JamesCoote

If investors see the headline "World's biggest games company* brings latest megahit to Switch," it starts to make more sense. Shows how isolated we are as western gamers from the Asian games business market.

*(By many counts, Tencent is the biggest games company in the world. E.g. https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-25-companies-game-revenues/).

(Edit: removed a bunch of stuff after I actually read the article & realised I was just repeating what was already said).

@Davidiam007 Yes I did! In the sense of I did all the coding, level deisgn and some art, then outsourced the rest of the art. I ran a kickstarter last year for the game, funds from which paid 4 different musicians to write a couple of songs each for the soundtrack.

Woo! Finally finished Flight of Light (having started making it over 3 years ago!)

That said, am pretty tempted by I am Setsuna. Last time I took a pop on a similar rpg on sale was Child of Light on Wii U and really enjoyed it!

@Jeronan Looks like a run-of-the-mill 2D platformer to me. But that's beside the point.

It's just presumptuous.

Also, will every/any indie dev now stick​ Swith as a platform / stretch target, just to get a few more pledges? That puts Nintendo in an awkward position, as they can point to these guys and say "well, you let them in, why not us?"

Sounds like they aren't actually on the Switch dev program yet? I'm sure it's​ highly unlikely, but what if Nintendo turn around and say no?

As for the game, gravity mechanics look cool, as do some of the enemies! But slightly put off that the first thing you do on arriving on an alien planet is shoot stuff... I'd have put some of the end of trailer shots at the start (but then maybe people have short attention spans & gotta get to the action first?)

In my experience 99% of indie developers have either PC or Mobile as their primary platform. That is, the platform they are testing the game on every day during development.

When asked about other platforms, a yes answer can range from anything between simple intention to port to a platform, to "we signed up up for the dev program but haven't got any further" to "we have a devkit but not started porting as we've not finished the game for PC/Mobile yet" to "we ran a build off on the devkit some months ago and it worked, but not got any further" to finally actually actively porting / developing on device.

There's a lot of indies in particular who have a PS4 or Xbox devkit but it's just sitting gathering dust.

Mixed in with that will be bigger studios whi may be bringing one or some, but not all their games to certain systems. And finally, most devs with a switch when the survey was taken, would have been working full time on it in order to take advantage of the release window opportunity. That also makes them less likely to travel to GDC, and so take part in the survey.

Given all that, it's a bit hard to extrapolate. The same survey next year, if we see developer interest towards Switch at similar levels to WiiU, then may be a cause for concern. Especially if the dev program is more open than it is at the moment.

Might be a polite way of saying to devs "Your game isn't good enough" at least for the important period immediately after launch.

Maybe they don't want Switch being typecast as a place chock full of pixel art platformers and not much else?

Alternatively, will Axion Verge help shift Switches? Probably not, as most of the audience whom it appeals to are either core Nintendo fans who will get the Switch anyway, and/or people who've bought the game already on other platforms.

It does though seem somewhat harsh considering the great reputation the game has.

@DragonbornRito Yes, I don't think it'll be hard to get a chance to at least pitch.

Obviously every developer thinks their game is great (otherwise they'd be making something else). The big question mark is where Nintendo set the bar. There's an awful lot of middle-of-the-road games out there - good, but not "great". Well made, look good, fun. But does Nintendo need another ten retro-indie 2D pixel platformers?

It's possible Nintendo have set a rough figure for how many indie games they want released on the system this year. Simply because they only have a limited number of technical support and developer relations people to deal with all these indies. Then there's wiggle room for if something exception comes along. But for a merely average game?

My problem for Flight of Light, the game I'm making at the moment, is it superficially looks like a futuristic racer - but not quite as shiny as Redout and Fast Racing RMX. And it plays like a rhythm game, but there's already Runner 3 and Voez. On the plus side, it's family friendly, and designed for motion-control local multiplayer from the ground up. And I've been through lotcheck on Wii U twice before, so I'm not unfamiliar with Nintendo processes. I figure when I submit the finished, polished version for Wii U lotcheck, that's when I'll pitch it for Switch as well.

Definitely the right decision from a consumer perspective, but sucks to be an indie dev on the outside looking in. Hopefully can be a motivator to improve the quality of the games I make.

@SeriousSam I hope so. Somehow these things are never quite as easy as they ought to be. Nintendo made the getting set up part of the development process much easier with NDI. They've also upgraded a bunch of backend publishing tools to make the bit at the end (lotcheck etc) easier. Though it's still a total mission to get a game through certification on any console.

