Module 10

Action plan for Super Tank Battles

This is a practical order of work for your game, as it stands on 15 November 2026: an HTML5 artillery title, a UK beginner publisher, and a Switch 2 access window that is closed.

This week

1. Play the web game and write down what must survive in the console version (weapons, terrain, local multiplayer, gamepad, difficulty) and what you are willing to cut.
2. Decide, at least provisionally, whether you will apply as an individual or as a UK limited company (module 2). If you already have a company you want to own the game, use that legal name.
3. Create an account at developer.nintendo.com/register when you are ready, using a legal name that matches your ID or Companies House registration, plus the trading name you want customers to see.
4. Download the Submission prep kit and fill in the application draft, store-listing copy and age-rating notes in your own words.

As soon as you can sign in

5. Accept the NDA and Terms of Service, and do not discuss confidential portal material in public or in group chats.
6. Complete the Nintendo Switch Access Request in Getting Started. Use the kit’s application draft. Be honest about being new to consoles, and describe Super Tank Battles clearly.
7. Bookmark the Switch 2 announcement page and check it when Nintendo news lands. Do not pay anyone who claims they can open that door early.

While you wait for a decision

8. Choose an engine. For this game, start with Godot 4 unless you already prefer Unity. Begin a PC prototype that reproduces the web game’s rules: destructible terrain, ballistic shots, weapons, AI, keyboard and gamepad. The kit’s porting plan maps the pieces.
9. Optionally, write to one or two of the Godot-listed porting houses, or to W4 Games for current middleware terms, and ask for a quote and a realistic schedule. You can still self-publish later.
10. Gather screenshots and draft trailer footage from the web or PC build. Do not lock final pixel sizes until the portal gives you official artwork specs.
11. If you have publishing-agreement questions as a European developer, use agreements_publisher@nintendo.de. For account or process questions, use support@noa.nintendo.com.

If Switch access is approved

12. Read the official guidelines in the portal before you write more platform code. Those documents override this course.
13. Look up the official development-hardware price and ordering process in the portal, and only then budget for a kit.
14. Obtain the official engine add-on or middleware (Unity’s platform support add-on, W4’s Godot port, GameMaker middleware, or a porter’s tools — whichever path you chose).
15. Implement Nintendo-specific behaviour (sleep, HOME, save data, docked and handheld, controller types, correct terminology) as the guidelines describe.
16. When the game is nearly complete, follow the official order: publishing agreement, IARC questionnaire in the submission flow, promotional materials, and Nintendo’s review. Use the kit as a working file, then replace every guessed specification with the official one.
17. Set a price and a release date only when you can honour both. You are the one who sets them, according to the public FAQ, but you should leave time for review and for any resubmission.

If access is refused, or Switch 2 stays closed for a long time

18. Ask Nintendo, politely and once, whether they need more information. Keep the correspondence.
19. Continue the PC (and perhaps Steam) version so the game exists as a finished product, not only as a hope.
20. Speak to a publisher or porter who already ships on Switch. That is a commercial decision, not a back door, and it still depends on Nintendo.
21. When Switch 2 applications open, apply with a stronger package: a finished or nearly finished native build, clear store materials, and a short, sober project description.

Your working checklist

• Design of the web game reviewed and the must-keep features written down.
• Individual vs UK Ltd decided, at least for the first application.
• Nintendo Developer Portal registration submitted.
• NDA and Terms of Service accepted.
• Switch access request submitted, with an honest project description.
• Switch 2 announcement page bookmarked.
• Godot or Unity PC prototype started.
• Prep kit downloaded and the drafts edited in my own words.
• Optional: porting or publisher quotes requested.
• Official portal guidelines read (after access) and used instead of this course where they differ.