Windows Phone 7 Series "Rockstar" Award
To win the Windows Phone 7 Series “Rockstar” Award, your team is challenged to create a Windows Phone 7 Series application (app) in either Silverlight or XNA. This app needs to be designed with the consumer in mind and should be as visually compelling as possible. Be prepared to demonstrate your team’s app entry running on an actual Windows Phone 7 Series device or in an emulator. Mobile applications are “all the” buzz today. Windows Phone 7 Series is a revolutionary new platform and you have the opportunity to be a part of it. This is your chance to think of something that is truly outside the box and be one of the first developers, ever, to be building apps for Windows Phone 7 Series. Create an app that people will love having on their Windows Phone.
Your team will submit an 'XAP' application package when you’ve completed your application in Silverlight or XNA. The applications will be judged based on originality, the consumer appeal and the unique mobile oriented features integrated in to your app.
DreamSpark has partnered with Windows Marketplace for Mobile so you can sell your mobile applications! Go to DreamSpark to learn more!
Why sign-up for this Award?
More chances to win cash and prizes (including a Windows Phone for each winning team member) and possibly a trip to Poland for the Worldwide Finals!
You don’t need to create a separate entry. Simply incorporate the award elements into your software solution.
You don’t need to be signed up for one of the 5 competitions.
Entering the Windows Phone 7 Series “Rockstar” Award competition is easy:
Register and sign-up your team (maximum team size: 4 people) before May 24, 2010 at 11:59 P.M. GMT.
Read the complete Rules and Regulations for this award competition. Make sure you carefully review and understand the unique entry requirements, and judging criteria.
Submit your entry before May 24, 2010 at 11:59 P.M. GMT. We recommend that you use these helpful guidelines and plan to begin the upload process for your entry at least 24 hours prior to the deadline in case you experience any technical difficulties.
Looking for ideas for apps to work on? Here are a few examples (in no way are you limited to or should you think about building these):
An app that could help you in school, like a study guide or a note-taking app or a test prep app
An app that might help you monitor power consumption at your residence
An app that consumes data from popular API providers, like Twitter or Foursquare, and helps you visualize it in a compelling way
Existing Silverlight web apps that you would want to see running on a Windows Phone
Existing XNA applications that you would want to see running on a Windows Phone
Questions? Post them to the Windows Phone 7 Series "Rockstar" Award forum.
Prizes:
Award Finalists receive:
First Prize: $8,000 USD, a trip to the Worldwide Finals in Warsaw, Poland from July 3-8, 2010, and a Windows Phone for each team member.
Second Prize: $4,000 USD and a Windows Phone for each team member
Third Prize: $3,000 USD and a Windows Phone for each team member
via imaginecup.com via 1800PocketPC
Good luck to you guys, hope one of our own xda-dev member wins gold
I want a Windows Phone wonder if you get it early.
Sadly this project is no more. We were a dev team of 3 people who had about 3 months into Appaloosa. However, the slow build of the WP7 platform and some reported low sales numbers in the App Marketplace made it hard to justify the additional time needed to bring this title to market.
Was very hard to let go of so much work and creative energy.
Here is a walk thru of an alpha build. It definately shows what that phone is capable of pushing (forum is perventing the url, sorry first post).
img816.imageshack.us/img816/3521/32430348.mp4
You're kidding, right?
The WP7 platform has had a faster uptake than both iOS and Android when they were first launched. As for marketplace sales, I don't know what numbers you have seen, but games is what generally sells well, especially ones with great graphics as they are not only used as a game but also as a "look at what my phone can do" kinda thing amongst the owners friends.
From the video, and with no background information available, it doesn't look like a game for me, but if it was performing well and priced correctly I would still probably pick it up.
Anyway, that's my $0.02.
Hi there
lard666 said:
However, the slow build of the WP7 platform and some reported low sales numbers in the App Marketplace[...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know exactly what numbers you are referring to, but I guess you mean LG's statement. Isn't LG maybe just part of the picture? There are Samsung and HTC that are currently the main sellers of WP7. (for the shares, look here: http://wmpoweruser.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/wp7oem.png)
Although I can't exactly be sure why LG is doing that bad (it might have to do something with the phone they offer...) - that's up for speculation.
