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Fujibayashi on a reason why Tears of the Kingdom has the Depths, 2023.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.hyruleinterviews.com/54f2e16d70b8...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 50. Director of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Fujibayashi: We created the sky [in Tears of the Kingdom] first. But then we thought, ”There’s not enough in terms of distance.” So then we thought, ”Maybe we can look to the ground to provide more distance.” When you’re talking about the sky, there’s just the idea of skydiving down to the surface. But if we were to, say, have a chasm, you can dive even further, and have even more fun doing that. On top of that, there’s also the idea of expanding the amount of exploration and the amount of discovery that you can have within the game. The Depths, as this place to explore and expand—not only in the sense of adventure, but also in terms of distance—really suited the game.
November 9, 2025 at 9:47 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Osada on making sound FX for things players created with Ultrahand, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#OsadaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Junya Osada. Sound Programmer for Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Osada: It would not be possible to prepare dedicated audio files for all of the … things that can be created with Ultrahand [in Tears of the Kingdom]. … Look at this wagon. For example, this is just a combination of the sound of wheels rolling, the short, repeated shaking of the wooden bed, the chains connected to the bed, and so on. We did not use any recordings of actual wagon sounds. Even this paddle boat sound is a combination of the sound the water makes when wheels rotate through it and the sound of wooden boards fighting water resistance as they splash through the water. We made a system that analyzes the way rigid bodies controlled by the physics system will move, then bases the sound on their size and material.
September 11, 2025 at 3:48 AM
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Takayama on water resistance in Tears of the Kingdom, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#TakayamaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Takahiro Takayama. Physics Programming Lead in Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Takayama: In order to simulate water resistance [in Tears of the Kingdom], when an object enters the water, we use the projected area of the direction of velocity to calculate the resistance. An easier way to simulate water resistance would be to simply apply velocity decay in all directions. But in order for rafts and boats to have a more convincing field and movement to them, we needed changes in velocity based on the contact surface.
August 28, 2025 at 11:22 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Osada on how echoes and reverb are driven in Tears of the Kingdom, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#OsadaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Junya Osada. Sound Programmer for Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Osada: Whether it's the inside of a house or within a rock cave, you can represent the characteristics of that space with sound by correctly setting how the sounds reverberate or how long their echoes last. [In Tears of the Kingdom] we made it so the reverb parameters would be automatically calculated. Information such as room capacity based on the direction and distance of nearby walls, and sound absorption rate based on the material of the walls, is collected and used to calculate parameters using a formula called Eyring’s reverberation time equation.
August 18, 2025 at 12:51 AM
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Some Takayama quotes about how every object in Tears of the Kingdom is built with functional simulated physics, 2024

