A solo developer working under the name Akela-morse is creating Temple Maker 64, an unofficial level-design suite that lets players build 3D dungeons in the style of N64-era Legend of Zelda games, and is bringing it to Steam. The 27-year-old, who left his full-time job around eighteen months ago to work on the project, was inspired by existing 2D Zelda-style dungeon makers but wanted to push the concept into 3D, giving players familiar weapons, items and enemies while carefully avoiding any of Nintendo's copyrighted names or exact character designs.

A Steam demo has been available since May, and Akela-morse hopes to add social features such as comments, tagging and lists, alongside a possible single-player campaign and contributions from other Zelda-inspired developers. Playtesters have already produced extremely demanding "Kaizo"-style levels requiring precise moves like rolls and backflips. The developer says he is not using any of Nintendo's IP, assets or code directly and is relatively unconcerned about legal action, while also hedging his bets with a second project, Seed of Life, and plans to eventually open-source the framework behind Temple Maker 64.