How Nintendo Designed Ultrahand

[@noidea5597]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the steering stick! It is by far the biggest technical achievment of the zonai devices. Its hard to comprehend the difficulty of designing something that controls every junk vehicle a player can imagine INTUITIVLY! Everything steers exactly like you think it should! THAT is some wizardry!

[@manocaio123]

i feel like we could have a whole video just for the steering mechanic

[@gamongames]

In theory it's simple. It just multiplies the total velocity vectors of every device connected to it to be able to control it through a single one. In execution though... Can't even imagine how time consuming it was playtesting this whole system to get to this level of polish.

[@jay-tbl]

@@gamongames does it just do that though? I think it applies a rotation force to the whole contraption, but only if it doesn't have any wheels, in which case it instead controls the speeds of the wheels to steer. Because if you make an air glider, steering backwards tilts you up instead of slowing you

[@bolson42]

@@jay-tbl Yeah exactly, that’s the impressive part. It wouldn’t be as cool if it was just “tilt left to move left. Tilt down to move back”. The fact that it has different interactions depending on the type of vehicle yet all of them are intuitive is incredible.

[@qs987]

people say it count distance between steer and wheel too the further wheels turn more

[@eclecticspaghetti]

There’s a tweet I saw from another game developer around the time TotK came out, and it expressed a sentiment something like this: “Having a tool in your game to let the player make a bridge isn’t special. Plenty of games do that. Having a tool in your game to let the player make whatever shape of bridge they want, wherever they want, out of anything they want, and the bridge just works exactly as you’d expect with no jank or concessions made because of game mechanics, *that* is nothing short of miraculous.” “And now remember that Ultrahand lets you make *anything,* not just a bridge, and it all works like that.” For how universally acclaimed TotK has been I *still* don’t think the designers have gotten enough credit for the technical wizardry that they have pulled off here.

[@jlco]

"with no jank" is perhaps a bit generous. But I suppose jank is a sign that you've given the player the freedom to do things you didn't account for. I'd say it makes a big difference whether that jank is because you just suck at bugtesting, or because you've given the player a huge amount of creative expression. I'd argue that TotK falls into the latter. (Super Mario Maker 2 is simultaneously at the extreme end of both sides)

[@eclecticspaghetti]

@@jlcoI meant jank as in, like, obvious bugs or clipping etc. The “I made something weird and fucked up” kind of jank is one of the best parts!

[@Zondac]

I think the wizardry is less on the technical side, and more on the design side if I’m being honest. While there’s a lot of engineering required to make something like TotKs ultrahand, it’s not the hardest part at all. Anyone can make a very powerful tool in a game where this power wasn’t the original gameplay core and make it feel good and all that, the wizardry is being able to come up with the open ended questions such a powerful tool could answer! I’ve even done something similar in VR in the past in unreal engine using a loose socket system, but it never made its way into any game because I couldn’t come up with good puzzles that would demand such a mechanic to solve (other than making the game entirely be about the mechanic). That’s the real wizardry to me

[@poggestfrog]

@@Zondac Making something without annoying clipping, jank, constant physics issues etc is incredibly hard especially on the switch where you get the processing power of a potato.

[@kaizobuzz941]

@@jlco I mean to be honest the mario maker games are very likely bugtested way more than the regular mario games, I'd even argue decently well, and you'll just find with any maker it just has so many options overall and entities that can interact each other in different ways that there's bound to be some bugs. Of course, as a troll level maker in that game, I do have a lot of issues in how nintendo handles glitches and stuff, but if not for that, I honestly believe the glitches in it wouldn't have gotten as much active attention.

[@adrianluis5163]

One thing that wasn't pointed out about the open-ended puzzle design: When traveling overland there are often small piles of Zonai devices littered around prominent transitions between terrain. These devices suggest to the player "you could expend your resources to make another goblin glider, or you could use this stuff for free to cross this one area." You see springs at the bases of cliffs, fans at the edges of bodies of water, and even wings at the top of mountains. It's a pretty cool way the devs use to nudge players without requiring a single solution.

[@Shnarfbird]

Usually I just walk, making something functional takes extra time and forces me to dismount every time I see something interesting. Stop and smell the roses, y'know? Alas...

[@twine521]

Game devs: Why put all this effort into making fun toys and then not giving the toys to the players to make stuff with?

[@Arkouchie]

@@twine521 I love this, too, because it shows they understand what motivates players who like to create. They know some players will be like "Oh, I don't need these springs, I'll just use this zonai rocket I had" but now they have a spring in their back pocket for later.

[@helplmchoking]

This stuff is why I spend hours playing even after finishing basically everything there is. Just traveling from one random point to another is a puzzle challenge in itself. How do you cross that river, how will you deal with that monster camp in the way, it's raining now so how will you tackle that mountain in the way and so on.

[@thefinalday5858]

​@@helplmchokingit's fun just to move around Classic Nintendo

[@ILikeWafflz]

I love how ultrahand glue actually has a specific strength and it's proportionate to how much there is in each connection.

[@MarioJaker]

The beautiful simplicity of Ultrahand and the building mechanics in general stood out to me even more when playing Starfield. Building a ship in that game requires so many steps, and I’m often left feeling like I’m unable to do relatively simple things. Some objects can rotate, others can’t, and even something like building an upper and lower deck is a lot of work.

[@razcsi]

I was so excited for that game and so excited for ship building. But it's a pain in the ass with a hundred compromises

[@schemaricvg4221]

Despite some of their ambitions not fully coming to fruition, it's absolutely mindblowing that all of this was done on a Nintendo Switch

[@ventusse]

And without almost any lag nor major slowdowns. I was expecting it to cause major slowdowns on some areas like the temples or during rain but surprisingly, only a few hiccups on some villages/towns.

[@cloudtender8813]

I wish gamefreak was as good

[@schemaricvg4221]

@@ventusse same, it's a technical and systematic marvel all things considered

[@CrimsonMoonM]

The sheer amount of physics interaction that's going on underneath the hood with all of the possible creations is really nuts. Everything interacts exactly how you'd expect and nothing straight-up breaks the game or causes slowdown (Unless you're deliberately trying to crash the game). Considering the insane amount of possible interactions you can create, it really does highlight Nintendo's focus on polish in their products.

[@mkjjoe]

@@ventusse I think it does have rough slowdowns regularly, but despite frame dips the controls and physics seem to run consistently so interactions remain fluid (beyond degraded visual feedback of course)

[@Jackalope_YT]

It's crazy that this game could have very easily been Banjo Nuts and Bolts without the right implementation of this mechanic but they absolutely killed it.

[@Arkouchie]

It's the same idea, but offered as a suggestion instead of a demand. Nuts and Bolts crafting is honestly also very versatile, but it's less simple, less intuitive, and more restrictive. And it forces you to use it to have any fun at all, since the scale of the worlds is so dummy huge BOTW is just like "I'm just gonna leave these here, you can do whatever but... Here they are"

[@wil9776]

Nuts n bolts is a great game

[@Arkouchie]

@@wil9776 It's good, but its not a great execution of its ideas, and it does so at the expense of what people wanted at the time

[@tianasaraus8935]

As a games design student these videos are so great for understanding design concepts

[@doooofus]

no need to understand this design concept though as it is actually illegal to use in your own game since nintendo went and got it patented

[@sagehanson190]

@@doooofus I'm sure you could still find creative ways around some of these, there are plenty of games that already let you build vehicles, just not as simply or as intuitively as ultrahand does.

[@helplmchoking]

@@doooofus to be fair, the patents around ultrahand and vehicles have more to do with the physics aspects of the constructions rather than the concept of the ability itself - a lot were about the way Link stops interacting with objects when standing on them, so you're only processing one set of physics, which is also why you can't lift things you're standing on. The rest of the ultrahand stuff was specific to the control scheme itself and the maths around the glue strength, flexing and all that. Unless I missed stuff (likely), you can try to replicate it but it'll be a mission to get around - not that the physics system was ever straightforward.

[@hododod246]

There is this analogy of "The Hedgehog and the Fox" in design. Fox needs to be clever and adaptive to survive. it need to think about different angles. On the other hand hedgehog don't need to do these because it does one thing perfectly. Having spikes. What ever fox do how ever clever it is as long as hedgehog curls, it cannot penetrate its defense. And Zonai devices are like hedgehog. They do one specific thing perfectly. For example tank treads only functionality is following enemies. That's it. It won't give damage to them, or or won't try to do anything else. It just follows the enemy. And when you stick a spikes to you tank tread, congratulations, you have an automated robot helper.

[@sielaff2112]

As someone who has tried and failed to program physics engines in the past, this game FRIGHTENS me

[@somefreshbread]

Thankfully we basically never have to program physics again given modern game engines and marketplaces.

[@sielaff2112]

@@somefreshbread oh without a DOUBT lol.

[@AdventuresAwait123]

It is truly amazing that it works at all, not to mention that it's also a joy to play

[@g.f.martianshipyards9328]

They put all their brain power into the Utrahand mechanic and had nothing left for the house-building mechanic.

[@kuyache2]

This is one of the reasons why ZeldaTOTK is the 2023 Game of the Year for me. Yes beating all the others like Diablo 4, Spiderman 2, Starfield, Baldurs Gate 3, Armored Core 6, FF16, RE4 Remake and many more. It's the embodiment of a 3D Open World Adventure where you immerse yourself in the triumph of Link and live his story the way you want it to exploring a very vast world full of wonders, surprises and rewards. TOTK takes me back to the nostalgic feeling of being Bastian Balthazar Bux (Never Ending Story Trilogy) and adventures he has experienced but with more strength and heroism of Link!

[@Infinionito]

Totk is a technical marvel, this alone should be a reason for goty. Still not winning because TGA is about business and marketing, it's not interesting to give goty for a sequel of a winning prequel.

[@mareek1443]

The most incredible part of this is that there were only 4 (four) physics programmers working on totk ! I think wizards is the right word to describe them

[@silvercakes]

As a software guy myself (granted, not in gaming), it doesn't surprise me at all that 4 guys in 6 years accomplished more than 60 guys in 4 years. Bureaucratic bloat is absolutely insane in the software world.

[@gamongames]

Nintendo doesn't lay off teams every two years. They have decades of in-house knowledge cultivated and allowed to grow and it shows.

[@valshaped]

The more people you delegate to a problem, the more complicated the solution becomes. Sometimes the extra complexity is required.

[@MadsterV]

I almost fainted when the game had me roll up a chain to lift a door and I could pull on it manually. Agree with all of the above, it's hard to trailblaze in a large team, it's hard to make important decisions when you're new to the team. A big problem with the industry is it's love for grinding newcomers.

[@roreddick9235]

@@MadsterV The real-world physics in this game are mind-boggling.

[@amateraceon5202]

For the record, I also wouldn’t mind a video about the creation of the original Nintendo toy from the 1960s

[@wallyhackenslacker]

dunkey goes over that one and some other nintendo toys of that era in his video Donkey Kong Begins

[@rowtow13]

So Gunpei Yokoi, who famously designed the Game Boy among many other things at Nintendo, both game related and not, was originally hired by Nintendo to maintain their assembly line machines. He liked to tinker with things, so during his down time, he was working on a weird little extendable arm that could grab things, just for something to do. President Hiroshi Yamauchi came to visit, saw it, and thought it was really cool, so he had Yokoi develop it as an actual product. (This wasn't their first toy, but they had only been releasing toys for a couple of years at that point.) It was a big hit, and Yokoi became one of their top designers.

[@Oramni27]

Last video ended with a mention of sequels that try to outdo the original in every way and are about making vehicles, which applies to TOTK. This video ends with a strangely emphasized mention of wizards...

