Warm Machine
Member
While we respect their decision we are disappointed that we can't offer Orbitron: Revolution on Steam.
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Xbox Live Indie Games! February 2012!
- Thread starter Dark Octave
- Start date
Dark Octave
Banned
Ah man that sucks. Sorry to hear this. Did they give a reason?
DaveVoyles
Member
Uggh, Steam is a hurry-up-and-wait game. You want to get it in so badly, but then sit there in darkness for days/weeks/months until you finally hear a response. That's unfortunate. 
In other XBLIG news:
XBLIG lacrosse developer, Crosse Studio, is holding a contest to vote for the new cover, starting tomorrow. They are certainly one of the more popular franchise on XBLIG. I mean their facebook page alone has over 200k fans. I think this shows that lacrosse could have a bit of a market on another platform as well. He speaks about XBLA/PSN in part of an interview, but there still is no garuntee. As a former college lacrosse player and coach myself, I'd love to see this.
Also, Ian Stocker, (@MagicalTimeBean) said today via twitter:
"Combined Soulcaster I & II sales on #XBLIG since March 2010: 8,500 units. First five days on #PC: 23,700 units."
Finally, Katana Land, the ninja platformer, was reviewed by our EIC at Armless Octopus, Mike Wall. He seemed to love it. I shared his sentiment, although I only briefly played it as part of our program to play every trial on XBLIG each week. 4.5 / 5 stars.
In other XBLIG news:
XBLIG lacrosse developer, Crosse Studio, is holding a contest to vote for the new cover, starting tomorrow. They are certainly one of the more popular franchise on XBLIG. I mean their facebook page alone has over 200k fans. I think this shows that lacrosse could have a bit of a market on another platform as well. He speaks about XBLA/PSN in part of an interview, but there still is no garuntee. As a former college lacrosse player and coach myself, I'd love to see this
. Also, Ian Stocker, (@MagicalTimeBean) said today via twitter:
"Combined Soulcaster I & II sales on #XBLIG since March 2010: 8,500 units. First five days on #PC: 23,700 units."
Finally, Katana Land, the ninja platformer, was reviewed by our EIC at Armless Octopus, Mike Wall. He seemed to love it. I shared his sentiment, although I only briefly played it as part of our program to play every trial on XBLIG each week. 4.5 / 5 stars.
The games that Valve themselves seem to be hyping up lately include Dear Esther and Q.U.B.E. which are $10 and $15...maybe they are trying to get more high priced games to be the norm - that's really the only explanation I can think of that makes sense to me...too many great games being denied lately...
SmallCaveGames
Neo Member
That's amazing. Miles of difference.
And that's just from the bundle I assume - now he's on Desura too (http://www.desura.com/games/soulcaster).
I can't imagine those games doing poorly on Steam.
Ian Stocker said on Twitter that his 23,700 sales on PC were almost entirely from the IndieRoyale, if anyone is curious. This makes sense as the IndieRoyale he was involved in sold exactly 23,708 bundles. Anyway, indeed you can get his awesome games on Desura now.
As far as Steam and Dear Esther, the dev noted recently that Dear Esther had sold 16k in the first half day or so of release - and absolutely huge success at the $10, and I believe it was at the top spot for best selling for a bit (it's currently at #3 behind a game on sale and Kingdoms of Amalur). I haven't noticed Valve/Steam doing any particular promotion themselves for the game, but obviously top sellers usually get to be in the main-page rotating banner.
As far as Steam and Dear Esther, the dev noted recently that Dear Esther had sold 16k in the first half day or so of release - and absolutely huge success at the $10, and I believe it was at the top spot for best selling for a bit (it's currently at #3 behind a game on sale and Kingdoms of Amalur). I haven't noticed Valve/Steam doing any particular promotion themselves for the game, but obviously top sellers usually get to be in the main-page rotating banner.
I think I misunderstood the story behind Dear Esther, it sounds like it was actually financed by a group of people that includes Jonathan Blow http://www.edge-online.com/news/indie-fund-back-dear-esther
Since they are both Source Engine though I do think they have a good reason to approve that one and Q.U.B.E.
Since they are both Source Engine though I do think they have a good reason to approve that one and Q.U.B.E.
You can't compare PC sales with XBLIG. If you work out the percentage of PC users that have access to downloading that game it is miles bigger than the Xbox userbase. Billions compared to millions. There are so many countries that have an Xbox but can't get XBLIG so the userbase is shrunk even further.
If you are on Xblig for a business then you run a risk of being disappointed. Only a few have made it work for them. Really you need to sell on more platforms to make a success of things.
If you are on Xblig for a business then you run a risk of being disappointed. Only a few have made it work for them. Really you need to sell on more platforms to make a success of things.
