Dice Game Contest $$$

WE HAVE A WINNER!!
PlayingMantis37
1600 MS points were sent out!!

(amazon doesn't sell 800 point codes :)

Greetings! I am announcing a new contest for Ye Olde Dice Game.

The prize: 800 MS points :)

The rules: Send me a picture of your highest score from a single 1 player game of Ye Olde Dice Game. This contest starts now and ends May 31! So get rolling!

Place to send your photo: After you take a picture of your television screen with a high score, send the photo to dicegamecontest@gmail.com with your total score in the subject line. Good luck.

There are two ways to obtain a copy of Ye Olde Dice Game that you can use to participate in the contest.

Download the free trial from the XBOX marketplace

Complete this short tutorial explaining how to become a trial member of the creators club and then Download Ye Olde Dice Game free of charge.
Tutorial and Link to Game File at bottom of page
(If you do complete that tutorial, please head over to the creators club forums and post if you think trial members should be able to playtest games in development!!)

The current Leader is: PlayingMantis37 with a score of 331















That's a pretty good score, you still have a few more days to beat it though! The prize could be yours!

I won't be entering the contest of course, but after PlayingMantis37 submitted his latest entry I just had to try and beat it of course :)














I will be posting regular updates about the current winning score in this post. So bookmark!!
If you have any questions about this contest please leave a comment below.

Rejoice! Ye Olde Dice Game is Here!

After much tribulations, my first XBOX community game is available on the marketplace. You can download the trial version, or purchase the full version here Ye Olde Dice Game

This game is a variation on the classic Yacht game that we all know and love. It features 4 way local multiplayer, so gather the family around the big old HDTV and start rolling!

The theme of this game was inspired by the medieval days of yore, from the art which is all out of the Book of Kells, to the excellent music which are acoustic guitar renditions of 14-17th century masterpieces performed by John Sayles. All the way down to the dice, which are from the early roman empire. Images of which were provided by Arjan Verweij.

I hope you enjoy this game! If you would like to play this game right now I have created a silverlight version that is playable in a web browser. Please note that the XBOX version is much better though. Ye Olde Dice on the Web

Also, you can rate my game on this site: XBCG Info
please do rate it if you have played it and liked it, I have a feeling that my game has garnered some votes, not from opinions on the quality of the gameplay, but from personal opinions of my character.

Alea iacta est
-Darthuvius

How about a nice game of dice?

A big problem with the community games channel is the lack of playtesters in the testing pool. You currently need to pay the 100 dollar entry fee into the creators club to log on and check out all the neat games being made by the community.

"But Darthy, I don't want to pay Microsoft 100 bucks just so I can test out some games!"

Hey! Guess what? You don't have to!!

By enrolling in a free 12 month trial membership to the creators club, you will gain the ability to play these games on your XBOX 360 :)

Here are a few links you should click on to do just that!
Description of the various membership levels in the creators club

Free 12-month trial membership from dream-build-play
(The easiest method)

Free 12-month trial membership from dreamspark
(requires cooperation from your school)

Technicalities:
There are two pieces of free software that must be installed before you can deploy creators club games onto your XBOX 360. They are, Visual C# 2008 Express Edition, and XNA Game Studio 3.0. Download and install Both of these now, then come back to this posting for further instructions!!
Visual C# 2008 Express Edition (the green button)

XNA Game Studio 3.0 (link at bottom of page)

The next part can be a bit tricky, but have patience It will all be worth it!
These Instructions are taken from XNA Documentation

Step 1: Sign In to Xbox LIVE

Turn on your Xbox 360 console and sign in to Xbox LIVE.

Step 2: Download XNA Game Studio Connect

You must download XNA Game Studio Connect from Xbox LIVE Marketplace and install it on the Xbox 360 console. XNA Game Studio Connect is listed on Xbox LIVE Marketplace next to the XNA Creators Club Subscription, which may be found by selecting Game Marketplace, Community Games, Listed under X, for XNA Connect

Step 3: Connect Your XBOX 360 Console And Windows Based Computer

With your computer and console on the same subnet, follow these steps to set up a connection between your computer and your console.

