Commercial (3D) game development is hard -- really hard.  As someone on my team said, the time to a first playable level is a momentous occasion in any game development cycle.  The trick here is to get to the first playable level as quickly as possible and then get the project fully funded – few games ever make it past this stage. If a game studio is fortunate to make it past this stage, additional features are added, refined, and stabilized (hopefully) until the game ships.  As with any commercial venture, market reach is critical -- the availability of a commercial game on multiple platforms is only a good thing.

With the XNA Framework, lowering costs and time to market is a key problem that we are trying to solve. Two goals on solving this problem are:

• Cross-platform development of games across Windows and Xbox 360
• Increase game developer productivity -- We want game developers to focus on game play mechanics not hardware mechanics

We feel that the first step to addressing both those problems is by enabling the CLR on the Xbox 360 and bringing a game framework that is API compatible across Xbox 360 and Windows.

So what does that really mean?

For one, Tom Miller is no longer an Army of One.  He has a whole team (dev, test, PM) now supporting his lifelong goal of enabling game development using managed code J

Second, we are folding MDX2 into the XNA Framework.  MDX2 is going to be a critical component for what will be our graphics layer.  We equate the graphics layer as our hardware layer.  Today, MDX2 is Windows only and it is built on top of D3D9, D3DX, etc.

Any developer that has written games for both Xbox and Windows knows that there are quite a few differences between the API’s.  While we definitely won’t be able to get a 100% API compatibility between the two platforms, we are trying our best to reduce the number of API compatibility issues.

As a result of us trying to reduce the compatibility issues between the platforms we have API’s that fall into the following categories:

1) API’s that are replaced with newer cross-platform counterparts

DirectSound gets replaced with XACT and DirectInput gets replaced with XInput. 

At this point some of the questions you may be thinking:

·         What if I need lower-level audio API support?

·         What if I want to build by own audio engine?

·         What happens to mouse and keyboard support on Windows?

·         How will I support alternative input devices that aren’t exposed by XInput today?

 One way to support those scenarios in managed code would be to use MDX 1.1.  We plan on supporting MDX 1.1 for quite a while, especially since customers have shipped applications using MDX 1.1. 

Looking to the future, we (an entire team and not just Tom J) are actively thinking on how we might solve these scenarios.  More importantly, we want to hear from you our customer on what type of gaming scenarios you would like to see enabled cross-platform or even platform specific.  Of course, we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to hit every scenario in our first release of the XNA Framework but we’d like to do our best to minimize any disruption and ensure that communication is two-way.

2) API’s that are eliminated because no cross-platform counterpart exists

DxDiag gets cut.  There is no real equivalent on Xbox 360 today.  MDX1.1 will continue to support a managed wrapper for DxDiag.  Do you have any concerns here?  If so, let us know.

3) API’s that are “evolved” into various other XNA Framework API’s

D3DX.  Ah what happens to D3DX?  This is a toughie.  D3DX contains useful functionality that in a strict .NET namespace way is all over the place.  To complicate matters further, a lot of functionality on D3DX doesn’t exist on the Xbox 360 today.  Our crack team of developers, testers and program managers have some idea on how some of this functionality needs to evolve but frankly there are a lot of customer scenarios that we probably don’t know about.  This is one place where we definitely need lots of customer feedback. 

Overall, the XNA team is super excited on what we are planning on delivering via the XNA Framework.  We want to reinforce that the commitments Microsoft is making to managed game programming with the XNA Framework will go far beyond the original scope of what Managed DirectX was meant to address, and we strongly believe that this will be a very positive move for the game industry as a whole.

Finally, some of you may be thinking,

“I write REAL apps.  I don’t write silly games.  In fact, my software has saved entire countries in Europe as well as head of states.  How does the XNA Framework help me and what is Microsoft going to do to support my apps going forward?”

We’d like to hear from customers using MDX that aren’t building games.  This is another area that Microsoft as a whole is actively trying to solve. 

If your attending GDC 2006 stop by the Microsoft booth (#416) on the show floor and come meet us!. We’ll have kiosks to demo some games running on Windows and an Xbox 360 development kit.  You can also learn about XNA Build as well.

If you have comments, concerns or questions that you may be uncomfortable airing on a public forum, please email us at xna@microsoft.com.

Please check out my team member's blogs for more information about the XNA Framework, XNA Build and XNA Studio.

Michael Klucher http://blogs.msdn.com/mklucher/

Tom Miller http://blogs.msdn.com/tmiller/

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 13:00:00 GMT

Snow Conditions
Snoqualmie Conditions
Mt. Baker Conditions

Sun, 19 Mar 2006 11:31:00 GMT

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Tom Miller's Blog

Make money from your amazing game creations!

Today we announced the Xbox LIVE Community Games.  You can read more information about it (including a FAQ) here.

What is the big thing in the announcements that could be considered exciting?  You'll be able to make money from your creations. 

As an XNA Creator Club premium member you'll be able to submit your games to the service, set a price point for your games (between 200 and 800 Microsoft Points), and after a peer review your game will be available to download by millions of game players on Xbox LIVE.  Every quarter, you'll receive a payment for up to 70% of all money your game has earned.  People will be able to play a trial of your game before they buy it as well.

I remember what seems like forever ago now.  I was sitting in my office trying to convince people that you could use managed code to make games.  That it was feasible to run managed code and make a good game on a console as well as Windows.  I remember the reluctance people had in believing that.  Now look today.  Have you seen Schizoid?  A game that has been released and making money.  Now we have this announcement today.  Almost anyone has the potential to make money by writing a game and getting it on the service.  It couldn't be simpler.

