General

The Ishisoft logo and the language rules

IshiEiketsu — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:30:07 GMT

Hi,

recently-ish the "no unsupported languages" rule was introduced: http://creators.xna.com/en-US/news/unsupportedlanguage

The logo for Ishisoft, used in Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp and the currently-in-playtest Johnny Platform Saves Xmas! is the Japanese character Ishi ( http://www.jp41.com/kanji/ishi.html ) which means 'stone'. Technically this should require a Japanese review, however no complaints or violation notice have been brought up for Biscuit Romp.

I'm quite happy to submit for review in Japanese as well, but does anyone have any experience with this? Does it usually take a long time to get reviewed in a foreign language?

Also does marking a game with Japanese support show up in the marketplace? It would be confusing if it did, since the game only features one Japanese character.

Alternatively would common sense prevail since including the character in Biscuit Romp (which has been purchased in Japan) has caused no problems, and the single character is easily researchable and understood? I'm not sure just how strict these rules are.

Apologies if answers to this are available to read, I did read up on this stuff a while ago but have forgotten most of it by now, and I have a busy weekend ahead of me with no PC access. If anyone can shed light on it or provide an opinion that would be very much appreciated! I've also sent an email to creators@microsoft.com so I'll post here if there's a response from that. Thanks.

2D oldschool shooter project

Phaxan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:40:01 GMT

Hello,

I'd like to invit you all to view my new blog concerning a 2D oldschool shooter I'm working on alone actually for Xbox Indie Games. It will take me times since I have to create everything but I'll do my best to release it in mid 2010.

http://munesoft.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-creation-first-video.html

Stay tuned !

Cheers

Phaxan

who is attending MIGS 2009 (Montreal International Game Summit)?

Matthew Doucette — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:17:09 GMT

MIGS 2009 (http://sijm.ca/2009/) starts Monday, November 16th and ends Tuesday, November 17th, 2009. Who's going? Jason and I will be attending. The schedule: http://sijm.ca/2009/?page_id=81.

Language Issue

Runway 360 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:49:12 GMT

[Content deleted by the original poster (myself)] Thanks for relocating my posts. But it gets easy to be spotted
by the part of the community which I don't want to antagonize. I don't want to be infamous in the Internet for doing
right things.

Do i fail or not for xna logo in video?

The Riddler 24 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:54:04 GMT

Hi i have just view the trailer for weponds of choise and notice the xna logo at the very end of the video.

Iv posted in the game forum and asked the developor but got no responce.

I just can not remembor if i fail or not?

Thank you for you help.

Share your sales numbers

Sangretu — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:50:37 GMT

This thread is for those developers who would like to share their download and sales numbers with the rest of us. Please keep discussion to a minimum and just post your stats if you are so inclined.

(last updated September 29, 2009)

Game : Aaron's Ping-Pong

NOV 2008 (Released at 200 points)

Trials: 5421

Purchases: 265

Conversion: 4.89%

Points: 53000

In USD: $424.00

DEC 2008

Trials: 4643

Purchases: 337

Conversion: 7.26%

Points: 67400

In USD: $539.20

JAN 2009

Trials: 1919

Purchases: 163

Points: 32600

Conversion: 8.49%

In USD: $260.80

FEB 2009

Trials: 916

Purchases: 58

Conversion: 6.33%

Points: 11600

In USD: $92.80

MAR 2009

Trials: 810

Purchases: 54

Conversion: 7.28%

Points: 11800

In USD: $94.40

APR 2009

Trials: 625

Purchases: 41

Conversion: 6.56%

Points: 8200

In USD: $65.60

MAY 2009

Trials: 474

Purchases: 26

Conversion: 5.49%

Points: 5200

In USD: $41.60

JUN 2009

Trials: 427

Purchases: 34

Conversion: 7.96%

Points: 6800

In USD: $54.40

JUL 2009 (repriced at 80 points, added countries)

Trials: 633

Purchases: 36 (at 200 points)

Purchases: 45 (at 80 points)

Conversion: 12.80%

Points: 10800

In USD: $86.40

AUG 2009

Trials: 1224

Purchases: 303

Conversion: 24.75%

Points: 24240

In USD: $193.92

SEP 2009 (so far)

Trials: 677

Purchases: 132

Conversion: 19.50%

Points: 10560

In USD: $84.48

Standards for naming storage containers

Daniel Hanson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:14:28 GMT

I think that there needs to be some standard for naming storage containers for XBLIG games. I'm tired of cleaning my storage devices and seeing containers that are named "MyGameStorage", "Game1", "My Game", and even "Blah". Part of the reason it sucks is that the storage containers for the same game are all scattered alphabetically, rather than grouped together. Except for the thumbnail, I can't tell the difference between one game's saves and another. Even worse is when a storage container is named exactly the same as the game itself. While this seems like a reasonable choice for a name, it sucks because the save data and the game itself are virtually indistinguishable.

