Microsoft have confirmed in the last week that they're finally saying goodbye to Xbox Live Indie Games on the Xbox 360. Support for the service
has somewhat dwindled over the past few years, not least due to the release of the Xbox One and the new
ID@Xbox development program. XBLIG will be accepting new game submissions
until September 2016, after which it will finally close its doors in September 2017, although we have already announced that we won't be developing
any more XBLIGs.
Our First XBLIG Game was
On A Roll for 240 Microsoft Points (later
reduced to 80 Microsoft Points), released 21st September 2009.
Our Last XBLIG Game was
Micromazes for 80 Microsoft Points, released
26th October 2013.
Our Most Successful XBLIG was
Avatar Grand Prix 2,
which accounted for almost half all game sales.
We released a total of
10 XBLIGs.
To mark the end of an era, and because XBLIG was such an important part of our development during the early days, we thought
we'd share with you a few facts, figures and interesting bits of info about our XBLIG journey...
Our first game,
On A Roll, was released in September 2009 although development (and learning XNA, the
programming language that XBLIGs are written in) for the game started in March 2009. The game was very much a learning process and we made a
number of mistakes, not least making the game too hard and the price too high. But it was our first game and we were excited that it had
even sold a single copy! Our next game was
Planet Pinball, a rather unique pinball simulator which people seemed
to either love or hate.
Our third game was
Earth Shaker, a game originally released for the ZX Spectrum. We worked with the game's
original author, Michael Batty during development and being able to resurrect a classic retro game still rates as one of our highest
achievements. The community didn't necessarily agree though, and Earth Shaker didn't sell many copies. We put that one down to experience and
the fact that it wasn't 1991 any more :)
On A Roll/On A Roll 3D - Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega, 1991)
Planet Pinball - Pinball Fantasies (Digital Illusions, 1992)
Earth Shaker - originally Released for ZX Spectrum (Michael Batty, 1991)
Avatar Grand Prix/Avatar Grand Prix 2 - Mario Kart (Nintendo, 1992)
The Wizards Who Fell In A Hole - Bubble Bobble (Taito, 1986)
Minigame Marathon - Warioware (Nintendo, 2003)
Next came our first real success -
Avatar Grand Prix. It was our first multiplayer game and our first to
use the Xbox 360 avatars. It went down well, and to date is our second best-selling game, behind only its sequel in terms of sales. The
quirky
The Wizards Who Fell In A Hole was next, a slightly silly but rather fun platformer that
was made entirely out of plasticine!
We ventured into the slightly more serious territory of a story-based role-playing game in
Blackstone Part I after that, a game that gained quite a cult following. Sadly, the sales didn't quite match the
effort we put in, so parts two and three may never be made. Next up came our finest moment to date -
Avatar Grand Prix 2. A combination of local and online multiplayer, its use of avatars and the fact that it was
just a really fun racing game has made it our best-selling game to date.
Minigame Marathon was next, a game loved for its local multiplayer, then came one of our largest games to date:
On A Roll 3D which was the sequel to On A Roll and our first non-XBLIG release when it came out for PC in 2013.
Our final XBLIG was
Micromazes, a multiplayer maze game that involved players playing together to solve puzzles.
Were XBLIGs a free-for-all platform that was ruined by non-developers releasing non-games just to make easy money? Or was it a fantastic
chance for passionate indie developers to get their games on a mainstream console? Our humble opinion is quite definitely the latter. And
although we'll be sad to see XBLIG disappear, maybe it's the right time for them to go. We for one can't thank Microsoft and Xbox enough for
the opportunity.
