As we all know by now, the Switch 2 has been off to a rocket of a start in terms of its hardware sales, however, with regards to its current games lineup — and with a particular eye on its indie offerings — there’s certainly been quite a bit of heavy-lifting done by Mario Kart World in these early days and weeks.
If you’d been expecting a few more Switch 2 indie offerings at this point, though, you aren’t alone, and there’s at least a reason for the relatively slow-going in these early days. Speaking with GamesIndustry.Biz, a bunch of indie devs have been explaining the pre-launch dev kit access situation, with some getting their hands on the necessary tech ages ago, whilst others are still waiting.
Tony Gowland, from Ant Workshop — the team behind the excellent Into the Restless Ruins — says slow access to dev kits isn’t a new thing, and that on Switch 2 Nintendo seems to be prioritising games that need the extra grunt. This tracks when we consider the likes of No Man’s Sky (with Hello Games saying they’d been working on the Switch 2 port for a year when they announced the S2 version), as it’s a showy example of just how much better a game can be on the new console.
“In terms of dev kit availability, there has been a similar situation to the OG Switch, which was also like hen’s teeth for a good 6-7 months after launch” said Gowland, “The indie folks I know who have been successful in getting kits are working on games that are in need of the Switch 2’s extra oomph.”
Citizen Sleeper 2, which has gone down a treat on Switch 1 (we gave it a big old 9/10), is one game that was aiming for a Switch 2 launch, but according to its creator, Gareth Damien Martin, it wasn’t possible. Chris Wright, founder and managing director of Fellow Traveller, publisher of Citizen Sleeper 2, stated that they still don’t have dev kits but that this is fairly normal, even if it can be irksome for an indie dev’s plans:
“It’s understandable that dev kits are heavily restricted before a console launch and they usually remain restricted for a while afterwards … The Switch 2 has been very normal in this regard and we didn’t expect to have access to kits ahead of launch…We’re really keen to use things like the mouse controls in particular…Games like Citizen Sleeper will benefit from having mouse controls on the console.”
For the likes of Citizen Sleeper 2 at least, as with a whole bunch of other games from the previous console, there is good news in that the game, when booted up on Switch 2, has ended up running with super-smooth frame rates, but in terms of honing, adding to, or improving your game for a new console launch, the access to dev tools is still far from ideal.
Wright’s message is clear, “What we would like to see in the short-term is communication and clarity to indies on what we can expect…We’re very keen to support the platform and knowing a timeline would allow us to plan for that.”
Thankfully, both Unity and Unreal, two of the leading game engines, have Switch 2 compatibility, so things should be easier once the ball gets rolling properly. GameMaker, the 2D-focused engine used to create Deltarune, is also fully Switch 2 compatible. Although Russell Kay, GameMaker’s senior product manager, had to deal with some tight security around the dev kits (“We had to have a locked room, things like that, and only certain people had access to the kit”), he also seems relaxed and confident about the coming year:
“I wouldn’t be too worried, because all Switch games effectively work on [Switch 2]…There’s a large catalogue of games already coming to Switch 1. Nintendo have done probably the best thing that they can…This time next year, it won’t be a worry at all for anybody.”
Looking forward to indie games releasing at their usual frenzied rate on Switch 2? Let us know!
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