THE ASSET PIPELINE EDITOR - PART 1

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I believe its time to start posting some details about the Asset Pipeline Editor (from now on, "the APE").

So, what is this tool? To answer it, let's travel through time to a point, say, four years ago or so.

To make the long story short, during the golden age of XNA I was in the search of an efficient way to replace the built-in content manager class with my own. So I created my own version of this class, but I was still using XNA's content pipeline.

Then, when MSFT announced that they would stop any development on the XNA Framework, like many of you, I remained captive of Visual Studio 2010 IDE for building xnb's. During this year, I decided not to wait any longer for miracles and start building my own content-pipeline replacement.

Let's face it! How many of you have been lately crying out loud for XNA 5? Or asking where the content pipeline has gone? You still need VS2010 to use the content pipeline if you want to use XNA, Monogame or ANX. And no definitive solution has been provided yet. And even if there is something in the works, is it worth for teams?

Be honest here. You guys know that the in game development a content pipeline is indeed needed, but why sticking to a particular IDE for programmers (like VS) or any other programming IDE in the first place? It could make sense for programmers only, but for teams, artists, or even for solo devs that want to have an independent process, it does not. In fact, it could turn out to be cumbersome.

So, that is why I developed the APE. To replace XNA's content pipeline "in spirit" (since it has key deifferences) for those inhouse projects where I wasn't using Unity, UDK or any other authorware with its own content management features.

I must admit that at first I wasn't expecting to get these results, since I was aiming lower, but as times went by, I realize that -and please allow me to say it- I was creating something really good. So I went on until I said "Wow!".

Now, about its key features:

1. Its not for XNA, only: it works for any kind of custom content, not only xnb's. In fact, if you have your own way to manage content when programming a game or provide solutions (like WaveEngine, for instance), you can use it safely since the tool ends its job when the asset its build and copy to the folder you indicate.

2. It's a highly customizable tool: not only you can tweak the editor to meet the needs for your project (to some extent, of course) but also you can define your own building process: import, process, format, writing. You dream of it. You got it.

3. It eases the task of managing game content: that's it, throughout the whole development process. If say, you just want to use the input files as is, like pngs, jpegs, and so on so forth, without any processing, you can because the editor comes with pass-through units. So you can still use the tool to manage which content goes where, even if there is no processing required.

4. It's independent from any programming IDE: this is heaven for artists! If you are a solo programmer working on a game, having to use VS to build content is fine, but when you're woring on a team with artists this is not good at all. The APE comes with a GUI of its own.

5. Test before you promote units: "why is my custom processor not working?". Say bye-bye to these kind of questions since you can test your custom "units" (as I call them) before using them with the editor. Indeed. You can build your own testing assembly for your custom content/process. And once you give it a green light you plug it to the editor as an add-on.

Here you can see the main editor as of today:

The areas indicated in the picture above are the following:

1. Solution Tree: create a solution, add a project for a platform, and you will be able to traverse all the nodes here. Projects can have two or more containers: self, default and partial. And you can add as many folders as you want to each container. In future parts I post more details about this.

2. Search Tool: if you need to see specific nodes of the tree this is a quick way to do it. It works recuresively over the last search, so you can go on reducing results until you find what you want.

3. Output Settings: for every "raw file" that you want to import, you can define how to process it and format it. And for each project, you can define how to write ("export") assets to disk. These are powerful tabs. More about them later ...

4. Build Tool: here is where you decide whether to build assets for the whole solution (all projects) or for a specific project; and also where you define the compilation profile: debug, release, test, ... you name it ... add the ones you need for the solution. You will be able to watch it on a how-to video, later.

5. Configuration Tabs: so far there are four: general settings, solution settings, project settings and container settings. Basically, you can tweak many properties there and even add/remove entries for platforms, profiles, default importers, default writers, to mention just a few. In a later post I will cover all settings.

6. Log Panel: classic in any respectable IDE; here is where the editor informs you about the state of a given process, whether it succeeds or fails, warnings, exceptions. The usual stuff. It's a real friend to understand what's going on. There is more to it than meets the eye, and that deserves another post.

7. Bars and shortcuts: well, this is not indicated in the picture above, but of course that you have menu items (both, as text and buttons) and key shortcuts for many features. Not to mention, contex menues, where applicable, for example to copy or move content. Ahhh, yes! I almost forget it, drag and drop is allowed.

I don't want to go beyond the scope of this post, but I cannot help adding the following picture:

Above there's an example of a test assembly. When you create your units for a specific type of asset- by the way, using C#, this is where you debug them and see whether everything works as expected. Add break points, switch over text, find offending code!

And finally, for this post: "previewers". When you traverse the solution tree and select a raw file (or source file), the editor shows information about the file as well as a previewer for it. By default, the APE comes with previewers for some image, audio and video formats. Or else it will switch to an icon previewer. But the good news is that if you need to preview more formats you can create your own previewers! What is more, you can replace all built-in ones if you want ....

The picture above is an example of a previewer for an audio file.

Now, before ending this post there two remaining points I would like to address:

1. Current State of the APE: ready for my inhouse projects: the units, besides the pass-through ones, are meant for my inhouse projects, only. Plus, there are some features I would like to add (and even some porting to do) before a public release, if you guys are interested in having this tool, so ...

2. What's next: my idea is to start a fund-raising campaign on IndieGoGo to make a first release of the tool,  and some extended goals like developing some units for XNA'ers and Monogamers (so they don't have to), and even doing some porting to other platforms like MacOsX and Linux (since so far the tool only works on Windows for .NET 4.5). And yes, the link at the end of the trailer is not working right now as the campaign is currently on draft mode.

So, this is all for now.

I hope this post sheds some light on what's the APE about and that you guys are interested. It's upto you guys to define whether this baby eventually sees the public light (if not, I'll continue to use it for my inhouse projects). Your call ...

'till next posts!
~Pete

MY ASSET PIPELINE EDITOR ... FTW!

Hey guys, it's been a long time since I last posted something on my blog! So I decided to share a teaser trailer of a tool I've been working on during this year for my inhouse projects ...
... behold "The APE" !!

Sexy, right?

I guess you know the purpose of this beauty, but in case you don't, I'll be posting more details soon.

So, stay tuned!
~Pete

HOW “OPEN” CONSOLES LIKE THE PS4 OR 720 SHALL BE?

Recently, during the announcement of the Play Station 4, Sony made the promise of bringing the “most open console” for devs.

Discussions have taken place regarding whether by “open” Sony actually means that the new hardware architecture of the PS4 is somewhat more “familiar” than the one chosen for the PS3 console or that the burden to indies will be diminished to some extent.

The phrase is really interesting given that for years the access to dev programs for consoles have been and are still are surrounded by a plethora of red-tape (aka “security”) procedures so that as a rule -as opposed to as an exception, mainly (or if you prefer, only) big companies publish games on their “pro” marketplaces.

To be approved as a professional developer for whatever console, you need to demonstrate that financially you are backed up for the whole development and certification process (upfront fees, updates, deadlines, etc.), you must buy tailored hardware for production to have access to the corresponding SDKs, you need to prove that technically you are up to tough QA checks, and so on so forth.

In recent years, the opening of the XBLIG channel on the XBox 360 console may have seemed for many a change in direction, however, it ended up as a way to bring attention to the console without letting an avalanche of indies stain its reputation and even its status quo to an extent that could threaten the very monolithic model imposed to pros. Never wondered why only a few lucky devs made it into the XBLA channel?

