Dear Reader:

You are viewing a story from GN Version 5.0. Time may not have been kind to formatting, integrity of links, images, information, etc.

DeNA details the creation of the Switch parental controls app

by rawmeatcowboy
12 February 2018
GN Version 5.0

At DeNA Tech Con 2018, DeNA talked about some of their work on the Switch Parental Controls mobile app. Details from the presentation can be found below, as translated by NintendoSoup.

- DeNA and Nintendo wanted the app to be a way for parents to have a peace of mind while their kids played Switch
- devs took into consideration the diversity of people, different countries and cultures, and laws of each country
- the team had to ensure the app had a layout that provides users a frustration-free experience
- many firmware milestones were met in the early stages of development, and crucial features were almost ready by launch
- Nintendo was in charge of planning, direction, graphics design, localization, and publishing duties
- DeNA took care of planning support, graphics design support, Switch server development, and app development
- DeNA is located in Shibuya while Nintendo is headquartered in Kyoto, which made communication a challenge
- every week, developers from each company regularly met via video conferencing
- developers from both companies met together at a single location at certain fixed intervals
- the moment the Switch is online, Parental Controls data is sent from the system and updated from the master server database
- it was a challenge to provide real-time updates to the app if the Switch happens to be connected to the Internet
- the team faced issues with the high number of server instances
- this resulted in the use of Google Cloud Dataflow, so info can be sent to the Parental Controls app in real-time

[link]