That's why I'm kind of surprised more XNA devs aren't throwing tables upside down about not being able to get on Windows 8 Metro train (potentially huge user base, nice marketplace/submission pipeline, XBL integration, cross-platform with desktop/mobile almost by default, etc)...still possible to get on that train, just not with XNA (WinRT, HTML5, SharpDX, maybe other things to be announced relatively soon...) SharpDX with some XNA-like wrappers would be pretty close to XNA and with a little more 3D graphics flexibility, but XNA would have been nice...just didn't seem to be in the cards.
XBLIG devs would be interested to compare how the submission process will work, there's a new article about it here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/02/13/submitting-your-windows-8-apps.aspx
I am only posting this here because I'm pretty sure XBLIG devs would see it and start drooling with the features that are implemented there. It's taking everything they've learned from how devs create for other marketplaces and then improving upon that. To be clear it's totally separate teams, XBLIG marketplace is driven more by the team that handles submissions for Xbox retail and XBLA games.
XBLIG devs would be interested to compare how the submission process will work, there's a new article about it here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/02/13/submitting-your-windows-8-apps.aspx
I am only posting this here because I'm pretty sure XBLIG devs would see it and start drooling with the features that are implemented there. It's taking everything they've learned from how devs create for other marketplaces and then improving upon that. To be clear it's totally separate teams, XBLIG marketplace is driven more by the team that handles submissions for Xbox retail and XBLA games.
FunInfusedGames
Member
IMO Steam is still king. Until Windows 8 store numbers show they can do better or even close, I don't really care about it.
Apple did something similar sounding with their Mac store and from what I've seen / heard, sales aren't very good.
I'm still using XNA for my PC project right now, but I may go to C++ in the future. It makes porting to iOS from PC much, much easier since I can run C++ on iOS too. And then I could use the metro features if I so desired too.
So he is comparing apples to oranges. 8000 people bought Soulcaster games because they wanted them on XBLIG, 23700 people bought them on PC because they basically got them as a free bonus to Hoard and Zeno Clash.
Allowing more sales flexibility might be possible but ad supported is basically not...it is common on WP7 and will be for W8 too...probably if they allowed free they would simply be free...would bring people to the marketplace in droves though
I think the Video ad model would work well, don't see why it wouldn't. You always have to be online to launch an indie game plus with the silverlight baked into the console it seems a no brainer to me.
E.g. 5p every time the video plays. 1 on load up, at least 15 mins played a session. = 2video breaks, 1 for every 8 minutes. 3 videos =15p. Play game 4 times = 60p. = 1 sale.
I base these numbers on nothing.
lolDark Octave
Banned
We're talking ads like in a game of Angry Birds to where it's just a banner at the top of the screen right?I think the Video ad model would work well, don't see why it wouldn't. You always have to be online to launch an indie game plus with the silverlight baked into the console it seems a no brainer to me.
E.g. 5p every time the video plays. 1 on load up, at least 15 mins played a session. = 2video breaks, 1 for every 8 minutes. 3 videos =15p. Play game 4 times = 60p. = 1 sale.
I base these numbers on nothing.
Neuromancer
Member
I hate ads; as long as there was like a $1 paid version without them, though, I guess that would be OK.
He was pretty unequivocal: 8,500 total sales for SCI and II combined on XBLIG.
SCI got a great shoutout from Penny Arcade (when it was a $3 game), and SCII was an excellent part of the original Uprising (also $3 at the time).
Indeed both games are excellent and received some reasonable attention from various sources.
Nope 30 second video ads like the ones you get on game trailers etc.
Dark Octave
Banned
Wait so the whole game pauses and a trailer loads up for 30 seconds?
I like the rest, but that part of the idea sounds absolutely horrible.
SmallCaveGames
Neo Member
I was a little surprised at that too - especially since both have seen nice dash/list coverage and even on the new dash one of them is on the "top picks" list. But then again, I know plenty of great games that undersold and I'll take his word it.
And from a business standpoint, a sale is a sale. A copy is a copy. Even if the PC sales were part of a bundle, he's still "moving units" and taking a piece of each bundle sale. That's sort of the point of the bundle - to combine user/fan bases to increase overall exposure/sales.
Would like to point out something interesting: The Dashboard "Games" section has been stealth-updated, it appears. Now, under games, on the first page, they list tabs for Arcade, Indie, and on demand seperately as smaller windows.
Even better, under each of them, are organizers like "New Releases", "Most Popular", "titles A to Z", "Genre", and then an Ad to the right (currently displaying Castle Miner, and other options like the Kotaku list and Contest finalist if you scroll it).
Seems a step in the right direction, and it also affects the rest of the games area (Demos and vids and such are a bit easier to find now, and reorganized too.)
Even better, under each of them, are organizers like "New Releases", "Most Popular", "titles A to Z", "Genre", and then an Ad to the right (currently displaying Castle Miner, and other options like the Kotaku list and Contest finalist if you scroll it).
Seems a step in the right direction, and it also affects the rest of the games area (Demos and vids and such are a bit easier to find now, and reorganized too.)
HadesGigas
Member
Game Type is dead!
Poor parkour chick...
Poor parkour chick...
DaveVoyles
Member
Woah, that's awesome. A nice little surprise, huh?
The sorting by genre feature (back!) is certainly a nice thing to have, and has been one of our biggest shortcomings since the last update.
Also, Crosse Studio is working on another lacrosse title, College Lacrosse 2012, which is going to hit Memorial Day Weekend. That's the biggest weekend for us lacrosse fans (I played in college), as it's the national championship weekend.
There's hosting a "chose the cover" contest right now. For a game with such high popularity, I'm still surprised that a larger publisher hasn't picked it up yet. I mean they have over 200k fans on facebook alone.
The sorting by genre feature (back!) is certainly a nice thing to have, and has been one of our biggest shortcomings since the last update.
Also, Crosse Studio is working on another lacrosse title, College Lacrosse 2012, which is going to hit Memorial Day Weekend. That's the biggest weekend for us lacrosse fans (I played in college), as it's the national championship weekend.
There's hosting a "chose the cover" contest right now. For a game with such high popularity, I'm still surprised that a larger publisher hasn't picked it up yet. I mean they have over 200k fans on facebook alone.
Oh nice!! They finally saw that it was messed up.
MikeHaggar
Member
i agree. it will be interesting to see what happens once minecraft releases on xbla. i predict the minecraft-like love on xblig will dry up, but you never know. at some point it will shift and something else will be popular. i'm just hoping that it happens before we release our game haha!
DaveVoyles
Member
I'm curious to know what your "top picks" (or do they call it recommendations?) section reveals for you guys when you first scroll over to the "games" tab.
For me, it was 3 Radiangames titles. Certainly a good sign, considering my Xbox plays just XBLIG & XBLA games, but is rarely used for retail.
I spoke to Ben Kane, (Going Loud Studios) and he said his account had 3 XBLIGs recommended as well, granted they were older ones, but he said he doesn't game much on that account regardless.
It seems as if the updated has been pushed to France as well, after speaking with @SwingSwingSub, but they haven't seen the dash changes that we have seen. They've simply been forced to download the update.
Here is a picture of the new dash, if you were curious.
I love there is a genre for "kinect" XBLIG titles, but none are there. Hmm....foreshadowing for what is to come?
For me, it was 3 Radiangames titles. Certainly a good sign, considering my Xbox plays just XBLIG & XBLA games, but is rarely used for retail.
I spoke to Ben Kane, (Going Loud Studios) and he said his account had 3 XBLIGs recommended as well, granted they were older ones, but he said he doesn't game much on that account regardless.
It seems as if the updated has been pushed to France as well, after speaking with @SwingSwingSub, but they haven't seen the dash changes that we have seen. They've simply been forced to download the update.
Here is a picture of the new dash, if you were curious.
I love there is a genre for "kinect" XBLIG titles, but none are there. Hmm....foreshadowing for what is to come?
Gorki247
Member
Not completely, unfortunately. She keeps on living outside the US. :-(
It's possible they just haven't pushed the update to all countries yet, might be that the dash is pushed down by server side (which would make sense since the ads/etc changes in the same way)
I played and bought some new XBLIGs in celebration of the new dash update...
Here are some impressions:
OCD - This would be brilliant with a little more polish. Right now you finish the task within like 2 or 3 moves at max for most activities so it gets boring having to go back into the activity over and over, I want to be able to do a little more match-3 at a time not only 5 seconds of it. Hopefully the dev makes some updates to it because it has potential.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/OCD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550a91
Nuage - This is billed as a relaxing game with no pressure and basically it lives up to that promise, but after playing Flower on PS3 I nearly go into spasms at how close this is coming to a 2D version of that if they only took it a little bit further with some simple goals or level progression. Right now it is basically a cute graphics demo with nice music and little bears and foxes. If they added some sort of goal, even if you can repeat through the game it would be a lot more interesting and easier for me to recommend. You are free to try it if you feel like you have some stress you need something to calm down with.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Nuage/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550a8d
Growing Pains - This is by the creators of Adventures of Shuggy (DBP winner XBLA game), let me say that I misjudged the game going in a little bit...this is some hardcore stuff. My first impression was pretty bad because I couldn't figure out how to "super jump" to get out of the first tutorial section. You are supposed to hit jump at the right timing when the character squishes down. It's still kind of tricky for me to do, but I found out later it's not usually critical to hit this jump style so doesn't seem to be a problem that it's hard to pull off.