If only there was some magic way to make the middle bit - actually making the game - a bit easier

When it comes to what you let in your platform, you have two options:

Super-open, and use algorithm driven store front to push the best stuff to the fore.

Highly curated / restrictive, with the platform holder picking only the best.

Nintendo got caught half way between with WiiU, and it totally failed. Too restrictive & expensive for most indies, but not enough to stop more determined trolls.

Seems like they're going for the super open approach this time, (as much as is possible given this is Nintendo we're talking about). It could work fantastic for them, but only if the Switch eShop is rock solid. Compare & contrast to Steam, which IMO is only part of the way there towards having a good algorithmic storefront. Will be very interesting to see how much Steam Direct is. More than $500 and Switch dev suddenly becomes cheaper than Steam dev...

Edit: also, I was on the fence about whether to dev for Switch or not, but at $500 for a devkit, I absolutely will!

Yay! Motion Control lives! Now I don't feel so silly having spent the past 3 years making a motion control game

I think Switch VR is just a contingency at the moment. If VR takes off in a big way, Nintendo can release an inexpensive GearVR type accessory, and so won't be totally left behind.

However, I don't think they'll pull the trigger unless they're either confident they've cracked it / found the killer app. Or if 2017 turns out to be the year VR comes of age.

Personally, I think VR is headed for the trough of disillusionment this year. Many game devs are going to drop out of VR after middling sales (despite being launch titles for consumer VR). I think investment might also bottom out for games VR. So I can't see Nintendo taking the risk by releasing counter-cyclical. If it happens, it could be Nintendo try to strike just as VR starts to come out of the trough in 2018. The timing then ties up quite nicely if RE is PSVR exclusive for 1 year.

@UmbreonsPapa I think online works best when it's left up to the community to self-regulate. When I played Counterstrike back in the day, each server would have their own rules when it came to chat: Swearing or no swearing. Voice chat allowed, off, or whatever. And those servers had their own admins to enforce the rules. People were then free to find a place that suited the way they want to play, or set up their own server and do it their own way.

The problem with Splatoon (and many other online console games) is the one-size-fits-all approach just leads to compromises that leaves one group or another unhappy.

@Malakai I think a number of things will drive PS4 Pro adoption. The biggest (ironically) being Scorpio. As dumb and generalising as it sounds, xbox gamers tend to see themselves as a bit more hardcore. The scorpio being a higher-powered machine, xbox gamers can say "Ah, we might have lost this gen in the console wars, but now xbox has regained its place as the most powerful games console!" In turn, that'll encourage more developers to make games which take advantage of the better hardware, and those upgraded games will make their way onto the Pro also. (In the same way at the start of a new console gen, games will release on both new and old, but with the old getting a graphis downgrade).

Secondly, VR will drive Scorpio and Pro uptake. The Pro is arguably a response to Sony realising the regular old PS4 doesn't really have the horsepower for VR. Scorpio should run VR games as well, and whilst it may not happen in 2017, it won't be long after that some PSVR games come out as Pro only. Don't be surprised if there's a PSVR-Pro bundle at some point next year.

Thirdly, both Sony and Microsoft have long term strategic objectives for making mid-gen / half-gen work as a concept. So I think both will become more and more aggressive in pushing the concept next year. The fact the old X1 and PS4's still have some trade-in value and Scorpio/Pro can play all your existing purchases will take the edge off the pain of upgrading.

All of which will take time to then filter through into true Scorpio/Pro exclusives. But when it happens (not if), that's when the clock timer runs out for Switch to have solidified its place in the market. And/or as others have pointed out, Switch could easily end up also with NN3DS style mid-gen upgrades, especially if the switch tv-dock does turn out to provide a way to boost performance (where most 3rd party AAA games will be played at home on TV, making the fact they run poorly or maybe even not at all on the go less of a factor).

These days WiiU + Unity is fairly easy to develop for. Nintendo's done a really good job recently of improving their tools and backend systems (even if certain things still have some distance to go). I think they've learned the lessons of WiiU's inital state, and moreover, I feel like they recognise now that investing in tools for 3rd party devs benefits everyone. I suspect a lot of devs who developed for WiiU in the early days have now returned to work on switch, to find things have much improved in the interim.

