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StarTopic Ask the Developer |ST| Latest interview: Pikmin 4

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Vol. 2 - Nintendo Switch OLED Model
  • Index
    • WonderLuigi

    WonderLuigi

    eegee
    www.nintendo.com

    Ask the Developer Vol. 2, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model–Part 1 - News - Nintendo Official Site

    Content pre-recorded in accordance with current COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. This article has been translated from the original Japanese content. 1: Gaming consoles are destined to be continuously improved, even after launch 2: The visible…
    www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com

    For those who don't know, this is the new name for the Iwata Asks-style of interviews. This time, they focus on the OLED model.
     
  • Index
    • That "continuous upgrades" approach seems very interesting. Are they saying they're really upgrading the Joy-Cons??
     
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    "the analog sticks in the Joy-Con controllers included with Nintendo Switch – OLED Model are the latest version with all the improvements"

    I actually believe what they said about the continuous improvements made to the analog stick. The drifting issue doesn't seem as widespread now, comparing to the early days, and there's no widespread drifting with Switch Lite either.
     
    Super happy that those interviews Iwata Asks-style are back! Hope they do more in the future.

    Don't care about the joycons bit, but this is cool:
    Speakers.jpg
    Click to expand...
    Didn't know that the OG was open.
     
    Even though the Iwata Asks had a certain warmth that will be difficult to recapture, I‘m still glad that we‘re getting something similar again. They‘re often extremely informative so I hope they become even more frequent.
     
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    That was a really great interview. Also I've just realised I may not actually have an extra LAN cable in prep for tomorrow 😱
     
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    While we were developing the SoC, we also had the idea to implement this feature of longer battery life together with a new model, like Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, but we felt that there was no reason not to launch it immediately when it was technically ready and would benefit the customers. Therefore, we have introduced these features as regular “improvements” to the Nintendo Switch
    Click to expand...
    what’s interesting about this part is I remember one of the earlier rumors from Bloomberg back when the V2 model was released, that there were plans to improve the screen technology at that time. That never panned out with the V2 model but it’s interesting to see that was considered back then. Must have been where the rumors came from originally around that time back in late 2018, early 2019.
     
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    They acknowledge Joy-Con stick issues in part 4 and say that they have been incrementally improving them with unannounced revisions. Interestingly, they also say that the sticks are a custom component that you can't get "off the shelf."
     
    Always found myself enjoying these sorts of interviews! There's something to be said about learning those assorted details that often don't get represented clearly on a list of features, as well as getting some context about various design and engineering decisions.
     
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    WonderLuigi said:
    www.nintendo.com

    Ask the Developer Vol. 2, Nintendo Switch – OLED Model–Part 1 - News - Nintendo Official Site

    Content pre-recorded in accordance with current COVID-19 health and safety guidelines. This article has been translated from the original Japanese content. 1: Gaming consoles are destined to be continuously improved, even after launch 2: The visible…
    www.nintendo.com www.nintendo.com

    For those who don't know, this is the new name for the Iwata Asks-style of interviews. This time, they focus on the OLED model.
    Click to expand...
    What was part 1?
    I loved how they say they listened to their customers when developing this. Well, your customers were asking for performance improvements.
     
    Last edited by a moderator:
    i wish these interviews were more frequent. would have been nice to have similar interviews for warioware, dread, etc.
     
    It's interesting to read these kinds of insights for hardware design. Although Nintendo has been a bit more open about their internal development in the recent years, it has tended to be about just games.
     
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    Its funny how the SWOLED is in so many parts what people were expecting from a successor/Pro, except the SoC.
    Still seems like a good investment since the likelihood of being able to use those Joycons as well as the Dock on a new Switch model down the line is quite high. I like it.

    Having two Docks at home was always the dream hah.
     
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    Quite an informative interview. I really love the details and how they explain their thought process when improving the hardware. Seems a very substantial improvement on many aspects.
     