[@Combicon]

next video is going to be about the Nintendo Powerglove and the 1989 film The Wizard

[@somefreshbread]

"Why Wizards and Warriors is a terrible game, and why people loved it anyway"

[@MadsterV]

@@somefreshbreadI don't get it. I love it, but I hate it so much. But I love it.

[@dwadthechad]

Your attention to detail and overall quality of videos is just astounding and something to really be admired of.

[@Kufunninapuh]

I was amazed when I realized that ultra hand works not in the way that I expected it to but they way I wanted it to. There was this tiny bump in learning where I thought it would work similar to other games, meaning that it would be clunky and finicky but when I realized that it just works they way you wish it to was amazing!

[@TheCaliforniaHP]

That line of it works the way you think it would work is so creative in regards to the game and definitely my GOTY. The intuitive puzzle solving of Tears is unmatched. It takes into account the uniqueness of people. I went in swinging, I used a rocked to get in, I used puffshrooms everywhere for stealth, I rewound their weapons against them, I built a tank, I used a big bridge, I flew in. Like one puzzle or situation has infinite solutions. It's like the game can become whatever genre you choose.

[@captainjellystar1453]

I’ve started up on your content recently and have absolutely loved it. Thank you for your insight on some incredible games.

[@Lorentz_Driver]

Even as someone who didn't enjoy TotK that much, I have to admire the sheer amazing tech that went into ultrahand. It really hit during that one Shrine where you have to build a bridge across lava with stone planks lying around. Just moving it around and attaching it was a marvel. ON THE SWITCH NO LESS.

[@WheeledHamster]

It so boring to have Link sprint for 2sec and fight with sticks. The stamina penalty for running and wearing breaking in two hits are the two worse god damn mechanics in BotW and these numbnuts did the same exact thing again.

[@Cyax0k]

@@WheeledHamster The weapons are so numerous that its frankly absurd to say that durability is a legitimate problem. If you get more than an hour in you fill your inventory with progressively stronger weapons attached to stronger items until the game ends. The fact that you can connect monster parts to any weapon or shield and make them more powerful was such a clever and effective solution to durability. Your complaint about stamina usage though is such a soft mechanic that I'm not surprised that weapon durability was too much to handle.

[@gamerrevoluton]

@@Cyax0khow is stamina a soft mechanic?

[@Cyax0k]

@@gamerrevoluton I should have clarified. I mean "soft" as in it is not a punishing or hugely limiting mechanic. It's a resource to manage, sets soft limits on what you can do throughout the game, and is common in similar games. I also meant it as him having a soft mindset that "stamina penalty for running" was somehow a huge deal-breaker in a game where there's many other ways to move around the world besides sprinting as Link on the ground.

[@Thierce]

@@Cyax0k I wouldn't say is a good solution to durability because in most cases it forces you to interact with the god-awful menu

[@thomaswebber1435]

I love that Nintendo was inspired by BOTW's online community and the creativity of players to inspire the main design mechanic in its sequel!

[@marlonruvalcaba386]

The most impressibe thing about ultra hand is that in other games that you can build at some time the contraption explodes by the physics system, but nintendo added like a year of work to avoid the physics explosions.

[@ironnwizzard]

*Klang has entered the chat.*

[@gamongames]

Way more than a year since totk uses the same engine as botw. It builds on top of the dev time of more than two entire games with an extra years just for polish.

[@Arkouchie]

@@gamongames The really impressive thing is building this on top of an existing engine, IMO. Typically when you're doing anything physics based, you wanna custom craft the physics engine to make sure it's as stable with how you're using it as possible, but as you said, it's built on the BOTW engine. That means *more* testing, not less.

[@aaronasissoard1098]

I am so glad I found your channel man the quality and amount of information presented in such a way it actually makes finishing one of your videos very rewarding because I always come out with more knowledge than I had going in.

[@yusufied.]

What Dohta said at 7:43 is the exact reason why I feel Zelda TOTK is the best puzzle game I've played since Portal 2. I've done two playthroughs and in both of them I went out of my way to get every shrine. Watching my friends play is also really cool since they'll likely find a different solution than I was thinking and end up doing "the right thing the wrong way" so to speak.

[@abaque24]

I've been playing slowly through ToTK and I'm doing the opposite, i'm avoiding all the shrines :U It's engaging and fun even without them :D

[@gorgolyt]

Unfortunately it seems literally all of the late game shrines are just blessings. I find it very disappointing and lazy. I enjoyed the puzzle shrines, but the ones which were actually puzzles that made you think of an ingenious solution (the rails one is a great example). The ones that you can easily cheat by building a bridge or something... I don't find that fun or interesting.

[@A-Random-Guy]

So many great games this year (which is rare especially for AAA games) but this one stands along the specials, it's a technical wizardry how they managed to achieve all of this on the Nintendo Switch without everything breaking apart

[@Tatulak]

I did come here to learn how they balanced the dang thing Mark : they are Nintendo wizards, you should know that

[@Kaldrin]

I'm always fascinated by Nintendo's design philosophy regarding making their mechanics extra clear easy to use and understand & playful so that their target audience can all enjoy the game. It's in every aspect of Botw and Totk, from appeal to readability to ease of access and crystal clear mechanics, and it explains their huge success among children and adults alike. Really something to draw from.

[@zekrom34]

The amount of work behind this single feature is beyond madness

[@UGROVERSE]

I was amazed to see how the simple but deep concept of the ultrahand enhanced the freedom of BOTW. They created incredible experiences for the player by revolutionizing and stacking two of the most popular game dynamics ( open world and crafting ). It was also a very risky business maneuver. Looking forward to the next one!

[@King_Ben_IV]

Whilst I liked Ultrahand I felt it was over used. Becuase it was so versitale it was the intended solution to at leat 90% of the game's puzzles, as such I got very bored of the mechanic very fast (the Koroks and Signs obviously didn't help this). I also felt the mechanic was still a little too fidlely to use (but mabye that's just me) Still a great technical achievement, I just wish the other game mechanics got a bit more limelight in the game.

