Indie Developers Talk About the OUYA

While the OUYA is still a couple months away from launch, those who pledged enough money to get a dev kit already have some experience with the console. Engadget recently interviewed a few indie developers about their experience with these dev units.

So far, the developers that were interviewed really enjoy the system. Jerrod Putman of Tiny Tim Games really enjoyed how the platform gave them a sense of focus. “While OUYA is technically ‘just another Android device,’ the fact that it’s being presented as its own platform (custom marketplace, custom controllers, custom OS services) means that we can target the OUYA hardware specifically without having to also target thousands of other devices. And since it’s being presented as a home console instead of a phone or tablet, we can produce games with larger scopes and longer play times than on portable devices.”

Nathan Fouts of Mommy’s Best Games really enjoyed how open the OUYA was, going so far as calling it the system’s best trait. “From its ease of development, to how open the marketplace is supposed to be, I think it’s a real delight. Getting Serious Sam Double D XXL through XBLA’s Certification was brutal! I’m happy to release the game there, but it’s a nice break to have fewer restrictions.”

There are some concerns about the OUYA, however. The biggest concern is the adoption rate of both developers and gamers. Nathan Fouts states that the console is “sort of a catch-22; since they have no massive backing (like Sony or Microsoft), it’s tough for developers to commit for worry of low gamer numbers. Then there [are] the gamers who may be uncertain if the games will be there.” He was quick to point out that the OUYA was very successful at reaching out to developers.

Despite the question of how well the system will be supported, there seems to be a good amount of support for the OUYA. If it does well, it’ll hopefully open up the console market to more quality indie devs.

You can read the full interview here.