The game is sort of like what would happen if Jeff Minter collaborated with the Shuggy dev while going "woah man, wouldn't it be cool if like, your character just kept growing and growing but as you go to the next level the levels get bigger and bigger". There are P2P scoreboards but no one was online when I was playing. The normal mode is apparently basically 'easy mode', after you clear the levels once you get the opportunity to go back for "silver" which makes things quite hard so I have to imagine hardest mode would be pretty much Super Meat Boy level difficulty.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Growing-Pains/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585509dd
A Bomb's Way - I saw this game in the 'other games' section of Growing Pains, and thought wow I didn't even know this game existed. It's only 3MB but plays a lot like a mix between Mighty Bomb Jack and the Shuggy rotation based levels, you have to jump around a room collecting stop watches while being chased by these evil damn birds and other creatures. It's pretty challenging and pretty fun, the graphics have same feel as Shuggy in a way but some blur is applied while you are jumping around that might bother some. Only 80 points, I had quite enough fun to drop a dollar on it. I tried the other game in their 'other games' list too: The Tower: A Bomb's Climb, but it gave a Code 4 consistently upon startup for me...A Bomb's Way was running fine but might have to try to contact them about the issue with the other game.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/A-Bombs-Way/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585501d6
Avatar Panic - Now being some sort of Milkstone fanboy after the awesome Little Racers Street I decided to try this one, it's pretty fun, the only complaint I have is that the music is loud and a bit annoying, also I had a hard time telling if the amount of levels was too small or not because I made it pretty easily through the first 8 levels or so just in trial mode. I ended up buying it just because I wanted to stop for today and go back again to the end another day.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Avatar-Panic/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585509a2
Itza - Being a fan of puzzle games this one caught my eye, basically the gameplay is different than I thought it would be and seems a little...esoteric?? You have to match the pieces in pairs, the way you match them is to hold LT and then press A which was a little counterintuitive, then even the tutorial level I somehow failed twice in a row which should probably make the dev scared considering I am pretty darn experienced in puzzle games. In the end I was so irritated not being able to pass levels I was about to skip on buying it, but the irritation has now turned into me wanting to show this game who's boss so I intend to go back and figure out what it is I'm doing wrong. I think basically you can't leave any veritical pieces, you have to be able to match horizontally to finish...but there seems to be times where you don't see what's coming until it's too late...too hard to explain! You will just have to try it if you're curious enough from reading this
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Itza/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585509eb
By the way, I noticed a new drop down entry on xbox.com, there is now a "best selling all time" selection, this wasn't there before right? If this was always there I didn't really notice it before
It's showing for en-us market at least this is the best selling of all time list:
#1 FortressCraft
#2 Impossible Game
#3 I maed a gam3 w1th z0mb1es!!!1
#4 Total Miner: Forge
#5 Avatar Paintball
#6 Avatar Drop
#7 Baby Maker Extreme
#8 Castle Miner Z
#9 Avatar Golf
#10 CastleMiner
#11 RC AirSim
#12 Toy Stunt Bike
#13 Try not to Fart
#14 Miner Dig Deep
#15 Avatar Ninja
#16 Avatar Showdown
#17 Head Shot 2
#18 Beat Hazard
#19 Avatar Legends
#20 Avatar Laser Wars
I played and bought some new XBLIGs in celebration of the new dash update...
Here are some impressions:
OCD - This would be brilliant with a little more polish. Right now you finish the task within like 2 or 3 moves at max for most activities so it gets boring having to go back into the activity over and over, I want to be able to do a little more match-3 at a time not only 5 seconds of it. Hopefully the dev makes some updates to it because it has potential.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/OCD/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550a91
Nuage - This is billed as a relaxing game with no pressure and basically it lives up to that promise, but after playing Flower on PS3 I nearly go into spasms at how close this is coming to a 2D version of that if they only took it a little bit further with some simple goals or level progression. Right now it is basically a cute graphics demo with nice music and little bears and foxes. If they added some sort of goal, even if you can repeat through the game it would be a lot more interesting and easier for me to recommend. You are free to try it if you feel like you have some stress you need something to calm down with.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Nuage/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550a8d
Growing Pains - This is by the creators of Adventures of Shuggy (DBP winner XBLA game), let me say that I misjudged the game going in a little bit...this is some hardcore stuff. My first impression was pretty bad because I couldn't figure out how to "super jump" to get out of the first tutorial section. You are supposed to hit jump at the right timing when the character squishes down. It's still kind of tricky for me to do, but I found out later it's not usually critical to hit this jump style so doesn't seem to be a problem that it's hard to pull off.
The game is sort of like what would happen if Jeff Minter collaborated with the Shuggy dev while going "woah man, wouldn't it be cool if like, your character just kept growing and growing but as you go to the next level the levels get bigger and bigger". There are P2P scoreboards but no one was online when I was playing. The normal mode is apparently basically 'easy mode', after you clear the levels once you get the opportunity to go back for "silver" which makes things quite hard so I have to imagine hardest mode would be pretty much Super Meat Boy level difficulty.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Growing-Pains/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585509dd
A Bomb's Way - I saw this game in the 'other games' section of Growing Pains, and thought wow I didn't even know this game existed. It's only 3MB but plays a lot like a mix between Mighty Bomb Jack and the Shuggy rotation based levels, you have to jump around a room collecting stop watches while being chased by these evil damn birds and other creatures. It's pretty challenging and pretty fun, the graphics have same feel as Shuggy in a way but some blur is applied while you are jumping around that might bother some. Only 80 points, I had quite enough fun to drop a dollar on it. I tried the other game in their 'other games' list too: The Tower: A Bomb's Climb, but it gave a Code 4 consistently upon startup for me...A Bomb's Way was running fine but might have to try to contact them about the issue with the other game.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/A-Bombs-Way/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585501d6
Avatar Panic - Now being some sort of Milkstone fanboy after the awesome Little Racers Street I decided to try this one, it's pretty fun, the only complaint I have is that the music is loud and a bit annoying, also I had a hard time telling if the amount of levels was too small or not because I made it pretty easily through the first 8 levels or so just in trial mode. I ended up buying it just because I wanted to stop for today and go back again to the end another day.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Avatar-Panic/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585509a2
Itza - Being a fan of puzzle games this one caught my eye, basically the gameplay is different than I thought it would be and seems a little...esoteric?? You have to match the pieces in pairs, the way you match them is to hold LT and then press A which was a little counterintuitive, then even the tutorial level I somehow failed twice in a row which should probably make the dev scared considering I am pretty darn experienced in puzzle games. In the end I was so irritated not being able to pass levels I was about to skip on buying it, but the irritation has now turned into me wanting to show this game who's boss so I intend to go back and figure out what it is I'm doing wrong. I think basically you can't leave any veritical pieces, you have to be able to match horizontally to finish...but there seems to be times where you don't see what's coming until it's too late...too hard to explain! You will just have to try it if you're curious enough from reading this
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/Itza/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585509eb
By the way, I noticed a new drop down entry on xbox.com, there is now a "best selling all time" selection, this wasn't there before right? If this was always there I didn't really notice it before
It's showing for en-us market at least this is the best selling of all time list:
#1 FortressCraft
#2 Impossible Game
#3 I maed a gam3 w1th z0mb1es!!!1
#4 Total Miner: Forge
#5 Avatar Paintball
#6 Avatar Drop
#7 Baby Maker Extreme
#8 Castle Miner Z
#9 Avatar Golf
#10 CastleMiner
#11 RC AirSim
#12 Toy Stunt Bike
#13 Try not to Fart
#14 Miner Dig Deep
#15 Avatar Ninja
#16 Avatar Showdown
#17 Head Shot 2
#18 Beat Hazard
#19 Avatar Legends
#20 Avatar Laser Wars
The Best Selling - All Time drop down has been there for a pretty long time now, actually.
I think it's based on total trial downloads + sales.
So games with a ton of trials but few sales are placed higher than a game with high sales and relatively few trials, for example.
I think it's based on total trial downloads + sales.
So games with a ton of trials but few sales are placed higher than a game with high sales and relatively few trials, for example.
That's too bad, what they really need is "Top grossing" because it would properly weigh higher priced games higher.
Insomnia strikes...and so I present...
Best XBLIG review and information sites (besides these threads):
Xblig.co - Also known as @TeamKobun on twitter, he has some of the most well written reviews and also a nice front page that lists all the best 300+ games he's selected as worth checking out.
http://xblig.co
GRCade Thread of Glory - This isn't a blog but it might as well be, this is a nearly authoritative source for a list of the best XBLIG games.
http://www.grcade.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11888
Writings of Mass Deduction - Initially "a game a day until 365 days" he decided to extend the site beyond a year because guess what, many XBLIG are actually fun! I don't see this site get referenced very often which is a shame, the reviews seem very well thought out and he seems to be buying all of them.
http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/
IndieGamerChick - Indie Gamer Chick's reviews in my opinion reflect the raised expectations of today's young gamers. They don't care as much about nostalgia, but they will still have fun with 2D games on the right terms and this is a glimpse at what you need to do to make them think a game is fun when the nostalgia blinders are not on full blast.
http://www.indiegamerchick.com
Freakin Indies - @RobsteinOne on Twitter, pretty well written reviews and I like his "never deletes" because that's a pretty easy to understand mechanism for flagging a game as awesome. He also is covering iOS here too.
http://freakinindies.com/
Indie Ocean - This site is pretty similar to IndieGamerChick in going for a harsher tone with reviews.
http://indieocean.wordpress.com/
Achievement Unlocked - This is toythatkills's old blog but he hasn't seemed to update it lately.
http://xboxindies.wordpress.com/
AaronTheSplazer - I have no idea why but this person uploads video of nearly every XBLIG game released to YouTube. It's kind of interesting to just check his playthrough video out instead of having to go download the trial, if it looks interesting you can go try it yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/user/aaronthesplazer/featured
VVGTV - One of the most enthusiastic XBLIG supporters @MasterBlud runs this site and he has been helping many devs in the community make trailers or try to setup advertising for them (as far as I can tell he's doing it out of good will and not for any profit or anything). I think he should get other people to help with his site, he used to have some MrDeeke dude helping do it as a duo but that guy bailed so someone who has free time can jump in and combine forces here...I mean, especially if you're looking for experience doing web work it's worth doing something like that because you can put it on your resume later.