One may argue that by upholding all of the above-mentioned requirements, console enterprises keep low-quality games away from their consoles. To some extent, back in the old days they could have, but today, generalizing the term “low-quality games” with low-budget games or indie games is getting more difficult to sustain (in many cases, such association is unfair).

Ok, but, if this business model has been working fine for console makers, what could make them change to truly support indies?

1. Apple kicked in: like it or not, Apple revolutionized the mobile market for smart phones, smart devices and tablets. But the story did not end there …

On an Industry where sagas were turning out to be far from innovative as well as rather repetitive, Apple was smart enough to truly open the door for indies and their fresh ideas, worldwide.

In fact, and in contrast from what MSFT did with XBLIG, Apple made no difference among devs. Everyone that pays the annual fee has access to the whole pack of features. It doesn’t matter if you are a pro or an indie. Is up to you whether to support any of Apple’s services in your game, develop your own or consume a third-party’s solution.

And every game, regardless its developer, must be tested and approved by a group of Apple’s employees.

All that, the fact that any game (pro or indie) could be picked to be featured on the “AppStore” as well as the growing amount of success stories among indies, contributed to position Apple’s devices on top of the list of target platforms for devs.

2. Google plays: following Apple, Google decided to enter the app-publishing market for Android-based devices, and with NaCl, for browsers.

The amount of devices running Android OS is growing fast and Chrome is strongly incrementing its market-share.

Google’s store, currently named “Google Play” is open for pros and indies, the list of approved countries is increasing, and many games that succeeded in other platforms were ported to Android.

Discussions aside whether you like iOS or Android, there is no doubt that Google Play has served as a model for other big firms, like Amazon and Samsung (with Chillingo), that decided to follow its lead and open a marketplace of their own.

3. The power of the Steam: there are many gamers -particularly hardcore ones- who claim that PC games have nothing to envy from console games. For those gamers, Valve introduced Steam as a means of digital delivery of videogames.

It first started on the Windows platform, then added MacOSX to recently support Linux OS. At the beginning only native-coded bits were allowed, but then Valve allowed managed code.

On recent months, Steam introduced its “Green Light” program, offering new publishing opportunities targeted for indies. In this program, the community decides which games should be granted a green light for publication. One example, is a well-known tower defense game named “Kingdom Rush”.

Steam succeeded where others failed, like Games for Windows, making its services attractive for many devs, globally. The buzz was so loud that now companies like Apple and MSFT have their own stores like the Mac App Store and the Windows Store.

Valve’s next move? The Steam Box console … “Piston” …

4. Secret Wars: imvho consoles as we know them are closer to get obsolete. Why? With current and potential customers buying more and more smart mobile devices over consoles, conditions are changing towards mobility.

As a matter of fact, there is a secret war going on right now among console makers to turn the experience of using a console into a whole multimedia one. Games, movies, music, applications, Internet, and whatever it fits the Cloud-Computing agenda, will be included in consoles.

But it doesn’t stop there … you will be also able to carry that experience with with you on your mobile smart devices. UserId synchronization over the Cloud plays a huge role here. Say that you were playing some game on your console but have to leave, don’t worry, you will be able to continue playing that exact game on your smart phone on the subway without having to start a new match; just resume it and presto! Ditto for movies, music play lists, etc..

Now, you could be asking what indies have to do with this. And the answer is simple, despite their budgets, small companies can react faster to changes in the environment; ymmv, but the larger the payroll and the infrastructure to sustain, the slower a company takes action to accommodate to new conditions on the market, since decisions on a big company usually involves many people on many levels of the organogram.

For each new device, indies would be most likely willing to take a chance. Big companies, unless an exclusivity contract is on the table or at least an exposure/marketing deal, they would wait to see what happens with the device (take the PS Vita for example).

5. Ohhh Yea!: thanks to a surprising campaign on Kickstarter the new upcoming console “Ouya” is about to join the market.

The console will target indies, but this doesn’t mean that you will be able to publish videogames without an approval process.

It’s very soon to foresee the fate of this Android-based console, but if Ouya succeeds, it will put a lot of pressure over traditional console makers, and who knows, all end up being quite positive for indies in the middle run.

So what can traditional console makers do to avoid oblivion?

For starters, traditional console makers must realize that profit is more and more associated to service-based models and less to classic business activities like setting high initial price tags for new consoles.

In this sense, the current monolithic model where dev companies are requested to buy special hardware for production and SDKs, pay high upfront fees, and crazy amounts of money for the QA of updates and patches, could rapidly become a huge stone on the console makers’ shoes.

The more number of games a console gets, the more the makers earn. Plus, they also get a profit from an annual small subscription charged to devs per platform. So the more devs a platform gets, the more profit the platform gets from subscriptions.

The beauty of this equation, is that the console maker always gets a profit from the games you sell and the subscription you pay, even if the game fails on popularity (and you don’t get money out of it). Multiply this income by a large amount of subscriptions and published games and you will have a winning strategy.

Make no mistakes here, this doesn’t mean that games shouldn’t be verified nor authorized before publication, but let the market itself do the ultimate quality-check on published games.

Now, there is an additional key issue to solve in order to assure a critical mass of devs and games. Both, indies and pros should be able to access all official services available for the platform with no distinction. As I mentioned before, on iOS devs can integrate leaderboards, achievements, social interaction, to mention just a few regardless their status as indies or pros.

Last but not least, implementing a proper videogame-exposure built-in system cannot be neglected on each platform. Usually, big companies can run ambitious/aggressive marketing campaigns, so they will likely get a spot on featured areas of the stores. So a way to attract indies is to expose their games as if they were made by pros. The 360’s XBLIG channel is THE example of what NOT to do!

To wrap it up …

The videogame market as a whole has changed big time in recent years. Smart devices introduced new challenges to both, PC and console makers. And thus, to stay in the game one may expect a strategy leap in the middle run on traditional consoles. Or else, these consoles may face an important drop in sells in comparison to previous editions.

How open a console may be deemed will therefore depend on, or if you prefer, will be directly proportional to the less barriers imposed on indies.

Let’s hope that both the PS4 and the XBox 720 consoles get really open to indies this time, by offering an attractive business model, worldwide.

Cheers!
~Pete

FLYBOARD: A WATER VERSION OF IRONMAN’S PROPULSORS?

Guys, when I watch a gadget like this:

I cannot help to associate it with Ironman’s propulsors:

Next time I visit Punta del Este I will try this sport for sure!

Best,
~Pete

THE FATE OF XNA … NOW WHAT?

Lately there has been lots of speculation and comments on the Web regarding the fate of XNA as a result of these blog-posts.

Due to technical difficulties with my main system I am arriving late at the party; many articles and tweets are out now, but anyway, I will give my view on the subject.

For me, the phase-out process that MSFT has been carrying out silently for, what, a couple of years, a year and a half, a year, <include your estimate here>, is not precisely a surprise. In fact, I stopped working in all projects based on XNA tech during late 2010 because something was troubling me.

At that time, I was an XNA/DX MVP creating my game engine, replacing XNA’s Content Manager with my own version of it, developing a videogame, to mention just a few, but for some reason I was holding myself back before starting a game-dev business based on XNA tech.

The hunches -based on facts- that supported my decision back then,  in hindsight now prove me right on my wait. Of course it is important to note here that this worked for me; in other words, YMMV.

