Good news for Wii U fans. Daksiders II developers (Vigil Games) has stated in an interview how easy is to develop for Wii U, being on par with 360 and easier than PS3.
“…You can tell the way the software is organized, the way the APRs are writen, that very shortly, it will become a pretty easy platform to develop for. Personally, I don’t really get into the what’s easier and that, but definitely from a pure programmer point of view, it’s definitely a lot easier than say the PS3 was. It’s probably on par with like the 360 as far as just ease of APIs, simplicity of how you interact with the hardware, and that sort of thing.”
Here are some other details:
- David Adams has always loved Nintendo platforms
- Excited to be involved with a new console and launch
- Was also a challenge since the corporate office asked if they could pull it off in time for E3
- Took about a week to get their base libraries up and running on the console without graphics
- Another week and a half to get graphics to a point where you could seen something on the screen and play the game (basically rainbow colors)
- Then worked on getting the features and graphical features in
- Took about 5 weeks in total from when they found out about it
- Worked on it until the last day of E3
- Fully functional build was ready at that point
- Majority of the work was three programmers
- Nintendo decided not to show the game for various reasons
- A lot of challenges and late nights
- Team was finding things and telling Nintendo about them and learned how to solve problems themselves
- This was unlike the PS3/360 in that all problems have already been solved
- First time the team has been working with Nintendo
- Nintendo has been very supportive
- Gave dev kits and access to the dev site quickly
- Nintendo does their best to answer questions
- Adams believes Nintendo seems pretty dedicated to helping developers get up to speed on the hardware and get stuff working
- Development became easier towards the end as the team became more familiar with the hardware
- Adams thinks it’ll be a pretty easy platform to develop for
- Adams believes that being able to use the controller to manage your inventory, map, and other elements will be a huge advantage to the player
- Bonstead could see you using the controller to aim a weapon in the game
- Bonstead says that, with a little effort, they could probably run the full game on the controller
- Fairly simple code can be used to put the entire game on the controller
UPDATE 1
From Iwata Asks:
"We think it very important to make several hits from the third-party software publishers within the first year from the release of the platform, while offering Nintendo software seamlessly. In order to achieve this goal, we have shared information about the new hardware with the software publishers earlier than we did previously and built a cooperative structure, and we are developing several titles in collaboration with these publishers. I cannot talk in detail about the names of the titles, or with which publishers we are currently collaborating, because we have not announced this information yet, but what we are aiming for with the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U is, platforms which have much more software and a wider variety of software than the former Nintendo DS or Wii. Therefore, we are thinking of creating an environment where software from other companies will become hits. Please understand that Nintendo is prepared to invest in order to make this a reality. "
UPDATE 2
EA partnership
Iwata on the significant of Nintendo’s partnership with EA for Wii U…
Iwata: I understand that the reason why (EA CEO John) Riccitiello was kind enough to come up on the stage is probably because EA thought that with Wii U they’ll have a better opportunity for software creation.
When we approached EA and provided them with the concept and the possibility of Wii U, I believe they thought, OK, with this machine, they’ll be able to do something that they really want to do.
UPDATE 3
Gearbox on Wii U
Gearbox software co-founder Brian Martel:
"Right now we're still finding out what kind of final tech specs the Wii U is going to have," said Martel.
"But we like the system a lot; we think it's going to be a really cool stop-gap in between this generation and the next generation. We think it's really smart of Nintendo, and the fact that as a platform it's a lot more capable for hardcore first-person shooter-style gaming – for us that's fantastic."
Martel went on to talk about how the Wii U hardware and controller could potentially benefit Gearbox's upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines.
"We've got the [Aliens: Colonial Marines] engine running on the Wii U, and as far as the console goes, you're going to see textures at a resolution that you haven't seen on [the current] generation," said Martel.
"But the thing we're most excited about is: what can we do with the controller? So the obvious thing for us is that we can do the motion tracker [on the controller screen], or the sentry gun information – all that kind of stuff. That stuff is really sexy for us. Getting the information off the screen and onto this device is a fantastic idea, right? So can we have a HUD-less environment? Yeah, probably. That would be fantastic, right?"
Warning: IGN
UPDATE 4
Nintendo Wii U Is 'Slam Dunk' for id Tech 5 Games, says John Carmack
"Pretty early on we had a pretty negative experience with Nintendo back in the Super Nintendo days. They were a different company then. They were very much about tightening, controlling the sorts of things that they want to have happen on their consoles. But that’s long in the past," Carmack began. "The issues in the current time have just been technology missteps, where we’re out of step with them; we were at a clear point where designing for the 360, PS3 and PC made lots of sense. But you couldn’t have one content development project naturally bridge the gap. If anything, I’m much more inclined to want to develop something for Nintendo now because I’ve got a 6-year-old son and we play Wii and DS games all the time. I’d be happy to do something there. It just hasn’t been the right fit for where id Software is with our projects and technologies."
