Ariel
Think for yourself.
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2010
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Welcome all. This thread is dedicated to Zelda fans who'd like to experiment with ideas and themes for future Zelda games (despite the fact we hold no authority to implement them). This thread is designed to be a virtual whiteboard for which ideas are brainstormed and developed, although it serves no real practical purpose, it can just be food for thought. So go nuts, throw out some ideas, themes, and elements, and see what sticks.
Here's a list of some raw ideas to refine:
Standard Themes: These are the themes that are fairly developed within the Zelda series, and are some good places to work from when developing new ideas. (Notice that many of them include some sort of dichotomy or anti-thesis)
- The Duality of Light and Darkness (Good and Evil)
- The Nature of Time (OoT, OoX)
- Power/Authority, its effects, its ability to corrupt, etc.
- Virtues: Courage, loyalty, charity, love, righteousness, friendship, a sense of adventure even.
- Nostalgia (Almost every game north of OoT)
Or Some Less Used, and More Abstract Themes: These themes tend to be very "facts of life"-ish, and more abstract than the other themes, however, some have been explored in some Zelda games, but are overshadowed by other themes, and some have just popped out of my head now.
- Law vs. Chaos - the nature of each, as well as their relationship with each other. This has been touched upon in Majora's Mask. Another idea is the ability for chaos to lead to order, in that there is actually order in chaos. For example, Wheeler's Cloud (Wikipediate it). And possibly the idea that there is chaos in order.
- The Duality Of Energy - i.e. positive energy and negative energy, construction vs. destruction.
- Destiny vs. Free Will - Majora's Mask
- Humour vs. Madness - Majora's Mask
- As Axle the Beast has explored: The Perversion Of Nature - see his "Undead" video.
- Suffering and Catharsis - Majora's Mask
- Growth, Coming of Age, Maturation - leaving things behind, but broadening your horizons - OoT, TP
- Religion vs. Science - Faith vs. Reason, Tradition vs. Innovation, you get the message.
- The Sadness/Melancholic Feeling, that comes with knowing things must come to an end, that feeling you get on Sundays, as the weekend draws to a close. Explored in Twilight Princess.
Elements: These are the different types of elements presented in Zelda, you know, the different flavoured areas of the Zelda games, such as Forest, Water, Fire, whatever. They generally shape the different atmospheres in their respective locations and are fairly important in illustrating the themes in these locales as well as, obviously, diversifying the gameplay:
Forest, Water, Fire, Sky, Ground, Light, Shadow, Ice/Snow, Weather, Spirits, Time, Machinery/Technological, Folk, City, Town, Rural, Farm, Ruins/Ancient Civilization, Tribal, Fields/Plains/Grasslands, River/Lake/Ocean, Mountain, Caves, Desert, Coastal, Nautical, Undead, Nature/Life, "Lost" (Woods, Caves), Sleep/Peace, Music, Colour
Have I missed anyhting, or do you have your own original ideas. Discuss.
Here's a list of some raw ideas to refine:
Standard Themes: These are the themes that are fairly developed within the Zelda series, and are some good places to work from when developing new ideas. (Notice that many of them include some sort of dichotomy or anti-thesis)
- The Duality of Light and Darkness (Good and Evil)
- The Nature of Time (OoT, OoX)
- Power/Authority, its effects, its ability to corrupt, etc.
- Virtues: Courage, loyalty, charity, love, righteousness, friendship, a sense of adventure even.
- Nostalgia (Almost every game north of OoT)
Or Some Less Used, and More Abstract Themes: These themes tend to be very "facts of life"-ish, and more abstract than the other themes, however, some have been explored in some Zelda games, but are overshadowed by other themes, and some have just popped out of my head now.
- Law vs. Chaos - the nature of each, as well as their relationship with each other. This has been touched upon in Majora's Mask. Another idea is the ability for chaos to lead to order, in that there is actually order in chaos. For example, Wheeler's Cloud (Wikipediate it). And possibly the idea that there is chaos in order.
- The Duality Of Energy - i.e. positive energy and negative energy, construction vs. destruction.
- Destiny vs. Free Will - Majora's Mask
- Humour vs. Madness - Majora's Mask
- As Axle the Beast has explored: The Perversion Of Nature - see his "Undead" video.
- Suffering and Catharsis - Majora's Mask
- Growth, Coming of Age, Maturation - leaving things behind, but broadening your horizons - OoT, TP
- Religion vs. Science - Faith vs. Reason, Tradition vs. Innovation, you get the message.
- The Sadness/Melancholic Feeling, that comes with knowing things must come to an end, that feeling you get on Sundays, as the weekend draws to a close. Explored in Twilight Princess.
Elements: These are the different types of elements presented in Zelda, you know, the different flavoured areas of the Zelda games, such as Forest, Water, Fire, whatever. They generally shape the different atmospheres in their respective locations and are fairly important in illustrating the themes in these locales as well as, obviously, diversifying the gameplay:
Forest, Water, Fire, Sky, Ground, Light, Shadow, Ice/Snow, Weather, Spirits, Time, Machinery/Technological, Folk, City, Town, Rural, Farm, Ruins/Ancient Civilization, Tribal, Fields/Plains/Grasslands, River/Lake/Ocean, Mountain, Caves, Desert, Coastal, Nautical, Undead, Nature/Life, "Lost" (Woods, Caves), Sleep/Peace, Music, Colour
Have I missed anyhting, or do you have your own original ideas. Discuss.