1. HUNCHES AND WARNING SIGNALS

Let’s see, in no particular order, these are the hunches that caught my attention:

• Comuniqués started to slow down: these were a great read on the XNA Team blog, but suddenly, they started to fade out.
• Our Community Manager moved to another division: we all remember her xxoo’s at the end of her messages and posts. That unexpected departure was the first warning signal to me.
• XNA 4 was gradually presented as a “mature” product: or expressed in a different way, XNA was not likely to receive (major) updates. Maybe this one was very difficult to gather at that time, but for me it was the second warning signal.
• Lack of strong support for XBLIG: how many times community members (and even MVPs) claimed for proper marketing, fast opening of new markets, and or even a decent location on the Dashboard? In practice, MSFT turned out to be reluctant, so third warning signal.
• Lack of XBox Live services for XBLIG: in addition to the previous one, how many times community members claimed for Leaderboards, Achievements, DLC, and so on so forth? Do you guys at MSFT really expect that games with no global leaderboards survive the increasing demands from gamers?
• Communication of Future Moves to MVPs: in the past, before entering a new dev phase, the Team used to involve XNA/DX MVPs on design decisions. Maybe for many readers this is not relevant, but from and MVP’s perspective that to some extent used to be involved in the roadmap, being asked “what do you guys think of …?” a few days before going public, is a warning signal. Fourth one, indeed.
• The format of .xnb files was published to the world: this one might have been handy to me if published a couple of years earlier, but combined with the one below, gives -more than an indication- a confirmation that MSFT was silently phasing out XNA. Fifth warning signal.
• Gradual relocation of all members of the XNA Team: when you saw one one of the most important programmers on the Team go to a different division on MSFT, and no one is relocated or hired to take its place for further development of XNA, (please be honest here) did you really think that everything was ok? Sixth warning signal. A major one, if you ask me.
• Unattended suggestion on Connect: after the database clean-up the XNA Team did on its Connect’s page, suggestions were marked more and more as “Active”, “Postponed”, “By Design” and “Won’t be fixed”. Seventh warning signal.
• DirectX SDK will not be updated any longer as such: let us clarify this point: the DirectX SDK was integrated into the Win8 SDK for the newest version of DX. What happened with the SDK for DX9.0c? Eighth warning signal.
• No XNA 4 for Windows 8 RT: this is a technicality but, given that DirectX 9.0c does not get along with ARM processors, unless XNA gets a redesign based on DX 11.1, it gets pushed out of the picture for Surface (ARM-based) tablets. Since the XNA Team has been erased, unless a new official product comes unexpectedly out of the shadows for .NET, hoping for an official rope is kinda naive. Ninth warning signal. 
• XNA does not support WinPhone8, or does it?: after all the worries, talks and efforts to provide safe environments, MSFT does radically change by allowing the execution of custom native code on the new Window Phone 8 devices. This sounded like heaven for XNA’ers until MSFT announced that XNA wouldn't add support for WinPhone8. Games created with XNA for WP7 still run on WP8 devices, but they will not be able to get advantage of unsafe operations for the device. Tenth warning signal.
• XNA is not integrated into VS2012: as a corollary of the point above, XNA was not integrated into VS2012, what in turn means that if you need to use the content pipeline, you will need to install VS2010 side-by-side with VS2012. I don’t know, eleventh?
• No MVP award for XNA/DirectX: I can understand the decision for XNA given that it has been and still is being phased out, but why must the award for DirectX be also doomed? Despite the fact that the SDK is now part of the Win8 SDK, imho it is still a separated kind of expertise that cannot be merged with other areas. Final warning signal = confirmation.

As a former XNA/DX MVP as well as an old timer using MSFT’s technology, let me say that lately it has been really difficult to recommend the use of XNA to create games professionally given the facts above.

What can you say to devs when they ask questions like: “Can I use XNA for Windows RT?”, “Will XNA be integrated into VS2012?” or “Will XNA support DX11?”? Ditto for the question below …

2. WILL THERE BE A NEW OFFICIAL SOLUTION FOR .NET?

It is very difficult to foresee what’s coming next in terms of .NET and game development given the difficulties one may find when trying to deduce what the heck TPTB at MSFT are currently thinking/doing.

But let us see, to update XNA (or replace it) MSFT may consider that …:

• … there is a novelty around “Going Native” with C++11 inside MSFT itself.
• … to support ARM processors, the new tech needs to be built on top of DX11 APIs (which supports “legacy” cards by only enabling the subset of allowed features for the card).
• … XNA is neither a pure DX9-wrapper nor a game engine, making it difficult to justify its maintenance.
• …  the dream of “develop once, deploy to the three screens” vanished given that not all the features supported on the PC were supported on the 360 and the WP7 platforms. Plus, the screens are changing: WP8, Surface, XBox.Next, ...
• … due to the managed design of XNA, and in spite of some indie impressive efforts (like this one and also this one), XNA lacked middleware support of big fishes in the Industry.
• … there was never a world/level editor. XNA is VS centric, so how can it compete with editor-centric solutions like Unity3D or UDK?
• … last but not least, XBLIG failed as a business line an new lead marketplaces for indies emerge (Win8, WP8). Period.

So, to answer the original question, with C++ regaining position inside MSFT and being DX11.1 mandatory for latest platforms, why bother? Which leads us to the next question …

3. WHAT CAN “XNA’ers” DO NOW?

You feel disappointed. MSFT let you down (for some, again). You cannot find the exit from this nightmare. And you do not want to learn or get back to C++.

If that is your case, then, do not panic! Right now, there are many alternatives out there for you to consider, specially if you like or love C#:

1. SharpDX: created by Alex Mutel -as an alternative to SlimDX, this pure wrapper of DirectX (from DX 9.0c to DX 11.1, both included) has positioned as the lead solution for advanced user who want to program DX games on top of the lowest level available to C#.

Although this set of APIs is open source, it is consumed by many of the solutions that will be listed next. What is more, games for Win8 from MSFT Studios (through partners like Arkadium) have been developed using SharpDX (i.e.: minesweeper, solitaire, and mahjong).

Alex has been also developing a Toolkit to ease development of common tasks (sound familiar?), which for sure extends a bridge to those of us coming from XNA.

2. Monogame: the open source sibling of XNA. Fueled by SharpDX for all latest Windows-based platforms. Multiplatform not only for Windows, thanks to Mono.

With few-to-none modifications to the source code of your XNA creations, you can port your games to a wide variety of platforms.

This open source solution has recently reached its third stable version, adding many requested features, like 3D support.

Although it lacks a content pipeline replacement, which is currently under development, it can be used from VS 2010 and VS 2012.

Many well-known games have been created with Monogame (or adaptations of it) like: Bastion, Armed!, among others.

Last but not least, the community is growing strong around Monogame. As a matter of fact, if you like “the XNA-way”  then this is your perfect choice.

3. ANX: a competitor to Monogame. Its name, in case you did not notice, is XNA reversed. Recently, after a long wait, v0.5_beta has been published.

Not many games have been created with this solution yet and its community is rather small –in comparison with Monogame’s, but definitely its progress is worth following closely.

4. Paradox: I really do not know how Alex does to find some time left, but he is also developing a multiplatform game-dev solution for .NET with a data-driven editor!

Of course that the Window-targeted portion of Paradox is based on SharpDX, but the engine will also offer deployment to other platforms based on OpenGL.

No prices or release updates have been disclosed yet, but having read the features, watched images and demo videos, it is by far a very serious alternative to consider.

