Unity Game Developer Contest 2016

If you already have an account you can still use that. The submission for the contest does have to be a new game and has to target Windows 10, but everything you learned from your 8.1 games applies, it is the same process.

 

32 GB sounds a bit high. Did you install the Windows Phone emulators? those are large (in the 10+GB range). Also since you are targeting Windows 10, you don't need need the 8.x Kits, just the tools for Windows 10 (part of Visual Studio install). The iso for Visual studio should be ~ 4GB..

 

If you are running Windows 7,8, or 8.1, upgrading to Windows 10 is free.. and you can keep your apps (it us an update not a reinstall)

 

Oh wow, looks like I will be removing them then... (Didn't know that was the reason for the big download)
Plus, it actually came out a bit smaller (26GB) than I expected. Otherwise, all working now. Would they work with unity apps? (I'm assuming no, judging by the performance and compatibility of software emulated video chips. )


Also, it definitely makes sense in this thread, but still, very surprised to see someone from Microsoft here.
EDIT: Also, 32GB's nothing to most PC gamers on steam... (Some steam games top the 30GB mark apparently)

 

So I presume you're referring to a game already released on Windows Store 8.1?

 

Just before everyone gets overexcited, you should hear about previous contests, in which I took part.

I have a strong impression 1st place always goes to a pretty large studio, which already has a popular game. More likely you will not even get a notice that your game has been reviewed during the contest. Unfortunately, it is aimed to bring existing popular Unity games to the Windows 10 platform, not to sponsor and/or excite any single developers.

 

True... but what if some indie made something even BETTER?! nvm, I do know where you're getting at.

 

@mikhail111777 I have thought about this in a first place before i even enter the contest, because basically the contest has no criteria over the makers of the game i.e., how big the team is, how long did it took them to make the game, when did they make it etc. It seems to me: "Port your Unity game to Windows OS Contest". That being said i am still motivated to push forward the game and give it for review. Even if don't get any price ill get my game ready and decide what moves can i take from there

 

I don't know...would a legitimately successful large or even small studio change their development or release plans to try and win $25K from MS or Unity? It shouldn't or it makes you wonder about their business model. The word of mouth from the contest isn't that great. $25K is a pittance to a successful studio. Now there are studios with government funding that will look legitimate successful businesses but aren't and will fold when government funding ceases that might enter but I wouldn't worry about them. If they did enter you'd wonder about the feasibility of their long term business plans as their is a lot more to a game studio than games they'd need to contend with as they actually have resources to tend to those things most of us don't have. If what you had planned coincides with the contest entry deadline or you use the contest as motivation to do something new, then go for it. No need to make excuses for losing.

 

So naive... Check results of previous contests, there are large studios who won the prize by porting their games. Porting to Windows 10 takes a day or two, no need to adjust any plans. 25k split between 5 employees is 5k per employee over 2 days of work.

And a lot of developers complained that they got no information and have no idea if someone reviewed their game.

 

I was thinking already successful businesses would save themselves the embarrassment of appearing to be Shaquille O'Neil going one on one against Dali Lama.

 

Define "New" please. Since Release date of?

And please clarify "target Windows 10".

Currently I have an 8.0 and 8.1 build uploaded for sale for the game I wish to submit (actually I submitted it yesterday). Do I need to upload a Window 10 download? I didn't bother with a "10" build since 8.1 runs on 10 fine.

 

Sorry dont know if I asked this. But will vs community do the job or vs code. From what I understood community is for mobile devices and code for pces? I guess I miss something.
Also what UWP ranges windows 10, windows phone windows 10. Because I spent more then 8 hours today walking like idiot from bigger to bigger shop in my city and they all got windows 8.1 phones non wondows 10. Also how big os visual studio I espected it to be less then gb but them 10gb sounds terrible to someone with limited data.

 

Hi guys,
I have a small question concerning the contest rules.

I would like to submit my solo-developed RTS game “Artificial Defense” as a port from iOS/Android to Windows Universal. All rules and requirements are fine for me and my game, but I have 1 important question:

About 1 year ago I created a new, blank app in the windows dev center to reserve the name “Artificial Defense” for my game, just in case I wish to develop a Windows version in the future. But I never uploaded any files, I never added an app-icon, and I never submitted Artificial Defense for review / to the store. The entry was just a blank name reservation.

