The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi have spoken about player creativity, saying goodbye to the Nintendo Switch, and the likelihood of a Super Mario Maker-style game for the Legend of Zelda series in a recent interview with Polygon.
The pair spoke about how they were surprised at how quickly players began to test the limits of the game’s creation system. They realized after the release of Breath of the Wild that players enjoyed sharing and talking about the things that they were able to make in the game, though they said the potential for a dungeon creator similar to Super Mario Maker is limited.
“When we’re creating games like Tears of the Kingdom, I think it’s important that we don’t make creativity a requirement,” Aonuma said. “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.”
Though Tears of the Kingdom allows players to go off of the intended path and be creative, it is not required to beat the game. Players who don’t want to build their own machines or go around puzzles still have the option to play in the traditional way. “And so I don’t think that it would be a good fit for The Legend of Zelda to necessarily require people to build things from scratch and force them to be creative,” Aonuma continued.
The interview also touched on the approaching end of the Switch’s life cycle. Aonuma discussed the mindset that they’ve had in the past, which is more focused on looking forward to what they can do next than mourning a past console. “And so I think, rather than focusing on the past, when we’ve changed from one console to another, it’s more than a feeling of saying goodbye. It’s a feeling of excitement. It’s about what will be the new things that we’ll be able to do,” he said.
Though a full Zelda Maker is unlikely, the two still want to incorporate creative elements into future entries in the series. Going forward, they want to focus on what brings players joy, and are excited to continue working on the series.