Performance wise, danger is that in a couple if years time, we'll start to see Scorpio & PS4 Pro only titles (esp. for VR). Whereas porting a Ps4/x1 title to switch it seems is doable, I expect Scorpio/Pro to switch won't be. So Switch has maybe 18months to build an install base that justifies exclusives and/or can survive missing out on the latest AAA blockbusters hitting Scorpio & Pro.

@ThanosReXXX It's more fundamental than that - it affects how you design your core gameplay loops.

If you're in the middle of a boss battle, it's much easier to interrupt a turn-based strategy RPG than an ARPG.

Moreover, you probably don't want boss battles, or want them to be much shorter if there's a chance players will be getting off the proverbial train at any minute. (Else you need to rebuild the tension. The player has to reload their short term memory with all the details of the battle. Etc).

It's a problem for developers. People's play styles are different in the go to what they are at home. You need to design in mind that the train might arrive at the player's stop half way through a game. Or not if it gets mostly used at home. But until it launches and devs get more of an idea which way it'll fall, it's an issue. I think this is why so mamy developers/publishers have been saying "maybe" or floating low risk remasters and ports.

VR has a similar problem where until someone really nails it, devs end up caught between FOMO and wait-and-see.

Met some of the devs a couple of times at events and they're a really chill bunch.

For Wii U, I'd guess the challenge would be whether the performance holds up with all those shiny effects.

If they're ready for closed beta in say January or February, then that suggests it's just bad timing - no point in releasing the Switch port months after it's already been out on mobile.

Otherwise, it's a bad sign for Switch. Either the devs don't think a Switch port will sell well, or it's not as easy to port from mobile to Switch as might first appear.

Or they're going to announce the Switch version as part of a big Nintendo marketing push come the new year, though why announce the Android version now if that's the case?

Coming from being a PC gamer / never having owned a console before (OUYA aside), Wii U was a bit underwhelming for sure. MK8 was great with flatmates, and I loved Splatoon initially. But over time, I drifted away from Splatoon because it lacked the social features that kept me playing Counterstrike and Eve Online for years! (Namely the ability to chat with other players and more importantly, connect to the same server time after time to hang out with the same group of players).

The rest of it felt like a massive nostalgia fest that I just couldn't get into. Especially Amiibo's, which feel more like collectors items for long-time fans than something which enhances gameplay.

Development wise, it was a pain to initially get all set up with devkits etc. And for ages, being stuck on Unity 4 whilst everyone else was using Unity 5 sucked. But having got into it, I've really enjoyed playing with all the Wii U has to offer. I've written a little about that here: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JamesCoote/20160928/282228/Wii_U_Toybox.php

I do intend to keep developing for Wii U for the foreseeable future, even if it's more for side projects / hobby gamedev.

However, my time with Wii U has left me really torn over whether to develop for the Switch or not. On the one hand, I'll be able to use a lot of my existing knowledge of Nintendo back-end systems and processes (lotcheck etc). On the other, I don't want to have another situation where I spend ages creating a game designed to leverage the system's unique features, only to find once finished that the market for indie games on Switch, like on Wii U, is just for retro-style games for a niche of hardcore Nintendo fans.

@MitchVogel @nerdyj Just because something is technically possible, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Mobile games, people tend to play in short bursts and use touchscreen only (and ideally one-handed). So gameplay loops, interface and monetisation are all going to be different from what is appropriate for how (we assume) Switch players will use it.

@A01 Actually it's really quite hard to estimate sales potential of a game on any given platform. Nintendo don't give any indication of sales of other 3rd party dev's games. Nor stats like DAU for eShop. So you basically have to ask around other devs & hope they're kind enough to share their numbers. Those numbers can themselves be from some time ago / whenever they released their last game. The numbers you do get will be for games of different genres/target audiences, marketing budgets and quality to your own. Random events like a new AAA game being announced can come without warning on the day/week you decide to launch.

And of course, all those numbers change over time.

Edit: (Misread what article said)

May be they simply don't plan to use the specific features of the Switch for any of their in-development titles. In which case, no point releasing one as a launch title, and risk being accused of failing to be a good showcase game for the Switch.

Skeptical about the IR stuff being a replacement for touchscreen. For me, I'll be making turn based strategy games after I finish Flight of Light. For those it'll be weighing up if it's worth trying to adapt a game designed to work with touchscreen/mouse to use console controls. Philosophically, the answer is always no, but if people mostly use the Switch in portable mode, then might be worth having mediocre console controls just to pass lotcheck.

