Writing a game for the Nintendo Wii

Question

I'd like to write a game for the Nintendo Wii. How do I go about obtaining an SDK and/or any other tools necessary for writing a game?

Manumission

Answer 1

The Wii Remote and Wii Balance Board use bluetooth. You can pair them with your PC and write your own PC apps that interact with them (like this guy). If you want to make something that actually runs on the Wii, you can try finding some homebrew development help.

If you want to actually sell your software for Wii, you need:

1. game development experience
2. secure office facilities
3. $2,000 - $10,000 for dev kit (WiiWare is cheapest)

The Nintendo Software Development Support Group

Authorized Developer Application

UPDATE: Also see the Wii U Developer Site. Nintendo now has a simple application for individual developers to makes games for the Wii U, giving you access to the SDK and dev-kits.

Neoplatonism

What about 2020? There are any free dev kit? – Letitialetizia

Answer 2

You could spend literally thousands of dollars on the dev kit or you could be a bad person and go look at the homebrew stuff. It is technically hacking though, so I only hypothetically recommend it.

Cobbler

Answer 3

If you are a one-man team, then your only option is really WiiWare. At $2000 for the kit, you picked the right console. That's a tiny fraction of the cost of a 360 or PS3 dev kit.

You do have to have your own business. You also have to get your game rated by the ESRB which will put you back another $2500. Your game also has to be really good. In the end you could spend all the money and time and have Nintendo refuse to publish your game for any reason whatsoever.

Fusible

Answer 4

A different approach... Flash.

You could develop a Flash game that is controlled only with the mouse. Put the game on the web so that it can be played on the Wii via the Wii's browser. The game might not be as exciting as a direct-to-Wii game, but you won't have to deal with things like development kits and modded Wii's either.

Hotbox

I really wanted to know more about the wii balance board, but I have since modified the question to make it more general. I like your answer, so +1, but it doesn't apply to my situation. – Manumission

Answer 5

You would have to get in contact with Nintendo of America and obtain a developer kit from them. Be prepared to spend a wad of dough though.

Check this out: http://www.nintendo.com/corp/developer.jsp

Mennonite

Answer 6

Yes the SDKs (and dev hardware) are expensive, and you must be an actual company with an actual office to get one.

Scaremonger

Answer 7

The information in this post is dated. Today I set up an account with Nintendo as an individual using my full name as the company name. With this account I have access to the Nintendo Development Portal. There is some level of support provided. I should be able to develop an app. To expose my app on the Nintendo site will require that they have access to the code and full approval rights. I'm mostly in it for fun right now. But if you are looking for something interesting to do and have some ideas I would check it out. https://developer.nintendo.com/

Hare