[@bloodbane93]

Definitely agree. It's strange that almost ANY zonai device you create will work exactly the way you expect it to, but then you go to Fuse and 90% of fuses do absolutely nothing other than +1 damage, despite every item taking up dozens of menu slots. For every zonai combo that made perfect sense with Ultrahand there was a fuse that was just disappointing.

[@TEMINIX]

The facts about the design of this thing are where the big fans of TotK differ from people who think the game sucks. The differences were profound and somehow simultaneously not enough for some. For others like myself, the implications and freedom are extraordinary.

[@somefreshbread]

See I loved playing this game. I had a ton of fun with it. That said, I still want a more traditional Zelda game if we're lucky enough to get something else this decade. I'd actually be over the moon if we got a modern take on the Zelda 2 format.

[@gazeros69]

It’s kinda sad that people take such extreme stances for or against. I enjoyed the game, but must admit I was also dissapointed half the time. The sky was amazing, but even less interesting than the strewn out islands of wind waker. The basement was cool, but lost its magic when I realized it’s just a mirror of the overworld with nothing but cosmetics in it. The reward of saving an area was that it reverted to being exactly the same as in the last game, music and all. And speaking of being the same as last game, that goes for the whole mechanics of shrines, memories, and overall goal of the game as well. Except this time the actual story is completely dissacociated with the world you’re currently in. Until the last boss, more or less. And even though it’s a ”sequel”, almost all story elements from BotW are simply gone and forgotten about. I’m ranting, but my point is that while I appreciate the mechanics of Totk, to me it felt like a dirtier, broken, over saturated version of the world I fell in love with in BotW. And being able to build things to fly past it all doesn’t leverage that for me.

[@TheCaliforniaHP]

@@gazeros69 It was so much better than BotW for me. I love Breath but didn't hit gameplay wise as much for me because of the shrines. I hated the shrines. Where in Tears I could do whatever I wanted for the shrines. Also the ancient story was great for me for the lore implications v. what happened with the champions

[@gazeros69]

@@TheCaliforniaHP I see! I liked the shrines in both games, but maybe BotW a bit more since I don’t really have a lot of patience for building. I agree that the story was deeper and felt better in TotK. But when I went back to BotW I realised that in that game the story felt more related to exploring our current world, while in TotK all of the cool stuff happened ages ago completely separate from the current time. I preferred BotW in that sense, the story felt more connected to exploring.

[@speedude0164]

I would've liked a bigger focus on the Sky and Depths than mostly just side stuff, but overall I love what they did with the world. I love the light vs dark themes with the Ancients' influence on the world coming from the Sky and Ganondorf's influence coming from the Depths, as if the world itself is a clash between both's plans. I love how it really feels like you're fighting not just for Hyrule, but alongside it, with everyone doing their part in the struggle against the Demon King. I love some of the themes explored in the story such as self-sacrifice and how it's symbolized. I especially love how much more diverse and creative the options are for combat and traversal. I still don't care for weapon durability though, and I really hope the next game just allows me to use any weapon whenever if I choose to do so. I especially hope the Master Sword is actually worth a damn outside of the final boss.

[@Noblemumin]

TOTK has some of the most complex mechanics and arguably the best physics engine I’ve ever seen in a video-game.

[@agamer9347]

I remember reading an interview where a developer said the game was basically done a year before development but they just spent that last 12 months patching out bugs and polishing mechanics. I wish every game had publishers that patient with it

[@deathsyth8888]

Executives/management: Get the game out now. Game devs: But we need more time to finalize the game's mechanics, fix bugs and make sure it's up to our quality standards. E/M: No, we're releasing it now. We'll patch the game later. After we make all the possible money off presale and microtransactions first. Then we'll address those issues. Maybe.

[@coneg2714]

was not much of a fan of tears of the kingdom as a game, but ultrahand as a mechanic is one of the most delightful things of the year. for addison's signs in particular, i challenged myself to do two things every time i came across him: over-engineer the hell out of the support system, and to never repeat the same solution as a mechanical engineer who had years of education telling me over-engineering is Bad, i appreciate nintendo letting me indulge in this for the purest reason of "it's funny, especially if it fails"

[@josephcorrigan7239]

I often did the same, but other times I just used a hover stone shoved right under the planks because I didn't want to overthink it!

[@ChrisBChips]

The thing that wowed me the most was recall. Not as a concept, but that it was running on the SWITCH and not a top-end PC. The fact that the game is able to balance that memory management on top of Ultrahand's physics system is beyond impressive.

[@itsaducklin]

Now THIS is the result that you get from listening to your community. A masterpiece.

[@billyrubin7713]

This mechanic alone is almost enough to earn TotK game of the year. How fortunate they made a massive Zelda adventure as well!

[@fastfiddler1625]

Throwing what's essentially a basic Gary's Mod building system into Zelda was the most unlikely and brilliant design choice ever. And making it all actually work without feeling like a gimmick was even brillianter.

[@Ferodra]

Imagine being able to put developing this on your resumee. Instant hire *everywhere*

[@Revster]

I know the video’s titled how Nintendo designed Ultrahand but I would have appreciated it more if you had a segment discussing older games with the same/a similar mechanic. Gmod, Force Unleashed, the Lego games, etc.

[@PrimmsHoodCinema]

When I first booted the game, I was like "Wtf Nintendo?! Here we go with the gimmicks" Then after like 20 minutes I was like 😲😲😲 This is heat!!!

[@Howitchewstofeel5gum]

Possibly the most impressive mechanic in any video game, ever.