"It should be a slam dunk to move over to Tech 5 games on there. We haven’t had that discussion yet as a company, but it seems technically like it’s a valid target, so I’m always happy to go ahead and get a new box in and see what it takes to bring it up and see the pros and cons of the choices they made. I think they probably made a fairly intelligent decision with the Wii U," Carmack continued.
"I think there may be more good uses of that [Wii U tablet] than [there are for] the current generation with Kinect and Move... there’s clearly a subset of games for which things like that are appropriate for," he said. "We’ve been going on with how can we use those types of motion things with Rage and it’s hard to take a game that’s fundamentally designed around a controller and get value out of doing some of those other things, while adding extra touch interfaces there, that seems like something that almost every game could make some use of without it being just like, 'Oh, we have to do something like this.' Because if you remember, when the DS came out, there was a lot of talk about how, ‘Isn’t this going to be just a gimmick?’ But really it did turn out to be quite a good interface to build on."
Id Tech 5 Games
UPDATE 5
Activision: Wii U can offer rich multiplayer
Activision boss-man Bobby Kotick has expressed his excitement for the Wii U, and although wouldn't reveal plans for specific titles, explained that the console was capable of "deep rich multiplayer".
"Well, without telling you our title plans, it's now more possible to do deep rich multiplayer games – we need more clarity from Nintendo on the online capabilities, but we've had development systems for a while now and we're very enthusiastic about it," Kotick told the Guardian.
"I think that the user-interface itself is very clever – there will be a lot of innovation to come from having the second screen. It's also critically important that you can use the existing physical interfaces with the new device because those are really compelling. Nintendo has always done a very good job of thinking about the user experience and this is no exception."
"For the kinds of games we create, it was becoming very difficult for us to support the Wii with the expectations that our gamers have."
UPDATE 6
Cliff Bleszinski toughs on WIi U
Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski is never one to hold back his opinion. IndustryGamers asked the Epic design director back at E3 about the Wii U, and he talked about the evolution of technology but in the end admitted that it doesn't matter because it's from Nintendo and people will buy it no matter what.
He commented, "From what I’ve seen, it looks pretty cool. It seems like you can stream your game from your television directly to your [tablet] controller, so if you have irritable bowel syndrome, or a small bladder, you can still play it in the toilet. That’s great. But, you know, from what people are saying online, they’re like, 'Oh, it’s just a DreamCast, whatever.' But it’s like, 'Dude, what’s old is new sometimes.'
"The Power Glove [back on NES] led to the Wii, right? The Virtual Boy led to the 3DS, right? A lot of these older technologies that you forget about are [the technological predecessors]. The Kinect is a sophisticated webcam, right? So I’m just dying to see it. It’s Nintendo. I’ll buy it. I know I’ll buy it. They’ll talk sh*t but they’ll buy it," he added, referring to the skeptical gamers on message boards.
Epic Games has yet to officially commit to the Wii U, but the developer and Unreal Engine middleware provider has always said it'll support Nintendo when the hardware comes up to the level necessary for Unreal. Odds are we'll be seeing some Unreal-powered games or even titles directly from Epic on Wii U at some point down the line.
UPDATE 7
EA on gameplay
It's a high definition platform and I love the controller. I just think it’s cool. You’re a gamer - so you’ve got the screen here [in your hands] and you’ve got the [TV] screen there and you’ve got full control. Personally, while there’s some great experiences on Move, and there’s some great experiences on Kinect, I’m not a motion control guy. It’s still too imprecise for me. I like shooting something and hitting it. I like turning a corner and feeling precision. So I still like my swizzle sticks and my shoulder buttons and my Xs and Os, etc. But there is something about having that second screen that transcends anything I’ve ever done before. I can draw a pass pattern for Madden, I can be playing an FPS up here while I’m calling in air strikes or whatever I want to do. I can give all the detailed control off the screen, I can see another part of a map... I always find it breaks the spell for me when I’m playing a game with a squad and I have to stop the action and move up for them. Now I can just move them down here [on the tablet]. I think there’s something really powerful about a second screen that I think really matters. I think we’re just beginning to realize what we can do with it and I think it’s obvious we can do a lot with it." - EA CEO
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