"nD" - Indie Game Development Handheld

[Falco Girgis]

http://the-nd.com/

What are your thoughts? It's supposed to be cheap, lightweight, 16-bit (graphics) game development platform.

After doing some digging, I'm not very enthusiastic. Almost every page has little to no information. For all we know, this is a couple of kiddies in a basement with what they thing will be the "next big thing." It's a great idea, but the lack of any tangible content (including finalized specs) definitely turns me off.

And what of their development wiki? "The SDK is simply SDL." Then there are a few broken links and trivial little spriting tips. It seems very half-assed to be honest. Waaaaay too half-assed to be recruiting developers or to have a contact page that says "we haven't secured an office yet," a page mentioning that they're still waiting for funding, and a page saying that they aren't hiring QUITE yet.

How are software developers supposed to commit to a platform with nothing more than "uhh... use SDL and 320x240px resolution. kthx." Seriously, if this is open, can I see some hardware schematics? They said they had a prototype built. Can I see some VHDL? Can I see even a picture?

Perhaps some of you have less doubtful impressions or are more enthusiastic?

Edit: Oh, and on the main site its says: "it's faster than the one with two screens." Orly? Well, consider the fact that "the one with two screens" has a dedicated GPU for hardware-accelerated rendering, I'd place my bet on it probably outperforming at least 2 400mhz ARM processors rendering everything in software.

[avansc]

They said it uses a SoC, so it could also have dedicated GPU.

but im pretty weary too, especially after finding this. http://www.youtube.com/user/robertpello ... QD9Lo78yH8

I think "representatives" from his forum once tried to get you to be affiliated with them.

[Ginto8]

Bob's game is gonna be on it. Remember that? I guess he realized nintendo just doesn't give a shit about him.

[dr-snipe]

It seems like a cool idea to me. Not sure how legit this is but there obviously isn't much released yet because it is claimed to still be under development. There probably won't be need for much of a development kit since all it is (from what I've read) is C++/SDL which isn't hard to work with at all. Not sure what kind of executable it would run (.bin?) either.

[Tom_leonardsson]

Im still gonne make a beat'em up game for it :D

[Falco Girgis]

They said it uses a SoC, so it could also have dedicated GPU.

I mean, that's true. But they're claiming a $10 budget, which I believe to be bullshit even without a GPU.

Not to mention if it HAD a GPU, SDL would make a pretty weird library of choice, as it's software rendering-centric and doesn't offer functionality like vertex submission or matrix transformations...

[N64vSNES]

Ironically I was just reading about this.

I've honestly not looked into this much yet but for $10 I might even get one to dabble with.
Although it looks like they're just building it out of cheap shit and putting a low price on it.

[M_D_K]

...
but im pretty weary too, especially after finding this. http://www.youtube.com/user/robertpello ... QD9Lo78yH8

I think "representatives" from his forum once tried to get you to be affiliated with them.

fuck that shit. bob is a douche.

I ain't going near that, even if it is real.

[Falco Girgis]

I've honestly not looked into this much yet but for $10 I might even get one to dabble with.
Although it looks like they're just building it out of cheap shit and putting a low price on it.

I'd be willing to put money on the $10 price being complete bullshit. Even the site says "it could possibly potentially maybe be $10." They don't seem very certain, and there is quite a bit more to the price of manufacturing a product than the sum of a few raw components priced in bulk. I can't see a backlit 320x240 screen AND wifi support being that cheap.

[Tom_leonardsson]

Why are you guys talking smack about nd it's gonne be awesome!

[Falco Girgis]

Why are you guys talking smack about nd it's gonne be awesome!

This is why.

[Tom_leonardsson]

Why are you guys talking smack about nd it's gonne be awesome!

This is why.

[LeonBlade]

It sounds a little "too good to be true", I don't see this going anywhere and if it does, it's not going to be how it's advertised now.

[TheBuzzSaw]

This is one of those situations that reminds me of Valve sales: it costs so little investigate, it's easier to just buy the thing and pass judgment after. It claims to target kids 6-12, but if it has online play, I'm all about starting the 12-30 market. :P

Will it cost $10? Probably not. The ad even predicts a possible $20 price point, which is still fantastic. If it makes it to market, and the SDK is tolerable, I will seriously have to give this a shot. :P

[Tom_leonardsson]

This is one of those situations that reminds me of Valve sales: it costs so little investigate, it's easier to just buy the thing and pass judgment after. It claims to target kids 6-12, but if it has online play, I'm all about starting the 12-30 market. :P

Will it cost $10? Probably not. The ad even predicts a possible $20 price point, which is still fantastic. If it makes it to market, and the SDK is tolerable, I will seriously have to give this a shot. :P

Im with this guy :D