I propose that we set a rough standard of naming storage containers. The standard should be "[Game Name] - [Storage Type]". For example, "My Awesome Game - Save" for regular save data, and "My Awesome Game - Scores" for high scores. This gives a clear description of what a storage container contains, as well as distinguishing them from the game itself. What do you guys think?

Redemption codes for ezmuze contests.

hamsteralliance — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:15:21 GMT

Hey all. :)

There's a group on Facebook holding ezmuze song making contests. The contests have been going on for a few months now. There are no prizes, just internet high fives. I'd like to offer the group some prizes for future competitions, it would make the competitions more interesting. The guy running the group thinks so too.

So I thought, what about redemption codes for other Indie Games? We were all given a bunch of em. I know I've only sent out 5 or so to various review sites. Would any of you be interested in offering a few codes as prizes?

We could do it like a sponsorship thing. "December ezmuze idol, brought to you by _________". I plan on also using the promise of free games as bait to get more ezmuzers into the group.

I'm not expecting this to be some mega game changer thing for anyone, but really what else are you going to do with all those codes? This is just a simple way to get your game in front of the ezmuze audience. :D

If you're interested, my email is hamster |at| hamsteralliance |dot| com

Evil Checklist Discussion thread.

Oscar K — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:20:35 GMT

A good selection of tests for everyone to keep in mind during game development and during peer review.I hadn't even thought of removing the storage devices during play but of course, it might happen sometime.

EDIT: After additional testing, I've very pleased that whilst I had not consciously considered some of these tests, my design meant that my own game Artoon did not crash at any of these. I still have to add some dialogs to inform the player however.

Remove Game Loses a slot?

Big Daddio — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:37:19 GMT

I had a game that I had only put into playtest, it was my 7 day challenge game. Since it was never on the service I removed it. So I lost that slot? It was only ever in playtest.

W-8 Ben Forms and You?

Cookiecups — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:22:53 GMT

Okay, so thankfully this is just a small computer glitch and not some super lame April Fools Joke.

Unfortunately a message requesting a W-8BEN form was accidentally sent out to a number of Creators. The message was only intended for those non-US Creators whose W-8BEN or other relevant W-8 form has not been received and processed. This e-mail can be safely ignored in the following two situations:

· You are a US person, there is no need for you to send a W-8BENp>

· You have previously submitted a W-8BEN or other relevant W-8 form and have not received a mail informing you that the W8 is invalid

If you received a mail before 04/01/2008 stating that your W-8 form is invalid then you should send your W-8 form as soon as possible.

We apologize for the confusion and will endeavor to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Thanks again for making our community great!!

xxoo

~kathleen sanders

XNA Community Manager

Tax Information Completion?

David Flook — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:31:05 GMT

Is there some indication in 'my business' that tax information is completely set up?

In my case, I've filled out the online forms, got an email confirmation and was required to send a copy of my W-8.
I faxed a copy of the W-8 to the fax number provided in the confirmation email and there has been no further communications.
How do I know if the tax form was processed? Thanks.

The forum has gone schizophrenic on me - anyone else?

Spyn Doctor — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:37:34 GMT

Hi!

Since yesterday I'm having trouble with the forums. It started when I put my latest game into playtest. When you do this, a new forum post is made in your name. In this case, this also was the first post, so a new thread was opened. Only when I then looked at this thread (and the first post in it), even though the post was made under my name (and with my rep / post-count), it was presented as if someone else had made the posting. I did not have the usual "Edit" button that you have for your own postings, only "Reply" and "Quote".

And this strange behavior has been coming and going since then. Sometimes, when I click on "My Discussions", I see all the threads that I have posted in (just as one would expect). But sometimes, the playtest thread for my game which I mentioned above is shown as the only thread under "My Discussions".

When I look into threads with older postings of mine, my own postings then sometimes look like they were made by someone else (without the "Edit" button, but instead with the "Good/Not Good Feedback" buttons, where applicable, as if I could give myself some more rep! ;-). Sometimes I have a case where I don't see the Edit button, but when I refresh with F5, I then see it. When I click it to edit, I get the below error message. But sometimes everything works fine, I see the Edit button right away and can click it/use it normally.

