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Lightwood Games talks amiibo support in Word Puzzles by POWGI, 3DS ports

by rawmeatcowboy
10 January 2016
GN Version 5.0

A portion of a SeafoamGaming interview with Lightwood Games' Chris Newman...

SFG: Your upcoming title is set to have amiibo support of all things! What made Word Puzzles by POWGI get lucky enough to earn the ability to use amiibo? Did Nintendo invite you to use the NFC technology for that game, or did you send a request to them in hopes of getting it implemented?

Chris Newman: It is really exciting that we've been allowed to add amiibo support to the game. I know not many third-party developers have been authorized to do this yet, so it's a real privilege. We managed to meet some people from Nintendo at the E3 expo and talked about an idea for using amiibo in a puzzle game. We got some good advice on what was possible and what the hurdles would be, and they invited us to formally apply.

SFG: Will Word Puzzles by POWGI's amiibo support vary based off of the figures that you can scan, or is it like other games that use amiibo, where every single amiibo will do the same effect? (Like what amiibo tap does, everything working the same regardless on if it's a card or figure amiibo) I know you guys can't base things off of the characters themselves due to licensing, but could we perhaps see it unlock puzzles based off of the colors of the amiibo, the type of amiibo (Figure or card), etc?

Chris: The game doesn't react to the particular character that is scanned. To do that might have created complex licensing issues, leading us to pick only certain characters to support. Also, because the game code would
need to be aware of the current amiibo product line, it would need patching to support new figures in future.

The way we've implemented it, every single amiibo is supported - even ones that haven't been announced yet! I don't mean that we have secret knowledge of upcoming amiibo figures (we don't!) but that the game is not tied to any particular amiibo series or character. It uses the nickname you set when you register the amiibo to generate a unique puzzle so what you get by tapping an amiibo is absolutely unique to you.

Even the Animal Crossing amiibo cards are supported, as long as the card has been registered and has a nickname set. As that's not something that's required for Happy Home Designer, you'll probably need to go through the registration step before using your cards in Word Puzzles by POWGI, but they will work just the same way as a figure.

SFG: You mentioned earlier how you were considering porting your earlier titles from other platforms to Nintendo's eShop in the future... Any early titles in particular you think would be best suited for the touch screen setup of both systems, or do you plan to simply try and get your entire back catalog ported over?

Chris: We're only going to bring over games that make sense on these platforms and, wherever possible, can benefit from some of the unique features that they offer. Stereoscopic 3D isn't a priority, because I don't think it adds very much to a 2D puzzle game, but our next project, based on our mobile game Worcle, will use local network play between Nintendo 3DS consoles as well as online play between friends.

We'll continue to focus on word games, but there is a strategy board game which I'm keen to bring to Nintendo 3DS - and possibly Wii U - too!

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