I know this isn't the WP7 forum, but this is an XBLIG related app. Casey Young has done an awesome job of putting together a WP7 app which basically is a "working scraper to grab info from the RSS feed, and vids/pics from xbox.com and create.msdn..". We're trying to gather a list of indivudals with WP7 hardware to test it out on, and ideally XBLIG/XNA devs.

Sounds good. I have a Lumia 800 and have XBLIG + WP7 experience. Willing to help whenever :)

Nice idea but I can't see it really being all that useful to XBLIG to be honest.

I like the idea. Adding to what Martin suggested, from a dev's perspective, any chance of getting a link to the dev's website/twitter/profile as well as a list of titles would be excellent promotion. Also, definitely "XBLIG Companion" ;) Happy to test. HTC Titan here.

I am already working on a Developers sort/view of games they have done. It is just about completed, went with something similar to what you suggested.  Also, I am getting a search functionality working, was in my plan, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Retroburn Game Studios:

A few features I'd suggest to make the app better:

Push notifications - Perhaps push out one notification for each newly released XBLIG title? That way if the user has the app pinned they'll see the number of new games released and will get an audio notification too.

Search - There should be a clear search function which allows users to search for either game titles or developers.

Developers - Have some sort of view which lists all games from a specific developer. Perhaps a panorama with each page featuring a game from that developer.

Dave Voyles:

Perhaps there would be some way of the developer updating the network to inform the users that they've made additions/changes to their XBLIG as well, or that it's now available on other Microsoft services (WP7) too.

Just jumping in to point out that XboxIndies.com has XML data for all games (and CSV for game stats).  Example:

FuncWorks LLC:

In the RSS feeds for recently updated and New Releases we add some "game:" tags for additional info.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/XboxIndies-NewReleases?format=xml

http://feeds.feedburner.com/XboxIndies-Updated?format=xml

FuncWorks LLC:

Just jumping in to point out that XboxIndies.com has XML data for all games (and CSV for game stats).  Example:

http://www.xboxindies.com/game/xml/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585502a6

http://www.xboxindies.com/stats/csv/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585502a6

In the RSS feeds for recently updated and New Releases we add some "game:" tags for additional info.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/XboxIndies-NewReleases?format=xml

http://feeds.feedburner.com/XboxIndies-Updated?format=xml

You're welcome to use this if you want for your app (after all, it's not really *my* data) and it's okay to direct link to the images (it's all hosted in Azure).

I don't know that anyone is using this "API" except for madninja to pull game data for his sales site.  I've always had the goal of fleshing it out more so it would be useful for projects just like this.  And one day I dream of making an XboxIndies mobile app too.  But I have so many projects going on it keeps getting pushed back.  If you do want to use us, let me know if there is anything I can help with.  It's not hard to add some more API methods, just let me know what you need.

Quick update before getting this ready to push to beta.

Like said in the mails, I'd be glad to help :)

If you guys would like to be included in the beta, please e-mail me with the following information:

Looks like I am at a good stopping point. I have started the process to get a beta on the marketplace, just waiting for a nice list of testers.  I am hoping to get this out to the first batch no later than Wednesday if everything pans out. I am going to run the build and make sure I don't find anything quick before I hit the big button to send it to the testers. =D

Some feedback based on the screenshots. I sent Dave an email so I'll help test out when you need it. :)

• On the pivot pages with recommendations (this screenshot) a small thumbnail should be displayed in front of the game title (like the thumbnail from this screenshot). As it stands, the recommendations page is super bland being only text and all. People are only going to click on a game based on the name if it's only text. Add some color/pictures to spruce it up and entice people! 
• Xbox doesn't have a capital B?

Robot Foot Games:

Some feedback based on the screenshots. I sent Dave an email so I'll help test out when you need it. :)

• On the pivot pages with recommendations (this screenshot) a small thumbnail should be displayed in front of the game title (like the thumbnail from this screenshot). As it stands, the recommendations page is super bland being only text and all. People are only going to click on a game based on the name if it's only text. Add some color/pictures to spruce it up and entice people! 
• Xbox doesn't have a capital B?

You should have all received your beta invites already. If not, please get in touch with Casey or myself.

Thoughts:

Thanks Jeff!

Dave Voyles:

Thanks Jeff!

 I *believe* you can, when you purchase it through the marketplace, correct? Again, you have to log-in through the browser, like you mentioned above. 

