![]() But the Switch is a different kind of machine that requires a new measurement stick.įor Valerio Di Donato of 34BigThings, who is working on futuristic racing game Redout, “the Switch is first and foremost a mobile console.” What that means for him is that, while the Switch’s custom NVIDIA tech does have “some real power,” it’s not necessarily trying to compete with other consoles on that front. ![]() Consoles have always been judged by their processors and graphical output: the bigger the better. Given that the Switch is a hybrid console, being for both TV and handheld gaming, one of its biggest tests is the power and performance of the hardware. “After years of spreading ourselves thin focusing on several platforms at once, it’s been an incredible relief to focus all our efforts on just one platform, and for it to be so easy to develop for,” says Rambo. But in having dropped that dual console approach with the Switch, and instead releasing a hybrid, Nintendo has thankfully lessened the development work for multi-platform studios like Choice Provisions. With its BIT.TRIP series alone, Choice Provisions has developed seven titles that were released for both the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo 3DS. Other than that the Switch has arrived as a blessing for these developers, especially Dant Rambo of Choice Provisions, who is currently working on rhythm game sequel Runner3. The alternative is to use a different camera, and use different HUD/UI placement for each.” So, if you run your game identically for both, you'll notice a bit of a border in handheld mode. “If you don't leave extra padding, half of the score might be missing, for example. TVs by default cut off the outer edge of the screen,” Provinciano explains. “One difference is the need to handle the old TV ‘safe area’ when in console mode, but not in handheld mode. The only minor note on this topic came from Brian Provinciano of VBlank Entertainment, who is making the open-world action game Shakedown Hawaii for the Switch. But it seems Nintendo has performed a magic trick by almost entirely eliminating the potential hassle of that process. The big question for most developers when it came to the Switch is how many small adjustments it would take to get their games working well on both a large TV screen and a smaller handheld one. "That's it, really! It's very easy to have the game working in those two modes.” “After the first test we just had to handle the change of gamepad mode and make it work at 720p resolution in handheld mode," adds Bellanco. Nothing to do for us, the display changed from TV to the LCD (and vice versa) without any specific code,” says David Bellanco of Game Atelier, the studio making Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. “The switch between the handheld and the console mode was the first thing we tried. The notion that it “just works” is repeated by the other early Switch game developers. “The portable/console transition just works and is seamless!” “Usually, you have to think about a second screen or some kind of feature that requires rethinking your game from the ground up,” says David D’Angelo of Yacht Club Games, the studio behind Shovel Knight. It can be placed in a dock and transmit to a TV like a traditional home console, but it can also be taken out of that dock and played as a handheld, and from there the two Joy-Con controllers can be detached from the sides of the screen for multiplayer sessions.Īll of these transformations happen in a snap, too, so developers have to ensure both an instant and smooth transition. This is no small feat given that the whole idea behind the Switch is that it doesn’t serve one console experience but many. On the contrary, the consensus is that the Switch is “the least demanding Nintendo console” to develop for yet. Those developers aren’t telling horrific stories of being locked up in development hell. But forget any association with kidnapping that the word “gagged” may have. After March 3, that gag was lifted and many of those silenced developers have been able to speak up.
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