With the Switch quickly becoming the home of more indie games than we could ever hope to keep up with, multiple stories from developers have started to appear giving us an insight into what working with Nintendo is really like. Recently, the co-owner of Cosmic Star Heroine developer Zeboyd Games spoke about his "frustrating" experience with the company, but now we have another viewpoint that shows Nintendo in a much more positive light.
This new batch of praise for the 'Big N' comes from Luc Bernard, Chief Creative Officer of development studio, Arcade Distillery (the team behind Plague Road, Mecho Tales, and Kitten Squad). In an interview with Twinfinite, Bernard was asked about the process of releasing games for different platforms, and whether or not this process was the same for each one. Here's what he had to say:
“No, each platform has their own set of rules and submission processes. The easiest so far has been Switch. I can’t mention much because of NDAs, but that’s the easiest one. [They’re] fast with emails, easy to get a hold of with developers – Nintendo has done a complete [180]. They’re pretty much how Sony was years ago. Sony was at the height of the indie scene and now it’s become kind of Nintendo who’s like that.”
Nintendo's support of the indie scene, especially with the 'Nindies' branding now being attached to it, has become an increasingly important part of the Switch's appeal, with multiple new releases barreling their way on to the eShop each week. Thanks to this, it would appear that Nintendo has made the working process for developers as easy as possible, attracting more and more to the system.
Bernard went on to directly compare the Switch with the PlayStation family of consoles, suggesting that the PlayStation isn't quite as welcoming.
“Now I know how to work with [all of them], but PlayStation isn’t as user-friendly. That’s the most I’ll say.”
Have you been enjoying Nintendo's support of indie games on Switch? Do you consider your Switch to be a better, more enjoyable games console because of all that support? Let us know your thoughts on this one below.
[source twinfinite.net]
Comments 58
I wish they’d do a complete 1080...
I'm more excited for Switch than I have been for any other console. Being able to take console quality games on the go is a great thing. I've also purchased far more indies than I would've without it. As a kid school was just a terrible block of time between me and my NES and Super Nintendo. These days there's work, but that feeling is still the same...cept when I play on lunchbreak. 😁
@beazlen1
Simply ❤'ing that comment isn't enough. Just want to tell you that there is a comment of the ages.
But the games from that studio are lousy...
More Indie supports = Awesome !
Because i cannot wait to play these Indie games on Switch :
1. Re:Legend
2. My Time at Portia
3. Summer in Mara
4. Farm Folks
5. 99 Vidas
6. Catastronauts
7. Sikanda
8. Gardening Paws
etc....
Sure Nintendo can be weird and there's things I'd like to see improved on the Switch, but overall I haven't been this excited for a console/handheld in a long time. It already has a great library of first party games and we're getting a bunch more in 2019, and its indie selection is top notch. In a stagnated videogame industry with AAA games that try to bleed you dry at every turn, the Switch is doing its own thing and I absolutely love it.
That's very good news... between Steam on my HTPC and Switch, I can finally play most of the games I want to play.
Now... WHERE'S NIDHOGG ON SWITCH???
@holygeez03
DUDE
Ever since Towerfall came to Switch I've been waiting with bated breath for Nidhogg. I'd also love to see Duck Game on it.
I have enjoyed and am playing way more incredible indies on my switch. Perfect system for gaming whether you are playing on a big screen or on the go.
now if we could just convince more "Nindie" programmers to make more visually at the very least appealing games,
all of these cookie-cutter, Atari-esque and NES-esque, slapped together games coming out every week are very tiresome, I fully support Indies, but if I'm going to buy, put some damn work into them, most are clones, which I REALLY don't have a problem with, but often visuals and gameplay are crap, spend some time smoothing things up and not putting out what a thousand others are too
Now if only Nintendo do a complete 180 with third party AAA developers....
@dimi
"Now if only Nintendo do a complete 180 with third party AAA developers...."
And then say Hello to FF XV, FF XIII, FF XIV
Online, Kingdom Hearts 3, etc on Nintendo Switch.
