Topic: The Developer Thread

My advice would be to wait until your game is basically finished, then get a devkit to essentially do a porting job on it. Unless you want to use the specific hardware (wii remotes and gamepad as a second screen). I don't know if they're still doing it, but they used to have a scheme where you could effectively get the devkit free for a limited time (though it wasn't advertised as such). I think if you talk to them they'll probably be able to arrange something. I think they just want people who are serious and not going to sit on it for a year, letting it gather dust in the corner of the office.

As for NX, I really detest devkits on principle so hoping once NX launches in shops, devs will be able to buy one off the shelf then have it phone home or something to confirm that you're a licensed developer and let you deploy straight to it. Devkits for me are an anathema to the spirit of indie development and my experience of Wii U devkits is that they're a massive time sink to set up compared to say Android or PSVita (PSMobile) development where you can relatively quickly install the software and deploy straight to the device you bought in the shops, have access to everything the consumer will have and be able to test as the consumer will see it. Plus you can't take devkits to shows/events to promote your game before it launches in shops. Similarly for testing, with a retail device you'd be able to take it out of the office and also not have to get testers to sign some NDA just to play your game. (For people who complain that most indie games on consoles are just ports from PC or mobile, this is a large part of the reason why IMO).

Having received the call from America (Just waiting on a call back now, who knows how long!) I can say the programme is still running. Whether or not you are good enough to bear fruit is a different matter.

Keep in mind, even if the Wii U is replaced with the NX. It won't be till at least Nov/Dec of 2016. So that is 1 and half years from now. If not 2017. That is plenty of time, Wii U isn't going away. Let's face it. People aren't going to go "I might as well wait for NX instead", since Wii U barely gets any sales.. A big drop off of new Wii U owners per month might sound like a lot, assuming that happens, but the actual numbers are already pretty low, so that won't really mean much. (being honest).

Unless you are aiming for a possible 2017+ or even a late 2016 game, I don't think anyone here has to worry much right now. A big drop off of new users could be an issue if your a big publisher aiming for 500k+ in sales. But as a small indie, something like 10k in total sold would be a dream, and there are plenty of Wii U users left.

As of right now, Wii U eShop still does pretty well. I also really recommend on aiming for making games that aren't budget games. So don't try to make a $2 game. This isn't really the best marketplace for those games, esp with how crowded the eShop is nowadays. There are plenty of $2 games, and from experience (both mine and others), gamers tend to look at the $5+ games. etc. Nintendo also tends to focus and promote/feature those bigger games as well. Don't get me wrong, feel free to make any kind of game you want. But aiming big for a bigger game ($4+ bigger essentially) will likely do you better.

As mentioned before, add Miiverse posting if you can! It can greatly increase your Miiverse page activity. My own game recently got a new content patch that included that, and now Miiverse is VERY active.

This might interest some people

https://www.humblebundle.com/
http://contest.gamedevfort.com/

@JamesCoote: Remember that NDA you signed? You've just broken it. I suggest you edit your post before Nintendo give you the boot. I suggest you re-read what you signed for future reference.

Thanks for the free legal advice! However, everything I've said has already been released into the public domain via official Nintendo sources. Otherwise I obviously wouldn't say it!

I know this is a old thread, but I didn't think a new thread was needed.

What do you guys think of this bundle? Seems interesting
https://www.humblebundle.com/cryengine-bundle

(old thread bump)

After numerous cancellations, delays and ugly bits, I'm finally working on a project again!

ooooOOOOoooo mystery

Is it called "Necrothread: The Imminent Banning"?

I better be the villain

I would really love it if Nintendo considers putting Game Maker Studio on their devkits.

Game Maker personally is the most accessible....sure, Unity does somethings that Game Maker can't like 3D but for 2D development, Game Maker is just better at it.

@Socar doesn't Game Maker work with Wii U, I feel like we had this coversation earlier in this thread lol

@DefHalan HOW DOES IT WORK?!?!? I CAN SO MAKE MY GAME HAPPEN THEN!!!!!!!!!!! :D:D:D:D

@Socar I think if you make a Game Maker game that can be made into a HTML 5 game, then you can use Nintendo's Web framework stuff to make it work on Wii U... not 100% sure about that