Looking Outwards-01: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, for the Wii U, is a video game that I find especially inspiring. It includes majestic landscapes, floating castles, monstrous bosses, creepy monsters, adorable creatures, giant flying birds, sword fights, gorgeous temples and castles, and an incredible story.  Nine people led the design of the game, organizing themselves into teams of writers, composers, designers, producers, and a director (Hidemaro Fujibayashi). The entirety of the game’s development process took five years. The main drive behind creating Skyward Sword was the creators’ feeling that they had not fully fleshed out the world of Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and the need to create a Zelda game that was as well received and cherished as Ocarina of Time. Skyward Sword makes up for the flaws of Twilight Princess, and recreates the intrigue and beauty of Ocarina of Time. The creators of Legend of Zelda could work with virtual reality in the future and have the players fully immerse themselves into the beautiful worlds and landscapes and characters. They are currently in the process of developing a Zelda game for the PlayStation 4. Skyward Sword inspired me to pursue a minor in Game Design, because it showed me the incredible results (an entirely new universe full of crazy fantasy places and characters!) of incredible imagination.