The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom features an expansive world that spans floating islands, lush surface landscapes, and an extensive dungeon network beneath. The game manages to load these diverse environments quickly, thanks to advanced techniques developed by Nintendo. These techniques are designed to predict when the player, Link, might transition between these layers, allowing for efficient loading of the game’s content.
During Japan’s Computer Entertainment Development Conference, director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and engineer Kenichi Hirose revealed insights into the game’s development process. Their lecture, reported by Famitsu and translated by Automaton, shed light on how Nintendo’s developers overcame technical challenges to run such a vast game smoothly on the Nintendo Switch, which is noted for its limited processing power compared to other gaming systems.
Breath of the Wild, the predecessor to Tears of the Kingdom, had a large but relatively flat world due to constraints imposed by its release on the Wii U. With Tears of the Kingdom being a Nintendo Switch exclusive, developers were able to significantly expand the game world both horizontally and vertically. This ambitious design required addressing new technical hurdles to ensure the game could run effectively on the Switch.
To handle the complexity of the game world, Tears of the Kingdom employs a sophisticated loading system. The game predicts when Link might approach points of interest that could lead to underground areas, such as red gooey holes or diveable ledges. This system ensures that only the necessary files are loaded as Link nears these points, optimizing performance.
Additionally, the game intelligently manages the visibility of objects to reduce the load on the system. It calculates which elements are likely to enter Link’s view when transitioning into The Depths, thus minimizing the amount of data that needs to be processed at any given time. These techniques contribute to a seamless gameplay experience, allowing players to explore the intricate world of Tears of the Kingdom with minimal interruptions.