5. DeltaEngine: the lead dev of this multiplatform solution is the first XNA MVP that wrote a book about XNA.

Coding by using this solution resembles coding with XNA. It has its own multiplatform content pipeline which optimizes output per platform, among other tools. And games like Soulcraft show off the power of the solution.

You can check the pricing here.

6. Axiom: being a former user of this solution before the time of XNA, I am very pleased to see that the project has revived.

Axiom is now a multiplatform solution for .NET based on the popular OGRE graphic engine, which also consumes SharpDX for Windows targets.

Honestly, I do not know whether there are games created (and published) with this solution, but I hope there will eventually be sooner than later.

7. WaveEngine: Vicente Cartas (MVP for XNA/DX) has just let me know about this cross-platform engine, which will be released as a beta in less than a day ahead (thanks for the tip!).

Oriented towards the mobile-dev market, the engine is a result of a two-year effort of the Wave Engine team. Knowing past work of Vicente on JadEngine, I cannot wait to watch some cool demo videos here (like Bye Bye Brain).

Best of all, the engine is completely free, so it is with no doubt worth trying as soon as it gets released!

8. Unity3D: I cannot forget to mention Unity3D since it started almost at the same time that XNA did, however, adoption among devs grew exponentially on later years because of a combo of factors: a robust editor, multiplatform support, increasing number of appealing features, and a variety of well-known success stories among indies (for instance, ShadowGun).

Make no mistake here, the experience of using Unity3D is quite different from XNA’s: its editor-centric, coding -either in C#, Javascript or Boo- serves as scripts, sometimes you need to broadcast messages -as opposed to an OOP rationale, and last but not least, 2D programming is not straightforward (not even on the latest version; you need to buy one of the available plugins as a workaround).

You can check the pricing here.-

As you can see, even if no official solution will replace XNA, its spirit remains in many of its successors, all of which support latest DX11 HW.

So imho as a dev, there is no need to worry. Your knowledge is still valid for the above-mentioned alternatives.

4. OK, BUT WHAT ABOUT MSFT?

Well, imho it would be deemed as positive by XNA’ers (and indies in general) if MSFT …:

• … does not try to impose C++ as the only language to develop quality games.
• … develops a common compiler for C++/C#, for all supported platforms.
• … implements SIMD ops for .NET (please vote for it).
• … reduces differences for .NET among the latest “screens”.
• … supports open efforts like SharpDX and Monogame (it seems it will).
• … publishes as open source the source code of XNA that does not implies a security risk or bring any potential legal issues to the table (like say, the content pipeline).
• … reduces barriers for indies (like say, the access to XBox Live services) for the upcoming XBox.Next so as to compete with other platforms like Ouya, iOS, Steam and so on so forth.
• … and continues to support indies through initiatives like the Dream.Build.Play compo.

Personally, I do not care the language or solution a dev picks to develop a game provided it is the right language or solution for the project. In this sense, this “Going Native” campaign that some people at MSFT may seem to support by stressing perf differences among C++ and C# whenever they can, is imho unnecessary given the fact that there are many successful indie games out there developed with managed code.

Plus, as a former C++ dev, I do not want to get back to C++ because I feel really confortable with C#. If sometime in the future I had to go to a lower level language I would prefer “D”.

Thus, I hope MSFT creates a common compiler for C++/C# which in turn will help us turn the use of hybrid solutions into a common scenario for indies.

5. TO WRAP IT UP …

Without starting a nonsense discussion for a Pyrrhic Victory, imho the fate of XNA was predictable if you took a careful look at announcements from MSFT, whether you deemed them as facts or mere hunches.

But one thing remains strong for sure: XNA’s spirit.

Thanks to solutions like SharpDX and Monogame one can still talk about C# and XNA-based coding as a valid option for a game-dev business.

Cheers #becauseofxna!
~Pete

GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT C++

Today I happened to find a very interesting article about C++ on the Internet, entitled “Why C++ Is Not Back”.

The article is written by John Sonmez, a native coder, who “embraced the dark side” and gave C# and XNA a try.

Please read his article. It is worth reading every paragraph. All I will say about it is that I agree with him. What is more, imho, if C++ were replaced by D, we would all be currently using D.

On a side note, C# is indeed a great language, and once it gets a proper native compiler –and not a tool created to only improve startup times- it will rock.

Cheers!
~Pete

RAZER’S LATEST LINE OF PRODUCTS

On a year of trends to go mobile with a variety of offers to pick from, I must admit that I get sometimes amazed with alternatives that reinforce the desktop world.

One of these alternatives is this keyboard by Razor:

Man, I love the design and the concept. Some specs:

• 4.05” touch screen able to run widget apps.
• Track pad with gesture support.
• 10 dynamic display keys with 80hz response time.
• Chiclet style key caps.
• Tri-colour backlit keys.
• 1000Hz Ultrapolling.
• Fully programmable keys with on the fly macro recording.
• Razer Synapse 2.0 enabled.
• Dedicated Gaming mode.
• 5 additional macro keys.
• Anti-ghosting capability for up to 10 simultaneous key presses.
• Braided fiber cable.
• Fixed wrist rest.
• PC with USB port.
• Windows 7 / Windows Vista / Windows XP.

This is really a nice, handy and interesting product. If only it supports the upcoming Windows 8 and Surface tablets it would far from perfect.

The only drawback, like in any top-notch product long before it becomes standard, is its initial retail price -currently at U$S 249.99- which may result prohibitive for many.

I would love to see future editions of this keyboard where all its keys get dynamic-displayed.

As a side note to desktops, another nice product to mention are Razor’s Blade notebooks, which integrate the above-mentioned keyboard solution, flawlessly.

Again, everything goes well until you see the prices, which start beyond U$S 2 thd., without VAT and shipping costs.

I cannot wait to see what Razor will come up with next; don’t you? Not to mention to get one of these, if I ever get to afford buying one.

Cheers!
~Pete

NO MORE GAME DISCS, PLEASE !!!

Today, prices and availability dates have been unveiled for the upcoming Wii U console.

Among its specs it is mentioned that game discs for this console will have a 25GB capacity while the internal HDD storage will be either 8GB or 32GB.

I don’t know whether you think the same, but I believe it is time for the game industry to move away from CDs and DVDs.

In spite of the improvements some consoles have introduced in order to avoid scratches (like the XBox 360), it’s really annoying and frustrating when a game disc gets eventually scratched on a relevant area for the game to properly run.

So, as we wait for a full switch to the Cloud nirvana, why not replacing discs by other hardware like flash drives? Nowadays, a memory stick can have large capacities.

I’m not talking here of empty flash drives that you can buy to then plug it into the console to save downloadable games, but drives already prepared and commercialized by publishers containing the game.

Imagine a flash drive with one read-only memory area (where the first version of the game is stored) and a protected memory area for patches (I will leave game content out of this picture, for now). It would be like going back to the cartridge era with a modern twist.

Smaller box-art and more portability for games not commercialized through the Cloud are some of the additional benefits.

So let’s hope devs of next-gen consoles -like the XBox 720- embrace this thought …

Cheers!
~Pete

[Btw, this could be also applied on laptops, notebooks, ultrabooks and so on so forth]

DBP 2012: WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Microsoft has published the list of winners for this year’s Dream.Build.Play contest.

Winners for the XBox360 console:

https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx#winnersXbox-tab

Winners for the WinPhone device:

https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx#winnersWinphone-tab

Congrats to all winners!

Cheers!
~Pete

INTERVIEWING DEAN DODRILL, CREATOR OF “DUST: AN ELYSIAN TAIL”

What’s the dream of game developers like myself? To get an opportunity, even the slightest one, to publish your own game title on the big leagues. That game that you always dream of creating from scratch. Your masterpiece. Your 9th Symphony …

Some of us, generally “indies”, even dear dream of watching that game become a success once it goes gold. The kind of success that allows us to officially become part of the Industry from that moment and on with a critical mass of loyal gamers waiting for our next tiles with sincere smiles of joy on their faces.

For Dean Dodrill, creator of the acclaimed game entitled “Dust: An Elysian Tail”, the dream has become a reality.

For those of you who still don’t know, Dean’s game (Dust: AET) was the grand-prize winner of the Dream.Build.Play contest held back in 2009. Recently, the game went gold on the Live Arcade marketplace  for the XBox 360 console (“XBLA”), as a part of the Summer of Arcade 2012 promotion (“SoA”).

As soon as the game got released, it received (and still does) lots of positive reviews, articles, kind words from buyers, a zizillion of tweets and FB posts, and ratings varying from 8.5 to a perfect-10 score.

Most of them, like this interview with the guys of IGN’s  Podcast Unlocked (which I recommend listening to), focus on the story behind the creation of the game and the game itself, from the perspective of gamers.

So, since the game was fully developed with C# and XNA, being a strong supporter of both technologies for years, I decided to try luck and interview him from the perspective of an indie XNA'er.

Well, … guess what? Dean kindly answered all of my questions, so be prepared to read his responses after watching the launch trailer of his game.

Ok, we’re back. Before posting the interview I want to thank Dean publicly for accepting the interview and taking the time to answer all the questions.

Now, enjoy the reading …

---

Q: Are sells going as you expected? I mean, I don’t want to know the figures; instead, I want to know whether they have reached a point where you can continue developing games professionally (you know, to continue living the dream) or not (= it contributes to make you family’s life better for a while but it is not enough to go beyond).

A: It’s a little early to determine how well sales are going, but I do believe the game will allow me to continue game development, at least at the scale I’m currently working on.

Q: How was it like using the XNA framework –from and artist viewpoint, given your lack of programming experience? (I mean, pros and cons) Which features do you love for C#/XNA to have built-in (I mean, that lacking feature that forced you use a workaround or take a programming detour)?

A: Since I’ve never programmed with anything other than C#/XNA I can’t really compare it to other languages. I will say that I found it fairly easy to pick up, and since much of my code resulted in some sort of visual feedback in the game, iteration was fun. Garbage collection on the 360 was always a hassle, but I loved many XNA specific niceties, such as SpriteBatch and streamlined gamepad support. I also love XACT and how relatively easy it was to work with audio and effects. If I could help I would continue working with XNA exclusively.

Q: Which features of the extended XNA APIs for Live Arcade did you use? Again, how was it like using them?

A: I did have to use the XNA extensions for XBLA, and admittedly most of that was a hassle. The biggest issue is that most of it is poorly documented, and there were always certification issues which were inherent of XNA. Integrating Leaderboards and Achievements was one of my least favorite parts of the process. I definitely got the feeling that XNA wasn’t created with XBLA in mind.

Q: Given that you got a contract with MSFT, do you still own the IP rights of Dust: AET? Did you receive financial advantages, like not having to pay for (re)certification) and or dev/test kits? (if you can comment on it, of course)

A: I do own the IP to Dust:AET, but of course have signed an exclusivity period with MS. MS helped with testing and localization, and assigned me an excellent producer who helped push the game through the system (as well as offered valuable design suggestions). It’s a mutually beneficial agreement, otherwise I can’t go too much into details.

Q: Are you planning additions/extensions to the game? Say, now that you met the deadline for Summer of Arcade, you want to add that feature that stayed behind and would have loved to develop for the release by “unlocking some extra time”?

A: I haven’t given much thought to anything like DLC. Thankfully I didn’t have to cut anything to meet the SoA deadline, it was just a matter of compressing the schedule down and working VERY hard for a few months. Given more time I would have liked to polish a bit more, but that’s the curse of any project I’m sure. I do have plans for future games in this universe, but nothing to announce at this time.

Q: Are you planning to port the game to other MSFT platforms like WinPhone8, Win8 and the Surface? (for instance, by using Monogame or ANX).

A: MS and I haven’t discussed anything outside of XBLA at this time. I was honestly so busy focusing on the XBLA release that I hadn’t considered a port. If anything pops up I’ll be sure to announce it, but XBLA remains my focus as of this writing.

Q: Thanks in advance for reading, your response and for such a great XNA game which serves as a great inspiration for us, indies.

A: Thanks for the interview, Pete.

---

Game Description:

Immerse yourself in a gorgeous hand-painted world on a search for your true identity. As the mysterious warrior, Dust, your action-packed journey will take you from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops and beyond. At your disposal is the mythical Blade of Ahrah, capable of turning its wielder it into an unstoppable force of nature, and the blade's diminutive guardian, Fidget.

Battle dozens of enemies at once with an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master combat system, take on a variety of quests from friendly villagers, discover ancient secrets and powerful upgrades hidden throughout the massive, open world, and uncover the story of an ancient civilization on the brink of extinction as you fight to uncover your own past.

• Take control of Dust, a warrior searching for his true purpose, as he joins forces with the mystical Blade of Ahrah and its guardian, Fidget, to save the world of Falana from an army unlike any before it!
• Explore an incredible hand-painted world!
• Match wits and weapons against challenging monsters!
• Take on side-quests from a cast of colorful, fully-voiced characters!
• Craft dozens of items and discover Falana's rarest treasures!
• Compete against your friends' high scores in ranked Challenge Arenas!

---

Nice interview, don’t you think?

Not only is the game fantastic but also it may help developers finally understand how powerful C# could be when coupled with a fine tech like XNA, despite unavoidable performance differences with native bits, when you use the tech right even as a one man band (like in Dean’s case).

It’s a pity that many devs (pro and indie) still deem XNA as a tool for kids and hobbyist, only, and don’t give it an opportunity. And what is worse, it’s a shame that MSFT –at least for what is publicly known so far- won’t update it any longer …

To wrap it up, Dust: AET shows off a quite enjoyable gameplay, incredible art as well as the mechanics behind its 2D environment, like skeletal animations, particle systems, input combos, shaders, to mention just a few.

So, what are you waiting for? Go and buy it now!

Cheers!
~Pete

DBP 2012: TOP 40 FINALISTS

The list of top-40 finalists for this year’s Dream.Build.Play contest has been published.

Top-20 finalists for the XBox360 console:

https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx#winnersXbox-tab

Top-20 finalists for the WinPhone device:

https://www.dreambuildplay.com/main/winners.aspx#winnersWinphone-tab

You can read on the page, the following:

The games received for this year’s competition were phenomenal.

It could be, but imvho, compared to previous years, and at least for the 360, there is no game that stands out that much this year visually like The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Dust: AET, among others, did in previous compos.

I always wondered why this game was never awarded a prize on DBP 2011. If they had submitted the game again for this year’s compo, they would have run for the 1st place. Its gameplay video looks fantastic:

I hope MSFT eventually gives these guys a chance to get an XBLA-publishing contract even if they didn’t win or make it into the final round.

Having said that, congrats to the finalists of DBP 2012!