[@AdventuresAwait123]

Agreed. It makes me want to play the game again only focusing on building contraptions

[@ggagga1312]

@@AdventuresAwait123 yeah I'm planning a zonai-only run ("zonai priest" or "zonai-mancer" character build) where you can only use zonai items, like just the zonai weapons and the devices, which will push building creativity to the limits I believe

[@FrothingFanboy]

I think Ascend is more impressive, actually. Perhaps the ability itself isn't as elaborate, but it's hard for me to fathom that it can be used pretty much on any piece of geometry on a gargantuan landscape. Having that AND Ultrahand, AND Fuse, AND Recall, all in the same game, all seamlessly interacting with one another...I simply cannot comprehend the amount of testing required. o_0

[@RTU130]

Hmmm

[@BlazeAlchemist991]

Are there any interviews regarding if developers intended shrine objects to be smuggled out of their shrines so players could make builds with them (e.g. shrine propellers and motors etc.)? Also, since they previously intended to rotate objects in 1° increments, were they aware that beam emitters and cannons could be pulsed by angling construct heads by a small amount (11°-17° and ~2° respectively)?

[@somefreshbread]

I don't think they were trying to *force* players to use 45 degree angles per se, especially since you can just walk around in circles to get finer angles if you're not snapping things together than have set join points, but instead just recognizing that it was much faster that way and that 99% of the time, 45 degree angles are much more useful than smaller increments.

[@witherschat]

TBH I wish there was a toggle to just disable those limitations, with them enabled by default (and every puzzle in the game beatable without disabling it)

[@BlazeAlchemist991]

@@somefreshbread I'm not sure what you mean by "just walk around in circles to get finer angles" because normally parts would snap to 0°, 45° or 90° angles, regardless of what angle Link connects the object at. IIRC the only way of attaching objects at specific angles is via stake nudging, cull quantum linking, gravity nudging, hoverstone pressing or by physically impeding the snap point with another object/terrain. Most of which utilise the mechanics of Autobuild and/or Generalised Attachment Drift to make it work. While I agree that 45° rotations cater well to the vast majority of players, if we still had the option of rotating objects at 1° increments advanced players wouldn't need to use these time consuming/complex work-arounds.

[@mykeyboardismelting6856]

@@BlazeAlchemist991 what do you mean? Sure, attaching objects at weird angles requires a bit of effort, but it is possible if you reaaally press objects together. It's hard to do for all objects, but I believe its possible without cheese.

[@BlazeAlchemist991]

@@mykeyboardismelting6856I think you misunderstood my point, I'm not saying small-angle adjustments aren't possible. What I'm saying is that there's no intended way to quickly and easily adjust angles by 1° increments, outside of using the more time-consuming advanced building techniques I mentioned earlier. "just walk around in circles to get finer angles" does not work because of the 0°, 45° and 90° angle snap points currently in game.

[@darthelmet1]

Not to take away from what they tried to do (and where they succeeded), but I found the ultrahand mechanic to be kind of disappointing as far as how it fit into actual gameplay. I enjoyed watching all of the crazy builds people came up with, but in most cases they were all over-engineered, impractical solutions to something that could be accomplished with a much simpler and cheaper method. That second part is the more important point: By tying ultrahand building to scarce resources and progression, the limitations the game imposes on the player encourages them to go for those simpler solutions or even not use the system at all. My earliest experience with ultrahand building after the tutorial was when I came across one of those piles of building materials. I spent a bit of time putting together a rudimentary car, pointed it in the direction I wanted to go, activated it, and... I got to go a short distance before running out of batter and couldn't even control the direction. My reward for interacting with this new system at a time when the game seemed to have been encouraging it was purely a waste of my time and fans. The message was: Don't bother with this until you've unlocked more parts and batteries. But the thing is, early in the game is exactly the time when being able to build creative things would be MOST useful to me. Eventually I unlock a whole toolkit of other traversal and combat methods. Glider, wing suit, sky towers, fast travel, horses, (although I barely even ended up using horses either) getting stronger in combat, etc. By the time I had unlocked enough zoanite stuff to make building something useful plausible, I had little need for it. Also, I know I kind of ruined it for myself a bit when I saw the simple hover bikes people had figured out online, but again, the game encourages that kind of optimization of parts and power. Maybe I wouldn't have found the 3 piece build on my own, but I probably would have made something pretty lightweight and cheap eventually. Also, if I weren't looking online I wouldn't have gotten to see all the funnier things people made, so I feel like it's somewhat unrealistic to completely isolate myself from those kinds of spoilers. Also, while finding unexpected solutions to puzzles is cool, what's less cool is discovering that a large portion of the puzzles can be cheezed in the same way. It kind of just flattens the experience. I don't really know what the solution to this is. Just making the building more accessible probably would only go so far and might end up eclipsing other mechanics and challenges. I feel like more of the game's systems and challenges should have more deliberately incorporated the building. You could say it's just fun having this building tool to make wacky things, but if that's all it was supposed to be I could just play Gmod and it would be better. More tools for finely controlling the build, no resource or progression limitations on being able to jump in and make something creative, much higher object limits, the ability to use other player's custom assets and mods, etc. If it had managed to pull it off, the innovation of ultrahand would have been integrating that creative building tool into a full game where you could use these tools to actually solve game-play challenges rather than just playing with them like action figures in a sandbox.

[@TheRenaissanceGamer]

You know, I enjoy your longer videos as well. However, having videos this size helps me get to them faster (because I don’t need to wait as long to have 30-45 minutes available). Thanks for the shorter length vid.

[@Skeffles]

It's always fascinating to see the amount of thought that goes into design like this.

[@wedgantilles]

I was really amazed with Tears of the Kingdom, it really I did not expected it to be this good, especially since I'm definitely not a creative type of player. Minecraft never attracted me at all, so I was excited for the new Zelda as one of the franchise I enjoy the most but a bit worried at the same time. And in the end it works just great, with that feature and the fact that at some point you can find the power to recall and pay for missing parts for your creations, really a beautiful game and I would not say the least of how the story played this time. My only two let downs especially since the non existence of future DLC, is that the sky area is in the end a bit "small" wiht still quite a few things to find, while the depthrs are huge with not as much to do (mostly finding roots and finding Zonaite for upgrading the batteries). But yeah as some developers said the way thing works is just amazing, especially since it does not break the game completely and feel so natural.

[@NikosChatzigeorgiadis]

Well said Mark! I hope TotK achieves the legendary status it deserves in the passage of time.

[@speedude0164]

I have the utmost faith it will. I think more people will start to appreciate it for what it does so well by the time the next game releases, similarily to Wind Waker and Skyward Sword.

[@Ray-dx4vl]

Finally a GMTK video on TOTK! And a good video, too.

[@Leet-iz2fz]

The fact the Ultrahand is named after a real life toy... Not even a minute in and I've learned something new.

[@immortalsun]

I love your videos so much! I’ve binged your channel more times than I can count!

[@turtlewurtle8927]

I thought this was gonna be a whole video about a kids toy! >:(

[@SteveJubs]

It is.

[@UwePieper]

That‘d be a nice troll. 🤔

[@Raoul1808.]

Ngl that would’ve been a hilarious april fools joke if it was the right time for it

[@bojordan64]

I mean it kind of is, no?

[@ehrenloudermilk1053]

Your comment confused me. I googled it. Whoa.

[@annaczgli2983]

All this executed on an ancient, and anaemic Switch! Just for the optimisations alone, they should be considered for Game Of the Year. Very impressive!

[@Jan12700]

1:00 Technically it's correct but it's also wrong. This wasn't a thing for the next Zelda game, it was an Idea for another DLC. Infact they had so many that they started the development of TotK. This is written down in the Book Creating a Champion, the book of the creation of BotW with direct quotes from the Devs.

[@an2qzavok]

[muffed "IMMERSIVE SIM" scream in the distance]

[@HateSonneillon]

The gatchapon machine is a great example of the use of recognition. I'm not very familiar with those machines as I've rarely seen them in my life so when I saw it I steered away thinking it was a giant octopus thing based on the bulbous shape. But my girlfriend is Japanese and has seen tons of them, so when she saw it she shouted "GATCAHPON!" and went straight to it.

[@Mordalon]

I don't see them everywhere but in the US at least they've been a common sight at grocery stores.

[@NovaBlue242]

Haven't you ever seen a gumball machine, or one of those coin toy dispensers? I would have thought they'd be familiar to pretty much everyone outside Japan.

[@Mut4ntG4m3r]

love that final outro explanation :D

[@JoeNathan255]

Love the conclusion he came to. That is, of course, the only reasonable explanation.

[@roreddick9235]

I would love for you to discuss the real-world physics they employ in this game. I believe it really contributes a lot towards making the game so immersive because it feels so real-world.

[@EmperorsNewWardrobe]

I always wonder how close to Baba Is You’s flexibly intelligent system ToTK was aiming, namely the combinatorial puzzle-solving element of Ultrahand and fuse

[@emiyolo310]

This video is a good reminder of what totk was facing end of the year and it's goty lists

[@renanamaral7784]

Players: *Make a perpetual motion machine* Electroboom: *NOOO FREE ENERGY DOES NOT EXIST*

[@zaeranos]

I have to agree that Ultrahand has a lot of potential for fun. And that the puzzles in Tears of the Kingdom can have multiple solutions. However for almost all of the traversal problems one build, consisting out of 1 controlstick and 2 fans, is the easiest and quickest solution. And when you figure that out, than Tears of the Kingdom becomes a tad bit boring. I had to actively stop myself from using that solution over and over again. That is why shrines are so refreshing. Ultrahand, and by extension Auto-build, trivialise a lot of puzzles, by providing the same solution over and over again.

[@tolu619]

Since I'm trying to have fun, and using the same solution over and over again detracts from the fun, I don't think it's a problem with their design because they don't force me to use that single solution. I can use whatever I want whenever I want. I like bikes, so I still have fun designing various versions. I have a bike that I use for transporting koroks. And the hoverbike isn't great if you want to add weapons.

[@jakeymorrison-gardiner2903]

I would argue that you are choosing to play the game in a boring way. And the Devs have given you that option if you don't feel like you want to be creative and come up with creative solutions to problems, which in itself means they cater to a lot of different styles of thinking, and that's pretty impressive in itself

[@Lishtenbird]

"Given the opportunity, players will optimize fun out of the game." But to be fair to Nintendo, their platform and their games are targeted at a primarily casual audience, and that just isn't as burdened by gamer sense and years of gamer experience - compared to people who're invested enough to discuss games on game design channels.

[@marvinvargas4988]

And I would argue that part of great game design isn't just giving players to tons of tools, it is then giving players lots of great reasons to use those tools. Encouraging players to play around and making that meaningfully rewarding is part of good design. If one basic and obvious build is the most useful 95% of the time, then you haven't designed the game in a way that encourages and rewards experimentation, it merely allows it.

[@alexandera.m.6587]

As a product designer, I think it was a very clever move from Nintendo to make all zonai Devices and tools similar to real live products (as mentioned in the video). Actual designers use metaphors in their designs to make objects or interfaces better understandable, or more intuitive in usage. And fun fact: Shigeru Miyamoto actually graduated as an industrial designer

[@whatschoen]

To be honest I did not like this mechanic at all. I made like one vehicle and that was it, felt like it took so much time. Also all those gizmos on screen just felt wrong to me, and they made me think of my job (CAD software, lots of gizmos there).. I really hope that Nintendo will still make a classic zelda game with special items, dungeons, and a general mechanic like changing the wind or the time, etc... if they continue on this path then I'm sad to say I'm out..

[@makebreakrepeat]

This is the real Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts

[@cedarbenz]

8:11 - I did exactly this the very first time I encountered that shrine. I was like, "Wait-falling item; not a cutscene … r e c a l l" just before it went too far; basically exactly where that person recalled it.

[@wallyhackenslacker]

I initially read the title as "How Nintendo made Ultrakill" and my brain short-circuited for a moment there.

