Attending the Design & Art Direction Festival (D&AD) during college was the moment I knew

I had found the right career path for me. From an early age, my creative characteris-

tics have always been most dominant for me. I spent most of my younger years illustrating

everything around me, even though I was deemed a lot more of an ‘academic’ child. I was

good at math, and my writing and reading skills were on par with that of a high school

graduate before turning 12. I was pushed into working within the Science industry, and my

teachers were delighted when I grew an interest in geology and volcanology; but my true

passion always lay with illustration and design. Though I personally feel that my creative

genes are my strong suit now; it was shockingly a last minute decision to pursue design.

On the final deadline to submit a UCAS application to college, I frantically changed my

subject choice from A-Level’s, to a Graphic Design Diploma at Wigan and Leigh college. I

believe this is the best decision I have ever made.

Learning at Wigan was, in all honesty, a dream come true. I felt true wonder and happi-

ness in being able to express myself in my art-style, and even walked out with grades I

was more than proud of (D*DD). Here, I learnt what it means to be a designer; working on

live projects, attending design festivals, and even holding my first exhibition with ‘The

Fire Within’. Attending D&AD was simply amazing. I spent the whole weekend there, at-

tending talks and panels from various creatives. Most notably for me, was a talk on brand

expression and creating a well versed brand from a ‘taboo’ subject given by The Gut Stuff.

In short, the two panelists; twins Alana and Lisa, upon researching about themselves,

realized that despite sharing 100% of the same

DNA, their guts only contained 40% of the same

microbacteria. This discovery, to them, was a

revelation, and it explained why their bodies

behaved differently, leading to the creation

of ‘The Gut Stuff’. They aimed to bring ‘gut

health’ science into the public, and with the

help of Jones Knowles Ritchie (JKR), they cre-

ated a brand that was more ‘digestible’ to a

wider audience. I adored everything about this

brand, from the amazing color palate, to their

use of balloons to represent guts. They expanded

2 3
on humor to make the conversations about gut

health less embarrassing for the public,and

used ‘millennial pink’ and lively anima-

tions to create something that almost looked

like it was a trend. I knew, after speaking

with the panelists, that I was definitely in

the right industry, and that these were the

types of people I wanted to work alongside.

During working freelance alongside college

and university, I learnt how fundamental my

research is, and how it conducted the whole

design process. This was a skill I took with

me into university, and allowed me to create

work that I am proud of, and it even became

something I enjoyed doing. In most of the 9-5 jobs I have worked in now, I have somehow

become somewhat of a designer within those companies. I have become prominent in notic-

ing a problem in the way of working, and found a solution to it. Whether it be to cre-

ate a system easier to call one another off; or creating an incentive programme to allow

workers to feel more appreciated, I always find a solution. Most notably for me, I began

designing a business-ended programme that allowed me (a sales adviser) to collect clients

information easier; as we were, at the time, working with paper files and books. It was

a simple system that had features such as advisers being able to leave notes on accounts,

as well as seeing the last time they were contacted, a huge issue with the company at the

time as customers were being called daily rather than quarterly.

Once graduating, I would love to continue my freelancing, expanding my own business into

more than just one off commissions and more into product lines. I absolutely love learn-

ing, so I will continue to do so within my work, however this spark of love has led me to

also want to pursue teaching and tutoring the world of design to others. Preferably at a

further or higher education level, I plan on continuing the traits that my tutors taught

me, and helping others grow as designers, and as people. I am self-motivated, and eager to

start devoting my time and attention into growing as a designer, and I am positive that I

will be able to achieve this post-graduation.

4 5
 So let’s say you want to make a video game; where do you even begin? Some developers start with a

story they want to tell, or a premise they want to explore. Others start with some emotion they want

the player to feel, like terror or accomplishment. And of course, some developers start by taking

a game that already exists, and adding in a few extra features. Nintendo, however, are predictably

quite different. Whether it’s making a brand new game or the latest entry in the long running

Super Mario series, Nintendo always starts with a main goal; coming up with a new game to play.

“That’s how we make games at Nintendo, though: we get the fundamentals solid first, then

do as much with that core concept as our time and ambition will allow.” (Miyamoto, 1996)

And so, in this thesis, I will look at how one of the world’s greatest game develop-

ers found success by prioritizing play, and how their unique concepts came to light.

6 7
 HISTORY OF NINTENDO ………… 10
Pre-Gaming Era
Toys
Consoles

BRAND OF NINTENDO ………… 14

Successes and Downfalls
Target audience
Adaptability

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA………… 18

The Inspiration
Dungeon Maker
Creating a Name

FURTHERING THE DEVELPOMENT ………… 20

Sega VS Nintendo
A Link To The Past

BREATH OF THE WILD ………… 27

Breaking traditions
Environment Design
Curiosity and Exploration

FINAL THOUGHTS………… 32
Conclusion
Tears of The Kingdom

REFERENCES………… 34

8 9
 ventures: instant rice, a taxi service, and even a handful of ‘love hotels’, but of course,

nothing stuck. While the remainder of the sixties would prove to be a trying period for

the shrinking game empire, their greatest moments would only be right around the corner.

