GMC Forums Nintendo Switch Forum Section For Help?

C

crait

Guest
Hello, I'm exporting my game to the Nintendo Switch and I'm having some GameMaker-specific issues with persistent savedata (INI files) ... I'm not quite sure where to post my questions since there's no tag for it in the Programming section. Anyway, do you guys happen to have a forum section dedicated to exporting to this platform or is there someone with experience that I can ask about this kind of stuff?
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
All Nintendo Switch work are done behind an NDA, including support, so you won't find the public forums offering specific help on it.

Like other NDA-covered things under YoYo's watch, you should have access to a secret forum section or some other means of specific support on help.yoyogames.com if you have a genuine Switch export license.
 

Amon

Member
If you have a licence for Switch export you should have access to the hidden switch forum. If you don't see the Nintendo Switch forum perhaps you should contact support and ask them to enable it for your account.
 
This makes sense. Nintendo Switch would be a great place to put GM games, and I'd imagine they want some form of quality control on that...
There have been some people who complain they were rejected by Nintendo, with good reason honestly, but I guess that's why there's publishers. To get all the questionable content on board.
 
C

crait

Guest
This makes sense. Nintendo Switch would be a great place to put GM games, and I'd imagine they want some form of quality control on that...
Maybe you misunderstood... :p There's already GM games on the Switch! Nintendo lets people put their games on the system, but this question was about those who already have permission so that they could ask questions about the technical specifics behind any Switch-specific programming in GameMaker.
 
This makes sense. Nintendo Switch would be a great place to put GM games, and I'd imagine they want some form of quality control on that...
Judging by the eShop, it doesn't really seem like it. :x
I've talked to a good number of developers who had to go through a publisher to get stuff on the system, when their games were much better than a lot of the stuff on the eShop. I don't know if you have a Switch, but it seems like they'll allow basically anything onto it as long as a publisher they work with is backing it, which is unfortunate for anyone who wants to self publish, I think.

Edit: Wait, @sitebender, did you get Foxland onto the Switch without a publisher? Congrats if you did; it seems like it's tough to get a response from Nintendo without having a publisher attached to you.
 
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Judging by the eShop, it doesn't really seem like it. :x
I've talked to a good number of developers who had to go through a publisher to get stuff on the system, when their games were much better than a lot of the stuff on the eShop. I don't know if you have a Switch, but it seems like they'll allow basically anything onto it as long as a publisher they work with is backing it, which is unfortunate for anyone who wants to self publish, I think.

Edit: Wait, @sitebender, did you get Foxland onto the Switch without a publisher? Congrats if you did; it seems like it's tough to get a response from Nintendo without having a publisher attached to you.
Over the years I've seen so many promising-looking games fail to launch; I totally understand their position, though. If one of their trusted partners is willing to take a chance on you: Nintendo is willing to take a chance on you. Otherwise, why should they allow someone without an exceptional portfolio/resume onto their portal? As a matter of fact... I respect their position. They don't want the eShop to end up like this or this or this. If everyone has a piece of the pie: No one gets any of the pie... Just crumbs. You know?

With that being said: The secret Switch forum is old news. How about the top-secret PS5 forum, eh?
 
@SilentxxBunny: But how would accepting games based on merit instead of based on whether or not a developer has a publisher lead to an app store situation? Like I said in the last post, the eShop *is already* filled with garbage, because they apparently accept absolutely anything to the store as long as a publisher is attached, and publishers have zero qualms with publishing garbage to the eShop; They're getting a cut of the profits no matter how 💩💩💩💩ty the game is.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo has the resources to curate their eShop. What they're doing now isn't curation. The shop is still flooded with terrible games, and good developers are being forced to give up a chunk of their profits to pointless middlemen. I get your (and maybe Nintendo's) thinking that only working with publishers will protect the shop from becoming a dump for rushed/bad titles, but the reality isn't matching that ideal....publishers for the eShop really don't seem to care what they publish.

Seriously, there are games on the eShop I wouldn't be surprised to find on Newgrounds, hahah. Nintendo should be putting more resources into curating its own store. It seems like anybody can get on right now (as long as they fork over a significant percentage of their profits to some random publisher!), which is a garbage situation for players and developers.
 
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@SilentxxBunny: How would accepting games based on merit instead of based on whether or not a developer has a publisher lead to an app store situation? Like I said in the last post, the eShop *is already* filled with garbage, because they apparently accept absolutely anything to the store as long as a publisher is attached, and publishers have zero qualms with publishing garbage to the eShop; They're getting a cut of the profits no matter how ****ty the game is.

I'm pretty sure Nintendo has the resources to curate their eShop. What they're doing now isn't curation. The shop is still flooded with garbage, and good developers are being forced to give up a chunk of their profits to pointless middlemen.

Seriously, there are games on the eShop I wouldn't be surprised to find on Newgrounds, hahah. Nintendo should be putting more resources into curating its own store. ANYBODY can get on right now, which is a garbage situation for players and developers.
You're preaching to the choir here, buddy. I think that record labels are pointless, too...

Change takes time. Un-signed artists only just became eligible for Grammy's a few years ago. I think it's awesome that Nintendo is letting indies publish games on the Switch at all.

"Garbage" is rather subjective, and "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Clearly, Nintendo liked them well enough. Perhaps ranting about Nintendo on a public forum and calling their games "garbage" is exactly why they are hesitant to work with indies...? Maybe. Just maybe. The quality of the games is not the problem.
 
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Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Could also be worth bringing up that INI files are a bit wonky (no duplicate tags, all of the data you save are in human-readable format, formatting has some locale quirks) and are overall more meant for options files than full savefiles. Just dumping all the data you want to save into a text file (on separate lines) and then reading it back in the same order when loading isn't too hard, and gives you a lot more freedom.
 
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