Environment Research: The Legend of Zelda Series

Before I started to create my own environment I wanted to look at a number of different games so that I could look at there environment and how they have been created so that I was able to compare what they have made and maybe use some of there skills in my own work, and most of the games that I looked at were open world due to the fact that there is then more environment to look at.

To begin with I wanted to look at the Legend of Zelda series as these were really good examples of how the series has developed and become what it is today. The series started in 1986 with The Legend of Zelda which was an action-adventure game based on a 2D level with a few 3Dish elements to it. Even though this is not the best example of an environment that I could create it is the start of something great in the series and still does have different levels to it, that have all been designed differently with levels based in dungeons, worlds surrounded by trees and some surrounded by metal panels. The second game they brought out called Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, except this game used a side scroller view instead of an overhead one. 

The third game that came out was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and this is where the graphics started to improve further and the environments became slightly more detailed and there were more detail in the environments and it was a lot more clear to see where you were going and there was also the addition of more trees and different buildings.

Where The Legend of Zelda changed into an amazing game series was with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was the first 3D world game produced by the series in 1998, around the same time as other good platformers and included detailed environments that also offered an open world experience as once against Link will explore the world of Hyrule. The direct sequel to this game, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask also used the same kind of graphics and this time had the inside of buildings rendered as well.

 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The next installment of the series was very different to the others. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was very such a cartoon based game as Link and the other characters have been made to look very bright and colourful. Although the strange look to this game the environments are very good and detailed and when the character runs through say grass, blades of grass will move upwards after him and he will also leave footprints in the sand. Compared to the other games this is actually one visually which I prefer as the graphics are much improved and it is a lot brighter looking. 

The next game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, that they brought out was very different and a much improved advancement to the other games in terms of realistic graphics and more detailed environments. Also in this game it introduced the ability to pick up objects that are in the world which adds more to the game but in my opinion I didn't like the graphics as to me they were too dark compared to the rest of the games, as the original series is very bright and colourful. 

The last, and newest game in the series is The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which is one of the best ones so far that Nintendo have produced. The game is very similar in terms of the environment to Twilight Princess in terms of it being very detailed and a massive open world environment but it is combined with the fun, bright and colourful graphics of Wind Waker which makes this game one of the best so far in my opinion as the environments are truly stunning.

To conclude the Legend of Zelda games all vary the way that they have designed games due to the advancement in technology but they can all really help me to understand how to make an exciting 3D platformer that has character and where the character is appropriiate for the level. The series is all wonderful to look at and play and uses bright colours that are engauging for a wide target audience while still being fun and challenging for everything. The sounds that is used in the games is all relevent and in areas like the starting village it has happier music to when Link is then in woods and in danger where the music will turn more dark and eary. Even though the graphics in the earlier games where 2D and didn't really look that good, the later 3D environments are all very beautiful and will help me when I am thinking about my own game and how to add that element of interest into it.