I'd like to add that T-Mobile Germany just stated that they are ahead of their plans regarding WP7 sales (source: http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/201...-windows-phone-7-sales-are-ahead-of-schedule/ along with several other sites)
Personally, I don't get the impression that WP7 is doing badly.
lard666 said:
Was very hard to let go of so much work and creative energy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Judging from what is shown in the trailer, I'd say it's a great thing you did so far.
And I'd like to buy a version as soon as it is out (I know that I am just one person - but there might be others who think the same)
lard666 said:
Here is a walk thru of an alpha build. It definately shows what that phone is capable of pushing (forum is perventing the url, sorry first post).
img816.imageshack.us/img816/3521/32430348.mp4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like stated above, it looks fantastic up 'till now.
I'd like you to continue your work and take this project all the way to the Marketplace.
Wow! That looks absolutely amazing.
Maybe this is a stupid suggestion but if you get it to be an xbox live game (they seem to do well) then it has every chance of being a success. Not sure how much Microsoft will take but worth consdering.
Good job!
I'm with you guys. I don't even know what this game is about but from the alpha build the 3D graphics look slick as hell. If you look at a game like Zombies!!! MS took it under its wing, gave it XBox Live integration and now it'll get a sh!tload of sales because of that. And that seems to be what they're donig with high performance games so it's worth pursuing...
If you write for Android you won't make money. No one buys anything on that platform. if you write for iOS no one will see your game in the sea of apps. WP7 still has potential.
Moving this to SW development since this is an ongoing project. Once its in the "its an app" stage I will move it back to the release section.
~~Tito~~
With regard to the kind words about the looks of the project, thank you.
The environment for level one (which was shown in the video in it's incomplete form) was 210K polygons.
Appaloosa is an old school western pistol pack'n arcade style shooter. It's based in a fantastic, toony, world centered loosely around America's late 1800's Old West. It's a rail shooter with shorter action-areas that can be completed in a single mobile time wasting session. So think western popup shooter crossed with Time Crisis; and add tumble-weed bonus rounds ala Galaga. It also had direct Face Book integration for quick posting of achievements. The game was to be priced at $.99 for each level (we were toying with the idea of releasing one level at a time, episodic style) or $2.99 for the complete game.
About WP7 being viable (currently, say this year 2011) to develop apps for... I don't see the indicators or hard data that proves so. And I'm not saying this with a confrontational tone, I just haven't seen any. I keep hearing lazy statistics (which are easily manipulated like, "fastest sales", "highest rate of apps", "most devs to date", etc.) and praise ("performing better then expected")... but the hard numbers are being held for some reason. I would bet no one had recovered their time investment for WP7 development yet, let along make a living from it.
Regardless, the numbers of phones sold is something to be mindful of, but more important is how the paid apps are selling. And the short answer is they aren't.
Games sell more then any other app and 'LIVE' games sell the most. We knew we would be dead in the water without 'LIVE' support, but when we spoke to a MSFT rep in Belgium we got the answer, "oh LIVE... yes yes, that is tricky. Probably can't get you LIVE status; that is reserved for the big guys. Let me know when your game is done, and I will see what I can do to push it up the list."
We were also in contact with a dev studio who's game has always been in the top 10 and has "LIVE" certification. Their game has sold in the tens of thousands; which doesn't even cover dev costs. Maybe the costs will be recovered over the next year. But that 'maybe' was a risk I couldn't take; not with a self-funded (sweat equity) game.
We weren't looking to make big bucks. Just wanted to be able to exercise our craft and make a living. Everyone on the team was willing to live on 1/3 a typical studio salary in exchange for creative freedom and a chance to gain from their own sweat equity. We all brought senior experience to the table (I've worked on Tomb Raider, Half-Life, Tribes, Tony Hawk, and others). Sadly, the numbers aren't there. Punch in some basic math numbers on keeping 3 people alive for a 9 month dev cycle; plus additional time for sales and payment, and it's just not an equation that balances yet. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I'm bound by the realities of the real world, so at the New Year we had to evaluate the project progress and platform landscape.
