Free Xbox 360 Game Dev Tool!

We'll have to see about that. Although I don't think it would make sense for Microsoft to discontinue the game after your subscription runs out, because
1. You can always have the pc version for free.
2. It means that there has to be a certification process that make sure that this process works.
3. Microsoft won't own the rights to the games, so they won't have control over this aspect.
4. This program is made to encourage game development, so Microsoft doing this would be going against their ideals.

 

Supposedly there will be a more advanced XNA studio express years down the line that will allow you to have your games put on XBLA. As for the the current program, there are probably tons of people who will stay for the pc side of things. The creator's club is just a bonus.

 

As a gameplay scripting tool, it's already useful in 'proper' game development, along with others like python and lua etc. So it's useful to have if that's the avenue of work you're looking at, and more generally as an introduction to programming.. But C++ is still the standard, for core technologies at least (performance critical code). It's still valuable to learn about memory management, even with these new systems, perhaps more than ever. The standings of different languages may shift over time - that's probably a discussion beyond the scope of this thread - but for a variety of reasons, the mere option of (unmanaged) C++ would have been welcome.

Unfortunately it's $99/year, not a one time fee.

XNA Game Studio Professional isn't aimed at the homebrewers so much. It won't be free, it'll cost money. Using that you can publish to XBLA (pending MS's certification of your game), but it won't open the door to Game Studio Express content generally on XBLA.

 

that's why you may want to read Fafalada's post again.

 

Sorry, his tone came across as sarcastic on the first read.

 

you got that part right. what escaped you is that he went on on his own and invited ms to apply the same tactic to commercial code for the sheer benefits of it. he did not imply one bit that ms are actully doing it at present.

 

It's a good thing IL code is precompiled or jitted and not interpreted then. The biggest problem with using C# is the framework overhead and the working set size. But the thing just needs to run good enough.

Do you think that the games being developed in this fashion truly need API access to the metal?

 

The XBox use a framework that is based on the compact version that is used for Windows Mobil. It have a smaller memory footprint than full blown PC version.

 

Not sure if this FAQ has been posted:

Question: Does this open the door for a media center application with DivX/Xvid and other codecs included?

 

Given that they can (and have) made a special version of the .NET library for the 360, how much performance will truely be lost? Yes, some will be lost. But how much? And then please give realistic projections for how significant that loss will be.

This part is simply unwarranted. MS putting restrictions on homebrew development for their initiatives on their platforms is not out of the question.

This is infinitely superior to Nintendo's stance, yet MS gets the harangue?

 

I found this on the FAQ:

I've heard bedore (but wasnt sure) that C# wouldnt need to be interpreted in Framework 2.0, maybe thats what he's is talking about?

EDIT: Yeah, he definately talks about being compiled specially for the platafform:

 

What rhymes with mud?

No .NET languages are interpreted. All are JIT compiled. Fafalada doesn't know what he is talking about. The reason for .NET is probably to ease the differences between platforms. It is possible for 1 exe across platforms but you'd probably want to optimize for each. Remember, these are games from "amatures", not big game companies. They arguable don't need nearly as much control over the entire system, but exceptions always exist.

 

Eh..whilst I agree that for the purposes of many of the projects created with this, a managed language is fine, there is much value in an option that is much closer to what professional developers use for a lot of their code. The potential value of the venture for experience and education would be higher with that option than without. If you're asking which they should have included if they could only include one, well, I don't know - but the question others might ask is if they had to limit themselves to just one. (And yes, I DO understand why they chose C#, but that won't stop some people lamenting the absence of a lower-level option).

 

I thought the other exagerations were a clue not to take the whole thing literally. Also I know it was stealthy, but I thought it was obvious it wasn't MS who I was actually criticising in the post. But it's a good lesson to me not to post sarcasm heavy at 3am.

At any rate, while (as you said yourself) development at this level really won't be concerned with performance - JIT doesn't solve the concerns I was referring to anyhow.

 

Yup, I really don't think it's a problem. Most of these guys would otherwise be writing games in AJAX or Flash with interpreted ActionScript -- JIT'ed C# with DirectX access is already a huge step up from there in terms of performance.

 

I don't like their deployment strategy. Why can't it be more simple like Live Arcade ?

Having to get the source, and to compile and deploy and all the mambo jambo make it sounds really nerdy and troublesome and limit its appeal.

Also can you get the membership monthly ? So say if you see some games you like, you join for just one month to download the game, instead of paying $99/year with no guarantee you're going to see games that you like ?

 

I think is is safe to say once this whole project is up and running that MS will take the better bits of home coded stuff and release them on 'Live'.
It has already been strongly hint as such.

I think this may well be one of MS's finer moment, it really increases the appeal of the 360 to a certain, and very influential portion of the community. I really cant wait to see what this produces in a year or so. So many cracking games such as bridge builder and armadillo run that would work perfectly in such an enviroment.

Well done all those at MS, very positive move all around