NewoZero - A futuristic, retro-synthwave homebrew racing game for Wii
Welcome back to GBAtemp Project Spotlight, where we shine the light on the incredible creations and projects from around and within the GBAtemp community!
In our fourth issue we're taking a look at NewoZero by GBAtemp member @newo who has taken the time to answer some questions about the game.
NewoZero
What is NewoZero?
NewoZero is a 3D, 60fps futuristic racing game for the Wii in which you race over and below NewoTokyo. Use your piloting skills to race through 30 levels and compete in the online leaderboards. The game can be played with most Wii controllers and also includes support for motion controls.
NewoZero v1 trailer
Screenshots (click to enlarge)
You can follow development progress on NewoZero in the official discussion thread here.
Q&A with newo
What is NewoZero in a nutshell?
NewoZero is a simple yet challenging racing/driving game developed for homebrewed Wii consoles.
What motivated you to work on the game?
I like working on homebrew, primarily Wii homebrew and at the time I longed to work on something new.
What were your inspirations for NewoZero if any?I like science fiction and Cyberpunk 2077 release was near release, but I always wanted to create some kind of fast racing game similar to F-Zero.
When did you begin working on the game?
I started around November 2020 and live blogged most of the development with screenshots in a GBAtemp thread.
What was your biggest hurdle when working on the game? Were there any particular quirks or limitations to the Wii that you had to accommodate or work around?Getting the ship to follow the track smoothly was the biggest hurdle for me personally. As I had never coded a game that had "real 3D" movement before. This required weeks of research and several hacks. Online tutorials did not really help as they were bloated.
In terms of the limitations of the Wii hardware; it is what it is - you just have to suck it up and dive in. This is one of the reasons I like limits - they either kill you or make you stronger. With the Wii you know what you are getting into - you learn to live within the limitations and wrap them around you like a blanket. So I think the limitations mostly come from my own lack of knowledge and experience. Not so much the hardware. Nintendo has done some magical stuff on the Wii.
How complete is the project now? Do you plan to continue working on it or are you at a state where you feel it's mostly complete?
I recently released version 2 of the project on 1st Dec 2021, which is 6 months since v1 and a full year after I started working on the game. The project is pretty complete as far as homebrew games are - however, my games never really done. There are always things I could add like split screen multiplayer or multiple playable ships.
But in the homebrew scene you don't want to burn yourself out adding features that most players might never appreciate. Racing games on a whole are very niche. I might come back to it in a year or work on something totally different.
What got you into coding/game design?
I have always been into video games ever since I was a child from as far back as the NES days. My first console was a SNES with Super Metroid. I kinda stumbled into programming business apps after high school. I never write games for PC - too many distractions/APIs but around 2010 or thereabouts when the Wii homebrew scene started. I thought "hey, why not give game dev on this Wii thing a try?". I looked around for a simple project I could tackle at the time and a Starfox clone seemed to be manageable. I have been doing little projects ever since then.
Any advice for wannabe coders?
Find the simplest game you can make and stick with it. It doesn't matter how the game looks or popularity. Work on something you like and do it because you want to do it and not because you think other people will like.
It is not all about coding, some people are artists, musicians, testers, story writers etc. Everyone contributes in some way. Find the thing that you like to do. Don't get into tech just because. Yes someone has to write some code at some point but it's not all about the code/graphics/popularity. It is about you and developing your skills. Seek help and advice - there are a lot of hacks that are not obvious to new coders. Simple projects have a better chance of being released but homebrew is never finished.
Do you have anything else you'd like to say to the GBAtemp / homebrew community?
Long live the Wii.
Getting started with NewoZero
You can find out more about NewoZero and follow @newo progress in the official GBAtemp thread . Check it out if you are interested in finding out more about this homebrew project.
For further reading check out the NewoZero Postmortem (programming) in which @newo went into further details following the release of version 1 back in May 2021.
Thanks to @newo for taking their time out to share their project with us!
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