Topic: The Developer Thread

Looks great. I am jealous of everything you are able to get done.

Wanted to share some updates!

Temporary dungeon graphics are basically done, and they look fantastic! It finally looks like you're deep in an underground bunker. The (aforementioned) new HUD looks great as well.

On dungeon graphics, I came up with a genius method of altering the background whenever the player moves. Since my engine has smooth turning, it doesn't matter if backgrounds are the same in one space. However, my current engine does not support smooth movement. It just moves you forward one tile. If the background doesn't change, the player could feel like they're standing still even though they moved. So I did this:

if ((dun_x + dun_y) % 2) { //% is modulo operator
//draw_background_flipped()
} else {
//draw_background()
}

Since substituting x or y for any value in (x+y)%2 would be either 1 or 0 (I.E. true or false) depending on (x+y)'s odd or evenness, this creates a virtual checkerboard. If you were to walk in a straight line, every other tile would be flipped. I don't even know how I came up with that solution, but I still think it's elegant.
(for anyone ignorant, modulo gives you the remainder of a division operation. 23%12 would give you 11)

Items menu is almost complete. You can use items, drop (non-key) items, and view an item's flavor text.

Since the player can't get these items in the final game, I'm having some fun here.

On my stream today, I was shocked when I got my item usage script working on the first try. No crashes, no bugs, straight-up worked perfectly. It was the last thing I did on-stream, and everyone was HYPE. I definitely think that streaming gamedev is going to help me to actually make progress.

I tend to lose steam after completing the core engine of a game. Watching other people directly react to any progress I make "refuels" me - so to speak. In one month, I've gone from nothing to having an entire dungeon-crawl engine complete, and an entire menu system mostly finished. Definitely rewarding stuff. I can't wait until I finish up the menu work and start on the battle system!

looks great. I am hoping to get some work done this weekend, probably won't have anything to post about it here for a long time but I am excited to get to work.

@Nacho_chicken Heh, All I understood from that is that you're doing those old-school nearly text based dungeon games. Can't wait!

Good to find a fan of old-school PC RPGs
Hoping to have it give the thrill and adventure of playing an old-school title but with modern-day sensibilities and balance. I'm taking cues from Etrian Odyssey (character creation, class system, and skill trees), The Dark Spire (witty, black humor and changing the number of players in each row), Might and Magic (large, open-world, 3D overworld with non-linear objectives), and Megami Tensei 2 (atmosphere).

...Is what I want to say, but in reality, it's just another old-school PC-style RPG. Then again, when was the last time one of those came out? Last one I remember was The Dark Spire in '09. I'm trying to stand out by not having a high-fantasy setting and doing all the maps by hand, and then putting them in-game.

It gives the maps a sort of organic feel that you don't get from most modern dungeon crawls. As much as I love Etrian Odyssey, most of the series' maps don't feel like they were given as much thought as the dungeons in Wizardry or even something as recent as The Dark Spire. I'm sure there are patterns that show up in my maps, but I've done countless maps of varying sizes - from 8x8 to as big as 40x30 - and each feels unique. I've had fun walking around in them, and I hope you'll find the same joy I've gotten out of it.

I'm planning on launching a Kickstarter once the main demo is complete and I get some music and concept art done. Whether or not it gets funded, though, the game is going to be completed.

Definitely check out my Twitch stream if you get a chance. It's a great place to see the game in action or even just ask questions while I either code like a boss (Thursday) or flail around my keyboard like a monkey for an hour, chasing bugs caused by a one-letter typo (Friday). Such is game development.

Btw. I REALLY recommend adding Miiverse functionality to any games you guys are thinking of making. Trust me, giving people an easy way to post to Miiverse (like a new score), will greatly increase Miiverse posts.

I released a new patch for my ZaciSa's Last Stand game a week ago and it included the ability to post to Miiverse now. And here it is little over 1 week later and the number of posts per day is a lot.

So, I really recommend adding a "Post to Miiverse" message, as well as the actual button/etc ability to do so!

Hi guys/girls. I'm new to the forum (been a lurker for ages). I'm currently studying software development and was wondering if any registered Wii U developers could kindly elaborate a little on Nintendo's registering process - in particular any costs involved and experience required. There is an option for "New to development" on the application form, but surely they have a minimum requirement regarding programming skills and/or portfolio?

I have some questions if that's okay. According to Nintendo's FAQ, the process is:
1. Fill out the Developer Application form to become a Wii U developer. - What happens next? Interview?
2. Developer Click-Through NDA - What is this?
3. Obtain development tools - What tools are provided? Costs involved?
4. Game Development - Self explanatory?
5. Submission / Certification - I'm guessing this is a lengthy process (testing, etc)?
6. Release - Who decides the date/price and what percentage do Nintendo take?
7. On-going support - Support for what? Coding, marketing, regional translations, adding DLC, etc?

Sorry if I'm asking too much (especially being a forum newbie). There's no need for loads of detail as I'm just starting out - any pointers or personal experience relating to the process would be greatly appreciated (and I'm sure others would appreciate it too). Good luck with your projects. Thank you.

