Tough to Fix (Part 2) - 「やりなおしがすごかった」らしい その2

Original ZeldaPower article not yet available.

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-16:
Looks Like This Zelda Was Tough to Fix (Part 2)
Original Interview Link (1101)
オリジナルなインタビュー(1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of Hobonichi's nearby tree.

(1-16)
Looks Like This Zelda Was Tough to Fix (Part 2)

Eiji Onozuka (Dungeon Design):
Trouble, you say? We had trouble every day. *laughs*
The part that worried us most was making the walls out of polygons. Link was capable of a variety of actions. He ran with great force, flew using the hookshot, and caused explosions, but the violence of his movements was causing him to clip through walls. We were making the game to match the basic abilities we had decided on for Link at the beginning, but his ability settings were changed midway through. This lead to the mappers (who had been making the maps according to the original settings) suddenly finding themselves having to change their maps. They were often complaining "We didn't hear about this!"

As an example, we totally redid the Water Temple. The amount of time Link could stay underwater was changed part way through, so we were working all the way up till this summer to fix situations where an item had become awkwardly positioned or what have you. But people were saying things about Link needing to move at a certain speed in order to seem lively, and we agreed that it needed to be fixed.

People with persuasive power usually won out when discussing what to fix and where. *laughs*
It really made people cry. Oh well, I was one of the ones who didn't cry much.

The mappers cried the most. There were three of them, but they had the most trouble. They still hate the (※) even now.

This is from a little while back, but they heard that the hookshot ability had been changed, they quickly checked the maps and told us "It's no good! This part is clipping through the walls!" Ahahaha. Consequently, we managed to clear up a lot of big bugs with a little fine-tuning. I want to warn you never to do things like that part way through. *laughs*

(※ This data holds information about the end stages of the game's development.)

Toshio Iwawaki (Program Director):
The Super Mario Club (※) had a big influence. After we hired testers, everything was suddenly changed at 30% completion. The programmers were the strictest right to the very end, to be sure. Especially during the debug period. Really, really strict. Because of the excessive detail in the reports, I found myself learning the names of I don't know how many club staff members.

(※ Nintendo's game testing club. Ocarina of Time had the support of more than 100 people.)

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
We got a lot of comments from the users and testers telling us how we should do things. I think we had a lot of people obsessed with the game. We even had people telling us in detail how to angle the camera, going so far as to say "This way's better!" *laughs*

When I was advised on a part that I hadn't had any particular intention for, I'd think "Is that so..." and redo it. It's inexcusable, but if it was a situation where I had a clear idea of what I wanted to express I kept it the same in the end.

Takashi Tezuka (Supervisor):
At first we had planned to make the game on a smaller scale, but when we finished it we realized how much larger it was than we had expected. It's difficult to develop a game that big. We were thinking "Wow, it's actually huge!"

The actual size is about as big as Hirakata. Well, maybe not that big, to be honest, but even if the field is small there are a lot of things you have to do. As for time, I think that for a regular person playing without a guidebook, it would take about 60 hours to finish the game.



I didn't dare to dip my paws into things. If I had it would have gotten out of hand and the deadline would have ended up being postponed. *laughs*

Toru Osawa (Script Director):
Compared to the old days, we were able to make use of labour. A long time ago, it would be me who drew the pictures, me who thought up the story, and me who decided on the rules. Now, if you did that, you wouldn't be finish in 10 years. *laughs*
We had to use the amount of people we did, it's just the way things are these days.

As adventure games, the Zelda games have, up till now, been floating along lightly compared to other genres. However, Ocarina's characters, including the extras, have increased to more than 200. That means it's intensified. Even so, since the game is so big and the number of characters has increased, even trying to make that many people work properly means they turn into shallow characters and their true feelings don't show much. Just making that many NPCs function correctly was an extremely difficult thing.



Speaking of size comparisons... oh, you say Tezuka mentioned Hirakata? Ahahaha. That's right, it's at least as big as Kyoto. Hyrule Field is around the Imperial Palace, Death Mountain is like Mount Hiei or Mount Kurama. It feels like you can point and say "Hey, I can see that over there! It's Ryouzen!" But if you think that way, then Kyoto has only 200 people. Not a lot! *laughs*

There will be 9 temples in Kyoto, and we'll make it so that upon entering each, terrible monsters will appear. If you're thinking of wandering around the 9 temples, it'll take you days. To enter one of the temples, pray, listen to the history or something, and explore every nook and cranny will take one day in itself. Then you'll have to rescue each of the Buddhist priests. Awesome, right? *laughs*
We'll make that next. "Kyoto City Tour - Save the Priests!"

I wonder who'll be saving them. Maybe the mayor? *laughs*

"(1-16) Looks Like This Zelda Was Tough to Fix (Part 2)" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-12-19-SAT

Half Done by Mario - 「マリオのときに半分できてた」らしい

Original ZeldaPower article here. (Tuesday, 15 July 2008)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-14: Looks Like This Zelda Was Half Done by Mario
Original Interview Link (1101)
オリジナルなインタビュー(1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of Hobonichi's nearby tree.

(1-14)
Looks Like This Zelda Was Half Done by Mario

Toru Osawa (Script Director):
I spent a lot of time thinking about how to expand the direction of the 3D N64 games that sprung from Mario. You can see that the other games are similar to Mario, but their internal workings are more advanced.

We were thinking about making this Zelda a basic model of operation for all future 3D games, so we tried to boil it down to that level as we developed it. I think we were able to achieve the standards we set.

