Exclusive Interview with Tetris Party Producer Tony Tran

Complete with audience participation!

Some say that digital distribution shapes the future of game development. Each of the big three are making their mark by allowing small-time developers and big-time companies alike to craft smaller, unique titles that can fully utilize their system's features at a small cost. Where some companies may crank out mobile phone-quality games, the trend lately has been to make interesting games that sometimes have more value than the standard disc.

Leading this new trend is Nintendo's WiiWare service. WiiWare has become home to (often) pleasant surprises each Monday morning, providing more reasons to buy extra SD cards for your Wii. Lately, the Wii got a treat in Tetris Party, Tetris Online's latest offering in the timeless series. The Wiire sat down with Tony Tran, Producer of Tetris Party, to get his thoughts on the game and the development of WiiWare titles. There's a catch, however: some of you got to ask the questions. It helps to be on The Wiire's message boards, doesn't it?

The Wiire: Are there any scrapped ideas that you hoped would make it into Tetris Party?

Tony Tran: There were several modes that didn't make the cut. Those modes were built on great concepts (it never ceases to amaze me how much innovation Tetris can still provide), but they weren't quite ready for primetime. In the end, we chose the best game modes and then concentrated on polishing and balancing them for the best user experience.

The Wiire: Were there any challenges in working with WiiWare, in terms of limitations of storage and working with the Wii's online format?

Tony Tran: We did encounter some challenges in terms of the amount of storage space we were provided to work with. It's natural for developers to want more resources. Despite a few technical hurdles, we were able to maximize the space we had to work with, and we're confident gamers will be pleased with the amount of content we were able to deliver.

The Wiire: Are there any notable experiences you've had, good or bad, in working with Nintendo and on the WiiWare platform?

Tony Tran: Nothing stands out, really. Overall, working with Nintendo on Tetris Party was a positive experience-we received loads of helpful feedback on the title during development. And for me, a personal highlight was getting to visit Nintendo's corporate offices in Redmond, Washington and Frankfurt, Germany to discuss the game.

The Wiire: Your team also developed Tetris Splash for the Xbox 360 on the Xbox Live Arcade service. What were some of the differences in working with both Xbox Live Arcade and WiiWare, and did you find that you have a preference in platform?

Tony Tran: Aside from the differences in controller input and available storage space each platform offers, there aren't a lot of differences to point out. Obviously, when working with the Wii, we looked to take advantage of the unique input capabilities offered by the Wii Remote and Wii Balance Board, which was a lot of fun. Tetris Splash had its own unique elements, too. From my point of view as the producer, the most noticeable contrast was in the quality assurance guidelines each company requires you to adhere to. Both are very strict and well thought out, but because each platform is unique, the testing procedure for each game was a unique experience unto itself. But honestly, both of the platforms provided equal challenges and rewards; I enjoyed working on both of them and I hope to do more for both platforms in the future.

The Wiire: Often, Developers will attempt to create their own avatars for their games, which begs the question, how easy was it to work with Nintendo's Miis?

Tony Tran: Since Tetris itself is not a character- or avatar-based game, it took some time to determine how to best incorporate the Miis. Once we agreed on how they would be used, they were very easy to work with. In Tetris Party, we did take some liberties with the appearance of the Miis because we wanted their designs to match the look and feel of the game, and that process wasn't particularly difficult. We received a lot of positive feedback about their integration, which was nice to hear.

GRevolution asks: How easy is it for developers to work with WiiWare? What parameters are there for game design? Has anything had to be cut because of limitations (legal or technical)? I'm especially interested in how much developers can do with WiiWare because so far I've seen really fantastic games that are pretty deep compared to your average XBLA title.

Tony Tran: We can't speak for other developers, but our experience with WiiWare was great. I think the possibilities are really only limited by the lack of imagination, but that's easy for me to say since I'm not a game designer. LOL. Regardless, I agree with you that many of the games coming out on the platform have been fantastic. I only hope we can add one more to that list.

PandaKun asks: How does WiiWare Development Vary from Normal Wii Development... Time Needed, Any Limitations, and such?

Tony Tran: Since we've only published a title for WiiWare thus far, I cannot speak with experience about the potential differences. I think it's safe to assume there are some differences between the two, but there are probably more similarities than differences. The format for which the games are delivered (whether via store shelves or through the Wii Shop Channel, for instance) clearly needs to be taken into consideration during the development cycle, which is the most obvious distinction to me.

big_freddy asks: How does the tool set (mainly online) differ from developing for WiiWare than for a full Wii game? More freedom? Less? Cost? Availability?

Tony Tran: (Same as above)

Zero315 asks: How long does it usually take to make a WiiWare game?

Tony Tran: I think you'd probably get a different answer from different developers on this question. I can't speak for the rest of them, but I can tell you that, generally speaking, two of the most important aspects to development time are the amount of resources you have and the type of game you're trying to create. As for Tetris Party, it took approximately 10 months to complete the game.

danabc2 asks: Why did you choose to develop a game on WiiWare instead of on XBL or PSN?

Tony Tran: We published Tetris Splash for XBL last October. When WiiWare was announced we definitely wanted to see what was possible, so when Hudson Soft presented their ideas for the platform we were immediately sold on the game and the rest is history. We haven't ruled out PSN as a future platform to develop for, so who knows ... maybe we'll try that next.

Zik asks: How easy is it to deal with Nintendo themselves? How much control do they have over upcoming Wiiware Titles? If they just don't like something, will your game will never see the light of day? Can they demand entire changes on a whim and bully a developer into doing what they want?

Tony Tran: Zik, are you planning to present a game design to Nintendo and you're testing the waters with me? LOL. Keep in mind that we make Tetris games, which tend to be a little safer than some other titles. Seriously though, Nintendo is an excellent company to work with. They care a lot about the quality of the products that come out on their various platforms, and that's a good thing for all of us.

Elementrat asks: How quick are you able to get game assets up and running live on the Wii Hardware? What do you think of the Wii's dev kit?

Tony Tran: I don't think there's a right answer for this question. It really depends on what you're trying to do, as well as how much experience you've had working in game development. As a producer, I can't speak with personal experience about the development kit for Wii, but I can tell you that I've never heard any of our developers complain about it-for whatever that's worth.

RyMan asks: What's the cost to develop a WiiWare title? How did you assemble your team, and how many people are on your team? What was the process of acquiring a license to develop a WiiWare title like?

Tony Tran: Nintendo describes WiiWare as an ideal place for developers armed with small budgets and big ideas to create games. Of course, it's hard to find agreement about what a small budget is these days. I'm sure if you were able to get developers to share the cost of their development efforts, you'd hear wildly different ranges. Truth be told, I doubt anyone would share those details, including us. Sorry! Our team was mostly composed of staff provided by Hudson Soft, which was close to 30 people; however, not everyone worked on the game full-time.

If you're interested in becoming a WiiWare licensee, I recommend writing Nintendo for more information.

It is never tiring to hear that Nintendo plays good with developers, big and small. Be sure to log in to the Wii Shop channel each week to download some of the best values for the Wii. Especially Tetris Party, which is now available on WiiWare for 1,200 Wii Points. The Wiire would like to thank Tony for his time, and our readers for the insightful questions.