Cheers!
~Pete

.NET MUST DIE … TO GO OR NOT TO GO NATIVE …

… is that the question? … not really.

From time to time I dare ask technical questions to experts in the fields of native+managed worlds so as to better understand the differences, performance-wise, between code originally written with a native language like C++ and “native images” of code written with a managed language like, as of today, C#.

Due to the novelty around the resurge of C++ due to revision 11, in one of my latest Q&A adventures, I dared ask Alexandre Mutel about eventual penalties –if any, of calling a wrapped operation in C# once the assembly gets compiled ahead of time with NGen (or its Mono equivalent, AOT compilation). Like, say, the following:

[DllImport("SomeDLL.dll")]
public static extern int SomeOperation(int h, string c, ref SomeStruct rStruct, uint type);

[For those of you that still don’t know him, Alexandre Mutel is the creator of, inter alia, SharpDX: “a free and active open-source project that is delivering a full-featured Managed DirectX API”, which is currently leveraging the DirectX-side of projects like Monogame and ANX, among others; being imvho the perfect choice for those of us who don’t want to go back to C++ and once embraced the old ManagedDX solution that then was called off by MSFT in order to give birth to XNA a few months later].

I won’t dare claim that Alexandre posted this impressive article because of my email question (or my prior request of DirectMath support in SharpDX due to SIMD), but I must admit that it vanishes any doubt I might have had in the past in that regard and leads me to concur that .NET must die.

In his article, Alexandre mentions an interesting detail, or fact if you’d mind, when speaking of a managed language:

… the performance level is indeed below a well written C++ application …

… and also that:

… the meaning of the “native” word has slightly shifted to be strongly and implicitly coupled with the word “performance”.

He also references two articles about the real benefits of better Jittering:

• When will better JITs save managed code? –by Herb Sutter, and
• Can JITs be faster? –by Miguel de Icaza.

And a finding on Channel9 forums, indicating that MSFT is hiring to create a unique compiler to be used on both, C++ and C#.

So, after reading all of the above-mentioned material, if you have reached a point in you programming life where you do search for performance over safeness, is still the real question whether you should go native?

Imvho, the question has then turned into “how”.

The fact that a native solution gives the performance level you are looking for, does not mean that you must only use the C++ language. Even with the additions found in C++11 (a few of them that could have arguably stemmed from managed languages), it still has a cumbersome and unfriendly syntax.

Or what is more, does neither mean that you won’t be able to use a language like C# to get an optimized native application for whichever platform you need (even the Web).

If in order to get native bits we should always stick to “low-level” languages, then we had never moved from both Assembler or even binary notation towards C and all of its offspring. The evolution of hardware and compilers, made eventually C++ a better choice than ASM for performance-oriented apps, given that, marginally over time, the penalty curve was decreasing to an extent that it became irrelevant for native programmers.

Therefore, what if you can get rid of Jittering (being replaced by a fully performance-oriented LLVM compiler) and still have an efficient GC for cases when manual memory (de)allocations are not needed?

Much as I hate Objective-C, due to its ugly syntax, its newest versions for the MAC (and lately, the iOS) platforms offer LLVM native bits with GC.

And what about a more friendly language like “D”, instead? Latest evidence leads me to believe that C-based languages are moving towards its direction.

My point is that going native does not necessarily mean that all  the memory management of your program must avoid a garbage collector for efficiency. Nor that you have to use languages with cumbersome or unfriendly syntax to get the most of efficiency. It depends mainly on how compilers and memory management tech evolve side by side to get the most out of the target platform, how unsafe you can go with a given language where and when needed, and how much penalty-free you can call native operations from external binaries.

For instance, even though its limitations, you can do some unsafe programming with C# (fixed, stackalloc, etc.). The problem is that this feature is not allowed for all platforms (like WinPhone7), and in some platforms the set of operations is limited (i.e.: stackalloc is not available on the Compact Framework for the XBox 360).

And again, the D language seems to provide a friendly syntax (close to C#) while offering a power similar to C++.

Personally, I feel quite comfortable with C#; let’s be real here for a moment: I won’t be creating a Halo-like game any time soon, but I don’t want to go back to C++, say, to consume DirectX11 APIs. Having said that, I really hope C# evolves in a way that arguments from “native” programmers become trivial and the industry embrace it (as once embraced C/C++ to minimize the use of ASM). Evidence shows C# will evolve in this field, but as usual, time will tell …

To wrap it up, does going native imply that .NET should die so that a syntax-friendly language like C# would survive? …

Short answer: yes (or at least, as we know it today). Long answer: read all of the links provided in this post and see it for your self ;)

My two cents,
~Pete

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES: 6 OUT OF 10

Finally I had got some time to go out and watch the final chapter of the Batman trilogy in Montevideo.

First of all, thanks to Nolan and all the cast for giving back the dignity into the character on the screen! (indeed, compared to everything before Nolan’s view of Gotham, his trilogy is great).

Now, I’m not going to talk here about any eventual loose ends, inconsistencies, speculations, deux-ex-machina, mythology and what not. Instead, I will mention two things: first, why I am not giving this film 10, and second what I would love to see in the future.

About my 6-out-of-10 score for the film:

• Batman is not presented as the world’s greatest detective.
• Batman exposes himself a lot in open spaces in the City, what goes against his ninjitsu training on the league of shadows.
• Bruce Wayne is always doubting of his role as Batman (in the comics he knows what he has to do and never doubts about becoming the Batman).
• There is no balance between action and quiet moments. In fact, there are many sequences with no action to unveil the plot that could have been short, and long action scenes with little interaction among lead roles (like Batman and Bane who could have got more encounters during the film, imvho).
• Bane is presented as a bully with a nonsense purpose, whose lines sounded with a strange intonations (what is more, his plan also resembles the Joker’s).
• No fight scenes between Talia al Ghul and Catwoman.
• Why waiting months to destroy Gotham? It’s just equivalent to “monologuing” …
• Supporting characters with no added value to the film.

I could go on with my list but I won’t because I like the fact that this time the films are serious about the character.

Now, if a new director shows up with a new vision, please:

1) Stop with the trend of villains with chaotic goals.

In past Superman films, Lex Luthor was presented as a madman with just a fixation with land (even if it’s alien), instead of being presented as a controversial businessman plus scientist with a double agenda for the sake of power and global domination.

The same happens in Nolan’s trilogy with everything related to The League of Shadows, the Joker and Two face. They all seem to have something to prove but in the end they are just breaking havoc.

In short, not everyone has to go mad or become a freak to be a villain in a movie.

For example, The Penguin could be a can high-society mobster that trains birds for deadly tasks, whose umbrella is just a gun in disguise (like a blade inside a stick).

Btw, I would love to see actor Jonny Coyne (Alcatraz’s warden) as The Penguin:

2) Let the Batman be the World’s Greatest Detective.

Besides the incredible gadgets, his strong spirit, determination, and his fighting skills, Batman is the world greatest detective. He moves in the shadows avoiding open scenes.

And please, as a side note, find someone with a voice that does not have to force it to sound fierce.

3) Stop with that line that everyone can be Batman.

Bruce Wayne is the one and only Batman. Period.

Many can wear the cape for a brief period of time even in Comics, but none gives Batman the right touch of presence and solemnity.

Why not adding more characters like Nightwing?

Ok, I can give it that Robin could make things less realistic and prone to guess who the man behind the mask is, easily. Unless you don’t treat them as fulltime sidekicks of Batman but independent heroes them-selves.

