We have launched a competition called Make 'em Up. You can win a deal worth 65 000 euros.
Submit a concept and a prototype, it’s that simple.
Read more: Make 'em Up
I’ll stick around for any questions you might have.
Are you a member of another game dev forum? Please consider spreading the word.
If you go to the website and look at “Inspiration” you’ll see a list of games they like and dislike.
The game on the top of the “Games we like” list is Minecraft ;D
Url’s broken btw
Cas 
Thanks, fixed it.
Cool
Neat-o! 
Yep, Minecraft inspires us like no other game out there at the moment
A “deal worth €65K”… is that in hard cash or “equivalent” of €65K?
And by August 15th?
Sorry, but I’m not overly enthusiastic over this. I’m a pessimistic person by nature, skeptical of everything, so forgive me if I’m too blatant.
First, it’s a little obscure what the winnings are. What exactly does it mean to win?
Second, it looks to me like Turborilla/Blue Systems just want to get their hands over a great game and not do any of the hard work. Who will hold the rights for the winning game?
Third, getting a team together is ridiculously difficult. I manage a ongoing game dev project along with 2 other people, but I’ve had to get rid of 4 people because they were simply not interested when it came down to doing actual work. Also, Markus created Minecraft all by himself, but that took him a bit longer than just over 1 month.
Fourth, “a prototype” really means I will be competing against fully functional working games, and I don’t have a chance in hell convincing the judges that my inferior prototype, that makes little sense without reading a documentation, is a better game.
Fifth, why exactly do I need help in releasing my game, especially if it’s so great?
Ok, dark appel out
I was mostly agreeing with you up to this line. You’re not serious, right? The release process is a monster on its own. Marketing by itself can be the dealbreaker for a game, even if the game is really good.
Let’s look at Minecraft for a moment, it’s very successful, yet, no marketing. There are plenty successful games out there that did not get any marketing. That invalidates the theory that a game requires marketing to be successful. But I agree, it does help, especially for games that aren’t all that good
And many, many, many more that didn’t. I’m honestly going to try to make a team for this.
As Demonpants said, it is more often that a good game is overlooked since there is no marketing. Nobody said it was a requirement, but to dismiss it as you did is downright silly. Plus you have to remember that - long before Minecraft had 20k purchases - it was featured in many popular game blogs and even magazines. That’s marketing! Fortunately it was free for Markus - just like this competition is offering free marketing to you.
I’m happy for Minecraft’s success, but it isn’t the rule - it is the exception. Markus finally hit it big - and we’re glad for him - but this isn’t the first thing he’s cooked up. He’s made other impressive products (e.g. Wurm Online) which didn’t ‘stick’ nearly as well.
On a side note, you also have to remember Markus is in a stressful position that is not something you’d really want to envy (yet). He has sold an unfinished product to 20k people based on the premise that he will complete the features promised. This is a brilliant move for startup funding, but if for some reason he can’t deliver, he could be looking at a serious amount of refunds. He can already anger the mob by simply taking a vacation! He has to keep the peace with 4chan’s /v/ - that’s a position I would never want to be in.
Thanks for the questions appel, I’ll try to answer them all:
Cash, as in the kind you receive over a wire of some sorts.
First: A contract with milestones for you to finish the game, payment at the start of each milestone. Milestones and payments agreed upon before signing the contract of course.
Second: You own the IP
Third: It’s not that hard, unless you go asking people you don’t know, on the internet. So do it yourself, purchase graphics and sound and music from professionals with some of the money.
Fourth: You are supposed to hand in documentation/concept description also. Also, we can tell a finished COD-ripoff from an unfinished Braid.
Fifth: So release it on your own in the end, you are not tied up in any way towards us by just applying.
Sixth: You get paid 65k EUR to realise the game of your dreams. (granted, then we take a fair share of the profits, but only on the first title)
Any more questions, just shoot. It doesn’t matter if you feel a bit pessimistic.
Demonpants: Looking forward to playing your prototype
Thanks for the reply
Does a team of two seem reasonable? I think I’m going to just work with one artist on this. There’s a chance I might work with another programmer but I’m not sure at this juncture. Also I think a lot of people would only work with me on the condition that we will be getting paid (i.e. that we win) so I wouldn’t be able to get any work out of them for the prototype. Can they still be listed as team members? How strict are you about maintaining these teams? I know lots of people in the game industry with steady paychecks in game companies who may or may not in the end be able to join. So what if they drop out? Am I in breach of contract?
Team of two is very reasonable. Then you probably need to budget for sound, music and anything else the two of you can’t do well.
Changing the team is no problem. Before you actually sign the contract with us though, you might want to sign something with them also since it is your responsibility to finish the game (preferrably on time). But that is a later problem, and we should have no trouble finding a suitable team together if necessary.
Wooo, submission sent! 8)
Gameplay? Not much. Impressive content generation and fun explodey pixels? Chock full!
I’ll get my protytpe linked to the wide world of JGO sometime soon.