Step 3A. On Your Xbox 360 Console, Generate a Connection Key:

1. 
   From the Xbox Dashboard, select the Games tab.
   
2. 
   From the item list, select Games Library, and click the A controller button.
   
3. 
   From the Games Library list, select My Games, and click A.
   
4. 
   Select XNA Game Studio Connect, and click A.
   
5. 
   Select Launch, and click A.
   The XNA Game Studio Connect screen appears.
   
6. 
   If the XNA Game Studio Connect screen displays a connection key, continue to step 3B.
   If the connection key does not appear, you can generate a new key by clicking the X controller button.
   
   
   

Step 3B. On Your Windows-Based Computer, Enter the Connection Key and Initiate the Connection

1. 
   From the Start menu, select Programs, select Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0, select XNA Game Studio Device Center, and then click the Add Device button.
   
2. 
   Enter a name for your Xbox 360 console.
   
3. 
   This name serves only to identify your Xbox 360 console to XNA Game Studio. The name does not need to correspond to any other computer or Xbox 360 name.
   
4. 
   Click Next.
   
5. 
   On the Xbox 360 display, enter the connection key displayed in XNA Game Studio Connect.
   The connection key might be somewhat hard to read on a standard television screen. Look at the guide below to help you distinguish between specific letters and numbers:
   
   • The number "1" has a small tick at its top left, whereas the capital letter "I" does not.
   • The number "8" does not have a straight side at the left, whereas the capital letter "B" does.
   • The number "3" has no straight side at the left, whereas the capital letter "B" does.
   • The number "0" and the capital letter "O" are so similar, XNA Game Studio Connect treats those characters as the same character. Therefore, the number "0" and the capital letter "O" are interchangeable.
   • If the connection key seems difficult to read, click X to generate a new connection key.
6. 
   Once you are sure that the two keys match, Click Next on the XNA Game Studio Devices dialog box.
   XNA Game Studio Device Center will test the connection with the Xbox 360 console.
   If the connection is successful, the XNA Game Studio Device Center on the Windows-based computer will display "Successfully connected to the Xbox 360 console." XNA Game Studio Connect on the Xbox 360 console will display "Waiting for computer connection" followed by the name you have chosen for your Xbox 360 console in the XNA Game Studio Device Center.
   If the XNA Game Studio Device Center fails to connect to the Xbox 360 console, click Try again to edit the connection key and try again. If the connection continues to fail, make a careful note of the error message displayed at the bottom of the XNA Game Studio Devices dialog box. This error message can help you or a technician diagnose the cause of the connection failure, if it did not result from mismatched keys. For more information about troubleshooting a failed connection, see Troubleshooting Xbox 360 Game Deployment.
   
7. 
   Click Finish.
   The name you gave to your Xbox 360 console will be listed in the XNA Game Studio Device Center. From now on, your computer and your console can connect to each other easily.
   

That wasn't so bad now was it :) The good news you can now easily deploy creators club games to your XBOX!! Just remember that you have to open XNA Game Studio Connect on your XBOX and Launch it before you install any game. Its found in your community games section.

Now, for the last piece of the puzzle. Since trial memberships don't allow access to the playtesting forums on the creators club site, Creators are going to have to make their games available over the web for trial members to play and hopefully provide some constructive feedback!

To get things started I've made my game available on windows skydrive.

Ye Olde Dice Game.ccgame

Just save it to your harddrive, and if you've followed the steps above, doubleclicking it should install it to your XBOX! It's that easy.

If you have a game that you want to make available, just upload it to skydrive or somewhere else and send me the link. We might have to make some more room here for all the feedback I hope!

XBOX #2 R.I.P

Hi! Sadly, My XBOX is mostly dead. its not all dead though, so I can occasionally get some playtime in. I'm going to be sending it away shortly, I do have a few reviews saved up for just the proper occasion though. But until I receive my "new" machine, reviews will be few and far between. A few weeks at the most I hope.

In the meantime check out a silverlight version of my upcoming Community Game.

Ye Olde Dice Game
Let me know what you think of it!
The XBOX version has more medieval songs, 4 way local multiplayer, a high score list and improved graphics.
I'm also working on Live multiplayer support for version 2.

-Darthuvius

(Update: I was just banned on the XNA forums for a week :) Basically for telling it like it is!! Ye Olde Dice Game should be available around may 12-14 hopefully.