 As for me, I'm celebrating this announcement by taking a trip to Vegas.  (Ok, that's just coincidence, but still).

 

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:56:00 GMT

Community Games!

For those of you who don't read the XNA Team Blog the Community Games on Xbox LIVE feature has gone into a beta release!

Plus, the web site looks much cooler now.

So, what does this mean?  It means that premium members can create a game, submit it for peer review, and then have it available on Xbox LIVE.  There's also a new starter kit, a 2D RPG Game.  There is plenty of information and new cool stuff on the new web site, so go check it out!

Tue, 20 May 2008 22:50:00 GMT

Introducing XNA Game Studio Mind Edition...

I'm probably going to get in trouble for announcing this before any press release has went out publicly, but I find it hard to hold back my excitement!  The next version of the XNA Game Studio product line will be the "XNA Game Studio Mind Edition".

I suspect everyone will want to upgrade to Game Studio ME as soon as possible because it will revolutionize game development as we know it today.  Gone will be the days of having to actually write code for the games you want to do create.  We decided to take our contest theme extremely literally and use that to build our next project.  Dream.  Build.  Play.

With the release of Game Studio ME, developers, hobbyists, pianists, small children, Nobel Prize physicists, and even Maytag repair people will be able to bring their dreams to life.  With our new Game Studio ME Brain Wave Actuator (patent pending) writing games is as simple as donning the new apparatus and taking a nap.  Shortly after you fall asleep soothing music will be played in the ear plugs that come with the device, and a series of electrical jolts will be given to stimulate your brain and activate REM sleep.  Once you wake up a few hours later, you can simply go to your computer and click the "Build" button in Game Studio ME (it will be easy to find, it is the only option available) and your dream will now be packaged up as a ready to play game!

I know what you're thinking though.  Is this safe?  Here at Microsoft safety is our number one concern for our customers.  We've only had a handful of people die while using the device, and the number of people still suffering from serious mental defects from the electrical charges has shrunk by dozens!  By the time we have finished our beta testing, we fully expect the odds of serious injury to be less than 10%.  Speaking of beta testing, we're actively looking for volunteers.  You'll have to sign a waiver though.

I must also add that we've ran into one minor problem with our implementation however.  It seems in our zest to follow our contest theme no one took the time to realize that the majority of people don't really dream about things that translate well into games.  As a matter of fact, some of the so called games we've seen have been down-right demented.  To help protect our interests (and your own) we've decided to upload a copy of everyone's dreams to our servers locally.  Here at Microsoft though, we take privacy almost as seriously as we do safety, and you can rest assured that your private intimate thoughts from your dreams will be seen only by those who have a very real need to.  These people will include local law enforcement, Joe from accounting, and we will randomly play some of them during regularly scheduled team meetings.  You know how they say everyone has that dream where they go to school/work in their underwear?  If our team meeting videos prove anything it's that this is a very real statement.

Since we know our customers want and need the new Game Studio ME as soon as possible, but we discovered this "problem" with the games being produced a bit too late for this product cycle, we've decided to release on schedule in the fall, and follow up with a service release next spring.  This service release will be a prescription you can fill at your local pharmacy, and we've dubbed it the eXactPill release.  You will be able to use Game Studio XP once it is released to control what you're dreaming about by simply taking a pill before putting on the device, and thinking about whatever you want your game to be about.

While that is the latest and greatest news from my team, I also need to get a little personal in this space as well.  If there's one thing I'm pretty sure of it is that people are desparate for information on what is going on in my life.  I'm pleased to announce that I was selected as one of the finalists for the prestigious National Award Given to Young Origami Understudies (NAGYOU).  With any luck my rendition of the two-toed sloth will bring home the prize.  I'm really hoping I win, because if I do I plan on taking the opportunity the prize money will give me to pursue my real dream in life, which I'm sure you are all aware is bringing back Boo Berries all year round, not just around Halloween.  Unfortunately though, the contest will pull me away from my every day workings, so I'll be taking a leave of absence from Microsoft for a few years preparing by folding many pieces of paper, then unfolding them, and folding them again.  If my blog posts start to dwindle, this is why.

I have to admit, I feel excited to get all of this off of my chest now.  I haven't felt this good in at least a year.  Must be something in the air.

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 06:24:00 GMT

I just tried to use four render targets on my Xbox 360 and it failed!!

Dear Mr Miller, you suck.  I'm running in 1080p resolution, and needed to have four simultaneous render targets, and a depth buffer, and I can't do it.

--

Now, to be fair, I didn't actually receive a message like that, but I could see it happening (and I've gotten some similar).  One of the features that we added this last release was the ability to use multiple simultaneous render targets on Xbox (up to four of them).  However, this isn't without restriction.  All render targets that will be used on the device need to fit within the EDRAM (a 10MB chunk of memory). This includes the depth buffer if it exists.  EDRAM isn't very big at all.

Let's take a look at an example.  Your Xbox is rendering in wide screen 720p mode with a resolution of 1280x720.  You set your game to run at this exact same resolution with a surface format of Color (32bits) and a 32bit depth buffer as well.  You also turn on 2x multisampling because you hate jaggies like the rest of us.  All of this data needs to fit into EDRAM, so let's see how big we are.  Each pixel in the back buffer will be 8 bytes (32bit for color, double it for multisampling).  There are 1280x720 pixels, so the back buffer will be taking up approximately 7.3MB of memory.  The depth buffer is the same size, so that's another 7.3MB, and we're looking at a total of almost 15MB of data we need to store in our 10MB chunk of memory.