Tezuka (Supervisor):
Because Ocarina of Time was being released after Mario, we wanted to try doing the things we weren't able to put in Super Mario 64. That was the development team's chief motivation. If what we did in Mario used about 60% of the N64's capabilities, I think we were able to get Zelda to reach 80 or even 90.



We got children to test the game during its development, but children can enjoy games just by playing around with them. We didn't know if it was actually interesting or not.

However, we were able to accomplish a variety of things. Everybody enjoys something different, so we can use that to defend ourselves.

Miyamoto:
Zelda was about half finished when we were making Mario.

Makoto Miyanaga (Field Designer):
How would we be able to create a rich presentation cheaply and easily? It was necessary to think about these things in new ways. In order to make the things we wanted to try possible, we had to find a way to create them on the hardware. The designers were also groping for ways to present the content on a television screen. The scope was huge and we put in all the technological expertise we could muster. Still, it was difficult.

Yoshiaki Koizumi (3D Systems Director):
I often get asked about what sort of work I do. My answer is that I'm making a netscape using the N64. In short, I intend to make a 3D browser. In the case of games, there are many people who have information. You have to go to this part of the world to find out.

You have to use this, you have to walk there, you have to jump, you have to go back, etc. My job is to make those plans at the very beginning. Making 3D environments and system tools is my work. First I make a tool, then make a system to the point that I can insert story elements. That's my job.



Eiji Onozuka (Dungeon Design):
While we're basically making the same type of game as the old 2D Zeldas, we have to struggle with an increased depth. Attempting to deal with it just gets slower and slower, so it's hard to keep working on it continually. It's always been a battle. The terrain changed as well. For example, now that you can fight on more than one level, the methods of fighting and the way enemies appear has changed. We never had to deal with these issues in the 2D era.

When the program checked the terrain's topography to determine how enemies with feet should walk, it slowed down. When we were trying to figure out how to make enemies appear on the map, we were mostly forced to stick with floating monsters. However, ghosts are really the only characters that float. That made it a little bit odd. Even when considering problems like when the enemy should appear, sorting out the enemy's relationship with the terrain was extremely difficult. Because of the type of terrain, we were slow in figuring out how to do it, and it tortured us to the very end.

Designers created a variety of effects, and decided what sound should come at what time. This process also went very slowly. Designers often wanted to give up in the middle. Consequentially, I wonder if the number of enemies in Ocarina of Time is good where it stands. I think that any more than this would be impossible to sort.

The 3D world has a camera, so it's important that the player be able to see what routes to follow and not overlook something important. By changing the camera viewpoint just a little you might not be able to see something you ought. For this reason we put in Navi, your little follower. She'll help you notice something that you'd previously be able to see using a fixed-point camera. We couldn't do everything we wanted due to memory constraints.

Toshio Iwawaki (Program Director):
For this Zelda, we wanted to really develop the items available to the player. If you have the right weapon, you'll be able to easily defeat enemies. That's what we were aiming for. We had begun the process with Mario, but we had to deal with problems like not having enough function available for what we wanted to do.

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
In the beginning, there was nothing. When we started this Zelda from scratch, we begun by building the programming tools we'd need. We thought about what was necessary, what operations we'd be using, and what we would have to deal with. It was necessary to figure out what we couldn't do as well as what we wanted to try.

Eiji Onozuka (Dungeon Design):
We had to decide how many objects to use. We can't differ from traditional dungeon enemies and events, but anyone can change things using programming tools. The staff came up with ideas for about 50 objects, arranging and fixing them using the tools.

"(1-14) Looks Like This Zelda Was Half Done by Mario" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-12-10-THU

Epona's Song Lyrics

English
日本語

翻訳: GlitterBerri
英文: GlitterBerri
刊行日: 2008年4月17日

刊行地:





Translation: GlitterBerri
Article: GlitterBerri
Publish Date: April 17th, 2008

Hosted By:





Little Malon, always dreaming... keeping her head in the clouds with the responsibility of the whole ranch in her hands. Like Marin, she never let go of her dreams. This is a ballad she sang for her friend Epona, a pony who may have understood her better than a human ever could.

Shigeru Miyamoto:

"I've always been a fan of country music, including people like Emmylou Harris, so I insisted on having a songstress in the game. I changed the ranch girl Malon into a songstress so the horses were attracted to her because of her song. However, this didn't really suit her dialogue at the time. Originally we had her singing alone in the middle of the ranch, but halfway through we changed it so she went to the castle, but then she didn't sing anymore. It was fun to consider those kinds of things."

Epona's Song - Ocarina of Time Rearranged Album.mp3 (ZeldaPower)
Epona's Song - Mario & Zelda Big Band Live CD.mp3 (ZeldaPower)

エポナ、エポナ、そばにおいで	Epona, Epona, come to my side
二人でいれば、寂しく何かない	If we're together there's no loneliness
だから、エポナ、ここにいて	Because, Epona, you're here with me
お前だけを守ってあげる	I'll protect only you
こうしていると思い出す	Standing here, I remember
あの日の夜明け	The dawn of that day
月が沈み、太陽と	The moon sinking, you were born
お前が生まれた	With the rising sun
エポナ、エポナ、そばにおいで	Epona, Epona, come to my side
二人でいれば、悲しく何かない	If we're together there's no sadness
だから、エポナ、ここにいて	Because, Epona, you're here with me
私の歌を聞いていてね	Keep listening to my song
トゥルルー トゥルルー トゥルルルールー	Too loo loo Too loo loo Too loo loo loo loo
こうしていると思い出す	Standing here I remember
あの頃の事	That time when
お前のために母さんは	My mother wrote for you
作った、この歌	This song
トゥルルー トゥルルー トゥルルルールー	Too loo loo Too loo loo Too loo loo loo loo
二人でいれば悲しく何かない	If we're together there's no sadness
トゥルルー トゥルルー トゥルルルールー	Too loo loo Too loo loo Too loo loo loo loo
忘れないでね、この歌	Never forget this song
この歌	This song

