Our first review is in for escapeVektor: Chapter 1 and it’s a big thumbs up from Nintendo World Report, giving the game 9/10. “It was addictive, fun, and strikes the perfect balance between an arcade and puzzle game.” Thanks guys!

escapeVektor: Chapter 1
by Daan Koopman, Europe Correspondent

What lurks inside your Wii’s CPU? An awesome game, that’s what!

Have you ever wondered what is going on in your Wii’s CPU? No? Well, maybe you will after playing Australian developer Nnooo’s newest WiiWare product escapeVektor Chapter 1: Combat Power Unleashed. In the first episode of this brand new series, we meet Vektor. He has been trapped inside your Wii for longer than he can remember and you are the first person he has successfully made contact with. He doesn’t remember anything of his past or why he is trapped, but if you help him you might learn a thing or two about Vektor. However, this is not as easy as it sounds. The CPU is fully aware of your actions and tries to stop you at any cost. Luckily for you, Vektor has coding skills which can come in handy, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Click here to read the rest of the review and see a couple of gameplay videos

To coincide with the launch of escapeVektor: Chapter 1, games website MMGN asked us to write about the making of the game. We thought it would be interesting to combine it with a few principles of game development and it ended up being a 2 part feature. Here’s part 1.

Making escapeVektor Chapter 1: 7 Key Principles of Game Development

We recently completed our second WiiWare™ title, escapeVektor™: Chapter 1 which is released in Australia, NZ, The Americas and Europe on September 29th for 500 Nintendo Points.

If you’ve read our 3 features on escapeVektor: Chapter 1 over the last few weeks, you’ll hopefully know all about the game by now. We thought we would finish off by sharing what we believe are some key principles of game development, and show where we applied them to escapeVektor: Chapter 1.

Click here to see the rest of this article

escapeVektor™: Chapter 1 is a retro styled arcade game for WiiWare™ in which the player controls Vektor, an entity trapped inside the player’s CPU. Each level consists of a series of interconnected lines which form cells. These are claimed as Vektor moves along them. Claiming all of the cells in a level unlocks the exit to the next level, bringing Vektor closer to his escape.

However, this is no ordinary CPU. It has held Vektor captive for what feels like an eternity and it doesn’t want him to leave now. As Vektor progresses with his escape, the CPU sets up obstacles and sends out its army to destroy him.

In the final part of our escapeVektor: Chapter 1 feature, we describe the Interceptors, the most difficult enemy to deal with. We also talk about the Detonate ability, high scoring tactics and the interactive soundtrack. (more…)

escapeVektor™: Chapter 1 is a retro styled arcade game for WiiWare™ in which the player controls Vektor, an entity trapped inside the player’s CPU. Each level consists of a series of interconnected lines which form cells. These are claimed as Vektor moves along them. Claiming all of the cells in a level unlocks the exit to the next level, bringing Vektor closer to his escape.

However, this is no ordinary CPU. It has held Vektor captive for what feels like an eternity and it doesn’t want him to leave now. As Vektor progresses with his escape, the CPU sets up obstacles and sends out its army to destroy him.

We told you about about those dumb Patrols in the first part of our escapeVektor: Chapter 1 feature. We also described the dangerous Electric Fences and Cannons, not to mention Vektor’s useful Boost ability. Now it’s time to find out about another enemy and see how you get Vektor out of there. (more…)

escapeVektor™: Chapter 1 is a retro styled arcade game for WiiWare™ in which the player controls Vektor, an entity trapped inside the player’s CPU. Each level consists of a series of interconnected lines which form cells. These are claimed as Vektor moves along them. Claiming all of the cells in a level unlocks the exit to the next level, bringing Vektor closer to his escape.

However, this is no ordinary CPU. It has held Vektor captive for what feels like an eternity and it doesn’t want him to leave now. As Vektor progresses with his escape, the CPU sets up obstacles and sends out its army to destroy him.

In the first part of our escapeVektor: Chapter 1 feature we have a look at one of the enemy types and some of the obstacles Vektor has to deal with during his escape. (more…)

When we sent out our press release about the escapeVektor: Chapter 1 release date, MCV Pacific asked us what developing for WiiWare was like for a small indie developer. So we told them…

Nnooo talks about developing for WiiWare

by Leigh Harris

escapeVektor: Chapter 1 has been given pricing and a release date by developer Nnooo today, who has spoken to MCV about releasing games for WiiWare.

The downloadable Wii title will be available worldwide on 29th September for 500 Nintendo points, and blends Tron style arcade gameplay with intense puzzle action to unique and very colourful effect.

Nic Watt, creative director at Nnooo, told MCV: “WiiWare like all channels for an indie developer is a tough market to compete in. As a small independent developer we have learnt that it is not simply good enough to have a great, highly polished game and expect it to sell well just on word of mouth.”

Click here to see the rest of the article

PRESS RELEASE: Nnooo announces release date and price for escapeVektor™: Chapter 1.

Australian based games developer Nnooo has announced the release date and price for its upcoming WiiWare™ game escapeVektor: Chapter 1.

The game will be released in The Americas, Europe, Australia and NZ on September 29th and will cost 500 Nintendo Points.

escapeVektor: Chapter 1 is a retro styled arcade game in which the player controls Vektor, an entity trapped inside the player’s CPU. The player has to help Vektor escape and in doing so, avoid enemies sent out by the CPU to track Vektor down. Each enemy type has different hunting patterns and intelligence, and 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. (more…)

We recently had a visit from Nintendo World Report who were looking to do a feature piece on Nnooo, including an interview with Nic. We were delighted with this resulting article which gives a great feel for the office and really gets to the heart of what we are up to. Plus there’s a great interview with Nic which includes Nic’s game design influences, why we made the myLifeCollected series, a little more insight into escapeVektor and what we think of Nintendo. (more…)

After the positive reception we received from our GDC Diary blogs earlier in the year, we decided to write another covering our experiences at E3 in June.

The Kings of Geeks

In the weeks before the conference our focus was to get our games into a state where we could showcase our latest builds. We had to ensure that all the new features we had in Spirit Hunters Inc were coded into a playable state. As escapeVektor: Chapter 1 was being bug tested, we were keen to have all bugs fixed so that we could show the final version in LA.

Unlike GDC, there were no formal press interviews being set up but we were still keen to show the press the latest builds of our games. Renting a booth at the show is way too expensive for a small developer like Nnooo, and if we were to do this we would need to have someone staffing it at all times which is just not practical for us. We needed another way to reach out to our press contacts which would not cost an arm and a leg. We also wanted to meet up again with the other Nintendo indie devs who we met at GDC. We thought it would be cool if we brought everybody together in one place. Then we could show everyone what we were working on and introduce our indie mates to some press contacts. (more…)

We’ve always thought Mark Serrels from Kotaku Australia was an entertaining journalist so when he won Best Games Journalist at this year’s Australia/New Zealand IT Journalism Awards, we weren’t really surprised. We’ve been trying to get Mark round to our office for a while now but his busy schedule has made it difficult. However, he managed to find some time to visit a few weeks ago and this entertaining and informative article is the result. We really like it!

An Audience With Nnooo: EscapeVektor, Spirit Hunters And Designing Games With Post-It Notes

Australian-based developer Nnooo recently invited us to visit its studio, based in Pyrmont, Sydney, to talk game development, taking risks, and how to design a video game using Post-It notes.

Post-It notes. Everywhere you look. Impossible to escape. Covered in silhouettes, random designs, mazes, outlines. Organised in shapes. Meta Post-It notes – not just for scribbles, but for the framework of things. Master plans doused in yellow. A yellow-print.

I’ve just entered Nnooo headquarters. A handshake from Creative Director Nic Watt later and I’m drawn to the main wall of the office. I walk past in a hypnotic daze, almost cutting Nic off mid-sentence – “why are all these Post-It notes on the wall,” I mutter absently, to no-one in particular. “What do they mean…”

My eyes begin scouring, entranced in this sea of yellow and biro.

Click here for the rest of Mark’s article