Why do Zelda Console games take 5 years to develop.... ?

[Jon-Erich]

Pavolink said:

Jon-Erich said:

1. Because you're dealing with newer, more spohisticated technology and bigger games. That requires more man hours. It's a common issues the industry is having. All things considering, development times for the console games have been somewhat consistant.

2. I don't like to count pre-production times. Pre-production is done during the development of the previous games, meaning that they couldn't start working on the next game until the previous one is finished. In pre-production, a teams size, development cycle, and budget are being considered. Again, this is a normal thing in the industry and has nothing to do with Aonima's inability to get a game out at a decent time.

3. He's not creating an open world game because he's out of ideas. He specifically said he has always wanted to create an open world game like what was on the NES but the technology wasn't there that allowed him to do such a thing in a 3D environment. If anything Aonuma has ideas that are thought of years ahead of time but he has to pick the right game for those ideas to be utilized. With Zelda HD, his ideas for that game could not be done before.

1. Not all of the new games are bigger than the predecessors.

2. Zelda team was able to have a more consistent release schedule. The entire industry struggling doesn't excuse Zelda team for doing the same.

3. He specifically mentioned the open world and Zelda NES. If the NES was able to handled an open world there's no excuse for the subsequent hardware. Also, he doesn't have any idea ahead of time as his ideas are from other games or it comes during development, not before.

1. Compared to the NES, SNES and Game Boy games, yes they are. 

2. It has nothing to do with a struggling industry. The COD games, Assassins Creed games and Madden were released yearly. Yet the resources needed to get those games out on time were planned years in advance, while other games were still in development. All pre-planning is, is preparing to work on a game, not actually working on the game itself. While I'm sure Aonuma and other Zelda team members have ideas in their heads, nobody's doing any concept art. Nobody is doing any scenario planning or dungeon designs. In Aonuma's case, he's the producer of a series that is spread accross consoles and handhelds. So it would make perfect sense for two console games with a 2-3 year cycle to be released several years apart from one another. So what exactly is he doing wrong in this aspect?

3. Read his interview again. He specifically said that he always wanted to do a game like that in 3D but previous Nintendo hardware couldn't handle it. Also, the NES couldn't handle an open world. This is why the first Zelda game was set up like a grid. What happened on one screen was all that was happening. Any other screen was non-existant as far as the hardware was concerned. In a 3D game, it would have been impossible for such a limitation to be allowed to exist. A more open world had always been the objective of the Zelda team, even when Shigeru Miyamoto was in charge of the team. Also, who cares if his ideas exist in other games? There's a difference between universal concepts and applying that concept towards one game. For example, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to implement horseback sword fighting in Ocarina of Time but found that the N64 hardware couldn't handle it. So they put that idea on the shelf and brought it back for Twilight Princess. That's what Miyamoto and Aonuma always. They came up with ideas and if those ideas didn't work, they would wait till the hardware advanced to a point where those ideas could work. 

It should also be mentioned that when Aonuma mentions an open world experience, he isn't just talking about how nig the world itself is. He's also referring to the hands off, semi-non linear style of the older games.

Btw, did you even play Zelda on the NES?