As you can see, even this simple scenario we overstepped our bounds.  Luckily, we have a mechanism (called "tiling") that allows us to work with this data anyway.  We essentially break our large 1280x720 set of pixels into a series of smaller sets of pixels that *do* fit within the memory constraints.  In the example above, the back buffer could be broken down into two separate "tiles" of size 640x720 with 2X multisampling, and things would work just fine.  With only two possible consumers of this chunk of memory in version one (the back buffer and the depth buffer), you could easily fit the largest possible back buffer sizes within this chunk of memory.

In version two though, we allow up to five consumers of this memory (four simultaneous render targets and the depth buffer).  The memory is broken up equally by all consumers, so in the maximum case, each render target and buffer has to fit within 2 MB of EDRAM.  You can imagine if I called 10MB small what I think about 2MB.  I'm sure you could just think "Well sure Miller, that's fine, but we could just create hundreds of little tiles and make it all fit."

There are two big issues with this.  First, performance would be horrible.  Each tile that is rendered actually will have your *entire* scene rendered on to it, then the results of the tiles glued together.  In a complex scene this could add up very very quickly.  Second (and more importantly) we only allow a maximum of 15 tiles to be created at one time.  If your render target or depth buffer cannot fit inside 2MB of memory with 15 tiles or less, you will fail. 

Knowing that, what size of render targets can you make?  What if you have a 2048x2048 render target (surface format of Color) with no multisampling?  Would that fit if you had four of them at the same time?  A quick and dirty way of figuring it out would be this:

2048 * 2048 = 4MB * 4bytes (color) = 16MB (total amount of memory needed) / 2MB (maximum size) == 8

So, you'd need 8 tiles for this buffer to render correctly, 8 is less than 15 so you'd be safe.  What if you added 2x multisampling though?

2048 * 2048 == 4MB  * 8 bytes (color+ms) == 32 MB (total amount of memory needed) / 2MB (maximum size) == 16

Nope, 16 tiles is too many, this wouldn't fit.  What if you didn't have a depth buffer though?  Depth buffer counts as a buffer in the EDRAM so without it, you'd have 2.5MB per surface available:

2048 * 2048 == 4MB  * 8 bytes (color+ms) == 32 MB (total amount of memory needed) / 2.5MB (maximum size) == 13

13 tiles, you'd fit again!

It's also important to point out that not all tiles are created equal.  Tiles aren't calculated based on a memory size, but on a pixel size.  Odd shaped (ie, non-square) render targets will create odd shaped tiles, and the last tile may be larger than needed to account for that.  For example, if you have a 1280x720 surface and 3 tiles used in that, you can be assured that you don't have 3 separate tiles each of size 426.67x720.  Each tile is rounded up to the next size it can be (normally a mutliple of 32).  In the case above, that 1280x720 surface would really be three tiles of size 448x720 with the third title having some "empty" space in it.  So if you do your little math above and it comes to exactly 15 tiles, you still may be too big if the tiles aren't the size you'd expect.

Do I really expect someone to try to create and use four simultaneous 2048x2048 Color render targets with 4x multisampling and a 32bit depth buffer?  Well no, because as you've seen here, it would fail!  However, if it does fail, at least this hopefully explains why!

By the way, in reference to my fake first question.  You can actually do this just fine, so long as you aren't using 4x multisampling, and even with 4x multisampling, it just barely doesn't fit with a depth buffer (1900x1080x16bytes == 31.3 MB / 2MB == 15.6 tiles).  Four 2x multisampled render targets at 1080p would fit though.

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 22:06:00 GMT

Why CornflowerBlue?

This post will be purely speculation by me! 

Take a time travel machine back in time to early 2003.  It might have even been late 2002, but I think it was 2003. I was coming up with the concepts and code that would eventually be my first kick start book, and was rendering everything on a bland black background.  For some things, black makes sense, but it's hard to see shaded objects (and particular shadows, etc) on black objects.  Black in general is a horrible color to use as a clear color.  If you clear your scene to black, then render a model and see nothing but black, what went wrong?  Was the model not drawn because your camera is facing the wrong way?  Was the model drawn, but not colored because your pixel shader wasn't set?  You could tell the difference if your background wasn't black.

I needed something brighter, and white was out of the question.  I can stare at a white screen all day as I type text, but a white background with a single 3D object on it is just too contrasting and is ugly in my opinion.  So i needed a color that was light, but not too light, dark, but not too dark, and it needed to be something that I would feel comfortable using for just about anything.

So, as I was inside visual studio, I typed "System.Drawing.Color" then hit the extra period and started scrolling through intellisense, stopping at ones that sounded promising and trying them out.  I eventually narrowed it down to a light shade of blue.  I had narrowed my choice down to "LightBlue" "DodgerBlue" "PowderedBlue" "RoyalBlue" and "CornflowerBlue".  For various reasons I eliminated a couple more and came down to a list of three left.

I had to choose between CornflowerBlue, RoyalBlue, and DodgerBlue.  I tried various models on each of the background colors, and finally decided that RoyalBlue and DodgerBlue were too "bold" and contrasted too much, but CornflowerBlue was a much more "calm" color, and everything I tried looked good against it.  Plus who wants to use a color called "RoyalBlue" or "DodgerBlue" when "CornflowerBlue" is such a cooler name.

If you've read my Kickstart book, the vast majority of sample code in there clears all of the backgrounds to CornflowerBlue.  Every sample I've written since that point in time does as well.

