Legend of Zelda mastermind Eiji Aonuma says he always focuses on gameplay before story: "I've never really made a game where you think of the story first"
The story is shaped by the gameplay
In a recent interview, Legend of Zelda series producer and developer Eiji Aonuma explains how his games' stories always come to light after their gameplay has been established first - and why he thinks doing things the other way around would be "difficult."
Speaking recently with the Washington Post, Aonuma describes how Nintendo goes against the grain with its games and focuses on gameplay before even touching on the story. "I've never really made a game where you think of the story first and then go into gameplay," says the producer. "First when you think of the gameplay, what you're trying to think of after that is how you can get players to understand that gameplay."
According to Aonuma, this unique approach helps developers improve upon their games more easily as there are no restrictions set in place by a predetermined narrative. Instead, the gameplay helps shape the story rather than the reverse. "The story becomes used as a vessel because it has a beginning and end, and the player moves through it," details the dev. It's certainly an interesting way to do it, but he'd not have it any other way.
As Aonuma states, he would find it hard to make games differently and to start the process with narrative rather than gameplay. "I think it would actually be kind of difficult to do the reverse and start with the story, then try to match the gameplay mechanics to that." After playing The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom recently and being a long-time Zelda stan myself, I'm surprised to learn Aonuma's approach - but it certainly seems to work well.
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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.