I would love to port my game to Windows for this contest now, but I would like to be sure that this former “name reservation entry” is not a deal-breaker for the contest somehow.

So the question is:
Is a former app name reservation (without uploading or submitting something) in the windows dev center a problem for the contest rules?

Thank you very much for the effort.

Kind regards,
Thiemo

 

One thing I noticed with past contests is there are so many entries that it seems there can't be enough time to properly judge each game. What if a game has a lot of content or levels and takes a long time to play?

 

Do you really need to complete a game to be able to judge it properly? If you want a successful game in the current ecosystem, if it doesn't take off in the first few minutes you have a problem. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if entries are preselected by icon and title. And above all the number of installs on other platforms.

Though I would be interested to see how Undertale would have fared as a contest entry before it became huge.

 

Yes because if you don't complete the game then you're only partially judging the game and could miss something like a really well done part or something of high quality. Maybe the game is really simple at first to get the player used to the mechanics as an example?
They can't do that..its judged on a few things so if they throw away games based on icon or title then they really wouldn't be properly judging it.

And back to my ties problem. What if 2 games get perfect scores in every category? Who wins?

And one more thing.. I noticed that fun was not in the criteria!!! Like how much fun the judges had playing the game. It's not there as part of the judging!!!

Also it would seem the order matters too because lets say there are 300 poor quality games by the time a really good game comes in the judges might be so worn out and tired that they might not even want to play it. It seems like in order to really do it right there would need to be at least 6 months of judging depending on how many entries...

 

Hi,

I'm currently working on a game, one of my target platforms is the Windows App Store using SDK 10. Is it possible to enter a demo of my game into the contest? Will that qualify?

 

Hi,

If you use a Unity asset for the game, is it possible to still enter it?

Thanks.

 

So if i submit my demo to the Windows Store and complete step 3 it's good to go? Thanks for reply!

 

So, you got bootcamp or something to work?

Of course, it could be that Microsoft have a Mac version... have no idea, I don't think they do VS for macs yet. (The Microsoft Employee that showed up a few days ago may be able to provide insight into this one)

 

VS code is basically a stripped down Visual Studio for simply viewing and editing, er, code files, aka. files with .cs, .java, etc... you name it. Visual Studio Community however is a full IDE for building Windows apps. (And I've heard web development, iOS and Android app building's possible too)

For UWP devices, I thik most win8.1 phones will be getting an upgrade to 10. Maybe ask @jaimermx? He's from Microsoft and could answer this one. (Or maybe not, it's also dependant on the manufacturer oftentimes)

As for the size of visual studio... this one's tricky, because it depends on what you install. In this case, have the base visual studio, and the windows 10 devkit installed. (You can install it through the vs2015 installer) Whatever you do though, if you have limited data, don't install the windows phone emulators, as they're actually quite big, and can double the install size. (jaimermx pointed this out a while ago)

EDIT: Try looking for this one, it might be out in stores now: http://www.techradar.com/au/news/ph...ia-950-release-date-news-and-features-1306140

EDIT2: Here's a link I found for the Lumia 950: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/phone/lumia950/
Just change the en-us in the link to your region.

 

If it's something fairly new, (aka. not published before) it should qualify.... I think.

EDIT: Jo beat me to it!

 

no i never used bootcamp but ill find a way...

 

to bad i have a new small imac

 

So it doesn't qualify for using bootcamp with windows 10?

 

Hi,
I would recommend VS community. It is free and has everything you need. If you were looking at code to try to run it on a Mac, you should instead use parallels or VMWare or bootcamp to run Windows on MacOs (or apple hardware).
VSCode runs on MacOs, but in the end to ship and submit your game, you do want/need to run it on Windows, so VSCode won't be enough if you want a high quality game..

With regards to phones, the Lumia 950, 950XL are shipping with Windows 10 you should be able to find them at operator's stores, or your preferred online retailer.. (microsoftstore.com) has them.. Those are good phones, but a bit expensive ($550USD range).. if you want a less expensive option get something like the Lumia640 $60USD.. it will come with Windows Phone 8.1, but once you have phone, install the WIndows Insider app (free) and that lets you get updates to the OS, it is all free and pretty straight forward..