Parts They Want You to See (Part 2) - 絶対見て欲しい所はここ その２

Original ZeldaPower article here. (Monday, 09 June 2008)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-13: The Parts They Want You to See in This Zelda (Part 2)
Original Interview Link (1101)
オリジナルなインタビュー(1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness! One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview. We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of Hobonichi's nearby tree.

(1-13)
The Parts They Want You to See in This Zelda (Part 2)

We Want You to Experience a Cinematic Atmosphere
Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
At the beginning, Miyamoto told us "I want to project an atmosphere". I remember thinking that I wanted that idea to be our foundation. For example, for the sunset we had to figure out how to return the sun to the top of the sky. We were always thinking about how to best project the atmosphere. Everyone planned to have that in mind.

We Want You to Experience the Atmosphere of a Field

Makoto Miyanaga (Field Design):
We didn't get that tone, that feel, because we decided on it in the beginning. It came to us as we worked on it. While we were doing storyboards, we drew and coloured detailed sketches of the field as if it were real.

I myself had the atmosphere in mind. When I joined the development team, the sky's complete transformation from morning to afternoon, evening, and night was already finished. More and more, I found myself thinking "why can't we do things like air and atmosphere and wind and smell and temperature?" and ended up pouring all my energy into achieving that.

At least in that regard, I couldn't let Ocarina of Time's atmosphere be outdone by any other game. I made it with the thought "from now on, we won't fail to our competitors." I'm kind of vain.



The N64 hardware is able to produce fog. If you use too much of it, it will become cliched, but by tuning the amount subtly we got an "Ah, this.. this is morning" effect and gradually decided the thickness of the fog. We made the decisions for each part, working until the results were satisfactory and not usually having time to touch it up further. Even so, a short time later I'd usually find myself thinking "This is a little dark, isn't it?" and even though things were already finished I went back and tuned it a little better.



Ganon is Totally Metal

Chie Takizawa (Character Design):
We created Ganondorf's clothing in the style of an 80's Visual Kei band. He looks like a metal-head. *laughs* Ganondorf is recognizable as a person of the desert. Osawa-san suggested that this time we use red and black and gold to create his colour scheme, so I kept that in mind.



Yoshiki Haruhana (Character Design):
Zelda's apron is quite an elaborate piece of clothing. *laughs* I was the one who filled in the designs on it, like the Triforce and the bird spreading its wings. I redrew it so many times that, of all the female characters, I've now come to hate Zelda the most. *laughs*



Satoru Takizawa (Character Design):
Creating the characters was really difficult. I was never sure how much I should tamper with the initial character designs and draw out the process. Even though I didn't want to tamper with it anymore, I kept at it. After all, it's difficult to make attractive characters. Creating villains is much better. There's always a little bit of good inside them, which makes it interesting.

"(1-13) The Parts They Want You to See in This Zelda (Part 2)" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-12-10-THU

Parts They Want You to See - 絶対見て欲しい所はここ

Original ZeldaPower article here. (Wednesday, 13 February 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-12: The Parts They Want You to See in This Zelda (Part 1)
Original Interview Link (1101)

(1-12)
The Parts They Want You to See in This Zelda (Part 1)

We Want You to Listen to the Characters' Voices

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
In the Jabu Jabu dungeon there is a princess named Princess Ruto that Link can pick up and throw against walls. The sound she makes when she hits the wall was popular with the staff.

In this Zelda game I think we used lots of voice acting, but even for professional voice actors, just screaming etc. is very difficult. Therefore even if we temporarily brought in amateurs and TV talents, it would have been horrible. I'm happy we asked voice actors.

We Want You to Savor the Pleasant Feeling of Link Falling

Eiji Onizuka (Dungeon Design):
The dungeons in this game don't have many levels. In order to evoke the feeling of falling we put a big emphasis on each level so when you're plummeting down 5 floors you get that "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" sensation. As for the practical falling distance, I think it's fine if you fall about 20 meters. More than 20 meters usually results in death, but in this world *laughs* Link can survive. But at first, Link didn't receive a considerable amount of damage even if he fell 20 meters. When I listened to the monitor's opinion, "It would be weird for Link to fall so far and be okay", I adjusted it accordingly.

Another thing... in dungeons there are long drops down to places you need to go. If you fall down there and suddenly receive a lot of damage, that wouldn't be pleasant. Our solution was to put water at the bottom to act as a cushion, so even if you fell you wouldn't get hurt.

Of course, if you do fall and roll as you land you can avoid damage. People who can roll are almighty. Even if you land in the water and don't receive damage, we want you to enjoy the falling sensation.

We Want You to Find Connections to Previous Games

Toru Osawa (Script Director):
In this game there are 7 sages that appear and instruct Princess Zelda, but 6 of those appear in the Disk System game "Adventure of Link" as town names.



We were hinting that the names of the sages in the era of the Imprisoning War spoken of in the Super Famicom Zelda game became town names in AoL. The events from that time became what we have today.