Are those definitely USB slots and not HDMI? (Thinking the shape just looks more HDMI than USB, but I may be wrong)

Really depends on the game. Competitive online shooter yes I'd rather have 60fps. Turn based strategy, 30fps is fine (and actually happy to sacrifice graphics as well for not having to wait as long for each turn to be processed).

Silly debate though, as really is up to the developers more than the hardware

Skorb looks appealing! Dunno if I'll buy it full price though or wait till it's on sale (yes I know that's a terrible attitude, but a game's gotta either be cheap, or I gotta be in the right mood for the right game to buy & play it on the spot full price).

@therealgamer iirc Bloodstained is made using Unreal, which doesn't really support Wii U. Plus having finished & published Unity3d games for Wii U myself, it depends on what you're doing, but it's definitely not easy. Especially with graphically rich games, to get both acceptable performance, and load time responsiveness.

Played Mekazoo at EGX and spoke to the folks making it. Really lovely people, and game looks super shiny, plenty of people having fun with it on the show floor.

@Damo Just looked it up and as far as I can tell, iPhone 6 was the first with NFC. Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

Does anyone else remember a few years back when Apple removed NFC from their iPhones, saying that no one really used it (then later put it back in when things like Oyster cards started to take off)? Or did I just dream that?

In any case, this is such a no-brainer, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned before. Guess from Nintendo's PoV, it's just that they needed to get a bit further along with mobile development before being able to talk about it

Mildly surprised at how little I'm surprised by this. It all makes sense. It was funny how PS4 pro reveal kinda fell flat immediately after.

My only worry is whether there's room for small or relatively unknown indies to carve a niche in a Nintendo ecosystem that makes half its money on mass mobile games, and the rest on hardware designed to simply serve its own IP and existing customers. Will NX be economic if I'm not making a metroidvania. Nor a spiritual successor, (like what Fast racing Neo is to F-zero, where there's probably only going to be one of those per system).

Also, no love for Android

@Billsama Maybe you could get a publisher or porting company to help you out?

I just finished porting a game to Wii U for my friend, and technically it'll be "published" by my company. Nintendo pays my company, and then my company pays my friend's company (minus a %). Not because of anything untoward, just because I've gone through lotcheck before and have the devkit and experience, and it's a ball ache to learn all that stuff yourself.

I may even be able to help you out myself (though depends on a lot of things).

Edit: ah, I see you're in Venezuela. I get the problem now. As it happens, I know a few Venezuelans. I can ask them for advice if needs be.

Not very optimistic for the Wii U after that. Especially since it seems Wii U IP/games are being chucked in the 3DS lifeboat. And also a fair few Wii U announcements snuck their way into a 3DS direct, suggesting there wasn't enough for a whole Wii U direct and/or that Nintendo want to really focus on 3DS and not Wii U.

However, depending on what NX turns out to be, I might still pick up a 3DS devkit at some point (when I can afford it )

@rjejr I've been making the game from the start for Wii U, so I'm damned if it doesn't come out on it (plus I already have the devkit and have released games on Wii U before, whereas PS4 and Steam will be a new challenge for me).

The latest version in the video runs on the Wii U, though with some of the effects turned off for local multiplayer.

Edit: It's more that if the kickstarter fails, then I need to do contract work for months instead, and that pushes the release date back beyond NX release date.

@Damo It makes sense to spend all your marketing on a single multiplatform launch. Having a separate NX launch later means either it lacks a marketing budget, or that budget is less effective. Plus it's no longer new, meaning less cumulative press & youtuber coverage and less excitement from consumers.

There'd probably be a small bounce in sales on other platforms. Good for indies, but not enough to shift the needle for an AAA game.

Being a launch title, you're competing with all the other launch titles, plus with reviews etc of the hardware itself. It'd be better to learn the new platform / hardware using a single test-case game, and likewise concentrate marketing on that game. That game is already Dragon Quest.

Release after launch, maybe in the summer drought after the initial rush of launch titles could work, but there's the opportunity cost versus spending the same resources making a new game.

It takes a while for install numbers to grow after a platform launches. Yes there's less competition, but also less sales potential.

Finally, there's the Paralympics in a few weeks. They made a big deal at E3 of making an actual robot arm for an amputee. The game's themes tie with it perfectly. Whereas it'll be out of people's minds by March or later.

Why port a game that'll already be six months old by the time NX comes out? It'd make more sense to include NX in whatever the studio is working on now Deus Ex is finished.