@Dalarrun
I could swear that Nidhogg was mentioned as part of the massive "indie support" news right when the Switch launched... the devs said "it would be perfect for Switch".
I have also read that Nintendo has said "no" to games like Dust Force because it's "too old"... which is just stupid.
@jhewitt3476
Often, 8-bit and 16-bit art is not only an artistic choice, but also the only way those small teams are able to put out something decent, as they often don't have a huge budget. Many indie games are made by a team of a single-digit. You can't expect the same level of amazing graphics you'd find in a game from big studios having thousands of employees across the globe.
Now, that being said, I agree that some of them are still not very nice looking. Great 8 and 16-bit art could be awesome when done right. Shovel Knight is awesome, for instance. A good game is a good game despite whatever graphic style they use. I'd take a Shovel Knight over any "hidden object" game despite the later having "better" graphics.
Just finished "The Way Remastered" on my Switch. Which was a game I enjoyed a lot, btw. And yes, even with its old-style graphics (which reminded me of old Sierra point-and-click game graphics, somehow - and I see that as a good thing). And one of my all-time favorite is still Rogue Legacy, with its crude 16-bit type graphics. One heck of a fun game that I'm never tired of replaying again and again... (I wish this one would come to the Switch, but I don't think it will)
Luc Bernard used to be a member here during the Wiiware World days. We're talking 10 years ago now.
@holygeez03 Dustforce, released 2012: too old.
Cave Story, released 2004: not too old, and worthy of being at least twice the price of most other indies.
Sigh...
But, but Plague Road wasn't even worth the $2 I spent on it.....
@Pennilein69 Games for this studio are pretty fine. The one is free too. They are not among the very best but they are certainly not lousy.
@Realnoize
I probably should have clarified myself better, yes, it is a Switch, so i would like to see more Indie games take advantage of some more of its capabilities than most do, but also in reference to graphics, when i say "8 bit", I really should have said something like the earlier games, as fun as many of the blocky NES games were, like SMB 1 & Legend of Zelda, there's no reason that Indie makers need to make them that way, later games on the same system proved a game could be "8 bit" but still look 8 awsome, the NES had great stuff, Mega Man games, Metroid, Battle of Olympus, but also even higher up on the scale, Mario 2 & 3, Blaster Master, the name escapes me but there was an awesome game where it's an overhead space shooter and at the end of the level your fighter ship transform into a girl cyborg and you explore an overhead area in a Zelda-esque adventure, it was awesome gameplay and visually,
so yah, it's not 8 bit I really have a problem with as much as nobody seems to be putting any work into them, they have already spent the time to come up with the idea, make the basics even pay the fees, spend a little extra time to make it look a little nicer and smooth out the controls and gameplay, and BEFORE you publish, go to your local mall or flea market on the weekends for a couple weeks and have random people playtest your games, find out what needs help and ask what would they like to see, add, taken away, ect. before just smacking it out, like I keep saying, you already put so much time into it, don't mess it up by half-assing the looks and/or controls
Coming from a shovel ware studio speaks volumes. I just hope the eshop doesn't turn to an app store or steam once all the fantastic switch ports from other consoles and older gen dries up.
This guy is probably joking or it was paid by Nintendo do to say those everyone knows Nintendo is the devil and everyone that praises it and days their games are selling is lying...
They could make something new instead of VITA rehash - Seeing how it is so "easy"
Never played plague road, but always tempted when it’s priced down to a dollar.
Kitten Squad actually has much better gameplay than it deserves as a free game that exists to shill PETA propaganda. If you can laugh at the propaganda, it’s worth the cost (the cost is free).
@jhewitt3476 Preaching the choir there. That's a problem that is universal.
On the flip side, there are 8-bit style games that are so dang good like Celeste.
switch is a good console just for expensive indies.
But not good for serious gamers.
For me personally is the worst console i ever had.
These last months and in near future a lot of 3d party major games
coming to the other consoles and nothing for switch.
Sorry but if i knew before ninty's plans i wouldn;t have bought switch.
I should have stayed on my smartphone.
Except zelda and xenoblade anything else for me is a crap, even Mario odyssey. I didn't like it.
