Not enough shaders have done an insightful piece that highlights indie developers thoughts on Nintendo's sShop service. It also offer insight into the nitty gritty of payment cuts and other business practices that are rarely spoken about:

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012/10/05/should-indie-developers-embrace-nintendo/

A few notable details...

- 3DS revenue cut is the same as Apple's (iOS) AppStore

- Pwnee Studios says process to update a patch is closer to Steam than other consoles

- indie devs offer advice to Nintendo for bettering the eShop

- Two Tribes says there isn't any real big difference between Wii U and Steam revenue cuts

- Developers using Unity engine for Wii U will need to use Unity 4

- Gunman Clive for 3DS eShop confirmed by the developer himself

- Two Tribes picked Wii U for Toki Tori 2 release because it’s easy to release on

- Two Tribes believes Nintendo has listened to WiiWare criticisms

- Martin Hollis says Wii and Wii U are very well designed for developers

- Hollis says the GamePad's unique features are enticing to indie devs

- Hollis finds Nintendo very easy to work with

- Gunman Clive dev Bertil Horberg has had a smooth experience with Nintendo

- Horberg hasn't had much trouble bringing the game from iOS to 3DS eShop

- Nintendo has final say about the price

- North of Earth says the Wii U would be a perfect platform for Omegalodon, so long as there's more quality control than there was on WiiWare

- Infinite State Games will undoubtedly make the move to the Unity platform, and even more so if and when it supports the Wii U.

- Infinite States Games would like to see Nintendo’s digital distribution focus on quality-based visability metric instead of quantity

- Xander Davis is happily surprised that Nintendo made this kind of deal with Unity

- Astrogun is now much more compelled to seriously consider bringing their Unity-driven titles to the Wii U.

- AckkStudios is happy and optimistic about the Unity support

- AckkStudious would love to be on the Wii U eShop or the 3Ds eShop

- Developer of Stardew Valley would love to get Stardew Valley on the Wii U.

- Infinite States says "’Extreme Golf’, but even more so ‘Frutorious’ and ‘Shepherd: Mars needs sheep’, could all make the transition very easily to Nintendo’s systems. ...We would love to bring these games to a Nintendo device and having played with the TV-out feature, realize that these games all work well on the small screen as well as a large one!”

- Astrogun may hit Wii U eventually

Brian Allanson, AckkStudios

- AckkStudios wants to see ”Two Brothers” on the Wii U or 3D

Alex Allen, North of Earth

“Make publishing to consoles more streamlined. Aside from Nintendo’s notorious content restrictions, the sheer expense has been a concern. All modern consoles require development hardware that costs thousands and is very difficult to use without a dedicated engineer. I’m not familiar with the specifics of the eShop, but I hope it uses a market model where approval of a game lies with the customer, rather than with Nintendo. As we’ve seen from Steam’s Greenlight so far, the breakdown of genres desired by a community can differ greatly from what the platform offers – perhaps the result of distributors being unwilling to take risks. There really isn’t an indie-centric platform out there that resonates with console gamers the way Steam does with PC gamers. It’s a tremendous untapped market and perhaps Nintendo will be the first to strike oil.”

Xander Davis, Astrogun

“While the deal between Nintendo and Unity is absolutely fantastic, any advice for bringing indie developers would rest in the path to market on Nintendo consoles. All the red tape and additional expense of working with Nintendo (or Microsoft and Sony as well) still needs eliminated for Astrogun and other independent developers to more definitively target the Wii U. The Big Three all need to create a market path more on par with Apple to complete this picture. It’s a question over each of the Big Three’s commitment to this.”

“We currently plan to release Little Inferno on the Wii U, PC, Mac, and Linux platforms and are shooting to release the PC and Wii U versions on the day the Wii U launches — so Nov. 18 or so.

Little Inferno is set in a place where it’s been snowing for as long as anyone can remember and it’s getting colder. (The new toy on every kid’s wishlist this year is the Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace. Children can buy toys and other products from a catalog 'items such as robots, tiny galaxies, batteries, or squealing bugs', toss them in the hearth, and then play with them as they burn up) Everything reacts differently. Sometimes [it's] adorable, surprising, or explosive. As objects burn, they pop out coins — and other things — that you can use to buy more objects and catalogs. But that can’t last forever! I think the previous description is a fairly accurate summary, but it’s also kind of like saying ‘a city is a bunch of bricks stacked into buildings.’ Half the fun of Little Inferno is discovering exactly what’s going on.” - Kyle Gabler

Gabler is hoping that the team can manage to get multiplayer into the final title.

