This awesome Steam game might as well be Zelda Maker 64

Follow Followed Like Thread Link copied to clipboard Add us on By Patricia Hernandez Published Apr 28, 2026, 11:43 AM EDT News Temple Maker 64 is the work of a solo dev who left his full-time software engineering job to make it happen { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": "1", "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.polygon.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position":"2", "name": "News", "item": "https://www.polygon.com/news/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position":"3", "name": "This Steam game is the 3D Zelda Maker you\u2019ve been asking for", "item": "https://www.polygon.com/zelda-maker-3d-temple-maker-64-steam-pc-design-kaizo-level/" } ] } Related Zelda didn't survive for 40 years by accident Tomodachi Life players can't stop smoking cigarettes New Steam creature battler does what Pokémon would never This Steam game is the 3D Zelda Maker you’ve been asking for Image: Ki3 Games Sign in to your Polygon.com account After Super Mario Maker, you'd think Nintendo would give its other retro franchises a similar DIY treatment. Since the Japanese company hasn't, other game developers are filling the void instead. So far, that's mostly meant 2D creation suites that allow players to craft The Legend of Zelda levels with a Super NES aesthetic. But at least one developer is pushing the idea into the 3D era. Temple Maker 64 is the work of Akela-morse, a solo game developer who left his job a year and a half ago to focus on the idea full-time. In an exchange with Polygon, the 27-year-old creative says that he got the idea after seeing titles like Quest Master, Super Dungeon Maker, and Super Dungeon Designer. But since all of these titles are top-down 2D pixel art games, "going with a N64 aesthetic felt evident," he said. The level design suite gives players all the classic weapons, items, and enemies they'd expect from a 3D Zelda game like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — but Temple Maker 64 is careful not to use any names Nintendo uses. Similarly, the tunic-clad protagonist is highly reminiscent of Link without necessarily copying his design. Threading the needle like this might help Temple Maker 64 find an established audience. High-profile attempts to sell similar ideas, like Amazon's dungeon-making party game King of Meat, have floundered even as they've offered extensive level design and community-focused sharing features. I'm currently running a playtest for Temple Maker 64 And look, people have already published dungeons 👀 Let's try one out! ⚔️ #indiegames #zelda #nintendo64 — Ki3 Games | Temple Maker 64 Steam Page LIVE! 🗝️ (@ki3games.bsky.social) 2026-04-09T16:31:51.795Z The issue isn't how these games play: It's that people don't necessarily want to make video games based on characters they have zero emotional attachment to. Beyond brand recognition, games like Super Mario Maker and its sequel are more likely to succeed because players with experience in the larger series come in with a wealth of knowledge about the types of levels that might work. It's not necessarily easy to make one, but most of us know how a Zelda dungeon works. Case in point: Though Temple Maker 64 is not out yet, its play testers are already running at full speed. Akela-morse recently shared a video on Reddit where one play tester created the Zelda equivalent of a Kaizo level. Kaizo refers to fan-made Super Mario levels that push players to the limit with extremely precise…

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