For those interested in creating their own XBox 360 games...

On Feb 20, 10:29 pm, RMZ <Jeremy.De... DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
> In my opinion Microsoft doesn't do enough to advertise this, but you
> can get to all the tools needed to develop for FREE by following this
> link
>
> http://creators.xna.com/
>
> All you'll really need is a general understanding of the C#
> programming language and general object oriented programming concepts
>
> Here are books aimed at absolute beginners:http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Visual-2008-Express-PRO-Developer/dp/...http://www.amazon.com/OOP-Demystified-James-Keogh/dp/0072253630/ref=p...http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft%C2%AE-XNA-Game-Studio-2-0/dp/07356252...
>
> Don't be afraid to jump in there.

Free? It used to be $99/year.

- Rich
 >> Stay informed about: For those interested in creating their own XBox 360 games... 

On Feb 21, 2:09 pm, Rich Billionaire <f....DeleteThis@billionairesclub.com>
wrote:
>
>
> Making a game is tons of work and I wouldn't do it unless I were paid.
> That's like saying "hey build a skyscraper in your spare time"

Building a game such as Gears of War would take a very talented team a
great deal of time, but that's not the point of Indie gaming. Which is
why I used the "YouTube" analogy. There are some really entertaining,
hobbyist grade videos up on you tube; stuff that can't compete with a
multi-million dollar Hollywood project, but it show cases the talent
of the film maker. This is the whole point and purpose of XNA. It's
been used as a learning tool in colleges and an now an Indie platform.


The idea that game programming is inapproachable is a misconception,
Microsoft's XNA provides a foundation, it's a code library that helps
with the low-level daunting task. For those who pay the $99/year and
join the club they provide access to additional resources such as the
Tourque 2D game engine and 3D artwork which simplifies the process
even more.

In fact at last years Dream/Build/Play competition three teams created
three different Indie games, from start to finish over a weekend so
that tells you how simply this stuff is to use. The only wall really
is learning the C# programming language and object-oriented concepts
which is why I provides links to the books I did.
 >> Stay informed about: For those interested in creating their own XBox 360 games... 

On Feb 21, 2:31 pm, richardhut... DeleteThis @gmail.com wrote:
> On Feb 20, 10:29 pm, RMZ <Jeremy.De... DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > In my opinion Microsoft doesn't do enough to advertise this, but you
> > can get to all the tools needed to develop for FREE by following this
> > link
>
> >http://creators.xna.com/
>
> > All you'll really need is a general understanding of the C#
> > programming language and general object oriented programming concepts
>
> > Here are books aimed at absolute beginners:http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Visual-2008-Express-PRO-Developer/dp/......
>
> > Don't be afraid to jump in there.
>
> Free? It used to be $99/year.
>
> - Rich

Nope. XNA tools needed to build an XBox 360 game application are 100%
free. You can cross-platform develop your game to run on Windows and
the 360 without paying a penny. If you want to test on the 360
hardware you do have to pay $99 to join the creators club and get a
license key which enables you to authorize your programs to run on the
360 hardware. That key can be purchased the XBox Live on-line store on
the 360 console.

The foundation tool you need to get started is Visual C# 2008 Express
Edition. With this tool installed you can learn how to not only write
game programs, but general Windows applications as well. It is 100%
and available for download here.
http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx#webInstall

After you have that installed, Microsoft even provides a lot of free
training videos and articles through the MSDN network, all free.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/aa336766.aspx

BTW, SONY and Nintendo don't have anything like this. Nintendo
announced a program for Indie developers for the Wii (Google: WiiWare)
but it's vastly different in that Indie developers must pay a couple
thousand for a Wii development kit and the Indie developer must also
submit their game product through Nintendo rigors quality assurance
process which will cost at least thousand more. In a day and age where
commerical grade video games have multi-million dollar budgets what
Nintendo is doing with WiiWare is very cool, but it's nothing like
what Microsoft is doing.

SONY has nothing like this at all. Their attitude is "we've made Linux
installable, if you want to create something on PS3 feel free to do it
on that". But you see the missing link. No resources, no program to
encourage and promote indie games. Microsoft is the only one doing
something like this right now and I think it's extreemly cool and by
years end it's going to provide a wealth of community created game
content.
 >> Stay informed about: For those interested in creating their own XBox 360 games... 

The biggest difference with this analogy is that as usual M$ wants to
nickel and dime you at all levels... I'll pass on that..

On Feb 21, 2:58 pm, RMZ <Jeremy.De....DeleteThis@gmail.com> wrote:
> Building a game such as Gears of War would take a very talented team a
> great deal of time, but that's not the point of Indie gaming. Which is
> why I used the "YouTube" analogy.
 >> Stay informed about: For those interested in creating their own XBox 360 games... 

I don't understand how you can say that. If you look at the creators
club web-site you realize it takes staff of technical professionals to
keep that site going and to provide this kind of hand holding to would-
be game programmers. Software Engineers can make over $100 an hour
contracting out their services and for you to be able to pay a measly
$100 to join the creators club for a year and get access to these
resources, well it's just an amazing value. You're claim that they are
"nickel and diming you" is not only inaccurate it's offensive to
anyone in this line of work.

It's takes a very talented group of people to build these tools,
engineers which Microsoft pays without any return on investment just
to give back to further education of the next generation of
programmers. Visual Studio.NET 2008 Express edition didn't come out
of thin air. Neither did the XNA libraries or the technical articles;
all of this FREE to download from Microsoft to would-be game
developers or would-be programmers in general.

Since Microsoft is a software company that has been developing lead-
edge, industry standard software development tools for over a decade
now they are in a position to do this, where as SONY or Nintendo just
aren't.
 >> Stay informed about: For those interested in creating their own XBox 360 games... 

I always thought XNA to be the bargain of the century for gamers. It
just goes to show the relative intelligence of the average gamer these
days. In a world where companies spend millions of dollars to make one
game. Through XNA the average joe gets a game creation program that
people in the past have spent 30-50k tuition in schools to learn these
game making technics.
MS overestimated the average gamer and thought that XNA would take off
quite well,so did I when I first heard about the program.
I'm surprised that such a bargain is largely missed by too many people.
sigh
 >> Stay informed about: For those interested in creating their own XBox 360 games...