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#TakayamaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Takahiro Takayama. Physics Programming Lead for Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Takayama: A world with a high degree of freedom requires everything to be physics driven. Every single thing [in Tears of the Kingdom] without exception is built with dynamic rigid bodies and constraints [instead of with kinematic rigid bodies]. And this is what allowed us to create a world in which players can freely translate their creativity and imagination into action without destroying the world. PEOPLE: - Takahiro Takayama. Physics Programming Lead for Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Takayama: Take the wheel [Zonai component in Tears of the Kingdom]. It's comprised of three rigid bodies: the wheel, motor, and shaft. Instead of the shaft connecting directly with the wheel, it holds up the motor. The torque from the motor transfers to the wheel's rigid body, causing it to rotate, and the friction between the ground and the wheel creates the driving force.
August 2, 2025 at 9:09 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Osada on audio occlusion in Tears of the Kingdom, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#OsadaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Junya Osada. Sound Programmer for Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Osada: [Tears of the Kingdom] has complicated terrain such as caves. Sound obstruction and occlusion are important when creating a more realistic Hyrule. … To depict a 3D world, the terrain contains voxel information. Each voxel stores terrain information such as whether its coordinates are located indoors, or near the water's surface, [or whether it’s possible to use Ascend]. Sound uses these voxels too, to search for sound paths. … In this game, the sound system performs calculations for the audio listener based on the camera's position, but searches for sound paths between the sound force and Link’s position. This is why sound changes when you go behind a wall.
August 1, 2025 at 6:13 PM
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Osada on some common sound attenuation techniques, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#OsadaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Junya Osada. Sound Programmer for Spirit Tracks, Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Osada: It is common to depict sounds moving farther away by using a distance attenuation curve for volume with distance taken on the horizontal axis. But that doesn't mean just lowering the volume is enough. Not only do we lower the volume, but we also apply [low-pass] filters that muffle the sound, and reverb to blend it with the ambient sounds of the environment. In doing so we can make it feel like the sound is realistically moving farther away. Another method that works well is preparing both short and long distance sounds and cross-fading them according to distance.
July 30, 2025 at 10:33 PM
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Takayama on how they set physics parameters for objects in Tears of the Kingdom, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#TakayamaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Takahiro Takayama. Physics Programming Lead for Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Takayama: [In the Tears of the Kingdom engine,] when we assign a material property to an object, such as wood, metal, stone and so on, that object’s mass and moment of inertia are automatically calculated. The volume necessary for that calculation is in turn calculated based on that object’s shape. But there are times when an automatic calculation doesn't fit our needs. And in those cases, we work with the artists and game designers to make adjustments. For example, objects like boards and slabs are actually thicker than those in the real world … to make them easier to see or control. If the mass for these objects were calculated based on the shape as is they would become way too heavy.
July 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM
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Takayama on Physics-driven vs kinematic rigid body control in Tears of the Kingdom, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#TakayamaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Takahiro Takayama. Physics Programming Lead on Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Takayama: Physics-driven [objects] have mass and moment of inertia, and they can be controlled using things like velocity and acceleration. So what … is a non-physics-driven object? … A kinematic rigid body. It is forcibly moving a rigid body at a velocity calculated from the animation. The implementation is easy and the results are visually easy to understand. So we used it quite a bit [early in Tears of the Kingdom’s development]. However, rigid bodies controlled by kinematics have infinite mass and can break down a physics-based calculation. ...This meant chaos for us. The clash between these non-physics driven objects and Ultrahand with its high degree of freedom caused daily problems.
July 23, 2025 at 10:07 PM
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Dohta on how the Octo Balloons got them thinking, 2024.

Source: Game Developers Conference (GDC)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote, #BreathoftheWildQuote
#DohtaQuote

www.notion.so/5daa8b399c3d...
PEOPLE: - Takuhiro Dohta. Technical Director for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Dohta: The Octo Baloons were special materials, even in Breath of the Wild. They can make an object float when attached to it. We implemented this functionality not to be used as a solution, but as a way to make the multiplicative gameplay even more plentiful. Because of this, it wasn't a major element, but we actually felt that the ability to stick one object to another had a lot of potential. … So we began proper prototyping to stick objects together freely. … We thought that this could be a gameplay point for this expanded world [in Tears of the Kingdom].
July 14, 2025 at 1:34 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how Ascend came about in Tears of the Kingdom, 2023.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#AonumaQuote, #FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/54f2e16d70b8...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of Tears of the Kingdom. - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 50. Director of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: Aonuma: There was a time when I was … sitting and playing [an early build of Tears of the Kingdom] myself, and exploring these caves. And I would often make my way really deep into one of the caves and kind of wonder, ’Where does this thing end? I’m kind of lost. And if I want to get out, I need to go all the way back to the entrance of the cave, which seems kind of troublesome.’ Hearing that, Mr. Fujibayashi said, ‘What if there was a way for us to just leave the cave by going through the roof?’ We started exploring the idea, and we realized this would be another way for us to take that theme of increasing the options available to the player, and also tie in with our theme of verticality.
June 21, 2025 at 3:04 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on the relationship between Link & Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom, 2023.

Source: National Public Radio (NPR)

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/673cc5265806...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 50. Director of Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Q: Zelda and Link seem to have had a loving relationship in the years between the events of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. How did you want to develop their dynamic in this sequel? Fujibayashi: Link is still entrusted with the role of protecting Princess Zelda. Rather than having the developers explain the relationships between the characters, I think it is best for people to play the game for themselves and use their imaginations."
February 4, 2025 at 1:44 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi & Aonuma on how the timeline is a puzzle that depends on available evidence, 2023.