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    Raccoon said:
    They acknowledge Joy-Con stick issues in part 4 and say that they have been incrementally improving them with unannounced revisions. Interestingly, they also say that the sticks are a custom component that you can't get "off the shelf."
    Click to expand...

    The fact that there are no widespread Lite drifting issues and less talk about drifting over the years as more Joycons are introduced to the market is definitely indicating this is true.
     
    My latest pair of Joy-Cons (green&pink) has started drifting as well, albeit much later into their life than my OG grey ones did. I really hope the white ones on the OLED fare even better in this regard.
     
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    It is particularly great to hear about the CI with the Joy-cons and really this is how it has to be. I know some people wanted Nintendo to announce the Big Fix that solved drift forever more, but that's not how it works.

    The truth is that ALL parts fail. It's just a question of when. 1 year or 100 years? 1000 hours of use or a million? The problem with the joy-cons is that far too many were failing far too quickly. But there is no fix that makes an analogue stick indestructible.

    So announcing a Big Fix just leads to embarrassment when shortly after stories arise of it still happening despite it being much less prevalent. And then it leads to further embarrassment when the next step in the Continuous Improvement Programme is announced as a Big Fix to something you'd already implied was fixed.

    So quietly keeping your head down and improving it bit by bit is the normal and correct way things happen.
     
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    Vol. 4 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land
  • Index



    • www.nintendo.co.uk

    Ask the Developer Vol. 4, Kirby and the Forgotten Land

    Learn all about Kirby and the Forgotten Land from the game's developers!
    www.nintendo.co.uk www.nintendo.co.uk
    In this volume of Ask the Developer, an interview series in which Nintendo developers convey in their own words Nintendo's thoughts about creating products and the specific points they are particular about, we're talking to developers behind Kirby and the Forgotten Land for Nintendo Switch, launching on March 25th.

    • Chapter 1: Why aren't the stages more densely populated?
    • Chapter 2: I can't believe this is the first mainline, 3D Kirby title!
    • Chapter 3: Just an extra bit of "flavour"
    • Chapter 4: Even more wild and free
    Click to expand...

    Ask the Developer is a new series of Iwata Asks-style interviews started by Nintendo. so far there's been 4 interviews, with the first three being for Game Builder Garage, Nintendo Switch OLED Model, and Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain.
     
    Last edited:
  • Index
    • Didn’t really know they brought back Iwata Asks style interviews. That’s awesome! Hope they do more.
     
    That was a fun read! My favorite parts were protecting “poor Kirby”, more lore than ever before, and how excited they are for both this game and for the future of Kirby.
     
    That's an amazing interview!!! Tons of really interesting game design talk!



    Their camera-based solution for 3D hitboxes and collision detection is SO gonna get abused to hell by speedrunners though! :D​
     
    I love that the project proposal for 3D Kirby was accepted because Kamiyama had very specific solutions for how to translate Kirby mechanics in 3D.
     
    Finished reading it and it was a blast to get the developer insight on this game.

    It was fun to see them talk about what led to this moment of finally going 3D with the failed prototypes during the Kirby GCN phase, along with experimental titles like Blowout Blast and Battle Royale on 3DS.
     
    The "Fuzzy Landing" and hitbox correction based on camera position are fantastic ideas. The latter especially solves so many issues with depth perception: if it looks like it would hit from the angle of the camera, it will hit.
     
    Loved Iwata Asks back in the day so I'm glad they're bringing these insightful interviews back!
     
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    Dcubed said:
    That's an amazing interview!!! Tons of really interesting game design talk!



    Their camera-based solution for 3D hitboxes and collision detection is SO gonna get abused to hell by speedrunners though! :D​
    Click to expand...

    This is dope af
    It reminds me of the coyote jump from Celeste, which happened when people thought that platformers have already done everything and they couldn't innovate any further, then something like this gets invented and you start seeing the massive untapped potential of the genre.
     
    Yzz said:
    This is dope af
    It reminds me of the coyote jump from Celeste, which happened when people thought that platformers have already done everything and they couldn't innovate any further, then something like this gets invented and you start seeing the massive untapped potential of the genre.
    Click to expand...

    The Coyote Jump is something that has been around since the original Super Mario Bros on NES; it wasn't invented by Celeste. The DKC games in particular took that concept to a ridiculous extreme; introducing the completely physics defying Roll Jump!

    tlPxZg7.gif

    This gif is from DKCR, but you can absolutely do this in all 3 SNES games too!​

    That being said though? This camera-based hitbox adjustment IS new for K&TGL! As far as I'm aware, no other game has done this before!
     
    We did create a new written language for our forgotten civilisation, but we made sure each message could be deciphered if the player studies them closely.
    Click to expand...

    An extra game within the game: to decipher the written language.
     
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    I love how passionate Kumazaki is about Kirby. Fun interview.
     
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    Oh yeah, that part at the end talking about this game having more text than usual has me pumped. Gimme that sweet, sweet Kirby lore
     
    That part about the hitboxes and camera angles is fascinating.

    I'm so glad they're continuing to do these interviews--they help to fill that big Iwata Asks-shaped hole.
     
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    Reading that filled me with joy :)

    So many interesting considerations were made for the first 3D Kirby game, I can't wait to get into the game.
     
    Vol. 5 - Nintendo Switch Sports
  • Index




    • This interview is way too cool not to get its own thread. I strongly advise you all read the entire thing, but here is the major insight from the title:

    When did work start for this title? Did the development start with the assumption that it would be a sequel to the Wii Sports series?
    Yamashita:     The project started a while after the Nintendo Switch system was released. Mr. Koizumi (2) called me and requested the development of a Nintendo Switch title in the Wii Sports series. And that’s how the project started.


    So, it started quite a while ago.
    Yamashita:     Since it launched in 2022, one may wonder why it took so long.


    You have been working on it since you received the request from Koizumi-san, haven’t you?
    Yamashita:     Yes. With the Wii Sports™ and Wii Sports Resort™ games, we came up with as many ideas as we could think of...and most of them were achieved and implemented in the titles, so we felt that we had done all we could. My impression at the time was that if we were to do a sequel in the future, it would be quite difficult. Therefore, when this Nintendo Switch Sports project started, I honestly felt that there weren't any sports left to be added.


    So, your starting point was "there is nothing left to do," and you considered creative ways to add new things?

    Yamashita:     Yes. "There may not be so many new sports and types of gameplay anymore. But that's not good enough," and so on. I thought about a lot of things for a while and worked hard on my own. New members joined, and in the process of prototyping, we were conscious of creating something that looked new and different from the past. But we were so conscious of this, that we ended up going as far as having gameplay where you can play without swinging the Joy-Con™ controller. (Laughs)


    Without swinging the Joy-Con controller...? The plan was to develop a Nintendo Switch title in the Wii Sports series, right?

    Yamashita:     That’s right. We started off with Wii Sports but got so caught up in making it look new, the swinging motion controls became a secondary consideration, and other aspects of the game, like the game’s atmosphere, became a higher priority for us to put our efforts into. But we were working so hard at the time that we didn't really question it. We were very conscious of creating something new no matter what... However, it didn't go well in the end. We had lost our way and were on the verge of losing the charm of Wii Sports. And by the time we acknowledged we'd pursued the wrong direction, years had already passed.
    Click to expand...

    There are a ton of little details about the design process that really demonstrate what sets Nintendo apart as a development studio. Many surprising considerations went into the game's design, and as such the interview was a very engaging read.
     
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    • What they were originally working on sounds and looks a lot better than what we ended up getting. I really dislike the reasoning for scrapping the original design.
     
    They ended up prototyping a Wii Sports successor which didn’t have motion controls, that is wild.

    And they tried to use deep learning for the OG Wii Sports! Really makes you imagine the sheer depths of Nintendo’s game design vault, holy cow.

    I sorely wish we got the robots.
     
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