Tri Force Heroes Was Created To Be A Light Hearted And Fun Title

From a recent interview with Gamespot we learned that the development team of Tri Force Heroes wanted to focus on a more lighthearted and fun game, which so far they feel has been the theme for the games released on the 3DS. They felt that creating a game that was to0 focused on an intense story or hugely dramatic plot might have deterred from the fun of the game. Shikata said, “we wanted it to be easy for anyone to pick up, understand, and just have fun with it. That’s why it became the story that it is”. The topic of Amiibo ultimately came up as well and Aonuma shared that although their focus was more on creating the multiplayer aspect of the game than in releasing Amiibo for the title, it was something they had really wanted to do and they would definitely like to incorporate them into future Zelda titles.

Head on past the break to learn more.

During the interview Shikata discussed some of the aspects of creating the single player portion of the game:

“Initially we started out with the idea of only having three players, but Mr. Aonuma stepped in and said, “Why don’t you try making a single-player mode?” At first we were skeptical, but after making it, we realized that it had a different gameplay element from the three-player mode.

We tried it with two, but switching between the characters was complicated, and deciding whom to make the priority in certain situations just didn’t work out. We also considered if, when somebody drops out, making the extra person a Dopple [game term for an extra player-controlled character], but even doing that made things more complicated than they needed to be. So we decided to not go in that direction.

For example, maybe the red Dopple was being moved by the green player, and he wanted to put it in the perfect spot. Then the other player comes in to try and move the red Dopple or become the Red Link. Then things just started becoming more complicated than they needed to be. That’s why we took it in a different direction.

As for why we decided to have three players instead of just four, first, when you totem with four people, the two in the middle would get bored. And second, when you totem with four people, the camera angle gets very far from the ground and makes the players looks smaller. So we came to conclusion that three players were best, especially because when you have two people working together and there’s one person going off on his own, the group of two will worry about the lone player. And vice versa, the player that’s traveling alone will look around for the other two. It keeps everyone close together and worrying about one another.”

Many elements from various Zelda titles were incorporated into Tri Force Heroes, when asked how they decided what would make its way into the game, this is what Shikata had to say:

“We primarily focused on how three-player co-op would work best with the items that we chose. For example, with the boomerang, we thought it could be used to grab other players. And Gust Jars could be used to blow other players over edges that you wouldn’t be able to make on your own. So when selecting and creating these items, we put an emphasis on three-person multiplayer.

We have the traditional bow and bomb items, but in this game, when you totem you can shoot higher enemies. Or when you stack up with the bomb, you can take on enemies that are higher up.
As for items that didn’t make it into the game, we had a lot of different ideas. I thought about maybe using the Lantern, but that got absorbed into clothing that emits a glow. And I thought about using hover boots that would let you jump higher. And there was an item in A Link Between Worlds that shot up a gust of air to let you hover a little higher, but if we let players totem, what’s the point of having that item? So there were a lot of things we considered that didn’t make it into the game.”

Shikata also had this to say about the more lighthearted nature of this Zelda title:

“In this game, we definitely went for a more lighthearted story. We wanted to make the outfits the main part of the story, and then that drifted into the idea of people loving fashion. So the story became about a kingdom full of people who love outfits and clothes. If the story had focused on the princess being abducted or some other heavy theme, it would have deterred from the outfit aspect. Instead, we thought we could put the princess in this really unstylish outfit, and from there it turned into this light-hearted, joking story.”

Aonuma took a moment to discuss Zelda U and to assure everyone that in no ways the title delayed for the sake of releasing Tri Force Heroes.

What do you think? Have you been enjoying some of the more lighthearted aspects of the game? What do you think is the real reason for the delay of Zelda U? Sound off in the comments below.

Source: Gamespot