This chaotic spiral yielded just one treasure: a research and development department

that in 1969 enquired a man named Gunpei Yokoi, who’s background in manufacturing elec-

tronics would change the company’s legacy forever. Yokoi has been the main driver behind

a lot of Nintendo’s most famous electronics. In the early seventies, he helped develop

Nintendo’s revolutionary ‘beam gun’ along with the games ‘laser clay shooting’ and ‘gun-

The story starts in Japan; where in the turn of the 20th century, the streets were in- man’, which use video projection to display a target on screen and a handheld photo sen-

fected with a rising plague: gambling. To stop this ‘evil’, the Japanese government put sor shaped like a pistol (Vice, n.d). Before long, over 1.2 million beam guns were sold;

a ban on all playing cards; however clever swindlers overcame this by creating Hanafuda; leaving Nintendo to develop a series of electronic toys and games (V.G. Legacy, n.d)

a style of Japanese playing cards; typically smaller than Western playing cards (Encyclo-

pedia Britannica, n.d) . The name itself, ‘Hanafuda’, translates quite simply to; “flower By 1973, a global oil crisis brought the world’s economy to its knees. Rising petroleum costs

cards”, and as the name suggests, the cards featured flower patterns instead of numbers. forced toy and gas manufactures like Nintendo to rethink their product lines (VG247, 2014)..

Local artist and entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi saw the card craze and began hand paint- Ever-adaptable Nintendo decided to delve deeper into electronic gaming. Inspired by breakthrough

ing the Hanafuda cards, under the company name Nintendo Koppai; shortened to Nintendo, companies like Atari; Nintendo decided to jump into the emerging world of video games. They began

which roughly translates to ‘leaving one’s fortune in the hands of fate’ (Timothy S.Y. by purchasing distribution rights for the Magnavox Odyssey; the world’s first commercial home

Lam of Anthropology, 2021). The quality and intricacy of the cards caused them to be games console. As well as striking an agreement with Mitsubishi Electric to develop similar

a rising success, prompting his to begin mass production to satisfy a rise in demand. products including the first microprocessor for video game systems (American History, 2022).

As Nintendo’s reputation grew throughout Japan, Yamauchi also ventured into western

playing cards: and the seeds of Nintendo’s adventure spread. By the time Yamauchihad

reached retirement, the business he had created had already become a huge success; and

became the no. 1 card company in Japan (Gabel. M, 2019). As the business grew with

his son in law, Sekiryo Yamauchi; it suddenly hit a hard wall with World War 2. Dur-

ing the war, Japanese authorities struck a ban on foreign card games, and to make things

worse, priorities during the war shifted, leaving the playing card business with not many

participants. By 1950, Sekiryo’s health began to decline, and after producing no male

heir, he made his grandson Hiroshi the third president of the company (Editor, 2014).

After taking the reins, Hiroshi came in swinging; making a number of substantial changes;

including the change in the company name to the Nintendo Playing Card Company. By 1953,

the company became the first company to proceed in mass producing plastic playing cards

(New York Times, 2013). Two years later, after yet another name change; Nintendo Company

Ltd went public, making over 150 million yen in their first year alone (Ricky. M, 2013).

As the company swung into the sixties, the adult market had ventured into other interests

such as pachinko, a common arcade game, and bowling, leaving Nintendo dependent on the

childrens market (Digitiser, n.d). In a panic, Hiroshi threw money into a whole host of odd

10 11
 By 1979, Nintendo would make two crucial de-

cisions that would help the iconic company we

know today. First; Nintendo established its

American subsidiary in New York: where many

of its first beloved games would be devel-

oped (Zippia, 2020). Then, and most important

of all, they created a brand new department

that focused solely on developing new arcade

games. By 1980, the legendary game and watch

system hit the market; the first handheld

video game system, which was once again cre-

ated by Yokoi, who retooled the technology

used in portable calculators. The system rap-

idly became Nintendo’s best selling product of all time, selling over 43.4 million units

during its first production period (Baker. I, 2020).

One year later, Nintendo’s true breakthrough would come raining down: with Donkey Kong re-

leasing to arcades world wide. The simple, yet charming game, introduced players to a new

concept in gaming: a character who could jump, as well as a brand new hero; Jumpman. This

cheeky, chipper, valiant protagonist would later take on a more relatable name. Adopting

the name of the landlord for Nintendo’s Washington offices, Mario Segal, Jumpman would

eventually be known simply as Mario (Buchanan. L, 2019). To this day, the mustachioed hero

ranks as one of the most recognisable fictional characters of all time.

