Unity Game Developer Contest 2016

Finally got it to work. First did a "Clean Solution" from the Build menu. Then had to delete the obj and bin folders of the visual studio project due to various other error messages preventing it from building. Now I can build it for both the Store and mobile emulators.

 

Is it possible to publish the game to Windows Store, but to retain it somehow private until the contest finishes so only the Unity/Windows team be able to inspect it? I am asking this, because it seems that I will manage to create the base stuff and a lot's of other things, but won't manage to be 100% ready with animations, extra features and other fluff, which can be obvious when playing and produce negative impact like bad rating for example.

 

Yes, I've done the same

During your submission in the "Pricing and availability" page,
click the "Show options" link next to "Distribution and visibility"

you have three options for hiding your app

1. require a direct link to see your app
2. specify people who can see your app
3. only customers with a promotional code can download it

 

Ah so there is such an option. Thanks for sharing!

 

Can we make sure that does not breach the contest rules? Do we have to release a public build?

 

How long does it take to get the 'unique token' for developer access from MS, I received the email 2 days ago saying I'd get it soon and still haven't gotten anything. I've checked my spam and deleted folder and can't find any emails from 'unityoffers@microsoft.com'.

How long did it take you guys to get yours?

Edit:

oh... wow, ok well then... this might be a problem if first time windows store devs are recommended to submit their games to the windows store several weeks before Jan 27th... ugh, I really hope I get it soon.

 

We have submitted our game to the Windows Store, but we are currently struggling with getting our app certified, and we aren't sure how to proceed. We made a submission with was deemed non-compliant:



What we have done so far is that we cancel our current submission, make the changes, and then resubmit it, but the errors are still occuring even though we have removed Brazil, Korea and Russia as targets.

 

@Freaking-Pingo that was my first Non-Compliant email too
after i removed Brazil, Korea, Taiwan and Russia from availability i moved onto a different reason for Non-Compliance

might be because they don't mention Taiwan in the email ? but i remember seeing it in a blog post for required game rating certificates

 

What, are you serious? How on earth were I to figure that one out. Thank you, I'll surely give it a try.

 

Do we have to target multiple markets? I was hoping to do just USA to avoid having to localize (and the ratings issues) for an initial release.

 

I'd happily participate in the contest, but I've got one question. My game is "mobile-friendly". There is a lot of quite fast tapping on moving objects in game. With fingers it is easy, but not so easy (I wouldn't say hard neither) when you use mouse on the PC. So my question is: should I release the game on PC and mobile, or should I only target mobile devices? What is more important for Microsoft judges - targeting more devices within UWP or feeling that game is designed for the device it is running on?

 

Without knowing their submission criterias, my assumption would be that it would really be a benefit it it could support all Universal 10 devices but not a requirement. If we are just a little bit realistic about it, making a game that can be executed on everything from a 8.1 windows mobile phone to the xbox one, is a really time consuming task that requires a lot of testing and multiple design iterations. As long something gets on the windows store that is publically available.

 

I can't say if international availability is a requirement for the Unity contest. But why wait with the international release (unless you are attempting a softlaunch)?. Usually you mark which languages your game have been localized into, and thus, an international player can filter english games in their search filter. Additionally, the Windows Store supports up to 240+/- countries and getting your game localized to each unique language is not going to happen. I could possibly find an exception if your game is heavily story driven. Just think that you are possibly excluding potential players, who actually wants to play your game, but can't as they live in a different non-native english country.

 

You hit the nail on the head with soft-launch. I am using this contest as motivation to finally make a first release, so I expect to use analytics to improve on my project before getting it in front of the globe. I care a lot about properly localizing for cultures as well, not just languages, so that will take some research and time.

 

I've read through this thread and the terms and conditions and haven't found an answer to the following question:

Any ideas as to whether a game containing IAP will be valid as a submission?

I'm currently working on an update to a game I've released previously (for free) on platforms other than UWP, and part of that update includes new features locked behind an IAP (kind of like an expansion). Another part of that update was my intention to publish it to Windows Store, targeting UWP. Should I stop trying to finish the "expansion" of the game before the contest deadline and just port it as-is and then add the IAP later in an update?

I'd also like an answer to the question about whether or not we can make our submission "private" through the duration of the contest in case it's just barely not quite ready and needs a few minor changes/fixes before public release.

 

I also would love to learn about that, my similar question is not answered : (

 

@MaciejKrzykwa It says in the FAQ:
Does the game have to be compatible with all devices running Windows Universal Platform?

Although we prefer games that can work on any device, you can submit a game that works on either phone, tablet, or pc.

 

Help please !!

 

Alrighty, that is nice to know

 

Is there any cheap windows 10 mobile device on the market which I can buy just to test the game which I've developed?? As I know there are not much of Windows 10 mobile devices, but there are some Windows 8.1 mobile phones (if i'm not mistaken).. So, any cheap models of nokia lumia?? which can be upgraded to windows 10 mobille??

 

I'm just using the emulators that come with the SDK and hope that it will work just fine in the device. There are no Win 10 phones in Turkish markets yet.

 

Visual Studio sucks. Thank God we still have Mono Develop.

 

Please, I need some advice here. I have a great game created in Unity 3 migrated to Unity 4 and now migrated to Unity 5.3.1. My OS is Windows 7. This awesome game is for PC only (NO android, no Smartphons or any other platform) .

