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MS announces initial list of ID@Xbox devs, first games "early 2014"

B

Bsigg12

Member
9thwonder said:
What is Sony doing that MS isn't? Is Sony just allowing any serious indie devloper to get there hands on PS3/PS4/PSV or are they hand picking them like MS is doing(or at least that's what it seems like it)?
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I'm sure Sony is handpicking devs, they just have a huge headstart.
 
M

MidBoss

Member
It doesn't matter what "indie" really means. It matters what people think it means, and how MS markets it. Most people think an indie dev is an average joe dev with a great idea but little budget. In other words, small teams with small projects, or people who need Kickstarters and all that (not AAA). Also, wasn't this program MS's way of saying "Oh, we have indie devs too!"? In this case, I understand why people are upset.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Reminds me of the 90s when the great "alternative" splinter happened, and suddenly you had all these varying groups. It's all pretty cyclical in nature.
 
H

hoos30

Member
PhatSaqs said:
Damn the downplay is serious in here. Doesnt seem like a huge deal to me.
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It's par for the course. "Indie" was the holy grail until about about three hours ago. Now, these games are not indie enough. :-/

It's like watching hipsters argue about who listens to the least popular music.
 
B

Bsigg12

Member
ethomaz said:
Any game list? Not devs only please.
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Confirmed: Divekick, Energy Hook, Shoot Many Robots and Cosmic Star Heroine.

That's all we know right now. I'm now curious to if Microsoft will so something Saturday at VGX for some of the games coming out in the "early" part of 2014.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
harSon said:
Is Cosmic Star Heroine basically confirmed for XB1 then? Unless Zeboyd is simply porting past games to the console.
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I got this Kickstarter update today:

We're pleased to announce that we're participating in Microsoft's ID@Xbox program and will be porting Cosmic Star Heroine to the Xbox One.

We are unable to obtain any Cosmic Star Heroine download codes for the Xbox One at this time, but we will let you know if we manage to work something out with Microsoft on that front.
Click to expand...

EDIT - I see Robert has long since beat me to it.
 
T

TRios Zen

Member
Some interesting comments up in this thread.

I'm excited to see the future of this thing. Also more excited to hear about the games from those listed AND from those that are coming.

Best thing about this thread? I now know what Cosmic Star Heroine is and am eagerly awaiting it's release.
 
R

RaikuHebi

Banned
hoos30 said:
It's par for the course. "Indie" was the holy grail until about about three hours ago. Now, these games are not indie enough. :-/

It's like watching hipsters argue about who listens to the least popular music.
Click to expand...

Or Sony's just done the whole Indie thing better.
 
M

MikeHaggar

Member
well, it's easy to see why i, being a nobody, was rejected based on that list. it is disappointing that they didn't even bother to view the links to youtube videos of my game that were included in my application though. hopefully the whole "xbox one retail unit as dev kit" thing happens quickly although i have my doubts about that...
 
J

JaggedSac

Member
Tripon said:
Yeah, but Crytek has a significant advantage over your games. They have a previous relationship and is a known quantity, so they will probably get pushed to the front page of the store and promoted more easily while you as a smaller company probably need somebody at MS to champion you to get anywhere near the front of the line.
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Any marketplace will be like that. But it is the job of a marketplace to also allow for various methods of discovery, rising stars, new releases, user favorites, most played, etc. I I haven't played with the Bone's marketplace to see how that stuff is handles though.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
Bsigg12 said:
Confirmed: Divekick, Energy Hook, Shoot Many Robots and Cosmic Star Heroine.
Click to expand...

Where did you get Shoot Many Robots from? Tried googling and looking on the devs twitter but couldn't see anything? Also seems like an odd game to do seeing as its going to be on 360 for the latter half of the month.
 
B

Bsigg12

Member
MikeHaggar said:
well, it's easy to see why i, being a nobody, was rejected based on that list. it is disappointing that they didn't even bother to view the links to youtube videos of my game that were included in my application though. hopefully the whole "xbox one retail unit as dev kit" thing happens quickly although i have my doubts about that...
Click to expand...

Well you can already get to the dev unit section on the Xbox One but without it being white listed by Microsoft you can't access anything other than changing your Sandbox ID.
 
S

Steverulez

Member
BlackBuzzard said:
Weird that Add Water isnt on the list.
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It is, they retweeted an ID@Xbox thing at the end of October so I sent them a tweet asking them about it and this was the response:

Steve Burnley ‏@Steverulez 24 Oct
@jawltd So does this mean your games (Oddworld titles and any others) will be coming to Xbox platforms now?

JAW (Dev), Ltd. ‏@jawltd 26 Oct
@Steverulez does what mean?