Can I say with any sense of certainty that everyone else uses it because I did way back then?  Probably not, I'm sure there are people who haven't even read that book!  At times though, I like to delude myself and think I started the craze way back then. =)

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 23:55:00 GMT

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Michael Klucher's XNA Blog

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MSDN Forums: XNA Framework

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XNA and Xbox 360

MSDN Blog Postings » Blog Archive » New book: Microsoft XNA Game ...
XNA Game Studio 3.0. To test your games on a console, you need an Xbox 360 fitted with a hard disk. Your Xbox 360 must be connected to Xbox Live, and you need to join the XNA Creators Club. You will find out how to do this in Chapter 1. ...


XNA - Video Playback in XNA Game Studio 3.1
Submit XNA stuff � Submit Link � Submit News � Submit Article � Submit Photo � XNA Article Contest � Enter the Ziggyware Summer 2009 XNA Article Contest. 120 GB XBox 360, Zunes, SunBurn and More! ...


XNA - SoundEffect API Changes in Game Studio 3.1
Cooking With Code is a new website dedicated to XNA. This website is run by one of the XNA developers at Microsoft so you know it is chalked full of useful information. In this article, ashtat covers the SoundEffect API changes in Game ...


XNA - XBOX 360 Nintendo Emulator
Brian Livingston has released a new NES emulator for the XBOX 360 named: XNA Sharp NES The project page for this project is at: http://code.google.com/p/xnasharpnes/ The latest release can be downloaded from: ...


Download free XNA Game Studio Express: Developing Games for ...
XNA Game Studio Express: Developing Games for Windows and the Xbox 360 Publisher: Course Technology | Pages: 700 | 2007-09-06 | ISBN 1598633686 | PDF |


Download XNAGS31_setup.exe free - Microsoft XNA Game Studio
Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1 makes it easier than ever to create great video games for Windows-based PCs, Xbox 360 consoles (with an active premium XNA Creators Club subscription), and Zune digital media players. ...


XNA Community Games Not Economically Viable -
Last week, they spoke with Daniel Jones, the managing director at Binary Tweed, an independent game developer that released Clover, a watercolor-styled platforming game that was released as a Community Game on the Xbox 360 via the XNA ...


Donkey Biscuits.com: Xbox News and Stuff » Kodu Game Lab now ...
Microsoft Research's Kodu Game Lab launched on Xbox LIVE Community Games today, giving aspiring game makers of all ages the chance to bring their own game creations to Xbox 360. For just 400 Microsoft Points anyone with a passion for ...


XNA News » Blog Archive » Microsoft introduces Kodu Game Lab for ...
Microsoft has introduced an application that allows aspiring developers to create their own Xbox 360 games. Built using Microsoft's XNA Studio, Kodu Game Lab offers users a simple image-based menu along with 200 different programming ...


XNA - Managing an Input System
Jeremy Janiszewski wrote a new article on Managing an Input System in XNA. In this article Jeremy creates a framework for handling user input with the Keyboard, Mouse and GamePad. The system runs in Windows and XBox 360, with the Mouse ...

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XNA Comments

MSDN Blog Postings » Blog Archive » New book: Microsoft XNA Game ...
the right kind of comments in. From the point of view of changing the color of your screen, the statement that is most interesting is this one: GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);. Clear is a method that is part of XNA. ...


luminance » Threaded EndDraw in XNA (Crouching WaitOne, Hidden Lock)
Threaded EndDraw in XNA (Crouching WaitOne, Hidden Lock). July 1st, 2009. Goto comments Leave a comment. After finishing up the materials for my Level Up 2009 entry, today I spent a little while trying out an idea I had recently: ...


PSA: Kodu Game Lab is now live
this is great for kids and such, but if you really want to learn how to make xna games, you need to know c# (thats sharp). i recommend this guide: http://www.robmiles.com/c-yellow-book/ (its not for xna specifically, but xna is built on c#) ... To leave another comment, just use that password. To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. ...


XNA Community Games Not Economically Viable -
XNA Community Games Not Economically Viable. Added by Jeff Gerstmann on June 30, 2009. 59 comments. I've been chewing on this Digital Spy story for a bit now. Last week, they spoke with Daniel Jones, the managing director at Binary ...


XNA News » Blog Archive » State rolls out $3.36 billion in IOUs ...
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 am and is filed under XNA News (Google). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. « Microsoft introduces Kodu Game Lab for aspiring developers (TG Daily) � Activists welcome India gay ruling - BBC News ». Leave a Reply. You must be logged in to post a comment. ...


XNA News » Blog Archive » Report: North Korea test fires two ...
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 am and is filed under XNA News (Google). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. « SC politicians wavering on Sanford - USA Today. Leave a Reply. You must be logged in to post a comment. ...


XNA Community Games Don't Make Money | MonsterVine.com
10122Commentshttp://monstervine.com/2009/06/xna-community-games-dont-make-money/XNA+Community+Games+Don%27t+Make+Money2009-07-01+11%3A04%3A03William. The not-so-sound economics behind XNA Community Games ultimately discourages any ...


XNA News » Blog Archive » Microsoft introduces Kodu Game Lab for ...
... XNA Studio, Kodu Game Lab offers users a simple image-based menu along with 200 different programming features. This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 2:00 pm and is filed under XNA News (yahoo). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. « XNA Community Games Not Economically Viable -. Leave a Reply. You must be logged in to post a comment. ...


Advanced Perl Programming | EShare | Free Ebooks Share
Beginning XNA 3.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional by Alexandre Santos Lobao (Author), Bruno Pereira Evangelista (Author), José Antonio Leal de Farias (Author), Riemer Grootjans (Author) # Paperback: 448 pages # Publisher: Apress; .... Recent Comments. william: Really great information on Web Services and Identity Management. Thanks for sharing.... Shailendra Shukla: want to know networking... Shailendra Shukla: I need a simulator to start practice... ...