http://vvgtv.com/
OtakuDante's Reviews - I've seen this guy's scores on several XBLIG games, he's pretty good at Orbitron!
http://otakudgamereviews.blogspot.com/
Clearance Bin Review - Easiest way to win XBLIG games seems to be through this site, not really reviews
http://clearancebinreview.com/
Armless Octopus - Dave Voyles right here in this thread has this site with some exclusive interviews once and a while (and podcasts?)
http://www.armlessoctopus.com/
Extra Guy - Run by awesome guys that play tons of games, real gamers!
http://www.extraguy.com
Other XBLIG topics around the internet:
CAG price drop thread: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312899
XNA dev thread at Penny Arcade: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/116540/xna-on-make-games-for-xbox-live-xna-4.0-released/p1
Eurogamer thread: http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=107512
Insomnia strikes...and so I present...
Best XBLIG review and information sites (besides these threads):
Xblig.co - Also known as @TeamKobun on twitter, he has some of the most well written reviews and also a nice front page that lists all the best 300+ games he's selected as worth checking out.
http://xblig.co
GRCade Thread of Glory - This isn't a blog but it might as well be, this is a nearly authoritative source for a list of the best XBLIG games.
http://www.grcade.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11888
Writings of Mass Deduction - Initially "a game a day until 365 days" he decided to extend the site beyond a year because guess what, many XBLIG are actually fun! I don't see this site get referenced very often which is a shame, the reviews seem very well thought out and he seems to be buying all of them.
http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/
IndieGamerChick - Indie Gamer Chick's reviews in my opinion reflect the raised expectations of today's young gamers. They don't care as much about nostalgia, but they will still have fun with 2D games on the right terms and this is a glimpse at what you need to do to make them think a game is fun when the nostalgia blinders are not on full blast.
http://www.indiegamerchick.com
Freakin Indies - @RobsteinOne on Twitter, pretty well written reviews and I like his "never deletes" because that's a pretty easy to understand mechanism for flagging a game as awesome. He also is covering iOS here too.
http://freakinindies.com/
Indie Ocean - This site is pretty similar to IndieGamerChick in going for a harsher tone with reviews.
http://indieocean.wordpress.com/
Achievement Unlocked - This is toythatkills's old blog but he hasn't seemed to update it lately.
http://xboxindies.wordpress.com/
AaronTheSplazer - I have no idea why but this person uploads video of nearly every XBLIG game released to YouTube. It's kind of interesting to just check his playthrough video out instead of having to go download the trial, if it looks interesting you can go try it yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/user/aaronthesplazer/featured
VVGTV - One of the most enthusiastic XBLIG supporters @MasterBlud runs this site and he has been helping many devs in the community make trailers or try to setup advertising for them (as far as I can tell he's doing it out of good will and not for any profit or anything). I think he should get other people to help with his site, he used to have some MrDeeke dude helping do it as a duo but that guy bailed so someone who has free time can jump in and combine forces here...I mean, especially if you're looking for experience doing web work it's worth doing something like that because you can put it on your resume later.
http://vvgtv.com/
OtakuDante's Reviews - I've seen this guy's scores on several XBLIG games, he's pretty good at Orbitron!
http://otakudgamereviews.blogspot.com/
Clearance Bin Review - Easiest way to win XBLIG games seems to be through this site, not really reviews
http://clearancebinreview.com/
Armless Octopus - Dave Voyles right here in this thread has this site with some exclusive interviews once and a while (and podcasts?)
http://www.armlessoctopus.com/
Extra Guy - Run by awesome guys that play tons of games, real gamers!
http://www.extraguy.com
Other XBLIG topics around the internet:
CAG price drop thread: http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312899
XNA dev thread at Penny Arcade: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/116540/xna-on-make-games-for-xbox-live-xna-4.0-released/p1
Eurogamer thread: http://www.eurogamer.net/forum_thread_posts.php?thread_id=107512
DaveVoyles
Member
Hey guys, we've rolled out the beta for the WP7 XBLIG companion app. I've put together a video to explain how it works, and would love to hear your feedback:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ZZR4isOqQ&feature=youtu.be
Although I’ve captured this preview using the Windows Phone 7 emulator, your final experience should be similar.
The app was developed by Casey Young (@elementCY) of Eleventy-Aught Twelve Studios. The functionality of the app is about 90% complete, although we are still looking into the design to help to make it flow better and be more appealing to the eyes. With the way Casey is building it, XBLIG companion should be fairly easy to port over to other devices, so having this on iOS and Android is not only doable, but most likely will happen.
How it works
The XBLIG companion works by scraping the RSS feeds of XboxIndies.com, as well as the XML and CSV data for all of the games. The process is fully automated, so as the games are updated, so are the feeds.
Top Picks
The collection of picks comes from two blogs covering the XBLIG community: IndieGamerChick.com and ArmlessOctopus.com. Both site admins will have access to the app, which will allow them to update their picks at their whim.
In addition to this, the developers will be polled on a frequent basis to promote the games they feel best belong on the program as well, thereby generating the “devs picks” section.
