Wind Waker Team Believes Games Don’t Need Hyperrealism to Create a Living, Breathing World

One of the hot words in the video game industry is “realistic.” Developers spend millions of dollars trying to create a perfect world that would fit into our reality. Everything, from a character’s hair to the physics of a car collision, is worked on to the smallest detail to accomplish this. Developers want to create a beautiful universe that mimics live-action movies and TV.

However, Nintendo argues that hyperrealism isn’t needed to create a living, breathing world. You don’t have to detail every skin cell or make the characters resemble real humans. A believable universe is still possible, and The Wind Waker HD proves it.

Dohta: I think Aonuma-san has said this before, about how it’s “reality over realism.” With The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, I think we were able to express a good feeling that doesn’t come across by simply portraying a photorealistic sea or sky.

Iwata: That includes light or a breeze that the eye can’t see. Of course, it isn’t actually bright and a sea breeze isn’t actually blowing, but you sense those things in that gameworld. It’s interesting how this game was made based on something that was created 11 years ago, but the way it feels real surpasses the many games out there today with realistic graphics.

Aonuma: Yes, it’s very interesting. It’s a 100% fabricated world—in exact opposition to live-action movies—but it’s natural and feels comfortable. It’s difficult to express why that is.

Arimoto: Maybe it’s because comfortableness itself is stylized.

Aonuma and Takizawa: Um-huh!

Iwata: A stylization of comfort.

Arimoto: The sunlight and the nice breeze are represented in a pleasant way, with anything extra cut out. Only what’s good is left over, so it feels comfortable.

Takizawa: Recently, I’ve been thinking that I want to create images from which you can sense temperature or smells, so I’ve been paying attention to that. When making The Wind Waker HD, I carefully adjusted the lighting and coloring up to the very end.

Iwata: In this gameworld, you think, “That sunny spot looks nice and warm,” or “If I go into the shade of that tree, I’ll enjoy a cool breeze.”

Aonuma: The shades really do look cool. You feel like you want to go there! (laughs)

Takizawa: That’s possible because of Wii U. In technological terms, the Wii U can present a wide range of brightness, but that’s a somewhat dull way to describe it! (laughs) When we make Zelda games in the future, I think that will be one important point.

I completely agree. I don’t care how “real” your cars look, I just want to play a game. Wind Waker offers a living, breathing world, and it doesn’t need detailed, realistic art direction to create it.

Source: Iwata Asks