Splatoon shows Nintendo still don't get games as a service. Regular updates and events are just part of it. You need to build a community and engage with it.

The lack of in-game social engagement meant I never felt connected to other players beyond the frantic few minutes of battle. No way to say to my teammates "hey great job pulling that victory off right at the end!" No way to say "you may have killed me 5 times in a row but I still stopped you getting the rainmaker to the end zone!"

Totally understand the whole issue with being kid-friendly and wanting to avoid the toxic environment of many online games. The solutions to that though, are limited by the console environment.

Splatoon should really now be ported to PC and given at least in-game text chat in the lobby between matches. And so not be an NX exclusive. IP has value for decades, whereas the lifespan of any console is limited. Just as with Nintendo going mobile, sometimes you've got to go where your audience are.

I suspect amiibo are reaching saturation point within the core Nintendo fan base.

Outside of that group, there's little reason to ever buy one. Most smartphones have NFC, so hopefully they'll get some use as more Nintendo games come out on mobile. Could inject a bit of life into Miitomo if, for example, I could tap an amiibo on my phone to unlock extra clothes or items for placing round my house/room in-game

@Aerona On the character creation tool, is it me, or are both characters girls?

I figure at some point you'll be able to buy different backpacks and t-shirts for your character. Though could also be they looked at the stats in testing and found not enough people cared to make it worthwhile?

@taranthor Actually looking at it, not that much, but I have a really bad data plan (I burned through nearly £10 of pay as you go credit just yesterday). Been meaning to switch to a different mobile plan/provider at some point, and this might just give me the extra kick needed to do it

@HappyMaskedGuy Actually I have played it on friends' gameboys, but when I was in school, my parents refused to buy me a gameboy to play on, so I mostly missed out. (And more recently, I'm too cheap to buy a 3DS and games for it )

My first Pokemon game and enjoying it so far! Haven't tried any battles yet though.

Also as others have said, it's annoying the amount of data it uses. It shouldn't need to talk to the servers after every pokeball is thrown. More caching please.

Am in the UK, so side loaded the game on Android, but not seen anyone else obviously playing. (Has made me aware if just how many people I see with their heads in their phones now that I'm kinda looking out for it).

Also, anyone else tried playing by bike? I found I could cover a lot more ground when I got bored of a particular area, but missed a lot of Pokemon on the way. (The game seems to remeber the pokemon on the radar that I passed miles back, but could never find them again). I figure when it gets to trying to take and keep gyms, cycling to get around London will be much more efficient

@AlexSora89 Totem Topple. Not going to pretend, even after all the improvements and new features, that it's anywhere near as good as Star Fox.

But seen it happen to other games as well. In the indie games world, there's loads of stories and stats from people who go from early access to full launch, only to find they get even less coverage and interest that when they first went into early access. You only get one launch, and if you go for early access, that's it!

The exception is staggeted launch on multiple platforms. If we weren't talking about Nintendo here, then might be when the PS4 or Xbox version launches months later, that the game gets a second look by all the websites, youtubers etc who specialise in PlayStation or Xbox and didn't cover it when it launched on Wii U.

If Star Fox arrives on NX, then that would justify a second look. Doubly so as the NX we assume, will have a different conyrol scheme, and the controls were the biggest point of frustration and disagreement between reviewers

My own Wii U game received less than stellar reviews when it launched. I spent months working hard to improve it with updates, but no one cared.

You don't get second chances in this industry. The internet has judged and moved on.

@Jazzer94 Out-of-game community tools are just as important as in-game. But you need both for a healthy community.

@gcunit Even a relatively simple game with no unique platform features can be nightmarishly complicated to manage. The two I've done, one ended up with a separate code base in the end, and as a result, will probably never get DLC or features that come after launch (as the code bases would have diverged so much by then, it'd be incredibly difficult to reintegrate). And the other project, it started on PC, ended up being made for Wii U, then ported back to PC.

Nintendo developers are probably tying themselves in knots just trying to make the same version of BotW work on both Wii U and NX. Yes we lose the map, but probably for the benefit of having future DLC and updates work on the Wii U, and the Wii U version not being compromised graphics or performance wise.

So are Nintendo giving up on Splatoon then? I must admit, though I loved playing, the lack of any social element to the game made me drift away over time. Whereas in Counterstrike and Eve-Online, I made friends and joined teams, and that made me come back month after month, and provided the higher level end-game beyond just ever increasing stats.