4) Write a storyline that can lead to a Justice League film.

If the original Batman is dead, how can this impact on an eventual Justice League film? In particular, what about the legendary friendship between Clark and Bruce? They are not just co-workers. They are friends -despite their different approaches to fight crime for the sake of justice, who trust each other (please, do not remind me of the kryptonite bullet here).

5) And stop with unnecessary roles.

Focus on the lead characters and real supporting ones. Avoid wasting time adding roles that do not add relevant value to the storyline (like Deputy Commissioner Foley and or Bane’s wingman; I am not talking about the actors here –who are great- but the roles them-selves).

Ok, enough words.

To wrap it up, I enjoyed the film and the trilogy but I didn’t fall in love with it. In fact, even with all the flaws one can find in The Avangers movie, I still like it more than TDKR …

My two cents,
~Pete

IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT WINDOWS PHONE 8

In the last few days there have been tons of news regarding the upcoming Windows Phone 8.

I am thrilled with two of them, especially:

• The addition of new markets, and
• Marketplace pre-compilation of apps.

New Markets

For years I have been sending comments and suggestions to Microsofties (including TPTB), so as to open the AppHub (both WP7 and XBLIG) to devs in countries outside the list of supported ones. Ditto for XBLive services and marketplaces.

As a dev living in one of the unsupported countries, it was quite frustrating that the only two ways to get your app/game to the AppHub were either opening a company in, say, the US, and or talking to a publisher. Being both solutions, cumbersome.

Recently, MSFT announced that for Windows Phone 8, this is finally becoming a reality. So, at launch, over 180 countries will be added to the WinPhone8´s Marketplace (consumers) and its related AppHub (developers).

Please, allow me getting it off my chest: FINALLY!!!

Marketplace Pre-Compilation

On March, 2010, I had submitted a suggestion to the XNA Team through the Connect site entitled “Native Image On-The-Fly” (edit: I am afraid it got lost in the last database purge, so the provided link won´t work).

My suggestion was pre-compiling all approved apps/games to be published on the XBLIG channel to native images. Given the similar architecture of the XBox 360 consoles, this should be a straightforward process to be done once per app/game on the server side, with low-to-none chances of image corruption as target hardware would not change, saving the customer from waits stemming from Jittering during execution.

The benefit, simple: faster start-up and running times of games since the console would be executing native images of assemblies instead of the (MS) intermediate-language versions of them (please note that memory would still be “managed”).

As a result of one of the new features introduced to WinPhone8 devices (that is, support of native code), there was no reason why the above-mentioned rationale would be kept away from the upcoming product.

Well, … MSFT also announced that the Apphub will introduce a new service: pre-compilation of assemblies.

So, if you build with managed code, the assemblies you submit to the AppHub will be compiled by the servers to native code before they make it into the marketplace.

Please, allow me again getting it off my chest: FINALLY!!!

Both news are a huge step forward. Let us hope MSFT eventually extend them to the XBox360’s AppHub …

Cheers!
~Pete

WINDOWS PHONE 8 … YOU MEAN 7.8? NOPE …

Microsoft is letting a very interesting group of cats out the bag these days. First the news of its tablets (Surface) and now the news related to a new phone: Windows Phone 8.

You may be probably thinking that is not a new phone after all but a whole rebrand of an existing phone packed with a future update. If that is the case, you would be wrong. So wrong in fact, that you missed the lines that explain/claim that:

1. The phone will be bundled with a new OS, which require a more powerful hardware than the one existing on WP7 devices,
2. Windows Phone 7 devices will NOT be receiving this new OS but an update (to version 7.8), which will help to reduce the UX-gap between phones, and
3. The new devices will allow devs to use native code and do native calls. Yes, C/C++ …

Let us talk about each of these points for a moment. Shall we?

(I) The new OS

To keep the story short: if Windows 8 will be out soon, what else could you expect?

Now, the long explanation …

Microsoft is trying to extend the success around the XBox 360 console –yes, despite the RROD problem- to other platforms in order to unify the user experience on the multimedia front to compete with others big players for their marketshare, like Apple and Google. And the new OS is a step in that front.

A broad set of hardware will be powered by the Windows 8 OS in the near future (PCs, tablets, …, consoles?), which in turn will help MSFT to position as a strong provider of a unified multimedia experience. So, providing a new OS branded with the number “8” for window phones is something one could have been expecting some time ago.

Will its strategy succeed? Well, that leads me to the discussion of the second point.

(II) The “Old” Phones

In my previous post, I briefly mentioned the doom of a device that seemed promising by the time it came out: the Zune HD.

Let me be clear here. The first Zune devices had nothing to offer against their “i” counterparts. But that was not the case for the Zune HD: neither in hardware, nor in software.

The Zune HD device opened the door for the Windows Phone and also influenced, to some extent, the look’n’feel of both, the current 360’s dashboard and the UI of the “8-based” OS. And yet, it was left behind in the dust …

Now, if the “old” 7 phones will be receiving an update in order to let users experience a taste of what the new OS will offer, why mentioning what happened to the Zune, then?

Because users (customers and devs) could deem this behavior as a tendency, as if the were treated as mere beta testers of MSFT’s experiments with mobile hardware: Zune, Zune HD, the infamous Kin, developer WP7 devices, and eventually retail WP7 devices.

Not to mention that this may represent a slap in the face to one of its newest and major partners, Nokia, which recently released into the market a new line of WP7 devices!

One can understand that a new OS may require new hardware to enjoy the full set of features it might offer, but rushing and or pushing things into the market this way, in a track-record of “no-more-support” deeds in a short period of time, could only become eventually a winning move if MSFT shows a strong commitment from now on to support its upcoming devices, for a reasonable minimum number of years.

Make no mistake, I am a MSFT supporter, but it does not prevent me to chime in and do a wake-up call when I see a warning signal.

As usual in life, time will tell …

(III) Native Code

“Developers, developers, developers …”

Allowing native code on a Windows Phone is a fantastic move!!!

But stating that by allowing native code it would be easier to port existing frameworks to the windows-phone environment is, imho, vague. It depends on a combination of factors: how many platforms you want to support, the techonologies you use to develop apps, and or how sensitive you are to fragmentation of code (since this feature will not be available to WP7 apps), to mention just a few.

Now, does this mean that you must use native languages for WP8? The answer is “No”. You can still use managed ones like C# (specially if you want to create apps and games for both, WinPhone 7 and 8 devices).

Does this mean you can still use XNA to produce games for WP8 devices? In spite of the fact that more and more it seems that XNA will be no longer updated –and no other official managed solution would take its place, the answer is “Yes”.

However, the answer for XNA-based games seems to be “No” for other platforms like the new “Surface” tablet and Windows 8 on ARM (on desktop mode you could still use it), unless you switch to unofficial solutions like Monogame or ANX.

Personally, I do not care whichever languages/techs a dev picks to develop apps and or games. But I do care about using the same languages/tech for the most amount of target platforms out there to economize resources. That is why solutions like Unity3D are so popular these days …

So I hope MSFT eventually returns to the dream of “The N Screens”, allowing for all its devices with the less amount of key differences (that is, on what can be used/called/consumed), both, native languages and also native calls from managed code, so that devs can pick the right combination for their needs and or preferences …

To wrap it up, some may be in favor, some may argue about pros and cons, and some may complain, but let us be honest and recognize that interesting times lay ahead.

