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(Gamasutra) Becoming a Switch Indie will be tough early on

LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...o_Switch_indie_dev_will_be_tough_early_on.php

“Right now we are being very selective about who we’re letting into the development environment, and through our portal,” he said. “Whereas with the Wii U and 3DS, we opened that up to everybody. I think our mentality was to cast that big net, [but] you’d never know when the next great piece of content was coming, or where it was gonna come from, or where it was going to permeate.

“This time around, we’re going to be a lot more conservative,” Baker said. “We don’t want to open up the floodgates quite yet.”
Click to expand...

Somewhat disapointing after news of how cheap devkits were going to be, and with at least one gaf-dev actively trying to get their game onto it.
 
S

Shiggy

Member
I wonder what the reason might be. Are they concerned about quality? The titles announced right now all seem much better than what we often got on 3DS.
 
T

Timeaisis

Member
Ah, damn. Well I hope to get there one day. I'm assuming they don't want to load it up too much at the start. Hope they open it up a little more soon.
 
U

UnemployedVillain

Member
Shiggy said:
I wonder what the reason might be. Are they concerned about quality? The titles announced right now all seem much better than what we often got on 3DS.
Click to expand...

Which might be a result of their higher selectivity.

Anyway, it doesn't seem like the process or requirements will be more difficult, only that initially it might be harder to get approval/a dev kit
 
H

heringer

Member
That touches on the same issue Colin discussed in Colin was right. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to be more conservative at first and give a better spotlight to some games.
 
G

GulAtiCa

Member
I hope to eventually become a Switch dev eventually. As a indie dev, very much interested & not to mention already a Wii U dev, I'm not particularity as happy to sees this news and how secretive Nintendo is to those not in the system yet. I'm not mad or anything, I'd just like to get additional info.

Don't get me wrong, I do understand why they are doing this. They don't want another Meme Run / The Letter situation right away.
 
M

Matt

Member
It's already opened up considerably from what it was a few months ago.

I wouldn't worry too much.
 
LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
Shiggy said:
I wonder what the reason might be. Are they concerned about quality?
Click to expand...

Yes, its in the article - they're focussing on a "curated" experience.

I personally find that disapointing and the results of the chilling effects of certain youtube pundits deliberately playing shit games for the lulz to pretend uncurated storefronts are somehow 'a problem' that needs 'fixing'.
 
B

butalala

Member
This seems like a decision made to combat the garbo indie crapware that was on Wii U eshop. What was that one game called, memerunner? Stuff like that.
 
J

jonno394

Member
I like the idea of curating great indies and getting them to sell well from the off (hopefully) but that doesn't explain how crap like that witch bike game is on their day one.

Hopefully this works for both Nintendo and the indie devs and helps create an environment where a vast majority of indies want to get their games on teh switch asap, just hope they dont burn too many bridges by saying "not yet" too many times.
 
V

Velkyn

Member
LordRaptor said:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...o_Switch_indie_dev_will_be_tough_early_on.php



Somewhat disapointing after news of how cheap devkits were going to be, and with at least one gaf-dev actively trying to get their game onto it.
Click to expand...

I'm actually happy they're being a bit more selective, some of the indies on Wii U were pure shit. Clearly their approach is working if they were able to drop such an impressive list of exclusives, timed exclusives and unique modes for Switch.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
I got into the Wii U devkit program a long time ago and have been looking forward to Switch development ages. But yep, the best you can do at the moment is send a proposal and hope you're good enough quality to make it through and get noticed. I guess that gives me motivation to try to make something good, and worst case sell it on Steam instead. :p
 
E

EDarkness

Member
Will make getting my game on the NS a lot harder, I think. No problem, though. I have my hands full with making my game anyway. I don't think they're all that interested in RPGs right now, either. So those going that route might have a hard time getting accepted. They seem to want more action, multiplayer focused games so games like mine probably have no chance right now. I guess we'll see how things go in the next few months.
 
R

Rösti

Unconfirmed Member
I'm not dissatisfied. The communication I have received so far has answered most, not all, of my questions re development.
 
D

Dynomutt

Member
Why is this a bad thing. I am all for curating titles. I've noticed on multiple platforms of bad games getting green lighted somehow. Life of Black Tiger anyone?
 
Okami Haundo

Okami Haundo

Member
Honestly, I don't see this as being a bad approach. PS4/Xbox One/Steam are absolutely filled with nonsensical "indie" games that don't deserve anyone's attention. While Nintendo is building a library for Switch, I don't blame them for wanting to be selective about what's representing the hardware.

Imagine if Switch launched tomorrow and "The life of Black Tiger" or "Bad Rats Show" were available for purchase and featured prominently on the eShop!
 
Stilton Disco

Stilton Disco

Member
Thank fuck, there's some utter shit on the current eshops that makes finding anything worth owning a huge hassle.

Now if they can just get their act together with digital pricing and sales...
 
P

phanphare

Banned
makes sense. want to make a good first impression with the kinds of indie content available on the system. I'm sure it'll get easier.

imagine fucking meme run showing up on day 1 alongside everything else lol
 
G

Gorilla Shark

Member
Let's be honest - the Wii U e-shop was a little too "open" and some great games were lost among the shit tier stuff that flooded the store.

It has to tough to balance making sure you give indie devs a fair chance but not open the floodgates to garbage.
 
A

antonz

Member
Makes sense to be more selective in the beginning. Establish the Switch Indie scene as a high quality source of games and as time goes open it up to a wider development audience.
 
