There were a lot of incredible games released by the huge game developers this year, just as there were Arcade games by the smaller developers.  But what about the micro developers who worked away in their underground bunkers, testing and twisting the possibilities of game design for no other reason than their obsession with creating interactive content or trying to reverse engineer a starter kit?  Sure there was a lot of sub-par, underdeveloped drivel, but there were also some innovative standouts.  This is your opportunity to nominate any number of the best indie games released by the XNA community for XBOX Live in 2009.  But hurry, nominations end soon!

You can place your nomination simply by posting a comment in response to this article.  Our best of the year will be posted by December 21st.

Thanks for your emails and comments.  Voting is now closed and we will post our selections shortly.

Get an insider’s look at breaking into the game industry with a focus on XNA Game Studio and other platforms from PAX 2009.  We chose part 2 of 5.  Unfortunately the audio leaves much to be desired, but hoepfully you can get some ideas from this clip in approaching your dream of designing an indie game for Xbox Live.

Panelists Include: Denise Novosel [Moderator] – (Staffing Manager IEB and E&D, Microsoft), Kim Swift (Game Designer, Valve Software), Kelvin Sung (Associate Professor Computing and Software Systems, University of Washington Bothell), Ron Jenkins (The Guildhall at SMU, Deputy Director), Joshua Hernandez (Producer, Metamoorephosis)

As a bonus here is IGN’s Top 100 Game Developers: Dave Perry – Breaking Into the Industry

Title: ZP2K9
Developer: Jamezila / Ska Studios
Players: 1
Online Multiplayer: 2-10
Genre: Platformer
Price: 200 Points
Countries: Canada, France, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
Languages: English

Developer Summary:

ZP2K9 is a super-crazy multiplayer sidescroller. Play Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill with 13 devastating weapons and 6 grenade types including Akimbo SMGs, the freeze gun, gas grenades, and the enemy-splattering MIRV.

What We Think:

ZP2k9 is an action platform game that is compatible with 2 to 10 players on Xbox live. The developer – Jamezila – has a several other game releases but today we are focusing on his multi-player destruction party: ZP2K9. You can play a varied of different game types like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill. With thirteen devastating weapons and six grenade types including Akimbo SMGs, the freeze gun, gas grenades, and the enemy-splattering MIRV.

The biggest problem in multiplayer is that there is only one map but it feels like it is three or maps put together; one part is all wooded then one is all white, making it sometimes difficult to find people because the map is so big and thus you don’t get many kills in a game.

The controls reminded me of a Flash game: there aren’t many buttons that you need to remember, and absolutely zero button combinations.  It sounds simple, and it is.  A simple control layout is always good as it offers quick, smooth game play without the hassle of trying to remember any tricky button combos during an intense fire-fight.

The music? If you guessed that it resembles that of a typical Flash game, you’re absolutely right.  The game just loops one techno style track over and over again. While this seems like it might get annoying after a while, you’ll be too caught up in the action to even notice the techno music.

Give ZP2K9 a shot (for 200 MS points its the same price as a new t-shirt for your avatar) and get a sense of what is going on with the evolution of online multiplayer in the XBOX Live Indie Game world.

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