A father and daughter named Marin and Tarin that were introduced in Link's Awakening for GameBoy also appeared in this Zelda game. We're hoping that people who've played the Zelda series from the very beginning will recognize them. If you wonder "is this a reference to then?" we'll be happy.

We Want You to Do Your Best With the Controller Operation

Miyamoto:
It's often said that the operation of the controller is difficult. But I think that the new controller function is the best yet. There are a lot of things I tried to do, so it was difficult to fit everything in. I thought it would be fun to play with the Z button, but there are children with small hands who can't move the control stick well when pressing Z, so we put in the Hold option for them. The controller function is the part that I most want you to see.

Yoshiaki Koizumi (3d System Director):
I want those who say it's difficult to just practice and get used to it. It's just like learning to use a computer, right?

We Want You to Feel the Mystery

Miyamoto:
A long time ago on the Famicom players went by a childish formula: when you saw a suspicious area, you'd test it tirelessly for secrets. The new Zelda's creation was grand but it was difficult to devise the mysteries. Instead of the usual formula, even in places that seem obvious to the player mysterious things will happen to surprise them. It's not that it will be completely unexpected, but there's a bit of a difference between predicting something's there and seeing the consequences of your actions. We want you to feel the difficulty of that balance.

We Want You to Enter the Game

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
The usual cutscenes don't flow like movies, they each have messages. We want the user to push a button and empathize with Link. Press a button, see the decided consequence reflected by the game, and the extent of your empathy increases. We want the player to feel like they are more or less part of the cutscene.

"(1-12) The Parts They Want You to See in This Zelda (Part 1)" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-12-8-TUE

Animation (Part 3) - アニメーション その３

Original ZeldaPower article here. (Thursday, 13 September 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-11: Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 3)
Original Interview Link (1101)

(1-11)
Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 3)

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
In the Legend of Zelda series, the protagonist has never spoken. This new game has inherited the tradition from the Super Famicom era. "This is a game, not a movie!" has always been Nintendo's slogan, and this time is no different. But saying that, if you add up the time it takes to watch all the movies in Ocarina of Time, the total comes out to be more than 1 and 1/2 hours! The cutscenes are all short, but it adds up.

There are places in the game where you meet Princess Zelda. This is when a lot of special conditions come into play, and we had to program that accordingly. We had to toss out a lot of requests that just weren't possible and make compromises. If you look at the cutscene we were able to make, long cuts were made to that, and Zelda, of course, remains expressionless.

Then the monitor started spitting out a mountain of errors, saying things like "I don't feel like working for this princess!" That programmer was a very busy man, but when we interrupted him to ask "Can you somehow put this in, please?" he was able to do the textures and animations and scene cuts and so on. So I really want you to see the "Meeting Zelda" cutscene.

I was also in charge of synchronizing Link playing the Ocarina with the music. Basically my favorite place was the fire dungeon, so I think that's the place where the music and cutscene synchronizes best. *laughs*
I want you to see that, too.

Zelda's ending reminds me of Star Wars. It also sort of references Dark Crystal. More than figuring out where the scene cuts should be, we were worrying about how to project that atmosphere.



I definitely watch anime a lot. So much so that I'm called Captain Anime. *laughs*
Anime I consider interesting I show people with reckless abandon. "This is great!" I say. Recently I've been enjoying "Perfect Blue" which is a psycho thriller. It's not because we used it as a reference for the games, but the transitions of cutscenes were interesting.

The scene cuts are connected to Link's movements. It was interesting to watch that. In my time, it's been my experience that things like animation and special effects can't be separated.

In Zelda our goal was to clear everything up by making small cuts here and there. As for the information volume of the cartridge, of course it's different from a CD-ROM game. CD-ROMs have a lot more volume. I admit that, you're right.

We did have a storyboard. Well, we had one, but I wonder about it. *laughs* It's easy to draw it.

"(1-11) Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 3)" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-12-6-SUN

Animation (Part 2) - アニメーションががんばっている その２

Original ZeldaPower article here. (Monday, 03 September 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-10: Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 2)
Original Interview Link (1101)

(1-10)
Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 2)

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
Another person and I were in charge of the demo production, but since we both liked movies I think we had a foundation to work from. I graduated from the film department in university, but when I joined Nintendo the Super Famicom was still the major system and there wasn't much film-type work for me to do. Now that I'm able to, I'm pretty happy about it.

It was the first time for either of us to work on a Zelda game, so consequentially we found ourselves occasionally groping around for the right way to do things. When you compare it to the rendering of polygons on the CD-ROM games, the information volume of movies fails. I was trying to think of a way we could cover that. In the end, I spent all my time fussing with the camerawork.



I wanted to do camerawork that could only be accomplished in a polygon game. If we were doing a live scene, for example, we'd have to put together the set with cranes or something. CG is really practical for creating scenes freely.

We also wanted to have something more beautiful than a fixed layout. We thought about the camera movements in relation to the action scenes and the symmetry needed for the emotional scenes.

With the limited information volume of polygons, we initially recognized that we might not be able to improve the quality of the characters' facial expressions. However, during the stage when we incorporated the angles, scenarios, and direction we tried to make them symbolic. We made textures for Zelda to have her looking sideways at Link, for example, thinking a setup like that would work great.

When the polygons freeze, their information volume suddenly greatly decreases. In the beginning when Link stood still, the camera fixed itself, but the information volume was too small. So we made a wait animation, in short, a basic animation, made from the animation when Link is standing perfectly still, we derived all animations from that.

In terms of the animation, we divided the work between programming and animating, deciding which to apply where. Finally this year we established which method to use.

The very first Space World version was just a simple demo but I didn't think it was frightening or dreamlike so we fixed it by adding sound effects like "KABOOM!", cut the sequences to make them shorter, and had a black fadeout. Eventually all the little cuts accumulated and we were able to produce that dreamlike feeling, something I was very happy about.

Toshio Iwawaki (Program Director):
Last year, we had a lot of trouble getting ready for Space World. At the very last minute, our playable demo's animation patterns disappeared. The movement reactions were slow and most of the animation vanished. I felt it was really a disappointment because we had worked so hard on making the animation beautiful. The response of the players was really important to us. What a waste...

We made some changes after Spaceworld. For example, before you'd press the button to draw your sword and then press again to swing, which lead to complaints of the animation being slow, so we changed it so you could draw and swing with one tap. But Link drawing his weapon and swinging suddenly didn't make for a picturesque movement, we wanted the player to see Link taking the time to unsheathe his weapon first and changed it a little accordingly. *laughs*



Super Mario 64's frame rate is 30 frames a second, but Ocarina of Time's is only 20. I wanted it to go more quickly, but speeding it up made the game look a lot worse and I began to think that maybe 30 would be impossible, finally deciding that 20 frames per second added to the realistic look. I actually still would have liked it to be faster.

"(1-10) Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 2)" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-12-4-THU

Animation - アニメーションががんばっている

Original ZeldaPower article here. (Saturday, 21 July 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-8: Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 1)
Original Interview Link (1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of 1101's nearby tree.

(1-9)
Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 1)

Movement

Yoshiaki Koizumi (3D System Director):
Adult Link and Child Link are actually programmed with the same animations. Firstly, we programmed their movements so we could animate them. Again, we used machines for the parts that were in motion. In order to research the type of movement in a sword battle, we went to the Uzumasa movie studio and observed moving actors. JAC actors were nice enough to demonstrate other actions for us and we were able to see a lot of movements. At the beginning of Ocarina of Time, for example, Link wakes up in the morning and gets out of bed. Also, if Link stands still he will automatically move around.

Toshio Iwawaki (Program Director):
In Ocarina of Time Link has about 1000 animation combinations. The reason there are so many is because both Link's upper and lower body animations combine to form a whole-body animation. For example, while his upper body is waving a sword, his lower body is walking.



Motion Capture

Miyamoto:
We'd been fussing over how Link should open a treasure chest for 3 years.

When we got the idea of using motion capture, there were some in the staff who were against it. We ended up deciding that just a little would be okay.

My company is sometimes worried about losing money, so when motion capture was suggested we were met with a "Do you really need that much equipment? Isn't what you're doing now okay?" sort of reaction. We started out using wireframe motion capture, but soon we made our own method which actually cost twice as much. But what's the point of doing something that's already been done before?

When we were photographing horses, we even went as far as discussing how to bring a real horse into the studio. In the end we got 2 footstools and a plank and making our own horse like that.

On the day I went to the studio, there was a fantastic iron-frame treasure chest with a sword and shield inside. It clearly had cost a lot of money. When I asked "What is all this for?" the triumphant reply was "We figured out how to open a treasure chest!"
Their conclusion was that before you opened the chest you needed to kick the hinge first or there's no way the action looked realistic.

I wonder if the motion capture team made that too...
It was really good stuff.

We actually had some better ideas for the treasure chest, but we couldn't fit it in this time. Maybe in the near future...?

"(1-9) Looks Like the Animation is Incredible in This Zelda (Part 1)" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-12-2-WED

Dungeons (Part 2) - ダンジョンがたいへん その２

Original ZeldaPower article here. (Friday, 22 June 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-8: Looks Like the Dungeons Are Difficult in This Zelda (Part 2)
Original Interview Link (1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of 1101's nearby tree.

(1-8)
Looks Like the Dungeons Are Difficult in This Zelda (Part 2)

Eiji Onozuka (Dungeon Design):
Since the beginning Zelda has always had jars in dungeons from which you can obtain hearts or other replenishing items. It's a bother to go back outside and heal once you are halfway through the dungeon, so of course this Zelda's no different.

At the start of the game, we made the dungeons easy to navigate with simple puzzles for you to solve. We didn't want anyone getting frustrated and giving up just after they'd started, so we put in a lot of healing items in the form of grass you can cut to obtain hearts and such. From the middle onwards, you have to do your best with a limited supply of supplements.

We tried to put in lots of rupee-filled treasure chests at first, but people ended up getting annoyed wondering why there were so many rupees in a place where they were totally useless.

The most difficult aspect of Ocarina of Time was the matter of "what could we put in, at what point in time, in what place, that would make the player happy?" However, as we were separated from the consumers, we didn't get all the data we needed by the end. At the point in time that Link arrived at the dungeon, it took awhile for us to decide what sort of condition he'd be in and things he'd need as a result.

In the Super Nintendo games, there weren't many items lying around so it was easy to manage the amounts and types, but in Ocarina of Time there are different wallet sizes and the amount of money the player has is totally different.
When the player arrived at a dungeon, did they already have enough money? Were they unexpectedly missing an item they needed?
We had to think of things like that and put a lot of jars around so players could acquire or replenish what they needed to complete the dungeon.



In this game you have the option of being a child or an adult. Thusly, we considered such things as how much money you would be able to carry as a child or what sort of hindrances you would encounter due to your age.
We had to try and prepare things differently than previous games in order to make the material interesting.