If anyone has direct access to a MSFT rep, I would be happy to chat with them about bringing the game to market; Or point them to this post.
I guess the point of this post is that the phone is capable of pushing some great graphics and supporting original, mobile specific, titles of very high quality. But if a tiny 3 person team can't justify a 9 months development risk... then I see a chicken-n-egg scenario formed.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=902681
the person that posted this works for Microsoft... send him a message.
@lard666 One thing you have not accounted for in your numbers are Xbox sales. I am assuming this is written in XNA which means you can release it on the Xbox with it's 30 million users and $1 billion revenue last year almost at the flick of a switch.
I'm not saying this means you would definitely recoup your costs, but I know quite a few people who have high-selling titles on XBL, so it is possible.
I'd also like to point out that regional MS reps are nowhere near as helpful as their US counterparts. We had more luck contacting US people directly than we did liaising with the Swedish reps. I cannot say for certain that this is the same everywhere, but I have had similar experience in two other European countries in the past.
I'll forward this to Brandon Watson right now.
Guess you didn't hear about the Nokia deal. Too bad you quit.
lard666 said:
With regard to the kind words about the looks of the project, thank you.
The environment for level one (which was shown in the video in it's incomplete form) was 210K polygons.
Appaloosa is an old school western pistol pack'n arcade style shooter. It's based in a fantastic, toony, world centered loosely around America's late 1800's Old West. It's a rail shooter with shorter action-areas that can be completed in a single mobile time wasting session. So think western popup shooter crossed with Time Crisis; and add tumble-weed bonus rounds ala Galaga. It also had direct Face Book integration for quick posting of achievements. The game was to be priced at $.99 for each level (we were toying with the idea of releasing one level at a time, episodic style) or $2.99 for the complete game.
About WP7 being viable (currently, say this year 2011) to develop apps for... I don't see the indicators or hard data that proves so. And I'm not saying this with a confrontational tone, I just haven't seen any. I keep hearing lazy statistics (which are easily manipulated like, "fastest sales", "highest rate of apps", "most devs to date", etc.) and praise ("performing better then expected")... but the hard numbers are being held for some reason. I would bet no one had recovered their time investment for WP7 development yet, let along make a living from it.
Regardless, the numbers of phones sold is something to be mindful of, but more important is how the paid apps are selling. And the short answer is they aren't.
Games sell more then any other app and 'LIVE' games sell the most. We knew we would be dead in the water without 'LIVE' support, but when we spoke to a MSFT rep in Belgium we got the answer, "oh LIVE... yes yes, that is tricky. Probably can't get you LIVE status; that is reserved for the big guys. Let me know when your game is done, and I will see what I can do to push it up the list."
We were also in contact with a dev studio who's game has always been in the top 10 and has "LIVE" certification. Their game has sold in the tens of thousands; which doesn't even cover dev costs. Maybe the costs will be recovered over the next year. But that 'maybe' was a risk I couldn't take; not with a self-funded (sweat equity) game.
We weren't looking to make big bucks. Just wanted to be able to exercise our craft and make a living. Everyone on the team was willing to live on 1/3 a typical studio salary in exchange for creative freedom and a chance to gain from their own sweat equity. We all brought senior experience to the table (I've worked on Tomb Raider, Half-Life, Tribes, Tony Hawk, and others). Sadly, the numbers aren't there. Punch in some basic math numbers on keeping 3 people alive for a 9 month dev cycle; plus additional time for sales and payment, and it's just not an equation that balances yet. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I'm bound by the realities of the real world, so at the New Year we had to evaluate the project progress and platform landscape.
If anyone has direct access to a MSFT rep, I would be happy to chat with them about bringing the game to market; Or point them to this post.
