Lego Stud Collector v1.0 Alpha
Much has happened over the past month. Patch v0.6.6 of Bare Backstreets is still in development and has been delayed. Fans and Patreon supporters of JasonAfex can follow the progress here:
https://www.patreon.com/Jasonafex
https://www.patreon.com/Jasonafex
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Featured above is a screenshot from a game that will never be released, and no one will get to play it. LEGO in collaboration with Unity announced on September 29 a contest where participants were tasked with making a LEGO themed video game where the stipulation was that it could only use a single button for gameplay.
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Prizes for the contest among other things included the chance that select chosen games could be featured in LEGO box retail stores. Given that LEGO branded games are some of the most entertaining and enjoyable games to play, after learning about this contest just a week prior to the deadline, I decided to throw together a quick game for the contest.
I thought long and hard about what the most enjoyable part of LEGO video games are, and for myself at least I would argue that collecting Studs (which act as in-game currency) is the most enjoyable part of these series of games. Thus I got to work making a game where the sole purpose of it was collecting LEGO studs.
I thought long and hard about what the most enjoyable part of LEGO video games are, and for myself at least I would argue that collecting Studs (which act as in-game currency) is the most enjoyable part of these series of games. Thus I got to work making a game where the sole purpose of it was collecting LEGO studs.
The game was submitted on time before the deadline, but due to an arbitrary rule in the contest guidelines that wasn't well informed (I read the rules at least a dozen times and never saw this); where the rule states that contest entries featuring text in the main image of the thumbnail were disqualified, the game was rejected.
Even though the game was submitted on time as per the contest rules, zero opportunity was granted to amend this minor infraction. The notice states "Awaiting Resubmission", but there was no button, setting, or feasible way to edit the submission. The only way to resubmit the game was to make a new game which was not possible following the deadline as our game was submitted a half hour before and not given review until the next day. Several attempts were made to contact LEGO support for assistance but no one ever replied.
Following the disappointment of not having our game featured among the 100 or so other contest entries which the community was able to see and play, I decided to try and release it as a free game on Steam. I stripped the game of any and all references to LEGO, the LEGO brand, its name, and logo and hoped that it would have been suffice to pass the Steam moderation process, but alas more disappointment.
Following the disappointment of not having our game featured among the 100 or so other contest entries which the community was able to see and play, I decided to try and release it as a free game on Steam. I stripped the game of any and all references to LEGO, the LEGO brand, its name, and logo and hoped that it would have been suffice to pass the Steam moderation process, but alas more disappointment.
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Even though the game was slated to be released for free, without ads and there was never any intention of making a money from it. Even though it ended up costing me money out of pocket for the $130 steam keys that I never intended to make back, the game is unable to be released due to potential 3rd party copyright infringement.
According to Steam in order to release this game, we require the legal consent of LEGO to do so; which is unlikely to happen given the lack of communication we'd gotten from customer support already. Even though there are a dozen or more other toy brands that sell the exact same plastic product, the appearance of the game is enough to get it red flagged. |
LEGO recently partnered with Unity3D to develop Microgame; an all encompassing plugin for the game creation engine that makes developing games using LEGO assets hassle free. Stating in a press conference that they wanted to see more creations from the community of fans. However without providing a suitable platform outside of contests such as this, there doesn't appear to be any way for Indie Development Studios such as ours to make use of this tool without volatizing a half dozen legal agreements.
Its a shame the work that was done on Stud Collector was ostensibly for nothing and that it wont be available anywhere else aside from the embedded WebGL provided above that was for our entry into the contest. Until a suitable solution has been provided for creators that want to make LEGO themed games, I would advise against using the Microgame plugin as you wont be able to publish anything made with it.
Its a shame the work that was done on Stud Collector was ostensibly for nothing and that it wont be available anywhere else aside from the embedded WebGL provided above that was for our entry into the contest. Until a suitable solution has been provided for creators that want to make LEGO themed games, I would advise against using the Microgame plugin as you wont be able to publish anything made with it.
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Should anyone who works for LEGO happen to come across this information and wish to contact us to discuss possible solutions, you may email
[email protected] |
Evan Svendsen
Founder and Lead Developer
Tech Skull Studios
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