Source: Game Informer

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote,#TheLegendofZeldaSeriesQuote
#FujibayashiQuote,#AonumaQuote
www.notion.so/6f7c578dffae...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 51. Director of many Zelda titles, including Skyward Sword & Tears of the Kingdom. - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of many Zelda titles, including Skyward Sword & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Q: Does the Hyrule we saw in the flashback scenes in Tears of the Kingdom predate Skyward Sword? Fujibayashi: Obviously, there's something a little bit clearer in our minds, but of course, it could be that we're wrong as well! [Laughs] I kind of want to pose the idea that, like in real-life history, you define by the artifacts and by the data that you currently have. So within what we have, there might be a correct answer, but it could be a different answer. … Aonuma: I mean, The Legend of Zelda is a series of games that focus on puzzle solving, so this is just another sort of puzzle that the users will have to see if they can solve and think about. [Laughs]"
September 6, 2024 at 3:37 AM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on how Tears of the Kingdom's Temples were informed by past games, 2023.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote,#BreathoftheWildQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/54f2e16d70b8...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 50. Director of Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Fujibayashi: I was involved with Breath of the Wild, you know, and one of the themes for Breath of the Wild was ‘moving dungeons.’ And I was also involved with Skyward Sword, and that had more of the hardcore, standard puzzle-solving dungeons. And I felt like I had a good idea of what the fans like about those two things. So I feel like I attempted to take those things and put them together into one sort of hybrid format. That’s what Tears of the Kingdom is."
June 22, 2024 at 5:16 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on how fan videos gave the team confidence to make Tears of the Kingdom, 2023.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote,#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/54f2e16d70b8...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 50. Director of Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Fujibayashi: Toward the end of Breath of the Wild, we were kind of experimenting with this idea of being able to stick things together. And at the time, you know, of course, there was a little bit of doubt, or question, about whether this was going to be something that people enjoyed, and [would] have fun with. And it was about that time that we started to see a lot of people starting to upload videos about all of the things that, basically, we were already wanting to do in Tears of the Kingdom. Making unconventional vehicles, and things like that. And seeing people have fun like that really provided us with the confidence that what we were going to start working on would be enjoyable."
May 12, 2024 at 10:18 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
What Aonuma feels is different about Breath of the Wild's reception, 2023.

Source: Game Informer

#Zelda
#BreathoftheWildQuote,#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/6f7c578dffae...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Aonuma: Thinking about … past titles in the series, it always seemed to me that there was great excitement when the game would come out among the community, but then that would kind of die off relatively quickly. And then, we kind of saw a new trend with Breath of the Wild where the game was released, and we were really pleased to see that it maintained this interest among the fans and they continued voicing their opinions and sharing discussions online. We've been happy to see this continue with Tears of the Kingdom as well. I'm so pleased to see that people are still putting up these unbelievable vehicles and different creations they've been making online."
May 6, 2024 at 4:08 PM
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Aonuma on past and present philosophies towards game-making , 2023.

Source: IGN

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/2efbed19e556...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of many Zelda titles, including Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Aonuma: Games where you need to follow a specific set of steps or complete tasks in a very set order are kind of the games of the past. Whereas currently the games of today are ones that can accept a player's own decisions and give them the freedom to flexibly proceed through the game, and the game will allow for that. So I'm in complete agreement with that as our design philosophy, but as the producer, I do have to admit making games that way always carries with it additional development costs. And that is something I have to think about."
April 23, 2024 at 4:17 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on not wanting to force people to be creative in Zelda games, 2023.

Source: Polygon

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/069fea72b223...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Q: [Could you] imagine a Zelda game that allows people to make their own dungeons, almost like Super Mario Maker? Aonuma: When we’re creating games like Tears of the Kingdom, I think it’s important that we don’t make creativity a requirement. Instead we put things into the game that encourage people to be creative, and give them the opportunity to be creative, without forcing them to. There are people who want the ability to create from scratch, but that’s not everyone. But I think everyone delights in the discovery of finding your own way through a game, and that is something we tried to make sure was included in Tears of the Kingdom; there isn’t one right way to play."
April 11, 2024 at 4:19 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on why Tears of the Kingdom has the Depths, 2023.

Via Polygon.

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/54f2e16d70b8...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 50. Director of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Fujibayashi: We created the sky first. But then we thought, ’There’s not enough in terms of distance.’ So then we thought, ’Maybe we can look to the ground to provide more distance.’ When you’re talking about the sky, there’s just the idea of skydiving down to the surface. But if we were to, say, have a chasm, you can dive even further, and have even more fun doing that. On top of that, there’s also the idea of expanding the amount of exploration and the amount of discovery that you can have within the game. The Depths, as this place to explore and expand — not only in the sense of adventure, but also in terms of distance — really suited the game."
March 17, 2024 at 5:40 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on the design approach to Tears of the Kingdom's Wind Temple, 2023.

Via IGN.

