Nintendo Posts Job Listings For Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Sequel Dungeon Designers

Highly likely 2021 it is.

More likely 2024 as they will re-design it three times

Wait, they will be placed in Nintendo head office? I though this game is developed by monolith soft

Fiver says alongside this Super Mario Odyssey 2 gets revealed at next years E3 for a Xmas 2020 release.

@Tantani as far as I’m aware, the game was mainly developed by Aonuma’s team (can’t recall the name, but it’s one of Nintendo’s big teams with codes for names) with the help of Monolith.

I'll do it. Weird they don't have someone internal that knows more about the new mechanics... Maybe those pros are just too slow. Then again there were 9 level designers for new super Mario Bros 2 and only like 80 levels.

The main dungeons were the weakest part of the game. If they add traditional dungeons and remove the weapon durability, the game will be just about perfect.

“Fancy working in Kyoto?” Hell yes!
“Got a chance of getting the job?” Hell no!

@Bunkerneath and then delay it til the release of their next console! 😂😝

@beazlen1 pretty much the same case with me.

@clvr the first one was, but the developers recruit for monolith lately showed it is for a Zelda game, and than we discovered BOTW2 is coming so I assumed....

@WOLF13 the weapon durability is actually great, they can give them a bit more durability and some way to fight without a weapon, but it always force you to adjust yourself to the situation and try all kinds of weapons instead of finding 1 strong weapon and forever stick to it

Bring scary OST back please. I want an experience like Ocarina of Time. OST is just as important as gameplay to get into atmosphere. Breath of the Wild is a nice game, but was too quiet. Bring it back the magical OST! thank you

Would love to work in Kyoto, problem is I can't even program my microwave!

@Bunkerneath And they will release it on the Switch U because the Switch was a flop. What? The Switch wasn't a commercial failure? This one won't get any drastic redesign as it is a sequel.

They already hired quite a few dungeon devs this year. I would presume they are getting more to aid development for a release of late 2020/early 2021.

@Tantani oh you were talking about the sequel, not the original! Sorry, my bad 😅

Also, I totally agree with your take on weapons breaking; it’d be great if they redesigned it a bit, but it’d be a shame if they removed it.

I might be done 100% completing Breath of the Wild by 2021, so good timing I guess?

Was thinking it might be a 2020 release, but oh well. We need to enjoy our games. Live in Contentment vs. Living in Hype Land.

I would like to play/replay a lot of Zelda games leading up to that release, which will take a ton of time. I also have a backlog the size of a barge for all sorts of other games. Time to get to feasting on these games!

I love the original and have just started a third play through but there is a few things that could make it perfect. Increase the durability of weapons or at least remove weapon durability for special weapons such as the Master Sword and Champions weapons. No more shrines with that 1 enemy in it, they're rubbish and some large dungeons please. Finally a very big town (to go along with the smaller ones, hopefully Castle Town but unlikely considering the trailer) with plenty of quirky side quests and a more in depth story. Finally some more variety in items you get to use and have some out in the environment for you to find or at least put heart pieces back out there in the wild, exploring in BOTW is amazing but you always know that you can't find anything except korok seeds or some materials.

It might sound like a lot but they're all pretty minor in comparison to how amazing the first game is (except dungeons) and no game will ever be perfect but this is as close as any game has come. Anyway back to my third run on the game and somehow I've already found some areas that I don't recognise and despite having a Pro and Xbox One X this is still probably the most visually appealing game I've played this generation

@beazlen1 My thoughts exactly xD

@RadioHedgeFund that alone would make me delay getting a PS5

I've played and beaten every Zelda game except the CD-I games and Satellaview, though I would probably punish myself with those if possible just to say I did it. That probably qualifies me for these positions right?

im still thinking holiday 2020 release for botw 2.

Good, hopefully traditional dungeons and special items like the hook shot that don't break when you use it too much, I loved BotW a lot but the weapons always breaking could get annoying at best and it felt lacking not having any of the traditional items, we don't need all of them but even a few would be awesome. This is why I think it was a 9/10 and not a 10/10. They should keep the weapon gather systems from the first game but also add a small selection of ones that don't break at all but just keep their power level mid range so they won't always be preferred over the obtainable ones.

Do people that work at Nintendo leave? They are always recruiting people and they don't make too many games and half of the work is outsourced now. Where are the masterminds that designed Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess?

@Bunkerneath Just in time for the Switch U launch!

@RickD Anemic indeed, especially when you consider that most of the Switch hits are ports as proved by the top-selling games ranking that Nintendo Life posted today and that they don't have to develop for a handheld and a home console like before.

They can take all the time they need in my opinion. I want it to be the best product it can be! _{Plus I still need to play through the first BotW....}

@WOLF13 I’m pro-weapon durability. It forced me to be strategic with my weapon usage, to sometimes explore to replenish my supply of stronger weapons, and most importantly to remain flexible with what weapons I use in-game.

probably a 2022 duel release with the new Switch 2

Something tells me this project had begun to be underway since a bit now: even in March this year, well before the announcement, Monolithsoft(who helped creating BotW's open world) had job openings for a game in the "Zelda series": https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/03/xenoblade_studio_monolith_soft_is_hiring_staff_for_the_legend_of_zelda_series

And with likely a lot of people who already worked on BotW probably still at Monolithsoft/etc, I wouldn't be surprised if these spats of hiring was to speed ahead the process underway rather than just start it proper.

