Hobby/Indie Development Coming To The 360

[eric_ruck]

This is much more exciting than Sony's half-assed Net Yaroze thing:

Story on Gamasutra

Story on NYTimes.com

 

On the other hand I imagine it will draw some programmers away from retro consoles.

 

Eric

[AtariJr]

This is much more exciting than Sony's half-assed Net Yaroze thing:

Story on Gamasutra

Story on NYTimes.com

 

On the other hand I imagine it will draw some programmers away from retro consoles.

 

Eric

i wonder how much programming/graphics skills you would need to make a simple game with this program.. are there tutorials or is it just "have fun" and good luck, hope you already know what to do...

[Pixelboy]

i wonder how much programming/graphics skills you would need to make a simple game with this program.. are there tutorials or is it just "have fun" and good luck, hope you already know what to do...

Yeah, if it works something like Game Maker, it might be interesting to regular Joe Schmoes who would like to dabble and make little games with it and then share it with the rest of the world. But even Game Maker is not perfect, and even if this XNA thing is a good tools for beginners, certain compatibility problems might arise when Microsoft releases new patches/revisions/versions of the dev kit.

 

But anyhow, it's good to see Microsoft doing something to create a new generation of bedroom coders.

[+remowilliams]

Yeah, if it works something like Game Maker, it might be interesting to regular Joe Schmoes who would like to dabble and make little games with it and then share it with the rest of the world.

XNA is nothing like Game Maker. It is not a drag and drop make your own game sort of thing. XNA is (among other things) a broad framework base for aiding application development across multiple platforms.

 

i.e. - you still need to know how to program

 

I'm glad MS is opening up the 360 this way though, it may help a lot of talented individuals get some attention.

Edited August 14, 2006 by remowilliams

[Hyper_Eye]

I want the real deal... I want a full-out compiler. I don't want some scripting language crap. Oh well... I guess I will have to wait.

[+remowilliams]

I want the real deal... I want a full-out compiler. I don't want some scripting language crap. Oh well... I guess I will have to wait.

It's not scripting language crap. It's a framework thats part of the Visual Studio IDE.

[NovaXpress]

I'm sure that MS will donate a lot of kits to "game programmer colleges."

 

This could pay off big-time.

[moycon]

I wonder if anyone from here will give this a go? I remember hearing about this about a month ago or so. There are several homebrews on AA that would actually probably be better on the 360 when you consider online Vs. play. A few that come to mind

 

Gunfight

Fall Down

Fade Out *** (This would be awesome!)

FlapPing

Etc...

Etc.... (I keep thinking of homebrews that would be perfect so I'll just stop.)

[Atari Master]

I have a lot of cool games ideas. Unfortunately they're probably to complex to make.

 

Well, for me to make, anyway.

[Hyper_Eye]

I want the real deal... I want a full-out compiler. I don't want some scripting language crap. Oh well... I guess I will have to wait.

It's not scripting language crap. It's a framework thats part of the Visual Studio IDE.

 

Where did you read that? That is interesting (though I don't run Windows.) What I read was that people will only have to learn to code a little to do specific things in their games which sounds like scripting to me. They are not releasing the actual SDK.

[+remowilliams]

Where did you read that? That is interesting (though I don't run Windows.) What I read was that people will only have to learn to code a little to do specific things in their games which sounds like scripting to me. They are not releasing the actual SDK.

Info is still sketchy it seems, but here on the MS website it seems that XNA Express will be a real version of the XNA Framework, but will target Windows development only - hence the need to join the program for that quoted $99 fee and have your work compiled into 360 executable code.

 

I'd guess that C# Express will be the code platform.

[Foxy Cleopatra]

How likely will Nintendo or Sony be to implement something similar?

 

Its a great way to do market research, find out what people really want and give it to them.

[DEBRO]

Info is still sketchy it seems, but here on the MS website it seems that XNA Express will be a real version of the XNA Framework, but will target Windows development only - hence the need to join the program for that quoted $99 fee and have your work compiled into 360 executable code.

 

I'd guess that C# Express will be the code platform.

I thought something like this was coming when I saw this some time ago.

How likely will Nintendo or Sony be to implement something similar?

 

Its a great way to do market research, find out what people really want and give it to them.

I wonder too. I was actually thinking that Nintendo's virtual console might be a way for some homebrewed NES, SNES, and GBC games to get released by the Big N.

[Pixelboy]

I was actually thinking that Nintendo's virtual console might be a way for some homebrewed NES, SNES, and GBC games to get released by the Big N.

If Nintendo did allow homebrew programmers to make games for the VC, they'd probably uphold a strict licensing system, to prevent the VC from being flooded with crappy homebrews. Last thing Nintendo needs is to follow in the Atari 2600's footsteps.

[Ze_ro]

I don't understand the point of charging to be able to play the games on the 360. If you can do it for free on the PC, then why not on the 360?

 

Anyways, I'm curious to see how extensive this XNA stuff actually is... will professional looking games actually be possible?

 

--Zero

[+remowilliams]

I don't understand the point of charging to be able to play the games on the 360. If you can do it for free on the PC, then why not on the 360?

There are a lot of likely reasons for this, a few of the top of my head would be to cover costs and weed out the crowd a bit. After all MS is not about to allow people to create their own signed code, and therefore there must be infrastructure and people put in place to make this a reality.

 

This also allows MS to maintain quality control of released materials. Can you imagine what a huge heap of shittastic games would surface otherwise?

 

Anyways, I'm curious to see how extensive this XNA stuff actually is... will professional looking games actually be possible?

Using the precompiled 'module assembly' approach (to lower the technical entrance bar) I'd say most likely not. But writing your own routines, who knows?

 

It's definitely a very interesting step.

[moycon]

I don't understand the point of charging to be able to play the games on the 360. If you can do it for free on the PC, then why not on the 360?

There are a lot of likely reasons for this, a few of the top of my head would be to cover costs and weed out the crowd a bit. After all MS is not about to allow people to create their own signed code, and therefore there must be infrastructure and people put in place to make this a reality.

precompiled 'module assembly' approach (to lower the technical entrance bar) I'd say most likely not. But writing your own routines, who knows?

 

First off, To date you have the option to download every single game demo and play it for nothing as long as your heart desires. Of course, like the PC if you play the free version, you aren't getting the perks. You can't get achievements, you can't play all the levels..etc..BUT unlike the PC versions, they will all be full screen, and as far as I know don't have a time limit. I'm assuming that if charges are made for a game someone else created, that person was being compensated financially in some way. All the more reason to give it a go Ze_ro.

[darklord1977]

This is much more exciting than Sony's half-assed Net Yaroze thing:

Story on Gamasutra

Story on NYTimes.com

 

On the other hand I imagine it will draw some programmers away from retro consoles.

 

Eric

i wonder how much programming/graphics skills you would need to make a simple game with this program.. are there tutorials or is it just "have fun" and good luck, hope you already know what to do...

it sounds great cant wait to try it out

[LeafsFan47]

I saw in the latest Xbox Flash e-mail newsletter that the XNA Game Studio Express version 1.0 has been released. Has anyone tried it out on their 360?

 

BP

[Shannon]

Yeah, has anyone ponied up the $99 dollars required to run this thing on your 360?