Another thing: Just after I put my game into playtest, I also changed my signature to include a link to it. After I did this, I then went to an older posting of mine to check that I didn't make a mistake with the link. Only there was no signature at all! This persisted for a few minutes: I checked postings of other people who I know have signatures, but didn't see any of them. Then after a few minutes, the signatures were back again.

I tested from three different computers (all with IE 8) and tested logging out/in, closing all browser windows and all the similar stuff several times.

Anyone else having these problems too?

Doc

Server Error in '/' Application.

Runtime Error

Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.

Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on remote machines, please create a <customErrors> tag within a "web.config" configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This <customErrors> tag should then have its "mode" attribute set to "Off".


            <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="Off"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>

Notes: The current error page you are seeing can be replaced by a custom error page by modifying the "defaultRedirect" attribute of the application's <customErrors> configuration tag to point to a custom error page URL.


            <!-- Web.Config Configuration File -->

<configuration>
    <system.web>
        <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm"/>
    </system.web>
</configuration>

Comments about a specific word usage in a games title.

WolRon — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:20:33 GMT

This may not be the best forum for this, but since I think it's related to what can or cannot be distributed, I'm posting it here.

I have an idea for a new game, and with that, an idea for the games title...

For secrecy reasons until the game is ready for release, I don't want to yet reveal the proposed name of the game (sorry for that, I know it makes answering my question difficult), but my name idea includes using the word - NYMPHO in the title.
The name would be something like "blanknympho" all as one word. (the actual 'blank' word fits really well with the word nympho) (For example, pretend 'blank' stands for Train; so it'd be like Trainympho, (but a lot better))

Now, 'blank' is just an ordinary, safe, common word (trust me on this); but I'm concerned about the usage of 'nympho'.
When I thought up the idea for the title, my primary thought when using the word nympho was that it suggested 'an obsession', an obsession of the previous word 'blank (like in my previous example, Train, an obsession with trains)'. And I think that THAT definition of the word would make it perfectly fine to use in the title and be a great description of the game. By the way, the game would have NOTHING to do with actual nymphos, nymphomania, etc.

However, I'm worried that most people wouldn't think of the word nympho in that sense (as an obsession) and they might consider its usage misleading. Or perhaps the powers that be just wouldn't allow the word to be used because they might feel it's not an appropriate word. (a common dictionary definition for nympho is: Noun 1. nympho - a woman with abnormal sexual desires )

So, I thought I'd like to get some opinions. There's no point in me investing time creating a Titlescreen and other media that uses the word if it's just going to get failed, so I thought I'd ask in advance.
Do you guys think that the general public would be accepting of a title like that? I'd like to think so because the title would work really well with my game idea.

Background layer animation

staticshade — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:05:20 GMT

I've been building on the platformer kit as the basis for my game and a feauture i want to add is an automatic scrolling background layer (not one that scrolls when your character moves).

an example would be a layer containing clouds. how would i go about implementing this ??

oh !! And i'm new here so HELLO WORLD!!!!!!!

Should I wait for my website to be finished before I start contacting gaming websites?

caedicus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:43:11 GMT

I figure this is a good thread to ask a marketing question. Should I wait until I get my website up and running before I start contacting gaming websites? Right now I just have a Youtube channel, but I think it's not enough to show the gaming press that my game is legit. Or are there any websites out there where a video or two would be good enough? TIA

Avatar Usage - Talking

Pigyman — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:38:05 GMT

In the "Avatar Usage" article the following is written:

Player’s avatar talks

The player’s avatar should not have their own voice. They are allowed to make individual sounds, such as laughing and crying but otherwise cannot use a voice

I understand making an avatar talk using voice acting is not allowed, but (as far as I can tell) the rules do not specify if we are allowed to make the player's avatar talk via text (such as talk balloons). The rules only seem to say that we cannot give the avatar a voice, but I would like this cleared up so there's no argument when Peer Review time comes.

Question to the IDN Team: removing the game from the Marketplace

PinoEire — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:30:06 GMT

Hi,

I searched the forum and the website but I didn't find any updated info. I see that I can remove the game from the marketplace: how this works exactly? I wish to know:

WIll this allow to free a game slot?
What happens to the games already sold?

