Though Microsoft continues to play catch up, it seems to be making progress. The company announced its first wave of developers for its ID@Xbox self-publishing program for independent developers.

Though it may seem a bit off including Ryse: Son of Rome developer Crytek in the lineup, it’s an impressive list of game creators. Now, if we could only get either platform holder to nail down some release dates…

• Inis
• Comcept
• Vlambeer
• Double Eleven
• Born Ready
• Crytek
• Happion Labs
• Definition 6
• Team17
• Panic Button
• Double Fine
• Drinkbox
• Team Colorblind
• Signal Studios
• Zen Studios
• Bongfish
• Halfbrick
• NinjaBee
• Zeboyd Games
• Nicalis
• The Men Who Wear Hats
• Capybara Games
• Behavior
• Gaijin Games
• Hidden Path
• The Odd Gentlemen
• WayForward
• Other Ocean
• Jackbox Games
• Iron Galaxy
• Demiurge

Microsoft claims it has sent development kits to more than 50 studios since Gamescom, and it is still working “behind-the-scenes” to flip the switch that will turn every Xbox One into a development kit. Microsoft has not provided a timetable for when that switch might happen.

The news also brings with it a few game confirmations, including Divekick on Xbox One, the eventual debut of a new Shoot Many Robots game, and a port of Energy Hook.

More games is always a good thing and I'm looking forward to seeing what Double Fine can create for this new generation, honestly I'm tending to enjoy the smaller, more sort of condensed experiences that I find on steam than the billion hour epics nowadays so if that means more Bastions and Stanley Parables on the one then I look forward to seeing what comes out of this.

Man, the 'ID@Xbox' branding is way lame.

Stop trying to sound cool, dad.

Not really that surprising but good to see.

Okay, the thing that stands out from that list is the existence of the LANG ZONE.

Isn't it essentially anyone who counts as being a self-publisher? That's why I heard Crytek was on there. But does seem odd given their size.

I can't wait to see what these developers bring.

It stands for "independent developers at xbox". If anything it's name is too utilitarian (like so much at Microsoft). Not sure what makes you think they are trying to sound cool?

Is it really self-publishing? Or is Michael Transaction behind all this?

@patrickklepek Wrong Divekick link! Many of us make that mistake, the Divekick concept is listed first in place of the game unfortunately.

This is all great news and can only mean good things for indie gaming going forward.

@pumpkinheaddy: ... I think its just you.

Great news! why is Capy not there?

Divekick is coming to the xbox one huh? That could be potentially awesome and also dangerous at the same time! Kinect will have people divekicking their TVs...which is awesome!

I think you've put the hammer on the nail of the Xbox One project with that reply, so depressingly true it is.

@nashvilleskyline: They probably aren't self-publishing, I guess. Below is being published by Microsoft, just not on this ID@Xbox platform.

I need to know, are they just fans of Bill Laimbeer?

As an Australian, I'm disappointed that I will never be able to play these games with breaking the rules of Xbox Live.

Double Fine should make good on Broken Age before signing up to be Microsoft's best friend for the Xbox One.

Double Fine is making good on it. There documentary is a bout 20 hours so far documenting the process. Well worth my $15 already. The most recent episode is about voice acting including a pretty cool cameo.

Most people who were early backers are plenty happy with the progress and if your not an early backer, stop bitching.

not signing up to be XBONE's best friend... just saying that down the line if/when they make another console game that the game will probably be out on next gen consoles as well.

Don't forget that the Double Fine Action Adventure team is making DLC for The Playroom on PS4.

@gaspower said:

"Xbox, go to the Lang Zone"

Pretty cool, they have a nice line up there. I hope they do a good job curating games on the Xbone, I'm all down for indies but man: steam, iOS, Android, all open platforms are crowded with shovelware and paid-2-alpha kick starters.

They are.

No Chair? Does that mean we'll get Shadow Complex 2 on other platforms?

I will buy another version of Divekick.

Chair is owned by Epic, so Epic would have to be on that list. Also Shenmue 3 will happen before Shadow Complex 2.

@sooty: What are you talking about? That game looks like it is coming along just fine.

It's great to see these little development teams get a chance to get their games on a next gen console. You know, teams like Crytek.

@billymaysrip: You are absolutely right. tx

I'm guessing Crytek may be trying to bring Warface over?
Mmmmaybe?
Maybe not?

There is no confirmation there is a Divekick coming to XBOX ONE. The kust of developers on the IGN article simply note what the developers are known for, eg : one of the developers on the list has listed nezr to them Little Big Planet Vita which obviiysky won't come to XBOX

I can see into the future. One of those games will feature puzzles.

By becoming Microsoft's best friend, I assume you mean "requesting a devkit to self-publish future games on the XBOX One", right?

I also don't understand the idea that Double Fine can do nothing but live and breathe Broken Age 24/7, until that game is released.

In conclusion - great post.

Not sure why people are reacting so badly to my post, Double Fine might be pretty likeable but it doesn't give them a free pass.

I like some of their games, but let's not pretend Broken Age's development hasn't been a bit of a mess along with them making additional Kickstarters. I think it's lame to ask for money for a second game when you've already messed up the financing of your first Kickstarter title.

So I clicked on Bongfish to see a list of games they made and I was not disappointed.

@sooty said:

But that's just not how Double Fine works these days. They're a multiple small-ish project studio now. If they did nothing but work on Broken Age until it was done, they would probably have to fire 3/4 of the studio, including a lot of really talented people working on things like Massive Chalice and Spacebase DF-9.

Different parts of the dev cycle are more or less intensive on different disciplines, be it art, programming, design, etc. The advantage of having multiple projects like this is you can rotate artists, programmers and designers in and out on projects based on demand and not have them sitting around waiting for everyone else to finish their part of the game before they move on to something else. It's just the way a studio like Double Fine is built to work, and asking them to drop everything to finish a single game is basically asking them to go out of business.

Very much this. not to mention they've also talked about it extensively with backers before hand in some of the video's and on the forums.

They've released games without help since Broken Age was announced, and they've asked for support as well. Whatever it takes to keep being independant and release quality products is fine by me.

Would you rather they lose talented people like brad Muir because he's not able to make the games he wants?

It's also not really a strange thing, most large studio's do it as well, Double Fine is just a small-mid sized studio that works on many projects at a time.

@sooty said:

Everybody is yelling at you because you're super duper wrong, it turns out. Who would've thought!

Why can't we just have nice things and not fight about it?..

Here's hoping for Fez II!.

@patrickklepek: maybe you should look at this link or thread here. It is really not a good thing and I hope you can cover it on your show.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=728332

i signed up for ID@xbox.com hoping to get a console. If i ever do get one, first i will laugh my ass off then i will make "hand masseur" which will be program that will vibrate the controller for you.

"Release on IndieXB1 and PS4 at the same time or we won't let you release on IndieXB1 at all" - Microsoft

psychonauts 2 pls

Ow, what's with the spam posts all of a sudden?

Yay for more Double Fine!

@patrickklepek: i think this is just more for news because like you there are no games mentioned or dates but nice 4 platforms for those dev to put games on

@evercaptor: Broken Age with Kinect?