Dream. Build. Play 2011 semi-finalists announced, SA devs make an impact

Microsoft has announced the top 20 games in this year's Dream. Build. Play Challenge, and right up there are two South African developed games: DarkRun (Level 3 Games) and Ninja Crash (Team Devil).

The annual contest sees small independent developers compete for prizes of up to $40,000, as well as the chance to snag a Xbox LIVE Arcade publishing deal, with overall fun factor, creativity and uniqueness, and production quality playing a role in the judges decisions.

Ironically though, even though South Africa is a now an official Xbox LIVE country, it's still not a supported country by Microsoft's App Hub or Xbox LIVE Indie Games channel, meaning local developers can't publish games on the Xbox LIVE Indie channel, and nor can local gamers download Indie games.

Regardless, it's great to see more South African developers making a mark on the international stage, and the exposure should certainly help the local scene. We wish all the finalists the best of luck as they go into the final stage, with the overall winners being announced on (or around) 22 August.

Below is a list of the 20 semi-finalists in DBP 2011: