It’s official, the world has ended as Microsoft has resurrected the hugely successful Dream Build Play challenge for 2017. The biggest difference in this resurgence is that you can now use any tool, framework or language you wish, so long as it targets Windows 10 UWP!

You can learn more about the competition at https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/projects/campaigns/dream-build-play-challenge.

The competition is broken up in to 4 main categories with various Prize levels for each, totaling a MASSIVE $200,000 prize fund for entrants to win!

The competition is open to all (worldwide) with only a few of the usual exceptions:

• If you are a legal resident in your place of residence and 18 years of age or older as of June 27, 2017. If you are 18 years of age or older but are considered a minor in your place of residence, you must have your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission to enter; and
• You have the technical programming education, experience and/or knowledge to create games for UWP; and
• You are NOT a resident of any of the following countries: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria; and
  PLEASE NOTE: U.S. export regulations prohibit the export of goods and services to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Therefore, residents of these countries / regions are not eligible to participate.
• You are NOT an employee of Microsoft Corporation or an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary; and
• You are NOT an employee of any company or organization that is involved in the provision of prizes, equipment or materials for this Challenge; and
• You are NOT involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Challenge; and
• You are NOT an immediate family (parent, sibling, spouse, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, or a person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Challenge.

You also can’t (of note) submit a game that is being built by a major publishing house or one that is currently in development for console development programs such as ID@Xbox, PS Dev, etc.  It has to be your own work and not linked to your development studio or company.  If it wasn’t obvious, you also cannot submit games that are already published and sold, the game / project must be new.

If you are up to the challenge, there are a few key dates to be aware of!

A brief history of Dream Build Play

Dream Build Play which ran from 2007 through to 2012, has birthed some of the most famous Indies in the years gone by, including:

• SKA-Studios with The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai & I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1NIT!!!1 – So famous everyone is still playing their games 

• Humble Hearts with Dust: An Elysian Tail (which went on to be bought by Microsoft Studios)

• Xona Games with Duality ZF (still going strong with new titles being released this year)

Most Studios and 1 man bands, especially those that won, have all gone on to do great things and that was only with a single framework to build it in, Microsoft’s XNA Framework.

Read more about the history of Dream Build Play on Wikipedia.

Now, with the new and improved Dream Build play, the competition is open to anyone and everyone, with any tool, framework or language you wish, with only one single requirement: It must target the Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform.