The Legend of Zelda

How Nintendo Solved the Biggest Problem in Breath of the Wild's Design

• Nintendo faced a challenge in creating an open-world game that allowed players to explore freely while advancing the story.
• The initial idea of using Sheikah Towers as waypoints to lead players around the map failed as players felt trapped on a linear path.
• Nintendo shifted to luring players towards a variety of landmarks like shrines, stables, and enemy camps, each with obvious benefits.
• The landmarks were made to stick out from a distance or a high-up vantage point to draw players towards them.
• Nintendo created the "triangle rule" to block overwhelming fields of things to do, guiding the player's eye to the tip of the triangle where points of interest were placed.
• The triangle rule created a constant source of surprise and curiosity as new locations were revealed while moving towards a landmark.
• Players followed a breadcrumb trail of interesting landmarks, eventually leading them to Breath of the Wild's most important locales.
• This approach was much more organic and player-driven than the previous system of following a specific line.
• Players naturally picked places to go based on their curiosity and current goal or mood.
• Nintendo could see on the heatmap that all players fell into their vision for the game, freely exploring various places but eventually getting to the key locations.
• The team used data from Google Maps to get a sense of scale and density and had to make all-new tools to allow for a large team to collaborate on a single map.
• Through clever design, Nintendo created an open-world game that beautifully balances guidance and exploration, offering a freeform adventure experience.

Are you a fan of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Test your knowledge on how Nintendo solved the biggest problem in the game's design with this quiz! Learn about the challenges they faced in creating an open-world game with a non-linear story and how they overcame it with clever design choices. Take the quiz now and see how much you know about the making of one of the most beloved games of all time!