Dream Build Play (also known as Dream-Build-Play, Dream.Build.Play, and DreamBuildPlay) is an annual $75,000 Microsoft video game contest used to promote Microsoft XNA Game Studio and eventually Xbox LIVE Indie Games. It was announced in 2006, started in 2007, and ran until 2012. It was restarted in 2017 as the Dream.Build.Play 2017 Challenge. Notable winners include Dust: An Elysian Tail and The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai.
Concept
Dream-Build-Play, as it was first called, is a game development contest designed to promote and encourage experienced game developers and enthusiasts to create innovative and fun-to-play indie games for Windows and Xbox 360 using Microsoft XNA Game Studio. In 2017, the contest was relaunched to challenge indie game developers to create UWP games across four categories.
Notable entries
Many winners have gone on to be published on Xbox LIVE Arcade:
A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda (Entered as A.R.E.S.) Blazing Birds Capsized Cloudberry Kingdom Dust: An Elysian Tail Kung Fu Strike (Entered as HurricaneX, HurricaneX2, and HurricaneX2 Evolution in three separate Dream Build Play contests.) The Adventures of Shuggy (Entered as Shuggy.) The Bridge The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai Yo Ho Kablammo! Zeit²
Dream Build Play Challenges
Here is a breakdown of all Dream Build Play Challenges, including lesser known Warm-Up Challenges:
2007 Warm-Up Challenge
Microsoft offered a Relatives of Spacewar Warm-Up Challenge precursor to the first Dream Build Play, awarding US$500 to the top five entries. The entries had to create a game based on the Spacewar Starter Kit.
Winners
Top 5:
Earth vs. Mars (Minsk, Belarus) Udder Assault (Bellevue, WA USA) G, (Bologna, Italy) Viduce (Lyon, France) Cracklin Crackles (Chicago, IL USA)
2007 Challenge
Also known as Dream-Build-Play 1.0, this is the first Dream Build Play Challenge. In it, Microsoft offered an Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing contract to the top four entries out of 4,500 participants, with the top two "1st Place" winning $10,000 each and the next two "2nd Place" winning $5,000 each.
Winners
1st Place (tie): Blazing Birds (Burlington, Canada) The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (Remix) (Marcy, NY, United States) 2nd Place: Gravitron Ultra (Stockholm, Sweden) Yo Ho Kablammo! (Huddersfield, United Kingdom) 3rd Place: Big Sky (Durban, South Africa) Burning Angels (Beijing, China) Chaos (San Diego, CA, United States) Gunstyle (Montgomery, AL, United States) Hasta la muerte (Angoulême, France) Hippocrate's Dilemma (Guilderland, NY, United States) HurricaneX (Shanghai, China) Little Gamers (Brussels, Belgium) Magic Crystals (Wyoming, MI, United States) Proximity HD (Warrenville, IL, United States) Ragu (Tyresö, Sweden) Rocketball (San Diego, CA, United States) Samurai Soul Hunters (latest) (Bothell, WA, United States) Shuggy (Ely, United Kingdom) Sprockets of Strife (College Station, TX, United States) Viduce (Lyon, France)
Blazing Birds, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Yo Ho Kablammo!, HurricaneX, and Shuggy all eventually were published on Xbox LIVE Arcade. HurricaneX was eventually released as Kung Fu Strike and Shuggy as The Adventures of Shuggy.
2008 Warm-Up Challenge
Also known as the Silicon Minds Warm-Up Challenge, it was a precursor to the main 2008 Dream Build Play Challenge, announced in late 2007 this one centered on artificial intelligence and promised an opportunity to interview for at an internship with Microsoft Research, Rare, or Lionhead Studios.
Winners
Top 5: Conquerator (Nicholas Barratt & Gillian Allen, Dollar Short Games) Hive (Nancy McCourt) iSheep (Markus Jost & Remo Zehnder) Orblast (John Montemorano, What About Gameplay?) Specimen (Brent Strandy)
2008 Challenge
The 2008 Dream Build Play Challenge marks the first time the contest offered $75,000 worth of prizes. First place won $40,000, second place won $20,000, third place won $10,000, and fourth place won $5,000.
Winners
Top 4 Prize Winners: CarneyVale: Showtime Battle Tennis Weapon of Choice HurricaneX2
Top 20 (in alphabetic order): An Awesome Game (United States) Artoon (United Kingdom) AUTO (Denmark) Battle Tennis (Venezuela) Bennu (Portugal) Biology Battle (Thailand) Blow (Canada) Carney Vale:Showtime (Singapore) Galex-e-mail (United States) HurricaneX2 (China) Petank Party (France) Project X- Trino (United States) Pyramid Camel Boy (United Kingdom) Save Jack (South Africa) Smashell (Italy) Spacehack (South Africa) Streets of Fury (France) Tropos (South Korea) Weapon of Choice (United States) Zeit 2 (Germany)
HurricaneX2 and Zeit 2 were eventually released on Xbox LIVE Arcade.