Visual Studio Community with Update 1 and tools iso download is ~6GB so that should be your ceiling on download size, expanded it is likely 10-12.. Sorry if that sounds like too much; I think it is comparable to say Xcode.
Here are the tips to try to save space, though I can't predict how much it saves:
Phone emulators are large so if you are tight on space and have the 640 device or just want to submit a WIndows game (not a mobile game) then you don't need emulators..
The VS install can be a web installer.. so that likely installs/downloads less than 6GB pending the features you choose to install.

Good luck ..

 

errrr ummmm idk what that means and i just found out how to follow my 3rd person character

 

Target Windows 10 is exactly what it sounds like, in your submission, you should target Windows 10 OS. Not 8.1.
All 8.1 games run on Windows 10, but in this case the rules say target Windows 10. That means using Unity 5.2+ and targeting Windows 10. My guess is updating your game to target 10 is trivial.. APIs are the same, etc..

On the question about clarifying "new" I should explain that I did not make the rules of the contest, nor am I a judge, etc.. but I asked Patrick, the Microsoft sponsor for the guidance, and he said "game should be new to the store, not an 8.1 to 10 update".

If your game is brand new (submitted yesterday), I think it could/should count as new if you can get it to target Windows 10, since your games first submission to store was after contest started.. If you choose to do go for it, let us know the name and I can ask the official contest lords to weigh in for your case.

Good luck!
...

 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/games/dragon-ridire/9nblggh5z41h

Released it mid-September 2015. And yeah I'm making a "Universal 10" build now, no harm no foul in doing that whether or not it passes the rulesets.

 

Oh, I was guessing you might have looked at the apple bootcamp support link I posted. (It had details of getting windows 10 to run on any fairly recent mac system)

And congrats...

 

So where can i download iso?
And if i download that iso will i need any additional download, thank you and sorry

 

Nah, don't be, we're all here to help each other either way!

Anyway, you don't have to download the ISO, although it does seem to be a cleaner method of doing it. (Maybe I should have done that... ) The other method's using the VS2015 download assistant (not unity's!) to select what to install. (The ISO possibly has similar options)

 

but I need something that I can download at my friends house copy it to usb and then install it at home. And if any additional download then needs to be done to be under 3gb.

 

If the required windows update's on the ISO, then the ISO should be enough. It's probably a good idea to check what the ISO includes if it's stated.

 

What exactly means for Indy's. If you take out Christmas and New Year , it left only on week? That is cruelty.

 

With games being released all the time, especially around holidays, I suspect the usual winners are ones that were going to release anyway, so didn't really adjust plans much, if any.

Still any reason to make a game is a good one, and if you do make a game that is great, you'll be rewarded in other ways, so don't do it just for this contest.

 

Plus, if it's a paid game, you'll probably start seeing money rolling in from that.

 

One question (So that I get the prize when I win). Being under 18 can I myself make a game and enter it in the contest with the name of my brother?

 

To make it fair they should do tier contests, AAA, indie, freelance, hobby based users. So its a bit more fair, good luck beating a team of 30 or more, as a freelancer or someone who does it for fun.. I won't bother due to this. Plus I hate windows based games for mobile, and Xbox will take me way to long.. or PC. So good luck to those that do..

 

I would think so since alot of games use this, and this includes AAA, they used textures from CGtextures and other places.

 

Just submitted my game Tallowmere to the contest.

Good luck all!

 

Nice! Mine should be ready in a few weeks.

EDIT: Just saw the art style of your game... mine should feel right at home!

 

Perfect! I've been working on a game for a bit now... I'll have to hurry to meet the deadline though...

 

How long? I'm nearly done the core code of mine, and the theme tune's finished... Next after that is more tunes and levels (and actual game modes... )

In fact, would it be wise to make a WIP thread on a project going into this comp or not? (Or is it not allowed? )

 

Btw I see that "honorable mentions" so that means that more one guy can get pro licence, so more then one if they are good enough ?