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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Monolith Soft currently recruiting staff for an entry in The Legend of Zelda series

Wyrdness on 03 April 2019
Jumpin said:
Wyrdness said:

The number is relevant as people are saying around 60% of Monolith when it's barely nothing compared to the total of people Nintendo have under them the Zelda team alone are bigger than Monolith having double checked the 5000 plus includes EPD although the statistics number posted by Nintendo is different to what you say here, also looking at the 300 figure you cited nowhere does it cite that Monolith were included in that figure as Aonuma said the team had 300 people Monolith maybe the extra 60 or so people as Monoliths' 200 employee figure now is after a recruitment drive 2 years after BOTW release, they were around 120 people when BOTW started and finished. During SS' development Monolith were even smaller and were around 90 or so people.

Those 12 only focused on open world design the rest had to do everything else that goes with it yeah they helped with a key part of the game but then the was still so much more to do hence why even though Xenoblade X and BOTW's map have similar designs the applications are very different, much like Intelligent Systems now 1-up are utilized to handle programming Monolith are utilized for map design with in Nintendo it doesn't however mean they can do a full on Zelda on their own because 60% of their team helped develop the map assets.

Double checked what source?

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/outline/index.html

Nintendo's own website gives a figure of 5869 employees globally, including 2,271 employees at Nintendo Co. LTD 

Even if the team was 300 + 57 from Monolithsoft (16% of the total, with 50% of the design staff) is NOT a "drop in the ocean" as you say. Especially when Monolithsoft's portion, the world map, is the starring attraction of the game.

Monoliths employee count during development of SS and BOTW:

https://nintendoeverything.com/a-rough-estimate-of-monolith-softs-staff-count-over-the-years/

During SS they had around 80 people and they were working on XBC at the time so I don't see more than 20 people working on Zelda back then, when BOTW started they had 108 people and were around 120 when it completed so that's around 60 people, 20-60 people compared to the remaining 2,211 people going by your number is a drop in the ocean for Nintendo as Monolith are still one of the smallest teams an example of this is Retro who had more employees than Monolith at their peak but their absence has barely affected Nintendo's performance and they've been replace as the fan favourite studio (who were hyped up by people to be a Naughty Dog) by the latter due to Nintendo pushing the latter more, the same can easily happen to Monolith as well their work is appreciated but doesn't mean they're now the foundations holding it all together don't get carried away.

The star attraction for BOTW isn't the map it's the game's use and application of the map, many games have good open world maps but don't use them as well, Monolith map a good map yes but the Zelda team's application of it is why it stands out among open worlds.



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HoangNhatAnh on 03 April 2019
Wyrdness said:
Jumpin said:

Where are you getting this 5000 people at EPD number from? NCL employs only 5869 total; around 2000 of that number work in Nintendo's core offices, which would include EPD. I am also unsure how this number is relevant?

I don't know what you mean by "Zelda team" as though it is something that doesn't include the Monolithsoft employees.
Breath of the Wild's team numbered 357 devs (including indirect dev assets: tools department, audio team, motion capture, pipeline, etc...), this is more than double the size of the Skyward Sword team which numbered 163. Both sets of numbers include Monolithsoft staff. As I stated earlier, of the 24 people on the design team, 12 of them (or 50%) are from Monolithsoft. I don't see how that equates to a "drop in the ocean." They were a significant force on the Breath of the Wild dev team.

The number is relevant as people are saying around 60% of Monolith when it's barely nothing compared to the total of people Nintendo have under them the Zelda team alone are bigger than Monolith having double checked the 5000 plus includes EPD although the statistics number posted by Nintendo is different to what you say here, also looking at the 300 figure you cited nowhere does it cite that Monolith were included in that figure as Aonuma said the team had 300 people Monolith maybe the extra 60 or so people as Monoliths' 200 employee figure now is after a recruitment drive 2 years after BOTW release, they were around 120 people when BOTW started and finished. During SS' development Monolith were even smaller and were around 90 or so people.

Those 12 only focused on open world design the rest had to do everything else that goes with it yeah they helped with a key part of the game but then the was still so much more to do hence why even though Xenoblade X and BOTW's map have similar designs the applications are very different, much like Intelligent Systems now 1-up are utilized to handle programming Monolith are utilized for map design with in Nintendo it doesn't however mean they can do a full on Zelda on their own because 60% of their team helped develop the map assets.

"doesn't however mean they can do a full on Zelda on their own" put that thing aside, if Monolith didn't help, could EPD make the open world of BOTW being large and great with fill of contents for the 1st time ever alone?



Wyrdness on 03 April 2019
HoangNhatAnh said:

"doesn't however mean they can do a full on Zelda on their own" put that thing aside, if Monolith didn't help, could EPD make the open world of BOTW being large and great with fill of contents for the 1st time ever alone?

I'd say yes EPD have pulled off many great games prior for the first time with out bringing in studios dedicated to key tasks, Aonuma and Hidemaro already had a vision for what the game would be as seen with the concept teaser and no doubt they would have had a map concept in place. As said Monolith did great in what they were tasked to do but I don't fully buy the notion that it can only be done with Monolith's help especially with a company of Nintendo's history, ability and size.



HoangNhatAnh on 03 April 2019
Wyrdness said:
HoangNhatAnh said:

"doesn't however mean they can do a full on Zelda on their own" put that thing aside, if Monolith didn't help, could EPD make the open world of BOTW being large and great with fill of contents for the 1st time ever alone?

I'd say yes EPD have pulled off many great games prior for the first time with out bringing in studios dedicated to key tasks, Aonuma and Hidemaro already had a vision for what the game would be as seen with the concept teaser and no doubt they would have had a map concept in place. As said Monolith did great in what they were tasked to do but I don't fully buy the notion that it can only be done with Monolith's help especially with a company of Nintendo's history, ability and size.

Have you played any Xenoblade games yet? 



Wyrdness on 03 April 2019
HoangNhatAnh said:
Wyrdness said:

I'd say yes EPD have pulled off many great games prior for the first time with out bringing in studios dedicated to key tasks, Aonuma and Hidemaro already had a vision for what the game would be as seen with the concept teaser and no doubt they would have had a map concept in place. As said Monolith did great in what they were tasked to do but I don't fully buy the notion that it can only be done with Monolith's help especially with a company of Nintendo's history, ability and size.

Have you played any Xenoblade games yet? 

All 3.



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SuperNova on 03 April 2019

Are they maybe doing the ALTP remake from the best buy leak?

Edit: probably not since they are searching for a project lead and technical staff, so the project is quite early on?



Jumpin on 03 April 2019
Wyrdness said:
Jumpin said:

Double checked what source?

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/outline/index.html

Nintendo's own website gives a figure of 5869 employees globally, including 2,271 employees at Nintendo Co. LTD 

Even if the team was 300 + 57 from Monolithsoft (16% of the total, with 50% of the design staff) is NOT a "drop in the ocean" as you say. Especially when Monolithsoft's portion, the world map, is the starring attraction of the game.

Monoliths employee count during development of SS and BOTW:

https://nintendoeverything.com/a-rough-estimate-of-monolith-softs-staff-count-over-the-years/

During SS they had around 80 people and they were working on XBC at the time so I don't see more than 20 people working on Zelda back then, when BOTW started they had 108 people and were around 120 when it completed so that's around 60 people, 20-60 people compared to the remaining 2,211 people going by your number is a drop in the ocean for Nintendo as Monolith are still one of the smallest teams an example of this is Retro who had more employees than Monolith at their peak but their absence has barely affected Nintendo's performance and they've been replace as the fan favourite studio (who were hyped up by people to be a Naughty Dog) by the latter due to Nintendo pushing the latter more, the same can easily happen to Monolith as well their work is appreciated but doesn't mean they're now the foundations holding it all together don't get carried away.

The star attraction for BOTW isn't the map it's the game's use and application of the map, many games have good open world maps but don't use them as well, Monolith map a good map yes but the Zelda team's application of it is why it stands out among open worlds.

I ask you again:

Monolithsoft numbers from 5-12 years ago are irrelevant. What you were asked to provide was your source you double checked showing the 5000 people who work at EPD?

Why is this number relevant to Breath of the Wild's development?

The 2271 number I sourced has nothing to do with Breath of the Wild's dev team, it is the total number of employees Nintendo lists as working at Nintendo Co LTD. I question your 5000 number considering 5000 is more than double ALL of Nintendo Co LTD's employees. Nintendo Co LTD's size compared to Monolithsoft has no relevance. The proportion of the Breath of the Wild dev team is what is relevant, and 16%, including half of the design staff, is not the "drop in the ocean" you claim it is.

Monolithsoft's assistance on Skyward Sword was in art asset creation. Their involvement on Breath of the Wild was significantly larger (as it includes the design and creation of the map). Their unique touch and influence is clear and profound. Breath of the Wild's overworld design philosophy is significantly closer to Xenoblade Chronicles X than any other game ever published by Nintendo, and perhaps closest to XCX than any other game ever created by anyone. You brought up "use and application of the map" which is also most like XCX compared to any other Nintendo game; and that is due to Monolithsoft's influence and work on Breath of the Wild.

I also never said Monolithsoft was "the foundation holding it together" whatever that means, nor did I bring up anything about Naughty Dog or Retro Studios. You're way too fixated on saying negative things about Monolithsoft rather than actually sticking to the topic.



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HoangNhatAnh on 03 April 2019
Wyrdness said:
HoangNhatAnh said:

Have you played any Xenoblade games yet? 

All 3.

Finished all of them? Then answer me: before BOTW, what game with big world that came from Nintendo EPD3 (not Monolith)?



AngryLittleAlchemist on 03 April 2019
HoangNhatAnh said:
Wyrdness said:

All 3.

Finished all of them? Then answer me: before BOTW, what game with big world that came from Nintendo EPD3 (not Monolith)?

Super Mario World. 



HoangNhatAnh on 03 April 2019
AngryLittleAlchemist said:
HoangNhatAnh said:

Finished all of them? Then answer me: before BOTW, what game with big world that came from Nintendo EPD3 (not Monolith)?

Super Mario World. 

That game, huh? It is not really open world, not a 3D game or like Zelda either. The 3D biggest world game from EPD3 is Twilight Princess and that game world is not even one-fifth of Xenoblade 1 world map size on Wii. Not to mention that game world is so barren, not even funny. Without Monolith, you would think EPD3 would make this empty world again but bigger, huh?