@TheLZdragon
but I've seen Celest, it actually PROVES my point, it is technically "8 bit", it is completely awesome looking and playing, they could have just as easily gone with a blocky SMB 1 graphics, but they spent some extra time/effort and cleaned it up and it is well worth it, honestly, if you saw the same game displayed next to Celest but with Mario 1 graphics, would you have rather played Celest or the graphically downed version
@Scirocco7 smartphone comparison is comparing Apples to Oranges. Your disdain for the Switch is quite obvious here. This is what fanboys would say when they have nothing more to down Switch. Before it was there wasn't enough games and now they would say it was the worst console. See how that is going.
I was actually discussing how Nintendo designed the Switch to be easy to design for recently when someone tried comparing the Switch to the WiiU (because people sometimes don't know what they're talking about).
One of the big complaints about the WiiU was how difficult it was to work on & this caused developers to shy away from the hardware. The main issue the Switch is facing now is how late into the generation cycle it came, meaning devs had not started designing for the Switch in time for launch & the stigma that the WiiU left on the dev community.
Devs praising the Switch for how easy it is to work with is great news & if Nintendo can keep this up with future hardware they can certainly redeem a damaged reputation and bring back a lot of those AAA developers who are still cautious releasing on Nintendo platforms.
@SwitchForce As i wrote and you make me to write it again, that is my opinion. A lot of indies on my smartphone as a lot of indies on my switch. The diference is that indie games on my dmsrtphone are much more chipiest. So i dont find a reason to play games on switch. The only reason that i still keep my switch and dont sell it, is that i wait to play metroid. Nothing else.
@Scirocco7 are you sure you are a serious gamer? I am a serious gamer, and the switch has lots of games for me. Be that it is first party, third party, Indies, arcade, retro compilations. The switch has it all.
@Scirocco7
If you seriously thought the Switch was going to get stuff like RDR2, Battlefield, Tomb Raider and the like that’s on you. That was never promised or likely and I can’t believe any ‘serious gamer’ would think they were.
While some indie games are certainly good and special entries I still don't quite understand the internet fawning all over all the indies. It feels like mobile, which itself feels like the latter days of the 2600, cranked up to 11. Is it a good thing that there's a saturation of a dozen new simplistic games per week each of them very similar to the dozen the week before and the dozen the week before that, with the majority of them all being arcade style games? Do we really need hundreds to thousands of games to choose from, few of which have a particular uniqueness that makes you want to go back and play the same every so often for the next 30 years? It feels like instead of building special games as pieces of art to last in someone's memory forever, the vast majority of indies are simple bubble gum machines, popping out disposable entertainment to see "what's new this week" before deleting it and trying next weeks.
Sure, there are standouts. Dust, Hollow Knight, Steamworld series, Shovel Knight, Undertale, Yooka, etc. etc. etc. Bot so many of them, even the "good ones" are dumped out, turned into a Youtube sensation and then forgotten a few months later, to be burred under a pile of 300 more.
I'm not sure what the internet is celebrating. Sure AAAs, especially multiplayer aren't known for innovation, but how many indies really innovate either? It feels like the 80's crash all over again.
@ekwcll As u said. For u. Not for me.
I am 38 years old and all these 8 bit and 16 bit inspired games i played thrm on my younger ages. I want to see more 3d party major games as Anthem, Sekiro, Resident evil 2, devil may cry, assasins creed Cod. No more expensive indies. ENOUGH. Nintendo sells old crap on same prices as major games. Not for me any more.
@electrolite77 Then let me go to PS4 and stay on switch to play kairosoft games for 10 euros. 1000 plus games and 99,9 percent of these are expensive rubish. No thanks. Keep it for u.
@NEStalgia
There are a ton of bad indies, because they're easier to make. However the good ones, some of which you have mentioned, come out pretty frequently and I wouldn't call them simple. Hollow Knight is my favorite Metroidvania in years and it's going to be right up there with Breath of the Wild, Bloodborne, etc. as one of my favorite games this generation. It's a challenging game, very atmospheric, the lore is interesting, and you can tell a lot of love went into it. It's that love you can feel with some of these indie games that I just don't see with most AAA games anymore.
