Frozenbyte's Trine 2: Director's Cut was an early standout title on Wii U, both in terms of the adventure itself and as a visual showcase for the system. The developer has been one of the most positive voices in support of the hardware in that respect, and has also praised Nintendo's support of smaller studios on the eShop.
Speaking to gamersxtreme.org, Frozenbyte's Marketing Manager Julius Fondem reiterated his believe that the "Wii U is a truly powerful console", praising its RAM in particular. Perhaps more importantly, he repeated the studio's praise for the eShop platform and its accessibility for developers, while acknowledging that the environment is improving on other systems, too.
With the eShop, Nintendo has made it easy to approach and open for indies which is awesome. Nintendo allows us to self publish our games, updating our game is free of charge, and the eShop is still so fresh that we have great visibility there.
With PSN and XBLA, it used to be that you had to have a publisher to publish your games (i.e. no self publishing) and updating the games cost a significant amount. Also, these platforms used to regulate things more than the eShop.
Now however, Sony has changed their game up quite a bit, making self publishing a reality for indies and making the platform a lot more approachable, which we really appreciate. As for XBLA, similar rumors have been circulating around recently but we don’t know enough to comment on that.
Unsurprisingly, Frozenbyte is interested in returning to its Trine universe for a third entry, though its confirmed upcoming project — Splot — is a cartoony platformer coming to smartphones and computer platforms, with no current plans to move to home consoles. The good news is that the Wii U is very much in the running for future titles that are suitable.
Working with Nintendo is great. They are extremely supportive towards us (and I’ve heard similar words from other indies) and communicating with them is very easy. We appreciate this a lot.
We would definitely want to bring our future titles to the Wii U. With Splot though the situation is a bit more complex as the technology we’re using isn’t the same as for Trine 2: Director’s Cut, so there’s a lot of technical work in getting Splot running on “high end” consoles like the Wii U. We are pushing as hard as we can to get Splot out on iOS, Android and computer platforms first. Depending on Splot’s success, we’ll see about other platforms. So, we haven’t decided on the Wii U for Splot yet, but it is something we’re considering.
Based on the quality of the Wii U's version of Trine 2, that's good to hear for Wii U eShop fans.
Thanks to Ryan Millar for the tip.
[source gamersxtreme.org]
Comments 17
love indie games and im so glad that ninty is really caring for self-publishing games , sometimes the best games are indies and not games from big house names
And there's one more happy indie developer on the WiiU!
I will buy whatever they throw on eshop Trine 2 was great! Good news indeed about eShop. Now just bring us a real network account system, Nintendo!
Indies are having a great time on the Platform, which is great, as they probably get alot of money from impulse purchases. I brought a Tank! Tank! Tank! DLC as part of the deal and felt it was worth it for a quirky "I'll play this for twenty minutes every few months" play session for £1.50 odd.
But I really need that good network account...chop chop Ninty
I love their games, hope to see more of them
Still need to finish the first game and get the second game xD
Really good developers. Shame Trine 2 didn't really click with me...
I can see the Wii U easily being the console for indie devs, at least they dare themselves to try new experiences overall, unlike some big name devs out there.
I've played Trine 2 through a couple of times not. If they can keep matching that and bring it to the Wii U then great.
We know the Wii U will be the strongest machine for exclusives this generation (in terms of first party software). Third parties will continue to whine about the machine and have flimsy support for it. Here's the big question:
With Sony and Nintendo having similar open policies towards indie games, which system will those indie games be most successful?
I have obviously left the Xbone out of the equation because Microsoft seems to show a bit of contempt for independent games. Personally, I think Nintendo has set the Wii U up for a "gold rush" in terms of indie games (for every third party game not being announced for Wii U, we see 2-3 indie games announced for the machine every month). Nintendo has always sold their machines based on their own software (third parties haven't had a major impact on Nintendo machines since the SNES era). By focusing on the indies who can easily fill the gaps left by third parties, they have crafted a machine that focuses on a sector of the industry that will survive the impending crash brought on by increasingly inflated budgets and diminishing returns (we're looking at you EA). Sony will have to focus on first/third party software meaning that while their policy for Indie games will be great, they will ultimately be lost in the crowd due to gamer's focusing on the "next big thing" coming to retail each month. It's just a thought but I think this is part of Nintendo's mentality in their approach towards the machine. They are essentially creating a home console that won't have the stigma of being a "PC-like" game machine (which is something I've seen constantly brought up about PS4 & Xbone).
Good to hear so from Frozenbyte. I really enjoy Trine 2. Is gorgeous and really have a variable type of gameplay using all the aspect of the GamePad. Anxious to see what more they do have on their sleeve to show off the awesomeness of the Wii U. The eShop has been praised lately by many devs.
TreonsRealm
Your totally wrong in fact i know your wrong, Playstation gamers love indie games myself include, if that wasn't the case indie developers would say so with Retro City Rampage selling a lot more on PS3/PSVita. I seen lot more indie game trailers releasing for the PS4 than what ive seen on a almost 12month year old console Wii U. It's sad to say i own a Wii U but the place to go for indie games is Playstation, its funny the article has come up as i'm playing Guacamelee at the moment.
And having a "PC-like" architecture is a very good thing for developers to easily make and port games, its far from a stigma as you put it, the Wii U will be in fact harder to develop for for developers than the PS4.
@ banacheck
I was not arguing if PlayStation owners love indie games or not and I was also not questioning the current console/portable situation (If I was, Microsoft's iron grip with XBLA crushed Sony's PSN in terms of sales numbers). I am also not downing the quality of indie titles on Sony's machines as they do have a solid lineup. My comment was posing the question for the "next gen" situation of indie games on PS4/Wii U and which console will ultimately yield better sales for the many indie games coming to both consoles. Both consoles will have a good selection but Nintendo has put a much larger focus on the indie market (this is why we are seeing 2 or more indie games announced for the system each month).
I don't know where you are seeing all of these trailers for indie games on PS4 because outside of E3, there has actually been very little compared to the big AAA titles announced for the console. On the other hand, the Wii U is constantly seeing new indie games announced each month as previously mentioned. My question is meant to start a conversation, not spark a fanboy war between Sony and Nintendo fans. Both companies are doing well with the indie scene now but the Wii U's poor situation with third parties ultimately gives indie games a bigger focus on the Wii U where Nintendo's own games draw in the audience who will turn to the eShop for more games (both for convenience and value).
As for the current situation, while I like a lot of the PSN indie games, the PC is the real "place to go" for indie games with the 360 unfortunately following it up (a byproduct of Microsoft's early strides with XBLA and their iron fist control of the games).
So, while the Big Boys go away, the Little Guys come out and play. That's awesome. Although, there are some DLC games that I've seen on the PS3 that I would love to see on either the Wii or the Wii U.
@SanderEvers That would be awesome!
I've bought every Indie game available to the Wii U so far and Trine 2 is definitely one of the finest.
I love Trine 2, I suppose the continued faith of Frozenbyte makes up for the ZombiU dissapoinment.
if D&D doesn't come out soon, i'll be forced to buy Trine2 instead!
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