After dominating the arcade, Nintendo wanted to take on the home electronics market. Their

device would incorporate a room cartridge drive for games, as well as a central process-

ing unit. By July 1983, Japan was introduced to the family computer unit; more commonly

referred to as the Famicom (Anon, n.d). This console came with three games: Donkey Kong,

Donkey Kong Jr, and Popeye. By the time Nintendo was ready to introduce its console to

America, it decided to make a few adjustments. They redesigned the Famicom as an enter-

tainment system, thinking that would sound more appealing to American buyers than a home

commute system. So, in 1985, America met the Nintendo Entertainment System: or NES for

short. According to company data, by 1989, one out of every four homes in America owned an

NES, and the company simply cemented itself as a video game giant (Cunningham. A, 2021).

12 13
 To many people’s surprise, Nintendo soon got back on their feet, with the creation of

the Nintendo Switch, selling well over 40 million units within its first year of launch

(Weatherbed. J, (2023). But why did this work? The reasons why point towards the funda-

mental successes at the core of their brand, such as:

- Target Demographic

- Willingness to try new things and innovate

- Unique and long-lasting IP’s and leveraging of nostalgia

- Ability to adapt (despite the temptation to do the opposite).

Nintendo is unique in its design choices. The games have a sort of ‘whismsyness’ to them:

and they’re so accessible that even your grandmother could get involved. Nintendo ran by
The target audience for Nintendo’s productions hasn’t always been the same, however for
one core philosophy, or design principle, and have since branched out into the world of
the last 10-15 years, Nintendo’s consoles have always been the choice for the ‘casual gam-
games design: “lateral thinking with withered technology” (Life. N, 2021). This statement
er’. The Wii, in particular, was marketed as something that everyone could join in on, and
was made by Gunpei Yokoi in 1980, who claimed that using more matured technology allows
the motion controllers meant playing with others was integral to the enjoyment of a lot of
for more creative freedom and uniqueness in their work. This, in terms, means staying away
their games. Even now, many families still have the console, and enjoy titles such as Wii
from the latest generation of processors, displays and graphics cards; and instead inno-
Sports simply because of how accessible it was, and how it brought families and friends
vating somewhere else. Nintendo initially decided to avoid competing on technology, and
together. The marketing for this console in fact won awards; by daring to aim it not just
forced them to compete on design and accessibility, which allowed the games to have intui-
at the typical teenage male audience, but at mothers and sisters too.
tive, and surprisingly deep mechanics, alongside level design that serves them (Perell. D,

n.d).
As referenced before, a lot of the success of Nintendo’s consoles were because they simply

did not rely on innovative technology, rather than more unique ways of working. The graph-
Despite the company’s historic success, it’s not always been an easy ride for Nintendo;
ics for these consoles were not as good as the games you could play on the rival consoles.
and the last decade has held its fair share of ups and downs for the company. After the
Even now, the Switch’s hardware is nowhere near as good as that of the latest Xbox series,
huge success of the Wii, selling over 100 million units and becoming the best selling home
and Playstation 5 (R.P. 2022). However, the performance of the consoles still feel smooth;
console of all time (Nintendo Ltd, 2019), Nintendo’s next console should’ve been a breeze.
and the crisp Japanese design is appealing, allowing you to feel like you’re holding some-
This, however, went down the opposite way, with the Wii-U not performing with sales in the
thing with its own charming personality. Often this is due to an interesting feature of
slightest. The reason for this is mostly due to bad positioning, and a lack of clarity as
the console; such as the motion controls in the Wii, or the touchscreen of the DS. Most
to what purpose it actually served. This resulted in 14 million units; which was even less
notably, the successful hybrid feature of the Switch, which brings the previous features
than the Gamecube (Nintendo. Ltd, n.d.). Due to this failure, most suggested that Nin-
of each console together, plus more individuality (Delve, n.d.).
tendo stop producing consoles all together,

however the company refused to turn their

It is not a shock that Nintendo holds both the first and second best-selling video game
back on something so core to the company -
franchises of all time. As a contrast to Nintendo’s ability to find uniqueness and new
the creation of new technology.
ideas, re-suing their old ones still comes in handy. The sheer volume of games that have

been released under the same titles (Mario, Pokemon, etc) allow for old characters to be

reimagined, and worlds to grow. The imagination for these games is never-ending, with both

of them still producing content even after 40 years. The company has always been known for

creating new things, and it has successfully managed to do that with their old characters;

even on mobile, without the aid of their own consoles. In 2015, they began investing in

mobile games developers, and since then have helped release hugely successful mobile games

like Pokemon GO (The Guardian, 2016). Not only did this bring out a new revenue stream

14 15
to Nintendo, but it also helped warm up customers for their next big console release (the

Nintendo Switch), allowing them to get back into the public eye.

When a brand isn’t afraid to be different, embrace fully who they are and tap into an

audience that isn’t necessarily taken care of, or isn’t being catered for, they are onto

a winner. If you build a memorable and lasting brand, content or characters that people

latch on to, you can reuse that social currency for a long time. If you want to survive,

you’ve got to be prepared to adapt and change. If the end product is good, people won’t

care that it’s delivered to them in a different package.

16
 After several months of trial and error; the game was just about complete, but it still

lacked a ‘proper’ name. Miyamoto always wanted to call the game ‘The Legend of…’ (Jones.

T, 2013), but wasn’t quite sure on how to end the title. It was actually down to a PR

planner; who suggested that alongside the release of the game, Nintendo also release a

storybook in which the protagonist (Link) rescues a beautiful maiden named Zelda (Green-

baum, 2022). The name Zelda was based on the famous author, Scott Fitzgerald’s, wife,

Zelda Fitzgerald (Literary Hub, 2021). Miyamoto didn’t quite like the idea of a storybook,

but the name Zelda stuck, and thus ‘The Legend of Zelda’ was born. The Legend of Zelda

would be released on February 21st 1986, on the Famicom Disk System in Japanese, and a

The Legend of Zelda has always been one of the ‘babies’ of Nintendo - a legacy franchise whole year later on August 22nd 1987 in Western countries on the NES (Life. N, 2013). The

that they always return back to. Development of The Legend of Zelda actually started back game was an instant classic, receiving fantastic reviews across the board, and going on

in 1984; even before work had started on the original Super Mario Bros. game (Encycopledia to sell over 6.5 million units worldwide; and inspired countless other titles that helped

Britannicia, 2019). However, Miyamoto would work on both projects simultaneously, until shape the entire 8-bit era as we know it.

Super Mario Bros would be released in 1985 (Huddleston. T, 2018). Because Super Mario

Bros. was such a linear game, Miyamoto wanted to make Zelda the total opposite; inspired After the release of the original Legend of Zelda, Nnintendo went on to develop many more

by his childhood of exploring the woods and caves in Japan’s Kyoto region as well as the titles in the series; each expanding the world of Hyrule further and creating success af-

popular RPG fantasy computer games of the time, Miyamoto set out to make a game that ter success. The latest in this series is ‘Breath of The Wild’: Zelda’s biggest game yet.

would capture both of those elements and combine them into a singular cohesive experience For decades, the Zelda series followed a pretty ‘tried and tested’ formula in regards to

(jbindeck2015, 2011). how the games looked and felt to play, and as the series moved into the 3D era, it became

increasingly entrenched in the ideas that formed the basis of that formula, so much so

Utilizing the new NES Disk System (Nintendo, n.d), the game was one of the first to be that by the time Skyward Sword came around, many fans had started to believe that the

able to rewrite data; which allowed Miyamoto to first create a multiplayer title in which franchise was becoming stale, and losing sight of what it meant to be a Zelda game (De-

one player would create a labyrinth-like dungeon, and the second player would have the structoid, n.d).

chance to navigate through it (Dan of Geek, 2019). Playing through these dungeons was a

huge hit for the internal staff, and so the game was reworked to become a single play-

er game in which players could complete dungeons underneath the landscape of what would

later become Death Mountain. The Legend of Zelda was, here, beginning to take shape, but

development didn’t stop there. The feeling of exploration that Miyamoto longed for wasn’t

quite realized just yet, in fact he would often think to himself ‘I want to play above

ground too’ (Miyamoto, 1989), and so the team created a world of forest, trees, mountains

and lakes; which would later become the ‘Hyrule Field’ that is a familiar area within the

future games. The trick was combining the more ac-

tion oriented gameplay found within the dungeons,

with the more exploration styles in the over

world. This balance proved to be difficult for the

team as no other game had done anything to this

extent before, and this moment is probably now the

birthplace of the modern action adventure formula

used across multiple games.

18 19
 development wasn’t exactly smooth. Originally the game was to feature a seamless transi-

tion between the top-down perspective of the overworld, and a sidescrolling view that is

featured in towns and dungeons: but because the NES and Famicom hardware was lacking, they

couldn’t process this transition at a reasonable speed (Anon, n.d). As a result, the team

was forced to limit these transitions to only occur when entering a town, dungeon, or bat-

tle. This shift in perspective and focus on RPG elements, made Zelda 2 unlike any Zelda game

to date, and it’s often considered the ‘black sheep’ of the bunch (Zelda Dungeon, 2020).

Today, players note its relentless difficulty and bothersome continuous system as some

After the release of the original Legend of Zelda, Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka to of the games biggest grievances. Even Shigeru Miyamoto himself considers this game to

once again work on a brand ne game. This time, Miyamoto waned to make an entire new ex- be a failure. During an interview with Kotaku, he describes the development process as

perience; focusing on side-scrolling action and up and down movements for attacking and such: ‘When we’re designing games, we have out plan for what we’re going to design,

defending; the type of movement that wasn’t possible in the original Legend of Zelda in- but in our process it evelves and grows form there. In Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link,

stallment (Destructoid, 2013). This, along with a stronger focus on RPG type element, made unfortunately all we ended up creating was what we had originally planned on paper.’

the game take a completely different shape when compared to its predecessor. Rather than (VG247, 2013). Despite these flaws, The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link would

make a continuation to the series, Miyamoto actually started development of ‘The Legend of release first on the Famicom disk system in Japan on January 14th 1987; only 11 months

Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link’ as a completely different game: one that wasn’t part of after the release of the original Legend of Zelda (Zelda Wiki, n.d).. It would later re-

any established name or intellectual property. It wasn’t until much latrine development, lease in North America and western countries for the NES on December 1st 1988, going on

when the team was incorporatingstory element, that the decision was made to work this game to sell over 4.3 million coies worldwide, adn receiving (at the time) positive reviews

into the same world of the original Legend of Zelda (Quora, 2022). With it set to release in quickly becoming the fifth best-selling NES game; only being topped by the trilo-

less than a year after the original title, the game was already on a tight schedule, and gy of Super Mario Bros. games, and the original Legend of Zelda (Bajgrowicz. B, 2019).

Part of Nintendo’s success at this point was the lack of competition, due to video game

crash of 1983, most previous video game companies closed down. or dramatically reduced

their contributions to the industry (Beren. D, 2022). This let Nintendo rise like a phoenix

out of the ashes, and dominate the market, and they would remain mostly unrivaled until

1988, when another Japanese company by the name of ‘Sega’ would release their own console,

the Mega Drive. Sega’s Mega Drive, or knows as the Genesis in North America, was a ture

16-bit console that outclassed the 8-bit Famicom in every way (Baker. D, 2022). Ninten-

do finally had their rival, and the console wars had begun. This new competition prompt-

ed response from Nintendo; a new console was on the horizon, and of course, new games.

August 14th 1989, Sega release the Genesis in North America: boasting true 16-bit graphics

and more colours, combined with an aggressive advertising campaign that relentlessly at-

tacked Nintendo (IGN, n.d). Very quickly it became clear that Sega were starting to chip away

at Nintendo’s control over the video game market. This, of course, prompted a response from

Nintendo. The NES couldn’t compete with this new hardware, and they were falling behind. A

new console was on the horizon, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; often referred to

as the Super Nintendo, or SNES for short. The Super Nintendo wouldn’t release in western

countries until August 23rd 1991, giving Sega a 2 year head start in this brand-new era of

20 21
 video games (GameSpot, n.d). Sega of America wasn’t felt right, and because of this, Link’s now iconic spin attack was implemented giving players

afraid to take risks, led by formed Mattel CEO, a new way to attack in every direction around them in one quick movement (Life. N, 2023).

Tom Kalinski, the ambitious company had nothing

to lose, and everything to gian. After an uphill Unfortunately not every idea that Miyamoto and a team came up with made it into a Link to the Past: for

battle of trying to get major retailers to agree to better or worse. A lot of content was left on the cutting-room floor. When a link to the

sell the Genesis, Sega was staring to quickly see past was in its early days of development, the team influenced a more traditional RPG style

some success. Ultimately, Nintendo would come out menu for doing basic actions such as pushing, pulling, or lifting objects such as boulders

the victor in the 16-bit era, but it was a long adnd in the game (Miyamoto, 2022).. This meant the player would approach an object, hit a button

rawn out battle of the bis that defined an entire to open a menu, and finally select the desired action from a list. Ultimately the entire

generation of gamers growing up (TV Tropes, n.d). menu system was scrapped as it became too overwhelming for the team, and players, to deal

with. Instead, a simpler, real-time, interaction system was added so that players could

So what was Nintendo’s key to success? You can argue hardware semantics and pricing all still move objects without interrupting the flow of the game to bring up a menu (The Cutting

you want, but at the end of the day the one thing that mattered the most were the games. Room Floor, n.d). Over the course of the game’s developmen, A Link to the Past went through

While Sega was boasting about Sonic the Hedgegog, Nintendo was carefully expanding upon several major changes. The rigorous play testing allowed Miyamoto and his team to see just

their already established Ip’s, and cementing them as ongoing franchises; continuing and how players would go about solving puzzles or locating secrets when given minimal clues.