The mobile comparison to me is pretty silly. Beyond having big budgets and being expensive, a lot of AAA games feel more like mobile games than indies do with their ridiculous monetization models.
@Scirocco7
I’ve got a PS4 Pro and a Switch with nearly 50 games (and an Xbox). Serious gamer, you see. No trouble finding plenty to play on any format.
@Scirocco7
Expensive indies? Black Ops 4 is $60, another $40 for the season pass, it's going to have loot boxes AND a battle pass. All for a game that isn't that much different from the last ten. Oh wait, there's one big difference. It doesn't even have a campaign. I can say the same about Assassin's Creed (even though at least that game has singleplayer), and Anthem will be no different. Let's not talk about games being expensive when $60 is just an introductory price for most AAA games.
Assuming that we don't have other places to play because we own a Switch is silly, I've been gaming on PC all my life.
@Dalarrun u speak for only one unreleased new game. I can tell a lot of games that they are more expensive on switch than the other cinsoles and steam.
@NEStalgia
I think innovation is more difficult as the industry maturest anyway. It becomes incremental like it did with film, music etc. Gamers are obsessed with innovation because they’ve been used to it but it will naturally slow down. Funnily enough, I think that’s most obvious in the AAA sphere. Last Autumns parade of loot box shooters (COD, Destiny 2, Star Wars) was amazingly tedious. This year I’ve got Spiderman and Forza Horizon 4, and will get RDR2 but the rest? Nah. Relatively speaking there’s more innovation coming out of the indie sector than elsewhere, though given the quantity of games indies put out thats not a surprise.
LOL at the idea that many indie devs don't put a lot of work into their games. Even the terrible games* had far more work put into them than most people realize.
It's always easy to spot a gamer who has never attempted any serious game development.
@Darth_Goomba
Right, these developers don't have big budgets backing them up and sometimes great indie games are made by only one or two people. That impresses me a lot more than Assassin's Creed being worked on by 200 people but still cranking out a sequel to Origins with samey animations and gameplay mechanics/same engine.
@electrolite77 there is not exist so much free time in my life. So i prefer AAA major good games. No time for experiments. Only good major titles.
@Scirocco7
Right, I have two kids and shift work. The Switch is invaluable in that sense. I’ve been gaming for 34 years now and find the experiments and indie stuff more interesting than the generic, mainstream AAA stuff. The likes of COD are the gaming equivalent of Ed Sheeran. Undemanding easy listening. Only playing what the industry sells as AAA games would be like only eating McDonald’s food.
@electrolite77
It's a shame too, because even though I personally don't care about heavily cinematic games, stuff like God of War is great and Sony's first party games look like the developers actually enjoyed making them. I hate to say it, but multiplatform AAA games usually are the most generic and manufactured.
That's why I play the occasional PS4 game on my fiance's console (like Persona 5 and Bloodborne), play my modded games and online multiplayer games on my PC (or standout AAA games like The Witcher 3), and my Nintendo/indies, which I play more than anything, on my Switch.
Whatever likes to anyone he plays it. But is a joke to play old ports in lower resolution and frames on prices of new major games. Or an indie from android on price of major games. And finaly i have bored of same games. I mean that as i remember nintendo i remember the same games, pokemon, mario, zelda and some metroids. From a company like nintendo i would like to see some new I.Ps more interesting and a little diferent. The trouth is is that i have bored of nintendo, especially last years from wii u and then. For the end, i am mad that no more heroes become indie. THIS IS A CRIME. I hope that i will not see a metroid indie also.
Well, I don't think people from latin america have it that easy. I talked with the developer of the game "Fight'N Rage". He is from Uruguay. His game is amazing and he got rejected, probably because nintendo doesn't have that much presence in south america (this is an assumption, he doesnt know the reason of the rejection), and to me thats crazy, when you see all the garbage that is on the eshop currently. Also is weird, because 99 vidas, from Brazil, is confirmed to release on switch soon.