My ability to do this depends on one thing: does the Nintendo Web Framework have access to Miiverse integration? Now, I won't know the answer to this question until I'm officially recognized as one, and, ironically, anyone who knows won't be able to legally answer this question due to NDAs.

I would love to do some sort of Miiverse integration, but I'm having a hard time seeing how it'll work with an HTML5 file in a wrapper.

1) You wait until Nintendo gets back with you. I bet they ask if you have some sort of lockable file cabinet to keep devkits and other sensitive materials hidden in.
2) An NDA (non-disclosure agreement) is a contract that forbids you from sharing certain information (mainly technical details and corporate procedures) from others. If you break it, have fun getting a job in software development anywhere.
3) I don't know if you can use a regular Wii U as a devkit. If you can't, expect the devkit to run anywhere from $500-$2000. A devkit is usually a special console that is allowed to run unsigned code, I.E. your game in development.
4) Make your game, yes.
5) Testing, ESRB/PEGI rating, etc. You should really have all the bugs ironed out by now.
6) I presume the NDA prevents anyone who knows the answer to this question from answering it.
7) I don't know about this one.

Actually, I can tell you easily. A lot of the NWF/Wii U API is in Javascript calls/etc. That wouldn't really be considered NDA. Sharing what the calls are, etc would be however. But yeah, you can do direct Wii U functionality, like any other Wii U game, is possible in an HTML5 game.

My own game, ZaciSa's Last Stand is an HTML5 game. And it can do Miiverse functionality, online leaderboards, etc.

Great!

...but I guess I should have a finished game first

Thanks for your quick reply, nacho_chicken. Can I ask... when you applied, did you give examples of any completed or in-progress work (such as the game you've shown here), or any ideas you have for future games you'd like to make? Also, did you tick the "New to development" box? I'm just wondering how "new" Nintendo would accept, and if they require a portfolio of some kind... I've got loads of ideas but my programming skills are lacking at present - although I'd prefer to work hands-on, i.e. with an actual dev kit, as I would learn quicker that way. Thanks again.

I gave some examples of games I've made in the past, and a commercial engine that I've made about 200 sales on. It's not a lot, but it's something. I've entered a couple of Game Jams and I think I got 2nd place in one for best presentation. I've been developing video games for 10+ years, so I by no means am "new to development".

If you are new - especially to programming - don't start by making games for a major console. I know from first-hand experience that it's much, MUCH harder to learn a language at the same time as a proprietary engine.

Try learning Javascript. You'll be able to natively program HTML5 games, which can then easily be ported to Wii U, PC/Mac/Linux, iOS, Android, and possibly other platforms I'm unaware of. Don't make your first game a big project. You'll save yourself a lot of time and actually get things done while learning if you start off very small, and work your way up from there. Make a Pong clone. Space Invaders. Pac-Man. Tetris. Mario Bros. Dragon Warrior.

This site by no means gives you actual, verifiable data, but it gives you a basic idea of how deep your head is in the gamedev clouds at the moment: http://yourgameideaistoobig.com/
Everyone was there once; myself included. Once I learned that it takes more than passion to make a game, reality struck and I caved in. Don't give up, and learn from any mistakes you make along the way!

Really hoping to reveal some information on my game soon. The release of it on Wii U depends on dev kit cost/if a publisher will pick it up.

0. Nope. There is no limitation or min requirements. Before my 1st game, I never made a game before. I did have plenty of web dev time, as been doing this for last 15 years of course. But never shipped a game or so, and I got in early easily. Plus, stuff like Unity, Construct 2 and Game Maker, etc can allow people who can't code to make games too.
1. Sometime later they will email you to set up a time to call you. This call is a quick simple call. Just basics, asks about you, tells you a little of the program, etc. After that call they will email you with an official link to access the dev area for the program. Not sure how long this process is now a days, as I signed up day 1 when this was announced like 2 years ago and took them months to get back to me (Aug 2013) cause of how much applications they had to go through. But hopefully won't take too long!
2. NDA is just an agreement to not share sensitive info of anything inside the program. Like dev kit (price, pictures, etc), API, etc. You sign this when they have you signed up.
3. Only costs for dev tools is the dev kit itself of course (outside of any 3rd party engines, like Construct 2/etc). They provide you with tools to make making this easier. For example, NWF has it's own PC app that makes running, testing, configuring, and compiling projects easier.
4. Yep. That is on you. They give you a good sense of how things to should be approached/etc.
5. It can be, esp for 1st time game makers. My 1st game took 5 attempts to submit.. This is lotcheck, they check to make sure it doesn't fail any guidelines/etc. Each attempt is not that bad, like week of waiting plus another week or testing (how long really depends on how big your game is and how feature pack it is.). So avg turn around for lotcheck is like 2 weeks to find out if it fails or passes (pass will then go onto 2nd part of lotcheck). But this can add up easily. Certification is free. Nintendo does not charge you for any patches or updates you make.
You do need to need to pay for any rating costs (ESRB, PEGI, USK, etc). Luckily ESRB is free of course, and NoA has worked with ESRB to make this even easier with simple reg form to get your rating fast. PEGI/USK/etc will cost you however.
6. You do! You have 100% control over price and date. If you wanted, you could launch on a Wednesday at $94.78 if you wanted. That be very dumb of you, but you could! Launching on Thursday is better always (unless you are multiplatform of course). Nintendo cut is standard industry. Not sure if I can say it cause might be considered NDA, but since it's standard you can easily google this info. You are also free to do sales whenever you want too. Though, consoles sales do have to be approved in advanced, so just can't go and decide you want a sale tomorrow. Will need to plan like a week+ in advanced. Other slight rules you will realize once you are part of the program, but you do have control.
7. Those would all be on you. Nintendo is there to help you when it can, but all of that will be up to you to do. Stuff like DLC, Patches, Updates, etc are possible. Marketing will be up to you as well. As unless your title hits it big/has hype behind it, don't expect Nintendo to market it for you. That will be your job. You may see Nintendo feature your game or so in one of the eShop categories (mine has been for Sales & Demo before), but beyond that you will need to try to market it on your own.