XNA News » Blog Archive » Kodu Out Now (IGN Xbox Live)
Kodu Game Lab, a visual programming tool that allows just about anybody with an imagination and a spare $5 to make their own games, has released on the XNA Community Games channel on the Xbox Live dashboard. This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 10:50 am and is filed under XNA News (yahoo). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a ... Leave a Reply. You must be logged in to post a comment. ...

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XNA & Managed DirectX

Managed DirectX 10 SDK - XNA Community Forums
What I am getting at is, if XNA is a functional abstraction level above DirectX then it will not have the same interface. Managed DirectX (and I am assuming the same goes for SlimDX) is on the same functional level as native DirectX ...


Managed DirectX - Mesh problem - GameDev.Net Discussion Forums
Managed,CustomVertex.PositionColored.Format , device); Everything should be OK, device, HEIGHT and WIDTH are set ... I don't know what to do with this. Without this line, everythings works fine :/ Thanks in advance for any help. ... Consoles, PDAs, and Cell Phones, Scripting Languages and Game Mods, Alternative Game Libraries, Artificial Intelligence, DirectX and XNA, Game Programming, Graphics Programming and Theory, Isometric Land, Multiplayer and Network Programming ...


My Managed DirectX10 Version - XNA Community Forums
They have a small team of developers and always have their library updated within days of a new DirectX SDK drop. If you're doing managed code and want to keep up with the latest DirectX has to offer, I'd highly recommend using their ...


Form.Refresh (Invalidate) C# and Direct3D - GameDev.Net Discussion ...
Just as a side note, Managed DirectX (which it sounds like you're using) is completely dead and is no longer recommended for general use. If you're looking for an alternative, look into XNA or SlimDX. ...


Managed DirectX 10 SDK
Have Microsoft brought out a managed version of the latest DirectX 10 release (March 2009) or do they only do that once it's finalised? TIA.


Alpha blending in managed Direct3D - GameDev.Net Discussion Forums
I have a program written in c# using managed Direct3D to move, rotate, etc what essentially boils down to a bunch of pictures. At certain points, pictures need to fade in or out. The device and textures are all a8r8g8b8, ...


Christopher M. Park - Blog: Choosing a DirectX Platform In C#
Early Alpha: Managed DirectX (MDX) When I first started prototyping AI War, I did so in MDX simply because that's what my other games in the past have been coded in. However, as is widely known, MDX simply isn't supported anymore. There are some bugs and glitches in ... That was a dealbreaker for me with XNA, but the other big issue for me was how resources, particularly audio, were handled in the 2.0 version of XNA (they may have changed this since, I am not certain). ...


slimdx, directshow.net and vmr9 problems - GameDev.Net Discussion ...
Dispose() End If End If ' Clean-up DirectShow interfaces CloseInterfaces() ' Dispose Managed Direct3D objects _surface.Dispose() device.Dispose() MyBase.Dispose() End Sub Private Sub CloseInterfaces() If mediaControl IsNot Nothing Then ...


XNA - Trans2D
Trans2D is a lightweight open source graphics library that uses C# and XNA (previously, Managed Direct3D). It is built on a hierarchical model in which each sprite has its own transformed space. Here are some of its features: ...


Windows 7 can't find DirectX9 Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.dll ...
Hello, I don't use XNA Framework but rather like doing things myself. I am posting this on these forums because this error seems to be an error on Microsoft's part with Windows 7 and DirectX9. DirectX11 on Windows 7 should be able to run DirectX9, but it says it can't find the assembly called ... The assembly in question is part of Managed DirectX (which is discouraged to be used fo rnew projects; you might want to checkout SlimDX as a managed, bare bones alternative). ...

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XNA & Torque Game Engine

XNA Creators Club Online - garagegames torque x for game studio ...
GarageGames has already migrated key portions of their 2D and 3D game development technologies to the XNA platform, making it easier to design and build a full-featured game in managed C# using the XNA Framework. Torque X 3.0 is free ...


Torque X 3.0 is not working - XNA Community Forums
Hello, I downloaded today Torque X 3.0 via the creators club. But every tool and every gamesample is stop working on my pc. I don't know why. I got no other errormessage only the application is stop working. My system: Vista 64 ...


Torque X Videos from GDC - XNA Community Forums
Just posted on Garage Games site, they are showing off Torque X (for xna) and Box Macabre which the developers say they are targeting XBLCG. I am wondering how these guys got Torque X before us? Maybe they are using the October beta? ...


GarageGames Torque X for Game Studio 3.0 Now Available
GarageGames' Torque X for XNA Game Studio 3.0 is now available for Premium members!


Can I run both 3.0 and 3.1? - XNA Community Forums
Now.. since I have to uninstall xna 3.0 I guess I have to uninstall Torque.. man. Whats funny is 15 mins after the original post my power went out for all day, the first day I have had free to do my own projects! ...


GDN: Christian Game Developers Conference 2009 Scheduled
Some speakers include Matt Langley (Torque), Preston VanderWeyst (XNA Game Studio), and John Bergquist (promotion through social networking tools). Soma Games will be presenting on iPhone development. A couple of talks regarding ...


Torque X for XNA 3.0
On the partners page there is a download for Torque X for XNA 2.0 for premium members, but how come there isn't one for XNA 3.0? Will the one for XNA 2.0 work on XNA 3.0? Just wanted to know, Thanks.


