One of the common critiques of Echoes of Wisdom was that its user interface, or “UI” for Echoes was slower than King Zora in Ocarina of Time, leaving many fans wanting something better. Game Maker’s Toolkit on YouTube decided to take a shot at the issue themselves and used Unity to create five potential alternative systems.
Game Maker’s Toolkit is hosted by Mark Brown and covers a variety of topics on game design. In the Zelda community, he is mostly known for his series “Boss Keys” which deeply analyzes Zelda dungeons and how they have evolved over the years. Like many people, Mark had his qualms with the UI in Echoes of Wisdom and decided to use his unique set of skills to realize some alternatives through the development software Unity.
The original UI simply consisted of one giant bar that players would have to scroll through to find the Echoes they were looking for, which could take forever with over one hundred and fifty Echoes in the game. The system was nearly identical to how players select gear or ingredients in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. This Echo menu was far larger and more vital to Echoes of Wisdom, though, meaning it often could dampen the experience for many players. To address this issue Mark created five solutions ranging from a simple acceleration feature to the pre-existing bar, to a dramatic rework using Beyond Good and Evil’s spiral menu as inspiration.
All five options presented by Mark are fascinating attempts at making a more dynamic menu for the Echoes and would have been interesting to see in the game. Mark left a playable demo to showcase the different redesigns. Be sure to check out the video and demo to learn more about the various ways Mark from Game Maker’s Toolkit attempted to improve the Echoes of Wisdom user interface.