I, personally, really like the Forest Temple. It was the very first dungeon we designed in Ocarina of Time. At that time we envisioned a lot of material and tried to recreate our ideas. We made the game's characters around the same time.

At the center of the Forest Temple lies the twisting pathway. When you go through it, you can reach items you couldn't before. We wouldn't have been able to make something like that if the game hadn't been 3D. It's easy to think "wow, the path twists!" but the designers actually had a lot of trouble with it. I think they spent about a week tormenting themselves over how to make it work. Because the designers were new to this, I drew them a picture to explain how the path should twist. In the end they did their best and managed to pull it off pretty well.

In the Water Temple, the player was required to solve puzzles in not just one room, but travel countless times to and from an area in order to unlock the solution. We were often told how stressful this was. I just wanted the player to relax and take it easy, play around a bit. I'm a fan of skin diving, you see. *laughs*
I like being in the water! *laughs*
Besides, as long as you have the right items, you can stay in the water forever.

As for the Fire Temple, we created a huge dungeon. Our aim was to allow the player to play around and enjoy the temple, something I believe we were successful at.

Back in the Water Temple, there's a place where Link can use his hookshot to climb the waterfall. I used a rare one-handed calculator to calculate each hookshot point. I usually spent my time doing more important things, but that day I did something unlike me and worked on the little details. I hope you enjoy yourself there!
Each dungeon holds a memory, so make sure to take your time and have fun.

"(1-8) Looks Like the Dungeons Are Difficult in This Zelda (Part 2)" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-11-30-MON

Dungeons - ダンジョンがたいへん

Original ZeldaPower article here.
オリジナル英文 (Friday, 22 June 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-7: Looks Like the Dungeons Are Difficult in in This Zelda
Original Interview Link (1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of 1101's nearby tree.

(1-7)
Looks Like the Dungeons Are Difficult in This Zelda (Part 1)

Eiji Onozuka (Dungeon Design):
The very first dungeon of the game is Child Link's Deku Tree. It wasn't made as a place that had sprung into existence, but rather as a thing that had always been there.

The dungeons of Zelda are usually planned so the player must retrieve keys to continue onwards, but at the beginning this isn't required. However, each time you clear a section, you will be unable to go back. For example in "Jabu-Jabu's Belly," the valves in his gut have an opening and closing device.

Link is still young, making it difficult for him to acquire so many keys. Besides, it would be a little weird if you needed keys in the inside of a fish, so we ended up finding other methods to use in the living dungeons.

In the middle of the game, the dungeons you have to complete are man-made temples. These include Forest, Water, and Fire, as well as the Shadow Temple and Spirit Temple which were constructed with 2 sections so you can come and go as either adult or child.

When creating the dungeons, we drew level blueprints to consult and spoke in detail to the designers making it for us. However, we left it to the designers to figure out how exactly it was going to turn out.

We got a lot of time to think about the dungeons, so we experimented on the CAD (Computer-Aided Design; used a lot in architecture) sheets the designers made. We ended up planning them like houses, so to speak. The size of the dungeon rooms was based off the size of Link's body.

The things inside the dungeons move, for the most part. It was a race to finish this in time. It was a lot of trouble to program the balance needed to give big things large, expansive movements and we were constantly worried. However, there were also things that just wouldn't work, which we quickly got sick of and abandoned because of the limited time in our schedule.

We also put material from one dungeon in others, no sense wasting what can be used again. It was easy to forget which devices were made for which dungeons.

The basic way to finish a dungeon is to kill all the enemies, solve puzzles, press switches, open gates... it's up to you to decide which item (say, your bow) needs to be used on which switch, or rather what to do if pressing the switch just isn't that easy... it's a little cruel of us. *laughs*

Personally, I like the old-style Zelda dungeons in which you have to solve puzzles to continue, where there are fewer enemies. I'd rather have you puzzling over what to do than hacking your way through monsters. I really enjoy the whole conception process. The best part is thinking "Even I couldn't do this puzzle!" Because we want the player feeling good when they manage to solve it without getting too frustrated, we make sure to run the puzzle through from the beginning and reduce the number of enemies near it.



The puzzle's contents are orthodox till the middle of the game, and thereafter you must put the things you've learned to use. At the beginning, there's only one puzzle room to solve, then eventually entire dungeons become rotating puzzles. In the final dungeons, everything you've learned comes into play and the puzzles are accompanied by an athletic element, as the staff who worked on Mario were kind enough to help us out. Athletic dungeons are their specialty. I don't think it could flow any better!

"(1-7) Looks Like the Dungeons Are Difficult in This Zelda" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-11-28-SAT

Ganondorf - ガノンドロフはワルでもイイオトコ

Original ZeldaPower article here.
オリジナル英文 (Friday, 22 June 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-6: Looks Like Ganondorf is Both Good and Evil in This Zelda
Original Interview Link (1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of 1101's nearby tree.

(1-6)
Looks Like Ganondorf is Both Good and Evil in This Zelda

Satoru Takizawa (Character Design):
My first impressions of Ganon were of a twisted thief with a complex, and my intention was to create the character in that image. However, the character design team and the script director Toru Osawa told me it wasn't so, that this time Ganon would be a pretty good guy, a "great fist" like Raou (an anime/videogame character). They wanted to show a more charismatic big-shot, so I changed my thoughts accordingly.

