Neko Entertainment… is an ooold independent Studio funded in 1999.

Working on all platforms since the Nintendo 64, with the main idea of developing our own cross platforms tools.

Since a few years, we try our best to develop and publish indie games alone and with other indie studios.

Neko has been working with Nintendo for a long time and became official NOE & NOA developer/publisher.

But, here I will try to think as an indie developer not familiar with Nintendo Wii U (and potentially based in Russia!)

The first step is to try your best to get in touch with the Nintendo team linked to your territory (for Russia it’s Nintendo of Europe).

As a newcomer on Nintendo Wii U development I will strongly advise to visit https://wiiu-developers.nintendo.com.

If you can… Get in contact with someone of the Nintendo team during any event opportunity. Show your project/team and talk about the process to follow to get your title evaluated for the Wii U and be certified.

If you can’t… Try to look around you to find a close friend or partner who already work with Nintendo and who could give you a hand on this .^^

Try also to get a maximum of other developers feedbacks on the Wii U platform and Nintendo dev tools or/and any others engines or tools you also use for your project.

Another additional good point to keep in mind…is that the Wii U is unique, with specific functionalities (like GamePad or motion controls and Miiverse). If you have a specific version using unique features…it should be a real plus.

Spin the Bottle or Affordable Space Adventures from KnapNok Games

Compared to the old manufacturing service to get your title distributed at retailers…IT’S MUCH EASIER!

All indies could try to get their title on eShop! Without the obligation of a big official intermediary publisher between the developer and Nintendo.

If Nintendo likes the project and believes in the indie team they could also support in different ways (dev kit loans, shows, promotion…)

Then, you could exchange really easily and frankly on different matters and situations to be discussed and resolved, in the limit of their possibilities, of course.

In our case, we could work on their Dev kits prototypes before the WiiU launch. THIS WAS A CHALLENGE AND TAKE TIME AND ENERGY, but give us the opportunity of many back and forth with their technical team support, on their tools as on their eShop functionalities.

We really think that with the Wii U eShop services, Nintendo tried to simplify the process and communication with indie studios. In our case, we have direct contacts for the different matters (Tech; eShop; marketing; etc…), who respond in the day or within few days most of the time.

You get in contact and be noticed by Nintendo team…THEN you will have to become an official licensed Nintendo Developer!

You still have to fill out a few requirements to sign up as a licensed developer with Nintendo.

The most notable were : have some experience making games + be able to secure confidential materials like the dev kit AND form a company!

But I lately learned that they do authorize individuals and unexperienced developers too.

Showing them your first project, running on PC or something else.

Wii U Dev kit is actually not that expensive (for confidential reason I could not share this precise information…). Let’s say quite the same price as a coder’s big PC unit.

In some case Nintendo could loan a first Dev kit to support a team for their first project. *

You could also, as licensed developer, access for free to Unity Pro for Wii U….COOL if you use Unity ;))) More recently they also opened to tools like HTLM5 (Construct engine for example) and JavaScript.

BUT…from what I know…Nintendo of Europe could currently not really ship Wii U devkits to Russia for some authorization reasons. AND THIS IS OF COURSE A BIG PROBLEM IF YOU WANT TO DEV/ADAPT/PORT YOUR TITLE ON Wii U…FOR SURE O_O.

As said before, if you could not achieve all these, my best advice is to work with a close and confident friend or partner already official and experimented…and with Wii U Dev Kits!

If you finally get your hands on Wii U Dev Kit…I COULD JUST SAY that it’s logically more complicated to develop on any consoles Dev Kit as directly code on mobiles or PC…

Our best advice, in addition to the “discovery” of Wii U Dev kit hardware and tools, IS not to think that the TRC (guidelines) should be taken as an easy part! REALLY NOT!!!

The good point for Unity Pro (or Construct) users for Wii U, is that it will help you for the TRC (even if Unity Pro will not solve all your problems…and you will still have to be good and precise on the terminologies…).

Nintendo teams or https://wiiu-developers.nintendo.com or Unity Pro Wii U Dev forums, could be there to try to give you an hand on your request/issues-

PLEASE do not ask me if it’s “easy to dev and work on the Wii U Dev Kit”…!

It’s much easier than it was before!!! In fact, on Nintendo’s side when you become an official developer on Wii U, there is no reason you could not also publish in direct on eShop service!!!

In addition of this the new eShop service, give you the opportunity to manage in direct possible promotion once a month or definitely drop down the price.

In this case you will just have to manage additional “Publisher sexy tasks” on Nintendo side : follow all the strict TRC and the approval process guidelines and to create a minimum of needed official marketing assets for the eShop title page and so on. ^^

Doesn’t look too difficult in first place… BUT once again don’t take easily all these tasks!!! COULD REALLY BE SPICY!!! Many developers went crazy to get final approval.

You should also take this into account for your communication/promotion/launch plan.

Also, do not forget that to get your title approved on Wii U, as on all consoles, you will have to manage with the…”so cool, fast and non costly O_o”…ratings process (USK; PEGI; ESRB; OFLC; etc…) depending the territory you wish to release your title.

And, to smooth the approval process I also strongly advice to work with an experimented coder and/or a QA/Testing guy or company.

AND IF WE SPEAK ABOUT DIRECT PUBLISHING…it means not only adding this needed process on Nintendo side…BUT ALSO LINKING IT TO YOUR FULL “DIRECT PUBLISHING” PLAN OF YOUR INDIE TITLE in terms of timing, buzz & com plan and preparation (assets; contacts; etc…).

I do not say that we fall in a big puddle when we try too… It’s just that we showed our title Puddle to Nintendo months before the launch of their new Wii U to get certified!!!

To get the opportunity to work on the Dev Kit prototype, we had to convince them that our indie title will be more than funky running on the Wii U. Using Gamepad as motion control for example. Plus our motivation to get it ready for the Wii U launch time working hard on our in-house tools.

Take time and discussions…BUT it’s worth it…if you really want to get your title on!

Speaking openly….it was tough and stressy….knowing that working on prototype dev kits is always a nightmare…and that Nintendo was still working on the dev tools/optimizations (some option like Miiverse was not awailable for launch).

Finally we could be ready just-just-just on time for the Wii U launch date…with good support and flexibility from Nintendo with a really fast Wii U approval process (including dev and publishing approvals) 8-D

Quantity

Steam

WiiU

PS Vita

PS3

Xbox 360

Mobile

Revenue

Steam

WiiU

PS Vita

PS3

Xbox 360

Mobile

Without free mobile promotion, PC Humble Bundle and Vita Playstation Plus deal.

To finish, I’m happy to share a surprising result, for some people…

We could conclude that being part of the Wii U launch has boosted Puddle’s sales, for sure!!!

Still a surprise compared to the big ones as Steam, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Probably also due on the fact that there is more visibility on the eShop.

Today, I can say that after the launch effect and the growing numbers of indie titles on WiiU…and probably a “not so attractive” eShop for the majority of Wii U owners, the sales numbers on eShop are quite slow, not to say tiny…BUT can still be interesting for an indie title.

“BONNE CHANCE” (^_^)

Any question?