There is also a Summer Uprising

First, just watch the video.

Yes, these are all XBLIG games coming out this summer.  Pretty sick stuff in there, and though I’m not on the list, I have to take this opportunity to give them a shout-out, for many reasons.

First, the amount of effort put forth by Armless Octopus Dave is mindboggling.  I’ve seen the XNA forum thread on this event, and it’s gotta be the biggest on the site.  Lots of people interested in the event, wanting to join in, with ideas on how to run it, and he’s managed to wrangle it all.  I’m seriously impressed.  I don’t know how they divide the labor but I have to assume Kris is picking up a good bit of slack as well.  I mean, for the IGWU I somehow managed to get credit for helping kick it off without the hassle of doing any real organization (Robert handled that), so I don’t have firsthand knowledge of how much goes into it–but it’s gotta be huge, and we all gotta give props, final cut or no.

Second, I’d still like to see XBLIG grow as a platform.  It’s taken a beating this year with the ratings shenanigans (which slaughtered SC2’s profitability–SC1 still outsells it 4:1) so it’d be great to see it get more traction.  Maybe there’s a critical point at which Microsoft decides it’s time to add Achievements and an improved top list system, so if we can get closer to that point, I’m all for it.

Why is Escape Goat not on the list?  I don’t have a great reason for not entering it, but my somewhat passable reason is that I didn’t have something quite finished enough to nominate.  There’s a chance it’ll be done in time for the event, but not a certainty, and with 50+ nominees I figured it’s best to sit this one out.  When I get into hardcore game development mode, it’s hard for me to think about anything else.  My involvement in the community is sporadic to say the least.  (Look at the date stamps on this blog for instance.)

So for now, I’m just looking forward to some of these games.  Good luck to everyone and congratulations to the devs who made the first round of cuts.

If you like Soulcaster, get Cthulhu Saves the World

Just released by Winter Uprising cohort Zeboyd Games. I spent some time with the playtest version and it has everything you want in a classic RPG. It is humorous, has great music, and pokes fun at the genre without losing any authenticity. And it’s long, I’m about 3 hours in and probably not half done yet. You’ll get your 240 MS Points’ worth.

I know I haven’t been putting in many shoutouts to the other IGWU games, so apologies to the rest of the crew… but this game is special because Robert spent a bunch of time promotion the event and his contribution (CSTW) was delayed as a result. Worth the wait! Download the demo!

Indie Games Winter Uprising trailer & first releases!

The trailer went online a few days ago, so I’m a bit late in posting this, but check it out if you haven’t already.

Indie Games Winter Uprising from Nakatomi HMC on Vimeo.

In related news, you can already pick up the first three titles: Epic Dungeon, Break Limit, and Hypership Out of Control. I playtested these and can vouch for their awesomeness. Epic Dungeon in particular sucked me in for over an hour before I knew what was going on.

Soulcaster II is coming very soon! Stay tuned!

The Winter Games Uprising is coming

I’m currently occupied putting the finishing touches on Soulcaster II and haven’t had much time to work on this site, but I’m going to write a quick note here to address the new game since Indie Games Winter Uprising has been announced.

The concept grew from a conversation I had with Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games (Breath of Death VII and the upcoming Cthulhu Saves the World) at the start of this month.  This was when we were first displaced on the dashboard and sales were in the gutter.  I asked him if he wanted to release Cthulhu at the same time that I released Soulcaster II, so we could do some cross promotion.  Even though the games are different genres, they target the same demographic so if we can get someone to visit the channel for one, maybe she’ll buy the other as well?  If we were releasing $59.95 retail games, it would be ludicrous to synchronize releases because we would clearly cannibalize each other.  But really, the sales issue on XBLIG is due to lack of traffic, not someone deciding how he’s going to spend his $3 monthly gaming budget.

Robert was into the idea and thought we should take it to the next level.  If we coordinate two releases, why not coordinate 12?  Let’s see who’s releasing something exciting in the next month and get them on board.  We decided to focus on high quality, non-avatar games for this event, to put our best foot forward to the gaming community.

More traffic = more sales = more revenue for Microsoft = increased likelihood of promoting Indie Games on the dashboard.  That’s the theory at least.

Or maybe we end up just cannibalizing one another’s sales.  Wouldn’t that be ironic!

I just wanted to say huge props to Robert for not only wrangling the devs together on the XNA forums, but for handling the press release as well.  It’s good to have the pull of a hit like BODVII on your record–the press pays attention.  Once I’m done with my game I can put forth some marketing as well.  I guess a trailer is in order!  But first things first…gotta finish this game in the next week.