Nintendo looking for indie devs

[< DARK DVNT >]

I read an article and thought of you guys. It was about how Nintendo was looking for indie devs to make games for the Wii in the form of WiiWare.
"At a Nintendo developer's conference earlier this week, the company informed attendees that it was seeking from indie developers as well. Shorter, original, more creative games from small teams with big ideas" [Newsweek]http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2007/06/26/level-up-exclusive-on-nintendo-wiiware.aspx

Maybe you guys could contact the big N and maybe dev for them. I loved echoes and like I said somewhere in another post, it would work great on the Wii. I thought I would pass this info your way and let me know what you think.

[fog]

Yeah I was reading that earlier.  Very exciting news and certainly something I would be interested in having a look at.

Sooner or later I'm going to be torn between this and XNA.  I just hope for an easy solution that may allow code to be used, with some obvious modification, on both.

We just need to see how open Ninty make development.  If they want to challenge XBLA then I guess they'll have to make it open to everyone, hopefully free to use, and with a good distribution system.

[The DarkStar]

We just need to see how open Ninty make development.  If they want to challenge XBLA then I guess they'll have to make it open to everyone, hopefully free to use, and with a good distribution system.

We will then need the star points/wii points conversion.

[SiN]

*Sigh* ... I try really hard not to be a cynic, and I'm totally a Ninty fanboy, but ...

Sooner or later I'm going to be torn between this and XNA.  I just hope for an easy solution that may allow code to be used, with some obvious modification, on both.

Not gonna happen. MS support C# only, and Ninty will most likely support C/C++ only. I mean, unless you can get your hands on XNA Pro, which is C/C++. So getting the code to compile for both is a matter of using the same logic for the code, but making big syntax changes. Not a very nice solution.

If they were both in C/C++ on the other hand, it's *very* possible to have it compiling on both with *no* changes. Well, almost ... just a single line change between compiles. I've actually thought about stuff like this myself, and believe it or not, I could get PC/NDS cross-platform compatibility without too much effort. If you have a well thought-out enough system, it isn't that hard, even with systems as vastly different as the PC and NDS.

We just need to see how open Ninty make development.  If they want to challenge XBLA then I guess they'll have to make it open to everyone, hopefully free to use, and with a good distribution system.

I doubt they'll do that. They'll probably make it relatively simple for indies to get their hands on dev-kits, but complete homebrew I really doubt.

One of the big issues I have with what Ninty have said is that they'll only do QA but won't rate the games. In other words, if you're an indy and want to make WiiWare, you're gonna have to shell out the $5000 to get ESRB to rate your game. I'm guessing Ninty won't let games that aren't rated on their system.

If we want echoes/mono/whatever on WiiWare, we're gonna have to shell out at least $5000. Doesn't sound like very friendly indy support.


Mo

[fog]

*Sigh* ... I try really hard not to be a cynic, and I'm totally a Ninty fanboy, but ...

Sooner or later I'm going to be torn between this and XNA.  I just hope for an easy solution that may allow code to be used, with some obvious modification, on both.

Not gonna happen. MS support C# only, and Ninty will most likely support C/C++ only. I mean, unless you can get your hands on XNA Pro, which is C/C++. So getting the code to compile for both is a matter of using the same logic for the code, but making big syntax changes. Not a very nice solution.

Oh I know an easy solution doesn't exist, but like I said, you can hope

We just need to see how open Ninty make development.  If they want to challenge XBLA then I guess they'll have to make it open to everyone, hopefully free to use, and with a good distribution system.

I doubt they'll do that. They'll probably make it relatively simple for indies to get their hands on dev-kits, but complete homebrew I really doubt.

One of the big issues I have with what Ninty have said is that they'll only do QA but won't rate the games. In other words, if you're an indy and want to make WiiWare, you're gonna have to shell out the $5000 to get ESRB to rate your game. I'm guessing Ninty won't let games that aren't rated on their system.

If we want echoes/mono/whatever on WiiWare, we're gonna have to shell out at least $5000. Doesn't sound like very friendly indy support.

Well XNA allows for homebrew but doesn't have a simple or free distribution system.  Currently only other XNA subscribers can run your code.  There is obviously room for improvement here.