I remember when Sony and Indies were really close, indie games were all the rage. Now, with Nintendo and Indies having a similar relationship, it's all "who needs these cheap indie games" or "Indies = shovelware". LOL
@Scirocco7, I am older than you and all of those games are still enjoyable. Next you are going to say that 8 & 16 bit are for the young.
Still enjoyable? No thanks. These games were enjoyable on Amiga, not now. I have pass.
@Scirocco7
Splatoon? Arms? Flip Wars? Daemon x Machina? Snipperclips? Ever Oasis? Miitopia? Boxboy? Code name Steam? New IP are out there. Whereas I’m playing Spiderman and Forza Horizon 4. Wonderful games but not new IP.
And there are a lot of wonderful indie games out there. If you want to close yourself off fine, but I can’t relate to that simplistic approach to gaming. It seems to me you just want to moan for the sake of it to be honest.
WOW!!!! GREAT NEW IP CRAPS. C mon dont be rediculous. Except splatoon that i dont even like it personal and daemon that we dont even still know what exactly is this all the others are for the rubbish. Are u serius??? Do you play sniperclips??? HAHAHAHAHA!!! And you thought you are gamer??? Why dont u play backgammon online on windows? You will love it!!! HAHAHA. Dont bother me anymore, let me speak with serious gamers.
Oh my goodness. videogamedunkey destroyed Assassin's Greed in his latest video. It's hilarious and probably the most honest review I've seen of the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFAgO5WKnQA
@Dalarrun True but there's that vast in between between AAA AC: Odyssey and Ninjin Clash of Carrots that is what used to make up most of gaming. Yeah the mobile-esque monetization of AAAs and the rehashing of the shooters etc isn't much better than the parade of indies, but, most of these indies follow just as close a formula as the AAAs: "Pick a classic 80's 90's game as inspiration, create a "modern take" on said game, release." This usually devolves into a 3D rendered arcade SHMUP in Unity hailing back to a classic SNK game or some such. A "Metroid inspired" game where we now have 1500 similar side scrollers non-linear puzzle dungeon games with an isolated feeling like Metroid, but each one ends up non-distinct and not memorable unlike the real Metroid. Switch Coming soon: One of the few non-8-bit style games listed, Battle Group 2 is kind of the epitome of this: It's Tiger Heli in Unity. I played it on the NES. I played it in the arcade. 30+ years ago. there were a dozen clones of it back then. There have been hundreds since. Why do we need another Tiger Heli clone for the 500th time in 30 years? Not one of them is distinct in a memorable way. I'll never look in the VC 30 years for now and hope to see "Battle Group 2" on it. I won't even look next year.
Similarly it's, by virtue of so many indies going with intentionally ancient graphics, maybe that's what they can afford, maybe it's not, the problem is genre. It limits them to mostly the same genres and tropes that were standard in the 80's as well. 2d side scrolling platformers/puzzlers/action platformers etc dominate along with some top-down adventure/crawler/adventures. The problem is those genres were saturated 30 years ago. They shouldn't vanish, no, but why are we still saturating a genre that was over-saturated and clearly limited back when shag rugs were cool? Indies have fused retro nostalgia with the limitations of their budgets and spun it as desirable. Good marketing, but that doesn't separate them from the latest AAA blockbuster.
You could point at "COD is always the same" and it is, but it's a fresher, newer genre that hasn't lived as long with as many clones. I am no COD fan and I'd rather play Dust than COD any day of the week, but not all AAAs are COD and FIFA.
And we're ignoring the vast mid-tier games which sometimes get lumped in with indies and sometimes not.
@electrolite77 talked about maturation of the industry, but with maturation also comes consolidation, focus, and generally a more limited flow of output. Everyone everywhere making content screaming over the heap for who can make some sales over the others, while many are all samey doesn't really seem like maturation. Just glance at the "Coming Soon" page in the eShop. Is most of that something you want to pay money for? Does most of it seem different from every other months' coming soon page?