Exploring the games
Once a title is clicked on, all of the developer’s information from the Xbox LIVE marketplace is carried over, including screen shots, cover art, and a brief summary.
Marketplace link
Clicking the marketplace link will bring you directly to Microsoft’s LIVE marketplace, where you will have the ability to purchase the XBLIG of your choice by logging into your LIVE account. From there, you can remotely activate your Xbox, and the title will be downloaded and installed in one fell swoop, without you ever having to physically touch it yourself.
Conclusion
The release date is not set in stone just yet, but we’ll be sure to update you as it approaches. If you have a Windows Phone 7 handset and would like to be a beta tester, please feel free to contact me at Dave at Armless Octopus dot com. For more information, follow along this thread on the App Hub.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ZZR4isOqQ&feature=youtu.be
Although I’ve captured this preview using the Windows Phone 7 emulator, your final experience should be similar.
The app was developed by Casey Young (@elementCY) of Eleventy-Aught Twelve Studios. The functionality of the app is about 90% complete, although we are still looking into the design to help to make it flow better and be more appealing to the eyes. With the way Casey is building it, XBLIG companion should be fairly easy to port over to other devices, so having this on iOS and Android is not only doable, but most likely will happen.
How it works
The XBLIG companion works by scraping the RSS feeds of XboxIndies.com, as well as the XML and CSV data for all of the games. The process is fully automated, so as the games are updated, so are the feeds.
Top Picks
The collection of picks comes from two blogs covering the XBLIG community: IndieGamerChick.com and ArmlessOctopus.com. Both site admins will have access to the app, which will allow them to update their picks at their whim.
In addition to this, the developers will be polled on a frequent basis to promote the games they feel best belong on the program as well, thereby generating the “devs picks” section.
Exploring the games
Once a title is clicked on, all of the developer’s information from the Xbox LIVE marketplace is carried over, including screen shots, cover art, and a brief summary.
Marketplace link
Clicking the marketplace link will bring you directly to Microsoft’s LIVE marketplace, where you will have the ability to purchase the XBLIG of your choice by logging into your LIVE account. From there, you can remotely activate your Xbox, and the title will be downloaded and installed in one fell swoop, without you ever having to physically touch it yourself.
Conclusion
The release date is not set in stone just yet, but we’ll be sure to update you as it approaches. If you have a Windows Phone 7 handset and would like to be a beta tester, please feel free to contact me at Dave at Armless Octopus dot com. For more information, follow along this thread on the App Hub.
FunInfusedGames
Member
Looks cool. Shoot me an email sometime, I've got a WP7 device.
According to Major Nelson they moved the Indie Games section in the marketplace. It has a dedicated tile under games (with arcade and on demand).
https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/170638569474502657
https://twitter.com/majornelson/status/170638569474502657
Lol You left my site out and we also get exclusive interviews too
You guys are 'beyond XBLIG' though LOL, I was trying to think of the obscure sites out there..but yeah that's my bad:
Extra Guy - Run by awesome guys that play tons of games, real gamers!
http://www.extraguy.com
HadesGigas
Member
"Xbox, Bing Angry Birds"
First result is Angry Fish Deep Sea, thanks to this description:
Pretty sneaky.
First result is Angry Fish Deep Sea, thanks to this description:
Pretty sneaky.
I tried the first one and I was curious to see if they did anything creative, still seems like a blatant clone still and the controls are annoying (would be less annoying if you could see everything at once but you have to hit LB and RB to aim shots where on mobile you just slide finger)
DaveVoyles
Member
Indie Gamer Chick has recently started up a series titled "The Cusp" again, and in the second of those monthly installment, shares her views on the Summer Uprising. She also asked a few of us involved with the campaign what we thought.
http://indiegamerchick.com/2012/02/18/the-cusp-2011-indie-summer-uprising-retrospective/
http://indiegamerchick.com/2012/02/18/the-cusp-2011-indie-summer-uprising-retrospective/
The companion app for WP7 is a brilliant idea, I hope it is ported to iOS and Android and not just WP7...
Actually, I would love to have such a thing for XBLA or iOS or any sort of games platform...or even music...it's kind of sad that music discovery for kids these days boils down to "what is in the related videos section of YouTube" (easy to game) or "what is Pandroa or Last.fm telling me to listen to", if there was a way to sort of combine real human recommendations with a search system it would be awesome...that's kind of what Yelp does for services and restaurants, amazon, xblaratings and metacritic have user ratings but it's not taken very seriously.
Maybe the ranking of ratings has effect on sales but what I'm talking about is expanding and enabling discoverability. It's completely different things. There are games that exist that I would love that I don't know about, that's a problem for the world to solve! Same with music, movies, whatever. That's why I love the Picks thing, even though since the update it's recommending me some pretty weird games...
As much as people depend upon them the core of web search doesn't help with this, and it's too easy for SEO to game the system. People linking to reviews they like does help that review appear in web search engine results though.