Robot Foot Games:

Thoughts:

• I noticed the message about push notifications when it first loaded up, but I don't think it mentioned what you actually get push notifications about (new games, updates, lists have been updated)? Make sure people know what they're signing up for.

• The text on the main page could be a little bigger, you have the space to make the font a little bigger, so make it easy to read!
• Throw some spacing (paragraphs) in there to break things up a bit. Big blocks of text with no spacing scare some people. :)
• Spelling (add the bold "s"): "Or you can fancy yourself by browsing hand picked selections from various sources in this app."

• Share button text spelling: "This is a great app that shows you what is all on the Xbox LIVE Indie Games service."
• XBLIG is mentioned all over the app but I don't think it ever explicitly says what XBLIG means. Not sure if the app is meant for people that are already aware of the service but if you're trying to get people to actually find the place and try some indie games for the first time it might be worth it to throw in something like "Want to play some great Xbox LIVE Indie Games (XBLIG) on your Xbox..." in so people that have no idea will get the reference.

• You NEED to be able to scroll through screenshots when viewing them. Having to select one, back out, select one, back out doesn't make for a very good user experience. I think most users would expect to "flick" through the different screenshots after opening the first one.

• Having the box art next to the titles is much better to look at. I feel like the rating should also show up underneath the title (maybe aligned with the bottom of the box art). You'd probably have to cut titles off that are longer than 2 lines but there's probably not too many games that'll reach that length. Adding the star rating also gives users an incentive to click through to find out more because they can better judge if the game is good or not. If the box art doesn't entice me but I see that it's rated 4.5/5 I would still probably go through to find out more about it since it seems people enjoy it! Adding the ratings to the lists would also make it feel less "static." Right now it's just box art - title, box art - title. Adding stars to the games would throw in some variety since some may be 2/5 and some may be 5/5. At the very least, I think the rating should at least show up on the info page for each game.

Overall, there's a couple things that would improve the user experience and you really need to sell people on wanting to try a game out inside of your app. When people decide to "View on marketplace" then they'll have to deal with loading through the website (which failed on me the 1st time and worked when I refreshed, even on wifi) and possibly having to sign into their LIVE ID if they don't use the Xbox website on their phone (which I also don't use). If there was an official app where you could download games straight to your Xbox (which I don't see why they haven't done yet!) then this wouldn't even be an issue, you could just load the app and be on your way.

Woo Hoo! The App worked! MS has released a stealth update and made Indies it's own box on the games tab. (I'd like to believe it was this awesome app that was about to come out as being the driving force to this!)  Anyways, the vid is now obsolete, and need to revamp the info screen's text.

Nice app overall, here's my testing feedback:

Bugs:
* If I tapped a game, viewed it, returned back to the list and tried to tap it to view it again, it wouldn't work. I'd have to view another game before I could view it again.

General layout:
* Make the image/box of the game on the first info page bigger, put the basic info (developer etc) underneath that instead of to the right of it. Then separate out the description into another tab (just to have more room for the text and have the box image read better, it's quite small).
* Make the screenshots thumbnails larger as well - instead of 2 columns just have one column.
* Maybe, if possible, embed any youtube trailer links so you can see a shot of the video as the link instead of the url?
* Recommended lists - it might get awkward with each of these being a top level tab, you might just want to have a "recommended" tab that then lists out each source. Also, it'd be nice to have some info about the source, or a link.
* View by genre - if you have this info, maybe think about making one of the main page tabs a genre list that that you can dive into to browse by genre.
 
Good stuff!
  Borut

Haunted Temple Studios.:

Nice app overall, here's my testing feedback:

Bugs:
* If I tapped a game, viewed it, returned back to the list and tried to tap it to view it again, it wouldn't work. I'd have to view another game before I could view it again.

General layout:
* Make the image/box of the game on the first info page bigger, put the basic info (developer etc) underneath that instead of to the right of it. Then separate out the description into another tab (just to have more room for the text and have the box image read better, it's quite small).
* Make the screenshots thumbnails larger as well - instead of 2 columns just have one column.
* Maybe, if possible, embed any youtube trailer links so you can see a shot of the video as the link instead of the url?
* Recommended lists - it might get awkward with each of these being a top level tab, you might just want to have a "recommended" tab that then lists out each source. Also, it'd be nice to have some info about the source, or a link.
* View by genre - if you have this info, maybe think about making one of the main page tabs a genre list that that you can dive into to browse by genre.

Good stuff!
Borut

Here is a video explaining how the app works. Please spread the good word!