I want to submit a project! Where do I start?

Visit the submissions page and enter all required information about your game and your team! Someone will contact you within a few days to talk in more detail about your game.

We will require a playable demo (preferred) or a video demonstration of your game as early as possible.

Is my project qualified for submission?

We pride ourselves on showing off a wide variety of games! We want to see polished games from veterans and first game attempts from people who are just starting out. Just make sure your project is something you'd be proud to show off, and we'd be happy to consider it.

That being said, it's possible that not all games will get in this year. We will mostly be accepting games that we think will showcase well (after all, we want our attendees to have a great experience!).

Please see below for details.

What will make my demo or video stand out? What qualities are you looking for?

Here are some qualities that will make your demo or video much more impressive:
• A beautiful or interesting art style.
• An innovative, well-implemented mechanic.
• A high level of polish.

Don't worry! Your game doesn't have to be the next game-of-the-year contender! We want to show off games of all kinds. If you're not sure, submit!

That being said, there are a few qualities that may make your game appear less showcase-able:
• Apparent bugs that make the game hard to watch or play.
  • When we say polish, this is what we mean! Your game should be free(-enough) from bugs so that anyone could play it, not just the developer.
  • It won't do your game any justice to showcase it with a host of bugs that frustrate the player!
• Lack of a tutorial for a cluttered or complex experience.
  • For example, a UI-heavy strategy game.
  • If you've never implemented a tutorial, now is a great time to practice!
• An extremely bland or incoherent visual style.
  • This is all relative! We still love our ASCII art and text-based games.
  • If the art style makes it difficult to tell what is going on, it may be hard for people to play.
• Highly evident visual or mechanical similarity to a published title (that you did not develop).
  • This should be self-evident. We want to showcase the creativity of the developers at DU Arcade, not how well they can rip assets from other games.

You might by now be wondering the following:

Why does DU Arcade accept games that aren't perfect?

We aren't setting out to try to be the E3 of the mountain west! DU Arcade was started to give high school students, college students, independent developers, and professional developers the opportunity to get that expo experience right at home.

If we can give a student or new developer the opportunity to show off a game they're proud of, get play-tester feedback they might not otherwise have access to, or gain valuable experience in showing off what they've done in public, then we believe that we'll have done something great!

If you ask because you have a game you don't think is perfect, consider submitting! We hope it will be a good experience.

Is there a limit on the number of projects that will be shown at DU Arcade?

Yes. Unfortunately, we're limited on space, so we will be capping the number of projects. Don't let that discourage you, though! We want the show to have a lot of variety, so we will be understanding of teams that are a little new to the game development scene.

When will I find out if my game has been accepted?

The reveal date has not yet been set for DU Arcade 2019, so stay tuned!

How do you choose which games to present?

We select games that we think will showcase well, that do something interesting or novel, that are polished and fun, that look nice, that we generally enjoyed, or that we are in some way impressed by. Please do not be offended if your game does not get selected; this does not mean that we did not enjoy your game, we just have a limited number of slots.

We would like to have a large variety of games from a diverse number of groups, so we may base some selections on the desire to achieve that goal. For example, if we have very few games submitted by college students, we will likely accept a greater percentage of those games than the average. We hope this will allow a diverse group of people to gain experience and learn from the unique experiences of the other presenters.

The games we receive will be screened by a panel of volunteers, mainly faculty members of the University of Denver who are affiliated with the games program. DU students will NOT be given preferential treatment (after all, it wouldn't benefit DU to show more games if those games weren't of good quality!).

If you have any questions about the selection process, please contact us! We're happy to clear up any confusion.

Can I keep working on my game after I submit it?

Yes!! Please do! Those few weeks after you submit your game are the perfect time to add a tutorial, spruce up some art assets, find someone to give music (or pick up some royalty-free music online), test in different resolutions, or put the finishing touches on a new level.

Programmers: try not to make too many BIG changes the night before the expo. Have you seen Indie Game: The Movie? Cautionary tale.

My game isn't finished. Is that okay?

That's fine! We hope that DU Arcade will help teams get valuable play-tester feedback and bolster their enthusiasm to keep developing in-progress games. Your game must demonstrate, however, a strong proof of concept, and must be showcase worthy (think ten minute vertical slice).

What kinds of games are allowed?

Anything! Console, mobile, PC, tabletop, VR, AR, whatever your jam is! Just make sure that you are able to provide all of the resources you need (except for tables and chairs, of course). Any game that requires a large amount of space may be hard for us to fit in, but we will do our best.

Can I submit multiple games?

Yes. Teams showing multiple games will be given slightly more table space so that both games can be played within the team's booth area.

If space is tight, we may limit the number of games we accept from any single developer in the interest of showcasing a greater variety of talent.

Can I submit a game that I've shown at another conference / is currently for sale online?

By all means, but if your game is going to Indiecade, for example, we may want to give preference to games that have not been so lucky with getting exposure. Please understand: we want everyone to have the experience to show off their awesome games!