Actually, I would love to have such a thing for XBLA or iOS or any sort of games platform...or even music...it's kind of sad that music discovery for kids these days boils down to "what is in the related videos section of YouTube" (easy to game) or "what is Pandroa or Last.fm telling me to listen to", if there was a way to sort of combine real human recommendations with a search system it would be awesome...that's kind of what Yelp does for services and restaurants, amazon, xblaratings and metacritic have user ratings but it's not taken very seriously.
Maybe the ranking of ratings has effect on sales but what I'm talking about is expanding and enabling discoverability. It's completely different things. There are games that exist that I would love that I don't know about, that's a problem for the world to solve! Same with music, movies, whatever. That's why I love the Picks thing, even though since the update it's recommending me some pretty weird games...
As much as people depend upon them the core of web search doesn't help with this, and it's too easy for SEO to game the system. People linking to reviews they like does help that review appear in web search engine results though.
Speaking of rankings, it's interesting that the ranking for each country is totally different, the # of stars that Japanese users give totally determines top rated there, no stars from any other countries influence it. I don't really like the way it's set up but that's how it is on iOS app store too.
Toythatkills was just tweeting that in the UK, Little Racers Street is now #2 top rated.
I find the ja-JP marketplace ratings to still be fascinating, but I've seen people complain on 2ch that the ratings make no sense so even those Japanese hardcore XBLIG fans are not trusting them that much. I think in Japan the volume is simply too low. Devs should probably include some sort of nag screen to rate the game (if only it could be done from inside the game, but that's not happening...just something like "Your 5 star rating helps us continue to update this game")
http://marketplace.xbox.com/ja-JP/Games/XboxIndieGames?SortBy=TopRated
(You might have to be signed out to see it, or open Private Browsing and copy paste this there...you can replace ja-JP with en-GB or whatever country you please)
Japan top twenty is now:
1. Protect me Knight
2. Revolver360
3. DecimationX
4. Escape Goat
5. Dead Pixels
6. Cursed Loot
7. Mahjongg
8. Moe Mekuri 2.5
9. Wizorb
10. Soulcaster II
11. Firing Range
12. Aban Hawkins and 1000 Spikes
13. Nyan-Tech
14. Total Miner: Forge
15. Decay - Part 3
16. Cthulhu Saves the World
17. Flight Adventure 2
18. Avatar Snowball Fight
19. Red Tie Miner
20. Marksman: Long Range
They have pretty interesting tastes (and good I might say)
With the removal of top rated sorting as top level selection it's certainly less of a problem, but you can still get there from within new released or top downloaded, or even from genre based sort you can then sort by rating so it still matters a bit.
Has anyone else's Picks selection taken a turn for the bizarre? Half of the games in my list now are 2 star games.
Toythatkills was just tweeting that in the UK, Little Racers Street is now #2 top rated.
I find the ja-JP marketplace ratings to still be fascinating, but I've seen people complain on 2ch that the ratings make no sense so even those Japanese hardcore XBLIG fans are not trusting them that much. I think in Japan the volume is simply too low. Devs should probably include some sort of nag screen to rate the game (if only it could be done from inside the game, but that's not happening...just something like "Your 5 star rating helps us continue to update this game")
http://marketplace.xbox.com/ja-JP/Games/XboxIndieGames?SortBy=TopRated
(You might have to be signed out to see it, or open Private Browsing and copy paste this there...you can replace ja-JP with en-GB or whatever country you please)
Japan top twenty is now:
1. Protect me Knight
2. Revolver360
3. DecimationX
4. Escape Goat
5. Dead Pixels
6. Cursed Loot
7. Mahjongg
8. Moe Mekuri 2.5
9. Wizorb
10. Soulcaster II
11. Firing Range
12. Aban Hawkins and 1000 Spikes
13. Nyan-Tech
14. Total Miner: Forge
15. Decay - Part 3
16. Cthulhu Saves the World
17. Flight Adventure 2
18. Avatar Snowball Fight
19. Red Tie Miner
20. Marksman: Long Range
They have pretty interesting tastes (and good I might say)
With the removal of top rated sorting as top level selection it's certainly less of a problem, but you can still get there from within new released or top downloaded, or even from genre based sort you can then sort by rating so it still matters a bit.
Has anyone else's Picks selection taken a turn for the bizarre? Half of the games in my list now are 2 star games.
SmallCaveGames
Neo Member
Yes my picks list is entirely strange. A bunch of sports games (which I rarely play) and then two very poor indie games. I am assuming that's a WIP.
The latest Kotaku list ain't bad at all.
The latest Kotaku list ain't bad at all.
DaveVoyles
Member
I wonder why there is such a discrepancy b/t the JP and US lists.
HadesGigas
Member
Japan's userbase is way smaller and generally more into the niche hardcore kind of genres. And then among them probably a small fraction even looks at Indie Games.
FunInfusedGames
Member
US is far and away the largest market for XBLIG. UK is second. The rest of the world is really only a tiny fraction of sales.