[@graefx]

The underlying physics coding to make this all work and not collide and vibrate into oblivion is truly black magicks

[@henryross1795]

A part of me wishes that you would make a Boss Keys video for Tears of the Kingdom's dungeons. I miss those ones in particular.

[@vitsavicky]

I have just started playing TotK two days ago. And the final sentence of this video is on point. There is no way this game wasn't created using black magic and sorcery.

[@beanedtea]

This makes me realize the genius behind the depths in TotK

[@quibquiberton4184]

I definitely fall into the "Didn't want to engage with the feature any more than they had to," camp. The rotation controls took a long time for me to get used to, and it's still pretty finicky. I found out early on how quickly contraptions despawn when you walk too far away from them, which felt really demoralizing. I don't think mechanically, and so I've always avoided engaging deeply with mechanical games like Garry's Mod and Minecraft. I just beat the third dungeon, dozens of hours in, and I'm only now beginning to engage with it, mostly because the game absolutely refuses to let me enjoy the game the same way I did with BotW. Largely recycling the surface map kills the excitement to explore, and so I'm pushed to build vehicles to quickly bypass it to reach the next objective. And so I'm having fun thinking mechanically, which is a very different kind of fun than I'm used to having. A sort of blessing in disguise, I suppose. Still kind of resent Garry's Mod being shoved into Zelda, but whatever.

[@hatti...]

If you attach a dragon part to a build it will stay rendered from very far away because dragon parts have a significantly higher despawn distance compared to other objects

[@ericwindsor339]

imo the horizontal rotation controls were backwards for a Western audience. I flipped it around and it made a lot more sense to me that way

[@Teinve]

It's funny because I personally found botw itself very bland overall but I think ultrahand was the spice the game needed to actually be full

[@quibquiberton4184]

@@Teinve What part of Ultrahand do you find appealing? I find the moment to moment gameplay of unsticking and resticking parts to be pretty frustrating and time-consuming.

[@Mentaclink]

it is really incredible that by attaching a steering wheel on any other part you can control it as long as its in motion, and you can turn wheels, like thats wizard coding for sure

[@JuulietPod]

It's so wizard coding I was CERTAIN that I was misunderstanding how it worked for like thirty whole minutes of tinkering with it. The steering stick is incredible.

[@closedchill5243]

The problem is that there is rarely any reason to engage with these systems, other than forced shrine puzzles. A 2 fan bike solves practically all korok friend puzzles, all 'how do i get there' puzzles, and a 5 fan bike resolves all green gen shrine puzzles. People posted incredible builds before the game even launched, thus removing a lot of desire to create something cool yourself. 'It will never top that robot I saw on youtube' you think. Bottom line is TOTK is agency without specific purpose. In real life we all have incredible agency to go to the hardware store, buy wood and glue and build ANYTHING that comes to mind. Why don't we do that? Because we lack the need or desire to build it. This is almost always the case in TotK. In the next Zelda game think it would be cool if there was a lot more detailed and varied purpose to the crafting. It needs to go so much farther than 'how do i get there' or 'how do i get this thing over there?'. If they can't do a better job with purpose then I would drop the system as it is cumbersome to engage with, even with all they did to simplify it.

[@jedimasterpickle3]

Yeah that's kinda how I went about things. I appreciate that all these systems are in the game, but I didn't think to really use much of it. My most used creation was a slightly modified version of the fan plane blueprint. And that's if I wasn't just running or riding Epona. The very first thing I did when I got to the surface was fail to create a car that actually moved, give up, and just run to Lookout Landing.

[@quibquiberton4184]

This 100%. I just beat the third temple, and I'm only now starting to engage with Ultrahand. And that's mostly to build vehicles, because it's getting damn tedious to explore the world in depth the same way I did with BotW, because it's largely the SAME GODDAMN MAP. There are so many parts that I doubt I'll ever use.

[@TheBaxes]

TOTK is my favorite Immersive sim

[@Croatz]

Your videos have been a key resource for my own project

[@omegaminoseer4539]

What project is that, Croatz? Are you making your own game-or are you going to make an Ultrahand Demo for even better use outside of Tears of The Kingdom?

[@Croatz]

@omegaminoseer4539 I am making my own game, called Ashen Light. Right now I'm just posting all my art to my youtube channel for it to build a following.

[@bregowine]

Been looking for this one!

[@nikanzare3099]

The way it runs flawlessly on switch's hardware still feels like a miracle.

[@gamongames]

Well, that's not true is it. It's still plagued with performance issues to this day. It's amazing that it runs at all in almost decade old hardware but it's far from flawless.

[@gtabro1337]

That mechanic was a _literal_ game changer.

[@Kolya-chu]

can't wait for your vid on the animations of Super Mario Bros Wonder!

[@mljh11]

Same as with weapon durability in BotW, I don't think Nintendo got the balancing of Zonai devices quite right. For instance it seems they intended the world's verticality to be explored by primarily using Zonai wings and hot-air balloons, however these last only 1 and 2 minutes respectively before disappearing. Once the community figured out how to make flying machines by eschewing these items and only using a couple of Zonai fans + a control stick (like the popular hoverboard and goblin glider designs), it almost felt like _cheating_ because the fans can last for 30 minutes of continuous use. This huge discrepancy in efficiency means there is practically zero point in using the wings and balloons for exploration ever again; personally speaking, these two items now just collect dust in my inventory. So I think there is an element of heavy-handedness in Nintendo's design here which betrays the way they intended players to approach their game. If they had pared this heavy-handedness back and doubled or quadrupled the wing and balloon durability, I would actually be happy to use them once in a while. Now I don't use them at all - just like how some BotW players don't pick up utility weapons and instead just use the re-chargeable Master Sword to cut down trees and mine for ores - and I think this hurts the user experience.

[@real23lions]

Personally I think Nintendo rewards the users who understand the depths of the mechanics of Ultrahand. They purposely want you to feel like you’re breaking the game. But really you’re not.