In fact, there was a similar listing back in 2018, again at the Kyoto location(?) where this development is to take place: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/11/nintendo_is_currently_recruiting_for_a_new_3d_legend_of_zelda_game

In fact the listings are again the same, interestingly: "At the time of writing, two job listings have been posted online - one for a 3D computer graphics designer, and one for a level designer. "

Considering the base of development probably started in late 2017(when BotW's success, and thus interest for a sequel, was nigh-assured), I'm tempted to call a 2020 release for this.

March 2020 in fact would be 3 years exactly after the original game released.

@RiasGremory Same thing. This isn't the first listing for these types of job. Monolithsoft had job opening for stuff relating to the Zelda series just in March this year months before the announcement....

... and just in November 2018 Nintendo, again for the Kyoto location and same 3D designer/level designer positions and there can be no conincidence it's for the same project because Zelda was namedropped in the openings.

My guess is: They're already laid down the essential foundations(epecially foubdation coding) of the game and are now ramping down production for content/content assets something which, I've noticed from following many games(early access and not) traditionally happen in the last stretch of developments of all things. After all, no use modelling/texturing/etc a ton of new 3D objects if the underlying codes for them isn't ready yet.

In fact, since the game recycle Breath of the Wild's main world, the openings for level designers sounds like the hypothesis about dungeons being added might be true.

In this case all the staggered openings might reflect development progress as they get ready to start the production pipelines for another of the eventual game's new dungeons.

Might be just me, but 2021 might feel a bit late for this, barring delays. I'd still be tempted to call this a 2020 release. Maybe later than earlier(though March 2020 would mark BotW's three years anniversary) but I suspect they're farther ahead in development than we think.

doesn't mean we will be getting traditional Zelda dungeons just yet

@BlueOcean It depends what you're talking of in term of people working on X or Y.
Aonuma was always there, and the core studios too.
But we're talking top folks.

From what I gather, in the game industry, it's for people like assets creators and artists that thing can be a bit unstable? Like a lot of their work often come very late in the development process(no use modelling new 3D objects if the underlying code for them does not exists yet) and they're often the first to be laid off once the game is complete, bar pre-planned DLC, since post-release a lot of games will go in purely "post-release support" which is more dependent on coders catching and fixing eventual bugs than artist being tasked right away to create new asset for post-release updates(unless, again, DLCs are already being planned and worked on).

In fact just in March, Monolithsoft was opening up positions for a Zelda-related project which I assume is related to this project, and just November last year Nintendo's Kyoto locations have openings for again a Zelda project and similar roles.

It might be easy to think this cropping up means the last hires didn't stick but generally none of this can be the work of a single person. Rather my suspicion is otherwise: both roles(3D desiger/level designer) are tied heavily into the subjects of assets and content proper.

So my hunch is they're finally asking for those people as the coding/etc is ready leaving only... well, the assets to be finally made in a version meant for the final game.

The staggered job openings might thus represent less difficulties encountered but rather... progress in the project.

We know this game will recycle BotW's world. In that regard a lot of development effort has thus been spared. Meanwhile one of the big hypothesis as to what will be new in this sequel relates to suspicions of dungeons being added into the game.

In this case 3D designer/level designers roles would be perfect for the creation of dungeons, which are generally relatively big affair with... well, a lot of assets.

Thus my suspicion is that their development structure will have different teams working on every separate dungeons in parralel and the job openings thus reflect recruitment of a new team to develop more dungeons ASAP.

I give up to December 2020 before this is finished. This is just a wild guess but I feel this is farther ahead than we think and these openings might be just to ramp up production specifically to get the final stretches done ASAP with as much manpower they can to lessen or mitigate the risks of delays as much as possible.

2020 baby!

They gave is a teaser, and they haven't even finished the dungeons? I thought Zelda stories followed the gameplay concepts of each title. I thought story was second to gameplay.
Scratch that. This could be good for story. If it's a close sequel, gameplay might already be tacked down nicely.

@RickD 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Good one

Well perhaps there will be dungeons in the sequel which would add to the already legendary game. I'm optimistic that the sequel will be epic and worth our time and money

Lol I have to confess something, I still haven't finished the first one.
I have it for the WiiU and started to play it again, man I love this game.

Can't do a worse job than the first game.

@Tantani I think the best way to improve it would be to make each weapon unique in some way. Let's face it, every spear, sword, long sword and shield (specially the shields) are just reskins of one another. In the end, the only thing that mattered was the number (in most cases) with some minor things changing (being made of wood, durability and/or elemental add-on).

If they made, for example, Gerudo weapons be more effective for desert monster or make monster inmune to certain types of weapons (Moblins can only be defeated with spears, for example), that would require me to have a diverse arsenal, rather than hoarding Savage Lynel Swords and Shields like a madman

@Froy2701 no monster should be killed by one kind of weapon only because it is pretty not fair
But certain weapons being weak/strong against certain enemies is a good idera