expanding upon he lore of the games players already knew and loved on the NES. PLayers could Based on the feedback that he would make necessary adjustments to the game. Oddly enough,

once again take control of Samus in the follow-up to Metroid: Super Metroid, they could the dungeon layouts remained mostly unchanged between the testing phase in the final product;

return to the ever popular world of the Mushroom Kingdom with Super Mario World, and most Instead it was the overworld that went through the most changes, and is vastly different

importantly Nintendo would finally establish what we wuld come to know as the basis of the in the final product compared to what was originally tested. All this testing allowed them

Zelda formula in a game call The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past (Dan of Geek, 2022). to adjust the difficulty of any puzzle, or added more hints until the game struck a per-

fect balance of being just hard enough to not solve every puzzle at first glance, but also

With originally slated to release on the NES, the development for The Legend of Zelda a not easy enough that every player would know the solution instantly (Life. N, 2022). Even

Link to the Past started in 1988. At this point the Super Nintendo was still a few years the plot of the game was changed at one poin. Although not too much is known about this

away from releasing, but seeing the potential of the new hardware, Nintendo made the call pre-release version of the game, story some concept art of zelda in a sci-fi inspired outfit

to halt production on the NES version and instead focus on bringing the project over to the seems to imply that a Link to the Past was meant to originally feature a futuristic theme of

Super Nintendo (Washington Post, n.d.). Due to the success of Zelda 1 and 2 on the NES, the some variety (Zelda Universe, 2013). Why this idea was suddenly dropped is sadly unknown.

budget for a Link to the Past was substantially larger than that of its predecessors. This

allowed Miyamoto to triple his development team and really get to work defining what a Zel-

da game truly is (Life. N, 2021). Despite the extra help, a Link to the Past it still took

around three years to fully develop (Kotaku, 2012). According to Miyamoto, the team spent

the first two years of development planning and experimenting with what was possible on the

new Super Nintendo Hardware, it wasn’t until the final year that time was spent on the actual

production of the game. Because the team had prepared so many ideas ahead of time, imple-

menting them all was no easy task. Miyamoto went back and took a look at the original Legend

of Zelda and decided he would start by implementing things he wished he could have done in

that game (Zelda Dungeon, 2012). Perhaps the most notable improvement was giving Link the

ability to move diagonally throughout the world. This change made the world feel more open

and gave the player more freedom and how they explore Hyrule as they were no longer trapped

in a grid-like movement pattern; however this introduced a new problem. Attacking diagonally

proved to be difficult to program an animate. Despite numerous attempts, it never really

22 23
 A Link to the Past is often cited as being the grandfather of the modern Zelda formu-

la, and laid the blueprints for future games to follow in a brilliant way. To summarize,

in a Link to the Past you as the player must first conquer three smaller introductory

dungeons, obtain a pendant from each, and use those to advance the Master Sword. Even-

tually you’ll reach the dark world there you must rescue the seven maidens from the

remaining temples, before you can challenge the final boss. This basic format would be

repeated to some extent in almost every major release in the Zelda series for years to

come. It also introduced several elements that have since become staples in the Zel-

da series. Pieces of heart, side quests in mini-games, as well as some links iconic

items such as the hookshot, the ocarina, and the Pegasus boots which all originated in

a Link to the Past (Life. N, 2022).The game also expanded upon the lore that fans of the

previous two games were already invested in, but for the first time ever we got a de-

tailed backstory that set up the events of the game taking place chronologically before

both NES Zelda games. A Link to the Past tells the tale of the ultimate golden power

known as the Triforce the Sacred Realm, and Ganon’s rise to power (Zelda Dungeon, n.d.).

The Legend of Zelda a Link to the Past would release on November 21st 1991 in Japan on the

Super Famicom, and only a few months later in North America on April 13th 1992 for the Super

Nintendo (Life. N. 2021). Praised by both players and critics alike, the game would go on

to sell over 4.6 million units worldwide, and become one of the best-selling Super Ninten-

do games. Today many players claim a Link to the Past to be one of the best games in the

entire franchise and it’s legacy shines through in even the latest games in the franchise.

24 25
 Breath of The Wild was, in many ways, both a return to the series roots, evoking the open

world, non linear and more challenging spirit of the original Legend of Zelda, and at the

same time, was a huge departure from the series’ traditions, bringing a wealth of new ide-

as geared towards contracting a more contemporary gaming audience.

Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule is an enormous, sprawling landscape. The world begs you to

soak in your surroundings and to look out far into the distance. Even the game’s marketing

is mostly sweeping weapon shots of Hyrule with Link looking off into the horizon. This is

Breath of The Wild’s clearest break from the rest of the series, and its biggest selling

point. The environmental designers turn an imposing vastness into something digestible

through the way they use sight lines (Life. N, 2017). The game has a bunch of tools to

help you out, and the tutorial on the Great Plateau teaches the process the game wants you

to use whilst exploring. After gaining the first rune ability, there is a brief tutorial

where you spot and mark the 3 mandatory shrines on the plateau. You’re being taught how

you (quite literally) use the spotting tools, but they’re also silently showing off how

the game designs its sight lines (The Gauntlet Forums, 2019). Hyrule is a web of visual

bread crumbs. As you explore, you’ll notice that no matter where you are in Hyrule, there

are lots of landmarks that call out to the eager new explorer. Local ones like campsites,

enemy hideouts, and shrines; and global ones like towers, mountain tops, and Hyrule Cas-

tle. And for most of these ‘breadcrumbs’ you’re the one deciding to pursue one of them.