[@suburbansamurai3560]

It's such an impressive mechanic, but I can't help but feel it's in the wrong game. I played through all of TotK but mostly used the ultrahand to build the same couple of simple things over and over that were most effective at solving the repetitive puzzles. Mad respect for all the youtubers who put in the time to build crazy inventions, though. I just wish the game actually encouraged exploring that kind of creativity instead of mostly being BotW again.

[@quibquiberton4184]

I'm not sure where they got the burning desire to shove Garry's Mod into BotW. Was it worth the effort?

[@TheCaliforniaHP]

But that's your choice too. If you'd rather be simple with your designs then make creative or hilarious designs. Later in the game I started making the usual but every now and then I just made stupid stuff just for fun

[@suburbansamurai3560]

@@TheCaliforniaHP Sure, I've seen the amazing stuff people have made, there's no denying the potential behind the game mechanic. But most of the game does not require or requires the bare minimum amount of use of the Ultrahand. You don't even use the Ultrahand for a single boss battle, they're not designed for it. And even if you tried, your creation would be immediately destroyed. That's why I say it just feels like a mechanic made for a different game. You can definitely invest the time into collecting tons of zoanite parts and making a cool thing, but its applications for actually advancing the game's main quest or even most side quests is extremely limited, it's just a toy to goof around with in the open world. I'm not saying there isn't fun in that, but it feels superfluous. The main game is almost entirely beatable without ever using the Ultrahand to combine more than three objects, max, usually only two. I like TotK just fine, but the game ultimately feels like a less focused version of BotW to me, with a lot of unrewarding distractions and excessive repetition (a problem with a lot of open world games, admittedly).

[@troyknights3342]

If the game forced people to make complicated things, people would also complain about that. You guys are simply looking for things to complain about. Giving players the choice is objectively better and this game doesnt feel like botw. They feel like very different experiences.

[@quibquiberton4184]

@@troyknights3342 I don't think OP is asking for puzzles to require complicated contraptions, just that building was better implemented into the game. Moments like flying the wing to bomb the monster heads at the peak of Death Mountain are awesome, but story beats that require contraptions in fun ways are extremely rare, and this particular instance only works because they suspend the incredibly strict buzzkill time limit for the wing device like they do in shrines. As it is, Ultrahand just feels like a fun creative toy that is barely integrated into BotW 1.5.

[@toastedbred2961]

It would be cool to see game developers attempt to make Ultrahand from scratch to prove how hard it is to do.

[@graenovember]

this was great, really didn’t know most of the nintendo perspective

[@Gerik75]

It even better with the Autobuild power who that's mean we don't even need to rebuild every time our favorite contraption broke, just a few orres form the dephts and we can go again in few seconds.

[@Aibadenshi]

They just give link the Gmod Gravity Gun.

[@gryphonkingbros847]

*Physigun. The Gravity Gun is the orange one that grabs stuff in a fixed, short-ranged position from Half Life 2. The Physigun is the super-charged variant of the Gravity Gun that shoots out beams to grab physic objects from Garry's Mod.

[@drako5155]

"Hi, this is Marcus Brownbeard and this is Magic-Maker's Toolkit, a series on wizardry"

[@LowPoly64]

2:18 that really hits hard right now because I am trying to learn blender right now

[@Faust_YT]

"Here are the tools, go fckng wild." - Nintendo

[@Fenril76]

ToTK, just might be the best game ever made imo.

[@Stephen-Fox]

As someone who didn't really engage with the Ultra Hand that much (there were places I did, but for most of my ~200 hour playthrough I stuck with horses and paragliding), I can confirm that the design of it didn't get in the way when I was doing something that required using it or those cases where I wasn't but decided that was the approach I wanted to take.

[@aliferestored]

Love your content, thank you for the time you put into it!

[@its_miscu]

if there's an issue with the freedom on offer in both games it's that, after enough time, players will find a "swiss army knife" one-size-fits-all solution to most of the problems they come across. for TotK, I imagine most players in the late-game will have a generic schematics for things like a glider jet and an upward rocket platform. because the game is overly-generous with some of these basic materials, it's very unlikely players will run out if they're getting the most use out of each copy as a result, the very cool zonai devices you find later on will be mostly ignored because whatever problem it is can probably be solved just as easily with your glider jet and rocket platform. the Mineru dungeon is this game's Eventide Island in that, through limitation, it forces players to be more clever with the whole gamut of tools on offer instead of relying on the same few easy solutions I remember banjo-kazooie N&B would run into similar "circle peg goes in the square hole" problems, but it was a little better at encouraging you to implement to gadgets you'd find later on

[@chaosprime1629]

one thing i noticed with ultra hand and the biggest limitation it has is that you cannot change the camera control which was a problem magnesis also had. its hit box is also a bit finnicky as well.

[@MaximeLafreniere433]

Let it also be known how much the Ultrahand and Physics systems go hand in hand (lol). The physics of this game is incredibly complex and realistically made while almost every zonai device (or at least, every construction made with Ultrahand) uses the physics system in some way. You can't just put a wing in the air and make it fly, but it will plane automatically like an actual wing would, give it more horizontal speed and boom, and actual plane that obeys the laws of aerodynamism. Transform the device that always gets right-side up into a catapult with stronger results with a longer device. Make a heavy object fall on a plank with nothing underneath it to make it a lever. Wheels, slides, etc. all work differently on different terrains, you can put on damn block of ice under whatever you want negate any friction. And those are only a few ways that are explicitly shown to the players. Also, the abominations that come out of physicians/engineers' nightmares coming to life, that's also a gift to see.

[@FrothingFanboy]

A freebuild mode including things like more curvy parts so creations could be less hacky would be the perfect DLC. :)

[@mand4lex]

Good stuff.

[@bigchungus7870]

The best thing about ultrahand is the korok torture-i mean creative builds

[@manamaster6]

I expected this to be a video about the 1960's Nintendo toy, but still, the video was good.