Ganondorf grew his hair out from the first time you saw him to seven years later. We ended up making 3 forms for the final Ganon. At least temporarily, Ganondorf sort of has a Christopher Lambert-type image...
But he turns out to be considerably different, of course.



In the previous Zeldas, Ganon has always been a pig. Though we wanted to do something differently this time, we still thought it would be best to have him as a pig in the end, but weren't sure how to go about it. I was really worried, myself. I wanted to know what Miyamoto would think. In the end I realized Miyamoto wouldn't be obsessed about anything like that, and just went through with it myself.

The story in Ocarina of time isn't actually original, it deals with the Sages' Imprisoning War from the Super Famicom's ALttP. Because of the relation, I thought it would be right to leave a part of the pigginess in.

So, what I mean is "pigs will be pigs," hey? When Ganondorf transforms, his human face is pulled away and only the pig remains, it can't be hidden anymore. During the time we were designing him, some of the staff had cold medicine called Kaigen, so they ended up calling Ganon "The God of Colds" or "The Cold Spreader" (Kaiten mascots).

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
In this Zelda there are bits of voice acting here and there, but the voice actor in charge of playing Ganondorf in the first cutscene you see really made him seem like a devil, somehow awful and evil. Afterwards I took the actor aside and asked him not to play a demon, but cool and dangerous at the same time. A voice like cheap wine.

Toshio Iwawaki (Program Director):
The movement of Ganon's cloak in the first part of the final battle was awesome. *laughs*
I think they did really well.

Naoki Mori:
I was mostly in charge of Ganon's production, though of course Miyamoto also played a large part.

Miyamoto warned us that "more than trying to figure out how to make the game cinematic, work on the feel and atmosphere." When Zelda first meets Ganon, for example, she immediately divines that he is a evil person. She appeals with all her might to the people around her, wanting to be understood, but the adults squarely refuse to side with her, her parents ignore her, and she ends up just peering through the window. Miyamoto thought up that sequence. His thoughts always inspire a lot of ideas.

Beyond that, at first it wasn't a window Zelda was looking through, but rather a peephole. But then someone asked "why would there be a peephole in a castle courtyard?"



Sadly, when we asked the the mappers to change the peephole to a window, I think we made one cry...
*laughs*

Altering just one thing makes 5 or 10 people suffer for it, but they did it when we stressed the importance. With their work loads, even a tiny thing becomes a big deal!

"(1-6) Looks Like Ganondorf is Both Good and Evil in This Zelda" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-11-26-THU

Characters - キャラクター

Original ZeldaPower article here.
オリジナル英文 (Friday, 22 June 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-5: Looks Like You Have to Pay Attention to the Characters in This Zelda
Original Interview Link (1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of 1101's nearby tree.

(1-5)
Looks Like You Have to Pay Attention to the Characters in This Zelda

Yoshiki Haruhana (Character Design):
I was in charge of the characters, but it was a lot of trouble because of how many there were. It was difficult to make compromises when something went wrong.
There were even things that gave me indigestion, but I think we were able to do it in the end.



There are more than 60 characters in Ocarina of Time! One character takes about 2-3 days to make, so our schedule is always uncertain. We just have to go from one to the next.

Fellow staff-member Takano once told me "all the people you make turn out to be freaks!" I never intend to do that! My response is always "oh, is that so?" *laughs*
For example, Dampe the gravekeeper is a hunchback, right?

In Kakariko Village, there's a guy sitting by himself on top of a house. It was also never my intention to make a character similar to myself, but afterwards 5 people said to me "Hey, that's you!" I definitely wasn't aiming for it, I swear. To the contrary, I didn't even want to make a character after myself! But even so...

Satoru Takizawa (Character Design):
I never meant to fuss over the characters, but still I was inclined to treat them as if they were real.

We designed them to be real, so we were also attempted to make them have interesting and realistic animations. Because they were interesting and elaborate, we wanted the animation to be honest, serious.



Sort of like the Poes, grudgingly running away from the player... Other enemies, when defeated, will burst into flames and disintegrate... little things like that.

There's even a guy who looks like Kimutaku (Kimura Takuya, Japanese celebrity)! The medicine shop man really clearly resembles him. *laughs*
If I told you my favorite character in Zelda: Ocarina of Time, it'd have to be him, the Kakariko Village medicine man with sparking teeth and long hair.

Haruhana:
The medicine shop man's character stands out because of the resemblance. In short, it means he's too good of a person, making him a freak. While making him, I was thinking "Hey, this guy reminds me of someone...", but I might have been unconsciously channeling Kimutaku all along, I don't know.

A good example of a female in the game would be Kakariko Village's Chicken Lady. Pretty and completely inoffensive! Fellow staff member Onozuka was very pleased with her.

Aside from her, everyone else is a freak. *laughs*
Ingo looks a little like a fag, don't you think? He's a pigeon-toed weakling. *laughs*
I'm happy there were people who noticed the pigeon-toes. It's a little unkind, but because he is weak inside, him being pigeon-toed casts a bit of a weak image.



Other exemplary characters would be the Bean Seller who resides at Zora's River, forever eating beans; Dampei, who I mentioned before, the gravekeeper; and the Magic Medicine Shop's grandmother. Those three are the cutest examples, in my opinion.

Naoki Mori (Cinema Scene Director):
I was in charge of Princess Zelda's demo movies. The games feature Zelda, the heroine, and Link, the knight. Now we also have the appearance of Saria, the forest girl. Though someone else was in charge of creating her, I've taken a liking to her.
I was, however, conscious of the fact that I had to make it so that Saria's character didn't eclipse Zelda's in the series.

