I am starting to make Gameboy Advance games lately since that is the newest system for gameboy''s, I was wondering if I make a game using the "homebrew" approach with GCC and all the other utilities, and I try to find a licensed publisher to publish my game when i''m done, would it be legal if they just took my code and put it in the "official" dev kit or whatever they do for final compilation? Or do you have to develop on the development kit from start to finish? Also, anyone know of a rough estimate of the odds of getting a gameboy advanced game published are seeing how there aren''t a whole lot of developers.

I can''t answer your question on coding and stuff, however I do know a bit about getting AGB games published.

Most of the bigger publishers won''t publish an AGB game only. Normally they will want it licensed with a PS2, Xbox and GameCube Sku. The reasoning behind this is that AGB games sales alone don''t make enough money. Sales minus cost of goods, marketing and Nintendo''s cut doesn''t leave a lot for the publisher.

I think your best bet is going to a smaller publisher like Majesco when you game is at Alpha stage. Good luck!

You can also try www.metro3d.com, they even have a developers section.

John H

quote: Original post by magpiemick
Most of the bigger publishers won't publish an AGB game only. Normally they will want it licensed with a PS2, Xbox and GameCube Sku.

Huh? Am I misunderstanding you? They want to take a game designed for a system equivilent to a SuperNES, and have this licensed for 3 top-of-the-line systems that are like 10000x more powerful? My impression of PS2/XBOX/GC games were that they all at least try to push the limits of those systems. I can't imagine ever seeing a AGB game released for one of these systems.

Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Taking Puzzle Games to A Whole New Dimension

[edited by - LordKronos on October 14, 2002 10:00:19 PM]

Yeah, there are a lot of games that are just on the GBA and not any of the next-gen consoles.

I said most of the "bigger" publishers won''t even look at AGB games unless they have that license being developed on consoles as well.

I''m not talking about the same game being ported from console to AGB, I''m talking about the same license being used, there is a difference.

quote: Original post by magpiemick
I''m not talking about the same game being ported from console to AGB, I''m talking about the same license being used, there is a difference.

Then maybe you can elaborate on these differences, because I''m not really sure what you are referring to.



Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Taking Puzzle Games to A Whole New Dimension

Okay here''s an example:

Activision has the license to produce Tony Hawks pro skater. They have the game developed for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC and Game Boy Advance.

Now, the Game Boy Advance version isn''t a direct port of the console versions is it?

The reason that bigger publishers won''t publish GBA titles only is that the marketing costs will outweigh any profits that they will make on GBA only title. If they are to make multiple console titles and AGB title with the same license, then they can combine their marketing budget across all platforms.

Does this make more sense?

OK, now I see what you are saying. I suppose it makes sense. My only problem with this theory is that I can think of very few games that it applies to. It seems like less than 5% of AGB games are cross licensed to other platforms. There are a few exceptions (Tony Hawk, Spiderman, SSX, NHL/Madden 2002, etc), but most games do not seem to have a current console counterpart.

Ron Frazier
Kronos Software
www.kronos-software.com
Miko & Molly - Taking Puzzle Games to A Whole New Dimension

As I was saying, only the major publishers will take that view.

Many smaller publishers will pay developers to get AGB only games and most of these games are based on ready made licenses such as Space Invaders, IK+, old Snes games and even Blizzard are starting to port some of their old Snes games too.

Try and think of totally original games for the AGB, there aren''t many and most of them are Nintendo First Party produced.