The only news left behind –at least, for now- is related to the rumored XBox 720. But who knows? Maybe we will receiving some official words from MSFT sooner than we expect …

Cheers!
~Pete

SURFACE: THE NEW TABLET FROM MICROSOFT

Microsoft has recently presented its own line of tablets powered with the soon-to-come Windows RT and 8 Pro operative systems: the Microsoft Surface –branded with the new logo.

Two major hardware specs will be available, which will depend on the OS flavor that comes with the tablet, but on the overall the product looks promising.

A flood of comments and opinions has covered the Internet since then, but personally, I believe it is a very interesting product. All I hope is that this time, MSFT gives this line of products a very different fate than the one the Zune (HD) devices had …

Enough words, so here’s the presentation video:

Something tells me that the mouse era –and the keyboard´s, as we know it- is coming to an end.

Enjoy!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

THE AVENGERS: AN EPIC FILM !!!

Lately, I haven´t got enough time left to take a break … not even to post something on my blog. But I think this one really deserves it!

I have been a superheroe comic-book collector since I can remember who has changed throughout the years from regulars to graphic novels.

As a huge reader of Marvel’s, I was expecting The Avengers movie with scrambled feelings since not all the previous movies that drove us to this one have been that great, imvho of course.

The first Ironman movie was incredible, the second one was (almost) ok. Captain America´s wasn´t that great but got the job done. Ditto for Thor. And Hulk has been trying to find the place it deserves on the big screen with mixed results.

For those in the US that are waiting for its opening night, let me tell you that it is really safe to go to the theather with your expectations high since you won’t get dissapointed. In fact, I believe the movie will surpass your expectations!

No pictures and videos that you have found on the Internet will prepare you for you are going to enjoy. Except for the 3D fxs –that were only ok for me, the film delivers everything you can expect from a superheroe movie that well that you don’t see actors playing the roles but the characters themselves. And the latter in film with several potential lead roles is a hugh task that luckily, for the film, ended superb.

The storyline is balanced. All characters have their due time. Action and FX are present only when and where needed. And humour touches are smart and welcome.

Again, you won’t be paying attention to the actors since you will buy that the ones you are watching on screen are the heores and villains themselves. Btw, hats off to Mark Ruffalo who had some challenge before him –specially, after the second Hulk movie- and played, imho, the Bruce Banner I always wanted to see. And as for the Hulk, … well … you will have to wait and see ‘cause I don’t want to spoil anything!

[SPOILER]
One more thing, stay on your seats when the movie finishes for a final scene where you will know The Being behind Loki´s strike on earth (and yeap, it was the one I was expecting for years!). This will open the door for future movies and hopefully, if the Avengers was Epic, the one that shows off this creature in its full potential will be for sure also epic but in a cosmic scale!
[/SPOILER]

To wrap it up, The Avengers is one of the best superheroe movies ever that deserves a place on the blu-ray shelves of any collector once it gets out. What is more, it raises the bar high for the TDKR … gloves off!

Here’s the link to an excellent (translated) review for the film.

Enjoy the movie, guys!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

BOOK REVIEW: XNA 4 GAME DEVELOPMENT BY EXAMPLE (VB)

Last month, a new book about XNA 4 hit the shelves worldwide:

His author, Kurt Jaegers, is the creator of a well known site that covers lots of XNA material: XnaResources.

The book is based on its C# sibling –from same author, and I personally deem it as a great introduction to XNA 4.0 for devs that use Visual Basic as their primary language.

Targeting beginners, the author introduces useful concepts and techniques applicable to both, game development per se and XNA 4.0, through four games:

• A puzzler,
• A space shooter,
• A multi-axis shoot 'em up, and
• A jump-and-run platformer.

All code presented in the book is fully explained by the Author on a clear and simple way, what makes each chapter easy to follow.

So if you are a Visual Basic geek that want to enter the word of XNA, then this is your chance to take your first steps!

You can buy a print and or digital copy of the book either from Pack Publishing or Amazon.

If you are intertested in getting a free digital copy of it –provided by Packt Publishing, then write a comment on this page stating why you deserve the copy and the person that gives imo the best comment gets it!

My two cents …
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.

RESIZING AN EXISTING HDD IMAGE IN VIRTUALBOX

[ If you deem this article as helpful, please consider downloading my game "Just Survive XP" on the Appstore (free for a limited time):

=> http://itunes.apple.com/app/just-survive-xp/id461876025 ]

Yesterday I was installing a new virtual machine on my desktop with VirtualBox and, don’t ask me why ‘cause I don´t know, but I made a rookie mistake …

… when I created the vdi file for the virtual hardrive I forgot to assign a custom size so it ended up with the default 20GB. Sigh!

Soon I noticed my mistake when I realized I would need more space on the drive to install the whole set of tools I wanted to use, so I opened VirtualBox in order to resize the drive and guess what … I found no way on settings to directly do it. Bummer …

Maybe it is there somewhere but I didn´t find it so fearing the worst –that is, reinstalling everything on a new image from scratch, I did a search on the Internet for a solution. Why not reading VirtualBox’s help file, right?

Well, to my surprise I found any kind of cumbersome solutions like cloning the .vdi file and using a parition manager to blá, blá, blá. Tired of this dead-ends, I finally did what I should have done on the first place: read the help file!

Yes; the solution was always there: VirtualBox includes a command-line tool named “VBoxManage” with a set of interesting options available and one of them is “modifyhd”. Its syntaxis is the following:

VBoxManage modifyhd <uuid><filename>
[--type normal | writethrough | immutable | shareable
readonlymultiattach]
[--autoreset onoff]
[—compact]
[--resize <megabytes>--resizebyte <bytes>]

Having opened a command-line terminal in the host OS of your machine, a simple way to use this command would be, say:

VBoxManage modifyhd “<fullpath>/<filename>”
--resize 30720

It is important to notice that you should use not a relative but the fullpath to the .vdi file for optimal results. So, if your .vdi file is located on “C:/mypath/myvdifile.vdi”, use this string on the command (in case of other OS than Windows, use the path from root).

If everything goes well you should see a new text line showing the progress:

0%…10%…20%…30%…40%…50%…60%…70%…80%…90%…100%

But sometimes, like in my case, things turn out not to be that simple. You may find your-self facing an error message like:

ERROR: Cannot register the hard disk 'C:/mypath/myvdifile.vdi' with UUID {someUUIDtext} because a hard disk 'C:/mypath/myvdifile.vdi' with UUID {someUUIDtext} already exists in the media registry ('…/VirtualBox.xml')
Details: code NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
Context: "OpenHardDisk(Bstr(szFilenameAbs), AccessMode_ReadWrite, false, Bstr(""), false, Bstr(""), srcDisk.asOutParam())" at line XX of file VBoxManageDisk …

If that happens don´t panic; a solution that worked for me was using the UUID assigned to the virtual hdd, instead of the path to the file, so if the UUID is “{13f2…-…-…342a}” then the command should look like:

VBoxManage modifyhd 13f2…-…-…342a
--resize 30720

Now, when the new size of the .vdi file gets allocated, all you need to do is open your virtual machine, log into the OS, and assign the new free space to the hdd. If your hosting Windows, then execute the provided managing tool (rightclick on your PC icon and select “Manage”), find the vitual disk and extend its size.

Well, that’s it. Hope you find this tips useful.

Cheers!
~Pete

> Link to Spanish version.