I'm making a couple of games for Wii U (links in my signature) -

One is called Totem Topple - it's a vertical tower defence. You add heads to a totem pole and each head is a turret, shooting arrows or providing bonuses to nearby heads. Enemies come and attack the base of the tower, eating up the bottom totem head until the tower has no heads left.

It also has what can best be described as a rules editor. You can change all the totem heads' and enemies' stats as well as stuff like interval between waves of enemies spawning, how many in a wave etc. It's a bit of an experiment to see if people actually bother making their own custom games with it.

Has been finished for months but seems I've done just about everything you can possibly do wrong as far as Nintendo approvals process / lotcheck is concerned. I'm fingers crossed it actually gets approved on this latest submission. This will be just for North America. Would like to release it in Europe but I'm flat-broke at the moment so can't afford even the reduced PEGI fees. Also debating whether it's worth waiting to get the game translated into various different languages, or whether it's worth just shoving it out there in English so people can get on and play it, then adding the translations in as a patch later down the line.

Second game is called Flight of Light. NintendoLife did a preview of it a while back, when it was codenamed project Colour Park (a terrible name, so ran a competition to rename it and Flight of Light was the winning entry!) It's basically a cross between audio surf and mario kart. Or to put it another way, it's a local multiplayer racing game where everything is in time to the music. It's also motion controlled (works best with wii remotes, but using the gamepad gyro's also works and assuming that gets approved by Nintendo, will mean it can have up to 5 players!)

Currently in the process of upgrading the interface (also gonna replace the flying boy model in all the current screenshots/videos with some cool looking spaceships. Again, as soon as I can afford to pay my artist). Then is just making the menus and adding more levels ("just" meaning months of hard work ahead )

@bloodix I'm officially on submission number 4 so glad I'm not the only one who has had such a marathon for their first game. Did you do miiverse and leaderboard stuff? That seems to have caused the most trip-ups for me

@inkling if you're looking for just a devkit to test the game on, I'm sure someone who already has one could help &shifty eyes& . Publisher wise, I guess someone like curve digital? Depends what you're looking for out of marketing support, finance, Q&A/submission help etc.

@JamesCoote Yep. Lotcheck can take a good while if you have bad luck like me. lol. My latest patch took like 6 submissions (well, 1 was self-rejected by me before it got to testing part cause i noticed an issue). Anyways, yes. I added Miiverse & Online Leaderboard stuff into my game in latest path. And people love it! My Miiverse community is very active now.

I'm curious what other devs think of NX? I'm in two minds about it. It feels like the right thing for Nintendo to do in the grander scheme of things. But I'm already heavily invested in Wii U dev and I still have a bunch of ideas I'd love to make for Wii U, many using the gamepad. Plus no guarantee Nintendo will want small-time indies on the system - It seems Sony and MS are becoming increasingly selective of the indies they take on board and promote and again, it kinda makes sense for Nintendo to do the same. There are so many indies out there already making quality games on PC that it ought to be relatively easy to pick them up as timed console exclusives.

@bloodix That's good to know. Hope it'll be the same for me / that it wasn't wasted effort.

It's not like Nintendo or rather gamers will drop the Wii U like a six ton brick once to NX turns up. Nintendo might even promote indie developed games more on Wii U once they reduced their own Wii U releases. For at least the next 3 years the future might actually look bright.

I just wanna throw an idea out there if anybody's interested.
How about a game based on the Redbull Air Race. Obviously it doesn't have to be affiliated with Redbull, just aslong as a cool racing game with planes gets made.
Here's a vid of some behind the scenes stuff for the air race, and the guys explaining how the planes react in flight. Just for referance.

As a Dev I don't want the Wii U to be replaced so soon but I know it will happen. I am not sure if I should invest in Dev equipment for the Wii U or wait for the NX. Hopefully they offer a discount or something to those that invested in Wii U Dev equipment.