Instead of a million different waypoints already filled in like an open world Ubisoft

game, the Breath of The Wild map is sparse with only the topography filled out as you

reach the individual towers. If you’re not pur-

suing an active quest, you’re setting out on your

own paths as you look at the scenery and place

your own map markers. Limiting the information on

the map changes the player’s role in exploration

from mindlessly pursuing goals like a checklist,

to a much more active role in deciding what to do

next. It makes the game feel more open-ended.

26 27
So, you have the urge to explore and locations to check out, but how does the game dictate make this happen. The key to keeping players interested in continuing that loop is to make

the path you take? It’s all in the terrain design. Hyrule’s terrain is rugged; mountains, sure that those misadventures feel worthwhile. Constant surprises and little distractions

hills and canyons are everywhere. You could say that it’s mostly just to emphasize the are at the core of Breath of The Wild’s design. No matter where you are, there is always

climbing, but there’s more to it. According to the Zelda team, during a talk at CEDEC, something worth finding. The rewards may be smaller consumables like weapons, arrows,

much of Hyrule’s design implements what they call ‘The Triangle Rule’ (Kotaku, 2017). food, materials, Korok seeds, or something more substantial like a piece of armor, an

There’s a heavy use of triangular shapes throughout the terrain and architecture, wheth- ancient shrine, or a tower. If something catches your eye, you can go after it. Breath of

er it be towers, stables, fairy fountains or bigger landmarks like Hyrule Castle, Death The Wild doesn’t implement a Metroidvania-style design where you’re blocked from certain

Mountain, or the Dueling Peaks. The team favored these shapes because they presented the locations by your ability set (JonesBlogger, 2010) you’re almost always equipped to go af-

player with a couple of options; either to go around the mountain, or climb it. What- ter whatever you spot as you make your way through the world; curiosity leads to success,

ever choice the player marks, as they progress, what lies beyond the mountain is slowly and that success leads to more curiosity.

revealed. It’s all a part of Breath of The Wild’s visual language; to entice the player’s

curiosity (Eurogamer, 2017). As mountainous as Breath of The Wild is, it does avoid making So; that kick starts the exploration loop, but once the game grabs you it also has to keep

its locations feel too similar. Other open world games like Skyrim, sometimes have dif- your interest. It’s very easy to lose interest in a loop; if you could figure out a ‘best’

ficulty distinguishing one area from another, but that’s never a real issue in Breath of way to get to a shrine, or a ‘best’ tool set to use, that would make the game a little

The Wild (Oniscu. I, 2021). Each region in Hyrule is just distinct enough from each other more predictable, and a little more boring. Loot driven games like Borderlands or Destiny

so it doesn’t really blend together. The dragon on Mount Lanayru, the boneline sprites in can get around this with a constant drip of new and better items, but Breath of the Wild’s

Deep Akkala, and parts of the Hyrule Ridge, the rigid form of the Gerudo Highlands, the item set is much smaller. Instead, the game uses a couple of tricks to take similar re-

smooth yet Guardian infested grasslands of central Hyrule, triangulating your position is wards and obstacles and make them feel a bit fresher: each tool is more versatile than it

always easy: even without a map. appears at first glance, and they combine with other mechanics in unexpected ways. Metal

weapons and items can conduct electricity and be used with ‘magnesis’, a mechanic in the

Mountains and distant landmarks like towers are perfect as long as long term objectives as game. That can be dangerous sometimes, but in other instances it can be used for solving

they’re easy to spot and work towards. The towers, shrines, Death Mountain, Hyrule Castle, puzzles. Torches and fire arrows can set tall grass on fire; which can damage enemies, or

and even the Guardian enemies, are all visible from a distance. Thanks to the game’s use create an updraft to lift you into the sky, giving you an advantage in combat and explo-

of glowing lights, you can see the goal in any weather conditions, and you don’t even need ration. Just about every tool has a little bit to discover beyond what you first see, and

to place a map marker; the goal itself always beckons (Shacknews, n.d).. Once you make if you’re creative, a lot of them will get you out of a jam one way or another (Gamers. T,

it to the top of that mountain, or tower, hopefully rich with new items, spirit orbs, and 2017). Love it or hate it: weapon durability plays a big role in the exploration cycle,

maybe a story plot, it’s onto the next goal; and the journey to that next goal will lead and much of the game’s design would simply fall apart without it. If you could lock in a

the players to more distractions, more trials, and more stories to discover. ‘best’ loadout early, you lose reason to experiment with new items. Without the need to

experiment with new items, combat will get more routine, your experiences will be less