I'm asking because I'm about to release a major update to my game which actually changes a lot the game itself (60 more info screens, 50 new level schemes, and so on) so IMO it really doesn't qualify as an upgrade this being a full game replacement.

Thanks,
Pino

The system is sooooooooooooooooo broken...

The ZMan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:32:30 GMT

I'm not really doing this for myself - its more for everyone else in the community becuase I think Microsoft is just not thinking of the developers.

George and I have just put our game up for peer review. Its been over 15 minutes now and the game is still at 0%.

Since both of us have been in these forums for a year we know something must be wrong. From what I can make out the process is supposed to be that you get 2 very fast reviews from other people who want you to review their game. Typically they post 'Great game, A++++ - would review again' and then the percentage goes up to 50%. Then I go and review those games making sure to put links to my game in the forums. Then that Jim guy gets pissy and deletes them.

Should I put an issue in connect? I would think Microsoft could automate the fast reviews and the the forum pimping with a few lines of HTML Script.

While I'm at it, and this is not asking for legal advice, can anyone recommend a lawyer so I can sue George and get his share of the Kissy Poo billions?

Question. Do i fail over this code4

The Riddler 24 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:48:43 GMT

I know as a rule we fail for any code4 error but i am unsure about this.

select mu and immediately pull out the mu. even before the guide closes and in some games makes it crash. I'm not sure that this is a real world example but i was wondering what the more experienced users think. :)

Feature Request: Release Date

WolRon — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:25:25 GMT

This is a request for a Peer Review submission.
I would love to see a Release Date option during the submission process that can either be set to "Immediate" or a specific date.

Releasing games for a specific event, such as a holiday, is a real hair-pulling experience for developers for several reasons:
1. Despite your best efforts (playtesting, etc.), you can't GUARANTEE your submission will pass. A hidden bug could be found, someone may have failed for the wrong reason, etc.
2. A failure is an automatic 7 day suspension and an additional (average) 9 days for a possible next release date.
3. If it passes, you can't determine the release date because the system is entirely volountary so your submission might release in 3 days or 30 days.
4. If it releases even as little as one day late, sales would (most likely) be drastically affected, perhaps even non-existant.
5. A missed release date might mean waiting an ENTIRE YEAR to reattempt a release.

For these reasons, a developer must make a difficult guesstimate as to when to submit his submission in order to compensate for all these factors. As you can see by the timespans mentioned above, this makes trying to release a date specific submission even within a certain week a real challenge.

I think a Release Date option could be a huge benefit to us developers and even to the gaming community since we would be able to release specific games well ahead of time, and rest comfortably knowing that it will premiere as a New Release on the Date we specified. Developers benefit by releasing on time and at the time that's most beneficial to their submission. Microsoft benefits when the developers benefit. Gaming community benefits from being presented with certain games that are released at appropriate times, and by not having to miss out on a game that could have been released but failed to pass Peer Review in time and now might be shelved for a whole year or indefinitely.

Who all is in favor of this request? If so, please go to the Connect site and vote for "Release Date option added to Peer Review process".
https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=506922&SiteID=226

Feature request - Auto adjust for ratings disagreement.

Black 59 Razor — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:19:01 GMT

Created a Connect issue regarding Peer Review and content rating disagreement.

https://connect.microsoft.com/feedback/ViewFeedback.aspx?FeedbackID=509477&SiteID=226

XBIG 2009 Awards

SniperED007 — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:25:09 GMT

So XBIG have almost been around for a year now, it would be great to have some type of yearly awards, where people vote for there best games in different categories, things like:
- Best Overall Indie Game
- Best Original Game
- Best Family Game
- Best Co-operative Multiplayer Game
- Best Competitive Multiplayer Game
- Best Singleplayer Game
- Best Innovation in XBIG
- Best Graphics
- Best Sound

Can vote up to 5 games per category... and then maybe Microsoft could host it on the dash or something to allow anyone to vote for the best in each category?
What are your thoughts?

The Not SO Evil checklist of things we don't fail for

The ZMan — Sat, 02 May 2009 15:42:18 GMT

See also the 'Evil checklist of ways to fail a game' http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/19525.aspx
See also the 'Legal FAQ' for legal reasons you should and should not fail for http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/17830.aspx

This FAQ is a list of things that historically we don't fail a game for in peer review. Yes "confusing or frustrating" is vague, but if you fail for one of these things under that phrase then you will be mocked at best, possibly vilified and worse get a ban if people complain or you persist in doing it.

