Explosions, destruction, and tearing things down are common themes in lots of games. But how about we explore the other end of the spectrum. Make some games about assembling, building, and constructing!
For Round 2, sets of cubes have been mailed out to each of the finalists from Round 1. If you haven’t already received your set, you can expect it soon! Here is some info to keep in mind for Round 2:
The deadline for Round 2 submissions has been extended to Friday, March 8th.
Submit your final build and any videos etc by posting a link to your blog, youtube, etc in the comments of this post below. Since many EGP’ers might not have sets of cubes, video is likely the best way to showcase your game as widely as possible. Either simulator or real live footage is ok.
The Sifteo folks have offered to review one in-progress build for each game over the course of the month to provide feedback. “This can give competitors a glimpse of our publishing and review process if they end up working with us.” And as always, general design and tech questions are welcome either in the comments below or mailed directly to the Sifteo folks.
And because I’m a music nerd, here’s a fun post on writing tracker music for the cubes, but can be used generally as well. Good luck finalists!
Competitors – as your games come together this month for the Sifteo Cubes Competition, the folks behind the devices have provided some extra tips and help:
12 Tips for Making Sifteo Games – Some guidelines and best practices that successful games for the platform will likely follow.
Getting Oriented with the Sifteo SDK – A quick tutorial to get started with the SDK. Especially good to read if you have no idea what an SDK is!
Take advantage of your procrastination abilities by investigating the games that have already been submitted! Several interesting designs and prototypes have already been posted in the comments section here.
For the next two months, we’re partnering with Sifteo to bring you the Sifteo Cubes Competition. Your challenge: Design and create a game that runs on stackable, rotatable, shakable, touchable Sifteo cubes.
Round 1 in January: Design and Prototype
Round 1 is all about design. Spend the month thinking about how you can uniquely use a pack of three Sifteo cubes to construct a game or experience you would not otherwise be able to create. By the end of the month, submit 1. a small prototype you’ve built with the Sifteo SDK, along with 2. any other images, video, etc so other readers can get a sense of your design without having to install the SDK. Simply post a link to your entry in the comments section below.
EGP and Sifteo folks will judge the designs and select several finalists (probably around 10%?) to move on to Round 2! Remember, the judges are humans too, so think about how to make your design stand out and show us that you have the ability to execute your vision in Round 2!
Round 2 in February: Build It!
Each finalist from Round 1 will be sent a pack of Sifteo Cubes. Spend the month of February finalizing the game you designed and prototyped in Round 1. Be sure to take advantage of Sifteo’s support staff and community forums if you need any help!
In addition to your working game, you must also submit a video of your game being played, uploaded to YouTube or similar site that we can embed here on this site. When you are ready to submit, simply post links to your submission in the comments section below.
Prizes
Internship at Sifteo – We are pleased to be able to once again offer an internship as a prize! This is an optional prize for students or other designers looking to get into the game industry. Past EGP competitions have placed interns at EA, THQ, and RedOctane and this remains our favorite and most valuable category of prize to give out!
Sifteo Cube Sets – All finalists selected to continue on to Round 2 will be mailed a set of 3 Sifteo cubes.
Publishing & Promotion – The winner will be guaranteed a publishing deal with Sifteo that will be equal to or a little better than the regular publishing deal they give to other indie developers. Additional details are still being worked out. More info soon. The winning game will also be featured on the Sifteo site, featured prominently at Sifteo’s GDC booth and at other jams and events.
How to Get Started
The folks at Sifteo have put a lot of thought into making the cubes easy to develop for. There is a freely available SDK here. And the video below provides a quick intro for developers.
A path finding puzzle game. Use hot areas to increase the distance of your steps, while avoiding the cold areas.
Looking forward to seeing what 2013 brings – we’re in talks with developer friends about a new competition, so keep an eye out – it should be a good one!
We're a group of indie game developers, running a friendly competition every month. The rules: Make a game based on the month's theme, and don't spend more than 7 days. New games posted at the end of every month.
Tower of Pixel, by Alan Zucconi
Station Repair Squad 2904, by 0x0961h
Draw Ball, by Brandon (Game Name:Frenzy)
Seizure, by Brandon (Game Name:Frenzy)
Competitors – as your games come together this month for 
We're a group of indie game developers, running a friendly competition every month. The rules: Make a game based on the month's theme, and don't spend more than 7 days. New games posted at the end of every month.