Enter Microsoft’s Dream.Build.Play 2017 Challenge for the chance to win up to $100,000

Microsoft seemed to have dropped the ball this past E3 when it came to exclusivities for its Xbox platform according to the chatter online and with the company’s propensity to cancel first party projects as of late, many wonder where the games will come from.

Fortunately, there is Microsoft’s Dream.Build.Play challenge this year where the company is welcoming devs from all over the world to create the most intriguing and captivating indie games around.

Dream.Build.Play 2017 is a new contest that started on June 27 and runs through December 31. The Dream.Build.Play 2017 challenge will award a winner who’s game falls into one of four designated categories up to $100,000 USD.

The four categories include games that are cloud powered, PC, Mixed Reality and console gaming. Perhaps, surprisingly, Microsoft is awarding cloud-powered games the most money at $100,000 as the company looks for the next best Universal Windows Platform exclusive offering. Other prizes consist of PC games being awarded $50,000 USD, Mixed Reality games receiving $50,000 and console games just a mere $25,000 USD.

Devs need to keep the following dates in mind:

• June 27: Competition opens for registration
• August 2: Team formation and game submission period opens
• December 31: Game submission period closes
• January 2018: Finalists announced
• March 2018: Winners awarded

For more details, Microsoft has included a nifty Channel 9 video to walk interested devs through.

Since Microsoft is housing Xamarin, devs are welcomed to pretty much use any technology they can get their hands on to create the biggest gaming craze.

The judges will be gauging each entry against the following criteria which includes Fun Factor, Innovation, Production Quality, Business, and Viability. Not every criterion is weighted evenly and devs should know that Fun Factor and Innovation make up over 70% of the final vote.

For any dev interested, they are encouraged to visit the Game Development Guide site. Good luck!

Further reading: Gaming, Microsoft, UWP, Windows 10, Xbox