J

jonno394

Member
Burdmayn said:
Honestly, I don't see this as being a bad approach. PS4/Xbox One/Steam are absolutely filled with nonsensical "indie" games that don't deserve anyone's attention. While Nintendo is building a library for Switch, I don't blame them for wanting to be selective about what's representing the hardware.

Imagine if Switch launched tomorrow and "The life of Black Tiger" or "Bad Rats Show" were available for purchase and featured prominently on the eShop!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it launches with this instead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBmZIIk9VQQ
 
J

JustenP88

I earned 100 Gamerscore™ for collecting 300 widgets and thereby created Trump's America
I can understand them not wanting an onslaught of low-effort shovelware from devs desperate to capitalize on launch-window hypebeasts and their loose wallets.

Still hope they start making the tent bigger for the quality devs on the outside looking in, of course.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
It stuck out to me that the vast majority of the first wave of indie titles were either from micropublishers, micropublishers making their own games, or larger independent studios who had a small indie team within them.
 
Z

Znedd1

When I was your age, I had to copy BASIC commands line-by-line out of a magazine to make a game.
I don't think it's Nintendo wanting to block indie games. It's more about Quality Control.

Look at Steam at the moment. There are several games releasing every day: mostly shovel-ware or asset-flip games.
Even look at the PS store right now: games like "Life of Black Tiger", and "Firefighter: The simulation" have got on their with little issue.

While this move will mean less indie titles coming to the Switch, it won't stop any legitimately good games from getting on there. I think that it ensures that no 'bad' games are on the platform, and consumers aren't robbed of their money.

Overall, a good thing.
 
M

MicH

Member
There was so much garbage on the Wii U eShop that this probably not too bad. Some quality control is definitely needed but I hope indies with quality games can get in relatively easy
 
C

Camjo-Z

Member
Honestly if it eliminates the utter shite that plagued the Wii U eShop it's worth it. Hopefully the smaller indie devs with quality games can still manage to get in.
 
E

EDarkness

Member
Camjo-Z said:
Honestly if it eliminates the utter shite that plagued the Wii U eShop it's worth it. Hopefully the smaller indie devs with quality games can still manage to get in.
Click to expand...

I hope so, too, but seems pretty hard for us really small guys to get any love at the moment.
 
M

M-PG71C

Member
gregor7777 said:
I think this is more about getting good sales for the indies that signed on early. Same with zero news on VC.
Click to expand...

That sounds more like it to me. I'm sure the floodgates will open up later on this year but they are giving breathing room for the heavy hitters. It is a smart move.

Besides, are we truly keen on seeing more RCMADIX titles?
 
T

tebunker

Banned
Blizzard said:
I got into the Wii U devkit program a long time ago and have been looking forward to Switch development ages. But yep, the best you can do at the moment is send a proposal and hope you're good enough quality to make it through and get noticed. I guess that gives me motivation to try to make something good, and worst case sell it on Steam instead. :p
Click to expand...

I think quality may be the wrong word, but their definitely seems like they want a different type/level of indie game on their system. There was too much chaff on wiiu and 3ds. It clutters the shop and hurts visibility. So having a vetting process helps that.

The problems lie in the standards they are using for the vetting process. As long as that stuff is clearly defined and communicated it will help everyone. It can provide good criticism to help a developer create a better game if it is done right. The key is to remove taste and market type stuff from the equation and focus on things like prior portfolio, the type of game and level that it has been produced to at time of submission. General quality is too subjective of a term though.

Yeah this can get too ticky tacky. Just would like to know how they communicate these things
 
LordRaptor

LordRaptor

Member
Znedd1 said:
Look at Steam at the moment. There are several games releasing every day: mostly shovel-ware or asset-flip games.
Click to expand...

No.

The majority of titles released are not shovelware or "asset flip" games.

I find it incredibly obnoxious that people deliberately search specifically for those and then pretend that that is representative.
 
F

frankie_baby

Member
M-PG71C said:
That sounds more like it to me. I'm sure the floodgates will open up later on this year but they are giving breathing room for the heavy hitters. It is a smart move.

Besides, are we truly keen on seeing more RCMADIX titles?
Click to expand...

Block drop U was great, admittedly he somehow managed to make about 50 games since not one of which was even 1% as good
 
V

VendettaRed07

Member
3DS did have an issue with being flooded with garbage; and wiiu did get a chunk of crap too

But that can be fixed with a non shitty terrible awful horribly bad search system on the Eshop.
 
R

Robert at Zeboyd Games

Banned
I've signed up on their dev site. I've emailed them a few times about getting our game on the Switch. I've messaged people on Twitter who are in Nintendo 3rd party indie relations. Still nothing except generic form letters about not opening up development at this time.

Having to beg to try to get on their platform really doesn't give me a good feeling about wanting to work with them. And from what I've heard, my experience matches the experience of some other indie devs on NeoGAF. When the Switch was first announced, I was really excited to port to it. Now, I'm wondering if we should even bother when we could just spend that energy working on the next game instead.
 
M

muteant

Member
ShockingAlberto said:
I doubt it was a good look for the eShop to be the home of Meme Run and The Notebook.
Click to expand...
I dunno, you and many others are still talking about those profoundly lousy games how many years after release? Outrageous awfulness has its charms (I find mediocrity much more problematic), and regardless who the hell is blindly buying games without first checking impressions and/or reviews nowadays?
 
L

Lil'DigiOp

Member
This is good.

Crapware shouldn't even be on any storefront. I don't even know how its allowed when alot of that garbage is low quality effort.

I mean seriously, games should be curated to actually represent quality games instead of letting anyone willy nilly publish a game.
 
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