In less than 24 hours, Chubbins will be launching on Nintendo's Wii U eShop! As developers, the agonizing wait for its success or failure is almost over, so it seems a good time to write up some quick thoughts about this stressful pre-launch window.

Any indie developer starting out needs to be prepared for failure, both mentally and financially. Unfortunately we made the mistake of wasting our "means to fail" with three games on the iOS market, where we didn't fit in. So in heading to Nintendo (where we wish we could have been to begin with), we knew from the start that it was a last chance scenario; we couldn't afford another failure. If our first game on Wii U doesn't work out, that's it. So I think it's safe to say that this period of hopeful anticipation has been more stressful for us than most.

So how are things looking? It's honestly hard to tell. Graphics, music, gamplay--we're getting mixed feedback all across the board. At this point we're aware of 10 reviews for Chubbins, averaging 6.8/10 (9, 8.5, 8, 7.5, 7, 6.75, 6.5, 6, 5, 4). Of course it's more than a numbers game--the review that gave it a 6 had a lot more praise for the game than the 6.5 did--so there's really no telling which way things are gonna go. We're hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.

While each reviewer is entitled to their own opinion and their own approach, we're starting to notice a peculiar pattern in the ones we've read so far. Presumably a new batch of reviews will surface tomorrow with the game's release, and we're interested to see if the pattern holds...

Whatever happens, I do want to say that regardless of what people are saying about Chubbins, they're saying it. After our stint in the iOS world where even the sites that claim to be "indie friendly" won't give the little guys the time of day, it's an amazing experience to be involved in a gaming community where people care. Even sites that are too swamped to cover us have been kind enough to reply and say so. In the land of iOS, most of our replies were form letters informing us that we could pay them to write a review, usually to the tune of $80-100. It is indeed a welcome change.

NINTENDO FOREVER!