Duality ZF story makes local news.
Matthew Doucette (left) and Jason Doucette (right) make up the full development team of Duality ZF.
(Tina Comeau photo)

Thought I would share this one, because personal stories are sometimes more interesting than technology.  Our local newspaper ran a story about us after hearing that we placed 2nd in Canada, and 7th in the world, in the Dream Build Play 2009 contest.  These are shocking numbers when you consider Duality ZF is a true-to-its-roots shoot'em up and that it competed against over 350 entries from over 100 countries.  Here's some quotes:

When Jason Doucette was in elementary school he started compiling a game code, which was basically a list of do’s and don’ts when developing a video game.

When he and his twin brother Matthew were in Grade 2 or 3, they were programming computers, and by Grade 4 they were programming video games.

When the brothers reached university, however, those around them tried to sway them away from their passion. Playing video games was a waste of their time, they were told, and developing video games was a waste of their talent.

The brothers entered the game in Microsoft’s 2009 Dream Build Play competition. The challenge is open to independent and hobbyist game developers. Of the more than 350 entries from over 100 countries, the Doucette brothers’ Duality ZF was among the Top 20 finalists. The game appears seventh on the list.

The full article can be read at:  http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-376643-Brothers-say-development-of-video-game-worth-the-effort.html

Also See:

• Duality ZF (official developer site)
• Dream Build Play 2009 Top 20 (Video Trailers)
• Interviews (Xona Games, Duality ZF)
• Duality ZF Promo Materials

External Links:

• Duality ZF (official game site)
• Duality ZF Forums (hosted on xbox.com)
• Xona Games (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Vimeo)
• Dream Build Play (Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Contest)
• Xbox LIVE Indie Games* (xbox.com, Xbox Forums)
• Imphenzia Music (creator of the Duality ZF soundtrack)
• NovaNewsnow.com (of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada)

*Xbox LIVE Indie Games formerly known as Xbox LIVE Community Games.

About the Author:  I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning, team-of-two indie studio concentrating on "intense retro" games (Xbox LIVE, PSN, WiiWare, and Windows PC). We've released Decimation X (XBLIG), a 1-4 player shmup, #1 best selling and #1 top rated XBLIG in Japan. We're working on Duality ZF (XBLA), a groundbreaking 1-4 player shmup, which placed #1 in Canada and #5 in the world in Microsoft's Dream Build Play 2010 contest. It features dual play, the ability to control two fighters at once, and a massively upgradable 32-stage spread/laser weapon system. 4 player dual play allows up to eight fighters at once.  Many of these features are never before seen shoot'em up firsts. Both games feature beautiful electronic Imphenzia soundtracks.  Help spread the word with our official dualityzf.com and decimationx.com websites.

P.S. Watch out for Score Rush (official website scorerush.com), another 1-4 player shmup. Coming soon to XBLIG.

*Shmup also known as: shoot'em up, 2D shooter, scrolling shooter, space shooter, spaceship shooter, retro shooter, etc.