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Indie Games Summer Uprising: Aug 22 - Sept 2 [Nominees Being Picked]

Gowans

Member
Xbox Indie Devs are putting together another uprising from 22nd of August - to the 2nd September.

indiegames-uprising.com

Facebook Page
Twitter

Summer Uprising Promo Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X3rlblR8vw



What is our Goal?

To promote Xbox Live Indie Games in the best light possible.
Our goal is not to immediately boost initial sales, but long term exposure to the platform, as well as introduce developers to their audience and the industry.
Voting Process

How will we be voting? Who will be doing it?

A poll will be built using survey monkey, which lists each of the titles.
Developers will vote using a 5 star system
You are not voting on categories, but the overall appeal of the title based on the criteria listed below
Play as many titles you would like, but at least eight (8)
The titles with the highest rating at the end of the two week process are the 8 which are on the front page of the promotion
What if a title is part of the promotion but is pulled, due to being a winner of the DBP promotion?

This only benefits all of us. The fact that one of our selected titles is a DBP winner would showcase exactly the kind of talent on the platform, as well as that of the candidates.
We will then select the title which was in 9th place, to replace the spot of the removed game.

Criteria for voting

Marketability (How appealing the trailers/images are, and how well it represents the platform)
Originality
Gameplay
Diversity from the rest of the platform
Graphics
Music

Number of titles:

Eight (8) titles will be voted by developers to best represent their platform
Two (2) additional titles will be voted in as fan favorites

Fan Vote:

A fan vote will occur during the two week period of August 1st – August 15th
Fans will vote on our dedicated Facebook page
Winners will be announced during the #IGSU Twitter chat, on Tuesday August 16th
Fans will be voting on the two (2) titles they would most like to play
These two (2) title will be released on the final two days of the promotion: Thurs Sept 1st and Friday Sept 2nd


Indie Games Uprising Summer Schedule:
July 4th – July 18th: Developer voting for 8 titles to represent the platform
August 1st – August 15th: Community voting for 2 additional titles they would most like to play
Tues Aug 16th – 8pm EST: IGSU Developer Twitter chat, community winners announced
August 22nd – September: 2nd: Promotion and release of 8 developer and 2 community voted titles
 

Gowans

Member
Yeah I love the fact they team up to try and get people to care about the channel by putting out and printing their stuff together.

Hopefully this second go will go better than the first with the fact they can proper hold a release once they have passed review.
 

OnPoint

Member
There's a ton of great games in the list, many that would interest people on this board. I know I'll be voting when the time comes to do so.
 

JesseZao

Member
I assume they'll get an ad spot in the marketplace like last year. Lots of great games to include this year, so hope the exposure is successful.
 
The fact that we decided to start the submissions following DBP 2011 really worked in our favor as well. It allowed for a number of polished titles which were already working hard toward one goal to work toward another as well.

Never did we expect to have 70+ candidates. Four of us are slimming down those candidates to a manageable list of 25, which developers will have the opportunity to vote on, starting next Monday. It will continue for 7 days. Most developers believed this was the most appropriate way to handle the situation, because let's be honest - it's difficult to try over 75 titles in a one week period.
 
Seriously the number of quality titles trying to get into this promotion has blown me away, I never expected so many.

While nothing is in stone, I expect we'll get some good media coverage with this. Things are shaping up really, really well.
 

Rlan

Member
Blossom Tales looks sweet:

btales_2.png
 

fernoca

Member
Zeouterlimits said:
Does not appear to be on the list.
I think is because Protect Me Knight is a relatively "old" game. To be part of the Summer Uprising, only games that haven't been released yet are nominated. Is the equivalent of the Summer of Arcade, in that new games get the spotlight.

Could be wrong though. :p
 

Campster

Do you like my tight white sweater? STOP STARING
It is so goddamned sad that the indie devs need to do this shit themselves.

Microsoft has so totally failed this platform it isn't even funny.
 

fernoca

Member
Campster said:
It is so goddamned sad that the indie devs need to do this shit themselves.

Microsoft has so totally failed this platform it isn't even funny.
Well, they did gave them a space on the dashboard too, during the Winder Uprising. Though it was after the devs organized and did everything. At least it showed that there's still some interest in Microsoft's part.

13tZS.jpg


Hope they do the same this year too.
 

mujun

Member
Campster said:
It is so goddamned sad that the indie devs need to do this shit themselves.

Microsoft has so totally failed this platform it isn't even funny.

Depends on whether the platform is supposed to be the equivalent of an Sunday market or a retail shop.
 
Yeah the picks are done. We plan on posting it at some point today in order to allow developers time to prepare their games for playtesting next week in case they want the other developers to try it out. I'll post the 25 candidates shortly, just wanted to get them on the IGSU page first, for obvious reasons.

Remember though: EVERYONE still has a chance to get into the fan vote, which in all hoesty, I would consider the bigger achievement, as it is the actual consumers who are voting your game in.

Anyway, here's how we did the initial voting: Ryan Donnely (Master Blud), Scott Nichols, Kris Steele, and myself all independently rated the games in one of three ways. 1 – Absolutely want it in the top 25. 2 – On the fence, a convincing argument could get it in. X – It’s just not what we’re looking for. It would take an extremely compelling argument to agree to it. In addition, we wrote notes next to each and every game as well. Needless to say, it was time consuming, difficult, and certainly one of the least fun things I’ve had to do in quite some time.

Before we did any kind of conversing, we took all of the titles which we each gave 1’s to. In total, there were 13. This allows us to greatly narrow down the list, thereby leaving 12 games to fill the remaining positions.

Some games which a few of us had given X’s still made it in as well. It came down to a variety of factors, but the more compelling argument someone could make for a title which they wanted to see in, then it got in. In all, I think we did a pretty fair job of selecting a number of the titles which got in. Perhaps if there is another uprising in the future, we’ll come up a more efficient way of doing it.
 
Campster said:
It is so goddamned sad that the indie devs need to do this shit themselves.

Microsoft has so totally failed this platform it isn't even funny.

This is a blessing in disguise. Think about it - if you can successfully market a title on XBLIG, what makes you think you couldn't do it anywhere else? There are numerous other platforms and outlets which developers can turn to and more easily market their programs, so if you can make it on your own, you can certainly make it with a well produced team.

I'd prefer to look at the challenge as an opportunity.
 

Gaspode_T

Member
Oh, I'm kind of surprised you guys did it that way, I expected each dev who submitted to be able to vote for some # of games that is not their own. However maybe you guys have a better pulse on what will create a splash than the average XBLIG dev??? :p

The public voting, why only 2 games and not 3 or 4? If the public wants them, they will probably sell well.
 
All of the titles are still being release. It's just a matter of whether or not they will be highlighted in this promotion.

We chose 2, because we wanted to keep the numbers down. If you highlight 12, 13 14, whatever it starts to get out of control. Most people can easily remember 10 games, but more than that becomes a project. Think back on the last few years of Summer of XBLA - Can you remember all of those titles?

The developers still vote as well - they have all of next week to narrow down 25 into 8.
 
DaveVoyles said:
This is a blessing in disguise. Think about it - if you can successfully market a title on XBLIG, what makes you think you couldn't do it anywhere else? There are numerous other platforms and outlets which developers can turn to and more easily market their programs, so if you can make it on your own, you can certainly make it with a well produced team.

I'd prefer to look at the challenge as an opportunity.
For sure! Even if Pajamorama doesn't make it into the official list of Uprising titles, it's been a great experience and have already gotten a ton more exposure than I would've if I tried to market on my own.
 

Gowans

Member
Loved the new trailer posted last week, looks like some really great stuff.

It's due tho, been such a drout of goo indies.
 

Gaspode_T

Member
Hey I'm surprised there's not more devs groveling to get people to vote for their game. Free press coverage? Free money? What's there to lose?

I think I'm voting for Andromium because Bonded Realities rocked and I want to support the Optimistic Indie Dev:
random-thought-enters-head-design-game-around-it.jpg
(backstory: http://www.redcreststudios.com/2011/05/andromium.html)

It's a creative game and seems like the only game I've ever seen where you can be killed by brocolli.

Note that even though the poll is hosted on Facebook it doesn't seem that you have to be logged in to create a vote (which in itself sounds like a recipe for disaster, but that's a different topic)
 

Gaspode_T

Member
Maybe it would help to give some sort of mid-way result? I also heard that some of the candidates listed on the voting page aren't really ready for release, so maybe those should be removed to make sure one of them doesn't win :)
 

OnPoint

Member
DaveVoyles said:
Only 600 Likes on Facebook? Sure, we've tripled in size in just 48 hours, but we can do better!

Let's get some people putting in some votes, checking out some great titles, and supporting the indie developers. Place your vote here! http://www.facebook.com/XBLIG.IGSU

I posted you guys up on my wall hoping my friends would take note. Hope it helped.
 

Ventron

Member
Gaspode_T said:
I think I'm voting for Andromium because Bonded Realities rocked and I want to support the Optimistic Indie Dev

Heh, thanks!

I didn't know that Andromium would receive any support which is why I set the release date early, but if it shows any sign of winning I may have to delay the release so it can be part of the uprising.

Go forth and vote, Andromium fans!
 
The release dates have been established!


http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/News.aspx

After a summer of anticipation, the titles which comprise the Indie Games Summer Uprising are ready to launch! Enclosed is the list of release dates you’ve all been waiting for:

Week 1
Mon Aug 22nd - Raventhorne
Tues Aug 23rd – Battle High: San Bruno
Wed Aug 24th - Cute Things Dying Violently
Thurs Aug 25th - T.E.C. 3001
Fri Aug 26th - Doom and Destiny

Week 2
Mon Aug 29th - Take Arms
Tues Aug 30th - SpeedRunner HD
Wed Aug 31st –Train Frontier Express
Thurs Sept 1st - Fan vote #1
Fri Sept 2nd – Fan vote #2

The #IGSU Twitter Chat will be held on Tuesday Aug 16th – 9PM EST, and the gaming community will have the ability to speak directly with the developers, organizers, and journalists in a roundtable style chat. The two fan vote winners will be announced at this time as well. Fret not though, as there are still a few more days to get your fan votes in at the IGSU Facebook page! Polls close Monday, August 15th at 1PM EST. If you’d like to review any of the titles listed above, please contact the developers directly. All of their information can be found on the IGSU finalists page.
 
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