Wednesday June 8th – Sony Talks, Redheads, & some Press Love

The first meeting of the day was with Sony to discuss the potential for working together. We are very excited by the Playstation Vita and we think it would fit well with some of our existing software and with our ideas for the future. Being able to make initial contact with both Microsoft & Sony at the same event was a real bonus for us this year. We’re very excited about all the different directions we might be able to go in future. (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…)

Now that Nintendo’s eShop has arrived, there is a fantastic range of highly quality, great value DSiWare titles which can be downloaded on to your 3DS. One of these is our very own Pop Plus: Solo. We think it’s a great game, full of challenging content with 8 different play modes, 4  boss battles, bonus rounds, powerups and over eighty badges to collect. But then maybe we’re biased. We did make the game after all!

Well, Nintendo of Europe have included Pop Plus: Solo in their recommended DSiWare titles promotion, so they must like it. Also, games site Vooks consider it one of “The best DSiWare games that deserve a place on your Nintendo 3DS”, so they seem to like it too. Not convinced yet? Well, Pop Plus: Solo also features in “Wiiloveit’s Best of DSiWare”.

If that’s not enough to persuade you, why not take a look at Nintendo Life’s review of Pop Plus: Solo when it originally came out for DSiWare. They scored the game 9/10, and said “It goes without saying that Pop Plus: Solo is a highly recommended purchase, there are very few other games on the DSiWare service that come close to matching the extremely high quality of this title.”

Given these recommendations and the great value that the game represents, isn’t it time you took a look for yourself? Go on, you know you want to!

Oh, and one last thing. If you do download it, or any of our other DSiWare software, on to your 3DS, be sure and rate it so that others can hear about it too.

As always, we really appreciate the support of our existing and new fans. Thank you all very much.

When we were at E3 in LA last week, we bumped into Corbie Dillard from Nintendo Life and we took the opportunity to show him our latest build of Spirit Hunters Inc. We had been working on getting a playable version of the game ready for E3 and this latest build is far more advanced than the one we had at GDC in San Francisco in March. We were delighted with Corbie’s reaction to the game and he liked it so much he decided to do a First Impressions feature for Nintendo Life. Here’s what Corbie thought. (more…)

We went to E3 in LA to meet the major console manufacturers and check out the latest video game developments, including Nintendo’s Wii U. On the night before the conference we held a drinks reception for press and some of our closest Nintendo indie developer mates. Justin Berube from games site Rip Ten came along to our drinks and took a look at escapeVektor: Chapter 1. This is what he thought. (more…)

When the guys from Australia’s MMGN website got in touch for an interview, Nic was there to answer their questions on being an indie developer, the state of the Australian market, and of course Spirit Hunters Inc & escapeVektor: Chapter 1. See and hear what he had to say to Stephen Heller from MMGN.

Indie Dev Insight – Nnooo

It takes drive, motivation and a creative flair to be successful in the games industry, and Sydney-based developer Nnooo have all of its bases covered. With a successful game under its belt and a series of popular applications for the Nintendo DSi to their name, we recently had the chance to catch up with founder Nic Watt and discuss his thoughts on the industry, and find out a little more about their upcoming projects. (more…)

Nintendo World Report interviewed Nic at GDC and filmed his walkthrough of escapeVektor: Chapter 1. We also sent them a preview copy of the game to see what they thought when they played it through themselves. Find out exactly what they thought below and see the detailed walkthough video at the end of the preview.

Let me ‘point’ you in the direction of a new retro-styled WiiWare title.

Nnooo’s latest WiiWare game is a decidedly retro title with inspiration from arcade games like Pac-Man, Tron, and a bit of Every Extend Extra and Rez. In the first in a series of games, players find an entity named Vektor who is trapped inside the Wii’s CPU, and in an abstract way, they must help him escape.

The “CPU” is made up of series of interconnecting rectangles, or “cells,” of various sizes. Using the Wii Remote in NES configuration or the Classic Controller, players control an arrow, which travels along the edges of these cells. All lines must be traversed in order to open a door to escape. The concept is simple, but very engaging.

Click here for the rest of the preview and the walkthrough video.

When Matt Sainsbury from Digitally Downloaded came to have a look at escapeVektor: Chapter 1, he also took some time to catch up with Nic. Based in Sydney, Matt knows us reasonably well by now and Nnooo is featured in this month’s edition of the online magazine. Once you’ve finished reading pages 16-19, have a flick through the rest of it. We think it’s well worth a read!

We were recently contacted by the Indie Games Channel for a written interview. As well as asking Nic about the background to escapeVektor and Spirit Hunters Inc, they were keen to learn more about the game development process and the challenges of making games for different platforms. Finally, Nic has some advice for new development studios. (more…)

Another week, another interview! This time Nic was interviewed by Cameron Litland from The Speed Gamers. The interview covers the origin of the name “Nnooo”, the reasons for making the myLifeCollected series and how myLifeCollected helped us to develop Spirit Hunters Inc. And of course, a chat about Spirit Hunters Inc & escapeVektor, and what we’re planning for the Nintendo 3DS. At around 16 minutes, this bitesize interview is well worth a listen!

Go directly to The Speed Gamers website for the interview.

Nic testing out his Nntendo 3DS "for research purposes"