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/2efbed19e556...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 51. Director of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Fujibayashi: We had been calling [Colgera in Tears of the Kingdom] the ‘aerial battle’, and within that aerial battle, thinking about how we would use arrows or … dive and use your body to attack. We spent a lot of time thinking about what kinds of scenarios we could put in that would make aerial battles feel good, feel right. … The idea of diving and using your body, or using bows and arrows against the big enemy, these were all new experiences... things that the player hadn't been able to do at that time. And so what we took a lot of time and effort doing was making sure that on the player's journey to that boss, that they learned the things that they needed to do to defeat this boss."
February 9, 2024 at 5:42 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on the importance of mixing veterans and new developers, 2023.

Via IGN.

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/2efbed19e556...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Aonuma: As you said, it is true that the core members of the development team and having a strong core is important, but we would be remiss to not mention that there were many young members of the team that contributed in many ways [to Tears of the Kingdom] as well. And I think their presence on the team was just as important in us being able to realize the vision for this game that we had. But it takes time for us to have a cohesive understanding together among the veteran members and these newer members of the team on what The Legend of Zelda is... what it is to make the game that we're making together."
December 20, 2023 at 10:39 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how Tears of the Kingdom exhausted the possibility of that world, 2023.

Via Game Informer.

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/6f7c578dffae...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of Breath of the Wild & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Q: Have you ruled out another direct sequel? Aonuma: [Laughs] Well that would be a sequel to a sequel, which is getting a little bit wild when you think about it! But as I've mentioned previously, with Tears of the Kingdom, we were seeking to build on top of the world we created with Breath of the Wild and really exhaust the possibilities of what we could put into that world. I think it is – to use a bit of a term – an apotheosis, or the final form of that version of The Legend of Zelda. In that regard, I don't think that we'll be making a direct sequel to a world such as that that we've created."
December 19, 2023 at 9:18 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Aonuma on how everything the Zelda team wants to convey has already been placed into the game, 2023.
Via IGN.

#Zelda
#TheLegendofZeldaSeriesQuote,#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/2efbed19e556...
PEOPLE: - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Q: Are Link and Zelda in a romantic relationship in [Tears of the Kingdom]? Aonuma: I will leave it to everyone's imagination. I don't think that Zelda is a type of game where the development team says, ‘This is what Zelda is, this is what the story is, this is what the game is.’ Everything that the development team wants to convey has already been placed into the game. And the rest is up to the player's imagination, and their reflection on how they feel… what they've experienced in the game."
December 12, 2023 at 8:01 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi on the core of Tears of the Kingdom and the future of Ultrahand, 2023.

Via Game Informer.

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote
#FujibayashiQuote

www.notion.so/6f7c578dffae...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 51. Director of Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Fujibayashi: The crux of the experience in playing Tears of the Kingdom is Ultrahand and the freedom to create. As you mentioned, that is what Tears of the Kingdom is. So every time we're making a Zelda title, we want to create something new. If, for example, there was any continuation of Tears of the Kingdom and we were to bring in, say, Ultrahand, then I think to us, it would feel like, ‘Well, we're just bringing in Tears of the Kingdom as is.’ What we want to do from a game creator's perspective is create something new. From that perspective, I don't think we'll be seeing Ultrahand in every Zelda game or anything in the future."
December 10, 2023 at 6:03 PM
hyruleinterviews.bsky.social
Fujibayashi & Aonuma on how the timeline is a puzzle that depends on available evidence, 2023.

Via Game Informer.

#Zelda
#TearsoftheKingdomQuote,#TheLegendofZeldaSeriesQuote
#FujibayashiQuote,#AonumaQuote

www.notion.so/6f7c578dffae...
PEOPLE: - Hidemaro Fujibayashi, age 51. Director of many Zelda titles, including Skyward Sword & Tears of the Kingdom. - Eiji Aonuma, age 60. Producer of many Zelda titles, including Skyward Sword & Tears of the Kingdom. QUOTE: "Q: Does the Hyrule we saw in the flashback scenes in Tears of the Kingdom predate Skyward Sword? Fujibayashi: Obviously, there's something a little bit clearer in our minds, but of course, it could be that we're wrong as well! [Laughs] I kind of want to pose the idea that, like in real-life history, you define by the artifacts and by the data that you currently have. So within what we have, there might be a correct answer, but it could be a different answer. … Aonuma: I mean, The Legend of Zelda is a series of games that focus on puzzle solving, so this is just another sort of puzzle that the users will have to see if they can solve and think about. [Laughs]"
December 10, 2023 at 1:37 AM