XNA Creators Club Online - garagegames torque x for game studio …
GarageGames’ Torque X for XNA Game Studio 3.0 is now available! GarageGames has already migrated key portions of their 2D and 3D game development technologies to the XNA platform, making it easier to design and build a full-featured …


XNA Game Engines - XNA Community Forums
XNA is a framework that gives you access to call into directx to show graphics, play sounds, and take input (among other things). But everything else you have to implement yourself. Torque is a game that runs, and you add your own ...


QuantumSquid Interactive Developer Interview
Prior to that, we had done some R&D and conceptual work with the Torque engine, as well as some of our own engine development. We have actually developed an impressive real-time 3D engine and editor in XNA prior to switching to 2D and ...

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XNA & Indie Game Developer

XNA Community Games Don't Make Money | MonsterVine.com
I'm honestly not surprised and Jeff Gerstmann from Giant Bomb isn't surprised either. If you're an indie games developer and want to have profitable sales, don't depend on XNA Community Games to be your savior. Share and Enjoy: ...


Destructoid - The ticking clock on Xbox LIVE Indie Games
While he has done well hyping games from the Indie Games side of Xbox Live, he is just as quick to jump on the novelty of vibrating controllers. This was a complaint brought forward by Catalin Zima, a mod on the XNA Forums, ...


Xbox XNA renamed Xbox Live Indie Games | Casual games | News by ...
Microsoft has renamed its Xbox Live Community Games service to more capably represent the “independent spirit of XNA Game Studio creations”. The new t...


Xbox Live Indie Games - XNA Community Forums
Apparently Xbox Live Community Games is being renamed to Xbox Live Indie games, according to the XNA 3.1 Upgrade email I just received: http://creators.xna.com/en-us/news/xnagamestudio3.1. This is going to be confusing for consumers ...


Xbox Live: 'Community Games' become 'Indie Games'
Beginning in July, these indie games will be known as ... Xbox Live Indie Games. We like it! Though it's not fully spelled out in today's notes from XNA HQ, we'd expect to see Live's game downloads section update with the new name ...


Xbox Indie Games Achievements - XNA Community Forums
With the release of XNA 3.1 and all the new features... which are great. I was wondering when we will be able to have our own achievements on Indie Games. It would be great to have a normal GamerScore and a Indie GamerScore. Then ...


Kotaku - Xbox Live Community Games Renamed - Xbox Live Community Games
The launch of XNA Game Studio 3.1 begins the process of renaming Xbox LIVE Community Games to Xbox LIVE Indie Games. We're starting the communication about this transition with you – our incredible Creators. With your help hopefully ...


Name change: Xbox Live Indie Games - XNA Community Forums
http://forums.xna.com/forums/p/29584/166425.aspx. Tommy McClain. I see, hadn't noticed this post. Interesting reading but I think personally I like community games better than indy games. Community games has a better right to it for me. ...


Confessions of an Indie Developer: Getting Up
Eric: Escondido, California, United States: My name is Eric, and I am an indie game designer. I work as a graphic designer by day. This is the diary of my current game project - The Thief's Tale - and the "official" site of Star Frog Games. ... Throw System/Animation Controller Combat Collision : Damage, High Block, Low Block, Blue Block, Throw Trigger Enemy Type AI Difficulty Settings Gamepad Support XNA Compatibility High Def Conversion Sound Effects Installation ...


TIGRS - The Independent Game Rating System - XNA Community Forums
I'm an independant developer, so I try to stay on top of what's happening with indie games. I have never heard of TIGRS. I would highly, highly doubt most parents (which would be the only real audience to target this idea to) have heard ...

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XNA Game Studio Professional

MSDN Blog Postings » Blog Archive » New book: Microsoft XNA Game ...
your PC. Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 C# Express edition, Visual Studio 2008 Standard edition, Visual Studio 2008 Professional edition, or Visual Studio 2008 Team Suite. XNA Game Studio 3.0. ...


oneteachersview: Run your XNA Games in Silverlight!
If you're a professional developer, see XNA for a list of links and resources. If you are a small game studio, hobbyist, or student looking to get started in game development or find resources to help a game concept already in ...


Visual C 2008 Express And Xna Game Studio 30
The professional game development companies are using C++ to develop their games, while an independent (indie) game developer has the freedom to choose the language and platform on their own. Visual C# 2008 Express and XNA Game Studio ...


Communications Sector Conversations : XNA Game Studio 3.0 Released
Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 has many improvements over its predecessor including support for Visual Studio Professional and higher, which means professional level support such as integrated Application Lifecycle Management / source ...


Aaron Stebner's WebLog : Links to GDC 2009 XNA Game Studio ...
For years, professional game developers using the DirectX and Xbox 360 Software Development Kits have enjoyed the finest purpose-built performance analysis tools ever created for game development. The good news for game XNA Game Studio ...


PDF CHM Books: XNA Game Studio Express: Developing Games for ...
XNA Game Studio Express: Developing Games for Windows and the Xbox 360 is the ultimate resource for hobbyists and students who want to write games for Windows and the Xbox 360 game console. Learn how you can create your own games using the amazing tools of XNA and Game Studio Express, the free game development tools and APIs from Microsoft, based on the incredibly ... Beginning XNA 3.0 Game Programming: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional) ...


XNA Game Studio Update & Dream-Build-Play '09 - M for Mature ...
Available to professional and hobbyist developers this spring, both Xbox LIVE Arcade and Community Games developers will be able to include customized Avatars. The XNA Game Studio update, which will also include improvements like video ...


