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[Kater]

I'm just happy that Sony and Nintendo make more efforts now to get Indies on board.

I said this before, but I'm really impressed with all Nintendo has done recently.

When I applied to be a Wii U developer, I always imagined I would have to pay up front for a dev kit. I mean, I heard of developers getting temp free Wii U kits, but I never in my wildest dreams would imagine I get the same treatment. And yet fast forward to the present, and my Wii U dev kit is in the mail and I don't have to pay for it for a long while.

Heck, I can publish a few games in that time and use the profits to easily pay the dev kit off.

Sounds great! Any ideas of what you plan to make yet?

 

[sörine]

Wow, its $40k for a PS3/360 Unity license? That's crazy. I don't think unity is free for the XBox One either.

It's $40k per platform. So if you did both PS3 and 360, that's $80k. I'm unsure if there is a rate discount for single manufacturer hardware though, like doing PS3 and Vita for example. Maybe a developer with experience can chime in?

 

[Tripon]

It's $40k per platform. So if you did both PS3 and 360, that's $80k. I'm unsure if there is a rate discount for single manufacturer hardware though, like doing PS3 and Vita for example. Maybe a developer with experience can chime in?

Wow, does Unity set the price, or the platform holder?

 

[sörine]

Wow, does Unity set the price, or the platform holder?

As far as I know Unity Technologies does.

 

[Riki]

Which is why Nintendo giving all developers free access to it shouldn't be dismissed. It's a huge advantage they have and really shows Nintendo's commitment to indie developers.

 

[Tripon]

Updated the OP with Edge Online's report on ICS.

 

[GulAtiCa]

Any of your games out/near completion? I'd really like to give them a shot

Sounds great! Any ideas of what you plan to make yet?

I have a couple of ideas of what I might bring to the Wii U. But for my 1st game, it will a simple, yet challenging, 2D tower defense type of game. I wrote up a simple write up of what I'm doing here in the Indie thread. You can even see a link to my prototype in their that the game will be based upon. I have a goal of getting this game approved and released on the eShop in 3 months before Christmas. Even with working on this on my free time (I have a full time job doing web work), I think I can have the main game completely coded up by the end of this month. Then just comes the graphics and music/sound effects (I plan to hire people for this). then trying to submit. Though mostly I'm guessing since I have no idea how long to base this completion. heh. It could easily be out in a month and half to 4 months. Though I know the price will be cheap, like $2 or $3 depending on how I feel it's worth.

Anyways, if things go well, I have a number of different ideas for my 2nd idea, including a 2D game I started to make in Unity (which would also require no graphics as I drew them all with crayons! :lol), 2D zombie arcade game, online Poker game (if I'm feeling more aggressive and want to challenge myself.) and other ideas.

 

[LiquidSolid]

So would it be fair to say that Sony's stance isn't all that different from Microsoft's but perhaps more open and welcoming in that getting approved is easier than it would be by MS?

It's shocking that Nintendo, of all companies, is the one that's most progressive and favourable towards indies. Such a shame the Wii U hasn't made a bigger impact. If it had, developers could have forced the others to follow in Nintendo's footsteps. Still time though...

It's nowhere near that easy. Nintendo has their advantages, like the free Unity license. Sony has their advantages, like their better dev support, dev tools (including a free PhyreEngine license) and online environment. Personally I'd still put Sony ahead but both are still far superior to Microsoft in this area.

 

[nasos_333]

From what I understand, Sony will lend you/give you a free PS4 devkit, but you have to pay for the Unity license, which can cost more than the devkit. And they don't offer to pay for costs unless you're willing to sign as a Sony developer and give up your IP.

The Unity license costs seems to be pretty high.

In that sense, seems like Nintendo's the most progressive out of the three, in terms of engine support. You'll still have to pay for the Wii U dev kit, but you can set up favorable terms to pay it off, and the software licenses makes a lot less inexpensive than the initial value would indicate.

Hopefully Sony and MS will follow the Nintendo policy and offer free Unity licensing, otherwise the whole indie scheme will be extremly limited and the options will only be to

- begging a game and engine from scratch and not use Unity

- pay $40K and not be called an indie anymore, since this is a small fortune for most "garage" style developers

- find a publisher and probably loose the IP ownership

 

[antonz]

I like how edge had to get that little Only Nintendo games sell jab in there on an article about appealing to indies even when indies have spoken highly of their successes on the eshop.

Nintendo was extremely forward thinking when they made their deal with Unity. It opened up development possabilities to millions of Unity developers and it made development affordable.

 

[aeolist]

microsoft using the wholesale model seems really weird. if indies don't set their own sale price that could be a clear sign that microsoft really isn't following steam's example this generation.

also if the price they pay indies for each copy of the game is set in stone they have much less leeway to do big sales.

 

[sörine]

I like how edge had to get that little Only Nintendo games sell jab in there on an article about appealing to indies even when indies have spoken highly of their successes on the eshop.

Nintendo was extremely forward thinking when they made their deal with Unity. It opened up development possabilities to millions of Unity developers and it made development affordable.

As always with Nintendo messaging is the biggest problem. Iwata needs to whip out more graphs like the one he did for Gunman Clive, that's the only way they'll dispell these sorts of myths.

 

[szaromir]

microsoft using the wholesale model seems really weird. if indies don't set their own sale price that could be a clear sign that microsoft really isn't following steam's example this generation.

They can't do it on Steam either...

 

[Bluemercury]

As always with Nintendo messaging is the biggest problem. Iwata needs to whip out more graphs like the one he did for Gunman Clive, that's the only way they'll dispell these sorts of myths.

They didn't even said you get temp free kits....