WiiU Exporter

Very exciting news that we can export to the WiiU! Does anybody know the process of indies exporting onto WiiU? How much does it cost? What the certification process is like?

I found this BTW.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Nintendo-Discusses-Wii-U-Indie-Dev-Approval-Process-NDAs-Certification-57860.html

There is also a thread started a while back that has information you might want to read on page 2 in regards to their request. Sounds like an exporter for the Wii U is 'highly likely'.

scirra.com/forum/ashley-any-updates-on-the-wii-u-exporter_topic70049.html

Hmmmm....

That was an interesting read; especially this quote:

"They're willing to work with any indie devs to help push their content on to the system."

That's a huge change in direction for Nintendo.

Last time I checked into making a game for the wii the dev kit was ~10k and nintendo took the first 2500 in sales. It sounds like its going to be better than that.

Actually PixelAmp what mammoth is referring to is the announcement on facebook today that they are approved for the WiiU exporter.

https://www.facebook.com/ScirraOfficial

Edit: and in this post, NotionGames who's Ubi-land got him approved, mentions $3000 for the game dev kit.

http://www.scirra.com/forum/super-ubi-land-wii-u_topic60971.html

I have not heard that Nintendo has redacted the requirement that a developer must have previously published a game before they are eligible to publish to Wii U.

Notion Games had published one game before, called 'Up Up Ubi'.

Yes, the published title (not necessarily a "AAA" game) is a requirement that has to be met during the application process and the DEV kit is a requirement. They are working with Devs on a one by one basis to facilitate the cost of the dev kit.

The Wii U has a browser (though it doesn't sound great).

From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Browser_(Wii_U)

"Nintendo is also offering a development environment that helps developers easily port and/or create their existing or yet to develop games and applications built around HTML5, CSS and Javascrpit web standards to the Wii U, the Nintendo Web Framework. These applications would be later distributed via Nintendo eShop."

I would put money into this so we get it faster, but the $3000 fee for Nintendo is putting me off slightly...

3k is a lot of money. But keep in mind that that games you enjoyed on nintendo as a child cost way more than that to make and certify. For indies it's hard to fork up that kind of money. But at the same time price points like that make sure that only serious developers will release for the wii. Hopefully it's not 3k a title...

May I play Devil's Advocate for a moment and ask - why are people interested in developing for this machine? As most press feeds are reporting (example from ArsTechnica HERE ) the software and hardware sails are extremely poor.

Actually poor sales could be a benefit to small games. If big developers can't justify making a game for it, Nintendo may have to open the door a little wider for smaller apps.

Totally started making a new Maddi (my daughter)game just for Wii U after reading this news yesterday. We have one, she loves her "Nintendo" - take my $3000 and run...

Wii U is at 3.6 million sold a of end of June. It's no Wii, but that's still 3.6 Million users... providing Wii U isn't a break down machine like the 360 and PS2.

Where as people want Ouya(like myself) and the sales I think are only in the 100k. See if Ouya will get more later :D

Wii U is a viable sales platform.