Steve Burnley ‏@Steverulez 26 Oct
@jawltd your id@xbox retweet…

JAW (Dev), Ltd.
‏@jawltd
@Steverulez not yet
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Link to tweets

The list is seemingly developers who will be releasing their games first so hopefully JAW will be confirmed later.
 
B

Bsigg12

Member
Steverulez said:
Where did you get Shoot Many Robots from? Tried googling and looking on the devs twitter but couldn't see anything? Also seems like an odd game to do seeing as its going to be on 360 for the latter half of the month.
Click to expand...

From http://news.xbox.com/2013/12/xbox-one-developers-id-at-xbox:

Demiurge is thrilled to be part of the ID@Xbox program. With straightforward policies and easy to use hardware, Microsoft has made it possible for independent developers like ourselves to become publishers of their own content. Thanks to that, we're excited to announce that we'll be bringing our ‘Shoot Many Robots’ franchise to Xbox One!
– Albert Reed, Demiurge
Click to expand...
 
B

Banjo-Kazooie

Member
Mael said:
Woopedido.
I guess they should invite Respawn too since they're independant too!
Heck invite Ninja theory while you're at it!
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Erm? If they want to SELF PUBLISH their games then yes, they can be invited. You do get that the size of the studio doesn't dictate whether they want to self publish a game or not, right?
 
S

satam55

Banned
tkalamba said:
I think they are just asking for parity, so if a game is timed exclusive on PS4 for 6 months, when it is released on the Xbox One after the exclusivity, MS wants the game to be exactly the same as what the PS4 has on day one. Or at least that is what I got from it, note that I have a hangover and running on 3 hours of sleep so my interpretation could be off.
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PG2G said:
Yeah, so any updates PS4 version got post launch would need to be in the Xbox version at release. Seems like a decent policy to me
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That's funny because Microsoft doesn't have that policy for the Windows RT/Phone 8 app store. Didn't Instagram just get released on Windows Phone 8 missing features that are on the iOS & Android version.
 
T

Triggerhappytel

Member
frankie_baby said:
oh so its lack of shareholders that defines an indie this week
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"This week". That's exactly what independent means! They're not 'indie' in the same way as Zeboyd or Drinkbox or Double Eleven, but even bigger developers like Crytek, Respawn and Mojang are independent.

Copenap said:
A public listing has nothing to do with this. The term indie (independent) basically means "not a major player and not dependent on a major player". There is no exact definition but according to the common definition Crytek definitely is not an indie company.
Click to expand...

There is no exact definition but you're going to exclude Crytek because you said so?
 
S

soul creator

Member
I think ID@Xbox makes a lot more sense once you think of it as a stopgap until the "buy a retail Xbox One, pay a developer fee, and use it as a devkit, just like iOS devices" functionality is ready.

Interesting comment on gamasutra

I'm on a facebook page with a whole bunch of other indie devs making games for Xbox One but who don't have devkits. It's been quite useful chatting to them and seeing what other people are doing who aren't necessarily "on the inside".

The general consensus is that for most, it'll be a case of waiting for the day when MS flip the switch and you can use your retail Xbox One as a devkit. However, the info we've got from ID@Xbox is that games made in c++/Windows8/DirectX11 and also in Unity will be supported. So basically, most devs can get on with making their games and get all the non-hardware dependent bits ready for that day. For some, that might be 90% of the work anyway. So in essence, aside from these 30 devs announced today, and presumably a handful of others as well who are keeping quiet, the starting gun has already fired for being on the first wave of indie games/devs to hit the platform some time next year
Click to expand...
 
F

Family Fry

Member
Just noticed a Ska Studios tweet linking to a blog post with a list of some more developers/games.

http://ska-studios.com/2013/12/04/idxbox/

As Polygon and Chris Charla noted, the list is far from comprehensive, which we totally understand. Here at Ska Studios, we love to read and hear our name and want to spread that lovely feeling! This is also not a comprehensive list but includes the folks that so far want to be included and I’ll be updating as I see more. Please let me know if you would like to be included!

•Ska Studios
•SinisterSoft Limited – Bacteria™ Arcade Edition
•HOT ‘n SPICY – Scary Race
•BackSpace Games
•OnekSoft Games
•Smudged Cat Games – Gateways, The Adventures of Shuggy
•VICO Game Studio – BombPong: Space Invasion, AAW2/3
•X10 interactive – So Many Me
•Fun Infused Games – Hypership Out of Control, VolChaos
•Alientrap – Apotheon

•Randomchaos Games
•Drop Dead Interactive
•Vector Unit
Click to expand...
 
S

Satchel

Banned
beast786 said:
Crytek. They just seem odd in that list
Click to expand...

First thing that jumped out at met too.

But I guess technically they ARE independent, just not really "indie" if that makes sense.

Is Housemarque anywhere there? I know they do a lot of Sony stuff, but they're not owned by Sony and have made a 360 game or two. Loooooove Housemarque.
 
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