it right now.

Anonymous

I've been really craving some more of this series and on a day filled with personal uncertainty you arrive with yet another video I'll watch more times than once :) Thanks Mark, you're the best

Rich Stoehr

Just as good on second watching, Mark. Dumb question for you - where are you getting the music you use? I'm not sure why I've never asked, as I always enjoy the music you pick for your videos, and I'm always looking for a fresh source for licensed tracks.

conzeit

Mark, when I found you I went on a crazy binge of watching all of your videos. I missed a few but that did end in becoming a patreon of yours. I started a list that went trough all the videos of the channel, trying to keep some kind of idea always following to the next one, and grouping them thematically. Didnt finish it back then but now I have <a href="https://i2.wp.com/conzeit.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/2017-03-20-17_44_39.png" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i2.wp.com/conzeit.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/2017-03-20-17_44_39.png</a> I thought you might like to see it, maybe it can give you some ideas

GameMakersToolkit
>>4349528

Oh neat! I've been thinking about making some more YouTube playlists, so I'll refer to this for help, thanks!

Anonymous

Great video. I definitely agree that Nintendo have allowed the player's curiosity to guide them. The visual design built into the landscape is a huge contributor to why exploring is so much fun. Whenever you get a good view you can take your time to look around into the distance and you constantly go "ooo that looks interesting." And there is always something to reward you for heading to that strange landmark. For example I saw a giant fallen tree off the path on my way to the Twin Mountains. Taking the time to go there rewarded me with a Korok, and a small minigame to find another Korok which lead me to a village sunken in water, with patrolling lizards to avoid or fight and ruins to explore. Exploration always reveals more to catch your eyes and draw the player ever onwards. Putting in many biomes, mountains, forests and unique areas continuously feeds your curiosity. Making most of it visible from anywhere in the world is a great touch too.