XNA Book Dilemma - XNA Community Forums
In the other hand if you have never made any game then Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.0 Unleashed is much better choice, because it teaches you on how to code them and, in my opinion, is doing it very well. Hope I made it more clear for you. Good luck! ... a complete game development with all required code. I also own "Professional XNA Game Programming: For Xbox 360 and Windows" from Wrox publishing. Also a decent book, but I liked the "Learning XNA 3.0" book much better. ...


XNA Team Blog : Dream Build Play 2009 and XNA Game Studio 3.1 ...
Additionally, Creators will be happy to hear about our improvements to the XNA Game Studio development tools, available to professional and hobbyist developers this spring, which will allow developers at any level to take advantage of ...


Aaron Stebner's WebLog : Link to information about side-by-side ...
XNA Game Studio 3.1 will integrate into Visual C# 2008 Express Edition or up-level editions of Visual Studio 2008 (Standard, Professional, Team System, etc). Visual Studio project creation and upgrade behavior. XNA Game Studio 3.1 will ...

Yesterday I listed the domains for the design model; today I'll list what they're used for.  In later updates I'll post more specifics on these uses, but for now, I’d just like to scope things.  This list is not final, and there are probably additions as I discover things with the case studies.

What the domain model does:

·         Identify weak and strong interactions between domains for a particular game.  These interaction values act as a risk assessment metric and general iteration focus.

·         Identify a set of standard interchangeable standard domains for games. This will help speed up the design process by creating standard placeholders that are easily understood.

·         Identify low-level constraints on domains due to fiscal, time, and resource constraints.

·         Identify logical divisions of human resources, design efforts, and specification.  Combined with the interactions and constraints, interaction between members of large teams can be safely and efficiently structured.

·         It is a descriptive terms in a design document, to clarify concepts while they are still on paper, or being discussed at meetings.

·         They are useful as categories for comparing two or more games.  This, in turn, can be used to evaluate the familiarity or differentiation offered by a title in development.

·         They can be used for structuring pitch sheets or short specs.  They provide a way to instantly describe the efficacy/feasibility of a design by matching with criteria from known other games.

·         They are a framework for designers who have basic game concepts, but need to flesh it out to discover any flaws early in the process. 

What it doesn’t do:

·         Is not appropriate for structuring large design docs at this time.  More research needs to go into this subject.  The reason is, a design doc will tend to discuss the flow of a game, and lay out the individual elements as they come up.  This is very useful when designing a game, as it simplifies the design process by utilizing a chronology (timeline) or hierarchy (flowcharts).

·         Does not provide rules, mechanics, dials, or other “automatic” mechanisms to tune games in progress.

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:29:00 GMT

Domain Model for Game Design Part 1

I’m treating the Domain Model for Game Design like an unproven scientific theory.  The Academy of Arts and Sciences states that a theory must have two properties:

1.       It must be an explanation of a feature supported by experimentation

2.       It must be able to make predictions

In this case, my “experiments” are the case studies I’m putting together and the new game I am developing.  To support my model, these case studies should result in prescriptive insight into how these games could be improved, what features would be popular, and what features could be cut.  Of course, most of these things could be determined intuitively once a game is released.  The critical reaction to full game becomes the control case for the case study.  The “experimental results” are the issues rapidly identified by domain interactions, which are identifiable during development.

I was originally going to introduce the domain model by talking about the benefits, but I’m not really trying to justify the model yet.  It’s too raw – I’d rather be generating discussion and criticism than trying to defend an indefensible position.

Instead I’m going to present the 9 (or 8, depending on how you see it) domains that I’ve identified.  In this post, I won’t be going into the justifications for them – there’s plenty of time for that.  Instead, I’ll present the summarized domains within their two categories.

Originally, there were 5 domains.  At this time the domain model encompasses 9 discrete domains.  Each one has been scoped to make it’s interactions with other domains as useful as possible.  The glue between the domains (which I call weak and strong interactions) are were the predictive qualities of the model come into play.

Domains are divided into two categories – Direct domains and Sympathetic domains.  The Direct domains are easiest to explain – these are the elements of the game over which a developer has direct control.  The Sympathetic domains are those which anticipate or attempt to understand a player’s experiences with the game.

The Domains

Direct Domains

1.       Response

a.       This domain covers the display of game state, UI, and instantaneous reactions to player inputs.

2.       Presentation

a.       This domain includes aesthetic elements such as artwork, narrative, audio, and stylistic elements.

3.       Achievement

a.       This domain deals with win states, scores, progression, and all kinds of rewards that reinforce the rest of the game.

4.       Simulation

a.       This domain describes the game’s interactions with its own internal state.  It covers AI, game world simulation, and other updates that are not directly tied to player inputs.

5.       External

a.       This domain covers everything that lives outside of the game.  This could include packaging, manuals, web portals, advertising, distribution, and hype.

Mixed Domains

6.       Physical

a.       This domain covers the control surfaces, displays, peripherals, and general ergonomics of gameplay.  This domain is considered mixed, as it is the actual interface between the developer’s game and the player’s body.

Sympathetic Domains

7.       Skill

a.       This domain deals with the rapidly changing skills that a player develops while playing a game.  This domain influences how a player learns and hones short term (<30 sec) reactions to in-game situations at a reactive or instinctual level.

8.       Management

a.       This domain covers the expectation of player strategy.  It includes conscious player contributions such as resource management, approach, and goal setting.

9.       Immersion

a.       This domain deals with a player’s emotional connection and concentration while playing a game.  It is the domain used to manipulate the player into internalizing mechanics presented in other domains.

 

That’s still a somewhat raw list, and I expect it to change as I run more case studies.  These domains do not imply any sort of hierarchy.  There’s no strict structure that indicates that any given domain is deferential to another domain.  That is purely something that would be scoped by a particular game.

