50+ indie games cancelled and still on for Wii U, in limbo, moved to Switch
Posted on May 27, 2017 by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Features, Switch eShop, Wii U eShop
Still Planned for Wii U
Antipole is still on track for Wii U – and 3DS – though it has taken longer than expected. Saturnine Games’ Edward Di Geronimo Jr. told us that some parts “were completed much later than scheduled, which necessitated shifting the business focus to other projects.”
Antipole DX “is currently very close to completion,” and all features are in place. The developer only needs to take care of a bit of remaining content and final polishing. Unfortunately, the team is unsure when they can shift their attention back to Antipole DX.
Saturnine Games does have interest in Switch and bringing over Antipole DX. However, “Nintendo is currently being extremely selective about what games are allowed to release” on the new system.
Development is still taking place. From a financial perspective, Zordix felt that it made sense to focus on the PlayStation 4 and PC versions first.
As for Switch? Zordix’s Matti Larsson says: “I’m not allowed to say anything yet about the upcoming Switch version. (oops). … We’ve released many games on Nintendo platforms and the plan is to continue.”
Bizerta: Silent Evil remains on track for Wii U, and voice recording recently completed. There’s no word on a release date at this time though.
In terms of Switch, there are no plans for that system currently, but potentially later. The team would need to come up with a pitch in order to receive access to Nintendo’s newest system.
Cryamore, funded way back in 2013 on Kickstarter, hasn’t ceased development, nor has the Wii U version been abandoned. Switch could be in the cards in the future, but the team’s Alan Wansom told us that they are holding off for now while waiting to see “how well Unity’s support for it extends” and for “to get further traction in its userbase”.
SnowCastle Games has been sticking to its guns in supporting Wii U, but the port has taken longer than expected. When we asked about the game, CEO Bendik Stang explained that it “required a larger optimization job than I anticipated back in January when I was mostly done with the first pass on optimization. Problem was that we were not happy with the framerate and visual look we achieved, so we did another optimization pass that is now done.”
So where do things stand now? When we approached SnowCastle, the Wii U version was in QA. It was being tested “to find bugs and visual glitches, then fixing those. Once that is done, we will move to certification.”
Stang doesn’t want to make the mistake of giving out a rough release window due to the Wii U version being more difficult than expected. “But I like to point out that we have done a big job on the Wii U version and we are very committed on getting the game out as promised,” Stang said.
Liege is on track for Wii U, though the developer is focusing on other versions first – namely Steam and PlayStation 4. As far as Switch goes, Coda Games would “definitely love to do the Switch and think the game would be a great fit for the hardware, but no plans as of yet.”
The Wii U version of Over My Dead Body (For You) is absolutely still happening. In fact, DuneWorld Games believes it still makes a great deal of sense to support that version. Straight from the developer, they highlighted the following reasons:
1.) It’s a good base lowish-end machine for us to target
2.) Fans seem to still be expecting it on the Wii U
3.) Nintendo platforms get us a lot of marketing
4.) We’ve already got it running on there, so why not (pretty bad business reason but whatever)
DuneWorld tentatively hopes to have the game ready in June, but it’s really more along the lines of: “It’s done when it’s done.” It’s unclear whether Wii U will launch with the PC version.
DuneWorld also had this to say about Switch:
“We have a lot of interest in the Switch. Our game features playing as a zombie and and ghost at the same time. When we take it to conventions, we often see players sharing the controller with one another, playing on the fly co-op. This obviously seems like a perfect match for the Switch’s JoyCons: you could be playing single player, have a friend ask to join in, then just detach the remotes and hand one off. Boom, instant co-op. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to hear anything from Nintendo regarding getting the game on the Switch, so we’re sticking with our current plan of releasing on Wii U first. Hopefully after they see it finally released on the Wii U they’ll be interested in letting us port it to the Switch.”
Bitten Toast Games was working on the Wii U version right when our email was received. Developer Daniel Nascimento has been trying to solve one particular bug “that is being a pain to debug as it doesn’t reproduce when it’s on the PC and only on the device.”
Once the Wii U version of Rocket Fist is out the door, Nascimento hopes to start considering it for Switch. However, he acknowledged that porting is much harder than he anticipated, especially as this game is his first commercial release and he’s a lone developer.
Ruff Copy is still on the way, and may hit the eShop around July. Neil Armstrong of Astrosaurus Games anticipates this being the indie developer’s final title on the platform. Armstrong has interest in Switch, and is currently waiting on “dev kit availability”.
For this particular game, we did not reach out to the developer specifically. Instead, we found this note in an official blog post from the very end of January:
“As everyone knows, I’ve been a huge supporter of the Wii U and we are doing our best to get the game released there. It’s a lot of hard work and sweat, but I think it’ll be worth it in the end. Sure, the Wii U is all but dead, but I try to keep my promises if I can. Now, for the NS, I would like to bring the game over to that system. The main issue stems from costs. The cost of making games is high, at least if you want to do it right. Making games on consoles, even more so, since we have to pay for devkits. As much as I wish these things were cheaper, they’re not and I personally just don’t have the funds/budget to spend on devkits. Once we have the necessary cash and NS kits are available to us devs, then I’ll be more than happy to port the game over. It’s really as simple as that. If you want to make sure this happens, then feel free to donate via the link on the right side of this page. The more funds we have, the more we can do and the more systems we can port the game to!”
Super Cucumber & Down the Drain
Both Super Cucumber and Down the Drain are still planned for Wii U and PC initially, according to Cubicorn Games. However, the team also wants to prepare releases on Switch down the road as well.
Strength of the Sword Ultimate
Work on the Wii U version of Strength of the Sword Ultimate continues, even though the focus is on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions. We were informed that the game’s publishers aren’t too interested in the Wii U version and some Kickstarter backers would prefer transitioning to other platforms.
That being said, Ivent programmer Georgi Rakidov is personally invested in the Wii U version of Strength of the Sword Ultimate. He started development of the project there, and went out of the way to purchase a fairly expensive dev kit with his own funds.
By the way, Switch is not being considered for Strength of the Sword Ultimate. In the future, Ivent anticipates sticking to one platform, which will likely be for PC. “The whole console odyssey is just not for us,” Rakidov said.
The status regarding Sushi Princess is simple for the most part. The Wii U is “currently” a potential platform for release. We’ve also heard that there’s interest in a version of Sushi Princess for Switch.
A digital release on the Wii U eShop is still happening for Vegas Prime Retrograde, with Open Form Games co-founder Stuart Templeton mentioning that the team “love[s] that platform.” As long as Nintendo continues to allow for titles to appear on the store, it’ll happen.
Vegas Prime Retrograde was in closed beta on PC, Mac, and Linux as of April. The studio “spent a good portion of our time taking VPR out to game/anime/comic cons, putting it in player hands, and getting feedback, so we have a lot of new visuals and some gameplay changes we’re about to showcase.”
The future also looks bright for Switch:
“The Nintendo Switch looks like an amazing platform! Interest here is high. We’re really excited about it, not just for us, but for the huge legion of indies that I think will really thrive on that system. We’re not currently developing for that platform, but are looking forward to jumping in.”
The Wii U version of Volgarr the Viking “as of right now is not cancelled”, CEO Kristofor Durrschmidt Crazy Viking Studios & SoulStone Technologies told us. Durrschmidt said the team has plans for Switch as well, “but what that is I may not divulge at this time.”