I guess the point of this post is that the phone is capable of pushing some great graphics and supporting original, mobile specific, titles of very high quality. But if a tiny 3 person team can't justify a 9 months development risk... then I see a chicken-n-egg scenario formed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FAO: all UK Windows Phone users.
Microsoft are recruiting volunteers for a research panel about Windows Phone:
Own a Windows Phone? Want to tell us what you love, what you don’t love, what’s your favourite feature? We’re looking for 24 enthusiastic UK fans to attend a research panel in central London, on the evenings of 10th/11th August at 6:15pm or 8pm. You’ll get £60 for your time, trouble and travel. We’ll also feed you and might have some surprises on the day and beyond. Interested? Follow the link and enter your details.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source: Windows Phone UK FB page
Wish I could go...
Casey
Shame, i'm too far from London. Would like to go to that too
I'm live less than 10mins walk from Microsofts London Offices.
I'm free on those dates.
I've have no problems with some Advertising/PR company giving me 60 quid and/or a Suprise.
But, untill they start using Normal or Anti-Social sites to get their panels,
they'll have to put up 'Yes Men' and 'Fan Boys' for their one sided research.
The Core77 designer challenge just released their results.
I'm one of the finalists for an app idea called InspirEngine. An earlier design incarnation of this app previously won the WPAppItUp Challenge and was featured as one of their favorties.
It's basically a get things done app with a social and gaming twist. You get points for living life, you climb ranks, there's a leaderboard. That's one of the functions - You get the idea!
In the spirit of Core77 - it'll be 50-50 split between design and development for any revenue the app gets. And I aim for a before-10th feb release. Since the first 25 finalists who get their app to the marketplace will get, well, dev phones, an apphub subscription, and lots of publicity.
So well, it can be a the start of a mutually beneficial relationship.
Incentives:
1) The app's obviously done well for itself based on design alone, so it's not a risky investment.
2) If we get it out in time, we get phones and a year's subscription. You get to keep the subscription in your name. I've got mine lined up for about 3 years now.
2) It's already got some exposure - I have people asking me about it.
3) It's an exciting holiday project!
4) I'm pretty open minded about everything, so, the design isn't rigid or anything.
I'm looking for:
1) Someone awesome at doing all the coding and everything (we'll probably need some sort of online backend, social network integration, push notifs etc.) So someone who can handle all that.
2) Someone in London, UK. Nearby is alright, but someone who can travel to Zones 1 and 2 regularly would be nice.
4) I want the app to be more fun than businessy, so someone who shares that vision about life.
Just a bit of a primer: I'm a student of linguistics at king's college london. This creates a dichotomy. The idea of a student driven project is appealing, so students in london, shoot me an email! Conversely, someone who can teach me the ropes of the trade is exciting, so pro devs with time on their hands and no surefire idea, please send me an email!
[email protected] | @abhi235
Cheers,
Abhi
Hey Now XDA Brainiacs,
I am very interested in learning about Android Development, Networking and/or Cyber Security as possible new career paths. I've been in I.T. for over 30 years doing mainly Field Service Tech/Analyst support and some Network support. I noticed some "too good to be true" prices on the XDA Depot website (via emails from XDA Developers site) for several courses - The Ultimate DevOps Mastery Bundle, The Complete Android N Developer Course - Build 17 Apps, The Python Power Coder BONUS Bundle, etc. Now, I have no idea which courses would be the best to start with, but I just wanted to know if anybody could let me know why they are so inexpensive? Many of them seem to have Lifetime Access (I'm 55, so it shouldn't be too long...) or 1-2 year access to the course, so I assume they will be updated with the newer technologies and programming languages in the future - or is that an incorrect assumption? Again, is this too good to be true? Thanks for your time and keep up the GREAT work.
John Story
I contacted XDA Depot Support and only got the following answer which didn't help much:
Veronica Munroe (Support)
Mar 23, 2:33 PM PDT
Hi John,
Thanks for writing in!
We're an online marketplace through which vendors sell their products at a great price. We are working really hard with our vendors to get all these prices for you.
Let me know if you need anything else; otherwise, have a great day
Your support hero,
Veronica: