[DaveVoyles]

EDIT: Updated image, per toythatkills' comment. I didn't realize that I was missing the updated critters in the new screen shot!

The best selling game from the Summer Uprising, Cute Things Dying Violently, is now released on PC with a huge makeover. New art (much better), new levels, mouse support, etc.

It's on Desura and a few other services.

[toythatkills]

That screenshot isn't the new art though, is it?

EDIT: That screenshot is the new art now, is it?

[AlejandroDaJ]

Yeah, Dave, that's my old art.

All my new art is here: http://apathyworks.com/press/sheet.p...ying_Violently

Jeez, Dave's actually played the game, too. Which means if he can make this mistake, everyone will make this mistake. Beg Journalists For Corrections Mode: engage!

[DaveVoyles]

Hey, we commented at the same time!

Also, how do I shrink the size of an image on GAF?

[OnPoint]

Hey, we commented at the same time! Also, how do I shrink the size of an image on GAF?

I always put it in a quote box.

[INTERNET]

Sushi castle is a shameless ripoff of Binding of Isaac, down to many specific details. Pretty low Zynga shit, I hope there's no reward for this behavior in the August thread.

[vireland]

Sushi castle is a shameless ripoff of Binding of Isaac, down to many specific details. Pretty low Zynga shit, I hope there's no reward for this behavior in the August thread.

People really punished the zillions of XBLIG minecraft clones...with gazillions of dollars. I don't think most people care if something is a rip of something else, only if it's good. I mean, it's pretty slimy to rip something off too blatantly, but in the end, if it sells, it sells I guess.

[Gaspode_T]

FWIW the controls of Isaac suck almost undeniably (because it doesn't support a controller with sticks) and the art style/content/graphics is not exactly fun to stare at

I do think that the devs should at least give a nod to their influences and not deny it.

[OnPoint]

I don't think the devs have come out and embraced nor denied their obvious influences.

They'd be smart to rally toward them, though.

[Robin64]

Free Picbox Codes! CJYYD-8JBYW-CYR7K-Q882V-BRXM? HHDW6-P82YV-MRBTY-RC9CY-9KGY? XKW6B-RVWRQ-WHQPK-W6T38-G8KM?

Aw, someone's used that middle code without posting their thanks. Annoying!

Still, nice of you to share!

Are you still working on XBLIG stuff?

[ChosenPredator]

that Sushi castle game even though a few people are calling it a rip off is soooooo friggin fun that I don't really care, I am glad to have something similar to binding of Isaac , I expect more XBLIG to borrow from their pc counter parts if they will never see the light of day on console anyways

[MightyHedgehog]

People really punished the zillions of XBLIG minecraft clones...with gazillions of dollars. I don't think most people care if something is a rip of something else, only if it's good. I mean, it's pretty slimy to rip something off too blatantly, but in the end, if it sells, it sells I guess.

Right. The thing about the success of clones on platforms where the original games do not exist is that they expose just how much money has been left on the table by the developers of those original titles. There's no reason to not have a version of BoI on Indies, and despite the competition and just as Minecraft on XBLA has proven, there is room for the original on the same platform if they bother to grace it with a quality version. Create something good and you'd be a fool to not see how it would be followed up on platforms you choose to ignore. The history of computer and video games proves this. No one can be faulted for wanting something not on their system yet is willing to pay for a the closest thing to it. XBLIG has spawned more than a few hundred-thousand+selling MC-inspired clones while legit MC has sold over two million in less than a month and a half at four times the price of the highest-priced MC Indie clone. In the era of DD and relatively pain-free cross-platform deployment, there's little reason to pass up a chance to bring your game over to other platforms.

[toythatkills]

For me the problem is that people buying FortressCraft were buying it because they wanted to play Minecraft, rather than FortressCraft. I'm not sure many people are going to buy Sushi Castle because they want to play Isaac, because the game doesn't make any attempt in its screenshots, etc, to exploit the similarity. Milkstone wanted to make a game like Isaac and they did, but they're not making money from Isaac, they're getting sales from the strength of their own game.

Saying that, I haven't played Isaac, so I'm not sure how identical they are, gameplay-wise. I didn't really enjoy Sushi Castle though, found the arenas a bit too small to be really enjoyable, but may give it another go (or try Isaac).

[Dark Octave]

Right. The thing about the success of clones on platforms where the original games do not exist is that they expose just how much money has been left on the table by the developers of those original titles. There's no reason to not have a version of BoI on Indies, and despite the competition and just as Minecraft on XBLA has proven, there is room for the original on the same platform if they bother to grace it with a quality version. Create something good and you'd be a fool to not see how it would be followed up on platforms you choose to ignore. The history of computer and video games proves this. No one can be faulted for wanting something not on their system yet is willing to pay for a the closest thing to it. XBLIG has spawned more than a few hundred-thousand+selling MC-inspired clones while legit MC has sold over two million in less than a month and a half at four times the price of the highest-priced MC Indie clone. In the era of DD and relatively pain-free cross-platform deployment, there's little reason to pass up a chance to bring your game over to other platforms.

I can't agree with this more. I can't even add anything else to this. Very well said.

[slash000]

TTK, buy Isaac on steam now while it's 75% off on Steam. It's definitely worth checking out, and at the current discount, it's about the same price as an 80 MSP xbox indie game.

[toythatkills]

TTK, buy Isaac on steam now while it's 75% off on Steam. It's definitely worth checking out, and at the current discount, it's about the same price as an 80 MSP xbox indie game.

Turns out someone actually gifted it to me out of the blue a few hours ago!

[slash000]

Turns out someone actually gifted it to me out of the blue a few hours ago!

Nice! Well after you've played and replayed it a bunch of times (it's rogue-like-esque) let us know what you think and how maybe it compares to Sushi. I will try Sushi if I get a chance too, as I've played a good bit of Isaac.

[HadesGigas]

For me the problem is that people buying FortressCraft were buying it because they wanted to play Minecraft, rather than FortressCraft. I'm not sure many people are going to buy Sushi Castle because they want to play Isaac, because the game doesn't make any attempt in its screenshots, etc, to exploit the similarity. Milkstone wanted to make a game like Isaac and they did, but they're not making money from Isaac, they're getting sales from the strength of their own game. Saying that, I haven't played Isaac, so I'm not sure how identical they are, gameplay-wise. I didn't really enjoy Sushi Castle though, found the arenas a bit too small to be really enjoyable, but may give it another go (or try Isaac).

It definitely "exploits the similarity" to me, even in screenshots. The only difference is the graphical theme. The room design, the hud (especially the map), it all screams Isaac to anyone familiar with the game. Though that said, Isaac lifted a lot of that stuff from Zelda 1.

It is really solid for a clone, though. It's not a clearly inferior rip-off like that Angry Fish game. It's definitely made by someone who enjoyed the hell out of Isaac and understood what makes it good. (Based on the trial at least, it could all fall apart and turn to crap later on in the game)

[Parallax Scroll]

oh no a game is similar to another game

[toythatkills]

It definitely "exploits the similarity" to me, even in screenshots. The only difference is the graphical theme. The room design, the hud (especially the map), it all screams Isaac to anyone familiar with the game. Though that said, Isaac lifted a lot of that stuff from Zelda 1.

I can only say this from my own perspective, but I looked at it and didn't see Isaac until people mentioned it, having only ever really been aware of the game from a few screenshots. I think to see Isaac in it you'd need to have played Isaac, and at that point the clone doesn't really cause any problems because anyone buying it for more of the same has already bought the original.

Whereas with Minecraft, my mum probably knows what that looks like.

[DaveVoyles]

For me the problem is that people buying FortressCraft were buying it because they wanted to play Minecraft, rather than FortressCraft.

I agree. I think initially many, if not most, hopped onto FortressCraft and were looking to play MineCraft. It' been well over one year now and sales continue, plus he has a very large and active user base. The community is active and the games are very, very different at this point, so I think they've slowly adjusted to how the games are different and many remain.

In my mind, there's nothing wrong with that. Even with the initial "cloning" onto XBLIG. That's just smart business. If you realize that there's a demand for something, and you know how to execute it, then it would be a pretty dumb move NOT to pursue it. Especially if the other development team recognizes this and doesn't make a move on it.

I'm not saying "let's clone everything," but it's foolish not to pursue market demand. With that said, look for my pong game in the next few weeks! (seriously though).

[toythatkills]

I'm not saying "let's clone everything," but it's foolish not to pursue market demand. With that said, look for my pong game in the next few weeks! (seriously though).

This better be the best Pong game I've ever played =P

[DaveVoyles]

This better be the best Pong game I've ever played =P

It's got cats. 'Nuff said.

Well not this version. But the next one will!

[Stinky Badger Games]

Aw, someone's used that middle code without posting their thanks. Annoying! Still, nice of you to share! Are you still working on XBLIG stuff?

Hi Robin64, thanks for checking the code. If you would still like a code I can PM one to you, to say thanks.

At the moment I'm having a play with PlayStation Suite/mobile, but I much prefer XNA, so I may be back at some point.

Cheers!

Liam.

[Psychotext]

Man, I wish I had the time to play these lately. Looks like there's been a lot of good stuff coming out.

[slash000]

http://majornelson.com/2012/07/18/li...eek-of-july-9/



LIVE Activity for week of July 9

Top Indie Games (Full Versions purchased) 1 CastleMiner Z 2 CastleMiner 3 Total Miner: Forge 4 The Impossible Game 5 Miner Of Duty 6 Avatar Deathmatch 7 The $1 Zombie Game 8 FortressCraft Chapter 1 9 Fortress Wars 10 Avatar Paintball 11 Cherry Poke Prison 12 End Of Days: Infected vs Mercs 13 Miner4Ever 14 Penny Arcade’s Rain-slick 3 15 Avatar Legends 16 Toy Stunt Bike 2 17 Don’t Die Dateless, Dummy! 18 I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 19 M2AF: Message 2 All Friends 20 Avatar Block War The above list is based on full versions purchased.

[vireland]

http://majornelson.com/2012/07/18/li...eek-of-july-9/ LIVE Activity for week of July 9

Wow, I would have expected to see the PA RPG stay higher. Wonder what the numbers are...

[toythatkills]

Wow, I would have expected to see the PA RPG stay higher. Wonder what the numbers are...

I think the 400pt price point and the fact that it released on Steam a few days earlier mean 14th is actually a pretty good result. You can't really expect to be able to compete with such quality games as Cherry Poke Prison.

[slash000]

Indeed the ranks are based on sales totals rather than revenue.

That said the game is doing fine for XBLIG and about what we anticipated.

The vast, overwhelming number of copies of Rain-slick are coming from Steam but I don't think anyone is surprised by that.

[Parallax Scroll]

I probably would have bought PA on Xbox if that version had come out first. But whatevs, I've got it on Steam.

[Scott]

That said the game is doing fine for XBLIG and about what we anticipated.

So, does that bode well for Episode 4 hitting XBLIG? Or was that something that was planned regardless? What about future Zeboyd titles?

Just curious, as I tend to support XBLIG RPGs as much as I can, and it's where I've bought all of your RPGs thus far (as well as some other GAF member titles, of course!). Though, I understand if you can't really confirm or deny anything at this point, just figured it would be worth a shot. :P

[slash000]

I probably would have bought PA on Xbox if that version had come out first. But whatevs, I've got it on Steam.

We got this a lot during the first week, heheh. A great deal of people looking forward to Ep3 went and bought it on the platform they could buy it first. Plus Steam's a great service too, of course.

So, does that bode well for Episode 4 hitting XBLIG? Or was that something that was planned regardless? What about future Zeboyd titles? Just curious, as I tend to support XBLIG RPGs as much as I can, and it's where I've bought all of your RPGs thus far (as well as some other GAF member titles, of course!). Though, I understand if you can't really confirm or deny anything at this point, just figured it would be worth a shot. :P

Thanks for the support :) We're still currently planning to release Ep4 on XBLIG as well as Steam. Future Zeboyd titles we want to continue supporting XBLIG and the PC as well, as there are still a lot of people that prefer our types of games on consoles. If we were to end up making some game that was heavily PC-focused it might not go XBLIG, but we're not currently planning anything like that yet.

[Dark Octave]

http://majornelson.com/2012/07/18/li...eek-of-july-9/ LIVE Activity for week of July 9

The Impossible Game is a Gaffer made title right?

OMG at Cherry Poke Prison. I swear, XBLIG fans have the worst taste sometimes.

[Gaspode_T]

i think devs underestimate the importance of achievements and community features...some gamers do not care but I am pretty sure a higher than normal % of Xbox gamers do...game would have probably sold waaaay more if it were XBLA, but then again...patches (sigh)

[slash000]

i think devs underestimate the importance of achievements and community features...some gamers do not care but I am pretty sure a higher than normal % of Xbox gamers do...game would have probably sold waaaay more if it were XBLA, but then again...patches (sigh)

You mean Rainslick? It certainly would have sold more on XBLA than XBLIG. We (us and PA) knew that going in and decided that the patch situation along with a host of other things to deal with in regards to XBLA, combined with the fact that we were launching on Steam, among other reasons, made the choice to go XBLIG much easier.


I do agree though that I think devs underestimate the importance of achievements and community features. Indeed especially with regards to XBox gamers, but also the other platforms as well.

[Eclectus]

How does everyone feel about the ability to raise/lower the prices of <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">games</a> on a whim?

I wouldn't be opposed to it - seems to work fine on the App Store.

XBLIG is not going anywhere - it is basically like a fountain of pure profit :P I think they would be smart to do their best to encourage XNA devs to make WP8 games though, since they really need exclusive games and not just a bunch of iOS parity ports.

Well said! I think what the general trend towards digital distribution as a way of accessing games has gathered a lot of momentum. XBLIG/Metro, Steam and the App Store are really opening up game development - a good thing. Some time before FortressCraft surpassed it, I predicted a 'million selling' XBLIG. The significance was that although not all games will achieve such exposure, it proved the point - gamers want Indie games on consoles.

Yes achievements would be wonderful - but it to me it feels like a want, not a need. The potential risk is in diluting the 'achievement economy', since XBLIGs aren't 'gated' in any way. It feels like something that is solvable. The Peer review process is good, and yeah its a shame Chris Satchell, isn't at MS any more - I remember hearing him speak in Brighton, inspirational stuff.

Out of interest what's the age range in here?

35 - I'm ancient :)

[DaveVoyles]

While on the topic of patches....

While Ben Kuchera isn't my favorite journlist, he does write some pretty great features. Today:
The $40,000 patch.

[toythatkills]

While on the topic of patches.... While Ben Kuchera isn't my favorite journlist, he does write some pretty great features. Today: The $40,000 patch.

They seem to just take that $40k figure for granted when nobody's actually sure what FEZ's patch would cost.

[slash000]

They seem to just take that $40k figure for granted when nobody's actually sure what FEZ's patch would cost.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a second.

The article says that gamers are being punished here because Polytron can't afford / doesn't want to pay the $40k to patch the game again.

But the whole reason Microsoft has the system set up like this in the first place is to encourage thorough quality assurance.

The point is to prevent bugs and crashing as best as possible before the game comes out. Letting a dev sign the contract that makes it pretty clear that patching a whole bunch isn't going to be cheap or easy encourages devs to thoroughly test the games at the onset. At release. So gamers who buy it don't have to wade through a slew of bugs until a patch later; that most key bugs and issues are found beforehand. The ball is in the dev's court to QA, test, and fix the game before release.

The last few lines of the article imply that gamers are being punished here because of MS's refusal to bend this rule and Poly's refusal to stick to the terms of the contract it knew.

How about Polytron not release a badly buggy and crash-prone game in the first place? Then MS, Polytron, and gamers would all be in the best scenario. That is the whole purpose of incentivizing developers to thoroughly QA their games, because MS doesn't want to provide a grounds for, "Well we missed a bunch of bugs but hey we can patch later." They want to keep the quality and reputation of XBLA as high as possible and incentivizing thorough initial QA is one way to do that.

The fact that they offer a "free" patch afterwards seems to me to be designed to let devs hit on any seriously important issues that weren't caught in the presumed-to-be-thorough intial QA process. In theory, with a sufficient initial QA that should allow devs to catch and address any little issues left missed the first time.

The only time this deal / setup can be a serious problem is if the developer doesn't sufficiently test and fix their game before it is initially released. Because then they find bugs and have to address them with the free patch, and might not catch them yet again and hit the 40k patch problem. Gamers aren't suffering because of Microsoft's policy, they're suffering because the developer didn't test and address their game's issue when they should have, and didn't again the second time around.



Now to play the not devil's advocate:
Indie teams have it hardest because they don't have the vast resources of much larger companies to test their games as thoroughly. They may also not find some of the issues to be as big a deal as they end up being, or don't think many customers will be affected. For indies a lot of this stuff comes down to a matter of resources (time, money, team size, testing group / QA team size, etc) that they may simply not have; some indie teams are 3 or 2 or even sometimes essentially one person. Putting the same burdens on this type of company or dev as another such as EA or Capcom doesn't really make a lot of sense in practice, the one shoe doesn't really fit all. I'm not saying the contracts should necessarily be tailored to be "more fair" to one type or size of dev or another. But in reality indie teams face a pretty different scenario than bigger companies.

I can also say that services like Steam are pretty well-loved across the PC gaming market. And Steam allows for unlimited patches that can be submitted at almost any time and be applied very rapidly at no cost. You don't see a lot of complaints about "constant patching" with Steam. Is it because the nature of the PC market is so vastly different from a console market that customers don't mind as much? Is it because people generally don't mind patches? Or are people regularly annoyed at PC patching like this? All I can say is that in my experience, issuing patches quickly and easily the way Steam does it (which also is designed to minimize bandwidth uses but that's another topic) is extremely helpful for developers and fans. Yes, we did our best to QA the game before the PC release but there's only sso much we can do -- being able to gather reports from customers/players/fans about certain instances of bugs or crashing and being able to find and fix it and almost immediately patch those issues out of the game is good for those users experiencing problems and avoids the issue for potential customers in the near future, thereby helping the developer as well.



tldr - I appreciate MS's need to assure thorough initial QA but as an indie dev I must say that quick, efficient, and non-obtrusive patching has been kind of a fantastic thing.

[toythatkills]

No idea which half of this post to respond to =P

Now to play the not devil's advocate: Indie teams have it hardest because they don't have the vast resources of much larger companies to test their games as thoroughly. They may also not find some of the issues to be as big a deal as they end up being, or don't think many customers will be affected. For indies a lot of this stuff comes down to a matter of resources (time, money, team size, testing group / QA team size, etc) that they may simply not have; some indie teams are 3 or 2 or even sometimes essentially one person. Putting the same burdens on this type of company or dev as another such as EA or Capcom doesn't really make a lot of sense in practice, the one shoe doesn't really fit all. I'm not saying the contracts should necessarily be tailored to be "more fair" to one type or size of dev or another. But in reality indie teams face a pretty different scenario than bigger companies. I can also say that services like Steam are pretty well-loved across the PC gaming market. And Steam allows for unlimited patches that can be submitted at almost any time and be applied very rapidly at no cost. You don't see a lot of complaints about "constant patching" with Steam. Is it because the nature of the PC market is so vastly different from a console market that customers don't mind as much? Is it because people generally don't mind patches? Or are people regularly annoyed at PC patching like this? All I can say is that in my experience, issuing patches quickly and easily the way Steam does it (which also is designed to minimize bandwidth uses but that's another topic) is extremely helpful for developers and fans. Yes, we did our best to QA the game before the PC release but there's only sso much we can do -- being able to gather reports from customers/players/fans about certain instances of bugs or crashing and being able to find and fix it and almost immediately patch those issues out of the game is good for those users experiencing problems and avoids the issue for potential customers in the near future, thereby helping the developer as well.

The first half is basically how I see the situation. They should have had the game in a better state when it was released, and whether it wasn't tested properly or whether it was rushed (lol) that's their fault. The issues in the original release would have been very easy to catch pre-release, since they were experienced by 100% of people. No matter what the size of their team was. It required one single playthrough, really.

The Steam comparison doesn't necessarily work because releasing an update to a PC doesn't need the same kind of checks that it needs to release a game on Xbox 360. Microsoft needs to make sure your patch won't brick an Xbox, because it's them that are going to have to foot the bill if it does. Steam doesn't have to check for that because they have absolutely nothing to do with your hardware or any responsibility if it goes wrong. There's just not really any way the process can be any different to how it is now.

As an aside, I hate loading up Steam because I know it's going to download a load of patches, or if I have a few minutes to play a game I know I'll be sitting it watching it patch instead of playing it. I heard stories yesterday that apparently Dungeon Defenders when it came out had 300MB patches nearly every single day, I don't think that's good for anyone. Clearly there was an issue there in that they'd rush out one patch and end up having to patch the patch, whereas if they'd had to pay $40k for that second patch it would have taken a little bit longer but they'd have damn well got it right.

[slash000]

No idea which half of this post to respond to =P The first half is basically how I see the situation. They should have had the game in a better state when it was released, and whether it wasn't tested properly or whether it was rushed (lol) that's their fault. The issues in the original release would have been very easy to catch pre-release, since they were experienced by 100% of people. No matter what the size of their team was. It required one single playthrough, really. The Steam comparison doesn't necessarily work because releasing an update to a PC doesn't need the same kind of checks that it needs to release a game on Xbox 360. Microsoft needs to make sure your patch won't brick an Xbox, because it's them that are going to have to foot the bill if it does. Steam doesn't have to check for that because they have absolutely nothing to do with your hardware or any responsibility if it goes wrong. There's just not really any way the process can be any different to how it is now. As an aside, I hate loading up Steam because I know it's going to download a load of patches, or if I have a few minutes to play a game I know I'll be sitting it watching it patch instead of playing it. I heard stories yesterday that apparently Dungeon Defenders when it came out had 300MB patches nearly every single day, I don't think that's good for anyone. Clearly there was an issue there in that they'd rush out one patch and end up having to patch the patch, whereas if they'd had to pay $40k for that second patch it would have taken a little bit longer but they'd have damn well got it right.

I just wanted to mention Steam because I've been keeping up with this Polytron situation and almost every comment section or article says how Steam does it better. I wanted to play devil's advocate to show how Microsoft's system isn't inherently bad or "punishing" for gamers and can, in fact, be better for gamers. But it's extremely arguable and there's a lot of gray areas and there's no 1 right way to do it. I just think that there's a lot of "WTF FU M$!" going around thanks to this Polytron thing and that "M$" is punishing the gamers but honestly, I think a great deal of the "blame" has to be laid at Polytron's feet as well.

Steam upgraded their patching system recently and while I won't go into technical details (because I'm not allowed to) I will say that it minimizes bandwidth usage for patching in most instances compared to how it is done for a lot of these types of services.

[toythatkills]

I just wanted to mention Steam because I've been keeping up with this Polytron situation and almost every comment section or article says how Steam does it better.

I think that's because in their statement, Polytron themselves mentioned how this kind of thing wouldn't be a problem on Steam in order to further illustrate how this was all Microsoft's fault and how they had literally no choice at all in the matter.

Except that's rubbish, really. It just aided his "poor little me" routine.

[DaveVoyles]

Also playing devil's advocate:

Xbox is one piece of hardware, granted there are different SKUs with significantly different HDD speeds now, whereas the PC (Steam) literally has thousands, if not millions, of hardware variations to consider.

A driver update from a GPU vendor could brick the experience for your entire game (See: RAGE).

[DaveVoyles]

Didn't realize that I had missed so much of the earlier discussion in this thread.

Top lists:
I've got to wonder: Who is still buying this craft games? They seem to sell like hot-cakes. Do you think there is a lot of overlap between people who try out the different varieties of them?

XBLIG cost:
I think XBLIG (and XNA) still cost quite a bit more than most people think. There are bandwidth costs and employees who are still running behind the scenes (they recently hired a program manager) and those aren't cheap. On top of that, there are still promotions like Dream.Build.Play too.

[toythatkills]

Looks like there's going to be another uprising, anything you can tell us, Dave? Mainly interested to know how you're going to make sure there are better games this time? (And that the games are actually ready to come out).

Also, everyone has to download Dead Sea. This is completely ESSENTIAL.

Also, check out the trailer for Ninja Exorcist! Haven't tried it yet, I hope it plays as good as it looks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJROu...layer_embedded

[slash000]

Also, check out the trailer for Ninja Exorcist! Haven't tried it yet, I hope it plays as good as it looks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJROu...layer_embedded

If this game borrows any inspiration at all from Ninja Five-O I will kiss them.

I wish that someone, somewhere, would somehow build upon the ideas from Ninja Five-O, aka one of the greatest 2D ninja action-platformers ever made. Ever.

[DaveVoyles]

Not sure what I can say so far but:

Games will go on sale starting the 2nd week of Sept.
8 games total (all of which are already picked)
New website is coming soon (probably by the end of the week)
We'll announce 1 new title, each day, probably starting next week

Michael Harts and I went through the DBP submissions, picked out some of the ones we believe were the best, and posted them in the App Hub fourms. Other developers did the same, and when we collectively found quite a few that we liked, we asked them to come on board. We had 6 at that point.

In an e-mail thread between the 6 devs and myself, we narrowed down the last two spots to a few choices before finally cementing in two of them.

There are a lot of other games which appear to be great, but won't be ready in time for the launch, so we're going to try to grab them for the (inevitable) winter uprising.

[Gaspode_T]

The thing keeping me up at night about XBLIG maintenance is not anything hosting the games, it is the stupid App Hub website and complex rules and regulations that go along with it. Some of the people who really built that up don't even work at Microsoft anymore (one of my friends was on that team and now he is working at Amazon). Hopefully for XBLIG dev sake WP8 development keeps focus on making App Hub better but it is kind of strange that some of the WP8 country availability improvements aren't promised for XBLIG games too.

[toythatkills]

Not sure what I can say so far but: Games will go on sale starting the 2nd week of Sept. 8 games total (all of which are already picked) New website is coming soon (probably by the end of the week) We'll announce 1 new title, each day, probably starting next week Michael Harts and I went through the DBP submissions, picked out some of the ones we believe were the best, and posted them in the App Hub fourms. Other developers did the same, and when we collectively found quite a few that we liked, we asked them to come on board. We had 6 at that point. In an e-mail thread between the 6 devs and myself, we narrowed down the last two spots to a few choices before finally cementing in two of them. There are a lot of other games which appear to be great, but won't be ready in time for the launch, so we're going to try to grab them for the (inevitable) winter uprising.

Doesn't this put you at a fair bit of risk of games winning DBP and either wanting to be available immediately or earning that elusive XBLA contract? Have you played these games?

I hope Smooth Operators made it =P

[slash000]

Right, if a game wins DBP, they might end up with a deal that changes their release plans.

Of course it's not like DBP guarantees an XBLA contract or anything, at least not any more, so it probably won't really matter.


It's best go with what you did; pick the best potentials for the line-up and if someone wins DBP then figure out what to do then. :)