I was looking at the dream build play website and came across some information that I have a question about.

First, I noticed one of the prizes is this:

2. A $3,000 (USD) stipend per team. Each finalist entry will be awarded $3,000 (USD) per team. This may be used to help pay travel costs for attending GDC, although the stipend will be provided even if you cannot attend.

Then, I noticed this:

Once you’re done, kick back and relax while our judges review the entries. The Finalist teams will be announced at the Game Developers Conference 2008 in San Francisco, CA on February 18-22, 2008.

So my question is, are finalist going to be silently announced before hand so they can get enough notice for the trip?

Thanks for your response,

Matt D

The review of all submissions will start on th 28th January and the decision about the Finalist teams will be made within the nexy two weeks (or earlier). The Finalist will be contacted as soon as we know them so they can prepare for the trip to San Fransisco. The public announcement will take place at GDC.

Ralf Herbrich, Microsoft Research Cambridge

Thank you Ralf.

All finalists have been already contacted, or is there still hope ? :)
Thx

When is the the presentation happening and will there be a webcast?

Winners announced

http://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/default.aspx

Congratulations to all the winners!
I'm downloading them all now. Looks like some interesting games.

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Aztecgames - aztecgames.home.comcast.net
LiveSpace (XNA blog) - aztecgames.spaces.live.com

Congratulations to all the winners. Well Done!

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There are a lot of people who are dead while they are still alive. I want to be alive until the day I die.
-= Paulo Coelho =-

No webcast planned for now. But here at GDC the Silicon Minds booth has been packed with people all day!

 

Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, Microsoft Resarch Cambridge

Impressions of XNA games by this website seem to be pretty harsh.  I haven't played the winning games yet myself, but I think the writers response is a bit harsh and unprofessional for 3 week demos.

My game didn't win and I know it is anything but boring, so surely the winners don't deserve this kind of media coverage.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/19/gdc08-xna-booth-tour/

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/19/gdc08-going-baaa-listic-for-isheep/

For those of you who had the priviledge of attending, what are your impressions?

- Matt D

I walked by the booth today and there is no indication (well i didn't see any as i passed) that the games were produced in a short period of time, nor that the judging focus was on innovative AI.

Since the journalists all remember last years Dream Build Play and journalists don't take any time to research anything they are making the unreasonable comparisons that you read about.

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The ZBuffer - News and information for XNA and Managed DirectX

That is too bad.  As a community, we can use this as motivation.

The ZMan [MVP/Moderator]:

I walked by the booth today and there is no indication (well i didn't see any as i passed) that the games were produced in a short period of time, nor that the judging focus was on innovative AI.

Since the journalists all remember last years Dream Build Play and journalists don't take any time to research anything they are making the unreasonable comparisons that you read about.

Well, from what I've seen it has become cool to hate on microsoft anyway.
In my searches for video from the xna booth, the majoriy seem focused on how 1 of the display xboxes broke on the floor.
Also, like you said, without the knowledge of the contest rules, people don't quite get these games.
I showed them to some people who didn't have all the background on the contest and they had questionable responses as well.

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Aztecgames - aztecgames.home.comcast.net
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barkers crest:

Impressions of XNA games by this website seem to be pretty harsh.  I haven't played the winning games yet myself, but I think the writers response is a bit harsh and unprofessional for 3 week demos.

My game didn't win and I know it is anything but boring, so surely the winners don't deserve this kind of media coverage.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/19/gdc08-xna-booth-tour/

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/19/gdc08-going-baaa-listic-for-isheep/

For those of you who had the priviledge of attending, what are your impressions?

- Matt D

It was harsh, given the timeframe and constraints the contest was run under. Apparently the journalist discarded those notions.

 

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XNA Evangelist Dude.
http://letskilldave.com
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Kotaku also covered these games here. While they weren't as harsh as joystiq, they still didn't tell (or know) the whole story.
Fotunately, Cryovat and George Clingerman gave more explanations in the comments.

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Microsoft XNA MVP

My blog: 12 months, 12 samples : April Sample: Dynamic 2D Shadows

David "LetsKillDave" Weller:

It was harsh, given the timeframe and constraints the contest was run under. Apparently the journalist discarded those notions.

"In my searches for video from the xna booth, the majoriy seem focused on how 1 of the display xboxes broke on the floor."

I found this to be a shame as well, I have been scouring the net for any video and the only one I have seen focuses on the dead Xbox, shame that but it was still nice to see inside, I had expected it to be darker and more confined.

This saddens me to some extent, partly because my game was ineligible because my brother works at Microsoft (more about this coming up in a blog post by the Cambridge team.  Makes me wonder what the media would've had to say about mine)  Because it seems to hurt both Microsoft's and the indy game industry's image a bit. 

Even though we all know that XNA is a brilliant piece of software that allows anyone who's smart enough but lacks tools to create a good game, it's kind of getting a bit of bad press here because it seems like some people are forgetting that this is only the warm-up competition.  We all remember the main competition last year and the brilliant games there.  The games at GDC, and mine, can't be expected to be the best they could be without more time and more work.  And here we have the media categorizing them as the best the 3D indie game world can ever accomplish.

Also, I don't think the media will ever pass up a good (or not so good) opportunity to bash Microsoft.  Just think of: yahoo failed buyout, possible epic buyout, HDDVD's loss to Bluray, on and on...

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Merely a man, nothing more.
Just a nobody trying to exalt Somebody.

Two things:

1. Regarding ArmoredBlitz, here's the story: http://blogs.technet.com/apg/default.aspx

2. Regarding the Silicon Minds warm-up Contest, as you all know the participants had only 7 weeks. Most only heard about the contest in January. Most did the job in 4 weeks, and not full time. My deepest respect and admiration to your great job! Don't mind some of the comments out there: some people do not have all the information.

Joaquin Quiñonero Candela, Microsoft Research Cambridge

Well, I really don't see the point of those contests. It only does make this API to look bad. They don't even release the source for the comunity. So, what is the point of this?

XNASorcerer:

Well, I really don't the point of those contests. It only does make this API to look bad. They don't even release the source for the comunity. So, what is the point of this?

The point is to give the community as a whole a goal to try and achieve in a set timeframe. It's for fun and prizes and also as a warm-up to the much larger main event which is bound to be getting ready to start soon. These contests aren't necessarily about publicity, but more a chance to see what indie developers can create in a short time frame.

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Nick Gravelyn -- Microsoft XNA MVP
XNA Wiki | Zune Games

thankfully today they opened up the games that are on XBLA which took longer than 4 weeks to develop and with those and the announcements its hard to continue to bash XNA express.

I tried to tell the MS guys today that they need better singage on the Silicon Minds booth but aparantly they think that everyone at GDC heard of the competition and somehow knows that it was a short timespan with a focus on innovative AI...

 

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The ZBuffer - News and information for XNA and Managed DirectX

Well, everyone knows that make a game is hard task and whenever you try to make a game fast, it won't almost all the time to be a good game. So, intentional or not, it creates bad publicty.

Also, if XNA api was really intended to be a short time frame creation tool for indie developers, it would come with some default libraries for animations, for physics and for LOD multitextured terrains, and also a basic AI library.

XNASorcerer:

Also, if XNA api was really intended to be a short time frame creation tool for indie developers, it would come with some default libraries for animations, for physics and for LOD multitextured terrains, and also a basic AI library.

Well, I do believe that is what all the articles, samples, tutorials and these forums are for.
Compared to having to program and test an engine for each game you make from scratch, xna seriously  allows for short term creation of your game ideas.
Then you also include the fact that whatever you write can run on xbox360, windows and now zune and you really can't beat xna for quick development.

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Aztecgames - aztecgames.home.comcast.net
LiveSpace (XNA blog) - aztecgames.spaces.live.com

It seems as though the announcements have washed out all of the initial negative press.

I've been looking around and Dishwasher is carrying the XNA torch quite well.

I played a few last night and was quite impressed.