Five developer accounts worth keeping open.
Ever finished a game and wanted to know how it got there? These are five places I’d start. They’re public interviews and commentary from the people who made the games, gathered here with a reason to open each one.
A small spoiler warning: the Portal commentary discusses later puzzles and the finale. The Zelda interview also covers changes made for the Majora’s Mask remake.
Fan art: @HikariToriumi · Source. This isn’t a prototype screenshot.
01 / THE DEVELOPMENT BOOKSHELF
Nintendo built a tank to pitch Ultrahand
Ultrahand is the Tears of the Kingdom ability that lets Link join objects into vehicles and other contraptions. Hidemaro Fujibayashi demonstrated the idea with mechanisms from Breath of the Wild, before the sequel’s building system existed. Nintendo’s interview includes footage of the car, paddle steamer and tank. That alone makes it worth opening.
Fan art: drawbrandondraw · Source.
02 / THE DEVELOPMENT BOOKSHELF
Valve changed the rooms when players got stuck
Portal’s gun makes two connected openings, turning falls into long jumps and letting Chell cross seemingly impossible rooms. Valve’s developers explain which lessons players missed and which puzzles asked too much at once. Their commentary is unusually specific about what changed. This link collects the original in-game audio and transcripts on the community-run Portal Wiki.
Fan art: @matiasbergara · Source.
03 / THE DEVELOPMENT BOOKSHELF
Majora’s Mask had a one-year deadline
Eiji Aonuma wanted to make new Zelda dungeons instead of remixing Ocarina of Time. Miyamoto agreed to a new game, provided it could be finished in a year using existing models. The interview follows the decisions that made Majora’s Mask possible, then examines what Nintendo wanted to repair for the 3DS remake. Start with the original team’s account.
Official artwork: Nintendo / Intelligent Systems · Source.
04 / THE DEVELOPMENT BOOKSHELF
Awakening’s marriage system came with extra work
Fire Emblem’s developers wanted players to care about the soldiers in their army. Bringing marriage back meant creating special illustrations and voiced confessions for the player character’s potential partners. This chapter explains that work and traces the idea back to the fourth Fire Emblem. It’s a good reminder that a relationship system needs more than a list of bonuses.
Fan art: iohc_choi · Source.
05 / THE DEVELOPMENT BOOKSHELF
Hornet could answer the people she met
Team Cherry’s 2019 Silksong update explains how Hornet’s replies expanded the writing workload compared with Hollow Knight’s silent Knight. It also documents the E3 demo and the areas shown at the time. Read it as a development snapshot, not as current platform or release information. And if you’d rather see the game in motion, it includes the Treehouse demonstration.
Follow the artwork back to its creator.
The pictures here are credited separately from the interviews. For more work from the artists behind them, browse the 2025 art shelf.
