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Nintendo used Maya to create all of the 3D graphics for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, making it the company’s first game with an entirely Maya-based graphics pipeline. The title had shipped in Japan on 13 December 2002 and was expected in Germany during the second quarter of 2003.
The game was developed under Shigeru Miyamoto, the creative figure behind Donkey Kong and Mario. Early previews highlighted the visual quality, while Nintendo sought to raise the GameCube’s production values without expanding teams beyond the scale established during the Nintendo 64 era.
Maya supplied a robust API and the Maya Embedded Language, or MEL. Combined with batch processing, MEL automated routine tasks and helped the team migrate functions from its earlier production pipeline, improving productivity in game development.
