The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a seriously impressive game, especially when it comes to its flexible, physics-driven world that allows players to construct whatever wacky contraptions they want during their journey across Hyrule. According to the game's lead physics programmer, Takahiro Takayama, mastering these physics was absolutely crucial in order to give players full creative freedom, without the fear of them destroying the world even more effectively than Ganondorf.
In a presentation at GDC 2024 in March, Takayama admitted that during the development of Tears of the Kingdom, not everything ran as smoothly as it was supposed to right away. "As expected, the world fell apart," Takayama said, showcasing a series of clips of Ultrahand creations rapidly spinning, horses being sent flying into the air, and Link bouncing up and down, out of control. "At this rate, the world will destroy itself before Ganondorf comes back."