Im struggling to publish it on Windows Store. The tutorials and videos I find aim to the fact that I need Windows 10 in order to make the publishing.

Please let me know if this is true or there is any other way to participate on the contest. I dont have and wont have, in the short time, a Windows 10 installed on my development machine.

Many thnx in advz.

 

A $60 phone was suggested in this thread already:

 

Yes, in order to build for windows universal 10, then you will need a windows 10 OS. An alternative solution would be to install a virtual machine such as VMWare with Windows 10 and setup up your IDE there.

 

@mechangel
Yeah, I knew that, but it is not exactly answer to my question. But whatever ;p. We decide to go only for mobile, simply because our game is designed for mobile devices

You can already check our game "Swimming Teddybears" in the store https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/games/swimming-teddybears/9nblggh5ft1s
Good luck everyone!

P.S. Whole publishing process took only ~12 hours, that is great!

 

This sounds like a good news: Now Available: Single age rating system to simplify app submissions

 

.. hmmmm the Lumia 640 is 240$ over here... is that really a 60$ phone??

 

Yup:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/phone/lumia640/offers/?ct=S

 

Good news about the publishing!
Sorry 'bout that, I should have added a comment instead of just linking you the FAQ. Overall I believe what the language in the judging criteria is saying is that they care about multiplatform, but not as much as the rest of the criteria.
"Does your game target multiple devices?" falls into the 20% weighted category, while "How polished" and "How intuitive is your user experience?" falls into the 50% weighted category.

 

Hi, I got a simple question just to be sure.
I requested a Windows developer code or whatever you can call it and I got it. I thought I would be able to get a game out for this but real life stuff got in the way so I couldn't finish it in time. Since I thought I would get it ready I signed up and everything so I am a Windows developer. But does this mean I can get in some sort of trouble because I got this for free from Unity/Microsoft and then I don't use it for the purpose it was meant to be used.

I'm sorry if this seems like a stupid question but I just want to be sure.

 

I am trying to port one of my android games to Windows store it build and deploys to my machine fine but when I try to create the package it fails to build.

Can anyone help? What are the steps to create a package to upload to Windows store?

 

I paid for mine by accident (I was so happy the sign up site was working!), so they are even now. Haha!

 

This one's a doozy. It took me a lot of fiddling with settings and switching what version of the SDK and Unity I was using, but the latest of both should play nice together now. Have you seen this video? https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/topics/scripting/taking-unity-games-universal-windows-platform

 

Pls someone help me with the script to set sleep timeout to infinity for mobile devices

 

This is meant to work

Code (CSharp):

1. Screen.sleepTimeout = SleepTimeout.NeverSleep;

 

Hey guys, was any one of you able to successfully integrate Unity IAP with the windows store (UWP) ? It is supposed to be supported but always failing to get available products.

With Unity Ads not supporting the Windows Store , what are the initialization options if this IAP fails ?

 

Unity IAP works on .Net but currently not supported on IL2CPP scripting backend
guide here

 

Thanks for the reply, I saw this and followed it without success.

My question was; were you able to get it to work , I know they claim it works but I wanted to know if anyone was able to get to do it for the UWP on windows 10.

 

@noob101 yea, i've only tested in

Code (CSharp):

1. module.useMockBillingSystem = true;

mode with xaml .net x86 build on 5.3.1p2-3

 

Thanks

It works with me with the mock billing. I will give it 24 hours , may be there is something on the backend .the the App and the IAP are in the store but it was published very recently

 

I'm going through that same mess at the moment.

Porting my app in terms of coding was about an hour. 5 hours of additional installs, reinstalls changes, forum posts. It's become tomorrow's problem.

This isn't a new thing. It was equally painful to build for Windows 8.1 universal last time I tried too. Part of it is Unity bugs. The bigger part is usually Microsoft bugs. Both are why I normally skip Windows Store.

 

EH? why I been using for ever.. what is wrong?

 

I can agree with that sentiment. Visual Studio, in of itself for code editing and debugging, I've always found very decent. Especially mixed with Resharper.

Whenever they try to do anything clever beyond the raw coding purpose though, I've found Visual Studio to be a horrendous mess... From poorly designed installers, to short sighted package handling, to junior level mistakes such as hard-coded SDK paths (warning to those in here --- make sure you to install the Windows 10 SDK to the recommended folder).

That said, the coding experience has always been spectacular for me and easy to work with!

I'd also like to encourage the Unity team to go back and complete the support documentation. Right now there is no reference in the manual or scripting guide about Windows 10 Universal, nor does it explain the advantages of different build types (D3D vs XAML), etc. Be nice to have.

 

Can i release my game only in a couple of countries, for example? Will i still be able to enter the contest?

Or can i use one of these settings in the "Pricing and availability" page?

1. require a direct link to see your app
2. specify people who can see your app
3. only customers with a promotional code can download it

Will my game still be eligible for the contest?

 

Sorted out.

 

had the same with Microsoft and Apple for a business account

i didn't even think if the call was official or not

 

Good to know, Apple was so long ago I don't remember what I went through with them If this is a legit phone call, it would be in Microsoft's best interests to make sure it isn't a surprise.

 

communication is key
in my case i was expecting the call, can't remember if it was during signup or from an email
signed up a while ago so