Nintendo and developing with Playmaker - current status?

[Just]

I have applied for them succesfully. Jean, I have a few things to clarify. Please check your PM.

[Just]

Bump. Got to keep this topic fresh. Since Switch hasn't been announced for Unity and Wii U is on it's way out, interested in knowing if there's an 3Ds support.

Unity works with Switch and New 3DS. Be aware you have to do some coding though.

[jeanfabre]

Hi,

 Replied to PM, basically, we can't commit to any productive support if we can't get access to a dev kit.

I would suggest that you gather all playmaker owners on the nintendo forum and get a feel of how many you are and what are your common problems and raise your voice to Nintendo.

Bye,

 Jean

[Seiryu33]

Unfortunately the reason for having Playmaker is DON'T know coding. I know it enough for the purposes of using Playmaker but as far as where my assets go in the code I'm pretty useless. Even incorrect placement can ruin the whole code.

[createasaurus]

A few years ago I started learning Unity, PlayMaker, and Wii U development, all at the same time.  I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted Nintendo and Playmaker to make an official agreement, with official support, etc.  That never happened.  So after putting aside any hurt feelings on this matter, a handful of us figured out how to get PlayMaker to run by simply adjusting some settings.  Also, a few have made and shared custom actions, etc (on the Nintendo dev forums).  I was happily able to release 2 PlayMaker powered games for Wii U.  My guess is history will repeat itself with the Switch (as of this time I do not yet have a Swich dev kit).  My advice is, if you love Nintendo, and hope to make a game with Playmaker... just start.  Get on the Nintendo Dev Portal and sign up.  Not having "official" support was not a deterrent last generation.  Best luck to everybody and keep having fun!!

[jeanfabre]

Hi,

 Thanks for sharing your experience, it's very valuable!

We're very sorry we can't commit in supporting nintendo platform with the current context indeed. Keep making great content, If you prove titles can be made with PlayMaker, then the nintendo guys might reconsider. And also from our end, if you are more and more to request support, we can push for it.

But as always, I can't personally really imagine starting to get a dev kit for each Unity build target there is... android, IOS, Windows Photon, Samsung Tv, tyzen, sony, nintendo, xbox... etc etc, that's a lot and it calls for sorting from "must have" to "nice to have" to "waiting for the dev kit to to be sent for free" . So I'am not sure we can do much if the vendors of these dev kit don't democratize and push for middleware to own one and provide support.


 Bye,

 Jean

[Xander Davis]

This is a pretty huge issue, really.  Mainly because PlayMaker is so easy to use and so powerful, it's way more efficient than scripting, especially for non-developers / designers.

For indies, it's a pretty big ask to start a massive game project that could take potentially a year or more and a lot of money (usually out of pocket), all on faith that PlayMaker will "just work" then.  Without that assurance, it's too big of a risk to be reasonable for a professional studio or game project, leading us to not even try to use PlayMaker at all going forward.

Makeshift workarounds will likely break all the time with Unity / Switch OS / PlayMaker updates, that it would be a nightmare.

So I would definitely like to throw my hat into the ring and say if PlayMaker is to be used in Unity as a go-to solution for fast visual scripting (which is how we use it!), then we definitely need Switch support confirmed as soon as possible.  Preferably yesterday.

It seems unreasonable that Nintendo won't give out or at least sell a devkit to Hutong.  If they are willing to sell it, Hutong absolutely should buy it, as PlayMaker should support at least all major current-gen consoles, namely Xbox One / PS4 / Switch.

Frustration...

[tcmeric]

I don't know if it is reasonable to ask hutong to keep buying dev kits for every console that comes out. Unity supports a lot of platforms and it keeps changing every year. Nowhere do they claim to do so in their advertising or on the asset page.

That being said, if there was enough interest to crowdfund the cost of a dev kit and some development time, I am sure a developer could be found to create the necessary playmaker actions (if possible). Heck, that sounds like a lot of fun to me.

PS, I read online that the dev kit for switch is around 500$ this time, which is far far less than the 2,5000 for Wii U!

[tcmeric]

Since the reported price is approx 500, which to me is pretty reasonable, my company signed up the developers portal today. I guess we will see what happens there. Ill keep you updated. Based on other peoples posts however, it could take a lifetime to get the darn dev kit, even if I bought it today (which is not an option).

[DennisJensen]

I just wanted to write my 2 cents.

We are using playmaker and porting to the switch.

We had some small initals problems, since Playmaker isn't really supported, but people are using it, and on the forums for Nintendo you will be able to find the fixes. Other than that its been pretty straight forward. There is some things that not supported in Unity as well, but all devs have to deal with that. So far it's been really easy for us to port, and a not a lot of hassle, from a playmaker point of view. So go for it guys

[jeanfabre]

Hi,

 Thanks Dennis for this feedback.

 Don't hesitate to bubble up these fixes back to us, we are willing to support as much as possible these console platforms, so if we can make the process easier by implementing some fixes, way to go! report to me or simply file bug reports, we'll catch them.

 Bye,

 Jean

[DennisJensen]

Hi Jean,

I would love to help out and share with you what I found. I will just need to free some time, right now I'm really busy, but I will remember it and send you a update.