www.polygon.com
It's just a test bed for code and concepts. Not an actual gameThe Breath of the Wild team created a 2D Zelda prototype to test mechanics
The team used a 2D The Legend of Zelda to test ideas
According to this old article they created this 2d style Zelda game in order to test out some of their ideas visually, while designing botw, while I have my doubts as to how close in comparison they'd be, I'd love to be able to play such a game, even if just for the novelty.
While at first this might seem like a good idea a Zelda Maker cant work well. Well, at least not in the same way Mario Maker does. Mario Maker works because you design and play short levels by others and these are complete experiences. Zelda games are the opposite of "level after level" games and mostly need a highly developed and integrated story / world /design which wouldn't either be possible to create or so complicated that most people just cant or wont do it. The others can just use RPG maker or.. Unity or something to create their stuff.
I'm still waiting for this announcement. Maybe if BoTW2 gets delayed further then they will push out a Zelda Maker.
Because this isn't designed to be that. It's just a concept test program that likely isn't any more in-depth in terms of content than what's shown in the video.
Well, the idea for Super Mario Maker came about because they were literally making a dev tool for building 2D Mario levels and decided that it could become a game in itself. This concept test bed for BotW doesn't have the same origin or purpose. And they obviously have pondered the idea, which is where the dungeon builder in the Link's Awakening remake came from. Whether it's worth expanding Dungeon Builder into a full game of its own is another question.
Apparently the idea was to kinda go back to Zelda 1 and re-envision that game. From that perspective it makes sense to build a Zelda 1-alike to try out different new things and how they would fit into the concept. 2D stuff is much easier to build and iterate than building and redesigning a 3D prototype all the time.
They can use the same scripting to test game logic in a simplified environment. Fire propagation and logs floating in water and whatnot can all be represented in a simplified form to make sure it follows appropriate logic. It's just a fancy grey box environment
Link's Awaking remake was originally an attemot to make one.
it takes a lot more effort/resources to prototype ideas like the ones they were experimenting with in a 3D environment when their 2D test bed could be adjusted more easily.
they'd happen concurrently. the 2D representation is probably much earlier in the development process while the engine is being built to support the concepts. if the concept doesn't work, the engine might need altering, which would be more expenses
You need to bake in the underlying engine and mechanics to build a 'maker' tool on top of it. If your goal is to toy with the engine and mechanics for a tech demo... then you're doing extra work for no reason to build such a tool. A maker tool is something that lets designers iterate and create a lot of in-engine gameplay easily and often without even needing to know how to code much. It just fulfills a different purpose.
Like....Noita but also Zelda II. Tightening up Noita's gameplay and concept in order to fit into the Zelda universe and the open world nature of Zelda II with the side-scrolling dungeons (or not...I just love that game).
And somehow, someway, the online would be flooded with trap dungeons and Kaizo-level impossible challenges that are just meant to troll.
Yeah, it felt like ten steps back compared to LBW. Really hoping the next 2D Zelda isn't another remake…
understanding the concepts isn't enough to make a good level. people struggle to make a good simple Mario level. a zelda dungeon is a different level of complexity.
