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Panic Button on why they enjoy working with Switch, the challenge of ports, and more
When it comes to top-quality Switch ports, Panic Button is at the top of the heap. They seem to have the special sauce it takes to bring AAA experiences from other platforms over to the Switch while still retaining what makes those games enjoyable. In an interview with GamesIndustry, Panic Button's Adam Creighton talks about the challenge of handling Switch ports, and why they enjoy working with the platform.
"We like to make projects that are special for the target hardware, and Nintendo Switch is a cool device because you use it on the go, you use it docked, and you use it in both modes and move back and forth. So we've done things with the control schemes and motion, but also bringing these AAA big titles in their true form to this hybrid hardware has been really challenging. We like a challenge; it's part of why we go after these things. We wanted to both broaden those properties' availability to a whole new group of people, but we also wanted to broaden the Nintendo Switch as a platform. We really feel like core games make so much sense on that hardware that we want to bring those over.
Ports are tough, because when someone's designing a game for the first time for a platform, we can cut features or mold features or make changes that people don't know about or see because we're able to make those in advance of release. For a port, we have to bring the game faithfully with all its gameplay and features, or people feel like it's a lesser port.
And we actually talk about re-targeting a game for a platform. Because ports have either a positive or negative [connotation] depending on who you talk to, and we want to make the game special for the new hardware with as much functionality, but also add to it in a way that makes it special for the hardware. So you get something like Doom or Wolfenstein II and you get the full game, but you also get motion controls. We want to make it as close to the original as possible, working within the constraints of the hardware, but also doing special stuff where it makes sense, but that can't be gimmicky. It's just kind of all over the place."
Creighton also talks about special features of Switch, like HD Rumble and motion controls. Sometimes the team needs a bit more time to implement those features, which is what we saw with Doom. To read more on that, check out the full interview.