Dakko Dakko says Nintendo has been “tremendous to work with”
Dakko Dakko lead designer Rhodri Broadbent has spoken very positively about the studio’s experience working with Nintendo and the Wii U hardware for Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails’ creation.
In an interview with ONM, Broadbent commented that Dakko Dakko has “found Nintendo to be tremendous to work with, and very supportive of Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails right from the start.”
Broadbent also shared a few remarks about developing for Wii U. He said that the recent report from an unnamed developer, which essentially blasted the console, was “out-of-date information and needless negativity around Wii U development.” Ultimately, he feels that “bringing your game to a Nintendo system should be about taking advantage of the toybox of possibilities they provide you with in terms of the controllers, the two screen setup, Miis, and so on.”
Be sure to head past the break for Broadbent’s comments in full. You can also find ONM’s full interview here, which includes comments about developing for one platform and more.
We’ve found Nintendo to be tremendous to work with, and very supportive of Scram Kitty and his Buddy on Rails right from the start.
In recent weeks there has been a bunch of concerned chatter online about out-of-date information and needless negativity around Wii U development. I think it comes down to approach and expectation as to how much fun (or otherwise) a developer will have making games on any platform. To me, bringing your game to a Nintendo system should be about taking advantage of the toybox of possibilities they provide you with in terms of the controllers, the two screen setup, Miis, and so on. There’s so much to use, learn from, and build on.
Some developers quite understandably simply want an easy way to bring their established game over to a new platform. In that case, the more similar the system and the development tools, the happier they’ll obviously be. Those developers make up an important and sizeable chunk of the industry, but it shouldn’t be the dominant one and it shouldn’t be the only voice we hear. As both consumer and developer I want unique systems, and games tailored to those systems, playing to strengths and mastering the quirks and charms of the target hardware. If that has to necessarily mean that certain elements won’t be the same as they are on another games machine, then so be it. In fact, that’s better. Choice is always good.
What is disappointing to me about the recent online chatter hasn’t been the not-at-all surprising revelation that some developers get unhappy that games development isn’t always easy on pre-launch hardware. We’ve all been there at some point. What’s disappointing to me is that there appear to be so few of the larger publishers interested in making things specific to a platform any more. We’ll be much poorer off as gamers if cross-platform homogeny sets the agenda for platform holders. A platform’s individuality and its exclusives are what you’ll remember in 20 years time. And Nintendo has already ensured that Wii U will be fine with regard to those.
