The Benefits and Drawbacks of Indie Development on Nintendo Platforms

By Jorge Ba-oh 03.03.2015 5

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Indie Development on Nintendo Platforms on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

During a talk at this year's GDC, Mike Rose from TinyBuild discussed indie development on platforms like Wii U and 3DS.

Speaking about both of Nintendo's digitally enabled platforms, Rose noted how developers shouldn't discount Nintendo's home console just yet, noting how around 80 indie titles have been released for the Wii U eShop so far. The ease of porting to the system, for Unity projects in particular, was highlighted as a plus point - with Rose estimating potential sales of around 60,000 for titles that are already a hit elsewhere.


 

However, despite the benefits of Wii U development, he felt that after the exposure of launch, developers may struggle to stimulate sales.

As for Nintendo 3DS, the dual-screen nature of the game has made development a bit more challenging, with only 15 indie releases making it to the platform during 2014. Rose did note how sales were better on 3DS than the Wii U eShop, however, with improved long-tail figures.

As for other platforms, he noted how discovery was an issue on mobile platforms, and how the standard price of games have been far lower.

As for Xbox One, Rose explained how finding data for the system was hard, and how the parity clause has been putting indie developers off Microsoft's home console. PlayStation 4, however, had far more indie titles released during 2014, with crossplay features being a plus point.

What do you think Nintendo need to do to maintain the indie momentum on Wii U and 3DS going forward?

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Luna Eriksson is offline. Luna Eriksson 03.03.2015#1

I think they need to advertise the Wii U more so there is a broader install base because indie developers are most likely not going to take the risk and publishing their game, their hope and their sole source of income on a platform with fewer users over one with more users.

For the 3DS, the issue seem to be that developers think they HAVE to use the dual screens to make a 3DS game, something that is not true. They can make simple one screen games as well. No need to force gimicks upon a game that has no need for it. Seen too many potentially good game ruined by forcing on touch screen functionality upon them where it simply was not needed.

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Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 04.03.2015#2

There have been quite a few highly acclaimed eShop games but I'm not paying £15 for Shovel knight, it looks like a great game and I'm sure it is but for a small indie game like that I'd not want to be paying any more than £3-5.

My problem with indies is that I can't justify their price points (obviously in part dictated by the platform owners as well) , I could go into CEX or the internet and buy AAA games for less than their games are going for on eshop. I have to admit I did delve into Level 5's games when they put a sale on, as I did with Steamworld Dig. 

 
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RudyC3 is offline. RudyC3 04.03.2015#3

The price for Level 5 games, at least some of them, were fair in my opinion. I mean they're still developed by high profile dudes, so you know you're hopping in forwhat might be a smaller project, but also crafted with expert knowledge, and some of them you can put in more hours than your average indie game without having seen and done everything. Crimson Shroud, I still haven't seen the good ending after a good 30 hours of it. And the music is so awesome too. It's got a 3 CD soundtrack to itself, for an indie game, that's a lot.

A game like La-Mulana on Wiiware is also well worth its price in my opinion, I still haven't beaten the game, but it's just a HUGE game. Then some smaller game totally deserve a small price point, I agree. Cave Story, in my opinion, is overpriced, no matter how good it is. Haven't played Shovel Knight, so I can't say how long it can be, but its price does seem like a lot for what it is to me as well.

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Luna Eriksson is offline. Luna Eriksson 04.03.2015#4

Idk, personally I put more value into a well made indie title such as the Umineko no naku koro ni visual novel or Tengami than I put into steriotypic AAA titles such as CoD and Battlefield.

The value of art should not be measured in the cost of the materials used, but from the quality and cultural enjoyment one gets out of the product. At least that is my opinion.

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Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 07.03.2015#5

That's true, I would say the time of enjoyment well warrants a price tag, I hate to bring it up but I'm more likely to buy a game on the App Store for 69p than £4.99 on the eShop. 

Games like Steamworld Dig are short (so I've heard, actually haven't got around to playing it) but I justified it's purchase based on reviews and videos. 

But then there are other games which I just don't reckon I'll ever pay £15  for. Games like Azure Gunvolt or Shovel knight, even though I'd like to play them. 

 

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