Wii U Toybox

The Wii U is reaching the end of its lifetime, soon we assume to be replaced by the as-still mysterious NX. I've spent nearly three years making games for Wii U in one way or another, and I plan to continue that for as long as Nintendo will let me. Why?

The Wii U has all the toys a game designer could want. Both touchscreen and buttons. Motion control as well as more standard console controller setup. This range of choice when it comes to input methods means a much wider variety of genres become possible. I grew up as a PC gamer and I love strategy games like Civilisation and Total War series. It's just plain hard to do turn based strategy when all you have are buttons and sticks.

My first console game, Executive Star, was a case in-point. A local multiplayer strategy, made for the OUYA. Its design was based off board-games like Settlers of Catan, where trading resource cards between players is as simple as handing them across the table. Whereas for the console/TV experience, Executive Star had a great big grid that players would have to tab through in order to trade with each other - Use the left stick to go down to player 3, then across to the resource they wanted to trade. Press a button to increment the amounts. Then do same all over again for the other player's half of the trade...

When making tower defence game Totem Topple for Wii U, the touchscreen allowed players to see all build options concurrently and pick which turret to build next with a tap of a finger. Rather than tabbing slowly through each option with buttons and menus. Adding in a Player 2, who could aim the game's turrets, proved relatively painless with the Wii U's support for extra controllers: Point the Wii Remote at the enemy you want to target and pull the trigger!

Two Sides

The Wii U's much-maligned second screen may never have set the world alight, but it's still by far and away the easiest way to build second screen experiences. Making games with multiple screens teaches a lot about what information to show or hide from players at which times. It also allows for experiments with asymmetry in (local) multiplayer gaming. Simply the fact that just one player has the GamePad, and the rest of the players don't, has a huge impact on the dynamics of both the game, and the social interactions between players.

There have been a few brave attempts to explore the possibilities of second screen gaming on the Wii U. Affordable Space Adventures and ZombiU being notable examples, along with NintendoLand, which is still regularly discussed at length whenever I talk to Wii U owners about their thoughts on second-screen gaming. But it feels like the industry never really embraced the challenge.

In Motion

Motion control gaming is another area I feel has not been allowed to run its full course. For all the fuss about Star Fox: Zero showing off what could really be done with the GamePad, Splatoon gets far more mentions from regular gaming fans about Wii U. Many fps players really love being able to use the motion controls to spin round quickly when shot in the back.

With my current project, Flight of Light, it's always fun to hand a skeptical looking "gamer" a Wii Remote at a convention, and see their reactions upon enjoying the game more than they expected. Equally, the sight of a Wii Remote, sat on a table, waiting to be played, still draws in a particular crowd. Especially young kids and their parents (much to my frustration: Flight of Light requires fine motor skills and quick reactions, both of which kids below a certain age really struggle with. Often resulting in disappointment).

That said, it's taken years and endless iteration cycles to really nail down the controls. And I've been lucky in that having designed for Wii Remotes from the ground up, the game translates to other control schemes (mouse for PC, 6-axis motion control for PS4). As motion control has made a bit of a comeback due to VR, it's been useful to have that experience of what works, and a lot more of what doesn't.

Plain Sailing

There's still more toys in the box I've yet to play with. Amiibo, and NFC "toys-to-life" in general are one I'd particularly like to have a go with. And something I don't think has reached its real potential yet.

It's also worth pointing out that console development is not always plain sailing from a programmers' point of view. And as much as it might be fun for game developers to mess around with their hardware, platform holders are running a business - What works from a technical perspective might be a security risk or cause legal issues (no standing on GamePads please!)

We can debate why the Wii U has struggled commercially till the cows come home. It's certainly however, provided opportunities to do some really interesting things in game design, and hopefully will continue to be a great device in the future!

Flight of Light is currently on kickstarter. You can find out more here.