Follow the lights, and you’ll have a good time… But if you need some help kick-starting unique, and you might lose interest in the game faster. By making you cycle through your

your adventure, the main storyline can help you out. In the main quest of Breath of The

Wild, you’re supposed to go around conquering the 4 Divine Beasts; something that may

seem incredibly simple in retrospect. This has a reason: to not provide an elaborate story

campaign. Because there isn’t one. Instead, there is so much more emphasis on the jour-

ney itself in Breath of The Wild, than in any other 3D Zelda game (Bycer. J, 2018). The

Overworlds of past 3D Zelda’s showed hints of what the style could become, but Breath of

The Wild took it to a new level. The four Divine Beasts serve more as a very rough guide

and suggestion for players; and you’ll get to them, but really you’re meant to get side-

tracked. For many, what starts as “oh look at that” will turn into an hour long chain of

little misadventures; and that’s not an accident. It takes a lot of careful design work to

28 29
inventory, the game forces you to think a little harder before you use that good sword you

found. Finding replacements for these items isn’t hard, yet the hungrier for more items

is never totally satisfied. The downside to these design choices is that they can lead

to some frustrations. If you figure out a great combination, it’s annoying to lose the

ability to use it: but that trade off is in service to the greater good.The variety and

the restrictions that the game places on how you explore the world, drive the engine that

keeps you exploring (Blondeau. B, 2020).

So you’re doing great, making some big plans, but whilst you travel don’t ignore the small

details - they can pay off too. Korok seeds are the most obvious instance of rewarding

the players curiosity. The 900 Korors hidden throughout Hyrule serve as a ‘filler’ reward

for players to find along the way to a bigger objective, like the Divine Beasts or the

120 Ancient Shrines (Majumudar, K. 2020). They aren’t a high priority, but theyr’re still

valuable as they’re needed to expand the limited space for weapons, shields and bows. They
Games focused on exploration are extremely tough to get right. Most other open world games
never grab your attention like the major game objectives, but sparkling leaves, statues
have a fall back plan like a great stort, a tight combat system; or just something different
with fruit placed below, circles of lily pads, glaciers of ice, rock formations, tree
to pick up the slack. For The Legend of Zelda to succeed as an exploration game, it had to get
stumps with pinwheels or large leaves, metal balls chained to wells and tree stumps, and
so many things right at once. Without a toolset of emergent behaviour to tinker with, without
any suspiciously placed rock can all hide a Korok seed. When you know what you’re look-
drawing players in with its scenery, without a vast world hiding its details, or without its
ing for, the seeds aren’t too tough to spot, but that’s the point; they’re supposed to
variety of mysteries big and small, the games would not work. As one of the best exploration
contrast with the rest of the world and raise your suspicion. Like the landmarks in the
games of all time, the latest title in the Zelda series is a wonderful sight to see. The
terrain, they help condition the player to pay attention to their surroundings, which once
next installment of the series is due to release 12th May 2023, with Tears of The Kingdom,
again feeds into the never ending chain of curiosity. Lots of the Korok puzzle indicators
described as an “epic adventure across the land and skies of Hyrule” (Zelda Wiki, n.d).
heavily use one of the earliest lessons in graphic design: the ‘gestalt grouping princi-

ples’ (Chapman. C, 2018). They’re a psychological theory on how we associate things with

eachother visually:through simularity, proximity, closure, and continuation. The princi-

ples of simularity, proximity and closure are used in more of the Korok puzzles, and work

together to catch the players eye. Using a simpe rock formation as an example, the simi-

larity in size, colour, and shape of the rocks and their proximity to eachother hints at

a relationship between them. There’s nothing in game to tell you to fix it; but when you

notice that something feels off, you’re rewarded for applying closure. This is done again

in the twin sculptures puzzle. The proximity of the sculptures and similarity of the foun-

dation hint at their relationship; you can spot the difference between the two groups, ap-

ply closure, and get your prize. This may sound like a lot of words to describe something

pretty obvious; but keep in mind: the ame dones’t highlight the Korok puzzles very much.

They aren’t (usually) glowing lights or clear signs you can see from a distance, you just

have to keep your eyes peeled whilst you’re out and about. They aren’t there to be elabo-

rate brain teasers either, they’re more of little ‘a-ha!’ moments that you stumble across.

Getting rewarded for noticing things that just ‘feel’ off is another mini reward loop, and

those loops all add up in the long run to keep you exploring (GameOrNought, 2017).

30 32
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