It’s been nearly a year since the last update The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildAs an as-yet-untitled sequel, Nintendo recently announced that it would be delaying the game’s release until spring 2023. It seems that good things will happen to those who wait.
There are also some Zelda fans who decided to make their own games.
Take Jannik Wagner of online Waikuteru for example.He and others used their coding skills to embed the mod Breath of the Wild And share them with the Zelda community – mods ranging from mechanical enhancements to wacky goofy avatars.At the beginning, making Breath of the Wild mods provide Wagner a way to extend the fun of his favorite games. But now, the modder’s work has gained enough attention online to make him a fan icon in a sense.
Second Wind Super Mod
Second Wind, a hobbyist project backed by Wagner and 50+ other Zelda fans, is the mother of all Breath of the Wild module.rivals even Nintendo’s success champ’s song DLC, this super mod is rich enough that Nintendo can sell it and fans won’t blink. It adds content, including new difficulty settings, bosses, weapons, quests and a never-before-seen town.
Some time ago, a close friend of Wagner approached him to help him lead the project, with Wagner programming the camera work, game events, background music and sound effects. Last year, he created a new mini-project in Second Wind, a potion shop with an NPC named Nancy. The shop allows players to buy elixirs (programmed as items) with rupees and materials. If elixirs are purchased at night, their effects are multiplied. Another of his Second Wind mini-mods is a small town called Ordon Village with its own main quest and side quests.
Second Wind, a hobbyist project backed by Wagner and 50+ other Zelda fans, is the mother of all Breath of the Wild mods
While accustomed to flying solo, Wagner described working with 50 tuners as “a little different” but a good experience. “We use GitHub to simplify the process of pulling the latest commits [or coded file updates] then with [the files],” he said. “I also work with the people I know best, so I have a great relationship! ”
Based in San Francisco, GitHub is an online software platform service used by developers around the world. It’s not open source, but the company encourages hobbyist developers to use its free option to share and store Git code publicly, much like a public backup service.
Shortly before this story was published, Wagner said Second Wind was about 60 percent complete in its entirety. Players can experience the phenomenon through his Discord server, although his team wants to add more content. Development of Second Wind was delayed due to the impact of the pandemic on the personal lives of several modders, Wagner said. Still, he’s optimistic that the mod will be completed soon.After completing the main work of the project, he went on to try his own Breath of the Wild Modified during this period.
From player to modder: a fan’s love letter to game design
Image: Jannick Wagner
For many in the online fan community, Wagner’s Breath of the Wild Mods are not just part of the niche modding scene within a niche. They’re overbuilt, over the top, and filled to the brim with a playful attitude.Arguably Wagner even Breath of the WildThe explosive modding culture.
Although Wagner is best known for his work on The Second Wind, his passion for video games didn’t start at that moment.when he got a Breath of the Wild Release date in 2017. “I didn’t think about it too much because I wasn’t that person [who did] Besides playing, there are a lot of things that use the computer League of legends,” he said. He was just enjoying the game as a casual player.
But when Wagner heard that the game could run on a Wii U emulator called Cemu without dropped frames, he became curious. What if the Zelda game could have more possibilities?
What if the Zelda game could have more possibilities?
In 2018, curiosity overcame him.Wagner tried Breath of the Wild On Cemu, because he didn’t want to risk adversely affecting his console. But the process is arduous. The Legend of Zelda game data is notorious for being hard to swallow.This open world mammoth is called Breath of the Wild A whole other beast. “I looked into Cemu and had to realise my PC couldn’t run this game because it didn’t even get to lock 60 [frames per second] easy to run League of legends,” he said. The mountain of data didn’t stop him. Armed with research, he built a new gaming PC from scratch that summer, with a powerful i7-8700K CPU engine. He tried it again.
The result was much better than he expected.
“I started the game with some performance and graphics enhancement mods, then [blown away] The gameplay,” Wagner said. “It’s just amazing! “
Since then, he has been hooked on modding.He tweaked and tinkered with the content of his Hylian heart, added mod enhancements Breath of the Wildperformance and graphics, and then modify and expand the game itself. “They must have sparked something special in me,” he said. “New additions to a beloved Nintendo game […] Anytime, anywhere, you can decide the content and quality […] It’s almost like a dream! “
daydream come true
Wagner did a lot of his own habits Breath of the Wild Mods before Second Wind, including several inspired by Sword of the skyGhirahim boss fights, time trial minigames, and even the return phase of Whomp’s Fortress super mario 64. He fondly remembers the first mod he made, Sword of the sky Complete the music overhaul.In that project, he modified more than 200 Sword of the sky music and sound effects files Breath of the Wildall for nostalgia.
“This is the first time I’ve put so much time into a project like this. […] It made the players happy and gave them a whole new experience,” he said. “I realized this shouldn’t be the case, and there has to be more. “
In the summer of 2019, it came in the form of a map editor.With it, Wagner discovered how to create his own custom Zelda dungeon Breath of the Wild, or at least use as much of the game’s limited temple assets as possible. “I realized that it was quite difficult to model new objects myself, and I used almost exclusively squares,” he said.But with a little ingenuity, he learned that he could import a Sword of the sky Game maps and create custom temples. From there, Knight Academy was born, the first mod that Wagner showed on his YouTube channel. He had less than 100 subscribers at the time. At the time this story went live, he had over 26,000.
On average, it takes him one to two months to revamp a custom dungeon. Wagner eventually figured out how to modify the original object as well.he imported Ocarina of TimeThe Lon Lon Ranch as a test, the results are surprisingly accurate with the original aesthetic – even improved.His favorite mod is Breath of the Wild Randomizer, who resumed a project last year after working on Second Wind. He poured hundreds of hours into that project and counting.
Breathe new life into an acclaimed darling
Image: Jannick Wagner
Modding is fast becoming a popular activity in gaming culture. Some companies like Bethesda already see the fan modding community as a goldmine of audience engagement and content value. Proponents of modding tout its importance in preparing future programmers for today’s tech-intensive industry.
Like many Zelda fans, Wagner wants a sequel Breath of the Wild Much-needed traditional dungeons and unique items will be recreated. “I hope the new capabilities will lead to creative puzzles,” he said. The patented avatar mechanism discovered by the public last year certainly caught his attention. “We saw that Link could traverse the terrain, and I’m sure that would lead to really beautiful puzzles.” Wagner already plans to revise the sequel after playing the game.
Desires aside, is modding something he might pursue even more in the future?
“There’s no doubt about that,” Wagner said. “When there’s not much else on my list, I’ll most likely join and help Second Wind again! Every participation is a fun experience!”
