Check out the Shocktober Sweepstakes on the dashboard. Next, go to the 4th page & scroll down the page. See that? There are 4 XBLIG titles that are eligible content for contest entries. They include:

• GhastlyGhouls
• Spirit Whirled
• 2win Ghost
• I MAD3 A GAME W1TH Z0M31ES 1N 1T

Well isn't that just neato? ;) Is this the first time this has been done or have we missed some others?

Tommy McClain

Did you also see that in the Avatar games they have Avatar Golf and Avatar Drop?

Does anyone else find it funny that they are probably giving a considerable sales boost to the top indie game, followed by 3 of the worst selling games on the service? I can't count the number of times I've seen Ghastly Ghouls at the end of "Best Sellers" list (though, I wouldn't be surprised if that's not an accurate statement, considering I'm still seeing the bugs in the best sellers list again of games appearing multiple times on different pages... bah...)

Or maybe I'm just jealous that Pumpkin Carver isn't in that list ;)

Well, at least this may get more eyeballs on XBox Indies section, considering these games are probably the cheapest form of "earning" an entry save for filling in a mail-in form (also known as the "no purchase necessary" clause) while they allow players to have up to 20 entries.

Big Daddio:

Did you also see that in the Avatar games they have Avatar Golf and Avatar Drop?

Yep, told Barker about it. ;)

Stegersaurus Games:

Does anyone else find it funny that they are probably giving a considerable sales boost to the top indie game, followed by 3 of the worst selling games on the service? I can't count the number of times I've seen Ghastly Ghouls at the end of "Best Sellers" list (though, I wouldn't be surprised if that's not an accurate statement, considering I'm still seeing the bugs in the best sellers list again of games appearing multiple times on different pages... bah...)

Or maybe I'm just jealous that Pumpkin Carver isn't in that list ;)

Well, at least this may get more eyeballs on XBox Indies section, considering these games are probably the cheapest form of "earning" an entry save for filling in a mail-in form (also known as the "no purchase necessary" clause) while they allow players to have up to 20 entries.

Love Pumpkin Carver, but I think if you'll look at those other titles they've been made available for some time. Yours probably wasn't available when they were putting the contest together. Timing is everything. Anyway, developers should be excited about all these new marketing opportunities. Would be neat to know if they have any real effect. Hopefully the respective developers will give us some kind idea what their sales are during the promotion time.

Tommy McClain

AzBat360:

Love Pumpkin Carver, but I think if you'll look at those other titles they've been made available for some time. Yours probably wasn't available when they were putting the contest together.

I only mentioned Pumpkin Carver because it's seasonal, you don't have to humor me on "loving it" ;). And yes, Microsoft puts a lot of runway in front of them for promotions etc so I'm in no way surprised by this. If timing was no object I'd say throw Pumpkin Chop in there too since Matthew made a great pumpkin carving tool (which is clearly aimed at a more sophisticated audience than mine).

My real problem is I want to see promotions pushing stronger games. If we want people to take Indie Games seriously than what does it say when people who go to indie games for this contest and find the games they need to get contest entries, play them, and think that's the representation of the service as a whole? I hate to say this about other devs, but I Maed a g4me w/ Zombies is really the only notable entry in that group. What if we saw a promo that had Miner Dig Deep, Solar, HalfBrick Echoes, Light's End, and Trino to promote experimental games? Instead we have some sub 3-star games being promoted, alongside one nearly 5 star game. I know WHY those games were chosen (by theme), but the selection still makes me a bit dissapointed in its prospects for Indie Games as a whole.

There's also the possibility that even though the pumpkin carver apps are seasonal they are not games. While there's no rule about app on XBLIG maybe the XBox guys who choose these promotion are looking for games and not apps.

I think the pumpkin apps are great, they are interactive and I can see their appeal unlike most of the shovelware we see. But remember the xbox is a gaming platform first and foremost.

Maybe if people make games about thanksiving rather than 'turkey screen saver' apps they might make it on the next holiday.... Turkey hunt, Pilgrim shoot out, Cranberry Jelly wrestling ;-)

I'm really curious to know if this will boost their sales (apart from I MAED....)

Running Pixel:

I'm really curious to know if this will boost their sales (apart from I MAED....)

Retronator (http://www.retronator.com/XboxPopularityMeter/Community) should help you track the increased exposure. We're already seeing games that fell off the bottom of those charts climb back in (Ghastly Ghouls) but note that climing to the lower positions in these lists isn't that much of a stretch, because certain levels can be taken by just getting out of zero sales zones. Over time I suspect more of an increase once the Best Selling lists have passed a few full days of exposure.

AzBat360:

Is this the first time this has been done or have we missed some others?

They did it last Halloween and Christmas, and possibly for Easter this year but I forget. I'm also pretty sure I pointed this out as a possibility a while ago. Guess nobody reads my blog. ;)

I had considered making something for Halloween, but after doing Pixel Man I knew I couldn't create anything really fun in time, so I passed. I'm trying to think of some simple ideas for Christmas, but so far I got nothing. There are so many obvious app ideas, but I'm trying to come up with a fun game idea.

Hello,

I was just as suprised as you to see ghastly ghouls in the Shocktober Sweepstakes.
I mainly used the game to see what it entailed to get a game through the review process.
I took a lot of time and effort to make sure that I made the game up to good standard.
It may not be the next "halo" , but everyone has to start somewhere.
I never in a million years set out to make a game to be marketed for halloween to make a "fast buck".
This was passed from peer review on the 31st of July.

I was just happy to see my created content on the service!
Maybe in the future community games could do a poll and ask which games should be included in these holiday promotions.

Good luck with Pumpkin Carver!

cheers,
phill

If anyone hadn't noticed yet, Stegersaurus and I were both lucky enough to have each of our pumpkin carving apps (Pumpkin Carver and Pumpkin Chop) added to the Shocktober feature.  I don't think we're part of the contest, but still gives us both a good bit more eyes on things.

Pumpkin Chop has had about a 70% increase in sales so far (average of around 165/day previously, did 282 two days in a row now).  My trial downloads also saw about the same increase, putting them back up near where they'd been the first day or two of release, but with a much higher conversion rate.  At this rate, I should roughly double my previous sales count during the promotion period it looks like.