Frozenbyte on Nintendo’s support, Trine 2 Magic Mayhem mode coming later, Miiverse, patching, hints of Wii U achievement system, more
Head past the break for a bunch of news from Frozenbyte’s sales and marketing manager Mikael Haveri. Haveri comments on how supportive Nintendo has been with Trine 2: Director’s Cut thus far, shares more information on the Magic Mayhem mode (which won’t be ready for launch, it seems), discusses Miiverse, patching, and briefly mentions achievements on Wii U – of which he is “almost 100% sure that there will be some type of system.”
Haveri on how Frozenbyte had a DS dev. kit…
“We were really never sure if we were going to go with the DS. We had been in contact with Nintendo but we weren’t that close. I think that what happened was that, with the success or the appeal of Trine 2, we started being more in contact, and it kind of grew from there.”
Haveri on self-publishing…
“It’s something we always want to do – nothing against publishers, but […] the more control the better for us.”
Haveri on how Frozenbyte views Wii U as an important future prospect as this console generation begins to draw to a close…
“We see that those platforms are good in their own way but they might be coming to that generation change, so we’re really looking into the future. And I think what Nintendo brings in with the Wii U is hopefully a very open, relaxed eShop atmosphere.”
Haveri on how Nintendo has been promoting Trine 2: Director’s Cut at various expos…
“This, for a very small company, Nintendo giving us the availability to be there, present — it’s unbelievable. If we do make the very launch, then that’s in itself a huge visibility possibility. I mean, it’s a new store and people will be looking into it, and if there’s not too many games then that’s a lot of visibility.”
Haveri on how Nintendo has left Frozenbyte alone, but offers support when needed…
“Nintendo’s really supporting us, but I think for a developer sometimes you really want to search and learn for yourself also. During this time right now, when we’re getting closer and closer to launch, it’s much more communication about the small details, how to do things.”
Haveri on the porting process…
“I keep telling people about the first couple of days that we had the consoles, the dev kits, and when we got to really get into the game. I think we didn’t start really until sometime early in the year still, but the fact was that we had a lot of things going on. Then when we got over the old things, we started with the Wii U and then in two days we had it running. We had it running really fast. So it was more about knowing your own tech and then having that ‘eureka!’ moment of making it work on this new hardware.”
Haveri on the Goblin Menace expansion included on Wii U and only released on Steam previously…
“Basically that does require… well, not huge amounts more graphics processing power, but still considerably. If we would publish that on the other consoles, then I believe that there would be some small downscaling of what it is right now. We really are focused on the Wii U, and we really want to create new content for this really big release that we’re happy to be a part of.”
Haveri on the Magic Mayhem mode…
“We’ve been reworking the whole idea a couple of times. It is a bit different than we first thought it would be. The idea is to make something that really takes the touch interface and takes full focus on that and different kinds of play that you can do. In that sense, whenever this does happen, it probably will be – unless it translates really well to the PC controls – then most likely it’s gonna be exclusive [to Wii U].”
Haveri on Miiverse support…
“I think we’ll have some support in the beginning, but I think that it’s something that you can also add onto. When I was at Nintendo a couple of weeks ago I was asking more about it, because it’s opening up the possibilities of what you can do in terms of interaction with other players and so on. It’s definitely something we’ll keep our eye on and see how that develops.”
Haveri on how easy patching is on Wii U…
“Hopefully really easy. Most likely a lot better than what we’ve been working on in the past. We don’t know actual details, so it’s really hard to say anything. But every time I express my concern to Nintendo, they are all like ‘oh, you shouldn’t worry too much’. The things I’ve been hearing sound very good. And just the fact that they are reaching out to the indie community means that they are taking this into consideration. I really hope that it’s gonna be like, let’s say that we do two Steam updates a month regularly. Then maybe we can get those same updates that we do on Steam and maybe do something like once a month for the Wii U version.”
Haveri on how he hasn’t seen the eShop yet, but has receive information that excites him…
“If I make a new video or something, then I believe that I have the possibility to also put it there. So it’s not just on YouTube, or on my blog or somewhere. I think that I can actually also put it onto the eShop. For me I think that’s something that could be really great, and I believe that’s something that’s a possibility for the launch, or somewhere down the line at least.”
Harveri believes the eShop is going in the “right direction”…
“I think Nintendo is making an effort to really reach out to companies like ourselves and very similar communities that are clearly growing and giving us a good environment to work in. That’s something that we’ve really been noticing from Nintendo.”
Haveri on Nintendo TVii and Nintendo’s general entertainment efforts…
“I do watch way too much TV. Right now whenever I’m watching something, like live TV, I’m usually on Twitter at the same time, just seeing what people are talking about. I think that what [Nintendo is] realising with the Wii U entertainment integration is that that’s something that is a daily thing, and for the whole family, so you can actually keep the console on more and more, just adding more value to how integral a part of the entertainment it can be.”
Haveri on building a relationship with Nintendo…
“With Nintendo it’s looking [like a] really shiny and happy relationship. But then again, [we] always have to be wary because that’s always been the way. Usually towards the launch, really close to the launch, that’s where things maybe start to break up with it all. It’s looking really good so far, very positive, and I’m pretty sure that it will remain in that same direction.”
Other tidbits
– Nintendo approached Atlus
– Atlus then put Frozenbyte in touch with Nintendo
– Haveri says Nintendo has been “very generous” thus far
– Magic Mayhem multiplayer mode has been planned
– It’s “on the backburner right now” and more likely to be “some sort of an update at some point”
– Magic Mayhem is a mini-game style mode “hopefully even something akin to what Nintendo Land is doing”
– Won’t be out for launch since the team hasn’t decided exactly what it will involve yet.
– Regular multiplayer can be played locally, online, or a combination of the two
– Two players can play on one console while another can connect to the same game on the Internet
– Drop-in, drop-out multiplayer
– Supports nunchuck and Wiimote, Pro controller, Classic controller
– On achievements: “I’m almost 100% sure that there will be some type of system.”
– Working with Nintendo has been “very freeform” and positive so far
– Frozenbyte wants to build up a strong “mutual relationship” with Nintendo.