Distribution on the Wii though could well let you target every other Wii user.  Sure the $5000 ESRB rating cost would be a major stumbling block for most indies on thw Wii but if you get something good up and running there's every chance it would be picked up by a publisher who would cover any costs.

So far, although it's still rumour, the Wii system is sounding the better simply because it would let you reach 100% of the userbase (admitedly at a substancial cost).   While on XNA distribution is either very limited (other XNA users) or, if you go the publishing route, very costly and with no guarantee Microsoft will allow you to distribute it anyway.

[SaikoJosh]

If we want echoes/mono/whatever on WiiWare, we're gonna have to shell out at least $5000. Doesn't sound like very friendly indy support.

I expect that's a move to stop any old person dumping their games on the Wii by putting off all but the most serious. Obviously we want to avoid another industry crash due to huge volume of crap games! Which would no doubt happen if the Wii was too open.

[fog]

Hey Joshi 

If we want echoes/mono/whatever on WiiWare, we're gonna have to shell out at least $5000. Doesn't sound like very friendly indy support.

I expect that's a move to stop any old person dumping their games on the Wii by putting off all but the most serious. Obviously we want to avoid another industry crash due to huge volume of crap games! Which would no doubt happen if the Wii was too open.

Surely the best way to ensure quality would be for Ninty to do what they've always done and that's have the final say over whether something gets released or not.  What they've done here is the total opposite.  Supposedly they will only check for major bugs and then, provided you get an ESRB rating, you can release any old crap.

Not saying I think they should do that mind as I actually believe they should allow pretty much anything.  Sony did that with the PS2 and yes it had a huge number of crap games, but it also had a larger number of very good ones than any other system thanks, in part, to Sony's anything goes policy.

[SaikoJosh]

I guess things like this are always going to be hard to call. Nintendo does has a real thing for quality! According the the Beeb they are doing some sort of QA on the games.. but then that's the Beeb reporting, not a gaming site.

[< DARK DVNT >]

Unless all the programers and staff that worked on the game (most of them) are located near each other, or who ever is head of the team could maybe see if there is some help within your own gov't. I know for fact that, here where I live, Texas, the state gov't will give you up to $250,000 to create a game as long as your studio resides with the state. I am sure there are other requirments to quailfy for the money, but if such a program exists in your local gov't, then there is funding for the project.

[fog]

I guess things like this are always going to be hard to call. Nintendo does has a real thing for quality! According the the Beeb they are doing some sort of QA on the games.. but then that's the Beeb reporting, not a gaming site.

I've read elsewhere that the QA literally just means checking for major bugs so it looks like no quality control over gameplay etc.

Unless all the programers and staff that worked on the game (most of them) are located near each other, or who ever is head of the team could maybe see if there is some help within your own gov't. I know for fact that, here where I live, Texas, the state gov't will give you up to $250,000 to create a game as long as your studio resides with the state. I am sure there are other requirments to quailfy for the money, but if such a program exists in your local gov't, then there is funding for the project.

$250,000! Tempting....What's the weather like in Texas?

For a small team, that's a huge sum of money.  Given the right tools someone could easily produce a quality game within a year in just their spare time......and that would effectively cost $0.  OK I'm exaggerating somewhat but if WiiWare is done right then titles shouldn't require a big budget to develop.

[The DarkStar]

$250,000! Tempting....What's the weather like in Texas?

It's raining. Dollars.

No... really, believe me!   

[fog]

$250,000! Tempting....What's the weather like in Texas?

It's raining. Dollars.

No... really, believe me!   

It must be if they can afford to give money away like that.

[< DARK DVNT >]

it is a nice way to bring game devs to my homestate. For you info here is the article the talks about it. http://gamepolitics.com/2007/06/11/texas-game-development-incentives-come-with-strings-attached/

[fog]

it is a nice way to bring game devs to my homestate. For you info here is the article the talks about it. http://gamepolitics.com/2007/06/11/texas-game-development-incentives-come-with-strings-attached/

Interesting thanks.  I see they want to restrict inappropriate or obscene content.....well I'll bang out a Tetris clone and claim my $250k cheers.

[The DarkStar]

Interesting thanks.  I see they want to restrict inappropriate or obscene content.....well I'll bang out a Tetris clone and claim my $250k cheers.

Remake, not clone. You dislike clones, remember?