Many of these things are things that you SHOULD fix because it makes your game look lower quality and could annoy some users enough not to buy it. But that's your problem - don't come complaining when your sales suck. Many developers would love to see any or all of these as feedback in playtest so don't hold back there. Just don't fail for it in peer review.

DO NOT FAIL FOR

Not having an exit option - users can always quit using the guide
Using "Return to Arcade" as an exit option. Prefer "Exit" though "Return to Dashboard", "Return to Game Library" or "Return to Indie Games" are OK too.
Leaving in the default 'back'=quit code
Not having a pause/Not using start for pause/not pausing when Guide is pressed/not pausing when controller is disconnected.
Legal reasons beyond those in the legal FAQ http://forums.xna.com/forums/t/17830.aspx
Forcing a storage device to be selected
Forcing a user to log in/play with a logged in controller (though test what happens if you sign out AFTER the game has started and ensure the game can be played from any controller)
Code 7 crashes. These are caused by logging out the account with the Creators club membership. This crash never occurs in non-review play
Spelling or grammar - point it out but its the developer problem if they want to release a poor quality game
Lack of instructions or controller hints on screens and menus unless they are so convoluted the game/screen couldn't be used with a reasonable amount of guesswork e.g. you are totally stuck on the first screen because you had no clue that you had to hold down both triggers and use the right thumbstick to move. In these cases post to the forum or look at other reviews - if everyone is having the same confusion it might be worth a fail. If others are not confused then don't fail. Note that we occasionally see a game where guessing the controls and gameplay is part of the game. Developers should call this out in advance so that they don't fail for it.
Not using thumbstick AND dpad for navigation
Not using 'standard' buttons or controls
IN GENERAL - confuse and frustrate is related to technical issues. If the instructions, control scheme or the gameplay is confusing or frustrating but its as the developer intended then just ignore the game. You can't fail a game because you think it's too difficult, boring, stupid or ugly. You can't fail a game because its one of the starter kits - though starter kits are trivial to fail unless they have been fixed properly. You can't fail a game because you think it's not a game! Feel free to send the developer a comment on any of these and ignore the game but its not a fail.
Not providing a way to upgrade to the full version of the game.
Memory Units:
- Undefined/odd behaviour after pulling a MU. If it crashes then fail, but anything besides that is the developers decision.
- Pulling the MU that the game is stored on. No XNA or XBLIG can survive that.
- Mandatory device selection - though it is annoying to some
Mandatory login - also annoying to some
Vomit doesn't count as 'excretion' - poop does. We've not debated if urination is.... have fun with that one.

SPECIAL CASES:

Some xboxes with some games under some unknown conditions exhibit very long deployment and loading times. If you find a game that appears to have very long loading times then don't fail right away. Post to or read the peer review forum and see if anyone else is seeing this. If everyone is seeing it then its OK to fail for. However if its just you then its likely that you have one of those special xboxes. See discussion here http://forums.xna.com/forums/p/27019/148171.aspx - the issue is known to Microsoft and we hope a fix will happen at some point. The issue only occurs when sending a .ccgame through connect. It doesn't happen in marketplace and it doesn't happen under the VS debugger.
A small numer of testers report black screens at game startup when reviewing a game through GS connect. A restart of the xbox usually clears this up. It appears to be random and not related to the game or XNA framework. Its not been reported with any marketplace release. If you see this and it doesn't repro every time then check the forum to ensure its not just you.

OTHER ADVICE (especially to new reviewers):

Read through the previous review comments and/or playtest comments (click the number under the developers name to find all their threads including the playtest one). You may find that your fail reason has already been discussed.
If in doubt post first - other reviewers will help out
If really in doubt then spend some time playtesting only. Note in playtest what you would fail for and people will correct you and you can learn the ways of the peer review process.

Please reply with other suggestions as you see them in the forum. If its already on the evil checklist as a fail then it will NOT be reconsidered here. If you can't provide a link to where its been discussed or happened then I'm not going to preemptivly include random things people can think of as the list will get too big.

So what's with ratings?

Murudai — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:58:42 GMT

Anyone else notice that the XBL ratings (at least for Indie games) have just sort of 'stopped'.

The one I'm watching is this one: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855035c/ it's selling pretty well at the moment, but I noticed that a few days ago that it was at 99 ratings. Now it's still on 99 ratings. It should have like 500 ratings by now! I saved some numbers and looked back the next day and none of them seem to be updating.

Have everyone stopped rating or something?