It’s a tantalizing opportunity when we get to peek under the hood of our favorite games, especially when it comes to stories behind huge blockbusters like Ocarina of Time. This time around, former Nintendo of America Graphic Designer Jim Wornell gets his chance to open up about working on the original Ocarina of Time project in a recent podcast of the Kiwi Talks show.
Jim stated in the interview that he wore many different hats in the final weeks before Ocarina of Time was ready for publication. These tasks included debugging the game, designing the official instruction manual, marketing, localization, and more. The work was intense, and the hours were long, often from eight in the morning to ten at night with no days off. Such working hours at Nintendo were not always typical, Jim assured, as the workload varied depending on the project. Ocarina of Time’s sheer demand and widespread audience distribution made it (not surprisingly) an unusually intense workload for the company to produce.
Perspectives like Jim’s are fascinating to come by when it comes to the rare history of Zelda game development outside of Japan. Jim also shares his involvement in designing the Metroid Prime logo and other Nintendo projects. Check out the interview in its entirety below.