In my next post, I’ll talk about the interaction model for the domains and start to explore the prescriptive properties of understanding weak and strong interactions.  I’ll follow with some uses for the domain model, and then I’ll get to the meat of this topic: the case studies.

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:47:00 GMT

Back on the Blog

River’s End is mostly complete.  It’s not much of a game, but it is a very relaxing experience.  It just needs some polish, a few new graphics systems, and a little more content and it’ll be ready to go.  However, I don’t know yet how or if I can distribute it, so understandably, my enthusiasm for the project has waned somewhat.

To avoid the issue for my next project, my focus will be on game design.  And I’d like to be inclusive though my blog or through the XNA.com forums on how I reach my design decisions – both technical and creative.

River’s End was a superb way for me to familiarize myself with the shortcomings of a tech-driven design.  As I began to ramp up to my next project, I was very near the same mistake, but I was fortunate enough to have colleagues and friends who could comment on early problems and identify another possible false start.

So I began to study the subject of general game design.   Like any good research topic, trying to assimilate the greater body of game studies is truly epic amounts of work.  One of the major problems is a seeming lack of clear goals, or at least, shared goals on the part of the leading academics.  Game Theory seems to me a strictly academic pursuit, but it contains nuggets of wisdom that transcend its specific focus.  Game Studies appear to focus on the impact or rationalization of games. 

On the other side of the Game Design coin is the practitioner’s approach.  This is the domain of designers like Noah Falstein and Marc LeBlanc.  There are the contributors to books like Game Design Perspectives and Game Design Anthology. Some of these are unyielding rules about what makes a game enjoyable.  One extreme example of these approaches is the 400 Project.  Others are general guidelines to encourage new thinking about game design.

There’s more too – far more.  There are almost as many ways of talking about game design as there are game designers. 

I’ve thought critically about aspects of the problem, and like so many sideliners before me, I have come up with my own addition to this theoretical stew, which I will call a Formal Game Design Model for lack of a more discrete term.  My fundamental goal is to make something that makes my games more fun.  I refined the difficult tasks to three goals for a design model.  My goals for a model are to:

Refine game designs by identifying, isolating, and surfacing all specific aspects of a game’s end-to-end experience.

Evaluate game designs by understanding the interplay of game systems and their impact on the overall experience.

Inspire new features or game elements to establish goals earlier in the process.

The model I developed is called “A Domain Model for Game Design” or Domain Model for short.  I have identified 8 domains that are common to all computer and video games, and even many board and card games.  Each domain is describes an aspect of a game that ultimately influences a player’s enjoyment of the game.  The essential quality though is that the model’s static component is the domains themselves.  The dynamic part is the interactions between domains, which, I’m finding are highly regular.

There are lots of ways to use the model, but let me give a quick example.  The Domain Model includes a domain called “Response” which deals with the display of information to the player that informs their choices.  The Response domain interacts strongly with the “Presentation” domain, which covers aesthetics and art design for a game.  Here we can begin to identify areas that are contentious in the design of your game.  Following this example, you might identify aspects of the in-game artwork that makes the UI in the response domain untenable.

This probably sounds like common sense, and much of it is.  The formalism may seem unnecessary and that it may stifle creativity.  However, I don’t see the model as a template or specification mechanism for game design.  I see it as a tool for doing the three things I identified above.

Now, those of you who have read up on this subject may have already seen a striking similarity between this model and the MDA approach by Hunicke, LeBlanc, and Zubek.  I developed the groundwork and the core principles of my model before ever reading about MDA, and I was both surprised and pleased that my system mirrored so many of ideas presented in that paper.  Of particular interest are the interactions between Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics as the essential part of the iterative processes described by the system.  However, my focus is on more discrete “parts” of a game, and an idea of strong and weak interactions between domains.  Domain Model’s goals are similar, but I’ve chosen a slightly different attack vector.

I can’t presume to have the authoritative background any of the authors of MDA have, and as such, I would never say that it’s right for everyone.  I plan to offer it “as-is”, another tool for a designer’s toolkit, and nothing more.  I’ll be vetting this model with my next game project, and I plan to provide case studies that show how several different games can be evaluated with the model.  I’m a technology worker, not a professional designer with decades of experience, so everything I write must be approached as such.

In the coming months I plan to talk more about the model as I refine the concepts.  I’d like to present it as a paper initially.  This is largely something I’m working on for my own hobby game projects, but in the off chance that anybody may find this useful, I’d like it to be generally available.  Perhaps someone out there struggling with a game that just isn’t fun might find ways to improve their title using the little bit of structure I’ll provide in the Domain Model.

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:11:00 GMT

GameFest 2007: Mission Complete

I’m back from GameFest 2007 and I can start to take back parts of my life.  The last 3 months have possibly been the busiest and most stressful of my entire life.  The rewards have been incredible though, and I’m still glowing about the fantastic reception to the XNA Game Studio track.

For those of you unfamiliar with the GameFest conference, the details can be found at http://www.xnagamefest.com/ .  True to the XNA branding of all Microsoft gaming development, XNA GameFest is primarily an event for seasoned industry professionals that want to get the most out of Microsoft platforms.  I like to think of it as a “Game Programming Gems for Microsoft Platforms”.

I volunteered to be the XNA Game Studio content coordinator for GameFest 2007.  As a result I’ve managed to add about 50% more responsibilities to my usual engineering support workload.  Couple that with the unprecedented lineup of holiday Windows and Xbox 360 titles, and I haven’t had a lot of “outside time” this summer.   I managed to get Shad