“We’re hoping we can also sneak in multiplayer, so the whole family can sit around and poke and prod their glowing high- definition fire together — using a combination of Wiimotes and GamePad — but that may have to come in an update. We’ll see.”

Finally, Gabler discusses his happiness of being on the Wii U and how Nintendo is handling indie devs.

“And now, getting to be a launch title on a new Nintendo console feels dazzling and surreal, like finding a secret warp zone and eating all the mushrooms. I think the Wii U launch lineup surprised everyone with the strong presence of indie games.

Nintendo has been a fan of indie games for a long time, in a way that’s probably a good illustration of how companies are made of real living, breathing humans. Dan Adelman, the fellow who heads up the downloadable services [at Nintendo], is a big supporter of indie games and genuinely seeks to help out indie developers. He made sure we didn’t implode back when we were clueless kids trying to get World of Goo on WiiWare a billion years ago and is likely responsible for the large indie presence we’re seeing in the upcoming Wii U launch games so far.”

Pwnee Studios

“We’re still blown away that we’re launching on WiiU. Just having meetings with Nintendo is like being in a bizarro world, let alone launching on their next-gen system. [It's] just craziness, really. We’re stoked about the opportunity. I’m impressed to see how much energy and focus Nintendo is putting toward independent titles. We’ll see how that focus plays out over the coming months and years. Ultimately, though, a lot of the success of the Wii U as a platform for independent studios is going to depend on the community’s response to this first batch of titles.”

Well this is rather pleasantly surprising. We'll have to wait and see how it pans out of course, but there seem to be some unexpectedly good opportunities on the platform. Not bad.

Also, a tldr might help on this to receive more feedback...

If it really is the Steam of consoles as some claim, it's quite a turnaround after their diabolical efforts on Wii.

Runner 2 is coming out on that thing.

I think the biggest issue comes down to exposure and quality control. There were good Wiiware games but they were either buried or they were missed because no one knew about them. I never really thought the issue with Nintendo with the Wii had to do with how they interacted with developers and publishers.

Great piece if news, I would love to see all this Indy developers release their games on the WiiU so they get even more exposure, good on Nintendo for embracing them.

@JasonR86 said:

I think the biggest issue comes down to exposure and quality control. There were good Wiiware games but they were either buried or they were missed because no one knew about them. I never really thought the issue with Nintendo with the Wii had to do with how they interacted with developers and publishers.

The 3D eShop shows some positive changes in that regard.

It was partly the reason, it's well documented they treated some very poorly. I recall some cases as being shockingly bad. Nintendo are the most aggressive platform holder of the bunch, don't be fooled by the kiddy image they promote.

I don't know about anyone else, but want all these games by default playable on the GamePad like Nano Assault Neo (Off-TV-Play). It's something I think Nintendo should be encouraging in order to provide greater distinction between their service and what the competitors offer.

Hell, I just wanna play more indie games in bed :p

Shin’en developer Manfred Linzner

“Well, right now, the Wii U is the strongest console with a lot of potential for the future. You should not forget, that the Wii U GPU is from a different generation than the ones from the current competitors. Because of that, there are many new ways of approaching things. Which, on the one side, are easier to implement than special hybrid solutions that are currently used on the other consoles, and on the other hand, which brings with it a much better performance. In cooperation with the generous working storage you have unbelievable possibilities. You should not forget that you need developers who can actually max out the potential of a console. And with teams like Retro Studios and EAD, Nintendo has an unbeatable advantage.”

Here's the line up so far on Wii U eShop

Launch:

• Trine 2
• Mighty Switch Force HD
• Toki Tori 2
• Chasing Aurora
• Little Inferno (2D Boy)
• Cloudberry Kingdom
• Nano Assault Neo

Coming Soon:

• The Cave
• Biker Bash
• Pinball Arcade

I don't buy it.

Advertising and actual sales will determine if this is successful. If it's around as cheap as Steam then lots will publish to the Wii U.

@Mcfart said:

Advertising and actual sales will determine if this is successful. If it's around as cheap as Steam then lots will publish to the Wii U.

I very much doubt it will be as cheap, but like Steam, and like eShop now, they'll certainly run promotions. It's also worth bearing in mind that if you're a premium owner you'll be getting points to put back into game purchases.

Nintendo can handle the advertising side easily, it's the content that's key here, if content offers stuff like Off-TV-Play by standard over time, it will be a huge incentive to buy games on Wii U. You cannot underestimate the draw of being able to kick back in bed and play using a gamepad solely, it will be very convenient for most gamers.