It always seems hypocritical that many of the people who will defend indie games as "innovative" "where AAAs are generic" and excuse the fact that the majority use samey pixel art, play styles, and highlight that of course it's all iterative on 30+ year old arcade and 8-bit design are often the same people that will broadly paint AAAs as not innovative, and point to things like AC as not being different enough between iterations, while ignoring the massive amount of art, level design (world design), character design, sound design, etc that goes into those games simply because player actions remain similar. Just looking at the huge bredth of major releases across all 3 consoles just this month alone (ok for Nintendo we have to factor in Nov/Dec....) I'm not sure how people can say these games are all not innovating or are doing so less than most of the indies that are variations of "inspired by classic platformers" "inspired by vintage beat-em-up" "inspired by metroid", "inspired by zelda" each with their own clone of something else.
Again that's not a broad brush against all indies, I listed some that definitely stand out, and there are others, but all tolled there are very few of those, and they don't make up the bulk of what is "indie". Moreover most of them are not really "indies". Playtonic, Yacht Club, Iga's company, Devolver, I&F are fully published proper studios, with boxed retail products, etc. etc. Those guys really fall into the "mid tier commercial studio" category and get oddly lumped in with "indie." Sumo gets called "indie" with Snake Pass.....these guys are involved in Sonic Racing, Forza 7, Hitman (DLC), Crackdown 3, Little Big Planet 3. "Indie" is kind of a stretch for Snake Pass. I'm surprised when Tembo was released everyone didn't start calling Game Freak "indie"
Those are not the indies we're really talking about when talking about the "indie scene" but they're usually the ones we talk about when we talk about "the good ones."
@NEStalgia
I won't comment on the over saturation of cheap indies, because I agree that there are too many, but your point about mid tier games is a good one. There needs to be more. I think Jim Sterling mentioned it, how these AAA publishers are falling back too much on tried and true franchises rather than creating new I.P and trying new things. We get them, but they're way too infrequent these days. Publishers would rather make "live services", treating these games like MMOs but charging way too much for them and then asking for more. Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty are both annual series, and look at how greedy their monetization models are! It's absolutely disgusting, and I won't be excusing it just because those franchises used to be good. Yacht Club Games, Team Cherry, these studios might not necessarily be indie anymore but at one point they were. You don't HAVE to play these AAA franchises, and you don't HAVE to play super cheaply made indie games either. There's far too many quality games out there to waste your money on the buggy mess that is Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Pushing your console of choice to its limits does not a quality product make.
Nintendo pointed out they were totally willing to work with third party groups before product launch, apparently too many devs decided not to listen. Mobile titles would look amazing ported to Switch. Some 3rd party pieces can be ported and work with companies like Iron Galaxy and Panic Button. I hope they do it sooner rather than later.
@Macuahuitl
"Also is weird, because 99 vidas, from Brazil, is confirmed to release on switch soon."
99Vidas also got a Physical release on PS4 & PS Vita on this year by LRG.
I really really hope 99 Vidas on Switch will have a Physical release as same as PS4 & PS Vita version.
@jhewitt3476, thank you for getting into a conversation, you don't understand. I asked is he a serious gamer because he mentioned that the switch is not for serious gamers. And I was defending that the switch is for serious gamers. By the way, I know what the definition means.
Nice discussion about 3rd parties in de comment section.
I like Doom on Switch a lot i can say that, but for somebody like me...
I wouldnt have bought Doom if i had a PS4 because they are normally not my type of games but that it runs on a device like the Switch (and still looks like a AAA game) is just wonderous to experience and people that see me play are also amazed that this 'gameboy' like device runs Doom. Only the PSP had that same effect but the tricks where much easier to see for casuals then with the Switch (and i only know one guy with the Vita but he only used it for streaming from his PS4).
Ofcourse many smartphones, that in raw power could do the same but the 'idea' is still very futuristic for a lot of people, thats very much underestimated within the gaming community or on sites like this. Besides that phones arent really made for gaming, if that wouldv been that much of a hit then handheld gaming wouldve died years ago.
For me there is no need for a 'switch pro', still much the device can show, Doom Eternal might be the first AAA 3rd party game that will show the Switch's full potential.
Switch pro release should be around late 2020 not sooner.
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