From Fanboy to Developer, the Dream of Publishing on Xbox

Summary

From dream to reality, a story of how a ‘Dad’ publishes a game on XboxAn extra coat of polish goes a long way, even on a purple slimeballWhen a child runs out of games to play, make one!

“Dad, I can’t find many games I can play…”

“Ok darling, what sort of game would you like to play? Should I make you one?”

And that’s how it started. Just over a year ago now, my five-year-old daughter told me most of our Xbox games were too hard for her to play. After some curation, we managed to gather a neat little group of games – but the idea of creating one for her and kids like her had stuck…

As a game developer, I never landed a gig with a studio developing for Xbox. I thought, oh how prestigious it would be, being part of a crew working on an Xbox title (a life-long dream mind you). A few months into development of BouncyBoi in Puzzleland, there was quite a bit of interest shown – so I gave my demo a coat of polish and sent it away to ID@Xbox for submission. I crossed all fingers and toes.

While busy at work on the game one day, my email notification popped up. It was from ID@Xbox…

My heart skipped a beat. I told myself “Here is the rejection letter”.

I read the first sentence…

“ Thank you for submitting your game concept to ID@Xbox! We wanted to reach out and let you know that BouncyBoi in Puzzle Land has been approved for release on Xbox. “

I cannot describe in words the excitement and exhilaration that shot through my body in that moment!

Wire guidelines tell us to avoid excessive exclamation marks, so let’s just say: “six exclamation marks!” This was my first introduction to the ID@Xbox team and just a taste of the unbelievably warm welcome and support they provided through this journey.Once the wave of chaos calmed, I had only one thought in my head.  “Time to level up”.

It was my goal to make the visuals for the game pop and appear very polished. A lot of effort was spent in rendering tricks and post processing to ensure it was worthy of being on this console. I would tell myself, I am a sole developer working on a game for a console. Everything has to be on point.

When I look back to the first prototype, I can’t even recognize the game. It has grown and evolved into something I am truly proud of – and something definitely worthy of being a console game.

This amazing feat could only be accomplished by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Any and every question I had regarding the Xbox platform – the ID@Xbox team had my back. This game was created in the Unity engine and any time I needed assistance with something Xbox specific, a team member was there.

The ID@Xbox program has helped me achieve my dream of developing and publishing a game on my favorite console, something I was very close to calling an impossibility.

My daughter has had the time of her life playing through the game she helped make and is already planning out the next title (something about cats no doubt, ha!).

BouncyBoi In Puzzleland is available now!

BouncyBoi in Puzzle Land

Twin-Stick

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

$13.99

Get it now

Xbox One X Enhanced

Bounce into this colorful and cartoony world with BouncyBoi and adventure through various levels filled with challenging puzzles, cute graphics and funky beats!

You are BouncyBoi. A purple bouncy slime who loves to jive and solve puzzles, making his way through Puzzle Land.That's it… There's no big epic back story. No campaign to follow. Just good music, great visuals and fun times!

You will be presented with a game board and need to navigate BouncyBoi to the finish line, overcoming puzzles and characters which will be obscuring your path. As you progress through the worlds, you'll meet new and interesting challenges to test your problem solving abilities.

Related:
Next Week on Xbox: March 28 to April 1
Celebrating Nine Years of ID@Xbox
Next Week on Xbox: March 21 to 25