8 replies to this topic

[Zinix]

The Wii U has been out for over half a year now and we’ve seen some truly strong indie titles hit the platform, with many more to come. One of the launch indie titles was Trine 2: Director’s Cut (which was the enhanced and ultimate version of Trine 2) that graced the console day one. I had the opportunity to speak with Julius Fondem, the Marketing Manager over at Frozenbyte, about their experience developing for the Wii U, as well as a bit of info about their new upcoming game, Splot.

Marcello: First off, thanks for taking the time to provide us an interview Julius. It’s been quite some time since Trine 2: Director’s Cut was released for the Wii U. How did you guys go about choosing to bring Trine 2 to the console? Did you guys approach Nintendo or did they approach you?

Julius: No problem, it’s my pleasure! Nintendo approached us before Trine 2 was released and asked us if we were interested in developing something for their upcoming console. We showed them Trine 2 and they definitely wanted to see it on Wii U. We were impressed with the hardware they were planning, and everything went very naturally from there.

Marcello: Trine 2: Director’s Cut is by far, one of the best looking games available on the Wii U. I did notice the visuals were crisper than those on the PS3/360. What was it like developing for the Wii U? Is it more powerful than the public seems to believe?

Julius: We have really enjoyed working with the Wii U hardware. It was rather easy to port our modern proprietary engine to it, and it does pack the punch to bring to life some really awesome visuals. The Wii U is a very modern console with a lot of RAM which helped us out a lot during development. The hardware capabilities have improved quite a lot from the original Wii, and the Wii U is a truly powerful console. The console is definitely more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Marcello: Roughly how long did it take to develop Trine 2: Director’s Cut for the Wii U?

Julius: We started developing Trine 2 for Wii U in early 2012 so a bit under a year, all in all.

Marcello: Will we be seeing the three heroes return in the near future for another quest in Trine 3?

Julius: We here at Frozenbyte have great love for the franchise and definitely want to see the three heroes make a return.

Marcello: Were there any differences bringing your game to the Nintendo eShop compared to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade? If so, what were some of them?

Julius: With the eShop, Nintendo has made it easy to approach and open for indies which is awesome. Nintendo allows us to self publish our games, updating our game is free of charge, and the eShop is still so fresh that we have great visibility there.

With PSN and XBLA, it used to be that you had to have a publisher to publish your games (i.e. no self publishing) and updating the games cost a significant amount. Also, these platforms used to regulate things more than the eShop.

Now however, Sony has changed their game up quite a bit, making self publishing a reality for indies and making the platform a lot more approachable, which we really appreciate. As for XBLA, similar rumors have been circulating around recently but we don’t know enough to comment on that. .

Marcello: Now you guys are currently working on a new title called “Splot”. Could you describe a bit about the upcoming title?

Julius: Splot is a cartoony platformer with emphasis on simple controls and competition. In Splot you control an alien named Splot who has crash landed onto a foreign planet. You guide him through levels by jumping around avoiding perilous obstacles and hazards, while trying to save your lost brethren. Splot is coming out at a later date on iOS, Android, and computer platforms.

Marcello: How was your relationship working with Nintendo? Would you be working to bring future titles to the Wii U (such as Splot)?

Julius: Working with Nintendo is great. They are extremely supportive towards us (and I’ve heard similar words from other indies) and communicating with them is very easy. We appreciate this a lot.

We would definitely want to bring our future titles to the Wii U. With Splot though the situation is a bit more complex as the technology we’re using isn’t the same as for Trine 2: Director’s Cut, so there’s a lot of technical work in getting Splot running on “high end” consoles like the Wii U. We are pushing as hard as we can to get Splot out on iOS, Android and computer platforms first. Depending on Splot’s success, we’ll see about other platforms. So, we haven’t decided on the Wii U for Splot yet, but it is something we’re considering.

 

http://gamersxtreme....werful-console/

 

 

Pretty much  re-confirming what we've known already.

Edited by Zinix, 08 July 2013 - 11:47 AM.

[GAMER1984]

They are having so much fun with this on Neogaf. This debate will still be raging on years from now. Ubisoft can change things dramatically with Watchdogs but I have no faith in them.

[Julio93]

I feel like some were paid to say its powerful and some to say its underpowered.

[Cloud Windfoot Omega]

I feel like some were paid to say its powerful and some to say its underpowered.

Frozen and  Shin'en are the wrong devs to be  trying to pay off for that kind of  thing. Unless they have changed since i last known them.

[Goodtwin]

Its depends on the developers stance on the console.  If your not planning to release your games on the platform, then they will tend to downplay the console,but if their games are going to be released on the platform, then they tend to have good things to say.  Frozenbyte is simply trying to say the same thing that Shin'en said, its a more modern console.  That doesnt mean its a gflops beast, only that its has the ability to use modern features.  Its kind of like comparing a modern HD6450 card to a HD3*** card with similar flops performance, the newer card will be able to display better graphics even though its flops performance is about the same.  Thats what a lot of people dont realize, with the newer feature sets, you actually get more per flop than you did with the older less efficient feature sets.  I cant wait till Shin'en shows off thier next game for Wii U.  I would not put it past them to highlight just about every modern feature the Wii U has in its arsenal with their next game.  Even if the fondation of the game looks pretty current gen, your going to see a ton of effects that simply werent available on current gen hardware. 

[Rockodoodle]

I just got a new laptop back in March.  I checked vs. my old specs from a laptop bought in Dec. 2007.... My chip speed is only 20 percent faster, plus I only have two gigs more ram, but my computer is TONS faster now.  I think that there are other factors/benchmarks that need to be taken into consideration- and you probably have to be a computer engineer or somebody very technical to really explain it.  As I mentioned in another thread, you would probably also have to have a very discerning eye to distinguish these nuances.

 

 

Its depends on the developers stance on the console.  If your not planning to release your games on the platform, then they will tend to downplay the console,but if their games are going to be released on the platform, then they tend to have good things to say.  Frozenbyte is simply trying to say the same thing that Shin'en said, its a more modern console.  That doesnt mean its a gflops beast, only that its has the ability to use modern features.  Its kind of like comparing a modern HD6450 card to a HD3*** card with similar flops performance, the newer card will be able to display better graphics even though its flops performance is about the same.  Thats what a lot of people dont realize, with the newer feature sets, you actually get more per flop than you did with the older less efficient feature sets.  I cant wait till Shin'en shows off thier next game for Wii U.  I would not put it past them to highlight just about every modern feature the Wii U has in its arsenal with their next game.  Even if the fondation of the game looks pretty current gen, your going to see a ton of effects that simply werent available on current gen hardware. 

[NintendoReport]

I just got a new laptop back in March.  I checked vs. my old specs from a laptop bought in Dec. 2007.... My chip speed is only 20 percent faster, plus I only have two gigs more ram, but my computer is TONS faster now.  I think that there are other factors/benchmarks that need to be taken into consideration- and you probably have to be a computer engineer or somebody very technical to really explain it.  As I mentioned in another thread, you would probably also have to have a very discerning eye to distinguish these nuances.

 

Really it comes down to efficiency. 

[IvyT]

This really comes down to the different approaches devs have to their games. Devs complaining about the Wii U are those who care mostly about profit and 'milking' big franchises like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, FIFA, etc.  When the dev is just really passionate about videogames and is open minded to new experiences, like most indie devs are, the Wii U is a great system to work on, like any other Nintendo system because Nintendo was never really about the technical side of gaming. Nintendo cares about games being different, innovative, but most of all, fun.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

GTA V would run like a dream on Wii U considering it's on PS3 and 360 but the Wii U is more powerful, bloody hell R* c'mon do it!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!