"(1-5) Looks Like You Have to Pay Attention to the Characters in This Zelda" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-11-24-TUE

Minigames - イベント・サブゲーム

Original ZeldaPower article here.
オリジナル英文 (Saturday, 02 June 2007)

Ocarina of Time Staff Interview 1-3: Looks Like This Zelda Has Minigames
Original Interview Link (1101)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time news, direct from the production area! The Zelda team chosen by Shigeru Miyamoto created Zelda 64 with surprising stubbornness!
One part of that stubbornness was to do a stubborn interview.
We'll pass on a small part of that interview from the top of 1101's nearby tree.

(1-3)
Looks Like This Zelda has Minigames

1101:
What are your memories of the scarecrows Pierre and Bonooru?

Miyamoto:
With them, the twelve songs increased to thirteen. *laughs*
The thirteenth song is the Scarecrow's. There are two scarecrows called Pierre and Bonooru, one with a good memory, the other not so much. *laugh*
If you play the ocarina in front of Pierre, he will remember your melody for you. Bonooru has a worse memory, so he'll mostly forget it, but both play an important role. They stand in the farmer's field on the left-hand shore of Lake Hylia. Pierre the clever wandering scarecrow, Bonooru the idiot.

When Link becomes an adult, Pierre is off wandering and only Bonooru watches the field. However, even with the forgetful Bonooru present, do your best to remember the old memory you taught him and he will call Pierre.



Eiji Onozuka (Dungeon Design):
You can meet the scarecrow at various times throughout the game. Each time the way to find him will change, but he appears in the child dungeons at the beginning as well as the adult. If you play the Scarecrow's Song in various places, a variety of interesting things will happen. Think of it as a secret...

Actually, if you look hard enough, Navi will flutter above the spot where the scarecrow appears. She'll stop to say "He's here!". If there is also an enemy nearby, Navi will soon fly over to him, so if you don't take care you will overlook it! Therefore try to defeat all the enemies in a room and then watch Navi carefully.



1101:
The minigame pictures look a little suspicious...

Yoshiaki Koizumi (3D System Design):
In this game when the player begins a subquest, there are many things to consider. If you're sucked into one, think "Huh? Now what do I do?" and lose sight of the story, you can listen to Navi. She will tell you what's important at that point in time.

This Zelda is really deep, so it's boring to only play through once. From the second time on, there will still be different things to enjoy.

For example, "how many grottoes can I open?" or "how far can I go on my horse?" or "what will happen if I play my ocarina everywhere?" etc. There are lots of little tricks like that, so it takes a little more time to fully enjoy the game.

Usually with subquests the secret things look suspicious. If there's something that's a little different from everything else, you should examine it. As for the more difficult secrets, there will be nothing to see but Navi will bring you to the location, so you have to closely follow Navi's movements. Of course, even Navi won't show you the most difficult secrets. If you clear those, you'll be a Zelda Master.

1101:
There aren't any chickens!

Toru Osawa (Script Director):
Yes, the chickens are there. If you see them around you can decide whether to fight them. When we were deciding whether to put in the chickens again or not, everyone said "shouldn't we just leave them out?". The chickens in Zelda naturally counterattack. I didn't know, but the staff did it their own way. Is it okay to attack the chickens...? I think you'll be defeated! *laughs*



1101:
So, what happens if you find the Stone of Agony?

Takashi Onozuka:
There is a Stone of Agony, but it's shaped like the rumble pack. Nothing will happen when you get it, but you may find it start to shake from time to time. The rumbling will become stronger as you get warmer, and once you find the right place and do something, something interesting will happen.

Takushi Tezuka (Supervisor):
By the way, in the English version the "Modae no Ishi" is called the "Stone of Agony."



Special Project A Public Presentation From the Fish-Loving Folks at 1101!! • Fishing Minigame Background: An abundance of minigames, separate from the storyline, was created for Ocarina of Time. One of them is the Fishing Pond found in Lake Hylia. Even for fishing, the pond is very natural. The graphics and controls make it engrossing.
If you have the rumble pack equipped, the controller will vibrate in accordance with the situation, making the act of reeling in feel more realistic. Because the size of the fish is different, the response is also different. It almost feels like real fishing!



In the fishing pond, there are some hidden elements you can only encounter by playing regularly. These are the sinking lure and the Hylian Loach.

The appearance rate of these secrets will now be made clear.

• How to Get the Sinking Lure

As a child, if you can catch a fish over 50 centimeters, the owner of the Fishing Pond will give you a piece of heart. If you catch a fish larger than 60 centimeters as an adult, you will receive the Golden Scale. The Sinking Lure can be found randomly in one of four places. The clump of bushes, on top of the driftwood, near the rocks, and around the waterfall.

(Child Era: 26-55 cm
Adult Era: 35-75 cm)

1 out of 4 times (when you enter the Fishing Pond by the door), the Hylian Loach (60-99 cm) will appear. Because the Hylian Loach swims in the deepest part of the water, it is difficult to catch without the sinking lure.

• Hit Rate

Evening: 1.75
Early Morning: 1.5
Muddy Day (day after rain): 1.5
Rainy Day (1 time out of 8): 3.0

This is previously unknown information from our secret base, so feel free to brag about how smart you are!

"(1-3) Looks Like This Zelda has Minigames" has ended.
The interview continues from here, so please check back for updates!

1998-11-19-THU