When Stephen Heller from MMGN visited our office to preview escapeVektor on the 3DS, he also interviewed Nic and Bruce. He asked about GDC, developing for Nintendo and PlayStation platforms, the state of the local industry and where we’re heading.
Hot on the heels of our first escapeVektor 3DS gameplay video comes our first preview of the game on the Nintendo 3DS.
Stephen Heller from games site MMGN visited the office and we showed him our latest build of the game. We’re still at an early stage of development but there was enough in there to give him a good idea of what we’re going for. In fact, virtually the whole of Chapter 1 is now in the 3DS version of the game. Now it’s time to start putting in the rest of the chapters.
If you’ve read our GDC Diaries you’ll already know that Aaron Kaluszka from Nintendo World Report videoed in-game footage of escapeVektor on the Nintendo 3DS. As we’re still at an early stage with this project this was the first video of the game being played on the 3DS.
The results are now up on the NWR website. Click here to see what Aaron thinks of the game so far and to see the video. Or, if you just want to go straight to the video, check it out below.
Friday March 9th – Camaraderie with a Convict, a Conductor and a Flight Controller
What, the last day of the conference already? But it felt like we’d only just arrived in San Francisco! We had no time to waste. There were more cool presentations to go to.
Today’s talks covered how games get reviewed, marketing for indies, and for us the most interesting presentation of the day, “Awesome Video Game Data”.
The Awesome Video Game Data talk was given by Geoffrey Zatkin of video game research firm EEDAR. We were already familiar with this company as we’d seen presentations from them at the Game Connect Asia Pacific conferences in Australia over the last couple of years. These guys have teams of analysts constantly reviewing video game data from which they extrapolate key industry statistics. These aren’t just interesting facts and figures though. This stuff can help you plan your business strategy. They never fail to impress us with their in-depth knowledge of this huge industry. Here’s some of the awesome data we were presented with: (more…)
Thursday March 8th – the Joy of Jetpacks and Videoing Vektor
The second day started with one of those meetings we can’t talk about at the moment, but which could lead to an interesting future development. This is one of the things we love about GDC – there are so many industry people there to meet and talk with about potential opportunities. Of course, if anything does happen, we’ll let you know right here on our blog. (more…)
Well, how did that happen? It seemed like it was only yesterday we’d finished writing last year’s GDC Diaries. But when you’re constantly working against the clock to make games, months pass in the blink of an eye. A cough could be all that separates GDC in March from E3 in June. One major sneeze and suddenly it’s Thanksgiving. Fart and it’s Christmas…..OK, OK, you get the point, right? No wonder studios find it so hard to estimate when games will be finished. Game development years are way shorter than normal years. That’s a fact. Now the year had turned full circle and it was time to head off to San Francisco yet again for that electronic love-fest they call the Game Developers Conference. (more…)
It’s almost time for us to fly out to San Francisco for this year’s Game Developers Conference. We’ve got an early build of escapeVektor on the 3DS to show press and the latest version of Spirit Hunters Inc. We’ve been flat out over the last few weeks making sure everything is prepared.
However, we’re never too busy for an interview. So when The Strikester from Nintendo Nation asked Nic to answer a few questions, he was right on it.
INTERVIEW: NNOOO
The Strikester
What happens when you make a successful WiiWare game? The Strikester talks to Nic Watt, the head of the team behind the hit game escapeVEKTOR.
NN: Congratulations on the success of escapeVEKTOR: Chapter 1 on WiiWare. What was the idea behind it?
NW: The idea came from several places. Firstly we wanted to make a new WiiWare game and thought that doing something fun and stylish with depth would appeal to the Nintendo market. Secondly we wanted to make something we could ensure would give the best game-play and graphics we could achieve with not only our resources but also within the confines of the WiiWare service.
I really like the idea of having a person trapped inside the player’s Wii and having to go through games to get out. This sparked the idea of a series of games telling the tales of Vektor, how he became trapped in your Wii and his subsequent escape. escapeVektor is only one part of that story.
Jessica Citizen from games website Player Attack interviewed Nic & Bruce at last year’s Game Connect Asia Pacific conference in Melbourne.
She wanted to know about escapeVektor, Pop and of course Spirit Hunters Inc. We also discussed interacting with our fans and why Spirit Hunters Inc has taken so long to develop. Then we talked about development of escapeVektor for the 3DS and mentioned that we were also talking to Sony – remember, this interview was done in November 2011.
PRESS RELEASE: GDC announcement – Nnooo announces PlayStation®Vita and Nintendo 3DS™ versions of escapeVektor™
Australian based games developer Nnooo has revealed their award-winning game escapeVektor will be coming to both the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS. escapeVektor is a retro styled arcade game in which the player controls Vektor, an entity trapped inside the console’s CPU.
The player has to help Vektor escape the CPU which has been holding him captive. In making his escape, Vektor must get through obstacles and avoid enemies, each with different hunting patterns and intelligence. As the player completes the various levels in the game, escape becomes more difficult. New abilities unlock to help the player outwit and destroy the CPU’s army. As the player continues through the game, old code and memories are unlocked which reveal more about Vektor’s past.
“We were delighted by the reception the WiiWare™ version of the game received,” said Nic Watt, Creative Director at Nnooo. “We originally planned to have four Chapters but have now decided to roll them all into one game and bring it out on these new consoles to reach a wider audience.”
The new version of the game will have new enemies and obstacles, plenty of extra levels and online leaderboards. Each console’s unique features will also be highlighted.
“Playing the game in 3D on the Nintendo 3DS is really cool,” said Watt. “With the background to each level pulsing in time to the cool chip-tune soundtrack you really get drawn into game’s environment. For PlayStation Vita players we hope to make use of near™ and location based leaderboards. We’ll also be experimenting with the front and rear touchscreen controls.”
An early build of the Nintendo 3DS version of the game will be showcased at GDC.
escapeVektor for PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS is scheduled for release in late 2012.
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If you would like to meet us at GDC for an interview and/or to play our latest build of escapeVektor on the Nintendo 3DS, please contact us at press@nnooo.com.
More information about Nnooo is available at www.nnooo.com while escapeVektor information can be found at www.escapeVektor.com.
escapeVektor screenshots are available here and here.
Join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nnooo or Twitter at www.twitter.com/_Nnooo.
These projects are being developed with the assistance of NSW Trade and Investment.
If you’ve read our E3 Diaries from last year you’ll know that we’ve been speaking to Sony for a while now about developing for the PlayStation Vita. Most of the discussions have involved trying to find the right person to speak to so we can move the process forward – gotta love these big companies!
Well, we finally found the right person and the process was relatively painless once they had reviewed a couple of our pitches. It probably also helped that we were already approved PS3 developers.
The most difficult part of the process was keeping quiet about it. Sony were keen to wait and make a developer announcement at Sydney’s PlayStation Vita launch party. So we kept it under wraps and in the meantime ordered a development kit to see what the system was capable of.
We were invited to the launch party and told to turn up at a wharf next to the Opera house to be transported to a venue on Sydney harbour. The “venue” turned out to be two floating platforms, one for the guests to eat, drink and play with the PlayStation Vitas and one for the speeches and entertainment. So we were whisked off by boat to the party and greeted with Champagne and Mojitos. The rest is all a bit of a blur. Man, these Sony types really know how to throw a party!
We’ve nearly decided what our first game for the PlayStation Vita will be so expect an announcement very soon!
Click here to see more PlayStation Vita launch party pictures